55 pages • 1-hour read
Heat of the Everflame
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Part 1, Chapters 1-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence and death.
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary
Diem Bellator wakes up in Arboros after her coronation went awry on Coeurîle island. A Guardian woman named Cordellia leans over her. Diem realizes she is in the custody of the Guardians of the Everflame. She is horrified when she sees Vance, the Guardian who killed an innocent in Mortal City, and remembers the violence he’s capable of.
Vance then reveals that Diem’s mother Auralie is now imprisoned in Fortos for leading the Guardians all these years. Diem is shocked to learn what Auralie has been doing since abandoning her family. However, she remains determined to rescue Auralie from the Fortos King.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary
Diem tries convincing her captors to release her. They refuse, accusing her of betraying the mortals by working with the Descended—magical beings descended from the Kindred gods. The Queen of Arboros discovers the Guardians are holding Diem and is displeased.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary
Diem wakes up, still chained. Then Brecke—her childhood sweetheart Henri’s friend—appears. Diem is relieved but feels guilty when he mentions Henri. She tells him about her struggles with her parents and her decision not to be with Henri. She reiterates her desires to protect both the mortals and the Descended.
Brecke opens up to Diem about Auralie’s involvement with the Guardians. She has been their leader for some time and went to Coeurîle “to smuggle in a few bombs” (25) and stop the coronation. Diem tries to reconcile with this information, recalling how the heartstone cracked when her blood dripped into it during the ceremony.
After Brecke gives her some food, Diem’s mind wanders to Luther Corbois. She hopes her beloved is okay.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary
Diem spends her imprisonment reflecting on all that has happened since the coronation. Determined to free herself from Vance, she reminds herself she is Queen.
One night, Vance wakes her up and has the Guardians lead her through the dark. A suspicious Diem wants to fight back. Cordellia intervenes, insisting Diem is her prisoner. Then Diem’s gryvern Sorae—a magical, dragon-like beast—appears in the sky.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary
Diem is hopeful that she and Sorae can escape together, but the Guardians do everything in their power to keep them apart. Sorae breathes dragonfyre at Vance and his men and lowers herself to the ground. Diem is thrilled to see Luther slide off her back. A fight between Sorae, Diem, Luther, and the Guardians ensues. Diem loses consciousness during the battle.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
Diem wakes up with Cordellia leaning over her again. Several Descended died in the fight, but Cordellia assures Diem that Luther and Sorae are alive. She then tells the Guardians to spare Diem.
The women chat about Diem’s involvement with the Guardians and desperation to unite the mortals and the Descended. Diem admits she used to hate the Descended, too, but her new companions in Lumnos—Luther, Eleanor, Lily, Taran, Alixe, and Perthe—have become her friends. A sympathetic Cordellia promises to consider helping Diem.
Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary
The next day, Diem and the Guardians settle at a new camp. In the middle of the night, Brecke wakes Diem and leads her towards the water. A shocked Diem finds Cordellia waiting in a boat. She tells Diem where to go so she can free herself. Before leaving, she reminds Diem how hard the upcoming war to unite the mortals and the Descended will be. The other realms and Crowns do not support Diem’s plans.
Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary
Diem’s mind wanders into the past as she sails away from Arboros. Then a strange wind blows her to shore, ruining her sail. On shore, Diem overhears some Guardians searching for her. She runs into Luther in the bushes, relieved he is okay.
Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary
Taran and Alixe emerge from the brush, joining Diem and Luther. They make plans to escape the Guardians. Diem is reluctant to use violence against the mortals but ends up throwing a bomb to disperse the advancing soldiers.
Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary
Diem and Luther race for cover amidst the bombs. Diem realizes the cost of fighting mortals and the Descended. The friends decide to split up the next day to keep Diem safe. Luther and Alixe will stay together and Taran will take Diem. Luther and Diem share a passionate embrace. Luther assures her that her brother Teller Bellator is safe and promises to protect Diem no matter what. Luther also admits he knew Auralie was a Guardian and that they’ve been working together all these years. Diem quashes her anger.
Part 1, Chapter 11 Summary
Diem, Luther, Taran, and Alixe settle in for the night. They prepare for the next day’s flight and discuss all that has happened. Diem’s friends remind her that they believe in her and her mission to unite Emarion. Diem feels guilty for the lives she’s already taken in the fight. Later, Diem and Luther cuddle up together. Diem feels “warm, and safe, and content” (98) in Luther’s presence.
Part 1, Chapters 1-11 Analysis
The opening chapters of the novel reintroduce the parameters, stakes, conflicts, and themes of the protagonist Diem Bellator’s narrative world. The third title in Cole’s The Kindred’s Curse Saga, Heat of the Everflame picks up where its prequel Glow of the Everflame left off. Just after Diem’s coronation goes awry, Diem finds herself the captive of the Guardians of the Everflame. Diem’s coronation has been the pivotal event Diem has believed will lead her towards change. Ever since the series’ first title, Spark of the Everflame, Diem has been desperate to unite Emarion. She longs for the mortals and the Descended to live together in peace. Becoming Queen, she has hoped, will create a turning point and allow her to complete her mission. However, this dream of equality is quickly challenged and Diem finds herself thrown into a physical, political, and moral battle.
Diem’s new queenly role forces her to confront The Implications of Power and Duty. When she reunites with Luther, Taran, and Alixe after fleeing her Guardian captors, Diem finally has the opportunity to reflect on her royal position and the future of her kingdom. She has established close relationships with Luther, Taran, and Alixe over the preceding months and therefore feels comfortable discussing her new reality with them. The way they discuss her queenly role underscores the intense responsibilities of Diem’s new position: “You have many detractors who do not like your background or who disagree with your vision,” Alixe reminds her, “but they are still bound to obey you as Queen” (95).
Diem has done nothing to rise to power. Rather, her royal position has been divinely endowed, and she is still acquainting herself with this role. Her crown “and the title that comes with it, is a weapon” (95) which her Descended friends remind her she must use to secure justice, order, and peace. However, Diem’s power and duty are in conflict with her sense of right and wrong: She does not want to use violence in the pursuit of peace but has yet to discover how she might secure equality without bloodshed. She also has yet to earn the love, trust, and respect of her subjects and fellow Crowns. These political tensions foreshadow coming emotional conflict for Diem as she pursues unity in Emarion.
Diem’s attempts to adjust to being queen coincide with and intensify her ongoing experience of The Challenges of Claiming Identity and Autonomy in her private life. Earlier in the series, Diem was surprised to discover that she is half-Descended, which challenged her old sense of self. Now, in these chapters, she discovers that her mother Auralie is not the woman she thought she was, either. Vance’s revelation that Auralie is the Guardians’ leader shocks Diem because it is in conflict with how she has always understood her mother. Auralie was a healer. She was gentle, kind, loving, and compassionate by nature. If she is “the leader of the ruthless, violent rebels preparing to raise a bloody war against the Descended” (11), Diem fears she no longer knows her mother at all.
In turn, Diem is forced to question her own identity. She wants to believe in her own goodness, grace, and strength. However, Auralie’s secret identity makes Diem doubt her maternal origins and thus biological predispositions. If Auralie is involved with cruel people, Diem fears, Auralie must be cruel herself; and if Auralie is Diem’s mother, Diem must also have a streak of cruelty inside of her. These conundrums test Diem’s self-confidence and ability to navigate her internal world as she simultaneously tries to lead a nation to peace.
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