Page 15 of Lady for Embers

“Here? As in the Fire Court?”

“Here as in... He’s downstairs.”

“What?” she demanded.

“There’s more.”

“I swear to Saylah, Cyrus, if you tell me that fucking Talwyn is here too—”

“Talwyn is not here,” Cyrus cut her off quickly. “But Luan showed up the night after... everything happened. He told us Talwyn informed him that Alaric and the seraphs were going to invade the Courts.”

“They cannot all cross the wards at once,” she argued.

“They can if Talwyn allows them passage.”

“And what do they want in the Courts?” Scarlett gritted out from between her teeth, the dried meat forgotten in her hand.

“To overthrow the royalty not willing to side with them.”

“Briar is here,” Rayner cut in. “He is not alone.”

Voices carried up from downstairs, and Scarlett immediately recognized Callan’s. But also...

“Do I hear Auberon Isra downstairs?” she asked, her head tilted. That wasn’t possible though. Nuri had killed him when she’d killed Rosalyn.

“Yeah. We hadn’t gotten to that part yet,” Cyrus said, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. “Apparently Nuri told him to ?ee to the Witch Kingdoms after she killed Rosalyn. Hazel told us if we didn’t get him out, she would kill him, so he’s here too.”

Scarlett opened her mouth, then shut it again. Because she had nothing to say in response. She didn’t want to focus on any of this. She needed her twin ?ame and her king, her partner, to wake up and help her deal with this. She couldn’t do it on her own.

“You’re not alone, Scarlett,” Cyrus said softly, closer than he had been moments ago. “He will wake up, and even then, we are all here with you.” She nodded as Briar came into the room. “You’re awake,” he said, surprise ringing in his voice.

“Why is Callan here?” she asked in answer.

“He and Lady Tava have some very interesting information I think we all need to hear.”

And that was how Scarlett found herself in a room with two Fae princes, a mortal king, two noble mortals, a Night Child, four other Fae, and a half-Witch, half-Avonleyan while her twin ?ame slept beside her.

“Before I summoned Scarlett for aid,” Callan was saying, “Veda told us of their gifts.”

“Veda’s power was like nothing I’d ever felt,” Scarlett said. “She stopped my arm as if she were holding it with her hand, but she was across the room from me. I still overpowered her, but it wasn’t easy by any means.”

“Yes,” Tava agreed. “She pulled me to her with the same magic.”

“But I’ve never seen the other Maraans use this gift. Lord Tyndell can alter reality, and Mikale dream walks like the Lord of Night,” Scarlett mused, trying to ?t all the puzzle pieces together in her head.

“That is because they steal their magic,” Tava said.

“Excuse me?” Cyrus balked. He was leaning on his forearms that were resting on the back of Cassius’s chair.

“Veda told us it’s their rite of passage, so to speak,” Callan said. “They kill a magic-wielder in their world and take their power for their own.”

“So what you’re saying is these seraphs could have literally any type of magic? We have no way of knowing until we see it?” Eliza asked.

“From what Veda said, yes,” Tava answered.

“And this is a one time thing? Or can they kill another and trade out their power? Or collect more than one gift?” Scarlett asked.

“She didn’t say,” Callan replied.

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