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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Penn Cole
Read between
February 4 - February 17, 2024
“Let me guess—I’ve already met my true love, I’m going to have a stable full of children, and I’m going to live a long, blissfully happy life before I die.” “No, child. None of that for you, I’m afraid.”
“Those eyes—a gift from your father, aren’t they? Your real father.”
“Listen to me and listen close, Daughter of the Forgotten.” She leaned forward and poked me in the shoulder. “Stop running from who you are. Stop hiding.”
“Maybe the magic is as corrupt and soulless as the people who wield it,” Henri muttered. I shivered at the coldness in his voice.
Henri didn’t just dislike the Descended—he despised them. Some nights we would lay out by the water, staring at the stars, and he would tell me of his dream that one day Emarion would be free of the Descended and their magic, united into a single nation, as it had been so long ago.
“Prince Luther, the King’s nephew. He’s incredibly powerful, no matter how you measure it. He’s one of the only Lumnos Descended that can wield both light magic and shadow magic.”
Only an act of the gods could keep you two from falling in love.”
“Just make sure he takes the contraceptive tonic first.”
“I can’t explain it, but... I just know it. I know she’s alive and safe and she’ll be back. I’ve prayed to the Old Gods, and they told me to have faith.”
Henri was the only person outside my family that I’d ever told about the flameroot. Even Maura didn’t know—another choice my mother had insisted on but refused to explain.
A gnarled tree, with leaves of flame, inset in a circlet of vines—the sacred Everflame, the Tree of Life and Death. According to the old mortal religion, all life began as sparks from the Everflame that fell to the earth as glowing seeds. At death, those found worthy by the Old Gods would be placed among its burning branches, where their earthly bodies would turn to ash but their souls would remain forever warmed by the Undying Fire. Those found unworthy were doomed to an eternity in a cold hell encased in ice, far from the Everflame’s redeeming heat. Though
Though we Bellators had our problems, I knew with soul-deep certainty what loving parents and a happy marriage looked like. My mother and father had made sure Teller and I always knew what it was to be cherished, to be given a soil of unconditional love to nourish our growth and keep us rooted no matter the world’s storms.
Brecke beamed like I’d told him I had regrown the Everflame.
I’d always dreamed of living a life worthy of a legacy. Being great was a privilege, and it wasn’t one that mortals in Lumnos were often given. If I wanted to burn my mark into the world, here was my chance to start.
“Are we meeting rabid dogs or civilized human beings?” “Neither. These are the Descended—they’re something else entirely.”
Getting the royal family to accept me as my mother’s replacement was the key to all of my plans: protect Teller’s place at the Descended school, succeed on my mission with the Guardians, and find the truth of what happened to my mother.
“They may walk very different paths, but at the beginnings and the ends of their lives, they’re as mortal as we are. Perhaps their Kindred did that for a reason.”
“Their world, our world, isn’t it the same? Just because they hole up in their lavish cities doesn’t mean we don’t feel the consequences of everything they do.
I risked a glance down, expecting to see the same obnoxious smirk his guard had worn, but for once, Luther looked as flustered as I felt. If I didn’t feel like my skin was about to spontaneously combust, I might even have enjoyed watching him squirm. And on his knees, no less.
My brain tried to make sense of the near-miss I’d just stumbled through. Luther knew—I was certain of it. I’d seen the keen awareness in his eyes. The judgment—the warning. And yet... he’d let me go without a word. Why?
Darkness isn’t just the absence of light—it’s the absence of everything. No light, no heat, no air. True darkness can destroy even life itself.”
His reign had begun long ago, ages before even the oldest living mortal had entered the world. What must it be like to outlive generations of mortals, watching them age and die, over and over? The idea struck me as terribly sad.
Of course, these Descended likely had never met a mortal they cared enough about to mourn.
“You would defend the man who cut your throat?” he asked, low and soft. I gingerly touched the wound on my neck, surprised to find it no longer bleeding. “It’s a scratch. Hardly worth stabbing anyone over.”
My mind was too consumed with trying to understand how the man before me had gone from protecting me to stabbing his own guard to threatening my life in the span of a few minutes.
I couldn’t find the words to explain to him the conflict brewing in my heart—the sense that I wasn’t just compromising, but sacrificing a fundamental piece of myself I could never get back.
“Diem, I shouldn’t have to court you for you to know how I feel about you.
Ew
hint of a smile. My eyes snapped up. “What?” “He was impressed with you. That’s not an easy thing to do, you know. Luther doesn’t give out compliments very often. I mean, he does to me, of course, because I’m his sister, but to everyone else, he’s a bit... well, he’s not mean, really, he’s just very—” “Compliments?” I cocked my head. “What kind of compliments?” “Oh! Um, he said you were very impressive. And interesting. He kept asking me what I knew about you and what Teller had told me. And I think he went into Mortal City to find you, maybe. A few times, actually, but I suppose you weren’t
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“I think he trusts you, though.” I snorted. “I’m quite positive you’re mistaken about that.” “No, really. I think he trusts you because you were mean to him. No one’s ever mean to him.” Her eyes twinkled. “I think he kind of liked it.” “I wasn’t... I don’t think I was mean. He was mean. I was just doing my job.” I paused and shook my head. “Wait, what do you mean he liked it?” “Would you like to come have dinner with us at the palace sometime?” I blinked at her. “Maybe you could even, um, bring Teller. You know, just the four of us.” Her smile was dazzlingly hopeful and painfully innocent.
She’s a force of nature, my Auralie.”
“You came all the way here with no medicine or supplies?” “Well I left Mortal City with all the supplies I could carry, and then I was attacked on the trail by a group of jackasses who stole my bag. So, technically, I only came halfway here with no medicine or supplies.” He stopped. His eyes darkened as they unapologetically roamed my body. “Did they hurt you?” he growled.
“First of all, if you ever call me fragile again, I’ll slice your precious royal balls off and shove them down your throat.” The group went dead silent. The corner of Luther’s lips twitched—just slightly.
The voice paced like a predator inside me, snapping its jaws and urging me to action. It wanted me to move, to leave, to save myself, to fight for myself—all the things my own head and heart had willingly abandoned.
Fight. Fight. Fight. “Fine,” I growled, dragging myself to my feet. “Leave me alone. I’m up.”
Luther’s magic hummed at my touch, and I swore I heard a distant harmony that went silent the moment I let them go.
We both froze in place as something ancient, something profound passed between us. It was a primal force that transcended word and thought, as powerful as a crack of lightning, a child’s first breath, the endless depth of the sea. It was not of this world but entirely woven within it. It warmed my blood with a calming peace I’d never known, yet filled me with the terrible dread of a fate I could not avoid. A vision came to me. The same one I’d had before—a battlefield drenched in silver flame and strewn with dead bodies in a circle at my feet, my body clad in glittering onyx armor and a
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“Lumnos herself couldn’t pull me from her side.” More silence. “Cousin... who is this woman to you?” A pause, and a long, heavy sigh. “Eleanor, I... I think she...” Darkness.
The problem is she’s too clever. She can sense intentions, so mock battles don’t interest her. When she knows her opponents don’t mean any real harm, she’d rather take her treats and go have a nap.” I smirked. “Sorae and I have that in common.” He laughed—laughed!—and I had to steady myself to keep my jaw off the floor.
“If the death of innocents is a cost we’re willing to pay, then we don’t deserve to be powerful.”
“They told me your blood would shatter our stone and lay waste to our borders.”
“I am not afraid, Devourer of Crowns. Ravager of Realms. Herald of Vengeance.”
“Give him our gift, Daughter of the Forgotten. When the end has come, and the blood has spilled, give our gift to my faithful heir, and tell him this is my command.”
“You think I fear my own death?” he whispered in my ear. “Every day I draw breath is as much a curse as a gift. I’ve been living on borrowed time for longer than you can imagine. If you’re the way my fate finally catches up to me, I can’t fathom a more beautiful end.”
Each side was convinced they were fighting for good, each of them believing that the killings they committed were righteous and justified to prevent the deaths of innocents. How was it possible for me to love people so deeply on both sides of this war?
“Diem—you’re wearing the Crown. You’ve been selected. You are the new Queen of Lumnos.”
