Page 168 of Lady for Embers

“And go where?” Eliza asked. “The mortal lands? To the people who fear us? The Shifters might take them in, but the Night Children and Witches?”

“Hazel would take in refugees,” Scarlett said instantly, ignoring the way Cassius’s face hardened at the mention of the High Witch.

“And the Contessa?” Auberon asked.

“Nuri would take them in,” Scarlett answered con?dently. “Alaric would not let her.”

“So we have four Courts trying to take refuge in two territories?” Eliza said. “Assuming they can even get there.”

“Do we have any reports of what is happening back home?” Scarlett asked, glancing around at all the Fae. “Nothing?” When silence still greeted her, she said, “Is there anything we can do? Any way I can contact Hazel? The Alpha and Beta?”

“We can try to summon Amaré,” Sorin said. He was leaning back on his hands, legs stretched out beside her, ankles crossed.

“You have not heard from Ashtine?” she asked, looking at Briar.

Briar shook his head. “I sent Abrax to her with a message of Nakoa’s death, but he has not responded to my summons since.”

“Cethin said the spirit animals are resting and preparing for war like the rest of us,” she mused. “He also said they are separated from the ones they are truly bonded to. Almost as if we are stand-ins. He said they are trapped here.”

“Trapped how?” Briar asked.

“I am not entirely sure. We have so many things to talk about when I am with him. We often start on one subject and ?nd ourselves on another within minutes. Important things get missed and saved for next time,” she said. “But I do wish Ashtine were here. She was perplexing, but her insights were invaluable.”

“I am wary of trying to contact her,” Briar said. “I do not want to make it appear as if she is working against them.”

“I understand,” Scarlett replied.

Her gaze moved back to Rayner, where he was down on one knee, adjusting Tula’s grip on her toy sword. The little girl was listening intently, face serious as she watched him move her ?ngers into place.

Shadows fell over them, blocking the sun, and she looked up to ?nd Cethin, Razik, and Kailia standing above them. They were all wearing training gear, and the wicked grins on their faces had the hairs on the back of her neck rising.

“Lord of Night,” she greeted with a mocking smile of her own. “Just the person I was about to go look for.”

Cethin’s brow arched. “For what?”

“To ask how we leave.”

“What?”

“We need to go to Rydeon.”

“Fuck no,” Cethin said. “That is not happening.”

“Shit,” Cassius swore as Cyrus chuckled darkly. Sorin was lurching forward, but not fast enough. Scarlett was already on her feet.

“You seem to be confused,brother. I wasn’t asking,” she sneered, her shadows beginning to swarm behind her.

Cethin rolled his eyes at her. “You forget you are not the only one with darkness here, Scarlett,” he replied, his dark shadows pooling at his feet.

“We should take this discussion somewhere else,” Razik cut in, his voice tense, and Scarlett turned to ?nd his eyes had shifted to vertical pupils and were glowing bright blue.

“We were about to suggest training anyway,” Cethin gritted out.

Scarlett was already Traveling to the arena because she was putting two and two together, and the fact that Cethin had not told themthis?In addition to refusing to tell her how they could leave? Oh, she was more than ready totrainwith him.

By the time Cethin arrived, her shadow armor was in place, and she had an arrow of ice and star?re ?ying straight for him.

And as she expected, a motherfucking dragon stepped into its path, snatching the arrow out of the air with his godsdamn hand.

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