Page 85 of Lady for Embers

“They are twin ?ames for starters, and she is full-blooded Avonleyan.”

“And yet you willingly tied your life to hers to be her Guardian.”

“Again, different,” Cassius said, his arms crossing over his chest.

“How is tying your life to hers different from this?” Cyrus demanded.

Cassius studied him for a long moment before his arms dropped to his sides. “You are not ready for this, Cyrus.”

“And you think you know me well enough to make that call?”

Cassius’s hands came up on either side of his head, caging him against the wall. He was an inch taller, forcing Cyrus to tilt his head up slightly as Cassius brought his face inches from his. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Either I do not know you well enough to make that call, which means you should not be my Source. Or I do know you well enough to know that you are not ready to do this, and I would be a bastard to let you.”

He pushed off the wall, leaving Cyrus standing there staring after him as he walked into the dining room.

Cyrus turned to ?nd Sorin and Scarlett making their way to the room. As she passed by him, Scarlett met his gaze, batting her lashes, as she said far too sweetly, “Looks like Cass just smelled some bullshit.”

Chapter 17

Callan

Callan looked up as Scarlett and Sorin entered. Scarlett was looking back over her shoulder where Cyrus was scowling at her, ?ipping her off. She smirked at him, a sneering curl of her lips, and Callan wondered at the display. He’d never seen those two upset with each other, but there was clearly some tension now.

Cyrus moved and climbed onto the bench next to Cassius where he usually sat, while Sorin ushered Scarlett to the head of the table to Cassius’s left. Drake was on the other side of the table from Callan, down a few seats. He was speaking in a low voice with Eliza and Rayner. Tava wasn’t here yet. The Ash Rider had Tula curled up on his lap. The little girl was sleeping, blonde curls falling into her face. Rayner brushed them back as he nodded at whatever Drake was saying. The general’s features were hard, a mask of unreadable emotion. He hadn’t seen Eliza since the battle other than at The Farewell ceremony when they’d honored their fallen. Fae send-offs were beautiful. There was no other way to describe them. There had been words spoken, but he didn’t know or understand the language. He didn’t need to though. The words seemed to settle in his soul, as if his very being understood them even if he didn’t.

And as he had watched the Fae release the ashes of their fallen, all he could think about was that he would not get to do this for Finn and Sloan. There had been a big procession for his parents after the “tragedy” of their death. Mikale had given a grand speech at the funeral, praising his parents for how they had ruled ­Windonelle. He hadn’t been able to attend, of course, but at least there had been something for them.

There would be no funeral, no goodbye, no sendoff for Finn and Sloan. There would be no honoring his friends for giving their lives in an effort to protect him and his family. There would be nothing. Nothing to remember them by. Nothing to pay homage to them for being with him every day for years, training speci?cally to be his personal guards. There would be nothing.

What did Alaric do with their bodies? Were they simply dumped into a mass grave like they’d done with all those innocent children? Already forgotten? Everyone moving on as if they’d never been in the ?rst place?

Auberon and Azrael sat next to him. They were both silent, faces hard as stone, but their posture had shifted over the weeks they’d been at sea. They used to be stiff and tension-?lled at these meetings. Now they seemed almost relaxed, if not bored. They were part of the conversations rather than just sitting on the fringes.

His gaze moved back to the head of the table. Scarlett and Cassius were leaning in close, murmuring to each other. Sorin was speaking with Briar on his left, and Callan saw this for what it was. Somehow, this group of mismatched bloodlines, former enemies, and longtime allies had become a Court all of their own, and it made him wonder what their world was going to look like when they went back if they managed to win this war.

“Where is Tava?” Callan asked Drake when a few more minutes passed and she did not appear.

Drake glanced over at him, frowning slightly. “She is not coming.”

“What? Why?”

Tava was always at these meetings. She rarely spoke, but that didn’t surprise him. The Lady observed more than she participated.

“I have not had a chance to talk with her yet. She informed me when I was heading this way,” Drake answered, his frown deepening.

“Where is she?”

“She was heading up to the main deck.”

Callan was already standing, unsure why he felt the need to go see her at this very moment, but Scarlett stopped him.

“Callan, I have some questions for you before you go.” He paused, a leg on either side of the bench, meeting her gaze. “Howwas Windonelle’s relationship with the other kingdoms? Particularly Rydeon?”

He sat back down on the bench. “That is an odd inquiry.”

“It is, isn’t it?” she agreed with a small smile. Her chin was resting in her hand as it often did at these meetings. Her ?ngers tapped along the tabletop, and he could practically see thoughts and ideas swirling in her mind as she planned and plotted.

“I rarely heard much about Toreall,” Callan answered. “Our relations with them were so forti?ed, it was never a question.”

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