Heat of the Everflame

Heat of the Everflame is a romantic fantasy (romantasy) novel by Penn Cole. Originally self-published in 2023 and later republished by Atria Books in 2025, the novel is the third installment in Cole’s Kindred’s Curse Saga. After protagonist Diem Bellator’s coronation goes awry, she faces new political and personal challenges as she fights to unite the Emarion kingdom. Diem’s work to bring the mortals and the Descended together coincides with her ongoing search for romance, home, family, and belonging. Written from Diem’s first-person point of view, the novel explores themes of The Challenges of Claiming Identity and Autonomy, The Implications of Power and Duty, and Navigating Loyalty and Betrayal During Wartime.

This guide uses the 2023 self-published paperback edition.

Content Warnings: Both the source text and this guide include depictions of sexual content, cursing, graphic violence, illness, physical and emotional abuse, death by suicide, death, and racism.

Plot Summary

Heat of the Everflame picks up where its prequel Glow of the Everflame leaves off. After Diem Bellator’s catastrophic coronation on the island of Coeurîle, Diem is captured by the Guardians of the Everflame and their violent stand-in leader, Vance. They inform her that her mother Auralie Bellator (who mysteriously disappeared at the start of the series) is their official leader but has been imprisoned by the Fortos King and army. Although shocked by this revelation, Diem is determined to rescue Auralie. With the help of Brecke—her childhood sweetheart Henri’s friend—Diem escapes the Guardians.

Diem reunites with her love Luther Corbois and friends Taran and Alixe. They face off with the Guardians and make plans to return home to their realm of Lumnos. On the way, they stop in the neighboring realm of Umbros, hoping to secure a safe passage home. The Umbros Queen Yrselle demands that they stay for several days. During a lavish dinner, Yrselle reminds Diem that the brewing civil war between the mortals and the Descended is about blood: Years prior, Emarion engaged in the Blood War, a conflict which led to the segregation of mortals and Descended. Diem is desperate to reunite the kingdom but realizes it will be hard to secure the support of the other eight Emarion realms and their Crowns.

From Umbros, Diem and her friends travel to Fortos. They try to negotiate with the Fortos King, but he insists that Diem has no real authority in Emarion, since her coronation was never completed. Diem isn’t sure this is true, but convinces the King to bring her to the prisons to see her mother. Diem and Auralie reunite. Diem is still upset with her mother, but she and Luther fight the Fortos guards and kill the King to secure her liberation.

Diem, Luther, and Auralie leave Fortos and journey back towards Lumnos. As they travel, Diem and Auralie try to make amends. Diem still cannot believe that her mother kept so many secrets from her. She not only hid the truth about Diem’s magical powers and Descended biological father, but has been working as a Guardian and a Descended spy for years. Auralie does her best to explain her decisions. She delves into her personal history, and tells Diem more about her father, Ophiucae. At first he was affectionate towards Auralie. After she got pregnant with and gave birth to Diem, however, he became violent and dangerous. Auralie believes that he wanted Diem’s blood because he thought it would give him more power. Terrified, Auralie fled. She also swears that Ophiucae is dead because she’s convinced she killed him during a fight. This is the first Diem is hearing about Ophiucae, but tells Auralie she has reason to believe he is still alive. She often hears a man’s voice speaking to her and calling her the Daughter of the Forgotten.

The companions continue traveling from realm to realm as they seek the other Crowns’ support for Diem’s social justice cause. Most of the Crowns are skeptical of Diem. She is not only half-mortal but her political ambitions are threatening their segregated way of life. Despite the Crowns’ opposition to Diem, she doesn’t give up. She consistently reminds them that the mortals and the Descended aren’t so different from each other and should learn to live in peace and harmony.

Meanwhile, Diem and Luther fall deeper in love. Diem has felt conflicted about Luther for months, but gradually realizes how important he is to her. When she discovers that he has wounds from a battle she can’t heal, she fears that she will lose him forever. He always reminds her of how strong she is and has always been devoted to her. If he dies, she might lose her greatest advocate. Remarkably, Diem ends up healing Luther with a mysterious vial of dragonfyre she bought at an Umbros market.

The companions return home to Lumnos. Diem faces more opposition, and isn’t sure how to handle these divisions. She realizes her fight for peace is just beginning. She is forced to leave Lumnos to travel to Sophos in search of more support from their Queen. In Sophos, she learns that Ophiucae is the descendant of a 10th Kindred (or god) called Omnos. Omnos’s Kindred siblings feared that Omnos would one day become more powerful than them and steal their powers. They imprisoned him on Coeurîle (where magical powers don’t work) and murdered him. Then they stole his land and erased his name and story from the Emarion archives. Diem understands that Omnos is her ancestor.

After Diem’s travels in Sophos, Ophiucae appears to Diem and her companions. Her first instinct is to fight him. Ophiucae is even more terrible than Diem thought. However, she realizes his desperation for power is inspired by his ancestral trauma.

Diem and Luther manage to escape Ophiucae. Afterwards, they meet with the other Crowns. Diem informs them that Ophiucae will destroy the entirety of Emarion if they don’t work together to take him down. The Crowns dismiss Diem’s pleas and imprison her on Coeurîle. Then the King of Ignios stabs Diem. As she lies on the ground dying, Diem feels a surprising sense of peace. She doesn’t know what comes next but feels ready to face the future.