Page 80 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)
When the Water Prince had gotten here, she did not know. She did not care when or how, only that Scarlett had done it. She had come through and freed him from Alaric and sent him here.
He did not look at Talwyn when he moved past her, walking straight into the heart of Ashtine’s heartache. Talwyn stood and waited. One second. Two. Three.
The winds stopped as if the world itself had lost its breath.
And as the dirt settled, she found Briar and Ashtine kneeling on the ground. Her face was buried in his chest, and he was clutching her tightly, one hand running down her hair over and over.
“It is a wonder they are not twin flames,” came Hazel’s hushed voice from behind her.
Talwyn murmured an acknowledgment, continuing to watch the prince and princess.
Briar framed Ashtine’s face with his hands, pulling back enough to brush his lips across her brow, the bridge of her nose, her mouth.
Ashtine’s eyes were closed, continuous tears rolling down her face.
The prince brought his brow to hers. Talwyn saw his mouth move but could not hear the whispered murmurings.
Whatever he said had Ashtine nodding before he pulled her back into his chest.
“Perhaps it is something purer this way,” Talwyn said, as Briar stood, scooping Ashtine up with him. “They did not have a bond drawing them to each other. It is pure love that they managed to find despite all odds.”
“High Witch,” Briar said, bowing his head. “Thank you for allowing her to stay. It is not a request that I will be staying with her.”
His tone left no room for argument. He was not asking if he could stay in the Witch Kingdoms as a male, but commanding that Hazel allow him to do so.
“Understood, your Highness,” Hazel replied, her voice softer than Talwyn had ever heard it. “Talwyn can show you to her room. Should you require anything, speak to me or Jetta.”
“Thank you, my Lady,” Briar replied, turning to Talwyn. He gave a jerk of his chin, telling her to lead the way.
Talwyn nodded, averting her gaze and beginning up the path that would lead back to the High Witch’s Keep. Ashtine was nestled into his chest, a hand curled tightly into the material of his worn tunic.
“Tell me everything,” Briar said in a tight command.
“I think there are some things she will want to tell you herself,” Talwyn answered, wondering if he knew of Sawyer’s sacrifice yet.
“Then tell me what you will.”
By the time she had finished telling him what she knew of the happenings in Avonleya and what had happened since she had been traded for Cyrus and Neve, they were crossing the threshold into the room she had been sharing with Ashtine.
She quietly closed the door behind them as Briar moved to lie the princess on the bed.
She had fallen asleep on the walk back, and when Talwyn glimpsed her face, it was the most at peace she had seen her friend in months.
Briar moved to step back, but Ashtine’s fist curled tighter in his tunic. “My heart,” she murmured, her brow pinching in sleep.
“Hush, my dear,” he soothed, running a palm along her hair again, but he climbed atop the bed, never breaking contact with her.
It took a moment, but he got himself positioned against the headboard, Ashtine’s head in his lap.
He unclasped her cloak, gently maneuvering it off her.
Talwyn grabbed a blanket to spread across her, and when she stepped back, she couldn’t help the emotion that swelled at the back of her throat.
Briar now sat where she had been for the last several days.
And he should. That had always been his spot, not hers.
She had stolen that from him, but … She had been so quickly replaced.
Ashtine no longer needed her. Her Courts no longer needed her.
She was no longer needed to make some trade with the enemy, or to give her power to right a wrong.
Looking after Ashtine had given her purpose and kept her mind busy, but now …
“Talwyn?”
Briar’s voice was tight, but a thread of concern broke through.
She met his icy stare. There was a hardness there that she deserved. He knew she had stolen moments from him. That while she had been caring for Ashtine, she was also part of the reason she was in this state to begin with.
“I am sorry, Briar,” Talwyn said thickly. “For forcing her to make a choice she should have never had to make. For making her feel she had to prove her loyalty to me when it was never mine to demand. For taking so much from her. From you.”
“Looking after her does not atone for that theft, Talwyn,” Briar said, and Talwyn winced. She deserved that, and he deserved to reject her apology.
“I did not stay with her to atone for anything,” she replied. “She is perhaps my only true friend. I am only now learning what it means to be a friend in return. She has my love, and those babes have my love, Briar. I do not know if that means anything at this point, but they have it nonetheless.”
Briar stared at her, some of the hardness of his features having softened while she spoke.
She cleared her throat, beginning to gather her few belongings. A few extra tunics and pants. A cloak.
“I tried to get here sooner,” Briar said into the room.
“I know,” Talwyn answered, reaching for a hairbrush.
“Scarlett freed me in the Southern Islands nearly two days ago, and I could not get here. I could not get to her.”
There was so much frustration and angst in those last words that Talwyn turned back to face him once more.
“My reserves were full after not being able to use my magic for weeks. I made a portal, but— I cannot explain it. I do not know if they laced the little food they gave me with something, but it was as if each portal could only go so far.” His gaze fell to Ashtine, and he laid a palm on her belly.
“All I could think was that I was finally able to come to her, and I could not get here. Scarlett had told me she was not well, and I could not get to her. I could not get to them.”
“You did not fail them, Briar,” Talwyn said, fingers flexing around the items she held. “You protected them the way any mate and father would. You sacrificed yourself. There is no greater love, and if that is failure, then I hope I am as big a failure as you at some point before I cross the Veil.”
Briar went quiet again, and Talwyn returned to gathering her few things. She moved to the door, to go where she wasn’t sure, but she wanted to give Briar and Ashtine their privacy.
“Thank you, Talwyn. For watching over them for me,” Briar called out when she reached for the door handle.
She glanced back over her shoulder to find him toeing off his boots so he could settle down better beside Ashtine.
She nodded, pulling the door open. “Can you come back in a few hours? I need to bathe and do not want her left alone.”
“Of course. Send a message when you want me to return,” she answered.
Talwyn crossed to the room opposite Ashtine’s, finding it empty and claiming it for her own. The Witches could move her if they didn’t want her there. Not knowing what else to do with herself, she went back down to the aerie.
Thorne was standing by a fence, and he let out another squawk of what she could swear was annoyance as she neared.
The feeling was mutual.
“Why would you pick me if you want nothing to do with me?” she grumbled, stopping a few feet away.
The griffin blinked, bright amber avian eyes studying her.
She sighed, pulling an apple from her cloak pocket that she’d grabbed on the way out here. She held it out to him, moving closer. “Here.”
He blinked again before his wings rustled, and he swiped it from her hand in a move so fast Talwyn almost missed it. She jerked her hand back, watching him devour the fruit in a few mighty crunches of his beak. He stared at her expectantly.
“I am not giving you another one,” she snapped. “Not until we figure this thing out between us. I have been trying to fix all my shit. You don’t get to ruin it.”
One of the griffin’s talons scraped against the ground, making them screech.
“Don’t be a prick,” she barked, taking another step closer so she was nearly nose to beak with him.
“The High Witch says we need to bond. So what will it be, Thorne? Are we bonding over being abandoned by the same female? Over the fact that she chose others over us? Although, I guess she chose me over you, didn’t she? ”
A sound that was a cross between a growl and a screech came from Thorne.
“Is that why you chose me? To see what was so great? Because I assure you, there is nothing special here,” Talwyn said, absent-mindedly reaching up and stroking a hand down his beak. He huffed, the breath hot against her palm. “What have you been waiting for?” she murmured.
His wings flared slightly, and he took a step back, tilting his head to see her better.
Crossing her arms, she rested them atop the fence rail.
“Listen, I don’t have much of anything to offer you, Thorne.
But we are at war.” He blinked, as if telling her to go on.
“I don’t have people to call my own anymore, but I still plan to fight beside them.
You are a stubborn shit. Battles need that kind of strength. ”
The griffin huffed again.
“So that is what I can offer you. The freedom to be a dick to whomever you want. I know you already do that, but there would be a purpose behind it. Can we bond over that? Over being stubborn fools who are just trying to figure out their purpose after …everything?”
The two stared at each other. Beast and powerless mortal.
Thorne moved towards her, and she took a step back, wondering if he was about to peck at her yet again. Instead, he lowered his head, nudging at her cloak pocket.
She sighed, pulling out another apple. “I guess apples. I have those to offer too,” she muttered.
He crunched it down in two bites before he nudged at her chest with his head.
“Stop it,” she barked around the oomph as she stumbled backwards, falling on her ass from the force of the beast.
The sound of boots crunching had her turning her head, and Hazel dropped a set of reins in her lap. “Take him flying.”
That was all the High Witch offered before she strode away. Talwyn turned back to Thorne to find his head already lowered in the way she’d seen him do for Arantxa when they’d prepared to fly to Siofra.
Slowly, Talwyn got to her feet, and smoothed a hand along the top of his head, feathers soft beneath her fingers. An acceptance. Of her as she was.
“Okay,” she whispered, lifting the reins. “Let’s fly.”