Page 202 of Lady for Embers

“You made your choices; I made mine,” she replied, not turning to look at him.

There was silence for a long moment until she heard the echo of his boots when he ?nally left.

She thought of begging the gods for death, but they’d stopped listening to her long ago.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

“Stop that,” Talwyn snapped from where she sat on a cold stone ?oor. Her knees were bent, arms resting atop them, head tipped back against the wall behind her. It was rocky and uneven and dug into her back.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

“For the love of the gods!”

Nuri laughed, and Talwyn opened her eyes to watch Death’s Shadow on the other side of the bars of her cell. She held a dagger in her hand that she had been dragging back and forth across the bars causing the incessant clinking sound. She’d been doing it for at least two hours, and Talwyn was going mad.

“I was told to watch you,” Nuri said, twirling the dagger in her hand.

“Clearly. Were you told to annoy the ever-loving shit out of me too?”

Nuri made a show of considering this before answering. “No, just watch you. But that is rather vague, wouldn’t you say?”

Talwyn blinked back at her because she was certi?ably insane.

“This is why I got myself kicked out of that meeting you know,” she continued. “Alaric’s order came second-hand. Alaric would have been much more speci?c, but all he told Tarek was ‘Tell Nuri to watch her.’Careless really. He only gets that way when it comes to Scarlett.” She tapped the dagger against her chin. “His beloved protégé ruining everything.”

Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink.

“It’s so open-ended when you think about it. What am I supposed to watch you do exactly? Eat? Drink? Piss?”

She could do all three. It wasn’t as if Talwyn had privacy in a godsdamn cell.

Nuri suddenly grabbed the bars, pressing her face to them. “Or... I could watch you walk out of this cell.”

“You cannot let me out,” Talwyn said dryly. “I am not that stupid.”

“The stupidity part is debatable at this point, but you are correct. I cannot let you out.” She moved back again.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

“But I could watch that ring slide off your ?nger. I bet your magic could free you from these bars.”

Clink. Clink. Clink.

“You cannot take this ring off.”

Nuri grinned at her. “You really need to reevaluate that whole not-stupid thing. We have already established you know nothing. The question is, are you ?nally ready to play the godsdamn game?” She was gripping the bars again, and Talwyn could swear she was going to start climbing them. “I won’t take that ring off unless you are going to play.”

“I will never make it to Ashtine before they do,” Talwyn said. “My magic reserves are not full enough to Travel to the South Islands.”

Nuri rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway. But a Water Prince might.”

“You want me to contact Briar?” Talwyn asked, getting to her feet. “He would de?nitely play the game.”

Clink. Clink. Clink.

“How can you take the ring off?”

“Anyone can take the ring off,” Nuri said with a ?ippant ?ick of her wrist. “Only the wearer cannot remove it.”

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