Chapter 1 Talwyn
CHAPTER 1
TALWYN
T alwyn Semiria opened her eyes. She was in her large four-poster bed in her chambers at the White Halls. Books were scattered beside her across the comforter. She slid out from under the covers, grabbed a navy blue silk robe and slipped her arms into it. The moon still hung high in the sky, telling her it was the middle of the night. She breathed air into the embers still smoldering in the hearth, and they ?ickered to life. As she stood before the window, she opened her palm. Small purple lavender and white dogwood ?owers appeared in her palm.
Ashtine was gone, ?itting amongst the winds. She had been more distant than usual since Scarlett had mentioned the Maraan Lords. Azrael was at his Desert Alcazar tending to some inner court matters. Sorin and Briar were with their queen preparing for a trip to the mortal kingdoms.
And she was alone. Utterly alone.
She closed her ?st, crushing those little ?owers in her palm. As she did, she shoved the memory she’d just relived down to the depths of her soul.
Little Whirlwind.
Then she threw the window open and tossed the crushed ?owers, sending them ?ying on a gust of wind.
She was climbing back into bed to try to sleep a few more hours, when a breeze that was not hers blew through the room, and Ashtine, Princess of the Wind Court, stepped from the winds.
“Good. You are awake,” the female lilted. Her silver hair was ?owing around her on her own winds. She stood looking out the window Talwyn had just vacated.
“I ?nd sleep hard to come by these days,” Talwyn sighed, getting back out of the bed and crossing to her closet. “To what do I owe the pleasure this night?”
Ashtine was silent while Talwyn slipped on a pair of loose pants and a shirt and re-emerged.
“I thought you would be more upset,” Ashtine mused. Talwyn froze. “Why would I be upset?”
“Queen Scarlett is missing,”she said simply.
Talwyn checked her temper, knowing her friend wouldn’t react to it anyway. “What do you mean Scarlett is missing?”
“I mean no one knows where she is,” Ashtine said, as Nasima, the spirit animal of the goddess of the winds, ?ew through the still open window. The silver hawk came to rest on Ashtine’s shoulder. Ashtine turned and ?xed Talwyn with her sky-blue eyes. “You did not know?”
“No, I did not know,” Talwyn snapped. She drew an earth message in the air, sending it off in a whirl of leaves. “How did this happen? Did Shirina come for her?”
“Perhaps. The winds do not know.”
The winds might not know, but Talwyn had a good idea of someone who would.
“How long has she been missing?” Talwyn demanded, beginning to pace her bedroom.
“The West Court Princes were confronting the Night Children at their borders a few days ago, when she disappeared,” Ashtine said, gracefully lowering to a chaise by the window.
A few days ago?
Talwyn clenched her jaw. “Why were they doing that?”
“Because the Night Children demanded to speak with them.”
“Why were we not informed?”
“Why would they inform us?” Ashtine asked as she stroked Nasima’s head.
“I am the Fae Queen. Sorin should have told me,” Talwyn said tightly.
“You are not their Fae Queen any longer.” Ashtine’s eyes were ?xed on her in question, her head tilted to the side.
“So I am simply no longer informed of anything regarding their Courts?”
“One would assume you would be told what Queen Scarlett deems necessary, and since she is currently unavailable …” Ashtine trailed off as Azrael Luan, Prince of the Earth Court, stepped from the air.
“What?” he demanded.
Talwyn’s brows rose at his address. “Rough night, Az?”
“It has been a rough few days when there is a fucking ?ght just north of my border, and I ?nd ten dead Night Children there. Or what was left of them anyway,” Azrael said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Why is it suddenly a godsdamned trend not to inform me of anything?” Talwyn snarled.
Lightning ?ashed across the sky outside. Azrael’s hard stare was assessing her now as she continued her pacing, a vortex of wind at her ?ngertips.
“Talwyn,” he said slowly, “what has happened?”
“The world is going to shit, apparently. That is what has happened.”
Azrael must have looked to Ashtine because the princess said, “She is upset that the Western Courts no longer answer to her.”
“That is not—” Talwyn sighed, running a hand over her face. “I am upset that my cousin has apparently gone missing. Again . And I was not immediately informed that a queen is nowhere to be found. However, now I cannot deal with that because we need to do damage control at the Earth Court border.”
“The border is under control,” Azrael said sharply.
“You know who killed the Night Children?” Ashtine asked.
Talwyn met Azrael’s hesitant gaze. “There were ashes and bodies that were frozen and shattered. Others with no apparent cause of death.”
“You think it was Scarlett? Why?” Talwyn asked, ?nally ceasing her pacing to study her Second.
“I think the one who may hold those answers, likely holds the answers you seek as well,” Azrael ground out.
“Let me change,” Talwyn sighed. “Then we will pay a visit to the Fire Court.”
She turned to speak to Ashtine, but she was already gone, vanished on a wind.
Talwyn stripped off her top as she entered her closet once again and called out to Azrael, “So, when were you planning to tell me about the issues at the border?”
“In the morning. After you had actually slept. Which apparently was not happening anyway,” he retorted.
She reemerged to ?nd him still brooding, and leaning against a wall. His features were taut, his entire body rigid. Talwyn bent down to lace up her boots. “What else do you need to tell me?”
“I crossed the border to examine everything,” Azrael answered. “There was another scent woven amongst everything. It was buried and muted, but it was there.”
“What was it? Scarlett?” she asked, standing and reaching for her weapons to begin strapping them to her leathers.
“No. It was not hers. It smelled of … Earth Court descent,” Azrael ?nally admitted.
Talwyn slid daggers into her boots. “You think you have a traitor in your Court, Prince?”
Azrael crossed the room and grabbed her cloak from near the door, handing it to her. “I think there are many possibilities for that, starting with mere coincidence and ending with the new queen not being who she appears to be.”
Talwyn’s ?ngers froze on the clasp of her cloak. She slowly brought her eyes to his dark brown ones. “I told you what the Oracle showed me. We will need her, Az.”
“The Oracle is known for saying something and not revealing how that knowledge should be used,” Azrael snorted, crossing his arms once more. “The Oracle is worse than Ashtine.”
Talwyn rolled her eyes as she resumed clasping her cloak. “You are just upset that you do not intimidate Scarlett.”
Azrael scowled at her. “That is rich coming from you, your Majesty.”
“Are you ready?” Talwyn asked, holding out her hand to the Earth Prince and ignoring his comment.
“To go verbally spar with Aditya and Drayce? Not particularly. They are no longer under your rule. They were insubordinate before Queen Scarlett showed up on the scene. Now they are going to be impossible, especially with Aditya’s wife and twin ?ame missing,” Azrael pointed out, his arms still ?rmly crossed.
“Maybe she is not missing. Maybe there is a perfectly rational explanation. Let’s go,” Talwyn said, motioning for him to take her hand so she could Travel them to the Fire Court.
“Too many things are not adding up, Talwyn,” Azrael replied, pointedly ignoring her outstretched hand. “We should sort through these things before we charge into a Court that is no longer ours.”
“For the love of Celeste, there is not time,” Talwyn said, her temper beginning to rise. “Those fools might already be doing something incredibly idiotic to get her back. Either take my hand or I am going alone.”
“This will not end well,” he muttered, ?nally taking her hand.
“It never does with Sorin,” Talwyn replied, as they disappeared into the air.