Page 28 of Lady for Embers

And then all she could picture was the bolt of energy leaving her palm. Hitting him in the chest. Him dropping to his knees. Scarlett’s screams of anguish.

No. She would never be able to sleep there. So here it was. In a cold cave.

There was a rustling of leaves, and she lifted her head as an earth message drifted to the ground. She nudged it over with her nose so she could read it.

Where are you, Moon?ower?

Moon?ower. A name she’d once cherished. A name she’d thought held so much meaning.

Now it just grated on her ears when she heard it.

The wolf huffed, burying her nose back into her fur, ignoring the note.

Ignoring the wind howling outside.

Ignoring the gaping hole in her soul that would never heal over. Ignoring the ashes of what was once her heart.

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since that throne room.

Three weeks since she’d begun counting down the last days of her life. Because she knew Scarlett would come for her. Even if she somehow managed to survive a war with Avonleya, she would not survive the wrath of Scarlett Aditya for taking her twin ?ame from her.

She had often wondered these last few weeks where she would go when this was all over, when she crossed the Veil into the After. Would Arius, the god of death, pass judgment for her transgressions? Or would he deem her unworthy of even giving her that? Would he leave her to wander the After on her own, abandoned to her own failures? Send her straight to the Pits of Torment? Or maybe this was to be her punishment. To walk on this side of the After for centuries with the weight of her choices staining her soul. Utterly alone and with the knowledge that she had done this to herself, even if she had done it to protect her people from being used by Avonleya again. Would it be worth it in the end? She had to believe it would. She had to believe this hadn’t all been for nothing, that she hadn’t sacri?ced everything for nothing.

And as she ?nally drifted off to what was sure to be another restless slumber, she couldn’t help but hope Scarlett came soon. Because while she certainly didn’t deserve saving or any amount of mercy at this point in her wretched, miserable life, she still wanted it over and done with.

Maybe in death she’d ?nd sleep more peaceful. Or not.

Talwyn stepped from the air in front of the castle gates in Baylorin. Tarek had sent a message that Alaric was requesting her presence. Immediately.

The “immediately” part made her wait an hour before Traveling here. She walked past the guards without glancing at them, pushing through the front doors. She was halfway across the entrance hall, making her way to the stairs that would lead up to the council room they usually met in, when a voice of silk and honey made her nearly jump out of her skin.

“You made him wait,” Death’s Shadow purred. “How incredibly de?ant of you.”

Talwyn glanced over at the Night Child with an uninterested glare. She was clad in her customary black pants, black tunic, and black cloak. Her hood was down, but she had numerous weapons in place, along with her black gloves.

“He is not my king nor my master. I will answer his summons when I am able,” Talwyn replied.

“Not your master, yet you still heed his summons.”

Talwyn’s lips pursed. She couldn’t say she had interacted a lot with Death’s Shadow over these last few months, but the times she had and from what she’d observed, she knew this was normal behavior from her. Arrogance. Taunting. Slightly insane.

“We are allies in an upcoming war. I will meet with him when needed to strategize and plan,” Talwyn gritted out.

Nuri shrugged a slender shoulder. “Or he just extends a longer leash to you than he does to the rest of us.”

A breeze swirled around them as they climbed the stairs, a re?ection of Talwyn’s irritation, and Nuri huffed a laugh. “Would you like to hear a story?” she asked as she toyed with a knife.

“Why would I want to hear a story?” Talwyn retorted, wondering if the female was truly going to be following her all the way up to the third ?oor. “Don’t you have something to do? People to kill for yourmaster?”

“I rarely do the actual killing,” Nuri replied.

“You are a Wraith of Death. That is what you are known for,” Talwyn said dryly.

“I am Death’sShadow,” Nuri drawled. “I shadowed the targets. Figured out their whereabouts. Let them know death was coming for them.” She ?ipped her knife again. “I was the fear and the favor.”

“The favor?”

“I always thought it a kindness to give our targets notice we were coming. It gave them time to get their affairs in order. Some took advantage of the opportunity, others did not.”

---