Page 211 of Lady of Ashes

Slowly cutting off his air supply.

His green eyes widened for a moment before some sort of resolve seemed to ?ll them. He raised his palms before him, and he slowly lowered to his knees, dropping his chin in submission. He did not squirm as she withheld his oxygen. He did not beg. He took her fury as she just stared down at him.

And when she reached out and placed a single ?nger under his chin and raised his face to look up at her, he met her stare, his blue-tinged lips pursing slightly.

She released his air, and he sucked in a few deep breaths while she held his chin up. His eyes never left hers. “Speak.”

“It was all for you,” he replied, his voice raspy.

Her head tilted to the side, but she said nothing. She’d learned long ago that most would reveal their secrets without much prompting, if they thought she already knew.

“I was taken captive,” he went on, his voice low. “After the mission to ?nd Queen Eliné failed. The others thought I was dead like Thia. I woke in the cells of the Black Syndicate. It was death, or be smart about survival. It was show my hand, or keep my cards close until I could get back to you.”

Talwyn’s gaze dropped to his left hand where a twin ?ame Mark had once stood against his bronze skin. It was gone now, just like her own. A piece of his soul lost among the worlds. Destined to be as incomplete as she was.

Never whole. Forever fractured.

“Stand,” she said, her hand dropping to her side, and she took a step back from him.

He did so slowly and made no comment when vines appeared around his wrists before jerking them behind his back. Azrael came to her side.

“Where do you want to take him?” he asked. “The Halls or the Alcazar?”

“The Halls,” Talwyn answered coldly. She wanted her own turf, her own space. A place completely under her control.

Azrael nodded, an earth portal springing to life to their left. He gripped Tarek by the bicep, ready to escort him through. With one last calculating look at her twin ?ame, Talwyn turned and stepped through.

“What is your plan here, Talwyn?” Azrael asked.

Tarek was down in a holding cell at the White Halls, and they had gone up to the private wing. Azrael had stalked off to his own chambers to bathe and wash off the blood and gore from battle. She had done the same.

She hadn’t said a single word to either of them. Azrael had known what she’d wanted done without having to ask. He didn’t need to. They had been this tandem unit for years.

And then he’d fucked everything up.

Talwyn strode from the dressing room in fresh clothing, sliding a dagger into a thigh sheath. She eyed her Second, who stood in a long-sleeve tunic and pants near the window, arms crossed.

“You summoned Ashtine?”

“I was waiting,” he replied. “Until you told me what you wanted.” Talwyn snorted a breath of disbelief, and his eyes narrowed on her. “Say what you need to say, Talwyn,” Azrael bit out. “You and I both detest pretty words to avoid hurting feelings.”

“Feelings have no place here,” Talwyn snapped.

Azrael’s brow arched. “No? You have no emotional attachment to the male down in your holding cells? Feelings are not playing any role in how this entire situation is being handled? Come now, Talwyn,” he scoffed.

“You are the one who taught me not to let my emotions cloud my judgment,” she retorted.

“Yes, but I also tried to teach you that in order to do so, you must ?rst deal with those emotions. Obviously I failed.”

Talwyn didn’t say anything as she drew a wind message in the air, sending it off to Ashtine.

“What is your plan?” Azrael asked again. He had crossed the room to her and raised a hand as if he were going to reach for her, before apparently reconsidering and dropping it down to his side once more.

“When Ashtine gets here, we can speak with Tarek in one of the underground studies,” Talwyn replied.

“In one of the studies?” Azrael repeated incredulously. “Why are we not speaking to him through his cell bars?”

“Why would we?”

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