The Kindred's Curse Saga
by Penn Cole
In the Emarion, there are Descendeds (who have power given to them by their immortal ancestors, the Kindred) and mortals. The power of the Descended depends on the realm they come from and they are easily distinguishable by their eye color.
Lumnos: Light and Shadow; blue eyes
Fortos: Force and Valor; red eyes
Faunos: Beast and Brute; yellow eyes
Arboros: Root and Thorn; green eyes
Ignios: Sand and Flame; orange eyes
Umbros: Mind and Secret; black eyes
Meros: Sea and Sky; blue-green eyes
Sophos: Thought and Spark; pink eyes
Montios: Stone and Ice; purple eyes
See all of Penn Cole's work at penncole.com
Beware of all the spoilers. Diem Bellator walks home from the clinic where she works, and the streets are more hectic than normal. The king has rolled out casks of free wine in honor of Forging Day. The day that the nine immortal siblings called the Kindred gave up their immortality to be with their mortal lovers, breaking the nation of Emarion into nine realms - one for each of the Kindred who infused it with their magic. The children of the Kindred and the mortals are now known as the Descended and are easily spotted by their eye color, which is specific to their realm while mortals have only brown eyes. The Descended now role over the mortals and Forging Day is supposed to help bring them all together, but most mortals are not fond of the Descended. And this particular Forging Day is marked by a blood sun (just like the day that Diem was born) which is commonly considered an omen of bad things to come. On her way home, Diem is accosted by a couple of drunk men, whom she fights off and disarms before running off – she was trained to fight by her stepfather, a decorated soldier. She runs through the back alleys and grinds to a halt when she sees her mother talking to a Descended. Or rather, arguing with him. The Descended accuses Diem’s mother of extortion and she points out that things are getting worse and that there’s only one way to stop it. He points out that if he were to do that thing, it would have to be tonight, but someone interrupts Diem before she can hear more. It’s a fortune teller who knows who she is and that she and her family have a secret, one that they hide by having Diem take flameroot powder. The fortune teller alleges that Diem’s birth father was Descended. Diem’s mother has always said her father was dead, but the fortune teller reveals that he is not dead at all - though he should be. She speaks to Diem’s mind, trapping Diem in her own body, but only tells her to stop hiding before letting Diem go. The fortune teller tells Diem that “when forgotten blood on hearthstone falls, then shall the chains be broke. Life for life, old debt requires, or eternal be his yoke.” That night, Diem’s mother does not come home. Months later - Diem’s mother has still not returned and Diem’s stepfather, (who has raised her since she was an infant and whom she refers to as her dad) realizes she has stopped taking the flameroot powder. She promises him she will start again, that she had only forgotten to take it. The disease she inherited from her birth father leeches the color from her eyes and hair - the only reason she can hide her ancestry, but it also causes hallucinations. The powder is supposed to prevent that. But she hasn’t been taking it for months (which her father hasn’t realized but her younger brother Teller has) and hasn’t had a single hallucination in that time, so maybe she no longer needs the flameroot. And her brother Teller won’t tattle to their dad; he trusts that Diem knows what she’s doing. They discuss it as Diem walks Teller to school. He attends the Descended school in the palace, which you attend until you’re eighteen while most mortals only attend school until they’re fourteen. Their mother (who was a healer) had agreed to tend to the people in the palace in exchange for Teller’s enrollment. Even though their mom has been missing for months, no one has stopped Teller from coming to the school. He reveals to Diem that the current king, Ulther, is on his death bed (this is who their mother was treating). The question on all the Descended’s minds is who will be the next ruler of Lumnos. Magic supposedly chooses the most powerful of the Descended to rule so it’s impossible to know for sure until they’re crowned, but the front runner is Prince Luther - nephew of the current king. He’s a Lumnos Descended who can wield both light and shadow, one of very few who are that strong. Diem’s best friend turned something more, Henri, joins them on their way to the school and after Teller goes in, Henri asks Diem to join him in a trip to Fortos to deliver a package. The Descended do not like to travel since their magic is tied to their realms, Henri’s father works as the palace’s mail courier and Henri has followed in his footsteps - even though he hates the Descended. Diem asks her boss Maura for a few days off and receives the okay right before a young Descended boy shows up at the healer’s center looking for Auralie, Diem’s mother. The Descended boy explains that a roof collapsed (his fault - he was showing off with his magic) and three of the school children have been injured. Maura goes to attend them, she’s the usual attendant to the Descended since Auralie has been missing, and Diem says she will go too, even though her mother would never allow her to learn how to treat the Descended and kept her away from them at all times. They take another senior attendant with them, and the boy shows them a shortcut into the Lumnos City where the Descended live. When they get to their patients, Diem starts to treat the oldest injured girl who is not the most, but also not the least, injured. The girl is currently being tended to by a grown man. Diem introduces herself and the girl says her name is Lily – a girl that Teller has told Diem about because she’s one, possibly his only, friend at the school. Diem gives Lily a tonic for pain so that she will be able to set Lily’s broken arm. Lily’s only other injury is a small head wound which is already healing thanks to her power. While waiting for the tonic to take effect, Diem looks at the man sitting next to Lily and realizes it’s the same man she saw speaking with her mother the night Auralie went missing. Diem does nothing right now and sets Lily’s arm by herself. Job done, Diem stands but Lily collapses when she tries to follow. Diem was so focused on her mother and the man that she missed something bad, a shard of metal sticking out of Lily’s back. When Diem pulls the shard out, the wound bleeds so much that she knows it hit something vital. She holds gauze to the wound hoping that Lily’s magic will heal her in time and a soft light glows beneath the gauze. Lily wakes up. When Diem removes the gauze to check the wound, Lily’s back is completely healed - not even a scratch remains. Diem leaves to wash up and is confronted by the man who’d been with Lily. He asks about her eyes and the light, but Diem explains that it was all due to Lily, she’s just a mortal. They get into a short argument, but something tells Diem not to ask him about her mother. Instead, Diem retreats to the bathroom to wash the blood away and cry. She and the third attendant return to the healer’s center while Maura checks on the king, all three of the injured children lived. When Maura returns to the center, she tells Diem that Prince Luther asked her to pass his gratitude on to Diem. You know, Prince Luther… Lily’s older brother and the person who sat next to her. The man who was speaking to Auralie the night she disappeared. Diem reveals she’s not a fan of Luther, that he offered to set Lily’s arm for Diem as if she weren’t a trained healer, but obviously Diem ignored him. Maura tells Diem that’s because most humans can’t set a Descended’s arm, their bones are too strong. Yet Diem did it without assistance. Maura also tells Diem that Luther asked about her eyes and father again, but Maura (who knows that Diem’s father is not her blood relative) didn’t give him any information. Diem wants to help treat the Descended. Teller is worried they won’t allow him to study there since it was a special deal that their mother had made and Diem wants to take over the deal so that Teller doesn’t worry any more. But Maura explains that Teller’s school wasn’t the whole deal. Their mother agreed to attend to the Descended for the rest of her life and if she did not, they could execute her. This deal was brokered by Prince Luther. Diem leaves for her trip with Henri. While on their trip, Diem has a dream. She dreams of her mother meeting Prince Luther, but she hears more in the dream than she actually did. She hears the prince tell her mother that the crown is calling in their bargain with her - a life debt. Either she must pay, or the boy will pay in her place. But when her mother turns around, Diem sees her own face instead. She wakes up and hears something walking. It’s a wolf, and she is dreadfully unprepared. Henri is still sleeping, and she is unarmed. The wolf is hungry, and she knows it will attack. She hears a voice inside her head urging her to fight and she decides to listen. But when the wolf lunges at her, Diem just closes her eyes. When she opens them again, the wolf is gone. Her hands are glowing slightly red and there is a burning smell. She thinks the hallucinations have started again, a symptom of her illness. She searches for her flameroot powder, but she has none - she’s thrown it all in the sea and will never be able to get more since her mother is the only person who knows how to prepare it. Henri wakes up and helps Diem look for more powder, he’s the only person outside of her family that knows she takes it. He asks her why she’s so frantic to find it since she decided to stop taking it months ago. She tells him about the hallucination, and he seems relieved. It wasn’t a hallucination; he heard the wolf too. The growling is what woke him. She must have scared it off. She knows that’s not true, but she doesn’t push it. Instead, she sees a new tattoo on Henri’s back. The Everflame Tree of Life and Death - a symbol of the old mortal faith and their gods, which is now outlawed. Henri says he got the tattoo to honor the Old Gods. The next day, they cross the border from Lumnos into Fortos. Henri knows a lot about the Descended, even though he hates them, and he explains why Fortos has never had a queen. Each land has two corresponding gifts. In Lumnos, it is light and shadows. There are Descended that can control both, but it is only the strongest among them like Prince Luther. But in Fortos, it’s different. The women are healers; the men are killers. And that is why they have only had kings, because killers are more powerful. Diem already knows that the Descended magic is tied to their land, if they leave their realms they lose their magic. She remembers a story of a boy who was taken from his homeland and raised elsewhere, but when he returned, his magic flooded him from being pent up for so long. It completely overwhelmed him. As they cross the border, Diem gets an unexplainable pain, but it is short lived and does not recur. They make their way to an army healing tent to talk to one of Diem’s mother’s old contacts from when she worked in the army. The contact, Leona, allows Diem to fill up her supplies while they discuss the possible death of the king and subsequent succession. Diem takes the chance to get some of her questions answered too, or she tries to but all she does is make Leona suspicious. Leona doesn’t know of anyone Auralie was working for, but it had nothing to do with the army, or else Leona would know. As Leona urges her to leave, Diem sees a red powder. Flameroot! She asks for some, but Leona begins to question her. Even knowing what that root is could get her executed. You need permission from all nine Crowns to get even an ounce of that powder. The container is warded from everyone but the King of Fortos. Diem explains that she must’ve thought it was something else and says she was looking for beetbark. Leona gets her beetbark but is not convinced by Diem’s lie. Diem asks what the powder does to be so well guarded, but she gets no answer. That evening they eat at an inn and meet a friend of Henri’s named Brecke. He knows Andrei, Diem’s father, as well as her mother Auralie. He made Auralie a blade once. He offers a blade to Diem too; he’s impressed by her spirit and intrigued by her gray eyes. She refuses the blade, it’s made of Fortosian steel which is one of the only things that can pierce a Descended’s skin, and there’s no way she can afford to buy it from him. He gives it to her anyway, trading her one favor to be called in at a later date as payment. She leaves the two men to take a bath and go to bed. When she wakes up alone in their room near dawn realizing Henri never joined her, she goes to find him and hears Henri talking to a group of men in the tavern downstairs. She overhears the word war and panics, knowing that if war came her brother, her father, and Henri could all be conscripted. She would be left alone unless she chose to fight also and for a moment she can see it, herself on a battlefield holding a blade with bodies strewn around her. This vision feels real, unlike a hallucination. She shakes it off and sees that all the men in the group have tattoos matching Henri’s - so much for “honoring the Old Gods”. She walks out to confront Henri, and they go off on their own to talk. He refuses to tell her what’s happening, citing the fact that she hasn’t exactly been open with him either, and she gets so angry that she hears the voice again telling her to fight. She stumbles away from Henri and tells him to leave, afraid of hurting him. Things are awkward on their way home the next day, until Diem apologizes, and then Henri apologizes too. He tells her what he’s been dealing with for the last year. He saw one of the Descended kill a mortal boy. It was an accident - but the Descended had no compassion or guilt about it. Henri was so angry that he set out to kill the Descended, but another man stopped him. He recruited Henri into the Guardians of the Everflame - the same rebel group that fought during the Blood War. They do not believe the Descended should be the undisputed rulers of Emarion. He tells Diem that she knows more people than just him in the group but won’t tell her who. But he does invite her to join them, or even just pass them information from inside the palace. The Guardians are led by a woman; Diem may even get to meet her or work with her. Diem agrees to think about it. But Henri is not done telling his truths. He tells Diem that he loves her, and he nearly proposes but she stops him, telling him that she cares about him and loves being able to relax near him. It makes him stop whatever he was going to say. When they return to Lumnos, Diem announces that she will be taking up her mom’s duties and treating the Descended herself. After two weeks of training, she and Maura go to the palace together - through the front door this time. Diem sees a gryvern standing watch. When the Kindred arrived, each of them brought a gryvern who they became bound to. Two of the gryvern died in the Blood War, but the others still remain and serve the rulers of the realms. This one is named Sorae and she gets curious when Diem approaches and flies down to get a closer look. Diem almost touches her before Sorae is sent back to her perch by a guard. Upon entering the palace, Diem is told that mortals can’t bring weapons in. This doesn’t go over well with Diem, neither does the guard groping her boob when he tries to take her weapon. She stops him and puts him into a defensive position until Prince Luther arrives. When he finds out what happens, he casually disciplines the guard (who screams through the pain) before telling Diem that she may keep her weapons while he escorts her. He takes her and Maura to two of the injured students to make sure their recovery is on track - it is. But things get a bit heated again between Diem and one of the students’ mothers. Luther pulls Diem to the side and apologizes for the woman. He also admits that Auralie was supposed to let him know when things were bad for the mortals so that he could help them. He asks Diem to do the same. She tells Luther that things are always bad for the mortals… they always have been. Throughout the whole visit, Diem seems drawn to Luther as if his dangerous edge appeals to her. When she gets home, Diem is so riled up that she spars with her father. She asked how he coped with serving the Descended while in the army. He explains that he didn’t serve the Descended, he served Emarion. He fought both the rebels and Descended. He also explains that he can’t tell her what to do with her life but believes that he’s taught her well. If you aren’t bigger, you have to be smarter. You have to know when to fight, and when to run. That night, Diem implores Teller to be careful with Lily, both she and Luther are concerned with how close the two of them are getting and what that may mean for Teller. Diem is called to Paradise Row (where sex workers work) and tends to a woman injured by her client - who was then injured by her coworkers. The man is nowhere to be seen, but Diem treats the woman as she talks to the workers. When she leaves the building, Diem hears a woman scream and runs toward the sound. She finds a mortal woman trying to protect a small boy from a Descended. The boy is his son, and offspring between Descended and mortals are forbidden. Since the woman did not terminate the pregnancy, the man has come to kill the child. He claims he doesn’t want to, but it is the law and he and his family will be punished if he doesn’t comply - but Diem cannot accept this. She fights the man and tries unsuccessfully to save the woman. She does manage to hit the Descended in the neck with the knife that she was given by Brecke, but she doesn’t hit anything important and the Descended quickly begins to heal the wound. She protects the boy with her own body, screaming “fire” and hoping that others will come but no one does. She begins to chant a prayer from the old mortal religion, the one that has been outlawed, as the Descended approaches her. As she finishes the prayer, his magical attack does not hurt her. She assumes for a moment that he missed, but it happens a second time. She grabs Brecke’s knife as people start to come into the alleyway with buckets of water looking for a fire. She stabs the Descended in the leg and he flees. She turns to the boy but it’s too late, he has died from injuries sustained from the first attacks that killed his mother. Diem gets some help from an old man and takes their bodies to the forest to bury them together before going to Henri’s house and joining the rebellion. Henri takes her to Lumnos City (the city itself, not just the palace) and she sees more of them in one place than ever before. Their casual displays of wealth and magic shocks her. She has been called to House Benette, a powerful family and one of the twenty families that rules Lumnos, to heal their daughter. It is a test by the Guardians to see if she can be trusted. House Benette deals in weapons, while there Diem is to find out what she can about upcoming weapons shipments. She meets an older child, a teenage boy named Loris who is rude but takes her to see his ailing sister. She realizes that someone has given the girl flowers that have caused sores on her body, fever, and congestion - but it’s easily treatable. Diem slathers ointment on the sores and gives the girl a medicinal lozenge, surprised to find that neither parent seems to care about the child’s well-being since neither stops to check in. But the teenage boy stays with his sister, even playing with her to help distract from the pain. He leaves Diem with his sister for a moment, telling Diem to go to the parlor when she’s done, and Diem asks the girl who gave her the flowers while they’re alone. Her suspicions are confirmed; the Guardians poisoned the girl to give Diem a reason to come to this house. Once she’s done treating the girl, she writes care instructions and leaves more of the medicine before sneaking into the father’s office and discovering what she can. She feels bad for the children in this family, whose father is casually cruel and who don’t seem to receive any love from their parents. Diem leaves the office, collects her payment, and makes a quick escape. Diem yells at Henri before showing him what she found - and he is very impressed; the respect she sees in his face drives the worry that someone poisoned a child out of her head. He tells her that this will prove to everyone that she has what it takes and shut up even those who don’t think she should be let in - because of her father and his role in the army. He takes her to a meeting of the Guardians that night, but she isn’t allowed in until she shows “Father” what she found. Right out there on the street, “Father” and a couple of “brothers” look through the papers, one she stolen and one where she copied a list of recent customers, and hear Diem recite a conversation she overheard about explosives. Some still don’t think she should become a member, saying she’s off limits, but the Guardians eventually decide she can make her own decisions, and she becomes a member of their rebellion. She’s brought into their little clubhouse where she sees people she recognizes: sex workers, a teacher, a seamstress, a fellow healer named Lana who accompanied her and Maura to treat the students injured when the roof collapsed. Henri explains that “Father” leads the Guardians in Lumnos - his name is Vance, and his two closest are men named Brant and Frances. He had previously told Diem that the Guardians were run by a woman, but Vance is in charge now because the woman is on a mission in a different realm. During the meeting, Vance recounts missions that have been completed and lays out plans for future missions, members request to be a part of certain missions if they believe they can contribute. Then Vance announces that there’s a big mission to help another cell. They need someone to infiltrate the palace and find a way to get around unseen on the ground floor. Henri encourages Diem to volunteer, but she points out that Luther is always with her when she’s in the palace, Henri stands and volunteers Diem for the mission anyway. She agrees under his duress. Soon, Diem accompanies Maura to the palace to treat the king for the first time. It’s supposed to be the last time Maura comes with her to the palace. Diem wears no weapons except Brecke’s blade - which is so thin she hopes no one notices it. She also has a piece of paper concealed on her chest by a breast band. Luther meets them at the gate and again, the guard gets a little handsy, so Luther takes over frisking Diem. He’s very respectful, but Diem finds it pretty sexy, and she thinks that he definitely feels the knife but doesn’t draw attention to it and he does not remove it. He takes her and Maura to the king’s room. King Ulther is sick and not recovering. Descended magic has no effect on him and the job the healers have now is just to make him as comfortable as possible until he dies. On the way to the room, Diem somehow chucks her backpack into a corner without being noticed. After arriving and bowing to the king, Diem “realizes” that she doesn’t have her bag. Even though Luther tells her he will send one of the two guards standing outside the king’s room to retrieve it, she sprints from the room to get it herself. She hides in a random room, somehow evading the guard that is sent after her, before finding her bag and pulling the paper (a map of the palace) out of its hiding spot. She is supposed to use the map to find where a boat is docked and then to search the boat for a place someone could stowaway. She literally gets almost nowhere before she hears Luther coming down the hallway and hides behind a pillar. He talks to her, even though he can’t see where she is, and tells her that she’s playing a dangerous game. He tells her not to be like her mom, who betrayed him. A guard comes and addresses Luther. He responds to the guard that when Diem is found, they should not engage her and should call for him immediately. After the guard leaves, Luther whispers to Diem that he hopes she knows what she’s doing and leaves. Soon after, Diem makes her way back to the king’s room where the guards tackle her to the floor and pull a knife on her. So much for not engaging. He scratches her neck with the knife but then Luther shows up. He repeats that he told them not to engage her, takes the knife that was used to scratch Diem, imbibes it with his magic, and stabs one of the guards with it. He then instructs the second guard to take the injured guard to the infirmary - where Luther will meet them and dish out his punishment as well. Once the guards leave, he explains that the people need to understand that his orders are to be obeyed. He then dismisses Maura and Diem for the day, I’m guessing Maura treated the king in the interim. On the way home, Maura is understandably furious with Diem. Diem has put her own life, as well as Maura’s life and Teller’s future, at risk. Maura announces that Diem will not be returning to the palace, she should have listened to Auralie. Afterward, Diem goes to the Guardians to tell them how she failed the mission. But Vance is still impressed that she was able to sneak away alone for a brief time and not get executed in the process. She reveals that she did get attacked and a guard cut her neck, but when she feels for the wound, her neck is completely healed already. She shows them the secret entrance to the palace; Vance gets even more excited. But he and his two advisors agree that she’s too inexperienced right now. Her plan for this mission was juvenile and poorly planned, they will train her some before giving her another mission. On the way home, Henri walks with her and proposes. He tells her that eventually she will be able to stay home and have kids, but Diem doesn’t want to do that… or give up her independence. She shakily asks for time to think, and he agrees but he’s so happy that it’s clear he thinks her answer will be yes. Maura is true to her word and does not allow Diem in the palace after the last debacle, taking Lana with her instead, but Diem does still get to treat Descended in Lumnos City. While there one day, she sees Lily again who stops to chat. Lily thanks Diem for saving her life and explains that Luther was impressed and asked about Diem afterward. She explains that Luther is a good man but puts a lot of pressure on himself to keep everyone safe since he is the High General of the Royal Guard. He takes it very personally any time someone is injured, and it makes him grumpy. She apologizes for Luther being mean to Diem that day but says she thinks that Luther trusts Diem because Diem was mean to him too, she thinks Luther kind of liked it. She asks Diem to come to dinner with her and Luther (and to bring Teller) but Diem doesn’t think that is possible. Instead, she tells Lily that she is always welcome at the Bellator house for dinner. That night at dinner with her dad and brother, Diem tells Teller that she invited Lily to dinner and gently teases him. Their dad doesn’t know Lily is Descended and is excited to hear that there’s someone Teller likes. In sibling fashion, Teller brings up Henri’s proposal and Diem admits that after three weeks she still hasn’t given him an answer. She asks her dad how he knew her mom was “the one” and he tells the kids the story. He had known of Auralie for a while, she was well regarded within the military even by those who weren’t healers. But he could never ask her out, he was too scared. One day Auralie left on a mission and was gone for a year. He swore if he saw her again, he wouldn’t let fear stop him. When she returned, he got nervous again but eventually asked and started courting her. But he could always tell there was something Auralie was hiding. Until one day she arrived at his door with Diem in her arms, explaining that Diem was her daughter and that they were leaving. She had wanted to give Andrei closure before she did, but instead of closure, he decided to come with them. He realized there was nowhere he’d rather be and nothing he wouldn’t do to protect them both. He knew Auralie was the one because… he just knew. As he cleans up their dishes with his kids reflecting on this, there’s an explosion at Lumnos City. He says it sounded like a bomb. Diem, racked with guilt thinking that she is the reason for it, runs to help anyone who is injured. She stops at the healer’s building and grabs supplies before running toward Lumnos City. On her way, she sees a group of men walking towards her - away from the explosions. Henri is with them and stops her from going further. Vance and some of the other Guardians she recognizes are there too and she has a flash of memory - Vance speaking with her mother. They tell her not to go; there should be no mortals there now in case it gives their activities away. Henri holds Diem by the arm; the other Guardians surround her. She feels like she is in danger and plays along with them long enough to be able to break away and run. But her pack is weighing her down and the Guardians are in pursuit, so she cuts her bag from her back and is able to get away, but now she has no supplies. Not that it matters, because when she gets to Lumnos City and to the blast site, they will not allow her in anyway. At least, not until she sees and goads Prince Luther into letting her help. The attack was only on the armory; no children were hurt but plenty of guards were. And all Diem can do with them is sit, she speaks to them and strokes any piece of skin that is not burned until the injured quiet and can be tended to by other healers. Luther says some may be sent to Fortos where the healers are more skilled. Diem is racked with guilt. She is the one that provided the armory blueprint to the Guardians, it was one of the papers she took from the Bennette office. She did this. She overhears Luther discuss with two others what to do next, they’ve come to a crossroads. There are only two doors into the armory, one has collapsed, and one is very unstable with an opening too small for descended to get through. They aren’t sure if anyone inside is still alive and the fire is still raging. But if they smother the fire, they will likely kill anyone inside that is not yet dead. Diem volunteers to go in and look, dragging any survivors back to the door so the Descended can pull them all out. The door is too unstable to chance opening it more than once. Luther agrees to her plan, but he is not happy about it. Diem goes into the still burning armory and finds only dead guards. Not from the fire or smoke, guards who were murdered. She collapses from the guilt after finding body after body inside. Men who may not have deserved this, may not have ever done anything to do deserve being killed. She’s on the ground for who knows how long until the voice inside her telling her to fight annoys her enough that she gets back up. That’s when she hears another voice, weak and asking for help. She finds a man named Perthe, trapped under a huge ceiling beam, with a second - injured and unconscious but still alive - man. There’s no way she can move both of them, let alone the beam that Perthe is under, and Perthe is too weak to help. But somehow, adrenaline makes her strong enough to shift the beam off of Perthe. She lays Perthe on the legs of his unconscious friend and pulls them both out, the voice encouraging her any time she thinks she can’t go further. She finally sees the opening and Luther waiting for her, but she’s too weak to keep going. Luther sends his magic in to pull her out gently, but she instead makes him take the two injured men first. He pulls them both to safety. Diem looks at Luther, having been touched by his magic now, and she sees the vision of herself in a battlefield again. But this time she’s not alone… Luther stands next to her. Just as he comes back to pull her out, a beam directly above her falls and everything goes black. Diem has snippets of memories. She knows everything hurts. She has a vague thought that Luther carried her out of the wreckage, even though he has other more important things to deal with, and took her to his cousin Eleanor. Memories of someone holding her hand and talking to her. When she wakes up, Diem is dressed in new clothes and her weapons are strapped to her body, Luther is sitting next to her bed and Sorae is outside making a terrible racket. He explains that the gryvern are bound to the rulers of the realms, whomever that may be. He believes that Sorae knows that the king is near death and is upset at the thought of being forced to serve someone she does not agree with. Diem tries to stand, and he warns her to be careful of her injuries and asks if he needs to call a healer for her, but she’s not injured. Just like the terribly wounded guards in the armory, most of which were able to heal at home without intervention, a handful were sent to Fortos, and only one died. But Diem claims she’s mortal, though Luther may have his doubts now. He asks her to see his uncle but when she does, she says there’s not much she or Maura can do for him any longer. He’s close to death, as Luther suspected. Sorae, who is outside his room, looks at Diem and Diem is drawn to her again, but Luther throws himself between the two of them, concerned for Diem’s safety. If Sorae attacked, only the king would be able to call her off and that’s not going to happen. He calmly asks Diem if she was working for the Guardians on the day that she “forgot her satchel”, explaining that the Guardians aren’t that discreet - he knows who they are and that they aren’t responsible for yesterday’s attack. Instead of answering, she retorts that she saw Luther talking to her mother the day Auralie went missing and asks what he did to her. He says he didn’t do anything to her mother, but they’re interrupted by two guards and Luther must leave to handle something. He asks Diem to stay, their conversation is not yet done, and allows her to stay in the king’s room unsupervised with her weapons - telling her not to betray his trust. There’s nothing Diem can do for the king except let him know that he’s not alone, so she places her palm on his wrist, and he wakes for just a moment. She believes he is having some sort of episode or hallucination as some do at the end of their lives. He begins to yell: they told him she would come for him, shatter their stone and lay waste to their borders. She sees the crown of Lumnos on Ulther’s head, made of light and shadows. She tries to calm him and assures Ulther she will get Luther but then a new voice speaks from the King’s mouth. A woman’s voice, older, unearthly. It calls her the “Daughter of the Forgotten”. She tells Diem to give Luther, her faithful heir, their gift. Diem is terrified and pulls her knife out, so obviously that’s when the guards come in, having heard the ruckus, followed by Luther. They search the king for wounds, which really offends Diem, and she storms out - followed by Luther. He asks her to give him five minutes, and she decides to speak to him, but only after she holds her Forosian dagger to his throat, cutting it a little. Luther kisses her, causing her to drop the dagger at their feet and he tells her they have a connection. He saw the vision too, and when he kisses her, he knows that she can feel his magic. Because he can feel hers. She’s no mortal. He asks her to continue to see the king, not as part of fulfilling her mother’s bargain - she doesn’t have to worry about fulfilling that. But Diem reveals she is giving up being a healer and turns away from him instead, leaving her dagger on the ground as she runs away. She heads directly to Maura to tell her what she’s decided, then to Henri. He starts by saying the Guardians are not pleased with her, but she is not happy with them either and insists they are no better if they are hurting innocent children to get what they want. Henri doesn’t see it that way. He tells her stories of other realms. In Ignios, they got rid of all the mortals by making them stand in the hot sun until they died - cruel and long. In Sophos, they invite clever mortals to study at their institutes and do experiments. When those are done, they experiment on the mortals themselves. Diem is disgusted by this information, disgusted with herself for feeling anything for the king or Luther, and she asks Henri to run away with her. He won’t and gives her one more piece of information. Her father Andrei has been called back into service, and he has accepted… he will report by the end of the month. Henri insists that Andrei is loyal to the Descended, just a puppet for their agendas. Diem returns home to find her dad waiting for her. He’s angry about Luther’s letter (he has worked closely with Ulther for a number of years and was never invited to stay the night, not to mention that her parents tried to keep Diem away from the palace, not working in it). She lets it slip that she healed Luther’s sister, who is Teller’s friend, which gets Teller in trouble for being so close to a Descended. So, Diem turns the tables on her father and reveals that she knows that he’s enlisted again and hasn’t told them. He tells her war has been declared, the request is just a formality. He wouldn’t have been allowed to say no. But she and Teller will be fine with Diem working… whoops. She tells him she quit. So, her dad says to marry Henri. Then things really get heated. She won’t marry anyone she does not choose herself and she is sick of being told what to do. The voice in her head urges her to fight, she can’t ignore it any longer, and she lashes out at her dad with her words. She accuses him of knowing where their mother is and not looking for her. It devolves into Diem saying he’s not her real father and him kicking her out of the house. She runs out, Teller following her. The voice won’t stop, but now it begs to be freed. Demands to be freed. Diem can hear Sorae crying out and suddenly, she relinquishes herself to the voice. Teller gasps, Diem is now wearing the Crown of Lumnos. Somewhere else, Diem’s mother waits. It has been almost seven months that she has been here, waiting for the king to die. It’s been longer than she expected. She has a plan that she is putting into effect, one only three people know about. Fewer still know where she is. This is the same place she stayed in during her long absence during the war. This is where she had Diem. But Diem’s father is no longer here. She believes that she killed him when she left last time. Auralie goes to a large stone dais bearing a ten-pointed star. Ten obelisks. Burning fires inside cauldrons on top of nine of them. While she stands there, the ground shakes. She falls and hits her hand on the stone sitting on the pedestal in the center of the star. Where she hits it, the skin immediately swells and blisters - it’s agonizingly painful. She looks at the onyx obelisk, watches as the fire there goes out, the cauldron now only smoking. The symbol on the obelisk, a crescent moon with a sun, goes dark. The King of Lumnos is dead. In a month, she can return home. She watches as two beams of light shoot from the sky straight to the stone on the pedestal. In Lumnos City, Luther takes off his shirt, where Diem has left a bloody handprint, and folds it so the handprint is still visible before placing it in his drawer. Soon he is interrupted by his cousin, who has heard that a woman stayed in Luther’s room and wants all the details. They walk together to the king’s rooms. While there, the king starts to choke, and Luther sends his cousin to get his brother Aemonn and Luther’s sister Lily. Ulther is uncle to all of them. But while his cousin is gone, the king wakes for just a moment. He instructs Luther to find the girl with the gray eyes and points to Luther’s sword, which Luther believes is an instruction to use it on her. Then when Ulther dies, Luther notices his own brow remains crownless. Instead, a ray of light beams from the sky elsewhere in the city. He knows intuitively that it is Diem. He now needs to find the new Queen of Lumnos.
Ready? The Crown of Lumnos floats above Diem’s head. She believes she’s hallucinating, but her brother Teller can see the crown too. Diem runs to the shoreline. Soon, Lily shows up behind them. Diem had invited her for dinner. Lily can also see the crown and she’s very confused, asking what color Diem’s eyes are. They’re gray. Lily is astounded and tells Diem that she needs to tell Luther about her eyes. Diem doesn’t think so. Lily and Teller, who is the only mortal to be allowed to attend the Descended school, explain that in order to become queen, Diem will have to take part in the Rite of Coronation on the island Coeurile in the middle of the Sacred Sea. For thirty days before that, there will be the Period of Challenging. If anyone thinks she is incapable of ruling, they can challenge her for the crown in a duel to the death. Teller thinks she may be a Descended. They’re only half-siblings through their mom, she’s tall like the Descended, and strong, and she doesn’t get sick or bleed from wounds usually. At least not since her visions started. She asks Teller not to tell their dad right away, see if he can find anything in his textbooks that may help her get rid of the Crown. Lily offers to help too. She will show Diem to the hunting lodge. It’s on the grounds of the castle but secluded and no one can go there without the Crown’s permission. And that’s her now. Lily promises to bring dry clothes back for Diem once she’s safely ensconced in the lodge, but Lily betrays her and Luther shows up instead. He’s angry and has his sword in his hand. Diem invites him in anyway. He accuses her of killing the King, the guards heard an argument when Diem was alone with him only moments before he died and Diem disappeared. Luther accuses her of flirting with him to get into the palace, a ploy hatched by her and her mother. He asks how long she’s known that she was Descended, but Diem still insists that she is mortal. She swears she didn’t kill the King but won’t tell Luther what Ulther. He tells her she should come to the palace. Sorae the gryvern will not stand being separated from Diem for long, she will track Diem down and his family will follow her. Better for Diem to show up on her own terms and with her secrets intact. She agrees to go with him. She realizes that Luther’s horse seems familiar, because Henri explained what the horse looked like to her. It’s the same horse that Henri saw ride over a mortal child, killing him. That must have been Luther. Diem feels rage. She wants the Descended destroyed, all of them. Maybe she will take the throne after all. When they arrive at the palace, Sorae comes to greet Diem. Luther explains that Lily has gathered his family for her to meet all at once, he figured it would be easier that way. He offers to delay the meeting for a few days, she says no. he does tell her one thing she takes to heart: tell his family as little as possible about herself, her family, and especially her mother. Diem should have taken Luther up on his offers. There are at least a hundred people waiting for her - the Corbois family. Luther introduces his dad Remis, the prior king’s younger brother and Regent until her coronation, and Remis’ wife Avana. Remis introduces his eldest brother Garath (Warden of the Shadows), Garath’s wife Freah, and their sons Taran and Aemonn. Taran is one of the Descended that was with Luther during the fire and Aemonn is a terrible flirt - but Diem flirts back just to annoy Luther. She also meets Eleanor, who is enthusiastic and bubbly, and Alixe, who was also at the armory fire and believed Diem could save those trapped even when Luther did not. When the initial introductions, it comes out that Diem was raised by mortals, and she doesn’t know who her father is. They will want evidence that she is a Descended, but Diem says that’s going to be hard to get since her adopted dad doesn’t know who her birth father was and her mom is missing. Then Luther voices an idea. What if she claimed House Corbois as her own? They have a lot of dead cousins that could be her dad. This would allow them to keep their claim as Royal family and continue using their residences, which mostly belong to the Crown, while giving her some protection from the other families. Garath doesn’t like the idea, calling her a half-breed, but Taran, Eleanor, and Alixe come to Diem’s defense. Diem agrees to think about it. As the others leave, Diem chastises Lily for betraying her promise and betraying her queen by telling Luther that Diem was at the hunting lodge. She also asks Lily to find a way to sneak Teller into the palace the next day and Lily promises not to tell anyone - except maybe Luther. Luther is grateful that Diem did not punish the girl and compliments Diem on how she handled the meeting. When Luther mentioned that Diem not having a House could be dangerous, he wanted to warn her of the danger. He offers to arrange discreet meetings with the other Houses if she does not want House Corbois. She asks if he had a happy childhood there and he explains that he was never really a child, he was raised to be the next king. But all of his memories take place in the palace, and some of those are happy. Aemonn approaches and apologizes for his father’s behavior (Luther thinks this is ironic, he’s heard Aemonn say the same things). He offers to give Diem a tour the next day and she accepts - mostly because she can tell he and Luther do not like each other. Luther takes Diem to the suite she will sleep in until the Royal suite is prepared for her. She asks if he’s disappointed that he is not king and he explains that he’s always felt it was his duty to serve the Crown, not be the Crown. He shows her that his room is close by, and that hers is guarded by four guards. She asks if he would have killed her if she really had killed the King, and he retorts that if he wanted her dead (as she keeps implying), then she would be dead. A voice inside her head demands that she fight. She grabs a dagger and he brings it right to his chest. It won’t cut him since it’s not Fortosian steel and her Fortosian blade was dropped when he kissed her before. He has it at his belt. He asks what it is going to take for her to trust him. She attacks him and he proves that he could kill her by disarming her several times - it’s only when Sorae goes crazy that he ends their fight and Diem calms the gryvern. She demands that he tell her where her mother is. He agrees to tell her what he can the next day. When she enters her room and hears Luther yell at her guards. They just watched someone attack their queen and did nothing. That better never happen again, and it doesn’t matter who her attacker is, whether it be him or Lumnos herself. After Diem has had a bath, she hears Luther knocking on her door. He’s brought her a bunch of Fortosian weapons so she can protect herself, and he gives her dagger back. Diem wakes up to someone walking around her room and attacks, before realizing it’s Eleanor. Luther asked her to bring Diem some clothes to wear and not wake her, but Eleanor thought Diem might want some company. She helps get Diem ready and Diem realizes that Eleanor helped her when she was recovering from her fire. Luther had been fussing over Diem’s health so much then that it was flustered Eleanor. She offers to help Diem navigate the unspoken rules of society, regardless of whether or not Diem chooses the Corbois House, and Diem makes Eleanor her advisor. At lunch, Diem asks Eleanor about the uncles Garath and Remis - they don’t really get along because Garath thinks he should have been Regent as he’s older. Remis has been acting as the Crown since his brother lost consciousness, many people think he had something to do with it but Eleanor doesn’t buy it. Remis was in no hurry to have Luther on the throne. Diem asks Eleanor why she’s so willing to help and Eleanor explains that she’s been looking for a way to matter. Aemonn interrupts their lunch for his tour with Diem. Luther sees them and glowers quite a bit. Diem tries to ignore the flutters it causes in her stomach. Aemonn leads Diem into the gardens where Luther cannot see them and asks to be her escort to the Ascension Ball. He explains that the ball will take place the day after the King’s funeral and will be a formal introduction to the Houses of Lumnos. Usually, she would be escorted to the ball by her spouse but since she is unmarried, Aemonn would like the honor. Something inside her is causing her to back away from him. She stutters that she’s not technically unattached and tells him about Henri’s proposal. Aemonn advises her that Henri might not be the best option for her. Mortals don’t live anywhere near as long the Descended and the Houses would be furious, they would all challenge her, not to mention that any children she had with Henri had would be sentenced to death. It is forbidden Descended and mortals to have children together. She needs to go speak to Luther. Aemonn thinks that’s a good idea. After all, Luther is the Keeper of the Laws; it was his job to enforce the King’s laws. It was his job to ensure those children were disposed of. When Diem gets back to the palace, she can’t find Luther (probably for the best since she’s fuming), but Lily says she was able to sneak Teller in. She hid him in the dungeons. They head down and Diem gives Teller a huge hug. She asks if he’s found anything about relinquishing the Crown but everything he’s read says it only passes through death. She tells Teller about the offer from the Corbois family, and he admits it’s smart for both sides. He and Lily give her some more information about the Challenging. If more than one House issues a challenge to her, the regent chooses the strongest contender, and they fight to the death using magic only. The ball is the official start of the Period of Challenging. Luther comes in (Lily forgot to close the door leading to the dungeons) and she yells at him. Luther asks if Diem is always so quick to anger. Teller says recently yes, but only as her magic appeared. That makes sense, her magic is pent up and demanding to be released. When young Descended cannot soothe their magic, which they call their godhood, they get very angry. Luther says that Diem needs to burn off some of her magic before it overwhelms her - and Lily and Teller should not be around when she does. They leave. Diem knows she used to be different - happy, joyful, quick to smile. She wants that back. Luther demands that she use her magic or he will attack her. Diem refuses to use any magic, continuing to insist that she doesn’t have any. Luther tells Diem to keep lying, like how she lies about the fact that she kissed him back, how they both liked the kiss. He attacks her, which she avoids but he keeps coming. She accuses him of killing all of the children of mixed parentage. She asks if he denies it, asking again and again until he screams that he does deny it. Does she really think he’s capable of doing that? She has so many reasons to hate him, but he asks her if that’s really true or if that’s just easier than confronting the truth about herself. He tells her to stop being such a coward. Diem is shaking in rage, she begins to float. A white sphere of energy surrounds her. Diem sees Luther smiling broadly at her. She explodes as she begins to scream. Luther creates shield after shield of shadows that he places around her, but she blasts right through them. When she’s done, she crouches on the floor. Luther is battered and bloody, his clothes and magic in tatters. And he is smiling so widely at her with no mask on, just genuine emotion. She’s so strong! He asks if she’s feeling better but all she can think is that there is no denying what she is now. That she will live for hundreds of years, watching as those she loves age and die. Then she will be completely alone. She turns to Luther and quietly says that she accepts his offer to be a Corbois… on one condition. He must promise to protect her friends and family for as long as they live, even if she dies in the Challenging. He softly asks her what’s wrong, looking at her so tenderly, but she just asks him again to promise. She begins to cry and he promises her that he will protect them. When she wakes up, she feels empty. Luther arrives with food and she lets him in. She admits that he was right about the release making her feel better. He tries to explain that he didn’t mean what he said the day before, it was only to provoke her. She asks why he feels differently today, usually she can feel his magic, and he explains that he drained it trying to protect everyone from her yesterday. She admits that she’s empty too, but he tells her she’s not even close. Weaker than normal, yes, but still stronger than any other Descended that Luther has ever met. Not every Descended can feel the magic of others, only the strongest of them. He tells her about King Ulther’s funeral in a few days. She will be expected to attend but she doesn’t need to speak to anyone until the ball, she tells him about Aemonn. She admits that she told Aemonn about Henri and Luther asks if it’s true that she’s betrothed - she’s not sure Henri will even want to marry her anymore when he finds out she’s Descended. Luther assures her that he will convince Aemonn to keep the information about Henri to himself. Diem asks if she must go forward with the Challenging and Luther explains that it is up to her. It is a recent invention to bring the Houses in line with the Crown. Before they had the Challenging, there were a lot of assassinations. Now, if a ruler is challenged and wins, the Houses must swear to acknowledge their rule. Luther gets the feeling that Diem has a lot of plans, she will need the backing of the Houses to get anything done. And whatever Diem’s plans are, Luther wants to help. He reminds Diem that her mother trusted him. No, Diem’s mom blackmailed him. But Luther explains that he helped her mom far before Auralie ever discovered his secrets. Luther needs to know what Diem knows about her mom already. He made a promise to Auralie not to tell Diem certain things but if Diem already knows them, he will know what exactly he can tell her. He’s amazed that she was able to keep Diem’s identity a secret for so long. He knew what she was the moment he met her. Diem knows about the bargain she and Luther made that allowed Teller to attend the school in exchange for their mom serving the King of the rest of her life. And that Auralie and Luther argued the day she disappeared, that she threatened to expose Luther’s secrets. Diem doesn’t know Luther’s secret, or how her mom found it, or who she was working with. Turns out, Diem doesn’t know anything. Luther cannot tell Diem anything without betraying his promise to her mom. Diem grabs his shirt and begs him to tell her something. He holds Diem to him and explains that there the bargain between him and her mother was just a pretense so that Teller could attend the school without anyone asking questions, the King didn’t even know about it. But then Luther caught Diem’s mom spying. He was furious at her betrayal, but they had mutual goals so instead of punishing Auralie, he allowed her to continue working in the palace and even helped her collect information. The day that Diem saw them arguing, Auralie had asked for Luther’s help to reach a place that mortals are forbidden to visit. He won’t tell Diem where that is. She can banish him, whip him, exile him, he will accept whatever punishment his queen gives him, but he does not break his promises. Diem breaks away from him and asks him to leave. Before he goes, he makes Diem another promise. If her mom does not return by the end of year in two months, he will personally go get her and bring her to Diem. Diem thinks about what Luther said and how to tell her dad and Henri that she’s the new queen. Diem asks Eleanor to tell her about the important cousins. Diem is already familiar with Aemonn, who is very popular with the ladies and ambitious, but weak in magic. He could be useful because he’s very familiar with the other Houses and always has gossip, but he does not give information freely. Taran is the complete opposite and could not care less about court scheming. He is powerful but has no interest in power. Lily is sweet but naïve, and very eager to please her parents. She may agree to a marriage to make them happy, though Luther will not allow her to be forced into something. Alixe grew up around soldiers since her dad is high up in the Emarion Army. She’s just as ambitious as Aemonn but more eager to earn it. As for Luther, he’s so buried in his duty that there’s no room for anything else. He’s had the weight of the crown on his shoulders since even before his magic started to manifest. But she thought Diem already knew that, Eleanor thought Luther was her advisor since they seemed close. Diem insists that no, her only advisor is Eleanor! Eleanor is the only person she feels she can trust so far. Eleanor is moved, no one ever believed she had anything to offer before. She leaves to visit friends. Diem wanders for a while before she is found by Remis. It seems he’s been looking for an audience, but Luther has been keeping him away. He officially welcomes her to House Corbois and Diem antagonizes him on purpose. He explains that the younger generations may be eager to assist her, but the older ones have lots of sage advice if she’s willing to hear it. That’s fair. Remis brings up needing a strategy for the House Receptions, when she will meet the heads of each of the Twenty Houses. It’s an important step toward fending off a challenge that she didn’t know about. Remis is surprised, he thought Luther would have told her (he’s trying to place a wedge between Diem and Luther). Diem agrees to meet with Remis tomorrow before walking off, not realizing she’s in a servant’s passage before it’s too late to change paths. Soon enough, she hears two servants gossiping about her. Diem slips into the mailroom to avoid them. After making her way through the door and back outside, she notices who is standing right in front of her: Henri. She watches the emotions flit across his face. Worry, confusion, realization, anger. People are beginning to notice how Henri looks like he hates Diem. She asks him, as a courier, to come get a package from her office and he follows her inside, at least willing to listen to her. They pass a room where people are arguing, Aemonn laughs as Luther pins him against the wall. Diem tries to hurry Henri past, but Henri stares inside. That’s the man he saw run the child down. Diem is disappointed, she had held on to some hope that it hadn’t been Luther but now that hope is dashed. After pushing Henri into the first empty room she finds, Diem explains that she didn’t know she was Descended until yesterday. It must be from her biological father. Henri asks about the flameroot. Suddenly, it all makes sense. When the hallucinations started, Diem hadn’t told anyone but her mom what she had hallucinated about. How she was able to cast light into patterns on the ceiling or drape the shadows around herself like a cloak. Her mom had started giving her the flameroot powder right after. Her mom knew she was Descended. Desperate to keep anything from her past, she tells Henri that she still loves him and will marry him if he’s willing. In fact, there’s a ball coming in a few days, he should escort her. A ball in which all the Houses will be in attendance? What a great time to attack! That’s not what she wanted. She reminds him that she will be queen, and he admits that a Guardian Queen is too good an opportunity to waste. He kisses her. He will be the first mortal king. He carries her to the bed and starts to undress when Luther clears his throat from the door. Diem tells Henri he should leave. Henri throws a little fit - he’s going to be king, Luther should be taking his orders! But soon he’s escorted out by a guard. Once Henri is gone, Diem rounds on Luther. This is none of his business. He counters that as queen, this is everyone’s business. It has nothing to do with their kiss and everything to do with when asking him to persuade Aemonn to forget about Henri. Also, she shouldn’t get confused, when he kisses her there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Luther is claiming her. She doesn’t respond to this, only asking if Aemonn agreed. He did, for a price. To be her escort to the ball. That’s going to be a problem, she just asked Henri to come. Luther is fuming and can’t talk here, so he takes her hand and leads Diem to his room. She realizes this is where she was after the fire. She was in his bed as she recovered. She sees a bunch of depictions of the goddess Lumnos. When Luther comes back from a side room, he explains that Lumnos saved his life once when he was a child and he has made it his mission to serve her ever since. Luther hands Diem a book of sketches and descriptions of children. He wasn’t killing the half-mortal children; he was smuggling them out. It is a list of all the children he found, whether he could help them or not, including their names, parents, and what happened to them. Evidence of his treason. Even if Diem pardoned him, others would make sure he paid for what is in this book with his life. Near the back, the children were not so lucky and were not delivered safely. He explains that those were the children he failed. Diem asks if this is how he knew her mother and he answers yes. Sometimes if he couldn’t get to a child quickly enough, Auralie would do it for him. She would at times escort them. But this is not why Auralie is missing. Luther wanted Diem to see this so that she knew he does not say the next thing because of prejudice. It is not safe for Henri to marry her. Spouses of the Crown have been killed for less than being mortal. If Henri accompanied her to the ball, he would be killed soon after. Luther does not want to see another person in Lumnos killed because of their bloodline. If Diem truly loves Henri, then wait till she is coronated and Luther will help her. He apologizes for his confusion, clearly it was only him that kissed her, and it won’t happen again. Diem has another question: if her mother was helping him, why did she threaten to expose Luther? Much like her daughter, Auralie had a habit of making threats she had no intention of going through with. They did not always get along, but he respected her. Diem tells him she will accept Aemonn’s proposal. Diem writes Henri a letter telling him it’s not safe for him to come to the ball but assuring him that she still wants the future they discussed. Diem wants to speak to her father, but Luther insists it’s not safe now. He asks her to wait until after the ball and she reluctantly agrees. Later that day, she slips back into the dungeons to meet Teller and Lily. They talk about Luther’s titles. He’s in charge of the Royal Guard, Keeper of the Laws, and is Warden of the Light - meaning that he acts as the Crown’s representative in public. Garath is the Warden of the Shadows, acting in the Crown’s interest in private matters. If they do something, it is assumed it is on the Crown’s best interest. Remis, on the other hand, only has that sort of power when the Crown is indisposed. Teller asks if Diem was able to do magic yesterday and she admits that she was. After a moment of pride and excitement, Teller realizes what that means. Diem asks Lily to give them a moment and the siblings hug and cry. Once they’re calm, Diem asks him to get intel on the Houses and what they’re tolerant of, especially when I’m comes to mortals and those of mixed parentage. Luther begins to bring Diem breakfast in the mornings and gives her a morning report. She realizes during one meeting that she likes Luther. There is tension between them. He got a lecture from his father about all the things he’s been keeping from his Queen, and he explains he was trying not to overwhelm her. Finally, Diem walks away, she’s had enough people running her life for her. She doesn’t need another. He apologizes. They discuss the House Receptions coming up. The Heads of the Houses and the Crown Council will be in attendance, Ulther’s Council will be used until she appoints her own. She doesn’t want Garath, but Luther tells her he knows the Houses better than anyone else, he would be valuable, but Aemonn doesn’t add much. Lily would’ve been on Ulther’s Council when she became of age, he only had his brothers and their children as his Council. Diem wants Eleanor included; she’s the only person she’s appointed as an advisor. Luther approves of this and makes another suggestion: Alixe. She’s respected with the army but is also a member of the Royal Guard, she would be an asset. Diem agrees to think about it, but she has her dad as war council. Luther escorts her to her meeting with Remis. They see Alixe and another of the Royal Guard, Ileana Hanoverre. Turns out, she’s one of the Guard’s top commanders. Ileana asks Luther for a private conversation, and he doesn’t want to give it to her, but agrees after Diem tells him to go talk. Ileana and Luther courted on and off for years, it was assumed that he would marry her before taking the throne and sealing the alliance between their families. Then a month ago, Luther broke it off for good. Alixe didn’t know why. Alixe tells Diem that all the guards at the palace are part of House Corbois. Alixe asks if she could hear stories about Diem’s dad sometime and Diem offers to let them meet in person; Alixe would be honored! Then, having enough of Ileana, Diem leaves. Soon, she hears Luther jogging to catch up. He explains that he thought Ileana would have given up on him since he’s no longer going to be king. He explains that Descended mates are for life. You do not choose one if you do not think they will stay with you forever - no matter what the circumstances. Hopefully you have friends like his, who will tell you when your emotions are clouding your judgement before you make a huge mistake. Diem asks him if Eleanor is trustworthy. She is, and she’s cleverer than his family gives her credit for. Diem asks if Luther were her friend and nothing more, what would he say about Henri. If she’s not sure that Henri will love her through anything, then he doesn’t deserve her. Soon they get to the meeting with Remis and Remis dismisses Luther. Luther does not want to leave Diem alone with his father, but Remis points out that as Regent, he is the Crown until Diem is coronated. Luther leaves. Remis apologizes for Luther’s impertinence. Diem feels the need to defend him but says nothing. Talk turns to the Receptions. Diem admits she will need Remis’ help; his council will be very helpful in both the meetings and choosing her advisors. The Houses do not have much benefit from issuing a challenge - they may lose the most powerful member of their House and make House Corbois their enemy. These meetings will decide if a challenge will be issued or not. The other Houses would only bring a challenge if they thought that Diem would endanger the Houses. There are certain topics that would be considered a risk to them all. She needs to assure the others that those topics are not a concern. Remis goes on to tell Diem that the Houses may require a bonded bargain, in which both parties agree that if their portion of the agreement is not fulfilled, they lose their magic. If the bargain is never fulfilled, they never get their power back. One of the hot topics is the mortals. Rebel attacks have been increasing. Some people believe that Ulther was soft on mortals. Many believe that they should close the borders to mortals and limit the movement of the mortals who are already there, Diem could also potentially outlaw relationships between the two groups, which Ulther refused to do. Diem knows she must tread lightly. Luther already warned her to tell his family as a little as possible about her or her plans. She explains that keeping the realm safe is her most important priority, anyone who takes innocent lives will be dealt with. She tells Remis that if he gives good counsel, he may get a larger role in the government going forward. Currently, he is only the Regent, which gives him little power outside of when the Crown is indisposed. It irks Remis that he doesn’t have more power. If Remis can control the Twenty Houses and show Diem that both of their interests can be protected, then perhaps a larger role could be provided. Remis has an idea: when they go into these Receptions, Diem should let the other Houses believe that he is in charge and she is only a figure head until after the Challenging. If they ask her any questions, defer them to Remis. Diem shows him how impressed she is with his plan. He also advises her to take one of their family as her attendant to the ball. She asks who he recommends and at first it looks like he’s going to suggest Luther, but then he changes it to Aemonn. Aemonn is loyal to the House, and Garath may be persuaded to assist Diem if he thinks she is attached to his son. Remis doesn’t know she’s already agreed to be escorted by Aemonn, so she again congratulates him on his cleverness and agrees to his plan. She learns that Remis doesn’t actually have any strong principles, the only thing he cares about is himself. Before she leaves, Remis asks her for a bonded bargain. She agrees to claim his House for the length of her reign and in exchange, the House will not raise a challenge against her. Remis will not support or encourage any other Houses to raise a challenge. After thinking about it for a moment, Diem agrees. They have to give an offering of blood to seal their agreement as well as a drop of their magic. After the agreement is made, Remis impresses upon her the importance of keeping their bargain a secret. Some people may learn about it and challenge her specifically to take Remis’ magic from him. He tells her about her new Corbois father: Harold - who had no spouse or siblings and was born just before his parents died. He died just a month before Diem was born. She wonders if Harold even existed a few days ago. Diem prepares for Ulther’s funeral. She has been moved into the Crown’s suite but has been so concerned about the upcoming Receptions that she hasn’t asked a single question about what to expect at the funeral. Luther had breakfast with her that morning and gave her a general overview, but now she is trying to figure out what to wear. She decides to wear a plain black dress, although the back is very low cut. Sorae does not agree with her choice, but Diem is not about to take fashion advice from a bird. She flies on Sorae to the funeral and Diem immediately realizes that maybe she should’ve taken the bird’s advice, because nearly everybody else is wearing red. She lands in the center of the funeral to lay a log on the pyre. She can hear people talking. Sorae can too and after Diem dismounts, she bows her head to Diem. Luther immediately follows suit, followed by Lily, and then their cousins Taran and Alixe. Finally, the rest of the House bows before it ripples through the entire arena. But several people glare at Diem as they bow. Diem whispers thank you to Sorae before the gryvern flies off. Diem looks at Ulther. Her entire life she blamed the King for the way the mortals were treated, but after her conversation with Remis, she’s wondering if the King wasn’t the reason that their situation was not much worse. She prepares to enter a seating area, and Luther comes to escort her, but Remis stops him and the two argue for a moment. The crowd is noticing so Diem shakes her head slightly at Luther and he steps back. She walks alone until she reaches Remis and Luther. They greet her, along with Garath. Remis points out that they had prepared a seat of honor for her next to his own, two wooden thrones next to each other at the top of the dais. But Luther suggests that perhaps Garath should take Diem’s place, she may be more comfortable sitting with the family. She jumps at the chance. Luther leads Diem to a row and sits her between himself and Taran. Taran jokes with her. She decides that she likes him quite a lot. Luther, however, gets a bit jealous. That makes her laugh as well, and Taran proclaims that Luther is no longer his favorite cousin - Diem is. Luther reminds him that they’re at a funeral and also that his favorite cousin is actually Eleanor. Speaking of Eleanor, Diem notices that she has been crying. Eleanor blames herself for not telling Diem what to wear and believes that she has lost her chance of being the Diem’s advisor. That she’s lost her chance of being found worthy. Luther is irate, this is a huge mistake for Eleanor to have made! Wearing red honors Kindred blood and they wear jewelry to reflect light, representing the glow of the afterlife. Only mortals wear black to funerals. Diem wearing black could be seen as a show of loyalty to the mortals. Not a good look as she’s about to go into the Receptions. Eleanor offers to step down as her advisor, but Diem refuses to hear it. She asks Eleanor if she did this on purpose (no) and if she would do it differently if she were to do it again (yes). Diem argues that maybe this has made Eleanor a better advisor and says the mistake has been forgotten. She turns to Luther and glares at him, saying that she doesn’t fire people for mistakes. But Luther points out that she’s yet unchallenged and honest mistakes could get her killed. He gets up to give his eulogy, bothered by the look of her legs again when she flashes some thigh haughtily. It seems to Diem that the funeral takes forever. But at least Taran is next to her to keep her entertained. He reveals that Challenges take place in the same arena as the funeral – they’ll only wear red if they think Diem will die. It’s a time saver. Luther proclaims that Diem will not die, he will not allow it, he will use any tools in his disposal to ensure she is coronated. He promises, and he doesn’t break his promises. Soon he goes back up to the podium to read a poem that Ulther’s mate Rapheol wrote just after Ulther was coronated. Rapheol was killed less than a month later by a rival House. As Ulther received the Crown, that House cheated him. Not wanting to look weak due to upcoming Challenges, he hit them hard. He shut down the entire House, demanding they leave the realm, join another House, or be Unhoused. One of that House’s elders poisoned Rapheol and offered to give Ulther an antidote if he reinstated her House. She demanded a bonded bargain in which he agreed not to punish her or her House for the poisoning. Ulther agreed and she gave him an antidote, but not the correct one. Rapheol still died. Unable to exact his revenge himself without losing his magic, Remis and Garath did it for him. They killed every member of that House, including the children. Ulther also only appointed his brothers and their children to his council and banned anyone who was not a Corbois from working in the palace. She asks if Luther was involved, but Eleanor tells her that this was before he was born. Even so, Taran is offended that she thinks Luther could do something like that. Ulther never remarried since he was mated to Rapheol. The Descended marry like mortals do, but a mating ceremony is something more. The mating bond can be done by any two Descended, but it will only work if their love is genuine and unconditional. Once mated, they are bound for eternity and can never love anyone else even if their spouse dies. It changes you physically, making you two halves of one whole. If you’re apart too long, your magic grows weak. They can sense the other’s emotions. Both Taran and Eleanor find this concept incredibly romantic. The bond is sacred and respected by all Descended in all realms. During the ceremony, you give a small amount of blood and make your commitment, if your love is found worthy then the magic does the rest. Many times, the bond doesn’t take. And it has happened where one half of the couple becomes mated while the other half does not. They’re called stranded mates and it’s the worst fate Eleanor can think of. But no one in House Corbois is mated. Garath has told them they’d be exiled if they were mated without his consent. This upsets Diem. She may not want to be mated but it doesn’t mean the opportunity should be taken away from others. When Luther comes back, Taran announces that Diem will allow the Corbois to be mated. Diem tells him to make sure to invite her to his ceremony with Ileana. Ileana and her family only wanted her to be Queen and his own father wanted an alliance. Luther didn’t want her then and he doesn’t now. What he wants now, he cannot have. Soon, their laughter causes Garath to storm over and give the four of them a stern talking to. Luther stands up to him; Descended funerals are for celebration and Ulther would have appreciated their laughter. Garath wonders if Luther has stationed himself close to Diem so he can kill her like he did Ulther. Diem can feel Luther’s anger. She nearly defends him, but Luther stops her by grasping her thigh tightly. Garath knows all about striking his own family down. Taran gives Luther a warning, looking betrayed. Aemonn only sees Luther’s hand on Diem’s thigh. Garath blames Luther for the missteps that Diem made today so Diem stands up and loudly tells him that she makes her own choices. Including who will be her wardens. Garath points out that she will only choose Wardens if she makes it to her coronation. When Garath sits back down, Luther advises her to act unbothered. He brushes her neck and shoulder with her thumb so quickly she may have imagined it. But he leans close and whispers that Garath is dangerous. He won’t strike at Luther without Remis’ blessing, but Diem does not have that protection. She might have just made the wrong enemy. After the funeral, Diem demands to know what Luther meant about Garath being cruel to those weaker than him. When they were young, his sons would show up at school with burns and lacerations. Eleanor heard that the King made it stop, but no one really knew for sure. As for his wife, Eleanor doesn’t know if Freah is loyal or terrified. Eleanor wants to know what’s going on between Diem and Luther. He can’t keep her hands off of her – and he has the most self-control of anyone Eleanor’s ever seen. Plus, Diem is getting jealous over Ileana. And Luther smiles at her an awful lot. Diem insists that Luther is just trying to be named her advisor. Besides, she already has a fiancé. Eleanor quickly realizes that Diem is talking about another mortal. She’s horrified. Diem realizes that Luther was right. No one will accept a mortal consort. They announce that Diem will light the funeral pyre. That’s not in the script; her part is supposed to be finished. Garath smugly tells her that it is the highest honor, one that was awarded to him, but he gave it up as a gift to the new queen. Remis escorts her to the pyre, followed by Garath and Luther. They expect her to light the pyre magically. The smallest spark should light it. She’s afraid of hurting someone since she doesn’t have control of her magic but is told that there is a magical barrier protecting the crowd. The three of them will go behind it as well. Before leaving, Luther grabs her hand. She can do this, just do the same thing as in the dungeon. But she doesn’t know how she did it in the dungeon! If she accepts the magic, it will answer her call. Prove to everyone here what he already knows: that Diem is a force to be reckoned with. She begins to glow. He salutes her and backs away behind the shield, grinning. She begins to gather her power but then she sees the mortals in black at the back of the arena. She recognizes Maura, who is looking directly at Diem’s father. He’s crying. The last thing that Diem said to him was that he was not her father. Now that is clearer than ever, and she’s made him cry. She’s never seen him cry. All the power goes out of her, and she crumbles to the ground. Luther tries to rush to her but is held back by his father and uncle. Sorae flies down and lights the pyre herself. Diem is reminded of the night she went into the armory. Of the vision she saw when she looked at Luther. Now she hears his voice, telling her to ride back in Sorae, he will follow as soon as he can. She tells him that her father is in the crowd. He will bring her dad to her, but she needs to go now. He helps Diem mount the gryvern and gives Sorae orders. Do not let anyone that Diem distrusts near her. Luckily, Sorae’s perch attaches to Diem’s suite. Sorae flies her home as quickly as possible and Diem falls asleep on a couch. Luther comes in a little while later with her father, who is shocked to see the Crown hovering above her head. They talk alone and he admits he had his suspicions that she was Descended when her eyes changed, but it was her mother’s choice to give her the flameroot. She argues that as his daughter, he should have protected her even if from her own mother. They apologize for what they said during their last argument. He admits he doesn’t know who her biological father is. He assures her that this doesn’t change how he feels about her. He will always love her. He’s also heard about the Challenges, but she will survive them, he taught her how to battle. She admits that she’s made a deal with Remis to claim House Corbois and her dad is happy to hear it. He doesn’t trust Remis but would rather have him as Diem’s ally. She needs powerful advisors. She asks him to be an advisor for her, but he doesn’t think that’s a good idea. He only advised Ulther in private. The Descended would not like him on her council. She begs him, she needs someone she can trust, and he relents. She asks what he knows about her mom’s disappearance. He was told she had a mission that would take her away for a long time without any communication but had promised to let him know before she left. He doesn’t know if that is what she’s doing or not. Soon they’re interrupted by Luther and Alixe, who is excited to meet the famed Commander Andrei Bellator. Alixe will take him home when they’re ready. Alixe manipulates the light around him, making Andrei invisible. Diem admits that she likes Alixe, and Luther was happy to see that she got along well with Taran. They’ve been loyal to each other since childhood and there’s little Taran doesn’t know about Luther. In fact, he and Alixe are the only two other people in Lumnos that help him save the children. She reveals that she asked her dad to come to the House Receptions. Luther doesn’t think it’s a bad idea, but it is dangerous. Especially after the funeral today. He was worried about her at the funeral. She remembers everything that Eleanor said about how Luther reacts to her and she thinks about their kiss. Luther notices the change in her and pulls her to him. He puts his hand on her back where her dress dips very low. She remembers what he said about wanting something he can’t have. She grabs his shirt and they almost kiss, but she hugs him instead. He holds her and she asks him why he’s helping her. He almost gets to answer her but a knock on the door has them separating. It’s Eleanor and Taran. They come in and comfort her in their own ways. Diem realizes that she’s made friends of the people she swore to destroy. She admits she can’t control her magic, and Luther announces that she needs to train. They all agree to train her. They also agree it would be good for the others to get to know her the younger Corbois cousins, who will all be at cousin dinner tonight. She’ll think about coming. Before the three cousins leave, Diem pulls him away and kisses his cheek. He embraces Diem before giving her a wink and following his cousins. Before dinner, she takes Sorae’s advice on what to wear and picks the perfect outfit. When she walks into the gathering of about fifty cousins, Luther stares at her in awe but Aemonn approaches her first. He saved her a seat. Luther still looks at her with heat, but now also with a guarded look as he watches Aemonn. Ileana is there next to Luther even though she is not a Corbois, Aemonn says Luther must have invited her. That does not make Diem happy. Eleanor gives her some advice about dealing with the cousins. Do not get angry, that’s letting them win. Show them that she is an apex predator - either join with her or become prey. Aemonn introduces her to those around her, and they are not particularly nice, especially a redhead named Ethaline who insults her choices of attire and inability to light the pyre. Luther pipes up and says he’s seen Diem’s magic, and it is certainly sufficient. They ask about her grey eyes, but Luther tells them all that Lumnos herself had grey eyes. Doubt of Luther starts to grow in Diem again as she speaks to Aemonn. He may have saved some children, but he’d ensured plenty suffered due to unjust laws. Talk turns to Diem’s scars. It’s unseemly for the queen to not appear perfect. Ileana points out that she made Luther promise to have his scars removed before he becomes king. He looks unbothered by the conversation, staring straight ahead, but Diem can see the aura around him growing dark and turbulent. Diem tells them all that scars are a sign of what you’ve overcome, of survival, of not being ashamed of who you are and how you got there. She sees them as a sign of strength and if Luther was her king, she would have him wear it with pride. Aemonn points out that he can’t be Diem’s king but someone else says he could be her consort. Luther says it’s not for him to say, it is Her Majesty’s choice. His interest lies in serving the Queen, not marrying her. Diem is hurt by this declaration. Aemonn announces that he’s willing to serve the Queen in any way possible and the tension is cut. When she thanks Aemonn for his help that night, he tells her Ileana is a bore that they’ve had to deal with for too long because of Luther. Diem has noticed that he challenges Luther. He explains that Luther is very high and mighty, playing at the loyal servant, but some of them know that he has many secrets. Diem looks toward Luther to find both him and Ileana gone. On the way back to Diem’s room, Eleanor mentions how helpful Aemonn was. He may not be entirely trustworthy, but he basically announced tonight that he was an ally to the new Queen. But she makes herself scarce when they see Luther glowering outside Diem’s room. Luther is in a terrible mood, and he’s stopped by one of the guards for not addressing Diem properly. It’s Perthe, the Descended she saves from the fire. He’s fully healed and petitioned Luther to be one of Diem’s personal guards. Inside her rooms, they play a game of flirty chicken until Luther brings up Henri and ruins the whole mood. She accuses him of abandoning her in the room full of his cousins, but he points out that she was doing fine and very cozy with the worst of them all: Aemonn. He asks what he has to do to prove his loyalty to her. She could banish him from Lumnos, and he would still help her. She asks him what she has done to deserve his loyalty and he doesn’t answer. She explains that Eleanor was made advisor because when asked what she wanted, she was honest with Diem. Even Aemonn is honest about what he wants from Diem. Luther insists that he has been honest, he’s told her things he’s never told anyone else. Not even Taran. It’s a pity that not even his closest friends know him better than her, who he means nothing to. That’s a step too far. He closes up and congratulates her for finding out so early that she can’t trust anyone. It took him much longer and people died for his mistake. But she’s a fool if she thinks it’s only the Descended. The mortals will want things from her. Henri most of all. Diem says he agreed to help her with Henri, but he corrects her. He will stand by whatever choices she makes in public but in private, he will point out that the man she loves had to be promised a crown to stay with her. Luther will protect her no matter what, even if she hates him, even if he is nothing to her, even if it kills him. She can feel his power. It blends with hers and she’s sick of fighting him. She looks up to kiss him, but he leaves the room. The next day, Diem butchers her dance lessons with Lily as Teller reads the notes he’s compiled on the Houses - who the major players are, what business they deal in, their stance on mortals, any rivalries. The five most important are Corbois, Benette, Hanoverre, Teniers, and Amraut. Hanoverre hates mortals the most while Corbois is the most friendly. Lily congratulates Diem on the successful cousin dinner the night before. Luther had said that Diem was doing incredibly when he took refuge in Lily’s room to avoid Ileana. Luther shows up while Diem is taking a break from dancing and apologizes for leaving the dinner, for eavesdropping on her and Henri, for everything he said the night before. She wants to apologize too but he cuts her off. He understands better their relationship now. Her mind tells her to correct him, that he doesn’t mean nothing to her. She meant that they have no formal ties. That she cares for him like he cares for her. That she trusts him more than almost anyone else, and that scares her. But she doesn’t. After a little while, Lily and Teller leave. Luther asks her if she meant what she said about his scars. Of course she did! She shows off her own collection of scars, even taking her shirt off to show the one on her back. Now she wants to see his in its entirety. It starts on his face and travels down his neck; he takes his shirt off and she sees that the scar is huge. Like a river cutting across his chest with smaller shoots coming from the larger scar as if he took a bolt of lightning. She places her hand on the scar, and he puts his own hand on top. Whoever did this meant to kill him. He won’t tell her who did it until after she’s coronated, but he made sure that they can’t do this to anyone else. The only reason he didn’t die is because Lumnos saved him. Diem is reminded of the vision that they shared in the fire. He thinks it was sent to them by Lumnos, but her messages can be confusing to interpret. It sounds like he’s received visions before. Soon Alixe and Taran join them. Alixe explains that the godhood can be difficult to call upon for someone new to magic, it’s easiest to access when feeling intense emotions. When the Kindred first came to Emarion, they worshiped their own gods – those gods are responsible for the godhood. The gift that Lumnos had is the same gift they all have. They start her magic training. It doesn’t go well. No matter what the others try, Diem cannot call her magic. She ends up giving up and going back to her room to prepare for the ball. After Diem is dressed, she and Sorae watch the attendees arrive. This includes several Descended from other realms. Sorae grumbles at the Hanoverre family as well as one of the foreign Descended, whose magic cannot be used outside their realm. Soon Aemonn shows up and his outfit is audacious. Entirely white and gold included a small crown woven through his hair. He gives Diem a gift, a necklace with the sigil of House Corbois. A phoenix with two sapphire eyes and a ruby heart, signifying the blood of Lumnos and the fact that the House will always rise again. She asks if he’s marking his territory. Maybe, but maybe the other Houses see that as a warning. She brings up his scheming, agreeing not to tell anyone about Henri in exchange for being her date tonight. He stops walking, angry. That’s not what happened. Neither he nor Luther wants Diem to marry Henri, so Luther agreed to convince her to take Aemonn in order to keep Henri away. Aemonn should have known Luther would do this, it’s just like him. Luther is the one marking his territory. Diem convinces him to continue to the ball but tells him he’s given her something to think about. On the way to the ball, Diem thanks the servants for their hard work that evening. Aemonn reveals that the servants are distant, weak Corbois cousins, commenting that they can’t have mortals roaming the castle. All the other Houses operate the same way. Diem should have realized, the Descended have their own caste system. Before they get far, Diem can hear Henri yelling. She orders everyone out of the room, Aemonn too. Henri insists on accompanying her tonight. These people should learn now to bow to their mortal king. When Diem looks in his eyes, she sees nothing of the boy she once loved, only anger, hatred, and even disgust for her. She insists that it is not safe for him, but he reveals he’s not alone. Two hundred Guardians are waiting for his signal with bombs and weapons. She asks about the innocents there that would be hurt. Sacrifices will have to be made - this is war. Diem cannot be okay with that attitude and more so, two hundred mortals will do very little against the Descended amassed inside. Henri sees someone walk in behind Diem and the look on his face tells her that it’s Luther. She kisses Henri and then calls to have him arrested. He’s to be taken to the dungeon until the ball is over. As he’s taken away, she sees betrayal on his face. He will never forgive her for this. A hand on her shoulder has her turning and being held, but it feels wrong. She realizes it’s not Luther at all, but Aemonn. She needs Luther, she needs the royal guard. He arrives worried about Diem, especially when he sees blood on her hand from Henri - who had been bleeding when she arrived. She asks Aemonn to leave and explains everything to Luther. He holds her and she feels better. Nothing like when Aemonn did it. He will handle the Guardians; she asks him not to hurt them. He has an idea. The Forging magic stops Descended from other realms from accessing their magic. But she, as the Crown, can grant them access. The two from Umbria could convince the Guardians to leave. But they will also have access to the minds of everyone in the area including her. Whatever they learn will be taken back to the Umbros queen, giving her a lot of power over Diem. Especially if Diem has controversial plans. She orders him to take Alixe and Taran out of their range before she does it, but there’s no need. The Umbros Queen already knows he smuggles children into her realm. Plus, his place is with Diem, he will not leave her. He explains how to look within herself for the Forging magic that comes with the Crown and she finds it easily. She realizes that it is a part of her and, for the first time, that she has a duty to everyone in Lumnos, not just the mortals. She shatters the magic that binds the Umbros Descended and Luther tells her to go to the ball; he will handle it from here. She asks him if he will really let all the mortals go for her and he brushes her cheek with his thumb, everything he does is for her. Then he salutes her and leaves. Aemonn is waiting for her outside. He’s now seen her at her weakest, hopefully that doesn’t come back to bite her. She tries to summon a mask of confidence convincing enough for the guests at the ball. They are greeted by Garath, who barely disguises his disdain for Diem, and Remis, who reminds Remis of their plan. She is a vapid queen. Lily asks Diem to save Luther a dance- it would mean so much to him. Eleanor and Taran greet her next. Diem forces Eleanor to stand with her and Aemonn as they greet the rest of House Corbois. The foreign representatives come next with gifts. Militaristic Fortos brings her a blade, cryptic Montios (they don’t speak, even to Diem) brings a cloak that will always keep the wearer warm, Arboros gives her a potion that can cure almost any illness, Faunus gives two furry animals, Ignios brings a spydersilk scarf that no weapon can cut through, Meros presents a compass that points to her heart’s desire. Then Umbros approaches and she can feel the man’s touch in her head (his companion is helping Luther). The man laughs that the night has been illuminating, he’s already learned so much! His queen and Diem will have much to discuss. He forces himself on Diem’s mind and her magic urges her to fight. He sends her lewd visions, and she asks for her magic to help. She glows brightly for a moment and manages to block the man, Symond, out. He can’t reach her though he tries. As for the gift from Umbros’ queen - it’s already been delivered. He whispers to Diem’s mind what she was told by the old woman: “When forgotten blood on heartstone falls, then shall the chains be broke. Life for life, old debt requires, or eternal be his yoke.” The woman who said that before had called her “Daughter of the Forgotten” and said her father was waiting for her. Urged her to stop using the flameroot. Was that the Queen of Umbros? Sophos comes last and brings two gifts. One a golden orb covered in etchings they call the Orb of Answering. It will answer three of her questions with a yes or no answer as long as someone with the blood of the Kindred knows the answer. And second, they’ve heard about her mortal brother and invite him to study at one of their institutions for as long as he wishes. Everyone, including Lily, is impressed with this gift but Diem shuts them down immediately. Henri told her the mortals invited to study in Sophos are used as test subjects and never return home, Teller will never step foot there. She tells them to leave Lumnos, but Evrim Bennette interjects, they’re his guests. This is the same man whose daughter Diem healed after she’d been poisoned by the Guardians. It is from him that Diem stole the plans for the armory that was bombed. Remis strongly urges her not to upset Evrim, he provides weapons to all of Lumnos. If she interferes, every House will challenge her. Now Diem meets the Heads of the Houses. Evrim for House Bennette. They’ve met but he doesn’t remember her, but his children Evanie and Lorris do. House Hanoverre is next and it’s no surprise they don’t like her, basically dismissing her. They’re obsessed with breeding and hate mortals. Garath, Aemonn, and even Remis fawn over them with what seems like real affection. The Head (Ileana’s grandmother Marthe) insults Diem a few times, about how they haven’t seen her magic and she’s sure to be challenged. Diem retorts that she doesn’t know why she has the strongest magic in the realm, but she wouldn’t dare question the judgement of Lumnos. Marthe is grateful that Lumnos also gave them the free will to make their own choices. Marthe assumes that Diem will honor Ulther’s agreement for Luther and Ileana to wed. Diem points out that Luther can decide himself with all of his free will. Marthe throws one more punch - she heard the strangest rumor about Diem posing as a mortal healer to see the King, and on the day he died, was witnessed to be standing over his bed with a weapon. Diem is caught off guard, she can feel the people around her distance themselves as she tries to defend herself. She changes tactics. Is House Hanoverre accusing House Corbois of murdering the King? Because they were in charge of the King’s care. They sent him to Fortos to be evaluated and were told there was nothing they could do. They chose to have mortal attendants see him. Is she accusing House Corbois and the King of Fortos as well, as he would have needed to be complicit. Because to accuse her Queen without any shred of proof, that would be treason. Marthe says no, she is not accusing them, but her face tells Diem to watch her back. Diem finally has a moment to herself to rest before the dancing starts. She’s hiding when she hears Luther in the hallway with Ileana. Ileana is insulting Diem while Luther just keeps responding that she’s the Queen and he will serve her. Ileana says she may challenge Diem herself, but Luther recommends she not, she will not survive. She asks if Diem has already had him in her bed. She insists that the Twenty Houses will not allow Diem to take power and advises Luther not to get attached since Diem’s days are numbered. He is pretty sure that’s treason and he’s willing to let it slide this time but he’s losing patience. Diem is his queen and he will choose her over everything else. Ileana insists that when Diem dies and Luther takes the throne, they can finally be together and rule as they were meant to. Diem turns to leave but Eleanor, who showed up about halfway through the conversation, pulls her back. Luther says that if anyone in House Hanoverre makes a move against Diem, he will see to it their entire House is destroyed. And that’s a promise. Eleanor takes Diem back to the ballroom where Aemonn is waiting. Diem is irritated with him; he’s basically told everyone that they’re on the verge of being mates and she might already be pregnant. He tells her she’s welcome. If they’re distracted by him, they aren’t asking who else is in her bed. And he’s saved her from dealing with countless would-be suitors. She begins to think that maybe he did do it for her. He asks her why she needed Luther earlier, but she won’t tell him. He wheedles a little, so she grabs Taran for the next dance. She tells Taran that somewhere, there’s a good person in Aemonn. Maybe it’s just deep down. Taran looks unconvinced. She knows that there is something between them that is worse than just sibling rivalry. Taran gets serious and asks if she really plans to go through with her betrothal. She thinks that he means Henri and tells him he shouldn’t be so prejudiced and it’s none of his business, but he actually meant Aemonn. But now Taran knows about Henri. He asks if Luther knows too, and suddenly the way Luther has been acting makes sense to him. Diem doesn’t understand what he means. Taran tells her not to tell Aemonn, but she responds that he already knows about Henri. Taran’s face blanches. That’s really bad. That’s Aemonn’s game. Pretend to be your best friend and then turn on you when the time is right. When the song ends, Taran announces he needs to find Luther and Diem needs some air, so she runs off. She doesn’t get far before being stopped be Jean Hanoverre, Ileana’s brother. She’s quickly surrounded by Hanoverres. They want her to prove that she has magic. She’s trying to look calm while feeling like a trapped animal, when she asks her magic to help her, she gets no response. They keep taunting her until Luther grabs Jean’s arm, demanding that he address Diem as Her Majesty and kneel before her. Jean should be lucky she didn’t give him a taste of her magic. There are too many people here, it would not be safe. Diem feels a bit ashamed for trying to use it. Jean tells them he will see her magic at the Challenging anyway. Diem dances all night, but never with Luther. He stands in an alcove, eventually joined by Alixe and Taran, and watches her - but he only dances once (with Lily). When the band announces its last song, Aemonn comes forward to dance with Diem again, but Luther steps in and claims it instead. She can feel herself relax in his arms. He tells her that the Guardians are gone. He let them keep their blades but destroyed their other weapons. And he had someone escort Henri home already. He insists that one day Henri will forgive her and understand if he loves her, but she isn’t so sure. She lets all of her insecurities pour out. How will she survive the Challenging when she keeps making constant mistakes. How will she take down the Crowns and the Descended when she can’t do anything right. Too late, she realizes what she’s said and tries to backtrack, but Luther won’t let her. This is the reason he serves her. He suspected what she wanted to do and believes that she is the Queen they need. Lumnos loved the mortals and would never want to see them subjugated. Diem has the ability to see the best in every person and want the best for both Descended and mortals. Perhaps that is why Lumnos has been pushing Luther toward her since even before she wore the Crown. Diem chooses the harder path because it’s what’s right. She wants change, and so does he. He tells her that he will fight for her. His heart was spared for her, and she will never fight alone as long as he is alive. He’s sick of fighting how he feels, of pretending. She asks if he really only wants to serve her and wouldn’t want to marry her. He responds that every person in this room wants a piece of her for themselves. He wanted to be different. He wanted her to know that he would support her even if no one else did but he would not demand anything from her. He would fight for her goals. But he has failed spectacularly because just a piece is not enough, he wants all of her. He wants to serve her in every single way a man could. He wants to stand by her side for the rest of her life, but he doesn’t need to marry her and be king to do that. But he can’t keep lying, he wants all of her. She already has all of him. Suddenly, the song is over and Eleanor sweeps Diem away. Aemonn swoops in to help her say her goodbyes and end the night, but she can’t stop looking at Luther. He watches her and places his hand in his chest just above his heart, in the one place not marred by his scar, before disappearing. That morning, Diem decides to tell Luther she can’t get involved. But when he shows up for breakfast, she melts. Unfortunately, he brought Alixe with him for a status update and does not get a chance to speak with him alone. Later, Eleanor and Diem walk together to the first of the House Receptions: House Benette. She asks about the dance with Luther the night before and if Luther finally told her how he feels. Does Diem feel the same? But Diem feels like she’s losing herself. New family, new career, new calling. Eleanor tells her that no one can take away who she is. If she is holding on to Henri because she loves him, then hold on. But if she’s using him to hold on to a part of herself that she used to be, then Diem needs to let him go. Luther and Taran come up behind and Luther escorts Diem into the Reception. He had her father brought in earlier, but he’s concerned about the blowback. She verifies that Luther can keep her family safe, and he reveals that he has had his best guards on Teller and her dad since she took the Crown. She asks if he has any advice for the Reception. Eleanor has already given her some pointers in how to deal with Evnis, but Luther has a few more. A) Evrim is touchy about his height. B) Luther doesn’t think Benette actually hates mortals. They profit from everyone’s concern about war. The more nervous people get, the more weapons they buy, the more money for House Benette. That is where their true loyalties lie. Because of that, they are the easiest House to manipulate. Soon Aemonn arrives, followed by Garath who is not pleased to see Eleanor or Andrei. Diem explains that they are the only council members she has so far chosen. Soon, Remis escorts Evnis and his entourage into the room. At first, the Reception goes well, but when she brings up his children, he brings up Diem’s parentage. Remis steps in and explains that she is the child of Harold Corbois and a woman of a lesser House who died shortly after she was born. Diem was raised by neighbors. Garath adds credence by reminding Evnis that House Hanoverre accuses everyone they don’t like of being a half-breed. Evnis offers her entrance into House Benette if she wants to give up House Corbois like they gave her up as a child, but she announces that she will never turn her back on her family. Remis goes on to say that the Queen has asked him to continue to take the lead as he has been Regent in the months of his brother’s infirmary but Evnis interrupts. The last few months have been disastrous, and he doesn’t know if he wants Remis to continue if it will be more of the same. When asked what he would prefer, Evnis breaks it down - even though he doesn’t feel entirely comfortable doing so with a mortal in the room. Diem explains that Andrei helped Ulther to quell several uprisings and was Commander in the Emarion Army, he offered council to Ulther regularly. He’s here to help prevent further violence. But that is not what Evnis wants. When Diem points out that the mortals were there before the Descended and the Kindred gave a mandate for the mortals to be protected, she burns through all the goodwill she had built before. He wants those responsible for the armory bombing tortured until every Guardian is found and publicly, gruesomely executed. He wants their families imprisoned. He wants every able-bodied mortal conscripted into the Emarion Army. Andrei pipes up that Fortos doesn’t have the weapons or the resources for that many people, but that is the exact wrong thing to say. If they need more weapons, they can buy more from him. When Andrei points out that conscription does more damage and could cause soldiers to rebel from inside the army, and that army serves the entire continent so it would jeopardize all the realms, Evnis argues that Andrei cares more about other realms than Lumnos. What an advisor for the Queen to have. Remis offers a compromise. Mortals that work for the Twenty Houses could be exempt and they could give the families of the Guardians a week to leave the realm before being imprisoned. Diem is not pleased with Remis’ suggestion. Luther looks at her and she sees the same anger in his eyes, but he shakes his head at her slightly. Don’t do anything now. When Evnis agrees to think about the offer, Diem agrees to do so as well. That was the Regent’s offer, she will have to discuss it with her advisors before making a decision. Evnis tells her to decide quickly. The Period of Challenging is not very long. When Remis and Garath escort House Benette out, Diem speaks to her father alone. He tells her that her temper has always been her problem. He gently asks if her anger actually helps the people she’s angry for, or does it just make her feel righteous while the situation gets worse. Anger and giving into your emotions is the quickest way to lose a battle. He thinks he should resign as advisor, his presence is only hurting her. He wants Diem to stop being selfish and do what is best for the realm, and that is not having him as her advisor. She accepts his resignation and apologizes for being a disappointment before telling him she will just have to do this alone - entirely missing his point. Later that day, Diem finds out that Teller has been getting into the palace through a canal tunnel. The two guards down there are usually sleeping, but there’s a gate that is spelled to royal blood. Only those related to Diem by blood can open it. As far as she knows, that’s her, Teller, and their mom Auralie. Diem is relieved, but her good mood is spoiled when Alixe comes down yelling for her. She suggests Teller go to Diem’s suite instead of going home, something very bad has happened. Alixe makes Teller invisible and they all go to Diem’s rooms, where Alixe and Diem take Sorae to the Bellator house. Diem finds Luther waiting for her, the three royal guards stationed there beheaded. Inside, her father is dead. The words “mortal lover”, “half-breed”, and “rebel scum” are written on the walls in blood. Diem’s magic is revolting inside her. She tells Luther to leave but he insists on staying with her. So, Diem commands Sorae to take him away and the gryvern crashes through the wall and flies away with him. Diem explodes. Fire destroys the entire house and everything in it, the bodies, her clothes, her weapons, everything except her. She hears a voice and an unhappy screech from Sorae and then Luther is back. He wraps her in his arms as she cries and rages and the fire burns around her. For hours they sit there until her flames peter out. Then Sorae flies them both back to the palace. Teller is forced to move into a room adjoining Diem’s suite since his house is no longer in existence. The siblings take a few days to themselves, not leaving the suite, until Teller needs to go back to school and Diem must continue the House Receptions - or add another month to the Period of Challenging. Lily meets Teller at the suite to walk with him to school (Diem makes him take the spydersilk scarf and the cure all potion with him and sends Sorae to watch over them on their walk) and Diem goes to the Reception with House Hanoverre. Alixe sits in Andrei’s chair and Diem loses it for a moment. Luther asked Alixe to stay, and how convenient that his original choice is now in these meetings! Alixe offers to leave but Diem tells her to stay. But her self-doubts and the things her dad said to her at the last Reception start to creep into her head. The Hanoverre contingent comes in, Aemonn escorting Ileana and Jean with Marthe between Remis and Garath. Marthe starts by telling Diem she had a party the night her father was killed so it couldn’t have been them. Convenient. They start to discuss Hanoverre’s terms, but Diem is silent past her first comments to Marthe. She does not speak the entire time. Even when Marthe brings up one last topic. After speaking to Evnis and hearing of the compromise that Remis had suggested, Hanoverre demands that all of the mortals be expelled from Lumnos by year end or else Jean will Challenge Diem. Alixe reveals that she has seen Diem’s magic herself and there is no doubt she is the strongest in Lumnos, possibly in all of Emarion. This gives Ileana a moment’s pause. Remis tries to talk to her, but there’s no swaying Marthe. She will need a bonded bargain. Does Diem really have no fear for her own life? Diem stands and finally speaks. She is her father’s daughter, and he was Commander of the Emarion Army - the highest rank a mortal has ever achieved. He taught her strategy, how to fight, how to win. How to size up an enemy. But he’s dead now and Diem knows he will be waiting for her whenever she meets her end. So no, she’s not afraid of death. She has a counteroffer. She will not place her life above any of her subject’s lives, be they mortal or Descended. She will make sure everyone has what is needed to live: food, shelter, medicine. She will rule with compassion. She will protect the vulnerable and strike down evil whether it comes from inside Lumnos or elsewhere. And if that’s not to their liking, then she will see Jean at the Challenging. She dismisses them but tells her council, Garath and Remis specifically, to stay where they are. Once Hanoverre is gone, Diem turns to them. She’s done playing around. When Garath prepares to be rude, Taran tells him to treat the queen with respect. They were fools to think they could sidestep the issue of the mortals, but Diem is unwilling to waver on her stance. She tells them to go out and make their deals with the other Houses, but the only bonded bargain she will make is the one she just presented to House Hanoverre. Garath again tries to speak up in his belittling way and tells Diem to be prepared to fight, but Diem only tells him to use his sharp tongue to persuade the other Houses to their side. If she dies, the next heir might like him even less than she does. Garath asks Remis to speak privately and Aemonn leaves just after them. Now Diem is faced with only Luther, Eleanor, Taran, and Alixe. She will not lie to them. Her loyalty is not to Corbois or any other House, nor even to Lumnos, but to the people who need protection. Even if that costs her life. She will not ask them to choose between her or their family, but before she can even get the words out, Taran interrupts her. They are with her. The others second Taran’s sentiments and they all salute her. Alixe tells Diem that she will be unbeatable with training, whatever enemies come for her. Eleanor escorts the others out, leaving Diem and Luther alone. But Luther is the last person she wants to be alone with. He promised to keep her family safe and see what happened. Her anger spills over onto him and as she looks at him, she can tell he blames himself already. She yells that his promises mean nothing to her. Neither does he. As she storms out, she stops at the door. This time she’s quieter. All she ever really wanted from him was honesty, and that’s something Luther still refuses to give her. Diem and Teller have a burial of sorts, burying two of their father’s daggers that Diem had in lieu of a body. The healers come, as well as Diem’s friends and some of the younger cousins who have befriended Teller, a few of their dad’s army friends, and Henri’s dad. But not Henri. Eleanor has said that if anything happens to Diem, they will take care of Teller, but Maura agrees to take him too. After the funeral is done, she hears a familiar voice. Henri has come after all. And he first looks at her with love exactly, but also not with hate. He brought Vance. Vance is not pleased with how she dealt with the Guardians. She insists she was protecting the mortals and Henri pulls her to the side, She had mentioned getting flameroot for them. She points out that she’s trying to stay alive right now, but she could after the Challenging. Vance thinks they need to act before the Challenging. Diem asks if she’s just a new resource for them and nothing more. But she doesn’t want to lose another person. She tells him she can get him information on the boat - information she was supposed to get for them before Ulther died. Henri agrees to do things Diem’s way so they can look at the boat. But Vance thinks she’s working for the Descended now. Diem admits that there are good people of the Descended who fight for what she wants, just as there are bad people in the mortals (she looks at Vance). Henri apologizes for everything that happened and proposes that they put it all behind them. He kisses her, but Diem sees Luther being pulled away by Taran and pulls away from his kiss. She asks him to meet her tomorrow at a cove they both know. Diem’s magic lessons are going very poorly and tensions are running high. Taran in particular is losing patience with her. He doesn’t understand why she’s giving Aemonn a chance but pushing those who truly care away. He means Luther. Alixe has the idea that Diem should picture someone she wants to fight and Taran suggests Ileana - but why would she care about Ileana when she’s so happy with Henri. She pushes Taran and they get into a wrestling bout, Alixe urges Diem to fight with her magic! Taran asks if they need to fight on the road, all Diem does is run away. Diem is frustrated, but when she looks at Taran, she sees worry behind his grin. He’s scared for her. She later meets Henri and Vance at the cove, blindfolding them and sneaking them in to see the Royal boat. She insists that they tell her why they’re searching it. The Royal boats are the only ones not searched by the army and they need to move some sensitive cargo - they’re looking for places to store it. Henri hugs her, but when he kisses her, it feels wrong. Henri hears guards coming and Vance prepares to kill them. Diem tells him to stand down, murder shouldn’t be the go-to answer, and leads them to the gate at the opposite end from where they came in. She opens it with a bit of blood. When the guards turn down another tunnel, she rushes them back to the other end. The guards hear them. Diem sends Vance and Henri down the tunnel, through the leaves of the willow that obscure the entrance. Once they’re safe, she follows them through. Outside, she calls to Vance and Henri, but they don’t stop. She realizes her mistake. She had blindfolded them and led them in a circuitous route to get here, Vance knows she does not want him to know where this entrance is. This is his chance to find it. Diem calls out to Henri. He pauses for a moment but follows Vance. Eleanor arranges a winter picnic to cheer Diem up; just them, Teller, and Lily. Diem’s training is not going well, and the Receptions are nearly over. Eleanor realizes that Diem still doesn’t entirely trust them. It’s hard to trust them fully when they’re family, and she’s not. Eleanor tells her about her own parents. They were both powerful and were told to have a child, so they did: Eleanor. And when they found out that Eleanor was not very powerful, they took the titles that they had bartered for, left Eleanor, and went to Fortos. She explains that for Descended, you don’t spend a lot of time with your parents or siblings unless you are in the direct line of leadership. You are just one of the cousins - meaning that you go to school together, live near each other, eat with each other. Family does not mean the same to them as it does to mortals. They choose their family instead. And the four of them have chosen Diem. Diem finally understands a little better and offers her hand to Eleanor. They both cut their hands a tiny bit and shake, now their blood runs through both veins. Sisters in name for as long as they live. As the House Receptions continue, the Houses get smaller and less important. They stop making demands and try to curry favor. Today Diem meets House Byrnum, which is led by a set of twins - Ryx and Ravyn. Diem can’t help but think of how Luther would act during this Reception and how well composed he would be. How he would know exactly what to do. She turns to look at him sitting behind her and meets his eyes. They haven’t been talking, she barely looks at him, but this time she gets lost in her daydreams until she’s brought back to the present. She tells the twins that she really likes the emeralds they brought and the twins get excited. She can have them after the wedding. Remis has arranged to have Lily marry their son. When they hear this news, both Diem and Luther throw a fit. Lily will not be forced to marry anybody that she does not choose. And clearly Lily has no idea about the arrangement. Ryx tells Diem that it would be in her best interest to allow this deal, his son Roderyck is very powerful. That sounded like a threat. Remis tries to smooth the whole thing over and Ravyn escorts Ryx out. Then Remis turns on Diem. Lily knows her place and will do her duty, Diem should know hers. As Head of the House, Remis knows what is best for everyone, including his own daughter. But is he really the Head? He’s not the oldest, not the most powerful, and not the highest rank. This pisses him off. Now Diem is trying to take his house out from under him? She laughs; he practically begged her to choose his family. He was so desperate to remain relevant that he sold them to her. This should teach him not to use his family. He nearly attacks her after that, but Luther pushes her out of the way into Taran’s arms. Taran shields her with his own body as Luther draws his sword. It is the sword of House Corbois, only to be used to defend the House. Which is exactly what Luther is doing. When Remis screams at him that he is his father, Luther retorts that he was his son but that didn’t stop Remis from drawing blood all those years ago. Remis prepares to leave the room but tells Diem she’s lucky he cannot challenge her. Luther asks if he would be prepared to kill them both, because he would have to go through Luther first. Is he sure that Lumnos would choose another Corbois if they killed two of her chosen? He won’t have to make that decision. The challenging is almost here and if Diem‘s training is any indication, she’s not going to be alive for much longer. How did Remis find out about her training? The dungeons are not nearly as secure as Luther thinks. If only Luther did a better job, maybe Diem’s father would still be alive. Luther looks destroyed. He’s already eaten up by guilt, and this did not help. As soon as Remis leaves the room, Luther gives some orders. Eleanor is to go to Lily and keep her away from their father. Alixe will stay with Teller and keep him out of sight. And Taran is to stay with Diem, guard her with his life. As Luther leaves the room, Diem stops him. Does he really think that Remis would hurt the others? He’s not taking any chances. She can see the hurt in his eyes, his desire to be forgiven and have their relationship restored. But he doesn’t say anything, just caresses her hands slightly before leaving. Diem takes Lily to healer’s center. Diem explains to Lily that she had healing herbs planted in the Royal gardens for the healers. Mortals are not allowed to grow them, and the herbs are too expensive for mortals to buy. This strikes Lily. She says Diem is so much like Luther. He tried telling Lily the same thing, but she didn’t listen to him. Later, as she and Diem work, Lily tells her that she will marry Roderyck. She doesn’t mind if it will stop the fighting. Diem tells her that she shouldn’t be forced into marrying anyone. Lily explains that Descended are not like mortals, they are raised to believe that everything they do is for their family. Neither Diem nor Luther asked Lily if she wanted to do this, they just assumed she didn’t. They’ve been treating Lily as a child. Diem tells Lily there is another reason she doesn’t want her to marry right now. If something happened to Diem in the Challenging, Luther would likely become king. He would need to be surrounded by people he trusted. He would need Lily. Lily gets quiet. She tells Diem that Luther is suffering, that he feels really terrible about what happened. That he failed Diem, and everybody else. Lily asks if she hates him, Diem quietly says that she doesn’t. Lily asks if Luther has lost her forever, but she doesn’t not answer. With Alixe guarding Teller and Luther dealing with his father, Diem has been training only with Taran. Her magic has made no progress, so they have resorted to using their fists. During their current training session, Taran reveals that he knows why Diem can’t use her magic but she’s not ready to hear it. That’s never stopped him before. Taran challenges her. If she can punch him and he will tell her. Taran is a phenomenal fighter, but he’s impatient and he never shuts up. All Diem has to do is wait, she’s able to punch him on her first attempt. She sits next to him, and he tells her that the reason she can’t use her magic is because their godhood is tied to their emotions. Diem refuses to allow herself to feel her emotions anymore. She realizes that that is true, but there’s not much she can do about it. At this point it’s a reflex to push her emotions down. She just needs more time, but she doesn’t have it. After a while of silence, Taran asks when she is going to get with Luther. Taran is sure that Henri thinks he’s a good man. But Diem cannot believe that he is a better man than Luther. Luther is the best man that Taran knows. He would risk his life for Diem. She points out that he would do that for Lily or Taran Or Eleanor or Alixe. And Taran agrees, he absolutely would. For as long as Taran has known him, Luther has never put himself first. But when it comes to Luther, it is easier for Diem to deflect than to take a good hard look at how she actually feels. Taran doesn’t stop. Luther will wait for Diem. He will watch her marry Henri. He will watch Henri call himself king. When Henri dies, Luther will take care of Diem as she mourns him, and even if it takes a century, he will wait for her. If Diem has children with Henri, Luther will love them like they are his own. He will stand by her, he will love her every single day of it, and he will not complain. If she puts Luther through that, Taran does not think he can forgive her. Taran is asking her to really see Luther. Not as somebody useful to her; not as the prince or a general or an advisor, but as himself. He does what Luther won’t, he asks Diem to leave Henry. She is so sick of everybody telling her who she needs to marry and what she needs to do. Taran doesn’t know what she wants, he barely even knows her. Taryn says she’s right; he doesn’t know her. He thought she was better than this. The next day, Diem has her last House Reception. It is with a minor house that has become incredibly wealthy through shrewd deals: House Ghislaine. This house never fights with anybody. As everybody starts to file into the room, Diem realizes that Alixe looks fidgety. She goes to speak to her but is stopped by Aemonn. He says he would like to get together again, but Diem is not interested. She sees Alixe and Taran talking to each other hurriedly. Eleanor joins them and beckons Diem over, she tries to leave Aemonn, but he grabs her arm. Taran notices and pushes his brother back. Diem can see decades of hatred simmering in their eyes. Aemonn tells Diem that she shouldn’t ignore him, he’s not the only one that has an interest in them having a good relationship. Diem tells Taran to take a step back, which he does, looking a little bit betrayed. She knocks Aemonn‘s hand away and twists his arm behind his back. When he arches his back in pain, she whispers in his ear. Never touch her again because if he does, she will use her blades. Then the visiting House walks in. Diem still doesn’t know what everybody else was talking about, but she does notice that Luther is not there. When she tries to delay the meeting, Remis explains that he won’t be coming today. Taran tells her they’ll discuss it later, but Diem is concerned. What if Luther is in danger? The meeting lasts for two hours and nothing important is discussed. As soon as Ghislaine leaves, Diem turns on Remis. What has he done to Luther? Remis tells her that Luther had no reason to be at the meeting. She has not made him an advisor, and she hasn’t taken his council in weeks. Taran tells her that Remis stripped Luther of his titles. He is no longer on the council, High General, or Keeper of the Laws. Aemonn tells her that he is now High General and Keeper, meaning Aemonn is responsible for making sure that the Crown’s laws are upheld. He will not be a lenient judge. Diem thought Remis was smarter than this, after the Challenging in two days, she will either be Queen or Luther will be King and Remis has made an enemy of both of them. He doesn’t seem pleased by this realization, but Garath points out that Remis is just trying to keep their House safe. He has seen what happens to the people that Diem cares about. Diem turns to leave, but Eleanor does not. She storms up to her uncles and yells that Diem is one of their family now, and Luther has given his whole life to their House. They don’t care about their family, they only care about themselves. If it weren’t for them, she would be washing dishes. Eleanor says she would rather do that than live under their rules, so Garath says he’ll have her things removed from the palace. As of this point, she’s Unhoused, without a family. Remis looks at Diem. She managed to tear their house down in just weeks. She realizes that’s true. She meant to take down the Descended from within and she’s done just that, but only the people she cares about have been hurt. Taran pulls Eleanor under his arm, telling his father and uncle that in two days Diem will win the Challenging and neither of them will ever have power again. Garath shrugs, we’ll see. In Diem’s rooms, she asks where Luther is and is told that he is in Lumnos City trying to convince the other Houses not to challenge her. Of course he is. Eleanor can move into one of Diem’s extra rooms for now. But Alixe is concerned about something else. She could be demoted too. Aemonn could remove her as Vice General and if he does, there would be nobody to decide which guards are with Diem and her friends. The ones there now are loyal to Luther, but they can’t disobey an order if they’re told to leave. If Aemonn demotes Alixe, he will choose Ileana to replace her. Diem asks why Aemonn would choose her, he hates Ileana. No, he doesn’t. The two of them are very close. The cousins explain to Diem that Aemonn and Ileana’s relationship was always a source of tension for Luther. Aemonn invited Ileana to the cousins dinner, he’s the one that assigned the seating so Luther had to sit next to her. They were working together to drive Luther and Diem apart. She realizes that all Aemonn has done is try to drive a wedge between her and Luther, one that she was all too willing to accept. If Diem is not coronated, Eleanor will be forced to leave the palace. Teller tells Diem she doesn’t have a choice. She needs to be coronated. Diem is aware of that, thanks. She starts to panic a little bit. He insists that she cannot lose. She must win, but she knows. It’s all she thinks about. About how many people will suffer if she fails them. She closes herself in her room alone. She sees the compass that is supposed to show her heart’s desire. She grabs it, but all it does is spin. How is it supposed to show her what she wants when she doesn’t even know. Suddenly, the arrow stops. Diem jumps on Sorae and they fly in the direction of the arrow. At first, she thinks it’s taking her to Mortal City, to Henri and she panics. But as they get closer, Sorae turns. Diem hears the voice again, begging her to come, calling her the “Daughter of the Forgotten”. She hasn’t heard that voice since her father died, she thought it had abandoned her. Sorae takes her to the place where her house stood. The land is now a scorched crater. When she saw this place at her father’s funeral, there was a circle of onyx around it where the fire had, but all the onyx is now gone. She also sees the Sword of Corbois. She’s never seen Luther without it and at first, she thinks he might be hurt, but there’s no blood anywhere, so she begins to think that he left it there on purpose. She doesn’t understand why. She continues walking where the compass points until the compass stops showing an arrow and just glows. She realizes - what she wants more than anything else is for her family to be together again, something she can never have. All of a sudden, her sorrow washes in and she just starts crying. For her family, her friends, the people she’s putting in danger, the people who lost their lives because they were mortals. She apologizes to her father and tells him that the darkness is closing in on her and she can’t find the light anymore when she hears her brother behind her. Maybe it’s time to stop looking for the light and make it herself. She can do that with her magic. Teller explains that she’s not fighting, she’s given up. She insists that all she’s been doing is fighting. Teller retorts that she hasn’t. She’s been swinging her fists, but she hasn’t been putting her heart into it. She has given up like she’s waiting for someone to kill her. He reminds her of what their dad said: survive at whatever the cost. Survive first and mind the consequences later. She’s scared. Teller says he is too; he cannot lose her. He demands that she fight with everything she has. Fight like a Bellator. Stop second-guessing herself. She’s fighting for the right reasons and the people she’s confronting deserve it, so fight like she is the daughter of Andrei Bellator. She feels the flicker of life deep down inside her for the first time since her father died. Before they leave, she takes a handful of the dirt from where their house stood and puts it in a pouch at her belt. That night when Diem is alone, she takes the golden orb that will give her answers. It has to be a yes or no question, and it has to be an answer known by someone with Kindred blood, but it basically works like a golden magic eight ball. She asks if her mother is alive. The ball says yes. She decides that she’s been holding too many secrets from her brother and it’s time to tell him the truth, but not until after the Challenging. Before she puts the ball back, she decides to ask it a second question. Is her birth father still alive? And the ball tells her yes. Eleanor and Company decide that for the last day before the Challenging, Diem needs to look the part of the Queen. They dress her up in her most ornate gown, as many jewels as they can fit on her body, and an actual cape. They have planned a cousins luncheon, but first they have to go down to training. They’re all going today. She realizes for the first time that she has built her own family. Before they leave her room, she grabs the Sword of Corbois on her way out. On the way down to the dungeons, they find Luther. It’s the first time that she’s seen him since the confrontation with Remis. She’s really missed him. She steps forward to speak to him alone. She gives him the Sword of Corbois, pulling it from her waist. He explains that the sword is meant to be worn by a person sworn to protect House Corbois, that is no longer him. His loyalty is now elsewhere. But Diem is a preoccupied with keeping the entire realm alive, so she asks him to do her a favor and take House Corbois off her hands, handing him the sword again. She asks if it was his father who gave him that scar on his chest. Luther says it was. He agrees to tell her why later; he doesn’t want everyone to hear. But he’s sick of keeping secrets and he wants her to know everything. She feels the same way. After the Challenging, they will tell each other everything. He has a letter from Henri that came for her this morning. She needs to speak to him as well. She tells Luther about Henri coming to the canal. He already knew the Royal guard saw her running away and he put the pieces together. He assumed they’d met for a lovers’ tryst. In addition, he tells her he’s done everything he can to make sure that she won’t be challenged. What did he promise the Houses? Anything that was his to give. House Hanoverre only agreed not to challenge her if he made a bonded bargain to marry Ileana. He has a chance to keep her safe, and he’s going to take it. He has to give them an answer by the end of the day, but he’s already decided that the answer will be yes. He will not allow Diem to die at the challenging and they are there her biggest concern. He promised Diem that he would not let her die in the Challenging and even though she no longer believes his promises, he still intends to keep it. But she tells him that she does believe him. She took out her anger and her grief on him and she is sorry, but she does want him to sign his life away to save her. She has always had faith in him. If he doesn’t agree, Hanoverre may challenge her just out of spite. He cannot stand back and watch her die. But she’s not asking him to do nothing. She’s asking him not to marry Ileana. Marry her if that is who his heart desires, but do not marry her to protect Diem. She could not bear it. He issues his own challenge to her. Prove that she can defend herself and he will reject the bargain. They head down to the dungeons and start with shielding. If she can shield, then maybe she can protect herself for long enough to wear the other person down. She tells them that she thinks she shielded once when she thought she was mortal, when she tried to save the boy from his Descended father in the alleyway. She should’ve died that day, but she didn’t. She thinks now she may have shielded instinctively. Alixe explains that when they make their magic into an attack, they usually shape it like weapons, but when they shield, they pull it around themselves in a pure form. Diem can’t get it to work. She asks Luther to help her. She cannot stand thinking of him tied to Ileana for the rest of his life. To a woman who only wants to use him and who does not see him. Who does not deserve him. She cannot stand the thought of losing him forever. He comes forward and puts one hand on her wrist, the other on her chest in the same place where his own chest is not scarred. They quickly fall into their flirtatious challenging banter, and he tells her to imagine her magic converging where his hand is. When she can feel it there, he tells her to let it expand around them. She’s worried about hurting the people in the room with them, but he explains that her magic will not hurt those that she loves. It is the reason that when she was drowning after her father died and was literally on fire, he was still able to come to her side. Her power knew not to hurt him. She’s upset at this, but nothing could have stop him from coming to her when she was suffering - least of all his own death. He shows her that a dome had formed around the two of them. Taran and Alixe test it and nothing gets through. He backs away and the shield stays in place. This is enough to get him to agree not to accept the bonded bargain. Feeling a lot better, Diem tells Luther that she has asked Teller and Lily to be her advisors when they’re done with school, though she hasn’t yet asked Luther, Taran, or Alixe. Diem walks over to Alixe and asks her to serve as a loyal advisor in defense of the realm and all of its people, Alixe accepts. Taran is a little put out. On their way to the luncheon, Diem casually reveals that she made her own bonded bargain with Remis. No Corbois can challenge her or he loses his magic. This stops Luther in his tracks. Eleanor asks if she should arrange a dinner just for the seven of them. But Diem needs to see Henri, so she asks Eleanor to plan a victory dinner for the following night instead. When they get to the luncheon, the others abandon her, but Luther stays by her side. He asks if she needs any help taking care of her unfinished business but no, she needs to go alone. Diem does not go to Mortal City alone, she takes Alixe and Taran invites himself. She stops first to see Maura. She plans to go see Henri next, but on their way, she realizes that neither Alixe nor Taran have ever been into Mortal City. So instead, she shows them around. She takes two hours and shows them the filthy streets, the rooms that don’t have running water or indoor plumbing, the families that live ten to a room, the streets where women don’t walk at night, the makeshift graves. She also shows them the good stuff like the library that is just starting, the art studio that gives free classes to people who can’t afford to pay. There are probably dozens of half-Descended children hiding in their homes for fear of being killed. This is her home and she is fighting to protect it. Next, she goes to Henri’s house. His father answers the door and explains that Henri is not in town. He left for a delivery and will be gone for a week. She could die tomorrow and the man who was her best friend, who is supposed to be betrothed to her, didn’t even stay in the city. Before she leaves, Henri’s dad tells her that when she became queen, a lot of people thought she would forget the mortals. But many of them are rooting for her, especially after she has been helping the orphanage and the healers with donations. She warns him that if she fails to win her Challenging that life could get a lot worse for the immortals, but he already knows. He tells her to give them hell. The next morning, Diem has to give Sorae a stern talk. No matter what she feels through their bond, she cannot come help Diem. If she does that, the Challenging will be considered invalid. Everybody is nervous, even Luther, who can’t stop fidgeting. They head down to the front where the rest of the House Corbois is waiting for them. Luther takes her to her new horse. When he mounts next to her, it is on a huge, dark horse. She asks where the white horse went and he points over to Aemonn. The night he went to the lodge, his own horse had thrown a shoe and he took Aemonn’s instead. Everything clicks in the place for her. Of course, it was not Luther who would run over a boy and not care that he died. It was Aemonn. And now he is in charge of the fate of all of the half mortals. Luther tells her to lead the way; the horse knows where it’s going. When they get to the arena, Luther gives Diem a couple of gifts. The first one is news that Teller kissed Lily after Lily turned down the marriage offer from House Byrnum. Second is a new Corbois necklace, her first one melted, but Luther has made a few adjustments. The phoenix now has gray eyes like her own and he has imbued it with his own magic, so when she touches the phoenix‘s heart, it glows. A small bit of magic he will not get back. There’s also an ornate B engraved on the back, because to him she will always be Diem Bellator. There’s one other thing he needs to give her, and he apologizes before he does it. Everyone must see it so that they know exactly who will be coming for him if they hurt her. He kisses her. He really kisses her and she kisses him back. This kiss is not anger, not hatred. It is all heat. They are interrupted when Remis comes up and makes Luther sit down. The Challenging must start. She can take one person to help her prepare, but that cannot be Luther. She chooses Teller instead. Diem steps into the center of the arena, Remis asks if anyone will challenge her. The first person that challenges her is House Ghislaine. She recognizes the man who challenges her. It’s the same man who killed his son and mistress in the alleyway, the first person she shielded against. She’s then challenged by House Byrnum. The challenges keep coming. She is challenged by every one of the twenty Houses. She is challenged by lesser houses. She is challenged by unhoused Descended. It is humiliating. She looks at Luther and she smiles an apology before turning away. The last voice she hears is Luther as he issues his own challenge. She can feel her arm burning as her bargain with Remis is broken. The Royal box explodes with activity. Lily is screaming. Taran doesn’t look really surprised. But Diem is completely stunned, she bought all of Luther’s lies. He has betrayed her. Teller doesn’t know what to do. She will have to fight Luther. Remis will have to choose the strongest, most powerful of all of the challengers and that is Luther. Remis demands to know if she told Luther about their bargain. Of course, Luther challenged Diem just to get to him. Teller suggests that Luther rescind his challenge, but it cannot be withdrawn. All of the challengers come to the floor and line up. Diem walks directly to Luther and accuses him of betraying her. Then she punches him in the face. Jean says hopefully her magic is stronger than her punch, so she punches him too. Remis demands that Luther take his challenge back, but Luther refuses to do so. He will restore all of Luther’s titles and never oppose him again. But Luther tells him he wants nothing more than to be king. Diem is standing in his way of that, the fact that he gets to take his father’s magic in the process is just a bonus. The realm needs a better crown, and that person is him. Remis thinks of all of the people who want him dead. Diem doesn’t feel any sympathy for him, but she does propose a deal. He must let Eleanor back into the family and take care of Teller should she die. If he does that, she won’t tell anyone that his magic is gone. In exchange, she will get to pick her own challenger. The others may call the challenging invalid if she doesn’t pick the strongest, which would be Luther, but she says she’ll make her victory extremely convincing. But Luther will kill her as soon as the challenging is done if he really wants the Crown. That’s a problem for later. And so, Remis takes the bargain. When he makes the announcement, the challengers freak out. It turns out the Hannoverres had convinced them all to challenge her and put up a united front. They were told that Jean would for sure fight her. Luther approaches Remis - it’s his right to fight Diem and he demands that Diem choose him. If she doesn’t, the others will not accept her as queen. She ignores him, deciding with Teller who to choose. Teller says to pick the weakest one. If they can just get through today, they can figure out the rest later. Like their dad says, survive first. The strongest challengers after Luther are Jean Hannoverre and Roderyck Byrnum. She asks specifically about Rhon Ghislaine. His magic is strong but defeating him would not be impressive. His House is the lowest ranked. He would be the worst choice. But Diem saw him kill a child and the child’s mother, Teller knows who she will choose. She walks back out into the arena and makes her choice. She will fight Rhon Ghislaine. Luther tries to make her change her mind. Then he tries to convince Teller, and Teller realizes something. Inside the tent, Teller tries to get Diem to listen, but Diem has things she needs to tell him. There is a letter in her nightstand for him, don’t share its contents with anyone. It tells him everything Diem knows and has gold for him to start a new life. She tells him that if he really loves Lily, do not give her up. If they get together and she gets pregnant, go to Luther first. He will know what to do. And she is so proud of him. She walks out of the room into the bigger tent, but Luther is waiting at the door holding the Sword of Corbois. He puts the sword to her throat and pulls her against his chest, demanding that she change her decision or he will kill her. Go ahead if it’s that important to him. He spins her around so he can see her, he’s giving her the chance to fight for her life. Why does she refuse to fight him? She yells that it wasn’t a lie for her: everything that happened between them, everything that she said, she can’t handle the thought of killing him. She cares about him too much. He puts his forehead against hers and lowers the sword, telling her to choose him anyway. If she can’t kill him, he can do it for her and make it look like she did it. He was going to sacrifice himself to make her look strong. She really needs to stop doubting him. If she doesn’t survive, he will make a great king. He insists that she is meant to be their leader. He is not a king without her; the realm needs her. He needs her. She kisses him. And it is the kiss the two of them have been waiting for. A kiss that could be their last. He tells her it’s rude to kiss a man like that and then die, so she responds that she’ll just have to live. They walk out on the field together as he gives her advice. She is way more powerful than Rhon. She only needs one good hit. But he fights dirty, so don’t let him out of her sight. Don’t be afraid to use her magic. It is a part of her, embrace it. She has faced far greater battles than this one - so fight like hell and win. Luther goes outside the shield that protects the crowd. She reaches into the pouch at her belt and sprinkles the soil from her family’s home onto the ground. She looks at Rhon Ghislaine and tells him that he has two deaths to answer for. He responds that in a couple minutes, it’ll be three. Remis asks if they’re ready and when they say yes, the challenge begins. Rhon is a lot stronger than Diem remembers. But her shield stays strong and she tries to wear him down. She taunts him and tricks him, frustrating him. An emotional fighter is one who makes mistakes. But soon, he realizes that she can’t attack him with her magic. She gets nothing from it. As she runs from one boulder to the next, looking for cover from his onslaught, she trips and smacks her head on the boulder. She’s dizzy and doesn’t realize that her shield is not up until Rhon is right in front of her, shooting spikes at her chest. She hears Luther scream her name. She sees her vision again: herself on a battlefield. Luther with her, placing his hand on the unscarred part of his chest. A gray man speaks to Diem and calls her the “Daughter of the Forgotten”. Together they can destroy and rebuild this world, getting rid of the Descended for good. But she tells him no. She is Descended just as she is mortal and she rules for them. Then she will die with the rest of them. The voice inside her tells her she is finally ready. When she comes back to the present, Rhon’s spikes pierce her chest. Or they look like they do. But they do not damage. Everybody, herself included, is confused. She stands and walks toward Rhon. Rhon throws everything he has at her until his magic is depleted and she wraps a magic vine around his neck. It is clear to everyone who has won. Rhon’s magic didn’t affect her, in fact she thinks it may have made her stronger. Rhon stammers that he didn’t even want to challenge her. They asked him to do it, even the Warden was there, but that’s not why Diem chose him. He killed an innocent, even when she gave him the chance to let the boy live. But she no longer wants to kill Rhon, even if he deserves it. She asks him to yield and he does. He kneels to her. She walks toward Luther, who is looking at her like she’s everything he’s ever dreamed of. But Rhon comes up behind her. The Challenging is not over until one of them dies, he attacks her with a knife. Without thinking, her magic kills him and the crowd cheers. These people! She decides to show them her strength. She floods the arena with darkness and vines, bringing down the protective barrier and wrapping her enemies’ throats in vines. Each House kneels to her. When she asks Luther, he kisses her before telling her that House Corbois kneels. She announces that she is no longer Unchallenged and is queen in full. They bow to their queen. She celebrates with her friends that night and when Luther tucks her into bed, she convinces him to stay with her. The next morning, he goes with her to the island where she will be coronated, Coeurile. She would’ve preferred to ride Sorae, but touching the island is one of three ways she can die. On the way, he reveals his final secret. He wanted to tell her for ages, but she wasn’t ready. Lumnos visited Remis in a dream and told him his firstborn son would be the most powerful Descended, destined to be king. But it wasn’t his wife who got pregnant first, but his mortal mistress Florille. Luther is half-mortal. Remis hid both his wife and mistress for a year so he could pass Luther off as full-blooded and when he was born, Remis had Florille committed. But she escaped and found Luther one day after school. They knew right away who the other person was. Florille wanted to escape with him but did not have the means. So, Luther hid her inside the palace until they had the money. Remis soon found out. He came to kill Florille, but Luther stepped in front of his magic. That is what caused his scar. Florille realized he was alive and bent over him. Remis killed her and left them both for dead. At that time, Lumnos visited Luther and showed him a vision of himself serving a grey-eyed queen, though her face was obscured. When he saw Diem’s eyes, he thought it was possibly her. But he was confused since she insisted she was mortal and Maura had said her dad was from Fortos. None of it made sense. When he shared her vision during the armory fire, he saw Diem with a crown, but not the crown of Lumnos. When Ulther died and she became queen, he had no doubt who she was. He had come to the lodge that day to swear fealty to her but realized she would not trust him until he proved himself. He shared the vision she had during the Challenging as well. Does she know what the man meant by Daughter of the Forgotten. Diem doesn’t but she’s heard it before. From Ulther just before he died, and from a woman who may’ve been the Queen of Umbros – who told her to stop taking the flameroot. Suddenly everything makes sense to Luther. As soon as the Rite of Coronation is complete, he will tell Diem what he knows of her mother, her lies have gone too far. But for now, Diem must continue alone. It will only be Diem and the other Crowns. No weapons, no escorts, no gryverns, no magic. The island takes it from her as soon as she steps foot on it. Diem doesn’t see anyone at first and a bend in the road hides her from Luther’s view. Then she meets the Queen of Faunos, who explains that they’re called by their Realms here. Diem will be known as Lumnos. She meets the King of Fortos (who knew both of her parents) and the Queen of Arboros, who gets in an argument with Faunos, so Fortos sends Diem ahead - warning her not to leave the trail. As Diem walks, she sees red flowers everywhere (they are only grown on this island, which is where the Descended built their temple and split the realms, but is also where the Everflame tree is said to grow). Diem thinks she hears something off the path and goes to investigate but sees nothing. She grabs some flowers and realizes that they are flameroot. Fortos catches her and chastises her. She tries to get back on his good side by thanking him for the blade he sent to her and asking if Brecke made it. Fortos says Brecke just went missing along with a supply of weapons, what does she know about him? Diem and the others arrive at the Kindred temple, which consists of nine obelisks rising into the sky with a cauldron on tap. Eight of the cauldrons are lit with flames while the ninth is out. That is Lumnos’ portal. Sophos will lead the rituals and will guide Diem through the process. The King of Meros is already there with the Crown of Sophos. Diem’s instincts scream at her to beware of Sophos. Ignios soon arrives followed by the Queen of Umbros. Diem recognizes her voice as the woman who spoke to her on Forging day. In fact, Sophos points out that Umbros missed the ritual that day - she had something very important to do. Lastly, an elderly man shows up and has trouble climbing the stairs. He is the King of Montios, they do not speak to anyone outside of the Realm. Diem tries to help and at first, he slaps her away. But when he looks at her and sees her eyes, he gets excited. He whispers to her “Good luck, Daughter of the Forgotten”. The others urge Diem to go back to her portal to finish the Rite. In the center of the temple is a pedestal that represents the island. Sophos explains as they start the Rite: when the Kindred arrived on the continent, they brought with them the heartstone. They bled on the stone to split the realms into nine different realms. If the heartstone is destroyed, all the Realms will fall - it is their biggest and most guarded secret. Fortos insists that no one gets on the island without him knowing, the stone is safe. And it is not as fragile as it looks. Weapons don’t hurt it, it can’t be lifted, and you can’t touch it without injury. They renew the Forging spell by performing Rites on Forging Day every year, as well as on the coronation of each new Crown. They all walk to the top of their obelisks, starting with Sophos. When it comes time for Diem to go to the top of her obelisk, the magic around her squeezes at her. She starts to panic, but the others don’t notice (except Umbros). Sophos cuts their hand with a dagger set with white stones in the hilt. With the touch of their blood, the white stones turn pink - the same color as their eyes. They trickle some blood onto the heartstone before passing the blade to Meros. This time the stones change to turquoise, just like his eyes. When knife gets to Diem, she cuts her hand and a single droplet of blood is splattered onto the heartstone. Thunder sounds and gray clouds roll in, the sun is blotted out. The stones are gray; they should be blue. Lightning strikes the heartstone. When the ground stops shaking, she can see at the heartstone has been broken. They call her an imposter, except for Umbros. Diem hears a voice screaming at her to run. It’s her mother running towards her. There’s an explosion and the world goes black. This is where Auralie has been all these months, on Coeurile planning an attack and today it finally comes to fruition. She can see when the Crowns start showing up for the Rite, but she is grabbed from behind by Luther. This is what Diem heard when she left the path. Auralie doesn’t know that Diem is the new Crown of Lumnos. He doesn’t have time to tell her. He cannot interfere with her plan, so she slices his Achilles tendon and leaves him as she runs to the side of the temple and lights a fuse. She sees Vance, she wasn’t sure if he was going to make it tonight. She managed to complete all of their plans for the night. When she looks up, Auralie sees Diem standing where the bomb has been placed. She runs toward her daughter.
