Page 34 of Lady for Embers

“No, Lynnea. This is more than suf?cient, as always. Thank you,” Scarlett replied. There were murmurs of agreement around the table, and Lynnea dipped her chin before she left the dining area.

“I still have a hard time believing she is a full-blooded Witch,” Auberon said, watching Lynnea go.

“I still can’t believe we have a Night Child on this ship with us, but here we are,” Eliza said, reaching for the plates Callan was passing down the table.

Idle chatter was had while they dished up their food and ate. Scarlett didn’t pay much attention. Her thoughts were on all the decisions that lay before her, as they often were these days.

She was absent-mindedly reaching for another piece of bread that Sorin had buttered and set on her plate when Cyrus said, “So how much longer do you think we’ll be on this ship, Darling?”

She lowered the bread back to the plate, brushing crumbs from her ?ngers. “I don’t know. We’ve never seen maps. I’ve only read hints on its location. If I knew where it was, I would Travel us there.”

Cyrus grumbled something she couldn’t hear under his breath, and Scarlett felt her features tense. She knew he hated being in the middle of the sea. He hated the sea in general. It reminded him too much of Merrik. Sorin had provided him with portals back to Solembra at night when they were at the Black Halls, but there wasn’t anywhere for him to go now. They couldn’t risk going backto the continent until they were ready to take on Alaric and his seraphs, and who knew when that would be.

“What is our plan for returning, then?” Sawyer asked from where he sat next to Briar.

“I suppose that depends on what we ?nd when we get to Avonleya.”

“Do you think he’s done it already? Taken down the wards?” Eliza asked.

“Yes,” Scarlett answered. “He would have been very vengeful after I burned the Fellowship to the ground. Getting Talwyn to shift the keys would have been his highest priority after that. He told me she already knew how. They were just waiting on the ?nal key. Hazel said she’d get me word, but I do not know how since she cannot send any type of message.” They had hoped Ashtine might send a wind message, but they couldn’t bank on that. Not with her choosing Talwyn. She glanced quickly at Briar, whose eyes were hard as he tapped his ?nger lightly on the table. “And why do you assume this has been accomplished?” Auberon asked, his blue eyes watching her closely.

“Because I know Alaric. He would have been irate about me burning down his Fellowship and sought immediate retribution,” Scarlett answered. “He is incredibly patient until he isn’t.”

And it was Cassius who reached over and squeezed her shoulder this time. She reached up and gripped his forearm, squeezing back; both of them pushing down memories of just how true that statement was. Of the times Alaric had lost his patience with them, snapping in the end. He prided himself on control— of everything around him, of the people around him, of his circumstances. But Scarlett wondered now if that need for control was because he could scarcely control himself.

She cleared her throat. “So I suppose our next step is hopefully getting into Avonleya.”

“Hopefully?” Azrael repeated.

“Yes, hopefully,” she replied. “I do not know how long it will take. I do not know what we will ?nd when we get there. I do not know if they will let us in, if we will have to ?ght, if they will be willing to help us. I can only hope that all of this wasn’t for nothing.”

“To make sure I understand this correctly,” Auberon said smoothly, “our entire plan is essentially... hope?”

“We have several things in motion, as you are well aware,Auberon,” Sorin cut in. “How those plans play out will depend largely on what we ?nd when we reach Avonleya.”

“And when we return to the continent?” the Night Child continued. “Should we return and win, will you keep the territories divided?”

Scarlett glanced at Sorin before she said, “I really don’t think it is our place to decide that. Not by ourselves.”

Auberon leaned forward in his seat, pushing his plate aside. He’d hardly eaten anything, Rayner and Eliza taking turns to supply him with blood each day. It kept the threat of the Night Child a little lower considering he would be unable to harm them, and the two kept a close eye on him. He may have ?ed when Nuri killed his Contessa, but none of them trusted the vampyre.

“You are aware that you could easily take and rule the entire continent, are you not?” Auberon asked.

Scarlett lifted her chin, her bread forgotten on her plate. “I have no desire to rule the continent. I had to be convinced to rule the two Courts I now preside over. I do not wish for more.” Her eyes shifted to Prince Luan with her next words. “However, I will rule over the entirety of the Fae Courts until a replacement has been agreed to and a coronation has taken place for the Eastern Courts.”

A muscle ticked in Azrael’s jaw, and he locked eyes with his fellow princes before meeting her own gaze. “Did you see her when you were there? Did you see anyone aside from the Assassin Lord?” His voice was low and dark, as she’d always experienced from the Earth Prince.

“I did see others.”

“And?”

“And none of them still breathe. Rest assured that had I seenher,I would still be there, making sure I had wrung every last ounce of agony from her bones before I let her cross the Veil to the After,” Scarlett said, deceptively calm. “If I had seen her, Prince Luan, Talwyn would no longer be an issue.”

Something shuttered in his eyes before he quickly locked down whatever emotion he was feeling. And that right there was why she didn’t trust the Earth Prince any more than she trusted Auberon at this point. He may have been ?eeing with the rest of them. He may have chosen their side in this war. But he would still spare Talwyn if he could. He would still do whatever he could to save his queen from her wrath.

“As it stands,” Scarlett went on after a tense moment of silence, “Talwyn is still an issue, along with Tarek. As far as we know, he has gotten his wish and now presides over the Earth Court.”

“As a ?ll-in,” Briar cut in.

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