Page 44 of Burn of the Everflame

The battle grew messier. Smoke scented the air, while blood trickled in a scarlet maze between the cobblestones lining the path to the gates. Some of Ophiucae’s men had figured out Alixe’s illusions and shouted at the others to press forward despite the gryverns’ flames.

Shrewd as always, Alixe adapted. She darted through ranks of army soldiers, issuing commands for them to use their magic in creative ways: light and shadows to blind, ice and water to slick the path, rocks and roots to catch on marching feet. Not as weapons, but as obstacles—the same strategy Diem had used to stop Vance in Sophos.

The Fortos Vice General seized her by the arm and yanked her back. He barked at his men to ignore her orders. He might not be killing his people out of selfishness, but his ego was about to do it for him.

“Do you really think Diem is dead?” Auralie asked.

My godhood answered first, pulsing so strongly from my chest it almost knocked me to my knees.

But I could not give her hope, nor the closure she sought. I wouldn’t rest until I held Diem in my arms, dead or alive.

“Go to the camp,” I said instead. “Keep the mortals behind the shield.”

“Where are you going?”

I pulled my sword free. “To serve my Queen.”

By the time I arrived, Ophiucae’s men were at the gate. Although Alixe had locked it closed, one man had begun to scale the ornate iron scrollwork.

I held out my palm and midnight shadows rose to meet it. A swirling bog tumbled over the cobblestones and through the gate, rushing forward like an angry, ominous sea. With each enemy it found, I wrapped their shields in a veil of churning obsidian that left them whirling and blind—including the Vice General, who found a patch of black vines clamping over his mouth.

Alixe caught my stare. Her answering frown was deep with judgment, but she wasn’t a fool. She turned to the soldiers. “More obstacles!”

The mortal atop the gates stared down at the dark void of my magic, hesitating at the prospect of leaping into the unknown. I fixated on the godstone sword in his hands. One weapon was all I needed. One glittering black blade, and even Ophiucae’s shield wouldn’t stop me.

I pulled the shadows in a shroud around me and crept forward just as the man threw his leg over the gate and began to descend. “Alixe,” I hissed through the bars. “The key.”

She squinted into the darkness. “Luther?”

“Give me the key to the gate.”

She tensed, edging back.

I pulled aside my magic just enough to expose my earnest stare. “My sister is in that palace, Alixe. For this battle, you and I are aligned.”

She pulled a key from inside her leathers and pressed it into my palm. “If they get through the gate . . .”

“I know,” I said darkly.

She turned her back to me, shouting, “Soldiers, tighten ranks. Forward—attack!”

The Lumnos Royal Guard obeyed, and with the Fortos Vice General muzzled, the Emarion Army soldiers followed suit. The lines met in a crush, and cries rose as godstone weapons found Descended flesh. Alixe had bought me time—but it had a lethal cost.

I crafted light magic into the image of a closed gate to hide my plan, but with my skill at illusions so inexperienced, the ruse wouldn’t fool them for long. I unlocked the gate and shoved it open. The mortal atop it lost his balance, though he managed to keep hold of a wrought iron swirl and dangle off the side.

My focus sharpened on his sword as he fumbled to sheathe it at his waist. If I had any hope of getting to it, I needed to get it beyond his shield.

I hurled my weight against the gate and sent it swinging in an arc and slamming against the exterior wall. The mortal grunted as he collided with stone. A second later, I heard the clatter of a sword falling to the ground.

The mortal scrambled to climb down, and I jerked the gate back. His grip slipped with the sudden movement, and he fell, disappearing into the fog.

With my magic draping the palace grounds, neither of us could see the sword or each other. I got only fleeting glimpses of pale skin and ginger hair as we both crawled in an urgent search for the fallen blade.

But I had spent a lifetime lurking in the dark.

And the shadows always had a story to tell.

Find it, I told my godhood.