Page 174 of Lady of Shadows

“Even Eliza?” he asked with a raise of his brows.

She huffed a laugh. “Valid point, Prince.”

“You are back to calling me that,” he said quietly. She said nothing, and he suddenly realized they were heading towards the bridges. “I cannot cross the bridges, Scarlett. Not without an escort of the Fire Court.”

“You have something better,” she replied simply, again with that half smile, as she stepped onto the bridge. He held his breath, waiting for Rayner to step from smoke, and Cyrus and Eliza to come striding from wherever they were, but no one came. She was halfway across the bridge when a fire message appeared near her head.He watched her reach up, plucking the note from the flames. A soft smile crossed her lips. Then she incinerated the note in her palm. “Come, Callan,” she said with a nod of her head to the other side of the bridge. “I promise no one will bother us.”

Callan sucked in a breath and stepped onto the bridge. True to her word, nothing happened. He bit back his snide remark about her being able to go where she pleased unescorted and followed her across the bridge.

“Your shadows are gone,” he remarked as she led him up several sets of stairs.

“They appear when summoned,” she answered.

“As panthers?”

Scarlett grimaced slightly. “Sorry. It has been an…emotional couple of days, and I needed some time…”

He forced himself to hold back his retort about Sorin being able to follow her.

They continued in silence up to the highest level of the palace. She led him down a hall and then she pushed through a door. He followed her through and stepped into a large glass greenhouse. Plants and flowers bloomed everywhere. She walked to a bench beside a little pond where various fish swam about. In the center of the pond was a sea star.

Scarlett sat on the bench and patted the spot beside her. “Sit, Callan. There are some things you deserve to know.”

He studied her for a moment. A soft, almost sad smile was on her lips as she watched the sea star move along the bottom of the pond. Her hair was partially pulled back, putting her Fae ears fully on display. Her hands were under her thighs as though she were trying to keep them warm, despite the magic that kept the entire palace comfortable and the heat of the greenhouse itself.

Callan crossed the short distance and sat down beside her, watching the fish dart to and fro in the water, and waited.

“I am sorry for missing dinner the other night. I got caught up in some things and wasn’t able to send a note,” she said.

“In the Witch Kingdoms?”

She cast a side-long glance at him before saying, “We are returning to Baylorin. Tomorrow evening.”

He jerked his head to her. “We are going home?”

She winced slightly. “Yes, Callan. It is time for you to return home. We still don’t entirely know what Mikale’s plans are, but we—Ihave matters to attend to there and have waited long enough to return.”

“The orphans?” he asked softly.

“Yes. Among other things.” She did not look at him as she spoke, her eyes still fixed on the sea star.

“Have you heard from Cassius? Is everything all right?”

“No. I have not spoken to Cassius since that day weeks ago when Sorin brought him here for me.” Silence fell again. “When you return home, you need to stay alert, Callan. Finn and Sloan need to be with you at all times until we have Mikale under control. I will provide them with all the ways I have entered the castle undetected. Mikale caught me in one of the tunnels, so I know he knows about them as well.”

We. She kept saying we, which meant…

“Who all is returning with us?” he asked slowly.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Sorin and his Inner Court.”

“All of them?”

“Yes,” she replied softly.

“Cyrus, Eliza,andRayner?”

“Yes.”

---