Lady of Ashes (Lady of Darkness #3)

Little Whirlwind & the Prince

LITTLE WHIRLWIND & THE PRINCE

T he girl clapped her hands over her mouth to quiet her breathing. Her knees were drawn into her chest as she huddled under the sofa table in the drawing room. The navy and gold embroidered decorative covering hid her from view.

She sniffed the air, scenting him in the room.

“I know you are in here,” came his voice. She felt a ?icker of power spearing out into the room. She couldn’t hear his footsteps even with her Fae hearing, but then again, when a Fae warrior was hunting you, he knew how to move without a sound.

She focused on steadying her breathing like she’d been practicing, willing those winds that ?owed around her to calm and keep that covering from moving even an inch. That other power ?owed around her, and she felt it scrape a ?aming claw down her cheek. She ?ung her shields up, but it was too late.

“Got you!” The covering was ?ung up as ?ames surrounded her, and a male peered under the table at her, his dark hair falling over his forehead into his eyes.

The girl screamed.

The male’s laughter ?lled the room as the girl giggled with delight. “You calmed your wind, but forgot about your shields, Little Whirlwind.”

“I know, I know,” the girl huffed. “There is so much to remember.”

The male’s golden eyes twinkled. He gave the girl a wink as he said, “Extinguish the ?ames around you, and I will sneak you some frozen cream before your aunt returns.” Then he added, “Blowing them out with your breath is cheating.”

The girl narrowed her jade green eyes at the male. In a whiny voice she said, “Why can I not just blow them out?”

“Because you need to learn to use your power with your mind, not just with your hands and mouth. So either put them out by sucking the air from them, or you will be stuck under there all day while I eat frozen cream by myself,” he answered.

The girl had a pout on her lips, but she closed her eyes. In and out. In and out. She steadied her breathing just like he had taught her to do, pulling from her pool of winds and air.

“Easy, Talwyn,” the male said softly. “You control it. It does not control you.”

“I know. I know,” Talwyn muttered. She reached into that pool of swirling wind, trying to pull up just a small amount of air current, when something else caught her attention. There were ?owers and sand and leaves amongst her winds. Where had those come from? The ?owers were beautiful. Tiny purple lavender and white dogwood blooms. She reached towards those now, swirling in her whirls of air, and as she touched one—

A gust of wind blew through the room. The ?ames around her roared to life. She could feel the heat but knew they would not burn her. Sorin would never let harm come to her.

“You blew ?owers in from the gardens, Little Whirlwind,” Sorin said, ?icking her nose as he extinguished the ?ames that surrounded her. Talwyn took his hand, and he helped her from beneath the sofa table. Her turquoise dress swished on the ?oor as her mahogany brown hair ?owed on the phantom winds around her.

“Ashtine never does that. She has more control than I do, and she is younger than me,” Talwyn complained as Sorin led her to the door.

“Lady Ashtine is nine. She is only a year younger than you,” Sorin answered with a soft smile.

“And she is a Wind Walker. It is not fair,” Talwyn said.

“What is not fair?” came a feminine voice from the hall. Her aunt swept in, graceful and perfect as always. Her dark brown hair was swept into a loose knot at the nape of her neck, and her icy blue eyes were soft when they landed on Talwyn. Talwyn let go of Sorin’s hand and ran to her. “Hello, little queen,” her aunt said, crouching down to peer into her eyes and stroking her cheek. “Now tell me. What is not fair?”

Talwyn sighed, blowing a piece of her hair out of her face. “Ashtine has better control over her magic, and she’s a Wind Walker.”

“You will master your power, Talwyn. You have only just started your magic lessons. Because she is a Wind Walker, her powers emerged sooner. Your magic will grow as you grow,” her aunt replied gently. “How did your lesson go today?”

Her aunt had straightened, taking her hand and leading her from the sitting room. Sorin, as always, was to her right as they walked along the corridors of the Black Halls. “It was ?ne,” Talwyn answered. “Except that I blew ?owers in from the gardens.”

“Did you now?” her aunt said with a laugh. “The violets or the roses?” “They were little white and purple ?owers,” Talwyn answered.

Her aunt halted. “We do not have such ?owers around the Black Halls.”

“She probably blew them in from across the Courts, Eliné. It was quite the gust,” Sorin said from beside her.

“Of course,” Eliné replied, resuming their walk down the corridor, but something had changed. Talwyn couldn’t quite put her ?nger on it. “Are we off to get frozen cream?”

“She ?gured out our secret plan again,” Sorin said to Talwyn conspiratorially. Talwyn giggled. “It is not really a secret if we do it every day, Sorin.”

Sorin feigned shock. “Shh, Little Whirlwind. She will hear you.” Talwyn giggled again as a swirl of leaves appeared beside her aunt’s head. Eliné reached up a slender hand and plucked a message from the leaves that disappeared as suddenly as they’d appeared.

Sorin instantly went rigid. “What does Luan want?”

Eliné gave him a pointed look. “ Prince Azrael is responding to a question of my own, Sorin.” She placed Talwyn’s hand into his. “I need to speak with him quickly. I shall meet you both in the kitchens.” Tweaking Talwyn’s nose, she said, “Leave me a scoop of strawberry frozen cream please.”

“I should go with you,” Sorin said, his focus on his queen.

“It is a quick inquiry, Sorin,” her aunt said, running her hands down her sea blue skirts. “I will be ?ne.”

“Eliné—”

“I will be ?ne, Sorin,” Eliné said, cutting him off. Her eyes ?ared brightly. Talwyn stood still, looking between her aunt and her closest advisor. She rarely saw them upset with each other.

Sorin was giving her aunt a contemplative look as he said, “Something is wrong.” It was a statement, not a question. As if he knew her aunt so well, he could tell such a thing just by looking at her. It was these moments, these glimpses into her aunt’s world as queen, that made her pray to the Fates that Sorin would be able to remain her Second when she had to take up her role as Queen of the Eastern Courts.

When her aunt did not reply, Sorin said, “Ten minutes, Eliné. Then I will come to you if you have not returned.”

Her aunt sighed. “Someday, Prince of Fire, we need to revisit the chain of command here.” She lifted her hand, her palm ?at, and blew across it, splashing water into Sorin’s face.

Talwyn laughed delightedly, and her aunt threw her a wink before she disappeared into the air. Concern still lined Sorin’s face, but when he noticed Talwyn studying him, it morphed into a smile. “Well, Little Whirlwind, what kind of frozen cream shall it be today?”

“Chocolate!” she cried. “It is always chocolate.”

“You know you will need to extinguish some ?ames before it melts into chocolate soup, right?” he asked, rolling small balls of ?re between his ?ngers.

Talwyn groaned. “I bet Ashtine doesn’t have to do this.”

Sorin smiled, sending one of those ?ames dancing down her arm. “Lady Ashtine is not going to be a queen someday.”

“Do you think I will be as wonderful as my mother was?” she asked, while Sorin pushed open the doors to one of the bustling kitchens. One of the cooks saw them and immediately went to the ice boxes.

“Little Whirlwind,” Sorin said, lifting her off her feet and setting her onto the counter. “You will be one of the greatest queens this world has ever seen.”

Talwyn’s heart ?lled with pride at the look Sorin gave her. So proud. So adoring. “You will be with me too, right?

“As long as I am still on this side of the Veil, I will be by your side,” he said, giving her long hair an affectionate tug.

“Aunt Eliné doesn’t like me sitting on the counters, you know,” she said, the cook handing her a bowl of chocolate frozen cream.

“We will call it another one of our little secrets,” Sorin said with a wink, as he took a bite of his vanilla dessert. “Now hurry, before you are drinking your frozen cream instead.”

Talwyn felt her bowl warm in her hands, and she focused on wrapping her icy winds around the bowl to keep her frozen cream from melting.