Page 171 of Lady for Embers

Razik sent her a sharp smile. “He will be too busy to come to your rescue, I assure you.”

“The only other issue was your twin ?ame,” Cethin said, thenhelooked down at his wife. “Kailia will stay to intervene if necessary.”

“Cyrus—” Scarlett started.

“I’m going with Cassius,” he said before Scarlett could ask him to do just that.

“You good, Cass?” she asked, turning to him.

Cassius nodded sharply, and a moment later, the three males were gone, Razik Traveling them out.

“Use your Fae gifts for training for now,” Cethin said, already striding for her, rolling up the sleeves of his tunic. “You need to limit drawing from your Source.”

The others had dispersed, moving to different areas of the arena to do their own training. Kailia was standing next to Sorin, who was watching them with his arms crossed.

“How much smaller are they?” she asked quietly. She knew Cethin would understand she was asking about Sorin’s power.

His eyes met hers, his lips pressing into a tight line. “The sooner you master this, the better.”

That was answer enough.

Every part of her body hurt. She had not ached like this after training since Sorin had trained her in Baylorin. Training with Cethin was just as torturous. She didn’t think anyone could be as brutal in a training ring as Eliza and Nakoa.

Cethin had proved her wrong.

Every time he drained her, it made her very soul ache, and that pain carried over in physical form. To make matters worse, she hadn’t been able to free herself from his magic even once. At least with Alaric she had been able to stop using her magic, pull it back into herself and give him nothing to draw from. Cethin latched on to her gifts as if he had claws, dug them in deep, and refused to let her power go. He said Alaric would be able to do this, depending on how full his reserves were. But even if he couldn’t, Scarlett knew if she could learn to defend against Cethin, it would make defending against Alaric that much easier.

But right now she was sitting at a dining table wanting to lay her head on her arms and sleep. She’d devoured the roasted chicken that had been prepared, had eaten an entire loaf of breadherself, and had inhaled at least three pear tarts. Cassius looked as exhausted as she felt seated a few chairs down from her. She hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to him yet and hear how his day had gone.

“I think you broke them,” Kailia commented, lifting a chalice to her lips.

“They’ve just spent too much time lazing about on ships these last weeks,” Razik said, reaching for another helping of chicken.

“Fuck you,” Scarlett spat, reaching for her chalice of wine. She’d taken a bath before dinner, but she was already dreaming of another one, the hot water soothing her aching muscles.

“Razik,” Tybalt said sternly from the other end of the table.

A muscle ticked in Razik’s jaw, but he said nothing else, and Scarlett was surprised to see the male respected at least one person at this table.

Scarlett stabbed at another pear tart Sorin had slipped onto her plate as she asked, raising her voice to be heard above the various dinner conversations, “Can I ask you a question, Commander Tybalt?”

“Of course,” he answered. “And please, call me Tybalt. Only my warriors call me Commander.”

She nodded at that as she said, “Why would a goddess need a Guardian?”

The small chatter around the table died out, the Fae as curious as she was, and the Avonleyans were obviously interested to see how Tybalt would answer the question.

Tybalt picked up his mug of ale (which Scarlett had absolutely adored when he’d been served, the staff already knowing he’d want ale over wine), settling back in his chair with it. “I do not know that a goddessneedsa Guardian per se,” he answered.

“She was just sel?sh enough to want one?”

At those words, both Cethin and Tybalt tensed. “Sargon descendants are natural protectors,” Tybalt said. “It is in our nature. The Guardian bond is not a burden to us. Many feel as though a piece of themselves is missing without it.”

She had continued to stab at her pear tart while he’d spoken, but she looked up at that. “You asked for the bond?”

“No, but I was not against it. None of us who are selected as Guardians are against it,” Tybalt said.

The sound of a chalice dropping heavily to the table had themall looking at Razik, whose features were hard and sharp, his pupils already vertical and eyes glowing a faint blue.

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