Page 196 of Burn of the Everflame

In the magic-laden air, with corpses mounting at her feet, Diem raised her eyes to mine.

There was nothing I could do. No words would ease this horror, and no embrace would dull the pain. Knowing that she had no choice would not keep this day from haunting her forever.

I laid my hand atop my heart.

A single tear spilled down her cheek.

And the field went up in flames.

The blaze burned so wide, so hot, so bright, the others shaded their faces and backed away. I forced myself to hold, forced my skin to endure the sting and my eyes to stay open as witness, letting it brand a permanent place in my memory.

And I alone watched as a silhouette took shape at the center of the fire. Around her, orange flames shimmered into silver. Her magic pulsed, and the world went so white that even I could no longer stare into its glow. Just before my eyes finally broke from my Queen, a flash of red appeared beside her.

She burned for hours.

Though her magic did its awful work in seconds, Diem burned and burned as her aura dwindled. Even when there was nothing left across Mort-Feu Pass besides glowing embers and scattered flames, she let the magic pour out of her until no trace of it remained.

When she had nothing left to give, she rose to her feet. Her clothing was unburnt, her golden scabbard unmelted by the blaze. Only her face had changed.

Instead of sorrow, her eyes were dark with depthless rage.

She marched across the pass, her boots crunching over a rocky field of glittering black. When she reached us, she paused for only a second to issue Alixe a quiet, sharp command.

“Here’s your godstone. Make it count.”

45

DIEM

“Tell me your name.”

Empty eyes stared back, unblinking.

“Who sent you?”

I already knew the answer. That wasn’t the point.

“Who have you come to kill?”

His head turned toward the tent’s opening, and he strained at the ropes holding him to the chair.

My jaw felt near to cracking with how tightly it was clenched. “Will you at least have something to eat?” I held a piece of bread to his mouth. “Take a bite. You can’t kill them if you’re passed out from hunger.”

Stuart was unpersuaded.

I put two fingers in my mouth and blew a shrill note, hoping to trigger some willingness to accept a new command. I’d seen it in their heads on the battlefield, the way Vance’s whistle was like placing a quill to paper to write his will into their minds.

Unfortunately, Stuart’s pages were blank. I couldn’t find a single memory or thought, only an irresistible compulsion to kill my army—but not me.

Vance had tried to make them do it. Had it failed to work because they were Sophosian, and I wore the Sophos Crown? My Crown had never stopped the Descended of Lumnos from trying to take my life. Nor the people of Faunos. Nor Fortos. Nor Umbros.

The command to spare me must have come from a higher authority than Vance. Perhaps the Kindred had intervened on my behalf, or maybe the Old Gods.

Or perhaps the man who had taken their minds in the first place.

I whistled again, then held the bread against Stuart’s lips. “Eat,” I commanded.

He didn’t eat. Didn’t blink. Didn’t move.