Chapter 27 Talwyn
CHAPTER 27
TALWYN
“ S top pacing, Talwyn,” Azrael said from where he sat at the desk in her chambers at the White Halls. He didn’t even look up from the reports and correspondence he was going over. Everything that had come in while he’d been in the mortal lands.
He’d slept for over a day, ?nally waking late last evening. The ?rst words out of his mouth had been, “Tell me what happened with Ashtine and Stellan.” Not that Talwyn had expected anything else. His focus was always singular, always her best moves for their Courts, for her throne.
She didn’t pause her pacing in front of the window as she retorted, “This meeting has me anxious.”
“Clearly,” he grunted. Talwyn bit down on a retort until he added, “You should be more anxious about your relations with Princess Ashtine and the Shifters.”
She sent a whip of wind in his direction, blowing the papers from the desk and sending them ?uttering to the ?oor.
He slowly dragged his gaze to hers. “Very queenly of you, Talwyn.”
“Fuck off, Azrael.”
He didn’t bother to respond. Just set a letter aside and began reading through the next.
She’d tried to keep herself busy while he’d slept. She’d gone to Stellan to let him know that Arianna was back, then took him to the Black Halls. She didn’t hang around long to see how that reunion went. She’d never admit it to anyone, but she didn’t want to see Scarlett until Azrael could be with her. If Tarek were indeed alive …
So rather than risk running into her and Sorin when Stellan found Arianna, she’d come back to the White Halls. She’d sent a message to Ashtine asking if she was free. Her reply had asked if it was urgent, and when Talwyn had said no, Ashtine had told her she was not available at the moment.
Which was just great.
She’d gone through reports, read that same correspondence Azrael was currently poring over, but none of it had distracted her enough to keep her mind from Tarek. She was trying to be prepared for every outcome. Trying to anticipate how she would react to each and every way that conversation could go. Trying to make sure her emotions would stay in check, her features neutral, her magic under control.
“I swear to Silas, Talwyn, you are going to wear a path right through that rug,” Azrael said, ?nally setting the various letters and reports down and pushing to his feet.
“Well?” she demanded, gesturing to the stack of papers, her feet continuing that same path.
“Once we hear what the Western Courts have to say today, we can move forward from there,” Azrael replied, folding his arms across his chest.
He’d ?lled her in on the little he’d learned while on that mission with Sorin and his Court, but she still didn’t know where these Maraan Lords had come from or what they wanted with Scarlett. She was powerful, yes, but that couldn’t be everything.
“Are you ready?”
Talwyn ?nally paused, glancing over her shoulder at Azrael. “Of course I am ready,” she snapped.
His brown eyes studied her for a long moment, and she held his stare, daring him to push this any further right now.
He ?nally sighed, saying only, “Let’s go,” before reaching for her hand and letting her Travel them to the Black Halls.
They were met by Briar and Ashtine, and Talwyn bit her tongue at ?nding the princess once again here before her. They were escorted to one of the main ?oor council rooms. It was one of the bigger meeting rooms and far more formal than she had come to expect from Scarlett.
They followed Briar and Ashtine into the room, and her eyes landed on her cousin standing at one end of the room with Sorin and Cyrus. They were speaking softly amongst themselves, but at the sound of their entrance, they all stopped and turned to her. Scarlett immediately made her way to them, her eyes ?xed on Azrael, who watched her warily.
“Talwyn,” she said cordially, glancing at her quickly before returning her attention to the Earth Prince. “Prince Azrael, I owe you my gratitude and a debt,” she said, inclining her head slightly. “Thank you for getting everyone out. I am told that doing so pushed your power to the edge of its limits. Have you recovered all right?”
“I have,” Azrael said slowly, clearly as wary of her formalities as Talwyn was.
“That is good to hear. We have much to discuss,” she said, gesturing towards the table where the Fire and Water Courts had taken their seats. Scarlett went back to Sorin, and they both made their way to the table, Scarlett taking the seat at the head of it with Sorin to her right. Briar sat at her left.
Talwyn made her way to the other end of the long, polished table.
When she’d taken her seat, a tense silence settled over the room.
Which her cousin broke with the unconventional ?are she’d begun to become accustomed to.
“So what would you like to know ?rst?” Scarlett asked, sitting back casually in her chair.
“What would you like to tell me ?rst?” Talwyn countered.
“I have quite the list today,” she replied, propping her head onto her hand. “But I want to make sure all of your questions are answered before we move on to my list of topics.”
“Fine,” Talwyn said tightly. “Why don’t you tell me what the hell you were doing at the border of the Earth Court.”
“Aiding you, of course. There was a clan of Night Children there,” Scarlett drawled. And before Talwyn could say anything, she added with a wry grin and wink, “You’re welcome, by the way.”
A gust of wind blew through the room, and Talwyn clamped down on her magic while Scarlett just poured herself a glass of water, taking a sip, before she met Talwyn’s eyes again.
“As was previously stated to your consort, we did not request aid,” Azrael said from her right.
“And when were you planning to arrive to stop the advance into the Night Child territory?” Scarlett asked, setting her water glass down.
“Why would they want to go there?” Talwyn demanded, her thoughts of Tarek momentarily forgotten at the mention of mortals and rogue Night Children trying to enter that territory.
She sat rigidly still while Scarlett told them of her theories and what she overheard while at the border.
Before she had single-handedly taken almost all of them out with her power.
“They were waiting for me?” Talwyn asked when Scarlett fell silent.
Scarlett glanced at Sorin quickly before she said, “Yes, but before we speak of that, I need to know if you’ve heard from the Contessa. Did she ever respond about attending the Summit?”
“The Summit was obviously postponed,” Talwyn replied.
“Obviously,” Scarlett said, rolling her eyes. “But did she ever respond? Has anyone heard anything from her?”
“The Contessa is very private,” Ashtine said.
“So I’ve heard, but no one else is concerned that we have not heard from her?” Scarlett asked, glancing at her own Courts. “From what I heard, their goal was to get to her. I think we need to at least send someone in to investigate.” Her silver eyes shifted to the Ash Rider. “Rayner?”
“I have had people trying to look into it since you brought it up yesterday, but they have not found anything yet,” he answered, his tone conveying just how unhappy he was with that.
“What is required to go there? What … protocols need to be followed?” She turned, batting her lashes at Sorin. Clearly they’d discussed this matter, and as he held her gaze, Talwyn could only assume they were communicating with their twin ?ame bond.
Which brought Tarek back to the forefront of Talwyn’s mind.
“So we will send a small company to the Night Children to speak with the Contessa,” Talwyn said impatiently. “Now tell me why they were waiting for me.”
Scarlett went still, her hands falling to the arms of her chair. She seemed almost … nervous? She’d never seen her cousin so unsure before.
Scarlett pushed out a long breath of air before she said, “They were waiting for you to arrive before they proceeded to try to enter the territory. Apparently, they had deemed the Earth Court a safer passage than the Witch Kingdoms.”
Azrael snorted a huff of amusement beside her, and Talwyn had to agree. The Witches were cruel and ruthless, but Azrael’s Court was … arguably worse, especially if she would have joined them in a ?ght.
Scarlett sucked on a tooth before she said, “They said they were prepared to handle you and your magic.”
Talwyn said nothing. Just stared at her cousin, waiting for her to go on. Scarlett blew out another breath as she said, “They have more than just Night Children aiding them. They have at least one Fae. He was the one who detained me when my power was depleted to the point that I could not ?ght back … And he claims to know you.”
Talwyn did not move. She did not allow any of the panic and dread she was feeling to cross her features. Just stared and waited.
“It is Tarek Ordos, isn’t it?” Azrael asked grimly, putting Talwyn out of the misery of waiting for her cousin to get to the damn point.
Scarlett’s eyes widened as she looked at the Earth Prince. “How do you know that?”
“I didn’t,” Azrael replied. “But as I told Talwyn when I returned, I had my suspicions. His voice was very familiar when I heard him speak in the Black Syndicate.”
Sorin was shaking his head. “He hardly spoke when you were present. As I have told Scarlett, the odds of it being Ordos are nearly impossible.”
“He was my Third for over a century, Aditya. Well before he was thought to be the queen’s twin ?ame,” Azrael retorted, and Talwyn somehow managed to stiffen further. It was amazing her spine hadn’t snapped at this point.
“You honestly think it could be the same Fae?” Sorin asked, and Talwyn could hear the clear doubt in his tone. “I was there that day they died. I saw them being—” He paused, glancing at Cyrus then to Talwyn, before saying, “There is no way any of them survived that.”
“And as I have told Sorin,” Scarlett cut in, “the way he spoke, the things he appears to know, makes it hard for me to believe it is anyone other than Tarek Ordos.”
“What did he say that makes you believe that?” Talwyn asked, ?nally ?nding it in her to say something. Her voice was even. Controlled. Cold.
“When I was still weakened after the ?ght at the border, he told me he’d been waiting for you,” Scarlett said, her eyes settling back on Talwyn’s. There was a softness there, a pitying look. “He said he knew how to handle you.”
“That means nothing,” Talwyn said. “That con?rms nothing.”
“Then he told me we were almost family. That he was the …” Scarlett paused again, looking at Azrael, before saying, “He said he was the rightful heir of the Earth Court and that he was your twin ?ame.”
“Again, that con?rms nothing,” Talwyn said. “And the fact that he believes he should be ruling over the Earth Court makes me even less inclined to believe such a thing. Tarek never once hinted at that.”
Scarlett sighed in clear exasperation. “How exactly would you lot like me to prove this to you? Shall I go back to Baylorin, track him down, and drag him back here for you to con?rm his identity?”
The ?res in the hearths at either end of the room ?ared as Sorin’s head whipped to his wife. “Do not even think about going back there right now,” he snarled.
Scarlett rolled her eyes at him before smiling sweetly, clearly saying something to him down their bond again.
“I have to agree with Sorin on this,” Talwyn said. “I cannot believe that Tarek has been stuck in the mortal lands for the last decade without ?nding some way to notify me that he was still alive.”
Scarlett grimaced slightly as she ventured cautiously, “I do not think ‘stuck there’ is how I would describe his situation.”
“Explain,” Talwyn demanded.
“He has taken a Blood Mark of loyalty to Alaric. He has bound himself to him,” Scarlett said.
“ If it is somehow Tarek Ordos, then he was forced into that,” Talwyn snapped.
“Blood Marks cannot be forced on you,” Scarlett said softly. “Not that one, anyway. It must be accepted by the choice of the bearer, or Alaric would have forced it upon me.”
“Few can do Blood Magic that powerful,” Azrael said. “The Avonleyans and the Maraans,” Scarlett agreed. “And the Sorceress,” Ashtine supplied.
“The who?” Scarlett asked, her head tilting to the side as her attention slid to Ashtine.
“The Sorceress in the Water Prison beneath these halls,” -Ashtine lilted. “Prince Briar can get you in,” she added, gesturing to the Water Prince down the table.
“Sorin?” she asked, turning to the Fire Prince.
“Later, Scarlett,” Sorin replied tightly. “I will tell you of her later.”
“What, exactly, is it that these Maraan Lords want from you?” asked Azrael.
“They want me to ?nd the keys to enter Avonleya so that Alaric can have revenge and then, I would assume, rule here and there,” Scarlett answered, sipping at her water again.
“Do you think they are powerful enough to take on the Avonleyans?” Azrael asked.
Scarlett shrugged. “It does not matter if I think they are powerful enough. They clearly think they are. They tried before, did they not?”
“And nearly succeeded before the Avonleyans ?ed back to their continent, leaving those they’d recruited for help to fend for themselves,” Talwyn snarled bitterly.
Scarlett seemed to mull this over, tapping her nails on the table. “That is one way of looking at it, I suppose.”
“What is another?” Talwyn asked from between clenched teeth.
“They went back to guard whatever it is that the Maraans want on that continent,” she answered.
“Which is?”
Scarlett shrugged. “That is something I have been trying to ?gure out for months.”
“Do you think they were waiting to detain Talwyn for the same purpose?” Azrael asked.
“Possibly. It would make shifting the keys back to their original state easier to already have her, I suppose,” Scarlett mused, clearly contemplating a number of things as she stared out a window to the right.
“Possibly?” Talwyn questioned. “Is that not why they wanted you?”
“Partly,” she answered.
“Partly,” Talwyn deadpanned. “By all means, please explain the other part.”
“They want my bloodline,” Scarlett answered, bringing her focus back to the table.
“Eliné’s bloodline? Why?”
Scarlett shook her head. “Not Eliné’s. My Avonleayn bloodline.”
Azrael’s head whipped to Scarlett. “You have Avonleyan blood?”
“Yes.”
“How much?” he demanded.
“Apparently all of it,” she answered casually, her head coming to rest on her hand again.
“You are full-blooded Avonleyan?” Azrael asked.
“Yes,” she con?rmed. “Although, my heritage has now changed twice in less than a year, so who really knows at this point?” She lounged back in her seat, looking thoughtful. “Maybe I will be an actual goddess by this time next year.”
“A goddess who got thrown across a training pit a few hours ago?” Cyrus mused with an arched brow. “I think not.”
Scarlett stuck her tongue out at him with a scowl and a glare.
“You are pure-blooded Avonleyan?” Talwyn repeated, her blood seeming to have frozen in her veins.
“Yes,” Scarlett answered.
Talwyn looked to Ashtine. “How long have you known?”
Ashtine held her stare as she said, “I learned of her heritage at the same moment you did.”
“Bullshit,” Talwyn spat. “You have been found with them, before my arrivals, more times than not these past weeks. Not to mention the winds—”
“As I have repeatedly reported to you, your Majesty,” Ashtine interjected, her usual lilt turning cold and lethal, “the winds no longer speak to me and stopped whispering of Avonleya weeks ago.”
“How much does my bloodline truly matter?” Scarlett drawled.
“It matters,” Talwyn bit back, dragging her eyes back to her cousin. No, wait. Not her cousin. “Because if you are not Fae, if you are not Eliné’s heir, then you have no claim to the throne of the Western Courts.” The entire room went still. Briar and Sorin were glancing at each other. Their Courts exchanging glances as well. Had none of these idiots thought of this?
Scarlett’s silver eyes were ?xed on Talwyn as she said with controlled calm, “Come again?”
“I said,” Talwyn replied, enunciating her words sardonically, “that if you do not carry Eliné’s bloodline, then you are not the heir to her throne, and thus have no right to rule over Fae .”
“I may not carry her blood in my veins,” Scarlett said, her tone going lethal, “but her gifts were transferred into my blood.” In emphasis, she raised a hand, letting orange ?ames spring to life while shards of ice spun around them. “Blood Magic was used to do so.”
“That does not give you a right to her throne,” Talwyn spat.
Celeste help her if she was going to let an Avonleyan have the throne of the Western Courts. It was not an option. Because an Avonleyan certainly would not aid her in her vendetta against her own people.
And yet she was the only one who could ?nd the fucking keys.
A saccharine smile spread across Scarlett’s face as she ?dgeted with the ?ames and ice still conjured in her hand. “Correct me if I’m wrong, because I am not entirely well-versed in Fae customs and politics yet, but it is my understanding that the most powerful of an element claims the throne. It is why the prince sitting to your right holds his throne, and the Fae in the mortal lands is so disgruntled.” Talwyn’s lip curled up as Scarlett continued. Her face had gone cruel, and her tone had turned vicious. “Eliné’s gifts make me the most powerful being with ?re and water magic. If someone wants my throne, they shall have to ?ght me for it.” Shadows suddenly ?itted amongst the ice shards, and the ?ames turned blindingly white. “But I will not lose,” she added with a wicked grin.
“Maybe we need to take a little break,” Sorin ventured, clearly trying to ease the tension in the room. Maybe recognizing his wife was about to lose control. Maybe recognizing so was Talwyn.
“A wise idea,” Azrael chimed in, pushing to his feet. “Ashtine. Talwyn. The White Halls?”
As he spoke, an earth portal appeared to their left. Talwyn got to her feet, but before she had taken a step, Scarlett spoke once more. She was watching the earth portal spin, not even bothering to look at Talwyn when she spoke to her.
“Tell me, your Majesty, which of the subjects we spoke of today concerns you the most? My newly discovered bloodline, your possibly still-living twin ?ame, or the potentially missing Contessa?”
“All of them concern me, along with the missing keys and these Maraan Lords,” Talwyn replied, bracing her hands on the table as she leaned towards the queen, Scarlett ?nally dragging her eyes to meet her stare.
“Which would you prefer we deal with ?rst?”
“I would prefer it if a full-blooded Fae Queen sat across from me at this table to discuss these matters with me since they directly affect those the Avonleyans fucked over,” Talwyn spat.
Scarlett’s head tilted to the side. “Just to be clear, your biggest issue with this is not that I am not Fae. It is that I have Avonleyan blood, yes?”
“Yes,” Talwyn seethed.
Scarlett casually got to her feet, stretching her arms above her head and yawning widely, as if they were not in the middle of a heated discussion, and Talwyn wasn’t about to make the wood table beneath her hands explode. “Perhaps you should discuss your Second’s bloodline and where he got those Traveling powers from then … And why he is using an earth portal instead of Traveling right now.”
Talwyn’s head whipped to Azrael. “What the fuck is she talking about?”
Azrael, though, was glaring daggers at Scarlett.
“That’s why he thinks he is owed the Earth Court, isn’t it?” Scarlett asked, holding the Earth Prince’s stare. “For the same reason Queen Talwyn believes I should not hold my throne.”
“We are not the same,” Azrael replied, his tone so full of violence that the entirety of the Water and Fire Courts were on their feet, and Sorin was pulling Scarlett into his side.
“You know,” Scarlett said, a slight smirk lifting one side of her lips, “I’m thinking you will need more than a ‘little break.’ Why don’t we reconvene in a few days?”
Azrael took a step towards her, but he froze when two shadow panthers took shape in front of him, eyes blazing with white ?ames. Scarlett freed herself from Sorin’s hold and took a few steps towards Azrael, her shadow panthers prowling back and forth before her. “You know I am right, Prince Luan. You know that the Fae aiding Alaric is the same Tarek Ordos that was your Third. He did not die in that ambush a decade ago.”
Azrael said nothing, a muscle feathering in his jaw as he ground his teeth together.
“You need to convince her that I am not an enemy here,” Scarlett added.
“She already believes you to be an enemy,” Azrael retorted. “And now, thanks to you, she will think the same of me, despite my loyalty to her since she assumed the throne.”
“I will be your best chance at defeating them, at keeping these Courts from falling into their hands. You know this,” Scarlett countered.
“And had you kept your godsdamn mouth shut, I could have helped her see that,” Azrael snarled. “Now you could have very well just fucked us all over.”
And Talwyn didn’t know what to think at this point. Because she knew, she just knew , deep down, that what Scarlett was saying was true. Tarek was alive. Tarek had been in the mortal kingdoms this entire time. An entire fucking decade and had never contacted her. Never tried to reach her. Let her believe he was dead. Let her grieve. Let her feel abandoned and alone. Again.
And now Azrael had been lying to her. For years. Had never told her that he had Avonleyan blood. Had never informed her that his family had taken the Royal seat from Tarek’s family. Neither of them had ever said a godsdamn word about it.
Lightning skittered from her hands, her feet, bouncing along the stone ?oor of the room and had Azrael spinning to face her.
“Talwyn, get it under control,” he ordered.
He had moved in front of her, gripping her shoulders as wind tore through the space. She could see Ashtine in her periphery, working to control the gusts, and Prince Briar had moved to her side.
“Talwyn!” Azrael barked.
“Get her out of here, Luan,” Sorin barked, and then Azrael was shoving her roughly through the earth portal, and she found herself in Xylon Forest.
“Talwyn,” Azrael sighed, running a hand down his face.
“Say it,” she hissed, her ?sts clenching and unclenching at her sides. She could feel energy crackling along her knuckles, and the earth was shaking beneath their feet.
“When you calm down, we will talk about this,” Azrael countered, his hand falling to his side. He’d planted his feet, clearly ready for a ?ght.
“Say it!” she all but screamed at him. Her breathing was ragged, her chest heaving. Her entire body was trembling, her spine almost aching from the intensity of it. “Are you like her?”
“No,” he answered. “I am not full-blooded Avonleyan, Talwyn. My grandfather on my father’s side was a quarter Avonleyan. I am far more Fae than I am Avonleyan.”
“You never thought to say anything?” she demanded. “It is a long and complicated history, Talwyn—”
“Did you ever plan on actually helping me get into Avonleya?” she asked, cutting him off before he could try to give her some pathetic excuse for keeping this from her.
“Yes,” he answered tightly.
She barked a laugh of disbelief. “Let me rephrase that: Did you ever plan on actually helping me get revenge against Avonleya?”
Azrael didn’t say anything, glancing away from her for a split second, but that was all the con?rmation she needed. She took a step back from him, the branches on the surrounding trees bowing under her wind gusts. When Azrael’s eyes came back to her, they widened in shock before he said, “Fuck.”
And then Talwyn was somehow looking up at him, and a howl in the distance had her ears perking up.
Wait. Her ears perking up?
She dipped her chin to ?nd black, clawed paws on the ground, and when she brought her eyes back to Azrael, a message was disappearing amongst a swirl of sand and leaves. “Stay calm, Talwyn,” he said, trying to sound soothing, but Azrael did soothing about as well as a wolf would soothe a deer. An earth portal opened to his right. “Go through. We need to go to Stellan.”
She opened her mouth to tell him she wasn’t going anywhere with him right now, but all that came from her was a snarl. And not a Fae snarl, but a canine snarl of fury. The snapping of twigs had her swinging her head to the side, where she found Maliq stepping from the trees. She was almost eye-level with him.
“Talwyn,” Azrael ground out, “I do not know how to help you with this. I cannot walk you through shifting back. We need to go to Stellan. I sent him a message that we were coming.”
Maliq nuzzled into her side, and Talwyn found herself taking another step back from Azrael.
“Do not do this, Talwyn,” Azrael said, and she could swear that there was actual panic entering his eyes. “You need to learn to control this, especially with the things we are currently facing.”
If she could, she would have laughed at him. Instead, a huff of some sort came from her. She wasn’t going anywhere with him. These last few weeks had been pure hell. She’d fought with Ashtine, certainly lost her friendship somehow. Her relationship with the Shifters was already strained, and he wanted to take her there to ask for help? That could hardly go over well. She’d faced these weeks alone, without Azrael, only to learn that not only is Tarek likely alive and had chosen to abandon her, but the only person she had con?ded everything in had betrayed her. And she honestly couldn’t decide whose betrayal was worse: Tarek’s or Azrael’s.
Both shredded her.
Both made her chest feel like it had been cracked open, the little that was left of her heart after the loss of her parents, after Eliné, after Sorin, being left to shrivel into nothing and be tossed away on her own winds.
More howling pierced the air, and Maliq took a step back towards the trees, as if waiting to see what she was going to do. She looked between the wolf and Azrael.
“Talwyn.” She was certain she’d never seen him look so somber. “Please, Talwyn. Go through the portal.”
She held his stare a moment longer before she turned back to Maliq, rubbing up beside him and pulling them both through a rip in the air, somehow knowing how to access that particular power in this form. She brought them to the northern part of the Xylon Forest, and minutes later, wolves slunk from the trees to greet them.
Her wolves. Her pack.
The only creatures who had never left her alone.