Page 126 of Lady for Embers

“Alaric,” she replied tightly, and she saw him stiffen at the lack of title. But what was she to call him? He wasn’t her master. She wasn’t his subject. “Was the meeting time changed?”

“No,” he answered, taking another sip of his drink. He stared down into the glass, swirling the contents as he studied it.

“Then where is everyone else?” Talwyn demanded.

“They are tending to other matters,” Alaric answered, ?nally turning from the window. He gestured to the table. “Please take a seat.”

She moved stif?y to the table, taking the chair at the opposite end. An almost amused look passed over Alaric’s face as he took the seat at his end. He swirled his liquor glass again, seemingly in contemplation, before he placed the glass on the table with a dull thud.

“We are allies, are we not... Talwyn?” He met her gaze at the use of her name, a challenge emanating from his dark eyes.

“Unless something has changed that I am unaware of, yes,” she retorted, her elbows resting on the arms of her chair, hands curled tightly around the ends beneath the table.

Alaric surveyed her for a long moment before he settled back in his chair, posture relaxing. He was ?dgeting with his liquor glass when he asked, “Did you know I can detect power? I can sense who is the most powerful in a room. I can tell when power is depleted and when it is at its fullest.”

“That sounds incredibly useful,” she deadpanned.

“Quite,” he returned. “Of course, the farther away a being is, the harder it is for me to detect them. Scarlett, for example, even days after she left, I could feel her when her power reserves were full.”

“Interesting,” Talwyn said, unsure of where he was going with this.

“What is interesting,your Majesty, is that a little over a week ago, I started detecting another great power south of here. In the Water Court,” Alaric said, swirling his glass a little harder. “I had assumed it was you attempting to ?nd a way into the Underwater Prison.”

“That sounds logical,” she said tightly.

“It does, does it not?” he agreed, bringing the glass to his lips and throwing the rest of the liquor back. He dropped the glass to the table unceremoniously. “Except for the fact that I can still feel that power, and it is no longer in the Water Court, but even further south. And it grows stronger. Can you tell me why that would be when you, presumably the most powerful being currently on this continent, sit across from me?”

South of the Water Court?

Talwyn was rigid as she stared back at the Assassin Lord. South of the Water Court there was an endless sea. Eventually there were islands, but they were not ruled by this continent. From what she’d been told, they had not been inhabited for several centuries. Some great evil had once inhabited them but had been banished. The islands had remained uninhabited since then. Something about a curse or some other myth.

But if he was sensing power from those islands, maybe it wasn’t a myth after all.

“I have never been south of the Water Court,” Talwyn answered. “I only know of the legends of the islands south of there.”

A small, cruel smile tilted on Alaric’s lips. “Yes,” he mused. “I know of those legends as well. This is... not that.”

“Then you know more about this than I do. Why did you summon me here?”

“I have sent some of my people to try to ?nd the source of this power,” he said, ignoring her question.

“And? What did they learn?”

“Nothing,” he said simply.

“Nothing,” she repeated. “Perhaps you need better people.”

Alaric made a show of seeming to consider the merit of that statement before saying, “I only know of a handful of people who could take on a water horse and live to tell the tale.” Talwyn stopped breathing, that cruel smile on Alaric’s face growing. “No, your Majesty, I do not believe it is my people that are the problem.”

Abrax.

Abrax was keeping people out, which could only mean that Ashtine was there.

“Then what do you think the problem is?” she asked, her tone hard and irritated.

Alaric stood, moving back to the liquor cart and re?lling his glass. He took another sip before turning to her once more. “I think there are a great number of problems with this mysterious power source, but the greatest problem I ?nd I currently face is that myalliesare proving worthless. More so, I am questioning their loyalty.”

“I have done nothing to warrant such questioning,” Talwyn snarled, a hand coming up and splaying on the table in front of her. “I tried to talk to the Shifters, despite telling you it would be futile. Tarek was there. He witnessed everything.” When he continued to stare at her in that unnerving way of his, swirling his godsdamn liquor, she went on. “The Water Prince is needed to enter the Underwater Prison. Until a work around is discovered, that is not possible right now either.”

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