Page 122 of Lady for Embers

“Higher ranking members of our forces,” Cethin answered. “Orson and Riggs.”

“Higher ranking members,” Sorin repeated. “Your Commander is not here to meet with us?”

Razik seemed to stiffen slightly, and Scarlett’s face went serpentine. She’d obviously learned something. “I would like to meet the owner of the homeIam staying in as well.”

“I am hoping after our meal tonight, you will reconsider and come to stay here, in the castle,” Cethin replied.

“Is Lord Razik your Second and your Hand?” Cyrus asked suddenly.

This question had everyone on that side of the table stilling as well as the Avonleyan king.

And everyone on Scarlett’s side of the table took notice.

Cethin’s ?ngers drummed once on the table in a mannerism sosimilar to Scarlett that it was hard to deny the two were related in some way at this point.

“No,” Cethin ?nally gritted out. “Razik is not my Second. He is my Third.”

“Surely not... a mortal,” Azrael piped in, the absurdity of that written across his face as his eyes darted to Hale.

“No,” Cethin said again. His ?ngers drummed as his eyes ran over everyone in their company, and Callan wanted to shrink back from what glimmered in his silver irises.

Threats of violence. Promises of death.

“Kailia is my Second,” Cethin ?nally said.

“And where is she? Is it not customary here for your Second to be here for such meetings?” Cyrus pressed.

“It is, but as already discussed, Avonleyan males are just as protective and possessive of their mates.”

“She is your wife,” Scarlett said, her eyes softening slightly.

“Wife and queen. Yes,” Cethin answered. “And she threw a godsdamn ?t about not being here.”

“That wasnota ?t,” Razik muttered. “You two fought for nearly two hours.”

“Not helping, Raz,” Cethin snapped. “Until I know for sure that none of you are a threat to her—”

“You keep her out of sight,” Scarlett cut in. “Gods. Mother hens everywhere.”

“Out of sight is one way to put it,” Razik said with a small smirk.

“Now that we are not on a ship, we can up your training,” Eliza said from where she rode to Callan’s right. Drake was on his left as they made their way back to the estates. The heavy conversations were tabled while they ?nished lunch, everyone needing a break and time to absorb the new information they’d learned.

A Coventry heir. Here in Avonleya for decades. It still didn’t seem possible. He hadn’t given much thought to what would happen to the other two kingdoms at the end of all this. He’s been too focused on simply surviving. But if they managed to win, the other kingdoms would no longer have rulers.

Well, just Rydeon at this point. “Callan?”

“Yeah, sorry,” he said, Eliza’s voice pulling him from his thoughts. “That sounds great.”

She smirked at him. “It soundsgreat, does it?”

He huffed a small laugh. “As great as getting my ass handed to me daily can be,” he agreed.

The smirk on her face lasted a few more seconds before it faded away, her gaze going back to the road they were following. She hadn’t trained him since the battle on the ships, since Nakoa had been killed. Callan had continued to practice and train as well as he could on his own, but he’d been waiting for her to come to him. He didn’t want to push too much when she was grieving.

“You train with a Fae?”

Hale was riding ahead of them, one of the soldiers—Riggs—with him. Hale was peering back over his shoulder at Callan.

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