Page 115 of Lady of Ashes

He ?nally sighed, saying only, “Let’s go,” before reaching for her hand and letting her Travel them to the Black Halls.

They were met by Briar and Ashtine, and Talwyn bit her tongue at ?nding the princess once again here before her. They were escorted to one of the main ?oor council rooms. It was one of the bigger meeting rooms and far more formal than she had come to expect from Scarlett.

They followed Briar and Ashtine into the room, and her eyes landed on her cousin standing at one end of the room with Sorin and Cyrus. They were speaking softly amongst themselves, but atthe sound of their entrance, they all stopped and turned to her. Scarlett immediately made her way to them, her eyes ?xed on Azrael, who watched her warily.

“Talwyn,” she said cordially, glancing at her quickly before returning her attention to the Earth Prince. “Prince Azrael, I owe you my gratitude and a debt,” she said, inclining her head slightly. “Thank you for getting everyone out. I am told that doing so pushed your power to the edge of its limits. Have you recovered all right?”

“I have,” Azrael said slowly, clearly as wary of her formalities as Talwyn was.

“That is good to hear. We have much to discuss,” she said, gesturing towards the table where the Fire and Water Courts had taken their seats. Scarlett went back to Sorin, and they both made their way to the table, Scarlett taking the seat at the head of it with Sorin to her right. Briar sat at her left.

Talwyn made her way to the other end of the long, polished table.

When she’d taken her seat, a tense silence settled over the room.

Which her cousin broke with the unconventional ?are she’d begun to become accustomed to.

“So what would you like to know ?rst?” Scarlett asked, sitting back casually in her chair.

“What would you like to tell me ?rst?” Talwyn countered.

“I have quite the list today,” she replied, propping her head onto her hand. “But I want to make sure all of your questions are answered before we move on to my list of topics.”

“Fine,” Talwyn said tightly. “Why don’t you tell me what the hell you were doing at the border of the Earth Court.”

“Aiding you, of course. There was a clan of Night Children there,” Scarlett drawled. And before Talwyn could say anything, she added with a wry grin and wink, “You’re welcome, by the way.”

A gust of wind blew through the room, and Talwyn clamped down on her magic while Scarlett just poured herself a glass of water, taking a sip, before she met Talwyn’s eyes again.

“As was previously stated to your consort, we did not request aid,” Azrael said from her right.

“And when were you planning to arrive to stop the advance into the Night Child territory?” Scarlett asked, setting her water glass down.

“Why would they want to go there?” Talwyn demanded, her thoughts of Tarek momentarily forgotten at the mention of mortals and rogue Night Children trying to enter that territory.

She sat rigidly still while Scarlett told them of her theories and what she overheard while at the border.

Before she had single-handedly taken almost all of them out with her power.

“They were waiting for me?” Talwyn asked when Scarlett fell silent.

Scarlett glanced at Sorin quickly before she said, “Yes, but before we speak of that, I need to know if you’ve heard from the Contessa. Did she ever respond about attending the Summit?”

“The Summit was obviously postponed,” Talwyn replied.

“Obviously,” Scarlett said, rolling her eyes. “But did she ever respond? Has anyone heard anything from her?”

“The Contessa is very private,” Ashtine said.

“So I’ve heard, but no one else is concerned that we have not heard from her?” Scarlett asked, glancing at her own Courts. “From what I heard, their goal was to get to her. I think we need to at least send someone in to investigate.” Her silver eyes shifted to the Ash Rider. “Rayner?”

“I have had people trying to look into it since you brought it up yesterday, but they have not found anything yet,” he answered, his tone conveying just how unhappy he was with that.

“What is required to go there? What …protocolsneed to be followed?” She turned, batting her lashes at Sorin. Clearly they’d discussed this matter, and as he held her gaze, Talwyn could only assume they were communicating with their twin ?ame bond.

Which brought Tarek back to the forefront of Talwyn’s mind.

“So we will send a small company to the Night Children to speak with the Contessa,” Talwyn said impatiently. “Now tell me why they were waiting for me.”

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