Page 209 of Lady for Embers

Eliza went eerily still, and that was when Callan decided it was time for him to ?nd somewhere else to be. He muttered something to them about going to get a drink, but neither of them acknowledged him. He was halfway across the hall when a silver head of hair intercepted him.

“Dance with me?” the queen asked, grabbing his hand and tugging him to the dance ?oor.

He hadn’t seen her away from Sorin all night. They’d each danced the necessary dances with other people. Scarlett had danced with Cethin and Tybalt at some point. Sorin had danced with Kailia. He’d seen a few other Avonleyans brave enough to interrupt them and ask for dances, but for the most part, the two had been in their own world. Eyes always on each other, tender touches, and whispered words that brought about soft smiles. It was everything she deserved and more. To have someone look at her like that and understand who she was beneath it all.

“You think too hard, your Majesty.”

He hadn’t realized he’d just been going through the motions, falling back into old habits. She smiled up at him, a knowing thing, bright silver eyes seeming to look into his very soul.

“It is disconcerting to dance without masks sometimes,” she remarked.

“Everyone can see everything,” he agreed, twirling her under his arm, her dress ?aring out around her ankles. Her hair had already begun coming loose from the curls she’d had pinned back. It was better this way.

Down and free. It was her.

“They can,” she conceded when she came back to him, hand back at his shoulder. “Even things we cannot see ourselves. I think that is what makes it most unsettling, that someone might see something about us we haven’t ?gured out yet.”

“And what do you see when you look at me these days, my Wraith?”

She smiled at his old pet name for her. “I see a king uncertain of his place.”

“It is hard to know your place when you do not know who you are anymore,” he said quietly.

“It is hard to ?nd yourself when the world is demanding everything from you, and you do not recognize the person staring back at you in a mirror,” Scarlett replied.

“How did you do it?” he asked, his eyes snagging on Tava dancing with Hale. Her forest green dress with gold details—the traditional colors of Rydeon—looked regal against the red and gold of Hale’s jacket. “How did you... survive?”

Scarlett’s gaze followed his. “I found people who could look past the masks, Callan,” she said. “Not people who tried to ?x me or tell me how I should feel or what I should do. People who understood that sometimes... ” She exhaled deeply. “Sometimes we just need people to sit with us in the middle of the mess. But those people? They tend to ?nd you. You don’t ?nd them. You’re too busy trying not to drown to even be looking.”

The song ended, and they clapped for the musicians, stepping back from one another. But she grabbed his hand once more, squeezing his ?ngers in hers. “Those people, Callan? They are the ones that can reach us even on the darkest of nights.”

He watched her saunter off, moving straight to Sorin who was speaking with Cyrus and Rayner on the edge of the crowd, all of them huddled around Eliza. He pulled her under his arm, and Cyrus said something that made her shove his shoulder while Rayner smiled lightly at whatever was being said. Cassius appeared a moment later, and he melded in with them as if he’d always been a part of what they were.

Effortless. It all seemed so effortless. The nonchalance. The camaraderie. The familial love. He knew it wasn’t. They faced the coming war and unknown as much as he did. But they did it together. Had somehow found each other.

A laugh he knew in the depths of his being carried to him, and he instantly found Tava, laughing with Drake as her brother twirled her around the ?oor. Drake still seemed slightly haunted, but he looked better than he had in days. She laughed again when he dipped her low, ?ngers digging into his tunic sleeve as she warned her brother not to drop her. He chuckled, hauling her back up before spinning her once more.

Scarlett had found stars in the darkness, but he didn’t need to do any of that, Callan realized as he watched them.

He only needed to follow the light.

It was late, the middle of the night, but when Cethin said the Avonleyans preferred the night, he hadn’t been lying. The ball was still in full swing, people still dancing and eating and laughing when Callan had left, exhaustion settling deep in his bones.

But now it was late. The middle of the night. And he couldn’t sleep.

He’d slipped on a pair of pants and a long-sleeve tunic before sliding on boots and heading downstairs. He’d walked these halls plenty over the weeks they’d been here. Walked the garden paths even more. He could ?nd his way in the dark easily enough at this point.

On one of his walks, he had found a small pond nestled among the low stone walls that wound through the gardens. There were fish in it that glowed faintly in the dark waters. In fact, he’d learned you could only see them at night. He’d come here during the day to try to see them in the light, but the waters were black, even in the pond, and the fish were lost to the void of inky darkness. Even the wildlife preferred the night it seemed.

It took ?fteen minutes to ?nd the pond, taking two wrong turns at some point, but when he stepped through the opening in the wall, his heart stuttered. The walls were taller around the pond, creating its own space, keeping out everything else. Thick vines climbed up them, dark purple ?owers blooming along their length. The glow of the ?sh in the pond cast them in a soft light. A fountain was along the back wall, feeding into the pond, and a long bench set along the side of the water, close enough for one to dip their toes in if they wished.

Which is exactly what Tava was doing.

She’d changed out of her forest green ?nery and put on a simple dark teal dress with long sleeves and a scooping neckline. It looked better. The ?nery was beautiful, but this casual grace was... better. Grey slippers rested on the bench beside her, and she sat leaning forward with her hands braced on the edge of the bench. Her hairwas pulled over one shoulder, golden strands cascading around her as she dragged her toes through the water.

She hadn’t heard him approach, which was surprising in and of itself. She was always so observant, but she was obviously lost in her thoughts. Her features were soft and contemplative, a small frown on her lips.

For a moment, he thought he should leave, that he shouldn’t intrude on what was clearly some time she needed to herself, but he couldn’t make himself do it. He couldn’t walk away from her.

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