Page 48 of Lady for Embers

“Are we ?nally done?” he gasped.

“Yes,” she agreed. “You ?nally tapped into that rage you’ve been harboring.”

“And that’s a good thing?” he asked between breaths. He saw ?gures moving towards them in his periphery, but he was breathing too hard to care at this point.

“You will need that rage, Callan. When you’re fighting, when your survival depends on it, you use everything you have. Thelight and the dark. Use it all. Despite what they told you, you were built for this. You were not built to sit in a castle but to defend the people outside it. A king who fights forallhis people, not just those who sit in the castle with him.”

There was a hand in his face as Drake reached down to pull him to his feet.

Sorin was doing the same for Scarlett, but she was smirking up at him as if she hadn’t just sparred for an extended period of time. She opened her mouth, clearly about to say something snarky, when her face leeched of color. Sorin was suddenly yanking her to her feet and into his side, his sword drawn in the next breath.

Callan glanced around at the rest of the Fae. Eliza had gone rigid, pulling a sword from ?ames. Rayner appeared a moment later directly in front of them, and Cyrus was stepping in front of Cassius and Drake. Auberon and Azrael were suddenly there. Callan had no idea where they’d come from or why, for that matter, and a moment later, Briar and Sawyer appeared as well.

“Scarlett, my dear,” came a male’s voice. “How wonderful to see you again.”

“You can all see him, right?” Scarlett murmured. Callan knew the Lord had a strange power that allowed him to alter a person’s reality, but it was still bizarre to him that she was questioning such a thing.

“We can see him,” Sorin replied. “We all felt the warning from the wards.”

Lord Tyndell stood across the deck from them. Eyes that were nearly black skimmed over Callan and Drake before settling on Cassius. “Commander Redding,” he greeted with a nod of his head.

“Do not speak to him,” Scarlett spat, pushing Sorin aside and stepping forward.

The Lord’s head tilted, a corner of his mouth tilting up slightly. “Isn’t the Guardian supposed to be protecting you? Not the other way around?”

“Shut up,” Scarlett snarled, shadows slithering up her body and clinging to her like armor. Exactly how she’d looked when Callan had summoned her to deal with Veda and save Tava. Cyrus moved with Cassius as the commander moved to Scarlett’s side.

“Father?”

They all turned to look at Drake, his features a mask of shockas he looked back at the man. Eliza had moved into position before him.

“Hello, Drake,” Lord Tyndell replied. Callan could swear that there was fondness in his tone, which didn’t make any sense.

Shadows were suddenly surrounding him, herding him closer to Drake until they were both enclosed by them. He felt them slide around his body, as if creating a secondary shield, before additional smoke and ashes were added by the Fae in front of him.

“Shut up, and stay out of their heads,” Scarlett snarled, taking another step towards the Lord.

Lord Tyndall held up a hand. “I am only here to talk at the moment, Scarlett. Think of me as the messenger.”

The wickedness that ?lled Scarlett’s face had Callan ?ashing back to a dark night under a full moon as he’d watched her stand over a female, slicing into her body with malice.

“Careful,Balam,” she purred. “I’ve become rather adept at sending messages of my own.”

The Lord’s features tightened. “I am aware, Scarlett.”

She moved forward again, shadows writhing around her until those damn shadow panthers Callan had often glimpsed were prowling in front of her. Sorin and Cyrus lazily ?icked their hands and what Callan could only describe as vines of pure ?ames appeared in their hands. The same ?ames ?ared around Eliza’s sword. Sawyer had long daggers of ice in his hands, and Briar had vortexes of water swirling in the air beside him. Azrael and Auberon stood stoically, arms crossed, as they surveyed the Lord before them.

“Did he get my latest one?” the queen asked, her head tilting to the side. There was a burst of white ?ames, and when it receded, she was holding a sword. “Because I am more than ready to return hismessengeras a message of my own.”

“I am not here to ?ght with any of you,” the Lord replied with utter calm. “I came to offer an exchange and to see my children.”

“Consider your offer rejected. As for yourchildren, every one of us here knows they are not your children.”

The Lord’s features went cold, his calm façade faltering. “They may not be my blood, but I raised them. I cared for them more than their father ever would have.”

Before anyone could say anything to that, Azrael said tightly, “The sky.”

Cyrus and Cassius stayed ?xed on the Lord, but everyone elselooked to the west, where a ?gure was ?ying towards them. As it drew closer, Callan realized it was a male with wings, like he had seen Veda sprout from her back. It had to be seraph.

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