Page 29 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

Talwyn

T alwyn had just finished the small tray of breakfast food when she heard the door at the top of the stairs open again. She knew it was morning. Could Az really be back already?

No one else had come to see her yesterday. Only the guards that brought her food and water and changed out the waste bucket. It had just been her and her thoughts, Azrael’s parting words rattling around in her skull for hours on end.

Setting the tray aside, Talwyn brushed her hands off on her pants.

She’d managed to braid her hair into a plait, hissing and cursing at the sting of the shackles the entire time.

She had been anxious for Azrael to return, eager to hear a report on Ashtine.

Maybe, just maybe, he would bring her with him to see her.

Her heart rate picked up in anticipation, and it was odd.

It was a feeling she could never really recall having before.

But it was not Azrael or Ashtine who stepped into view.

It was Sorin.

She sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes locked on his.

There was something wrong. They weren’t as bright as she remembered them being.

Had she done that to him? She couldn’t move.

She could scarcely breathe. He had stopped Scarlett from taking her life, but he had not said one word to her.

Not that she blamed him. He had been trying to calm Scarlett down, all of his attention fixed on his wife and twin flame. Why had he come here now?

He smiled. A small sad thing. “Hello, Talwyn.”

Her mouth was too dry. She couldn’t form words. She didn’t know what to say to him. She didn’t know how anything she could say would make up for nearly killing him, but she blurted, “I am sorry,” as if that would mean anything.

Some deep understanding shone in his muted amber eyes. “As am I.” He dipped his hand into the pocket of his black pants, pulling out a key.

“What are you doing?” she breathed.

“I came to speak with you. We are certainly not going to do so down here,” he answered, fitting the key into the cell door.

It creaked loudly as it swung open. Sorin stepped into the cell and produced another key.

She watched, too stunned to do anything else, as he crouched before her and removed the ankle shackles.

He was wearing a thick grey tunic. He only wore long-sleeves for formal occasions when it was required, and this was the farthest thing from that one could get.

He brought his gaze back to hers. “My agreement with Scarlett was that the wrist shackles stay in place.” Talwyn nodded, and Sorin reached for her hands, gently pulling her to her feet.

He waited, making sure she was well enough to stand, before he motioned for her to follow him out of the cell.

She followed him up the steps. Down some halls.

Still unsure how or why this was happening.

When they neared another door with two guards standing on either side, Sorin nodded to one who bowed and left down a side hall.

Talwyn briefly wondered what that was about, but then Sorin pushed open the door.

The sunlight that poured in drove all thoughts from her mind, and she couldn’t keep the tears from pooling in her eyes.

Sorin glanced at her, that small smile forming once again, before he retrieved something from a bench near the door. A pair of shoes.

“I thought we could walk,” he said, holding the shoes out to her. “I would offer to help you put them on, but—”

“I can put shoes on,” she grumbled. His smile widened as she reached for the footwear. “What?”

He shook his head, handing the silk shoes over, but the smile slipped from his face when she winced against the wrist shackles as she worked the shoes onto her feet.

When she finished, he stepped forward as if to help her up, then stopped himself.

Ever the protector, trying to take care of those in his charge.

Except for the time he hadn’t.

She cleared her throat, adjusting the shackles carefully, anxious to step outside.

“Thank you,” Sorin said.

She turned to find him taking two bowls from the guard who had left a few moments earlier.

She hadn’t heard him approach, too excited at the thought of being outside.

Despite her power continuously draining, she could feel the wolf prowling beneath her skin, as tired of being caged as she was. It was faint, but it was there.

Sorin passed her a bowl, and she looked down to find—

Chocolate frozen cream.

She slowly brought her eyes back to his, and he gestured to the open door. “Shall we?”

Talwyn glanced down at the bowl of frozen cream in her hands again.

“I won’t melt it,” Sorin said.

Her head snapped up to find a half-smile on his mouth. Her eyes narrowed on him a bit, but she moved towards the doorway and beyond.

Inhaling deeply, crisp mountain air filled her lungs, drowning out the stale air she’d been sitting in for days. A breeze caressed her face, stray hair escaping from her messy plait and fluttering across her brow.

Talwyn slowly took in her surroundings. They were at the base of towering black mountains.

She’d been Traveled to a sparring ring when she was first brought to Avonleya.

Then the Avonleyan King had taken her directly to the cells.

Dark fog drifted along the ground, reminding her of the shadows that often trailed Scarlett.

It was morning, but later than she had expected it to be.

“I have this for you.”

She turned to find Sorin with a cloak in one hand, his bowl of frozen cream in the other.

“I did not know if you would need it or not,” he added.

It was not overly warm, but it was mild out for a spring morning, even in the mountains. “I am fine,” she answered slowly.

He nodded, looping it over his arm before bringing a spoonful of his own frozen cream to his mouth.

Unsure of what exactly this outing was, she tentatively brought a bite to her lips, nearly moaning at the taste.

She’d had nothing but bread, cheese, and apples for days.

Still better than what Alaric had been serving her, but a sweet? It had been ages.

They moved down a rocky path, silent and side-by-side. No guards followed them, but she felt eyes on her nonetheless. She was sure there was someone watching them at all times. The Ash Rider perhaps.

“Have Azrael and Ashtine returned?” she asked after several minutes.

“Not yet. We expect them any time,” Sorin answered, scraping his spoon along the bottom of his bowl.

Talwyn nodded, bringing another bite to her mouth.

She was trying to savor it, not knowing when she’d be offered such a thing again.

They walked on for another several minutes, and she took in more of the surroundings.

A large castle loomed behind her. They’d come out of some side door.

The path they were following had low stone walls on either side, and it led straight to the mountains.

There were no side paths. You either went back in the same door or into the mountains.

One could traverse the wall, she supposed, but she also assumed there were guards patrolling it.

“I am working on better …accommodations for you,” Sorin said after more silent minutes passed between them.

“Why?” she asked. “I deserve to be in a cell.”

“My wife would agree with you.”

“Your wife believes I deserve worse than a cell, and she is not wrong.”

He came to a stop, setting his bowl down on the low wall. Shoving his hands deep into his pockets and staring out at the towering mountains, he said, “I am sorry, Talwyn.”

She laughed. A strangled, shocked bark of noise. “I tried to kill you, and you are apologizing to me?”

He turned to face her fully. “I should have been there. You had already lost so much, and then I …” He blew out a breath. “I should have been there for you. I am sorry that I was not. And for these past twenty years, for my part in the feud between us, I apologize for that too. For all of it.”

She stared at him, utterly speechless. She had used her magic against him, struck him in the chest with a bolt of energy, nearly took him from this world, and he was apologizing to her ?

He reached over, gently taking the bowl from her hands and setting it beside his own.

“I know I am no longer needed to watch over you, but I will make sure that you are not placed back in that cell. There will be guards outside whatever room you are given, and I can make no promises about the wrist shackles—”

“Sorin, stop,” she interrupted in a harsh whisper, and he fell silent. “Please stop …apologizing to me. I do not deserve such a thing, least of all from you.”

He gave her another sad smile. “You deserve an apology, Talwyn. I made you a promise, and I broke that promise. I raised you as much as Eliné did. Knowing what I know now, she left you, yes. But she left you with me, and I failed you.”

“I tried to kill you,” she whispered.

“You succeeded.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I entered the After. For the briefest of moments,” he answered, turning back to face the mountains once more.

“Then how do you stand before me?”

“That is a long story that involved Cethin bartering with Serafina from what I understand, and Scarlett …” A fond smile filled his features. “Being Scarlett.”

“I do not understand,” Talwyn said. “I hit you in the chest, Sorin. There should have been no coming back from that. I thought I had …” She trailed off, the entire scene replaying in her mind once more.

“I know, Talwyn,” he said gently. “Even I do not fully understand what was done.”

“And you are fine? You died, came back, and are completely fine?” she asked, scanning him from head to toe, but when her gaze went back to his face, she saw the wince.

“That does not matter,” he answered. “What matters is that I am here. With her. No matter what the cost was.”