Page 2 of Lady of Ashes

“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 …” Ashtinetrailed 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 isnot—”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.”

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