Page 161 of Lady of Ashes

A sad, knowing smile formed on her lips. “I should go.”

She turned to leave, and he reached out and grabbed her arm. “Tava.”

“I will think on ways to get into the Lairwood Estate. Perhaps we can meet at some point tomorrow and see if we have come up with anything,” she said.

He shook his head. “No. Stay, and we can discuss them over breakfast.” He could tell by the set of her features she was still going to say no. “I have meetings all day tomorrow. It is nearly impossible for us to meet these days.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “I think that has been orchestrated.”

Callan’s brows arched. “By Mikale?”

“By him. By my father. For what purpose? I do not yet know.”

“Then stay and let’s discuss it.”

“And if I am caught in here at such hours of the night?”

He couldn’t help the smile that tugged this time. “It would probably help the ruse if such a thing occurred.”

A laugh came from Tava that only made him smile more. He almost had her convinced.

“I suppose that is a fair point,” she conceded.

Callan slowly released her arm, his hand dropping to his side. “So you will stay?”

“I will stay.”

CHAPTER 35

SCARLETT

“Idon’t know how to work this out,” Scarlett said when they stepped from the air into their rooms at the Black Halls. “Is Tava’s key the mortal key, or is she the unknown bloodline?”

“We likely will not know until we ?nd the other keys, I imagine,” Sorin answered, reaching over and undoing the clasps on her cloak before slipping it off her shoulders.

She pulled a dagger from the sheath on her thigh and began idly ?ipping it as she mused, “It would be helpful to know so we knew where to focus our search.”

“Or we could focus on the Fae key, the one we know is still missing, and see if the last one ?nds its way to you as the rest seem to be doing,” Sorin countered, swiping the dagger when she ?ipped it into the air again. She was about to protest, but he pressed a glass of wine into her hand with a wink.

She took a sip before she said, “You don’t happen to have a spirit amulet lying around, do you, Prince?”

A low chuckle rumbled from him. “I do not.”

She huffed a dramatic sigh, taking another sip of wine, and a comfortable silence settled over the room. Sorin had disappeared into the dressing room when she called out to him, “You said there were libraries here.”

His voice ?oated out to her from the adjoining room. “There are.”

“Can you take me to them?”

“Perhaps we should explore that tomorrow.”

“Why?” She glanced at the delicate clock by the bedside. “It’s still early. Unless your ancient ass is tired?”

“Careful, Love …”

She smiled to herself, taking another sip of wine before she set the glass down and began removing weapons. They hadn’t been sure what they would encounter at the Baylorin castle. She was hoping that by Traveling directly to Callan’s rooms they would come and go without detection. And while that was how it had played out, she would never underestimate Mikale or Alaric again. So they had gone in with more weapons than likely necessary and her Semiria ring on Sorin’s ?nger.

“If you won’t take me to the library, I will just have to hunt it down myself. I’m sure some of the help would be happy to point me in the right direction,” she called to him, shucking off her jacket. What was he doing in there?

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