Page 200 of Lady for Embers

In a ?ash of rage, Alaric picked up a chair and ?ung it across the room. Talwyn had never seen him so unhinged. The others around the table didn’t even ?inch though. They had apparently seen this temper before.

Alaric moved to the head of the table, slowly lowering into his chair. “What was Juliette doing there?”

Nuri shrugged. “I was as surprised as you were.”

“Bullshit,” Alaric snarled.

“How would I have possibly known she was going to show up?” Nuri asked, head propped on her hand. She held up her other palm. “It is not as if I could lie to you.” Alaric’s gaze slid to the window, where the sun was beginning to rise. “You know who else showed up there though?” Nuri asked, that manic delight creeping into her tone. “Besides the queen who has once again fucked you over, of course.”

“Careful, Nuri,” Alaric gritted out.

“A dragon,” she said with glee, ignoring Alaric’s warning.

“Cassius is not a dragon,” he replied. “He is half-Avonleyan, if that.”

“Oh no, not him.”

“She speaks truth, Alaric,” Lord Tyndell sighed. “This one appeared to be able to fully shift if he wished, although he only summoned wings and scales tonight.”

“Let me get this straight,” Alaric said in barely suppressed rage. “In the last year, she has managed to ?gure out her lineage, ?nd her twin ?ame, master her magic, take a throne, tear down the wards containing the other beings, remove the magical wards around the mortal kingdoms, ?nd her way into Avonleya, and ?nd Sargon’s line? She is systematically undoing everything Deimas and I worked to put into place over centuries, and she is doing so in months.”

“She killed Veda too,” Nuri said. “Don’t forget that. Oh! And Sybil. Although that was Callan, so maybe that doesn’t count?”

“You need to leave. Now,” Alaric snarled.

“Of course,Father,” she said, already on her feet and disappearing from the room.

For someone who wanted to play the game, getting kicked out of this meeting didn’t seem very conducive. How would she know what was said and planned?

“Did you learn anything before you had to come to the Necropolis?” Lord Tyndell asked.

“No,” Alaric replied, body coiled tight with tension. His black eyes settled on Talwyn. “Which is why you are here, your Majesty.”

She said nothing, staring back at him, her expression blank and impassive.

“I have some questions for Princess Ashtine.”

“I can hardly go ask them of her when I am not allowed to leave the Black Halls without an escort,” Talwyn replied.

“And if I let an escort go with you, would you ask them then?” Alaric asked. He seemed to have relaxed slightly, his elbow propped on the arm of his chair, temple leaning on his ?st.

“She has been unwell.”

“All the more reason to check on her, no?” When Talwyn did not reply, he said, “The thing is, when I went to the Wind Citadel today to do just that, I was informed she has not been seennor heard from in weeks. Her Court did not appear too concerned. They told me she sometimes disappears for extended periods of time when the winds call her.”

“This is true,” Talwyn replied.

“Yet you seem to know she is unwell, and Tarek reports the winds no longer speak to her. Now, I will not pretend to know Princess Ashtine well, if it all, but she does not strike me as the type of ruler who would simply up and leave her Court. Unless she has ?ed and followed the other Fae Royals. In which case, if you are still in communication with her, we have other issues to discuss.”

“She has not abandoned her Courts,” Talwyn said sharply. “She entrusted them to me while she has been trying to recover, but I have been unable to properly run them. Again, because I am being kept in the Black Halls.”

“You look unwell yourself,” Mikale muttered.

“Likely because my power is being used to feed another,” she sneered.

“Or because you refuse to eat,” Tarek cut in.

Alaric’s brows rose. “Clever move. Trying to keep your power from refueling. That’s the beauty of the Fae though. Their power replenishes within days. You may have delayed it a bit, but they are already half-full, my dear.”

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