Chapter 45

Diem lands on Coeurîle and parts from Luther, entering a guarded island of red wildflowers. She meets the Faunos Queen, the taciturn Fortos King, and the Arboros Queen, glimpsing Crown rivalries. Stepping off the path, she recognizes the flowers’ scent as flameroot—the suppressant her mother once used—implying the island is its source.

Reprimanded for leaving the trail, Diem tries to mend relations with Fortos but is accused of ties to Brecke, who vanished with weapons. At the Temple, she joins the assembled Crowns: the poised Sophos, roguish Meros, disdainful Ignios, the newly resplendent Umbros, and the frail Montios King, whom Diem assists. Montios murmurs “Daughter of the Forgotten,” unsettling her.

Sophos reveals the Temple’s secret: the heartstone, a conduit binding Kindred blood magic to life’s forces; its destruction would end the realms. As the rite begins, Diem feels the heartstone’s oppressive force. One by one the Crowns bleed into it, rekindling their fires.

When Diem’s turn comes, the dagger’s stones gray instead of blue, the obelisks extinguish, and lightning strikes the heartstone. The rock splits with a central gash and spidering fractures. The pressure lifts; Sophos accuses Diem of breaking the heartstone and being an imposter while Umbros watches, amused and unreadable.

Diem points to Umbros, but then sees her mother, Auralie, racing through the brush, screaming for her to run. A massive explosion of fire and rubble erupts, and Diem blacks out.