Page 45

Chapter 44

Talwyn

A nother set of bars.

That’s what she was staring at.

For the second time in a week, Talwyn was in a cell. Her entire body ached. Scarlett had de?nitely taken her time in that arena, drawing out her pain. And by the gods, she was powerful. So godsdamn powerful.

She winced as she ?exed her wrist. Scarlett had hit tendons with that knife to her forearm, and the manacles on her wrists were keeping her from healing any time soon. She tried to avoid moving the shackles. The metal burned against her skin every time she shifted too much. She didn’t know what they were, but it sure as fuck wasn’t shirastone.

But Sorin was alive. She hadn’t dared to believe it when Scarlett had snarled at her about “trying to kill him.” Trying. As if she hadn’t succeeded. As if she hadn’t committed one of the sins she regretted most in her life. She didn’t know how it had happened. She had seen the wound she had caused, knew there was no surviving it. Knew she had damned herself with that one impulsive act.

But he had survived, and there he was. Saving her, protecting her as he had when she had been a child. His eyes had met hers for a brief moment while he had spoken softly to Scarlett, persuading her to stop, and giving Talwyn the chance to tell Briar of Ashtine. That was all she’d wanted. All she’d needed.

She didn’t need saving anymore.

The distant sound of a door had the four guards outside her cell straightening. Two sets of boots sounded, males judging by the heaviness of the footfalls. The male who had been in her dreams a few times and who had found them on a spiritual plane had escorted her down here earlier, not saying a word other than to bark orders at the guards, but she had already ?gured out who he was.

The King of Avonleya.

The dragon shifter had told her Scarlett was the sister of the king, which made the male who’d escorted her Scarlett’s brother. That was who she was expecting to see once again, but that was not who appeared on the other side of the bars.

Azrael stepped into view. There was another sentry with him, but Talwyn didn’t pay any attention to the male. Her entire focus was on the Earth Prince. For the ?rst time in months, the scent of forest and ?r and soil ?lled her nose, and she inhaled sharply, letting it wash over her. She didn’t deserve this last bit of comfort, but she was too sel?sh not to take it. Azrael’s dark hair was longer than it had been before, and he had it knotted on top of his head. His bronze skin seemed darker in the low light of the sconces across from her cell, and his muddy brown eyes were staring right back at her. No emotion on his face, jaw hard, mouth set in a ?rm line.

He glanced at the sentry who had come with him. “Can we have a moment?”

“His Majesty will not like that.”

“She will not speak as freely if you are all here,” Azrael said, focus shifting back to her.

So that’s what this was. He had been sent to extract information from her. She almost laughed out loud. They could have sent the cook from the kitchens, and she would have told them everything she knew.

The sentry, however, seemed to consider his words for a moment before he nodded. “We’ll be at the top of the stairs. Send a message when you are done. She is not to be left unattended.”

Azrael nodded in agreement, continuing to stare at her while the sentry and guards ?led out of the hall that contained her cell. She heard the door creak and shut again, and then it was only them. Talwyn was certain there were no other prisoners in this section of the dungeons.

“You have not been sleeping well.”

Talwyn pursed her lips. Out of all the things he could have said to her, that was the ?rst thing he chose to say?

She hated it. Did not deserve for him to continue to care about her well-being.

When she did not reply, his tone was a touch softer when he asked, “Do you sleep, Talwyn?”

“It is not the night and the dark that haunts me, Azrael,” she replied. “It is when I am awake, when the sky lightens, and I am forced to live another day with my choices. Sleep is a reprieve from hell. A reprieve I am not worthy of but one my body takes when it can no longer survive without it.”

“Talwyn.”

“What do you want to know?” she asked sharply. “I will tell you anything I can.”

There was silence for a long moment, the two staring at each other, before he said, “Is there anything else we need to know about Ashtine?”

“I told Briar everything I know. I am assuming he has already gone for her?”

“They are discussing matters now. Making a plan.”

Talwyn lurched forward, then hissed between her teeth as the manacles singed her wrists and ankles, reopening small wounds from Scarlett’s damn shadow snakes. The shackles around her ankles were attached to the ?oor. The ones on her wrist were anchored to the wall, but both sets had some give, allowing her to move a bit. Not enough to get near the bars though. “What do you mean they are discussing matters? He needs to go now. They are already searching for her.”

“You said Abrax was with her.”

“You cannot be serious. Briar is not going to her?”

“He is going to get her, Talwyn,” Azrael said. “But it is unwise to go there without proper planning. Drayce knows this.”

“It is foolish not to go right now,” Talwyn spat back. “Did you fools miss the part where I told you she is with child? She is not well, Az. She has been unwell since Nasima left her, and now she carries twins. You know how taxing Fae pregnancies are. He needs to go now!”

“Calm down,” he ordered. “You are injuring yourself further.”

She looked down to ?nd the manacles digging into her wrists, blood welling around them. She hadn’t felt it, hadn’t realized she’d been straining against them. She was too panicked. She came here to get help for Ashtine, and they were still only planning?

“I want to talk to Scarlett,” she said, sitting back to relieve the strain on her wrists.

“Scarlett will kill you if she lays eyes on you,” Azrael said dryly.

“She is apparently the only one who truly understands what Alaric is capable of,” Talwyn snapped in reply. “None of us knew, did not realize... I did not understand.”

More silent seconds ticked by.

“How did Sorin survive?” she ?nally asked.

“You did not know?”

“How would I have possibly known Sorin was alive?”

“Because they knew,” Azrael said pointedly. “They have known since they attacked us at sea. Lord Tyndell. Mikale. Alaric. They all saw him. He fought against them.”

She did laugh now, her head tipping back against the wall she was seated against. And she couldn’t stop because it was all just so godsdamn poetic. She brie?y wondered if this was how Nuri became so insane. If life and guilt and Alaric had chipped away at her sanity little by little until she became what she was. How had Scarlett survived him? How had Scarlett survived his mind games and power struggles?

Azrael stepped closer, concern etched onto his features. His arms uncrossed as if he were going to reach for the bars, but then thought better of it, hands falling to his sides.

“Look at me, Talwyn,” he said, his voice a low, rough command.

She lowered her chin, meeting his stare once more. The laughter died at the way he was looking at her.

A way she no longer deserved to be looked at.

She cleared her throat. “I do not know that there is anything I can tell you that you do not already know,” she said. “Clearly I was kept in the dark about much. Alaric made that clear enough as well.”

“What did he do?”

“What did he not do? You were right, Az. Right about all of it. Letting me believe I was still ruling the Courts. Using my people to get what he wants. Using me...”

“Where was Ordos during all of this?” Azrael ground out.

His features were his usual mask of indifference, but Talwyn still knew him. Knew the nearly invisible twitch of his left eye when he was livid. Knew without looking that his ?ngers were curling ever-so-slightly into ?sts at his sides. Knew that small, unnoticeable vibration was his earth magic being siphoned off in the smallest increment possible.

She barked a humorless laugh this time. “Tarek? You were right about him too. Have to give him credit though. It was a brilliant, long-game plan.”

“The only thing I will give to him is death,” Azrael muttered.

Her gaze shot back to his, but he was ?xated on a spot beside her. If she had to guess, he was visualizing exactly how he would kill Tarek based on the violence ?ickering in his eyes. She cleared her throat again, pulling him from whatever reverie he’d been in.

“You said Alaric wants to free the Sorceress.”

She nodded. “He wanted me to persuade the Shifters to join his side and ?gure out how to get into the Water Prison. Those were the two tasks he gave me.”

“Stellan and Arianna would never side with him. Not when Scarlett freed them from their containment,” Azrael said.

“I tried to tell him that, but he gave me little choice but to at least try. I went to them. They humored me. Let me plead my case, and then effectively told me to fuck off.”

“And the Water Prison?”

“He thought I knew the work-around to get into the prison without Briar’s bloodline. When he ?gured out what I knew, I found myself in the same place I sit now. In a cell. He would siphon power from me to fuel his own.”

“His draining power,” Azrael mused, rubbing at his jaw.

“You know of it?”

He nodded. “Cethin can do the same.”

“Cethin?”

“Cethin Sutara. The Avonleyan King and—”

“Scarlett’s brother,” Talwyn muttered. “I met his Hand.”

Azrael’s lip curled slightly in annoyance. “Razik is a prick, but he’s a damn good ?ghter.”

He somehow ?ts in with her Court quite well.

That’s what Nuri had said to her, and gods, Azrael really, really did. He brought some balance to the other two princes, to all the Fae Royalty really. Briar and Sorin sometimes let their emotions play too much into their decisions. Azrael rarely did. And Ashtine... Well, she brought knowledge in her own way.

And the reality crashed down on Talwyn that she had always been the weak link among the Fae Royalty. She had fancied herself stronger and more powerful, had thought she was in charge and demanded loyalty even when others resisted. How incredibly stupid she’d been to not realize that the princes and princess were not there as lessers but as equals. If she would have just treated them as such, so much could be different. But she’d thought she had something to prove. She’d thought...

She’d thought a lot of things.

Azrael was looking at her as if he could read her thoughts, as if he knew exactly what she was working out.

“I was never meant to be a queen,” she said, more to herself than to him.

“That is not true.”

“You cannot possibly believe that.”

“Were you perfect? Of course not,” Azrael said. “But were you a good queen? You were, Talwyn. You cared for your people. We all know that. I know you thought you were protecting them in the beginning. You were a good queen until you weren’t. You were a good queen until you became blinded by your own motives, and then tried to make the needs of your people align with what you wanted.”

You were a good queen until you weren’t.

She wanted to believe him, knew that Azrael Luan would not mince words to spare her feelings, but she just... didn’t.

“When this is over, if you and the others win this war, be sure you and Ashtine ?ght for the Wind and Earth Courts. Not to rule over. But to continue to lead them. Under her.”

“Of course we will, Talwyn. My people have always been my highest priority. I will always ?ght for them. That is my job as their prince.”

She nodded, ?ghting to control the ?ood of emotions clogging the back of her throat. “I know that... ” She had to stop to swallow back the tears burning in her eyes. “I know I am not worthy of a Farewell, but can you at least make sure my body is burned, Az?”

His mask slipped the smallest amount. “I will talk to Sorin, Talwyn. I will see if he can speak with Scarlett. Maybe if he is the one to ask for her mercy—”

“I do not want her mercy,” Talwyn said, two tears ?nally slipping free. “I will face the fate I created. I am the one to blame for this, even if Sorin does still live.”

“There are other ways for her to claim her vengeance,” Azrael said, a sharp edge seeping into his tone.

“Do not save me, Azrael Luan. I will do what I can, help wher ever I am able, with the time she allows me. But when the time comes, do not try to save me. Swear it.”

“I won’t.”

“What?”

“I will not swear that to you.” He stepped right up to the bars. “I told you that when you were standing among the destruction you brought about, I would be out there. I told you that you and I were not done.”

“There is nothing left of me, Azrael!” she cried. “Can you not see that? The weight of my sins? It is killing me. I cannot breathe.”

“You wish for death?” he demanded.

Her gaze dropped to the dirty stone ?oor she was sitting on. Grime and mud covered her feet. They’d taken her boots off of her before they’d secured the shackles around her ankles.

“Answer me, Talwyn Semiria. Look me in the eye and tell me you wish for death.”

“Look into my eyes and tell me what you see, Az! Because there is nothing left of me but rubble and lies and betrayal.”

“Do you wish for death?” he repeated.

“Death will come for me whether I wish for it or not.”

“Answer the damn question, Talwyn. Do you wish for death?”

“No!” she cried, irritation bursting forth at his repeated demand. “But you cannot save me.”

“You are right,” he answered. “Only you can do that.”

“My life does not lie in my hands.”

“No, but you can at least try, Talwyn. You can try to save yourself instead of repeating the self-deprecating monologue that clearly runs through your head nonstop.”

“Gee, Az. Tell me how you really feel,” she muttered.

“I will ?ght for you even if you will not,” he replied. “Even if it seems hopeless and impossible, I will ?ght for you.”

“You will ?ght her?”

“That is not what I said,” Azrael answered. “I said I will ?ght for you. Even if it amounts to nothing, at least I will be able to say I tried. Just like I tried to tell you who Tarek was, what he wanted. Just like I tried to make you see reason about this kingdom. I tried , Talwyn. I can live with myself knowing I tried to do something, even if it amounts to nothing.”

She didn’t know what to say to him, so she said nothing.

“You have made costly choices, Talwyn, but that does not mean you cannot do some good before you leave this world. You proved you are capable of such by getting word to Briar about Ashtine.”

“Only if you lot can get there in time. If you cannot, it was simply another failure.”

Azrael shook his head, stepping back from the bars. He sent a message off among a swirl of leaves, then stood waiting for the guards to return.

“This hate you ?nd yourself so deserving of? It is the same hate that ruled you and led you to make the choices that landed you here.” The sound of boots on the stairs ?ltered in. “Look at what you were capable of with hate. Imagine if you put that much effort into something else, something far less exhausting than this self-pity and self-loathing you have developed.”

“Like what?” she snapped, the guards appearing and taking up their posts. The sentry stood by the archway, waiting for Azrael.

“Like living, Talwyn.”