Page 88 of Lady for Embers

“You do not belong in the background, Tava,” Callan said. “This is not what I intended. It is not what I want.”

“And what is it you do want, Callan?”

What he wanted was to go back. He wanted to go back to when he’d thought his life was so damn complicated, but it was simple compared to this. He wanted to go back to the moment she had agreed to all of this, before everything had changed. When he thought he could be what she needed. When he was a different person, and she was a different person. But maybe she was right. Maybe he’d been looking at this all wrong. Maybe he didn’t need to be put together, have it all ?gured out.

“What do you want?” he countered.

“I did not attend the meeting today because I wanted to remember what it felt like to be content,” she said, reaching up and gently pulling his hand from her face. “And I ?nd I am no longer content not to travel.”

“You still want this?” he pressed.

“I would consider it,” she agreed. “But you need to be sure, Callan. I am not a thing that you can pick up when it is convenient for you, and push aside when times get hard.”

“I know. I am sorry if I made you feel that way,” he said. Her eyes were still hard, keeping him out.

“I am not pushing you, Callan. That would be cruel after everything we have experienced, and I understand if you need time. Ido. But I cannot be stuck in this in between. I cannot sit here and be uncertain of what is expected of me or what my role is now. I simply can’t.” He opened his mouth to say something, but she held up a hand. “Please, let me get this out. I want you to think about it, Callan. I want you to take the time and make sure you are truly ready for this before you ask it of me again.”

Callan swallowed hard, understanding what she was saying. “And in the meantime?”

She gave him a sad smile, pushing up onto her toes. Her lips were soft against his cheek. “In the meantime, I guess we try to ?gure things out on our own instead of together.” She took a step away from him before halting and looking back at the water once more. “Can you tell Scarlett the waters are getting darker? I think she will ?nd that interesting.”

Then she walked away from him, and he didn’t stop her.

Chapter 18

Sorin

"You cannot seriously be considering this,” Cyrus said, disbelief clear in his tone. The dining room had cleared out, leaving only Sorin and his Second. Scarlett had gone to see the children, Cassius going with her, and everyone else had left to go on various watches.

He’d stayed behind to hash things out with his Second. There was too much going on to have this kind of tension among his family, but he knew Cyrus’s objections to this were based on more than the danger it put their queen in.

Because Scarlett had been right. Again.

And now he was wondering how he’d missed it when it was so obvious.

“You can certainly try to change her mind,” Sorin said, settling back into his chair as he relaxed with just Cyrus in here.

Cyrus scoffed at him. “Do not act as if you are ?ne with Scarlett proposing this.”

“You have to admit, it is a rather brilliant plan.”

“Of course it’s fucking brilliant,” Cyrus muttered.

“And since they are the only ones who can Travel, they sort of need to be involved in the thick of it.”

Cyrus’s jaw was so taut, Sorin was surprised he didn’t crack a molar. “So she and Cassius have already been doing this?”

Sorin nodded. “Scarlett and I chose a random location on a map. She and Cassius have been Traveling back and forth from there all night. They made random stops along the way to make it appear as if they were looking for a speci?c location.”

“Alaric isn’t stupid. He’s going to realize they are stationary here in this spot the longest.”

“That’s not the point. We want them to think we are looking into something. If Cassius repeatedly returns to the same spot, they are going to think we have discovered something.”

“Why not just go to Rydeon and remove the Mark? Get it over with?”

“Cyrus,” Sorin sighed, rubbing his brow with his thumb and fore?nger. “I know you understand the strategy behind this. You know we need the exact center of a continent, which is where this Eternal Necropolis sits. None of us know Pyry well enough to even begin to calculate where the exact center of that continent would be located. Why don’t we discuss what is really going on here?”

“There is nothing to discuss.”

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