52 pages • 1-hour read
Glow of the Everflame
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Chapters 26-31Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 26 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of violence and death.
When Diem and Aemonn enter the ballroom, Diem studies the space and the guests and feels awed by the scene. Eleanor, Taran, and Lily eagerly greet her, and Diem then greets her guests. Each of the houses presents her with gifts, including a cloak, a healing potion, and a magic compass meant to guide her heart toward its truest desire. When Diem greets the Queen of Umbros, she recognizes her as the woman who gave her a prophecy “in the alley on the day [Auralie] went missing” (315). Unnerved, she dismisses the memory to focus on greeting the other houses and royals. When members of House Hanoverre and House Benette try to contest her right to the Crown, Diem calmly puts them in their places. However, she silently realizes that House Hanoverre’s remarks mean they are preparing for war.
Chapter 27 Summary
After receiving her guests, Diem withdraws to a private room to have some wine and think. Then she overhears Iléana talking to Luther about her. Iléana insists that Diem isn’t the real queen and that Luther belongs on the throne with her by his side. Luther dismisses Iléana’s remarks and swears his allegiance to Diem.
Later, Diem and Aemonn share their first dance, and Diem struggles to make sense of his behavior and intentions. When he interrogates her about what happened with Henri, she momentarily falters, but Taran cuts in, interrupting the conversation. Jean Hanoverre also cuts in, threatening to challenge Diem if she doesn’t prove the existence of her powers. The other houses join in, insisting that Diem show them her magic. Humiliated, Diem refuses, insisting that doing so would be too dangerous.
Chapter 28 Summary
Hours later, Luther asks Diem to dance. With Luther close, Diem tries to ignore her attraction and focus only on their conversation. Luther wants to make a plan that will allow Diem to survive the Challenging. Confused by her feelings, Diem asks Luther about Henri. Luther assures her that Henri is now safe at home and will forgive her if he really loves her. Luther also reminds her that she can trust him and reiterates his desire to help her protect the mortals. He swears to help her make peace between the mortals and the Descended, no matter what it takes. Overwhelmed by emotion, Diem struggles to breathe and speak.
Chapter 29 Summary
The next day, Diem reports to the meeting rooms for more House Receptions. She meets the other houses and defers to Remis per their plan. However, when the houses suggest expelling the mortals, Diem becomes overwhelmed with anger and defends them.
Afterward, Diem talks to Andrei in private. She begs him to act as her adviser, but he insists that he cannot accept the role.
Chapter 30 Summary
Diem meets Lily and Teller in the dungeons. She asks Teller to be her advisor, but he is reluctant to leave Mortal City. Remembering her home, Diem worries that she is on the verge of losing everything she once loved. Suddenly, Alixe races in, demanding that Diem come with her because Luther needs her.
Diem rides Sorae to find Luther. She is shocked when they arrive at her old home and find it in ruins. Andrei has been killed in some kind of attack. Overcome by anger and grief, Diem unleashes her magic, creating a swirl of fire around the house and Andrei’s remains. The fire burns her clothes but not her skin. Luther appears and discovers her in the wreckage. They kneel together in an embrace and mourn Diem’s lost home and father.
Chapter 31 Summary
Teller stays at the palace with Diem for a few days before returning to school. Diem then continues her meetings. During her meeting with House Benette, she loses her temper because she is still upset over Andrei’s death. She silently criticizes herself for being selfish and useless. However, she stands up for herself when the other houses threaten to challenge her again. She insists that they cannot intimidate her by hurting her family, and she vows to defend her people no matter the cost. After the meeting, Luther tries to take Diem aside and reassure her. Furious, Diem reminds him of how many promises he has already broken. She insists that he cannot protect her or her family, then pushes past him.
Chapters 26-31 Analysis
In these chapters, the overwhelming Burden of Leadership compromises Diem’s Quest for Self-Discovery and threatens to destroy her internal resolve. As a young woman stranded amongst the unfamiliar ways of Descended society, Diem grows terrified that she is losing all vestiges of her identity. The more House Receptions that she attends, the more threatened she feels. Because the other Descended doubt Diem’s right to rule, she discovers that “a shade of suspicion now taint[s] every interaction” that she has (329). As a result, she begins to question herself and discovers that the “line between who [she] hate[s] and who [she has] become [has grown] paper thin” during her immersion in palace life (329). Her struggles make it clear that living amongst the Descended has estranged her from her past in Mortal City, and she despairs at the thought that her former life and community are now slipping away from her.
Diem’s external appearance is also designed to illustrate her internal conflicts. For the Ascension Ball, for example, she wears an elaborate dress that is symbolic of her new role as the queen presumptive. She knows that she must play the part of a royal figurehead to earn the respect of the royal houses and family, for if she fails to make the right impression, she risks her very life. The dress therefore creates the illusion that she is hovering over the floor, and this optical illusion reinforces the more abstract political illusion that Diem is trying to project. Essentially, she uses her finery to act the part of the rightful queen despite her inner conflicts over the subject. The dress is therefore a façade that is meant to appease her subjects and her court. However, the real Diem is the one who is hiding behind these elaborate silks and gems, and when she momentarily withdraws from the ballroom, her true self emerges in a rush of unrefined behavior that conveys the disparity between the part she is playing and the person she understands herself to be.
As Diem struggles to reconcile these very different versions of herself, the death of her father further complicates her Quest for Self-Discovery and her attempts to orient herself to the demands of royal life. Before Andrei dies under suspicious circumstances, Diem has just made barely managed to make peace with him, and their restored relationship has been helping Diem to maintain her connection with her roots and to the mortal world. However, with his loss, Diem feels that she has failed her people and lost her sense of home and family. She is able to summon her powers in this tense scene because she allows herself full access to her most authentic emotions. At the scene of her wrecked home, the voice returns to her mind, telling her, “Fight. Kill. Destroy” (380), and rather than resisting its words, she “surrender[s] to [her] grief, and to the voice. And [she] detonate[s]” (381). This dramatic moment foreshadows future revelations about the nature of Diem’s powers, hinting at the reason why she has not been able to access her magic. When Andrei dies, Diem’s logical brain goes quiet, and her heart and spirit take over. Her magic thus becomes a manifestation of her pain and emotional intensity, revealing the truth of who she is and what she wants.
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