Page 176 of Lady of Shadows

“Sorin has explained what he can, but we are learning more each day. I am doing the best I can.”

He started at the bitterness in her tone. “You do not wish for this?” he asked slowly.

“Do I wish to be queen? No. I’ve never lied to you, Callan. I have no desire to be shackled to a throne.”

“Then why choose it?”

“Because…” she stared around the greenhouse. “Because while it is my fate, I get to decide how to use it, and so I shall use it to aid my people. Starting with the children in the Black Syndicate. If my crown will allow me to help those who cannot help themselves, then it is a burden I shall endure.”

Callan studied the woman, the female, before him. He knew. He had known for quite some time that Sorin was her equal, that he pushed her and challenged her in ways he never could. He knew that Sorin was better for her, could care for her better. None of that eased the pain in his chest. None of that made it easier. None of that lessened his bitterness.

“You could have done that from my side,” he ground out.

“No, I could not have,” she said simply. “But I will need you, Callan. I will need your alliance. I will need your help, as a prince and as a king, but more than all of that, I will need your friendship.”

“Why would you need me when you have him?” he sneered.

“There are battles coming, Callan. There are enemies deeply entrenched in your lands and others. They have been waiting for centuries for this exact moment in time. There are rifts in the world. Beings we are only beginning to recognize. We shall need each other to keep our people safe.”

“We will not need you or your Court or your people,” he snarled.He turned on his heel. “I am going back to my rooms. Send word as to when we need to be ready to return to Baylorin.”

“Callan,” she called after him, taking a few steps towards him. “Let me walk back with you. You do not know the way…and cannot walk through this side of the palace unattended.”

Callan gritted his teeth. Of course he couldn’t. “Then find me an escort that is not you.”

She stepped back as though he had hit her, hurt flitting across her features. She only gave a slight nod of her head, and a moment later, a fire portal appeared. Sorin and Eliza stepped through, Sorin coming to her side.

Callan thought he would vomit at the perfection they were as they stood beside each other, Sorin’s hand coming to her lower back. “Tomorrow evening, at sundown, we will depart,” Scarlett said, her tone now formal.

“Fine,” Callan answered, striding for the door, but he paused, not turning to look at her when she called after him again.

“Almost three years ago, I watched a young prince from a tree branch. He became a friend and so much more. He had a dream that he could make the world a better place for those already in his care. Hope is for the dreamers, Callan.” She crossed the space between them, gently grabbing his arm. She pressed a small vial into his hand. The vial looked just like the ones that used to hold her tonic, and he wished she were still taking it. That none of this had happened. That it could all go back. He would take her secrets and shadows over this. Anything over this.

“You will need me, Callan,” she said softly. “When you do, I will come. Smash this to the ground, and I will be there in an instant. I will come for you. For my friend.”

Callan only jerked his arm from her and headed to Eliza who was now waiting by the door. He stalked past her out into the hallway. They silently descended the stairs, and he gripped that vial tightly in his fist, resisting the urge not to smash it against the steps of this damn palace.

After the third set of stairs, Eliza spoke. “I tried to prepare you.”

“You could have just come out and said it,” he spat, not looking at the female leading him down the stairs.

“No, I couldn’t have. I swore to my prince I wouldn’t say a word, but you were there the day I Marked him. I hoped I had given you enough clues.”

“Why did you even bother?” he growled as they approached the bridges.

“Because you seemed as lost as she did when you arrived,” Eliza replied, more gently than he had ever heard the female speak.

“And now?” he asked when she stopped at the bridge.

She studied him for a long moment. “I think an obstacle that was preventing you from moving forward has been removed, and you are now free to find your own way.”

CHAPTER 55

SCARLETT

“What did you give him?” Sorin asked Scarlett as she stood staring after the prince and general.

“Something to use when I am his only option left,” Scarlett replied quietly.

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