Page 203 of Lady for Embers

“That is... oddly simple.”

“Some of the best magic is just that. Simple.”

Clink. Clink. Clink.

“There is one problem though.” Of course there was.

“What is that?”

“Once Alaric learns of your escape, I will be ordered to hunt you down and probably kill you.”

Talwyn snorted. “I would welcome death at this point.”

Nuri threw the dagger at the bars. It clanged loudly before falling to the stone ?oor. The ringing sound echoed in the dungeon halls. Talwyn lurched back. The Night Child was back to gripping the bars, face pressing to them once more.

“That is not playing the game, foolish queen,” she snarled, her fangs snapping out. “If you are dead, you are more worthless than you already are.” She shoved off the bars in disgust. “I’m not letting you out if you don’t even want to play. You are more useful in there if you wish for death.”

“You said yourself Scarlett is going to kill me.”

“And she is,” Nuri said in exasperation. Talwyn did not understand howshewas the one not making sense here. “But by the gods, don’t you want to at leasttryto ?x your shit before she does? I know you are a sel?sh bitch, but leaving your mess for everyone else to clean up takes it up a few notches, don’t you think?”

She bent down, retrieving the dagger she’d thrown.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

Talwyn curled her ?ngers at her sides. Ashtine had said the same thing, albeit in a much nicer way. Ashtine had spoken about the legacy she would leave, about what future she would leave for the generations to come. So did Nuri. Ashtine didn’t ?lter herself, but was unintentionally infuriating with the way she spoke. Nuri was a blunt bitch and clearly didn’t give two shits.

Talwyn had actually come to appreciate that about her. She always knew where she stood with the Contessa, even if she made it obvious she stood beneath her boots.

“Do you have a solution to thisproblemthen?” Talwyn asked, inching closer to the bars once more.

“I do. Two of them, in fact.”

“Are you going to share them or make me guess? We have all the time in the world after all,” she drawled.

Nuri’s lips tipped up, and Talwyn could swear a ?icker of approval ?itted through her eyes. “That temper thing you do has much less of a bite when you’re on your leash.”

“I am looking forward to being rid of it.”

“You will need to hide somewhere,” Nuri said, resuming dragging that fucking dagger along the bars.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

“Obviously don’t tell me where.”

“Obviously,” Talwyn deadpanned.

Nuri smirked. “I’ve questioned your intelligence more than once, foolish queen.”

Talwyn bristled, but kept her snide remark to herself. Death’s Shadow may be utterly insane, but she was the one on the other side of the bars. She undeniably knew how to work within the con?nes of her position, and Talwyn... did not.

Because she’d never had to navigate such a low position. Nuri had been right about that too. She’d been handed power and position and fear. It’d been given to her freely. She’d never once questioned that others would bow to her. She was born a Fae Princess and became a Fae Queen.

“I saw your plant prince again,” she said suddenly, dancing backwards and tapping the tip of the dagger on her chin again. “He somehow ?ts in with her Court quite well. Which really makes me question... Can I still call you a queen?”

Talwyn had gone still again at the mention of Azrael. She didn’t let herself think about him very often. Certainly not when she’d been letting Tarek have her body, but he hadn’t attempted that since she had made it clear she knew what she was to him. A means to an end. A way back to a throne he thought was his.

She couldn’t exactly blame Azrael for working with Scarlett and her Courts. He had ?ed with them after all. He had to cooperate, aid them, but he said he would do as much. He had walked away from her as a queen, but had made it clear he was not walking away fromher.

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