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“The Fae Royalty and Scarlett.”

She went completely still. “Why?”

The corner of his lips tipped up. “Relax, Talwyn,” he said, gesturing for her to follow him.

They could have Traveled, she supposed, but instead they walked side-by-side through the Fiera Palace and down to the council rooms. Everything was the same as when she would stay here before she took a throne, and yet everything had changed.

She had stayed in the guest suite most of their time here, only venturing out when Azrael was around. She’d like to say she wasn’t hiding, but she was. She simply didn’t know where she fit into his world and with all the Fae now.

She could hear the arguing long before they reached the council room.

“It doesn’t count if no one saw it happen,” came Cyrus’s voice.

“What?” Scarlett cried in outrage. “Sorin was there! He saw it happen.”

“Did he?” Cyrus questioned. “Sounds to me like you had to tell him about it too.”

“Tell him, Sorin,” she demanded.

Talwyn gave Azrael a questioning look, but his face was full of irritation. “I cannot believe they are still arguing about this,” he muttered.

Talwyn came to a stop in the doorway as she took in the scene in front of her. Scarlett was on her feet, hands planted on the table, leaning towards Cyrus who was across from her next to Cassius. Sorin sat casually next to his wife, a thumb hiding the smirk on his lips. Eliza had her nose in a book while Rayner was watching everything warily. Briar and Ashtine sat beside each other, both eating a tart of some sort at the head of the table.

“In all fairness, Scarlett, I did not actually witness it,” Sorin said, and Talwyn could hear the laugh he was trying to keep from his voice.

“What?” Scarlett shrieked at the same time Cyrus said, “Ha! Didn’t happen, Darling.”

“You cannot be serious!”

“I do not understand what is happening right now,” Talwyn murmured to Azrael. “Why do I need to be here for this?”

“No one needs to be here for this,” he muttered. Then with an audible sigh, he added, “Apparently Scarlett caught an arrow in mid-air.”

That didn’t seem all that impressive. That was normal Fae training.

“And?” Talwyn asked, listening to the continued bickering between Scarlett and Cyrus.

“And I guess she has never done so,” Azrael said. “I do not understand it either.”

Cyrus held up two palms before him. “All I am saying is that there were hundreds of people there andno onesaw you catch it? Seems a little far-fetched, Scarlett.” He picked up a cheese cube from his plate, tossing it into his mouth.

“The witnesses aredead, Cyrus,” she snapped. “Would you like to join them? Then you can ask them yourself.”

“I have the perfect dagger for this,” Eliza chimed in without glancing up from her book.

“No one is stabbing anyone,” Sorin sighed.

“I don’t need a blade,” Scarlett snarled.

“I saw it,” Talwyn said.

“Thank you!” Scarlett cried, gesturing towards the door. She turned, her eyes going wide when she realized who she was siding with.

The room went silent and still, a tenseness settling over everyone.

“I was on the balcony directly below them,” Talwyn went on. “I saw her catch the arrow, then send it to Sorin in a swirl of shadows so he could shove it into a seraph’s eye.”

Sorin’s golden gaze was fixed on her, his hand having slowly dropped to the arm of his chair. He smiled at her as he said, “That is exactly how it happened.”