Page 230 of Lady for Embers

Talwyn hadn’t always been like this. Scarlett had only known her as a vengeful Fae Queen. Sorin had known her as so much more.

“If I had not shown up, you are right. You would have killed her, Scarlett,” he replied, his tone getting sharper. “And then we would not know about Ashtine. Briar would not know she carries his children. We would not know she is in danger, and we would not know that Alaric is going to attempt to free the Sorceress. Whether you want to admit it or not, she is an asset at the moment. Even if I did agree to it, it would be foolish to kill her now.”

Scarlett was staring at him, shaking her head in disbelief.

Sorin took a deep breath, exhaling sharply. “I do not want to ?ght with you, Scarlett. We have so many other things to be worrying about.”

“Then for the love of the gods, stop ?ghting me on this!” she cried, more tears spilling over. “Please just give me this, Sorin!”

“You were not the only one wronged here, Scarlett!” he said, his own temper ?aring despite her tears, and her eyes widened at his tone. “You are not the one who nearly died. If anyone has a say in her fate, it is me. Not you.”

She stared at him, shock ?lling her features. “If this was Mikale, you would have killed him a thousand times over already.”

“But it is not.” She started to argue more, but he cut her off. “No. You got to say your peace. Now I get to say mine.”

Her mouth snapped shut, lips pursing. She crossed her arms, nodding once at him to continue, her eyes going to the window.

“This situation with Talwyn is very different from Mikale, Scarlett. You want Mikale dead as badly as I do. This is not him. This is not Tarek. This is not Alaric. None of them are comparable. You know who is? Nuri.” Her gaze whipped back to his. “Nuri betrayed you as much as Talwyn betrayed me, and you cannot bring yourself to end her, can you? I know the reason you will not give Auberon an answer as to her fate. I saw you protect her in the Eternal Necropolis. I was told how you and Juliette spared her in the last ?ght too.”

“She did notkillyou, Sorin!”

“But she would have,” he argued. “If Alaric orders it, she will try. And now? With my power nearly nonexistent? She will succeed. You know who she did kill? The Contessa of the Night Children. For all intents and purposes,a queen. Auberon’s queen. He has asked you for retribution. You have denied it. Because it is Nuri. Someone you have cared about for much of your life, despite her many,manyfaults and ?aws.”

She was shaking her head in ?erce denial.

He took a single step towards her. “If you insist on this, Scarlett, you do not have my support. If we are equals as you claim we are, you will consider my feelings in this. If you kill her, you are no different than she is—a queen who puts her own vendetta ahead of her Courts and what is best for her family and people.”

Scarlett recoiled as though he had struck her, and perhaps he had. Not with a physical blow but a verbal one, and it was one she needed to feel.

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do,” he replied calmly. “And to clarify, I am not choosing her over you. I am choosing our Courts, that we are responsible for, over her. I am choosing the kingdoms and territories that you swore to put above all else when you took the throne. I am choosing the Shifters and the Witches, the Avonleyans, Ashtine, Briar, the rest of our family, over her.” He closed the small distance between them, taking her chin between his thumb and fore?nger. “We are not the only ones who have faced darkness, Scarlett. Just because we have found the love and loyalty and laughter within does not mean there are not others still lost in it. She hasn’t allowed anyone to pull her from the river yet.”

“She does not deserve stars, Sorin,” she said, her voice full of agony.

“My love, neither did we,” he said, taking her face in his hands. “Just because her suffering looks different from ours does not mean she is not suffering. And you?” He pushed hair back off her brow before resting his against it. “Youarethe bigger person, Scarlett. Maybe not before, when you were prowling the streets and ?itting across rooftops with your sisters, but now? You are the bigger person. You just have to choose it, my Queen.”

Then she was clutching at his tunic, burying her face in his chest as she cried, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding hertightly to him. Eventually, he scooped her up and carried her back to the armchair, settling her in his lap as he smoothed his hand over her hair.

“I do not know how to let this go, Sorin,” she whispered into the quiet room some time later. The ?re had died down to embers, casting a soft, shadowy glow over them.

“I did not say we needed to let this go, Scarlett. She will still be held accountable for her actions. She will still answer for them.”

“She will no longer be a queen.”

“I am amenable to that,” he replied. “But I think this is a discussion that can be tabled for now. She is in a cell. She is not going anywhere. We need to focus on Ashtine ?rst, and once we have her back safely, then we deal with Talwyn. Together.”

“Always together,” she murmured, ?ngers tracing the Marks along his chest through his tunic. Another minute of silence ticked by before she said, “Will it take me centuries to become a wise old sage like you?”

“By the gods,” he muttered, pinching her hip.

She sat up, her small smile slowly fading as she met his gaze in the dark. “I’m sorry, Sorin. For... Well, for all of it.”

“I understand the need for retribution, Scarlett. I really do,” he said, twining a lock of her hair around his ?nger. “But from what I witnessed earlier, it would appear you got your pound of ?esh, both for you and our family. Now we decide her fate together.”

Her eyes fell to her lap. “I was never taught to forgive. Not that it is an excuse,” she continued in a rush. “I was... It was never an option. I would have been punished for even considering the idea, and I sometimes forget that... ” Sorin waited, continuing to toy with her hair while she collected her thoughts. “I sometimes forget that being free of that cage means I can choose to be something different from what he required me to be.” She paused again, worrying her bottom lip. “We’re... okay, right?”

He often forgot how young she truly was. This girl who had been forced to grow up far too quickly with daggers and swords in her hands. This female who had repeatedly had her world upended over the last year. If this had happened a year ago, he would have found Talwyn already dead when he’d arrived in that arena. He would have never gotten through to Scarlett like he had tonight. She certainly would not have apologized to him. She had come so far, yet was still growing into her crown.

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