Page 117 of Lady for Embers

“Fair enough. It is dawn,” Cyrus conceded, nodding towards the slowly brightening sky.

Cassius rolled his eyes, starting towards the path they’d followed up here, and Cyrus fell into step beside him once more.

“So when your eyes are shifted like that, can you see out of both of them?” Cyrus asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

“Actually yeah. It is really strange,” Cassius answered. “Adjusting to randomly seeing with both eyes again is odd.”

“I imagine it is,” Cyrus said. “Can you shift them back?”

“No.”

“Have you tried?”

“Have I... Of course, I have tried, Cyrus. What do you think I was doing in my room before I came to get you?”

“... sleeping? Like everyone else?” Cyrus guessed. Then he smirked to himself when he heard Cassius muttering about a “smart ass” under his breath. “But in all seriousness, Cass.” He reached out, tugging him to a stop. “Your power reserves should be full. We don’t know who and what we’ll be facing today. If not for you, then for Scarlett,” Cyrus rushed on when Cassius started to protest.

“Guilt as a motivator,” Cassius quipped with a soft huff. “You are not as clever as you think you are.”

“I’m exactly as clever as I think I am.”

They stepped back across the wards as the sun crested the horizon, bathing the courtyard around them in soft light. There were low stone walls along the path, ivy and ?owers nearly obscuring the stones from view. Various paths branched off as they walked, and at one point, Cyrus was sure he saw movement in the shadows of one of those paths. He’d slowed, studying the darkened walkway that led deeper into the courtyard, but then Cassius had said, “Fine, I will re?ll them to be prepared for today,” and they’d continued on to the manor.

The house was obnoxiously large but somehow tasteful at thesame time. They hadn’t seen much of the kingdom, having arrived in the dark, but the streets they’d traveled along had seemed clean and taken care of. Homes appeared in good condition and were inviting. Even the docks by the sea had been relatively neat. As neat as docks could be anyway. He could still smell the sea from here, but it was faint enough that he could breathe deep and not feel like he was choking on memories.

The female from earlier met them at the doors with her warm smile in place.

“Welcome back.”

“Thank you,” Cassius answered, and Cyrus let him take the lead in conversing with her. He was the one who’d spent the last decade in a noble’s household, had essentially been raised in one. “It is Magdalena, yes?”

She nodded with another smile. “Would you two like some breakfast? I have several options already prepared and waiting in the dining room,” she said, closing the doors behind them.

“That would be great. Then we could rest before the lunch meeting later today,” Cassius answered, following her down a hallway.

She led them to a large dining room, a long table within that was laden with place settings and various breakfast foods. Eliza and Auberon were already at the table, the latter sipping from a silver goblet. Cyrus assumed Eliza’s blood ?lled it.

Eliza glanced up from the book she was reading, annoyance ?ickering across her features.

“Eliza, dear,” Cyrus drawled, dropping into a chair across from her. “There is still time to get some more sleep if it will make you more pleasant today.”

Auberon snickered into his cup.

“If only more sleep would make you less of a pain in my ass,” she returned, her eyes already back on her book.

“Seriously, why are you so cranky this morning? There’s food right in front of you if you’re hungry,” Cyrus said, reaching for a plate of bacon. Eliza didn’t exactly have a cheery personality on a normal day, but she seemed especially irritable for this early in the morning.

“I am not hungry, you prick,” she sniped at him.

Cyrus had a retort on the tip of his tongue, but Auberon cut in before he could speak.

“She is upset because that male from last night just left,” the Night Child said, a smirk lifting his lips.

“I amnotupset because he left,” Eliza snarled, her book snapping shut. “I was glad he ?nally took his leave.”

Auberon was obviously trying to keep the mirth from his face, but was failing miserably.

“So... what happened?” Cassius asked before he took a bite of toast covered in raspberry jam.

---