Glow of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #2)

by Penn Cole

For every spark that has lost its light and needs a little help remembering how to glow.

I knew very little of the rules of royalty, but I did know this much: when a monarch died, their throne passed to the most powerful Descended. Only those with the blood of Lumnos flowing in their veins had ever worn her Crown. Until now.

He should have smelled like wealth. He should have reeked of exotic incense and spices no mortal could ever afford, all the hallmarks of his privileged status. Instead, his intoxicating musk hinted at cedar, leather, and moss. He smelled like the forest—my favorite place in the world, the only place I felt truly alive. He smelled like home.

“Mortal women have so few opportunities. Everyone always told me I was lucky to be born onto a wider path.” He glanced at me, his expression softening. “But it doesn’t feel wider when it’s a path you didn’t choose.”

Frankly, the fact that your brother’s heart still beats is owed only to his impressive ability to avoid pissing you off.” “Then how are you still alive?” That had definitely been aloud. Luther’s joyless smirk rang with the promise of a battle.

“They want us to feel small, Eleanor. They want us to be quiet, be predictable, be unimportant, behave. Then they make us think we deserve it. But I think they’re just terrified we’ll stop listening to them and start listening to each other. And do you know why they’re so scared of women like us?” Our gazes met, two sets of glittering eyes shining in shared determination. “Why?” she asked. My answering grin was positively wicked. “Because they damn well should be.”

“But rest assured, my Queen, when I do kiss you, there will be no confusion. You will know that I have claimed you—and I won’t have any desire to deny it.” All of me flushed.

“You were never just a plain mortal girl,”

“And you... if you were my friend and nothing more, what would you tell me?” His answer came without missing a beat. “That if a man made you doubt whether his love for you would survive anything, he does not deserve you.”

I closed my eyes and offered up a prayer for Ulther’s soul. Whatever kind of Queen I turned out to be, I hoped that someday, someone would do the same for me.

He shot me a dark look. “With all due respect to my lovely cousin, the only person I’m getting down on my knees for is you, my Queen.”

“If a kiss is the reward, my Queen, I’ll get on my knees for you whenever you want.”

I didn’t need baubles or tricks to steal attention. I was the Queen, and I wore the Crown of Lumnos on my head. There was no spotlight I couldn’t steal, no room in the realm I didn’t command.

“They all think they’re the deadliest creatures in the forest, and they want to see where you fit in. You need to show them that you’re not just a predator—you’re the apex predator. And they can either join your pack or become your prey.”

“You’re all using me. This whole gods-damned House is using me. Just because I’m choosing to play nice for now doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten that I’m a mouse in a pit of hungry vipers.” “A mouse?” He leaned in, strands of my hair swaying in the gust of his ragged breaths. “We may be vipers, but you’re no mouse. You’re a fucking dragon.”

“My scars make me happy. They’re all memories.” “Aren’t they unhappy memories of being hurt?” I shrugged. “Not anymore. Time has a way of erasing the pain and leaving behind the laughter.”

“It doesn’t matter. My place is with you. Wherever that leads.” His fingers curled around mine. “Whatever it costs.”

The Diem inside me was a mess, heartbroken and begging for reprieve, but the Queen on the outside didn’t have the luxury of weakness. Tonight, I would have to play my part and be the bright, shiny object to distract them from the predator to come.

Sometimes, the line between who I hated and who I had become was paper thin.

His touch was the changing of the seasons, the dead, cold grey of winter thawing and giving way to the colorful hope of spring. The promise of something new, something exquisitely alive.

“I’m not so sure. Maybe there are some things love can’t survive.” “It can. If the love is true, there’s nothing it won’t endure.”

And I saw it tonight, in the mercy you asked me to show the Guardians. Any other Descended Crown would have slaughtered them, and any mortal Crown would have let them slaughter us. But you...” He looked at me like a flower raising its head to the life-giving sun. “You chose the harder path. If we ever wish to see peace in this land, we need a leader like that—a leader like you.”

“You are my Queen, and I am your sword. Point me at your enemies, and watch them fall. Lead this world, Diem, and I will follow you—into war, into death, into the tundra of hell itself.” He took my palm and set it against his chest, just above the patch of unscarred skin that lay beneath his jacket. “You are the fate my heart was spared for. As long as it beats, you will never fight alone.”

“I want every breath, every laugh, every tear. Every taste of your mouth, every inch of your skin. I want to kneel at your feet, soaked in the blood of your enemies, then worship your body until you scream my name.” His hands slid to my hips and tugged me closer. “Yes, Diem, I want to serve you—in every way a man can.” I couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. “I want to burn alive in that fire in your eyes. I want it to melt me down and forge me into the weapon you need me to be. I want to stand by your side for the rest of my life, and I don’t need you to marry me and make me a fucking king to do it.”

“Everyone says this phoenix represents dying and coming back as something new, but I disagree. I think it’s a symbol of surviving when the world burns down around us. It’s a reminder that no challenge can destroy the parts of us that truly matter. We’re not reborn in the flames. We’re revealed.”

“This man you’re engaged to—if you love him, then fight for him. But if you’re only holding on to him because you’re afraid of losing who you are...” She took my hands in hers. “Nothing can take that away from you, Diem. No Crown, no man. Not even the Kindred themselves.”

“Does your anger actually help those people, or does it make you feel righteous while the situation gets worse?”

Someday, I might be healed enough to appreciate their sympathy. But not today. Today, my grief was a sharp, pointed thing. A weapon—a mace, covered in poisoned spikes, ready to demolish anyone it swung at. So I was doing my best to aim it in the right direction.

“You make so many promises, but the only thing I ever really wanted was honesty. And it’s the one thing you still refuse to give.”

She took my hand and held our joined palms to her chest. “You’ve shown more faith in me than anyone ever has. You are as much my family as any Corbois could ever be.”

Another laugh bubbled up between sniffles. “I do seem to have a habit of getting myself into fights I’m vastly outmatched for.” “A habit?” Teller snorted. “You practically survive off it.”

“I would have walked into the flaming heart of the sun itself,” he shot back. “If you are suffering, nothing will keep me from coming to your aid. Least of all something as trivial as death.”

“Perhaps, for the right person, we endure the pain, because the torture of never having them at all is the more unbearable fate.”