Page 125 of Lady for Embers

But he had nothing. Nothing to offer her. Nothing to give but a shattered future, a growing emptiness in his soul, and a darkness that was threatening to take over the light.

And who would stick around for that?

Chapter 25

Talwyn

"Isaw your plant prince,” Nuri said casually when Talwyn stepped from the air outside the Windonelle castle. How the Night Child had known she was going to appear at this exact moment in time, Talwyn didn’t know. She hadn’t even ?inched at her sudden appearance. When Talwyn stared back at her, face void of any emotion, Nuri continued. “You know. The night they managed to remove that tracking Mark from Cassius. He was there.”

“You mean the night you failed at your assignment?” Talwyn returned coldly.

“Did I?”

“You were supposed to detain Scarlett and bring her back here. Since she is not here, it would appear you failed.”

Nuri shrugged her slender shoulders. “I guess it depends on who you are asking.”

“That does not make any sense,” Talwyn snapped, moving towards the castle entrance.

Nuri all but danced along with her, walking backwards so Talwyn could see her face. For once, the female’s hood was down, but the sky was overcast, so she wasn’t in danger of being weakened by the sun.

“That’s not the point. The point is your ?ower guy was there. He looked good. Cranky. Scowling. Growly.” She shrugged again. “You know, the usual.”

Thatdiddescribe Azrael fairly accurately to outsiders, but Talwyn still wasn’t exactly sure why Nuri was telling her all of this.

“That was days ago,” Talwyn said.

“It was,” she agreed. “I just haven’t seen you without the wanna-be prince since then.”

Talwyn paused mid-stride for the briefest of moments.

Was Nuri... beingnice? In some round-about way, was she letting her know Azrael was all right simply because she somehow knew Talwyn worried about him constantly? Thought of him often despite her best efforts not to?

No. That wasn’t it. This was some kind ofassignmentfrom Alaric. Befriend the Fae Queen. Earn her trust. No one was nice to her without wanting something in return. She did not have any allies here. Not anymore. Not since she drove them all away.

No one but Ashtine, who Talwyn still had not heard from since that day on the beach in the Water Court. That had been over a week ago. She’d driven her away in the end too.

Nuri had turned, walking ahead of her now, and by the time Talwyn entered the castle after her, she had already disappeared. She hadn’t been wrong. Talwyn had hardly been away from Tarek. She’d spent her nights beside him in bed at the White Halls. He’d accompanied her on trips to check in on the other Courts, and he seemed to have been appeased. He did not ask of Ashtine again or bring up using her to plant false information with those sailing west. Not that they could anymore anyway. They couldn’t track them anymore. Scarlett had made sure of that when they had surprised them all and showed up in Rydeon.

The Maraan Lords had been in a frenzy for days before that time, trying to ?gure out what Scarlett was doing in the northern continent. Mikale, of course, had wanted to go and set a trap for her there. Alaric had wanted to wait for her to reveal her hand. Lord Tyndell had... Well, he’d been more absent lately, letting Alaric and Mikale handle most things. Talwyn actually had no idea what the Lord was up to these days.

Tarek had been keeping her as distracted as she had been keeping him, she realized, making her way up the stairs to the third floor. His attendance was not required at meetings as it used to be. Until today. This morning he had been summoned by Alaric, and Talwyn had welcomed the chance to be alone, to breathe. She had shifted into her wolf for the first time in days and ran in the Dresden Forest, her pack emerging to greet her.

All of them except Maliq that is. The spirit animal had apparently left them when he’d left her.

She was contemplating how she was going to ?gure out what exactly Tarek was attempting to distract her from when she entered the council room and froze. It was empty save for one other person.

Alaric.

He stood near an alcohol cart along one wall, a glass of liquor in his hand, staring out a window. He didn’t look at her when she entered, just took a sip of his drink. His dark hair was tied back at the nape of his neck, and he wore black pants with a white tunic and a grey jacket.

She had never been alone with him before. Not once. Tarek had always been there, as if he were a buffer between them. He’d subtly try to warn her when he thought she was pushing too far, not that she’d ever cared. But suddenly being in this room, completely alone with the ruler of the Black Syndicate, with a Maraan Prince... She would almost welcome Tarek’s hovering presence.

Talwyn lifted her chin, squaring her shoulders as she shut the door behind her with a decisive click. She ?exed her ?ngers, the silver bracelet wound around her wrist vibrating with energy at the possibility of having to defend herself. Not that she would use that magic. She hadn’t touched her gift to shift energy since the throne room.

Alaric ?nally glanced at her, a brief ?ick of the eyes, his lips twitching the smallest amount.

“Your Majesty.”

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