Page 61 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

Talwyn

“S he needs to eat more,” the High Witch said, her violet eyes studying Ashtine intensely.

“I am getting her to eat as much as I can,” Talwyn replied tightly. They’d had this same conversation multiple times over the past few days.

They had flown for nearly two days straight when they’d left Siofra.

They’d only stopped twice, pushing their griffins to their limits, and finally arriving at the High Witch’s residence at twilight on the third day.

Another Witch had taken Ashtine from atop the griffin and brought her to this room.

The princess hadn’t left it since. She was curled on her side, head in Talwyn’s lap, where she gently ran her fingers through Ashtine’s silver hair.

Talwyn had convinced her to wash up at one point, the princess allowing Talwyn to use a cloth and warm water, but she had refused all suggestions of a bath.

Hazel Hecate, the High Witch herself, was overseeing Ashtine’s care.

In the four days they had been here, it wasn’t until the second day Talwyn had convinced Ashtine to eat anything.

The princess had hardly eaten anything on the flight here.

That was also the day she had sent a message to Scarlett with Nasima.

Ashtine needed Briar. There was no way around it anymore.

As if the stress of a Fae pregnancy coupled with all she had been through these last months hadn’t been enough, Sawyer’s sacrifice had pushed her over an edge.

Talwyn didn’t know the first thing about being a decent friend, but she knew that without Briar, Sawyer’s sacrifice would be for nothing.

Even if Ashtine hung on until the babes were born, if Briar did not survive this war, neither would the Wind Princess.

Talwyn refused to let that be the outcome after everything the princess had forsaken.

Hazel came forward. Nasima gave a soft warning cry from where she perched near the window. The High Witch placed her hands on Ashtine’s rounded stomach. Soft light flared, and Talwyn held her breath like she did every time Hazel did this.

“They are still fine, but she needs to eat more,” Hazel said again. “Their power drains her. She needs to keep up her strength, or these last months of carrying them will be even more difficult.”

“I know,” Talwyn gritted out, fingers stroking through Ashtine’s hair again. Ashtine didn’t acknowledge either of them. When her eyes were open, she stared at nothing, but for the most part, she slept.

“She needs to siphon off power too,” Hazel added.

“I know,” Talwyn snapped, before taking a deep breath to ease her temper.

Hazel stepped back, leveling Talwyn with a cool glare. “I have news for you as well.”

“What is it?”

“We received word that King Callan and Prince Azrael have returned to Windonelle. They have found their way to some of the rebel camps. Arantxa leaves to travel there at first light tomorrow. If you wish to go, this is your chance.”

Go.

She could go back to Azrael.

But she couldn’t leave Ashtine. Not until Briar found his way back to her.

“I will stay with her,” Talwyn said.

Hazel nodded at the same moment there was a quick knock on the door. A Witch with bright red hair entered, her pale violet eyes scanning over Talwyn and Ashtine. “The tonics, my Lady,” she said, holding out her hand. There were three vials in it.

“Are more being prepared?” Hazel asked, the glass tinkling as she swiped the vials from her hand.

“Yes, my Lady.”

“With Arantxa going to be with Juliette, I want you to take over her patrols, Jetta,” Hazel said, moving to a side table.

“Already done,” the Witch answered.

“Is there any other news from Juliette?” Talwyn asked.

“The Oracle said nothing else,” Hazel replied. “And we have not received any news from Death’s Shadow.”

Nuri. The wicked, cunning female who had been playing her master from the very beginning. Who had somehow found the one seraph who was doing the same.

She was still fucking insane.

After Nuri had told her to run, Mordecai had scooped Talwyn into the sky and taken her to some hideaway in the Dresden Forest on the Toreall and Witch Kingdoms’ border. Because somehow, inexplicably, the seraph could Travel. Talwyn had sat for nearly three days until Nuri had returned with him.

“Sorry for making you wait,” Nuri had said, gliding into the hidden clearing with Mordecai behind her. “You’ll be happy to know it wasn’t for the sake of dramatics.”

“No,” Talwyn had sneered. “The dramatics were making me think you were going to chase me.”

“You could say thank you.”

“Thank you?” Talwyn had repeated incredulously.

Mordecai had been removing a few weapons before taking off his jacket and beginning to roll back the sleeve of his tunic. Quick, efficient movements. He was every bit the warrior he’d been trained to be.

“Yes. Thank you,” Nuri had replied, pulling her hood back and removing her gloves, tossing them atop Mordecai’s jacket. Her hands went to her hips. “You’re alive. You’re free of Alaric. You’re welcome.”

“You told me to run so that you wouldn’t have to lie to Alaric?” Talwyn had asked in realization.

“I can’t lie to him.”

“But you told me to run.”

She’d rolled her eyes, appearing to fidget in agitation. “I can’t lie to him. I told him you ran. Not that I told you to run. Again, this is where you say thank you.”

“What of Briar?”

“The Water Prince is safe for now,” Mordecai had replied, grabbing Nuri’s elbow as she’d begun to pace in a tight circle.

He’d lifted his now bare arm with the sleeve folded up to the elbow, and Nuri’s fangs had immediately sank into it with a feral moan as he’d gently tugged her closer.

“Alaric is withholding blood from her as punishment for losing you,” Mordecai had said at Talwyn’s arched brow.

“You were not punished?”

“Of course I was,” he’d retorted, one of his wings curving protectively around Nuri.

“And I am to believe the two of you are working against him?”

Talwyn had then listened to a tale that she would not have believed if she had not witnessed so many of the moments herself.

It explained everything. How Nuri had always known where to be and when.

How she’d always known exactly when and how to rile her master.

How they’d worked closely with Juliette—who would warn them of things she had seen—and in turn, the Witch Kingdoms. How Nuri would play her master with just the right words to work around her Blood Bond most of the time.

How they’d been part of preparing a rebel army of mortals and Witches and Shifters to fight alongside Scarlett and the Fae when they returned.

How Mordecai had a small band of rebel seraphs helping in all of this too.

Yet despite all their cunning and secrecy, they had still been forced to commit their own atrocities to keep their cover. The Blood Bond. Killing the Contessa. Fighting in the various battles and slaughtering those they were trying to aid.

Suddenly Nuri’s insanity was a bit more understandable. How did anyone stay sane when forced to do so much evil against their will?

She’d fed the entire time Mordecai spoke. He’d eventually lowered them to the ground, and slowly her limbs had relaxed.

“Has he starved her this whole time?” Talwyn asked, eyeing the vampyre.

“Yes,” Mordecai said darkly. “This is the first time I have seen her since the prison. He has had her locked away in a room of sunlight to drain her even more.”

They’d sat in silence after that while Nuri had fed, and when she was finished, Mordecai had Traveled Talwyn to the Witch Kingdoms before he and Nuri had to return to Alaric.

Juliette had warned them the next day of the impending attack on Siofra.

That they had two days to prepare, and when they were getting ready to depart, that was when the warning about the order to kill Ashtine had come.

That was when Talwyn had learned just how much time the Witches and Shifters had been buying for Scarlett, trying to hold the lines while she went for aid in Avonleya.

Hazel approached the bed, one vial uncorked in her hand. “She needs to take this. If she will not eat, the babes need extra sustenance.”

“I will see that it is done,” Talwyn replied tightly, reaching for the vial.

“You also need to go see your griffin,” Hazel added. “The bonding is imperative if you wish to fly with him in battle.”

A griffin. She had a godsdamn griffin. Sort of. She wouldn’t if she didn’t train with him. It had been a rough flight to Solembra. She was sure the griffin had only followed orders in the end because Arantxa’s griffin made him fall into line.

“I cannot leave Ashtine alone right now,” Talwyn replied.

“If you wish to be of continued use in this war, you will go see your griffin. I can stay with the princess until you return,” Hazel retorted. “Or perhaps a better idea would be to convince her to go with you. The winds would do her some good. I will return shortly.”

The High Witch turned on her heel, striding from the room with Jetta behind her.

Talwyn sighed. Asking Ashtine to be strong yet again hurt.

She shouldn’t have to be strong. Not right now.

Her only worry should be those babes. Briar should be doing this, and even though she was here now, caring for her friend until he could, it did not ease her guilt.

“Ashtine,” she said softly, squeezing her shoulder. “You need to take this for the babes. Then perhaps we can go for a walk outside.”

“Has Briar arrived?”

Talwyn froze. They were the first words she had said since leaving Siofra, and the pieces of her heart that may have been mashed back together by Azrael fractured a bit more.

“Soon, Ashtine,” she said, stroking her hair once more. “But maybe the winds know something.”

“The winds know everything and nothing.”

She had never been so happy to hear Ashtine’s nonsensical jargon.

“Can you take this, Ashtine? Please?” she asked, holding up the vial.