Page 167 of Lady for Embers

“I am well aware, Child,” Alaric said, smiling down at her, his hand slipping from her hair. “But it is full enough to top off my magic for tonight, and I will take enough to ensure you stay where you are supposed to.”

“Please don’t,” she rasped, nails cracking as they scraped along the ground in the blood. “They are innocent people.”

“Remember that blood is on your hands,” Alaric said coldly.“And when more is spilled tonight and tomorrow and the following day, they are all on your hands too. Until you give me what I need, Talwyn.”

There was another solid yank on her magic, and it had her arms giving out. She felt the blood on her face, still warm, before he dug his power in even deeper. Then she felt nothing at all as darkness enveloped her.

Chapter 32

Scarlett

"You know how to take down the wards around the mortal lands,” Eliza repeated from where she was sitting on the lawn.

It was the next day, and they’d all decided to help out at the Coventry Estate for the morning with the children. Or rather, it was more so Scarlett wanting to check in on them and feeling like a shit queen for taking so long to do so and forcing her family to tag along. Magdalena had been kind enough to pack small breakfast baskets for them, and now they sat on blankets in the mid-morning sun, watching the children run and play.

“I’m fairly certain,” Scarlett answered, watching Rayner pretend to spar with Tula. She was using the small wooden sword Nuri had given her for her birthday. They were a few feet away, but still close enough that Rayner could hear and be part of the conversation.

“I would prefer more than fairly certain if we are going to Rydeon again,” Rayner said. “Especially with my network of spies there nonexistent at the moment.”

“It is not something we need to worry about right now. Cethin let us in the Wards, but I have not been told how we leave,” Scarlett replied with a frown.

“That is concerning,” Auberon said. “I do not want to stay here.”

“Not to your liking?” she asked, plucking some grapes off a stem.

“It is not enjoyable being the only one of my kind present,” he grumbled, taking a drink from a metal cup.

“But you get Fae blood on tap,” she argued.

Auberon bared a fang at her. “You are godsdamn hilarious.”

“You ?atter me,” she said, bringing her hand to her heart dramatically.

“Back to the matter at hand,” Sorin cut in. “When we learn how we can leave the Wards, the mortal kings will be coming with us.”

That was the trickiest part about this. Scarlett had found a Mark she thought would work for removing the wards around the mortal lands that prevented magic from being used. Deimas and Esmeray had enacted them somehow, citing mortal safety by preventing magic-wielders from being able to access their gifts. The Avonleyans had already been locked away behind their Wards so they hadn’t been worried about them. This was where the Semiria rings had come into play. Eliné and Henna each created one to be able to access their magic wherever.

Of course, Tarek had taken her ring from Sorin in that throne room. She’d take that back when she killed him and Talwyn. She’d take both those godsdamn rings. They wouldn’t be needed anymore if this worked, but the satisfaction of taking them off their dead bodies?

“You look murderous, godling,” Cyrus said, cutting into her thoughts.

She dragged her eyes to him. “Likely because you keep calling me that.”

“Nah. You looked ready to stab something before I said anything,” Cyrus replied. He shifted, slipping his hands behind his head where he was lying on another blanket.

“We have to bring all three?” Rayner asked, getting them back on track like he always did, even while pretending to be stabbed by a wooden sword. Tula giggled in delight as Rayner slowly and dramatically sank to his knees, clutching his hand where she’d hit him as if it was a fatal wound.

Scarlett let her shadows out, the panther forming that always held the Sorceress’s spell book. She found the pages she’d marked and read it again. “Since the wards are around three separate kingdoms, we need a mortal king from each. Since a Marran Lord sits on each of the thrones now, we need to bring all three mortal kings.”

“And we have to go back to Rydeon for this?” Cassius asked, leaning over to take the book from her. He couldn’t read it as wellas she could, but he’d been trying to study it daily. “One would think it would need to be done in each kingdom.”

“I thought so when I ?rst started looking at it too, until we went to take care of that tracking Mark,” Scarlett explained. “I think, if we do it at the center of the continent like we did before, because of that being central, it should take all the magical wards down.”

“Even the ones containing the Courts and Night Children?” Azrael asked. He, of course, wasn’t sitting on a picnic blanket eating breakfast. He was standing around, moody and irritated, dressed as though he were going into battle.

“No,” Scarlett said hesitantly, studying the text. “This Mark will reinstate access to magic in the mortal lands. Magic is already accessible in the Courts. We would need to do something different for those wards. Like I did for the Shifters and Witches, but that was tied to the keys.”

“That seems like it would be a wise idea,” Azrael said, rubbing at his jaw. “So our people at least have the option to ?ee if necessary.”

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