Page 131 of Lady of Ashes

“Such as?” Callan pressed.

“Just … things, Callan. Things I cannot have a royal guard following me around for.”

“Before I address that incredibly vague statement, I would like to clarify that you are trying to sneak out of the manor and evade your personal guard to go somewhere alone in the middle of the night?” Callan asked, setting his empty liquor glass on the table beside him.

“No! I mean …” She paused, biting her bottom lip for a moment before saying, “I know how this sounds …”

“Do you?” Callan asked. “Because it sounds like you are sneaking off to do scandalous things, Lady Tyndell.”

Her cheeks went bright red as she tried to sputter a response,and Callan hid the teasing smile tilting the corner of his lips behind his thumb, as he watched her grow more and more ?ustered.

Until the thought occurred to him that maybe shedidhave someone else. He was just a ruse after all, so it wouldn’t be inconceivable for her to have someone else. But if she did, he clearly wasn’t of nobility.

“Tava,” Callan said, pushing to his feet. “Do you … Are you trying to go see someone?”

Somehow her cheeks reddened even more as her hand came up to cover her face. “No, Callan,” she said, clear frustration in her voice. “I am trying to go see someone, but not in that way. I do not have some secret lover.”

The relief that ?ooded through him took him by surprise, but he said, “If you did, I would understand, but I would also need to know. We cannot have any more people knowing about this—”

“I am not having some scandalous affair, Callan,” Tava cut in.

“It would not really be an affair so to speak,” Callan mused.

“Stop,” Tava said, holding up her hand. “I have some tonics and elixirs I deliver to some of the poorer districts, along with food and clothing. I have not been able to do so for several days now, due to our circumstances and now him,” she said with a jerk of her chin towards Finn.

“Hold on a minute. Are you saying you go to the slums by yourself at night to deliver these things?” Callan demanded.

“I have been doing so for nearly two years, Callan,” she replied.

“By yourself ?” he repeated.

“Not right away, no,” she answered. “Scarlett would go, and she started taking me with her—”

“Soshetook you out to the slums with her?” he demanded, rage instantly seeping into his tone.

“Iaskedto go with her, Callan,” Tava shot back. “And when she became so wrapped up in the Black Syndicate orphans and everything with you and Sorin … I couldn’t let those people go forgotten again, so I started making sure the tonics the High Healer got to me were delivered to those who needed them. I started making sure that orphans outside of the Black Syndicate were getting food and clothing, too. As much as I can anyway. Because they matter just as much as the children Scarlett is trying to save.”

Her face was red for an entirely different reason now. Now it wastinted with fury, and Callan didn’t know what to say in response as she continued.

“But I am not her. Clearly. I cannot even get out of my godsdamn home the ways she took me so many times. I do not know that I am making much of a difference, but the little difference I was making is now being diminished because I cannot get there with Finn blocking my way.” Silence rang loudly in the room, and Callan ran his hand along his jaw, unsure of where to start with all of this. For one, he was positive he had never heard such language from her lips. He glanced at Finn, who was sipping his liquor and looking back and forth between them with interest.

“You have anything to say to this?” Callan asked him.

“Nope,” Finn answered, settling back into the sofa where he’d taken a seat. “This is your fake ?ancé. I will let you deal with it.”

“There is nothing to deal with,” Tava cut in, her tone already calmer. “I just need you to stay here while I go deliver these things.”

“Does Drake know you do this?” Callan asked, watching her carefully.

Her lips pursed, and her eyes darted to the ?re that was slowly dying out in the hearth. “No. He has other things to worry about.”

“Tava, the slums are nearly as dangerous as the Black Syndicate,” Callan ventured.

She scoffed at him. “They are not, Callan. They are not even close to the same. The Black Syndicate is full of crime lords, mercenaries, and drug peddlers. The slums are full of people who are forgotten because they are sick or poor or alone, with no one to care of their existence.”

“Even if that is the case, it is dangerous now,” Callan said, trying a different tactic. “People know we are betrothed. Some will see you as a ticket to a ransom reward for your return.” She opened her mouth to argue, but before she could, he continued, “And I do not speak of the poor in the slums. I speak of those wanting to move up in society and willing to hire out the aforementioned mercenaries and thieves to make that happen.”

Tava sucked on a tooth as she contemplated his words, before she sighed heavily and sank into the chair her cloak was draped over. And for the ?rst time, she let it show how much this whole arrangement was wearing on her. Scarcely a week had passed, but the life he lived was already taking its toll, was already draining light from her.

---