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For every spark that has lost its light and needs a little help remembering how to glow.
For years, I’d taken a regimen of a rare substance known as flameroot to ward off the wild, impossible delusions I’d developed as a young girl—delusions that I could feel things, do things, that mortals like me should not be able to feel and do.
Lumnos, Realm of Light and Shadows,
“You’re not going mad,” Teller said, though his expression was less than convincing. “I can see the Crown myself—it’s floating right over you.”
The Crown of Lumnos. No, I told myself. Not the Crown—just my imagination. My madness.
“The flameroot isn’t going to stop this, D. That Crown is real.”
“This means our King is dead,” Lily murmured. She sank to her knees and placed a fist over her heart. “Long live our Queen.”
“Grey? Your eyes are grey?”
Teller’s arms slid around my shoulders. “Whatever happens, you won’t be alone. We’ll figure this out together.”
The truth was unavoidable. Royal blood meant my blood. I was indeed the Queen—at least for now.
The eyes of Prince Luther. Lily had betrayed me.
Despite our wildly different worlds and my suspicions about his role in my mother’s disappearance, some naive part of me had felt a bond forming between us I couldn’t explain. Not a friendship, exactly. Something... else.
“How long have you known?” he asked, his voice deadly soft. “What you are. What you would become.”
“Eyes up here, Prince,” I snapped.
“I wouldn’t flirt with you if you were the last living man on this miserable fucking continent.” Sparks flew in his slate blue eyes. Liar, they seemed to say.
Was that—was he—smirking at me?
He smelled like the forest—my favorite place in the world, the only place I felt truly alive. He smelled like home.
My hair whirled in the breeze, tickling Luther’s face, and he gently tucked it behind my ear, his fingers lingering against my skin as they trailed the curve of my neck. This time I could not blame the cold for the shiver that rolled down my spine.
I hadn’t seen it before—but Henri had.
Luther—it was Luther Henri had seen, Luther who slaughtered that boy without feeling.
What if I could balance the scales between the oppressor and the oppressed?
My destiny beckoned, clear and unmistakable. Survive the Challenging. Complete the Rite of Coronation. And destroy the Descended.
“Come, Sorae,” I shouted. Commanding her felt surprisingly natural, as if it had always been the two of us together, bound in this soul-deep, ancient bond.
“Even before the King died, somehow you knew what I would become.” Sorae huffed once and gave a slow blink of her golden, reptilian eyes.
A warning, to any of them foolish enough to threaten her Queen.
“You saved my sister’s life, and for that, I owe you a debt that can never be repaid. Although I don’t imagine you’ll take it, allow me to offer you some advice that may save your own life.” He paused, his tone darkening. “Tell them as little as possible—about yourself, your plans, your magic. And especially about your mother.”
I took a deep breath, and I stepped forward to claim my throne.
“House Corbois, I present the heir to the Crown, Her Royal Majesty Diem Bellator, Queen of Lumnos, Realm of Light and Shadows.”
“He’s a highly respected army commander,” she continued. “The highest-ranking mortal in our history. He’s been retired for some time, but they still tell tales of his leadership.” I couldn’t suppress a proud smile.
without a blood relative on the throne, they would merely be citizens of Lumnos like any other.
I very much doubted that, but I also understood the blinding power of sibling love.
“Easy,” she said, a smile finally breaking through. “I sneak in and out of the palace all the time.”
Lily was a good soul, and I suspected my brother cared for her more than he let on. I would have to protect the Princess from my plans as much as I possibly could.
“No, I’m not disappointed. I’ve always believed it’s my destiny to serve the Crown, not to wear it.”
Fight. Gods, I wanted to murder him.
“I should put all four of your heads on a pike for treason. I just assaulted the Queen, and you cowards stood there and watched me do it. The next time someone lays a hand on her and you don’t kill them where they stand, I’ll carve out your eyeballs and feed them to the fucking hounds. It doesn’t matter if it’s me or the Regent or Blessed Mother Lumnos herself. Do your damn jobs and protect our Queen.”
I was a wreck—my eyes bloodshot, my clothes rumpled, my skin sallow and crusted with mud—but the Crown was a thing of perfect, incomparable beauty.
All because I, Diem Bellator, poor mortal healer, wore the Crown. I was the Queen of Lumnos.
Wholly against my will, something warmed in my chest.
Whatever might have passed between us before, it had to end. This was war. And he was my prime target.
“Perhaps.” She pursed her lips, a suspicious gleam in her eyes.
He spoke again. “The next time you organize a secret meeting in the dungeon, little sister, try to remember to close the door behind you.”
“The godhood—that’s what we call the source of our magic—it hates being trapped in a physical body. Being leashed for too long without release makes it angry. The longer you hold it in, the angrier it gets.”
“You would be wise, Your Majesty, to keep those thoughts well-guarded. Even a Queen can bleed.”
“There was nothing innocent about that kiss. From either of us.” He wet his lips, and heat coursed through my blood. “I think I’ve still got a few traces of your bloody handprints on my skin, if you’d like me to prove it.”
“This is beneath you,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. He rolled his fucking eyes. Destroy. Destroy.
Red mist veiled my vision. No—blood. Innocent blood. “Tell me,” he barked.
“Do you?” he growled. “Or is it easier to blame your anger on me than look in the mirror and confront the truth?”
The banter is bantering holy shit
“Stop running away, Diem. Face what you are and what you’re meant to become.”
I was a dying star, exploding and imploding, consuming all I touched.
