Chapter 36 Talwyn
CHAPTER 36
TALWYN
“ W ho is that?” Talwyn demanded when she entered the council room at the Black Halls.
Azrael was at her side, but today was the ?rst day she’d seen him since Siofra. They had conversed by earth messages, nothing more. When she’d arrived at the gates of the Black Halls a few minutes ago, he had been waiting for her. He’d looked her over carefully before asking if anything needed to be discussed before they entered.
She’d spent the last few days alone. Ashtine rarely left her Citadel as of late and only when absolutely necessary. She was here now, though, standing near the far wall conversing quietly with Prince Briar. She recognized Death’s Shadow. She’d been pointed out when Azrael had arrived with all the children a few weeks ago. There was a Witch standing among them, although not one she recognized, and sitting at the table was a male with brown hair that reached past his shoulders. One eye was a deep brown. The other was hidden behind a silver patch. Scarlett was sitting on the table next to him, her feet swinging. She was leaning in close, speaking quietly with the male. Sorin was with his Court nearby, clearly comfortable with his wife speaking so intimately with the male.
“That is Cassius,” Azrael answered. “I am surprised he lives. He was nearly in the After when we retrieved Scarlett.”
“But who is he to her?”
“He is a Witch. We sought him out as soon as we arrived. He created powerful wards around several places in the Windonelle capital.”
“Then what is he doing here if he works for the Maraan Lords?”
“He is important to Scarlett,” Azrael replied.
“That does not mean he should be here ,” Talwyn retorted.
“Since these are my halls and not yours,” Scarlett suddenly quipped, “that is not your call to make.” She turned to look at Talwyn, her lips curved into a wicked smile. “Welcome back, your Majesty.”
“These meetings are for the Royals and their Courts. Not childhood friends,” Talwyn said, moving forward to take a seat at the other end of the table.
“He is part of my Court,” Scarlett answered with a shrug, hopping down from the table. She threw a wink at the male before moving to take her seat.
“A Witch is part of your Court? That is not how things are done,” Talwyn replied tightly.
That wicked smile only curved up more. “I am sure you’ve come to realize I am rather unconventional. And seeing as I am not Fae, but Avonleyan, it only seemed ?tting to have a half-Avonleyan in my Court.” She reached for a pitcher of water, but Cyrus was already pouring her a glass. “Of course, seeing as you have your own Second with Avonleyan blood in his veins, you can understand where I am coming from.”
Talwyn’s ?ngers dug into the table from where she’d placed them both ?at on the table before her. How the fuck were there Avonleyans popping up everywhere all of the sudden?
“Is he your Second then?” Talwyn asked through gritted teeth.
“No. That is still my husband … The king,” she added with a nod at Sorin, who had taken his seat beside her.
“Your Third?”
“That is Briar.”
“Then what is he doing here?”
“Cassius is the Hand to the Queen,” Sorin cut in before Scarlett could reply.
“Any other questions you need answered before we move on to my agenda this afternoon?” Scarlett asked.
“Why don’t you start, and we will go from there,” Talwyn managed to grit out, sitting back in her chair. She took a deep breath, getting herself under control. There was no way she was going to let this meeting end like the last one. No way anyone was going to see her as anything other than the Fae Queen they’d known for decades.
Scarlett stood, pulling four objects from her pocket. Three she plunked down onto the table, the fourth she tossed to Prince Briar.
“Pass that down to Princess Ashtine if you would please, Prince.”
Talwyn watched him pass a necklace, a spirit amulet from the looks of it, down the table until Ashtine’s Second, Ermir, placed it into her hands.
“You found another?” Ashtine asked, taking the necklace. Her eyes lifted to Scarlett, surprise and question ?lling them.
“I have found two others,” Scarlett answered, gesturing to the three items that rested in front of her.
“Interesting,” Ashtine murmured, her attention returning to the necklace.
“Why are we playing with spirit amulets?” Talwyn asked.
Scarlett had sat back casually in her chair, her eyes settling onto Talwyn. And Talwyn braced herself, because she could tell by the look in her eyes that what she was about to say was going to tip her back over an edge.
“I believe they are four of the Avonleyan Keys.”
Talwyn blinked slowly at her. That was the only movement she made as she stared back at Scarlett. She could feel Azrael watching her.
“Why do you believe these to be the keys?” Azrael asked for her.
“I have my reasons and theories, but so far, they are proving to be accurate,” Scarlett answered.
“How long have you had these?” Talwyn demanded.
“Depends on which one you’re referencing,” Scarlett replied too sweetly.
“Why am I only learning about them now?” Talwyn tried again.
“I had debated telling you during our last little meeting, but then you threw one of the best Fae temper tantrums I’ve seen yet,” Scarlett replied. She turned to Sorin, her head propping on her ?st. “Did you take notes on how to improve your next one, Prince?”
Sawyer choked on his water down the table as he suppressed a laugh.
Sorin released a long-suffering sigh, his ?ngers running along his brows. “Perhaps now is not the best time for your delightful, yet insulting, sarcasm, Love.”
“ Perhaps you should stop saying perhaps,” she muttered back, rolling her eyes.
Sorin’s lips twitched, but he turned back to face Talwyn. “We just began theorizing about them after we returned, when we stumbled upon one by sheer luck. We are not even sure they are the actual keys. We need Ashtine to take them to the Shira Cliffs to con?rm they are skystone ?rst.”
“They are skystone,” Ashtine lilted softly from beside Talwyn. “But you may come see for yourself if you require tangible proof.”
The princess looked exhausted. She’d lost weight, and her eyes were muted. Even her hair seemed more dull, her skin ghostly pale. She moved to pass the amulet back to Scarlett, but Talwyn held out her hand for it. Ashtine passed it to her instead, giving her a wary look.
“Do you have any ideas as to where the other three are?” Talwyn asked, studying the amulet. The chain did seem to be skystone. It just lacked skystone’s brightness. The amulet attached to it though, this one being Falein’s symbol, was the darkest stone she’d ever seen.
“One of them, yes. The other two, no,” Scarlett answered. “I do, however, know a Fae will be in possession of one of them.”
“Why?” Talwyn asked.
She continued to study the amulet while Scarlett gave a brief explanation of what the Oracle had said to her.
“There could be a hundred ways to interpret the Oracle’s words,” Talwyn said when Scarlett ?nished speaking. “She is hardly helpful on the best of days.”
“Rude,” drifted an icy voice from a shadowy corner on the far side of the room. Azrael and Talwyn both spun quickly towards the source to ?nd Death’s Shadow and the Witch standing there, both in black and both blending in with the darkness around them.
“Who are you, and why are you here?” Talwyn demanded.
“Talwyn,” Ashtine said quietly, “she is the Oracle of whom you speak.”
The Witch tilted her head slightly, her red-brown hair swaying with the movement.
Talwyn worked hard to change the tone of her voice from annoyance to respect. “I apologize,” she said tightly, bowing her head. “I did not realize you had left your cave.”
“I came to check in on an old friend,” the Oracle replied, her eyes darting to Cassius.
Talwyn didn’t know how to respond to that. The Oracle was centuries old …
“I replaced the previous Oracle upon my mortal death,” the Oracle supplied, sensing her confusion. “Before that, though, I was called Death Incarnate by some.”
Talwyn started, the amulet clattering to the table. “You were a Wraith of Death.” Her eyes darted from her, to the Night Child smiling like a maniac in the shadows, to Scarlett, who was smirking like a damn cat where she still sat casually in her seat. “You all … All of you are here.”
“Allow me to introduce you to my childhood friends ,” Scarlett purred. “I am told you know Death’s Shadow, although we call her Nuri,” she continued, nodding towards the dark corner. “You have just met Juliette— a Witch, the Oracle, and the niece of the High Witch.” Her gaze then shifted to Cassius. “As for this one, he trained us at the Fellowship in the Black Syndicate and was one of my personal tutors.”
Talwyn schooled her features back into neutrality, pushing down the shock at learning who all these people truly were … and at having not only an Avonleyan on the Western Courts throne, but a godsdamn Wraith of Death.
“And why, exactly, are they all here?” Talwyn asked tightly.
“Because we need to ?nd the Contessa, and they are going into the Night Child territory with me,” Scarlett answered.
They spent the rest of the meeting planning the mission into the Night Child territory that was to happen in three days. All the Courts were sending in extra spies to see if the Contessa’s whereabouts could be pinpointed. Talwyn had to admit she was getting worried though. No one’s spies had seen or heard from the Contessa in months. All had been quiet on the Night Child front. It wasn’t uncommon not to hear from her, but someone inside her lands always knew how to get in touch with her.
She’d wanted to take one of the amulets with her to see if she could shift the shape of them. Scarlett had said the amulets themselves were something called nightstone, but, of course, she’d refused to let her leave with even one of the things. She said once they had con?rmed they were the actual keys and had found the other three, they could start working on shifting them. It wasn’t as if she could argue with her. They were equals, no matter how much it disgusted Talwyn that an Avonleyan sat on a Fae throne.
Talwyn was walking down the path to the main gates so she could Travel home, when the sound of footsteps behind her had her tensing. A moment later, he spoke.
“So this is how we are going to do this now? I am your Second, Talwyn. We need to speak outside of formal meetings.”
“Do we?” Talwyn asked. “I seem to learn more during these formal meetings than outside of them these days.”
Azrael apparently chose to ignore the verbal bait. “You need someone, Talwyn. Ashtine is … not herself. And even if she were … You need someone.”
“That someone is not you.”
“Who else do you have left? You have pushed everyone else away,” he countered.
“Thank you for pointing out how utterly alone I am.”
“Talwyn,” he growled, his hand closing around her elbow and tugging her to a stop.
Her eyes fell to his hand before slowly dragging to his eyes.
“Your foul moods do not scare me. They never have,” he said, his ?ngers remaining wrapped around her arm.
“Then perhaps you have gotten too close, Prince,” she bit out.
Azrael’s brow arched. “So expecting to have conversations with you is too much to ask, but being between your legs is ?ne?”
She bared her teeth at him, tugging her arm, but he held ?rm, stepping into her further.
“It is my job as your Second to challenge you and provide counsel,” he said, his voice dropping low.
“Then maybe I need to re-evaluate who I keep in my Inner Court,” she spat back.
“This is all over a bloodline that does not matter.”
“I wager Tarek, if he is truly alive, would disagree with that statement.”
“Talwyn,” Azrael growled again in frustration.
“Release me. I have things to tend to,” she said, her tone becoming dangerous.
“You are saying all this, these past decades of loyalty, mean nothing? These decades of— It is all nothing to you?”
“You were good for distractions,” she sneered. “Unless you are here for that, you are dismissed.”
Azrael ?ashed his teeth at her in a feral grin. “If you need a hate-fuck, all you need to do is ask, your Majesty.”
“Release me,” she ordered again, her voice nothing more than a lethal whisper.
His hand left her ?esh this time, and when he took a step back from her, something tightened in her chest. “I will see you in three days when we go into the Night Child territory. Send a message if you need something before then.”
She left him standing on the path, and the moment she crossed the gates she Traveled to the woods in Windonelle where she’d once tracked down Sorin. She’d been working with Stellan and Arianna every day since Azrael and Stellan had come to collect her in the forest. She was able to shift back and forth fairly easily now, but she could not entirely control when she shifted yet. And with everything going on, she found it harder to control her magic. It took more focus, more energy.
But when she stepped into the mortal kingdom, her ring on her ?nger, she shifted on command. Paws hit the dirt, and her ears cocked forward, listening to everything around her. She slowly began padding along the woods. Her nose went to the ground, trying to pick up a familiar scent.
She’d gone to the spot where Scarlett had been taken by those Night Children. Azrael had mentioned scenting something familiar there. They had thought there was a traitor in the Earth Court. She hadn’t been able to ?nd the scent when she’d gone there though. It had been so hidden to begin with that it was long gone when she had tried to ?nd it.
But she’d recognize Tarek’s scent anywhere. She just wanted to see if she could ?nd it. She needed to know if he was really here, if he’d been here this entire time.
She followed the woods as far as she could, until she reached the outskirts of the capital, where she sat and watched, trying to ?gure out what her next move should be, when footsteps had her ears perking and head tilting as she listened. These were silent footsteps, softer than mortals tended to move. A hunter, perhaps?
She slunk along some trees, keeping to the brush to stay hidden. The scent of moonlight and night hit her as she drew closer, but it was muted. It should be much stronger if they were this close.
“How much longer are we going to wait?” one of the vampyres hissed, and a moment later, they came into view.
There was a small clan of around twenty Night Children all gathered around a small make-shift campsite. There was a little ?re in the center of it, but they all kept their distance, apparently preferring to freeze rather than risk touching the ?ames.
“They keep making promises that it will be soon, yet we still sit here, shunned from our own lands and not allowed into theirs,” another said. This one a female.
“If they manage to keep their promises, it will be worth it,” said another.
“Do you have reason to believe the promises made to you will not be kept?”
Talwyn stilled at that voice. She knew that voice.
Had spent countless hours with the owner of that voice.
She tipped her nose to the air, trying to scent him, but there was nothing. None of his forest and soil scent that used to soothe her. Not a hint.
A ?gure in all black stepped into view across from her. His attire matched what she’d seen Death’s Shadow moving about in at the Black Halls. He had a hood up, obscuring his face from view. She was standing before she realized she’d moved, and forced herself to still once more as the ?gure stepped to the center of the vampyre clan.
The Night Children had fallen silent, many bowing to the male. Two, though, were glaring back at him. One was the female that had been grousing about broken promises.
“We were supposed to be in that territory months ago,” the female said, her chin lifting.
“And as you are well aware, factors we were not anticipating pushed back our timeline. But not for much longer,” the male answered.
His very voice was calling to her, making it nearly impossible to keep her paws planted while she listened.
“It is taking too long,” the female vampyre replied.
“Patience, my friend.”
“What do you know of patience?” sneered the ?rst male who had spoken.
The ?gure’s head turned slowly to him, and the vampyre’s throat worked as he swallowed, taking a small step back. “I know more about patience than you can even begin to imagine.” He took a step towards the Night Child. “The things playing out now have been in the works for decades, centuries. Do not whine to me about your pathetic wait of a few years.”
“We simply wish to be welcomed back into our homeland,” one of the vampyres said, her head still bowed, eyes on the ground.
“As do I,” the hooded male said coldly.
Talwyn sucked in a breath, but in her wolf form it came out as more of a huff. It wasn’t loud, but the hooded male’s head tilted to the side slightly.
“Your whining aside, I did not come here to coddle and soothe away your worries,” he said. “I came here to relay information.”
“Which is what?” the ?rst vampyre asked.
“We will be preoccupied for the next few days. You are to stay out of the city, away from any mortals. If he learns you have decided not to heed these orders, the next mission you are sent on will be facing her .”
“We would never survive her,” one of the vampyres with his head still bowed said. “She slaughtered our kin without any aid. If she is back with her twin ?ame—”
“Then I suppose you will need to control yourselves.”
There were murmurs of agreement from the Night Children before the hooded man told them he would return in a few days when their business had been taken care of. He turned to leave the way he had come, and Talwyn backed into the brush behind her. She moved as fast as she dared to try to trail him. She was still unable to pick up any scent from him.
Talwyn paused when she came to a denser part of the forest. The trees above were so thick that it blocked out the setting sun, a thin layer of darkness settling into place. She strained her hearing, trying to pick up something, anything. But if it was truly him , he would move with the grace of the Fae.
The rustle of brush nearby had her swinging her head to the left, her eyes piercing easily through the darkness. He stepped into view from between two trees, walking to the place where the path he’d been following split into two. He stopped, tipping his head back as though he were trying to see the sky through the trees.
What was he doing?
Talwyn sat, watching him carefully, debating her best options to keep following him. She was hoping he’d remove his hood. She just wanted to see his face, wanted to con?rm it was really him.
“A little longer, Moon?ower. A little longer, and I will be home where I belong.”
Talwyn’s blood froze. Her breath caught in her chest. She couldn’t have sucked in air if she’d wanted to. She couldn’t move to follow him as he took the path to the right and continued on to wherever he was heading.
Moon?ower.
That was the name he had given her one night while they’d sat under the full moon in a secluded oasis in the Earth Court.
It was him. He was here.
And whatever he was doing, it was keeping him from her.