Page 169 of Lady of Ashes

“Who else do you have left? You have pushed everyone else away,” he countered.

“Thank you for pointing out how utterly alone I am.”

“Talwyn,” he growled, his hand closing around her elbow and tugging her to a stop.

Her eyes fell to his hand before slowly dragging to his eyes.

“Your foul moods do not scare me. They never have,” he said, his ?ngers remaining wrapped around her arm.

“Then perhaps you have gottentooclose, Prince,” she bit out.

Azrael’s brow arched. “So expecting to have conversations with you is too much to ask, but being between your legs is ?ne?”

She bared her teeth at him, tugging her arm, but he held ?rm, stepping into her further.

“It is my job as your Second to challenge you and provide counsel,” he said, his voice dropping low.

“Then maybe I need to re-evaluate who I keep in my Inner Court,” she spat back.

“This is all over a bloodline that does not matter.”

“I wager Tarek, if he is truly alive, would disagree with that statement.”

“Talwyn,” Azrael growled again in frustration.

“Release me. I have things to tend to,” she said, her tone becoming dangerous.

“You are saying all this, these past decades of loyalty, mean nothing? These decades of— It is all nothing to you?”

“You were good for distractions,” she sneered. “Unless you are here for that, you are dismissed.”

Azrael ?ashed his teeth at her in a feral grin. “If you need a hate-fuck, all you need to do is ask, your Majesty.”

“Release me,” she ordered again, her voice nothing more than a lethal whisper.

His hand left her ?esh this time, and when he took a step back from her, something tightened in her chest. “I will see you in three days when we go into the Night Child territory. Send a message if you need something before then.”

She left him standing on the path, and the moment she crossed the gates she Traveled to the woods in Windonelle where she’d once tracked down Sorin. She’d been working with Stellan and Arianna every day since Azrael and Stellan had come to collect her in the forest. She was able to shift back and forth fairly easily now, but she could not entirely control when she shifted yet. And with everything going on, she found it harder to control her magic. It took more focus, more energy.

But when she stepped into the mortal kingdom, her ring on her ?nger, she shifted on command. Paws hit the dirt, and her ears cocked forward, listening to everything around her. She slowly began padding along the woods. Her nose went to the ground, trying to pick up a familiar scent.

She’d gone to the spot where Scarlett had been taken by those Night Children. Azrael had mentioned scenting something familiar there. They had thought there was a traitor in the Earth Court. She hadn’t been able to ?nd the scent when she’d gone there though. It had been so hidden to begin with that it was long gone when she had tried to ?nd it.

But she’d recognize Tarek’s scent anywhere. She just wanted to see if she could ?nd it. Sheneededto know if he was really here, if he’d been here this entire time.

She followed the woods as far as she could, until she reached the outskirts of the capital, where she sat and watched, trying to ?gure out what her next move should be, when footsteps had her ears perking and head tilting as she listened. These were silent footsteps, softer than mortals tended to move. A hunter, perhaps?

She slunk along some trees, keeping to the brush to stay hidden. The scent of moonlight and night hit her as she drew closer, but it was muted. It should be much stronger if they were this close.

“How much longer are we going to wait?” one of the vampyres hissed, and a moment later, they came into view.

There was a small clan of around twenty Night Children all gathered around a small make-shift campsite. There was a little ?re in the center of it, but they all kept their distance, apparently preferring to freeze rather than risk touching the ?ames.

“They keep making promises that it will be soon, yet we still sit here, shunned from our own lands and not allowed into theirs,” another said. This one a female.

“If they manage to keep their promises, it will be worth it,” said another.

“Do you have reason to believe the promises made to you will not be kept?”

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