Page 199 of Lady for Embers

Chapter 38

Talwyn

The sound of the door opening roused Talwyn from sleep, and she sat up. It took her a moment to remember where she was. In a soft bed, navy blue and gold curtains tied back on the bed. She pushed her hair back from her face, her hand shaking when her ?ngers snagged in tangles.

This was her childhood room at the Black Halls. The room Eliné had tucked her into at night. The room where she and Ashtine had played, pretending they were queens and princesses. The room where she’d dreamed of being queen. When she’d believed she would do something good.

A ?gure moved into the moonlight seeping in from the window. She didn’t need to look to know it was Tarek. He was the only one who visited her here. They’d removed the shirastone shackles, but a ring had been shoved onto her ?nger. She couldn’t get it off, no matter how hard she tried. They’d taken her Semiria ring though. She was sure she’d never see it again.

“You need to eat, Talwyn,” Tarek said into the dark of the room.

He’d stopped being formal and greeting her days ago. She was hauled from this room daily. She had been forced to watch Alaric slaughter another group of Fae that night, at sunset, just like he’d said. She’d started giving him more at that point. Anything to keep her people safe and Ashtine’s secret hidden. But Alaric knew that she knew how to get into the prison. She knew his patience wouldn’t last much longer, and when it came down to it, she was going to have to choose: let their innocent people be slaughtered to keep a secret or tell him how to get into the prison.

“I am not hungry,” she retorted, throwing back the blankets.

“You have not been hungry for three days.”

That wasn’t true. She was starving. But her power re?lled on sleep and food, just like mortal energy. She could only avoid sleep for so long, but food? She could hold off on that for days.

Her feet hit the ?oor, and she stumbled to the bathing room. The shirastone ring locked down her gifts anyway. She couldn’t feel them. She had no idea how much her power had re?lled.

She took a glass, ?lling it from the tap and swishing water in her mouth before spitting it into the basin. Then she lifted her gaze to the mirror.

Lifeless jade eyes stared back at her, hard and fractured. Her mahogany hair hung limp around her shoulders, and the hollowness of her face said she hadn’t eaten in days, just like Tarek had said. That explained the tremors in her hands and weak knees, she supposed.

She turned to the tub, twisting the knobs to start the water running. Unceremoniously, she removed her nightgown, letting it fall to the ?oor before she stepped into the tub. She knew Tarek was watching her every move from the doorway. If he was here, then she would be going to see Alaric soon. She wasn’t going to be doing that in a godsdamn nightgown.

She quickly washed, slipping under the water to rinse her hair. When she emerged, Tarek was standing there with a towel held out. She glared at him. “I do not need your help.”

“I am aware, Talwyn,” he replied, but she let him settle the towel around her shoulders anyway as she climbed back out of the bath.

“Where am I being taken today?” she asked, wringing water from her hair over the draining tub.

“Lord Tyndell will be here shortly to take us to Baylorin.”

It had been a while since she’d been there. The last few times she’d seen Alaric it had been in the throne room of these Halls. He had sat upon her aunt’s throne, now Scarlett’s throne, she supposed, and she could do nothing. The way he had looked at her told her he knew what it did to her to see him up there. It was another way to not-so-subtly show her he was in control.

She quickly dressed in her usual brown pants and white tunic, sliding on her boots and braiding back her hair. Tarek escorted her down to the entrance of the Halls, Lord Tyndell waiting for them.

The Lord looked tense, his features tight. He didn’t greet Talwyn like he usually did. He just gripped her elbow and tookthem all through the air straight into a council room at the Baylorin castle.

Nuri was seated at the table. There was a cut above her eye, already scabbing over, and a spot on her jaw was turning black and blue. Talwyn raised a brow in question, and Nuri smiled. “Sibling spat,” she said with a shrug.

Whatever the fuck that meant.

“He is not happy,” Mikale said soberly from where he sat across from Nuri.

“That makes two of us,” Lord Tyndell replied tightly, moving to his usual seat at Alaric’s right.

Tarek’s hand at the small of her back made her ?inch, and she quickly moved to her chair at the other end.

“Is it true?” Mikale asked. “Did she take down the magical wards?” Talwyn sat up straighter at that.

“She did,” Lord Tyndell said, his hand resting on the table before him. “But... how?” Mikale asked. “Those wards were linked to mortal kings.”

“The Avonleyans apparently had a Toreall heir hidden in their godsdamn kingdom.” Alaric’s cold voice ?lled the room as he stalked through the door, Mordecai behind him. His furious gaze landed on Lord Tyndell. “Andsomeoneinsisted on keeping the Rydeon heir alive and fucked us over.”

“The requirement was three mortal kings. If Toreall had been dealt with properly, it would not have mattered that Drake lives,” Lord Tyndell retorted sharply.

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