Page 40 of Lady of Ashes

“Do I need to do anything to make sure it stays that way?”

“You seem very worried about losing his allegiance,” Sariah said, taking another sip of her wine.

Talwyn pressed her lips together. She knew full well anything she said to the Shifter would be repeated to Stellan. “The Alpha and Beta are powerful leaders that I am honored to count among my allies. I simply wish to ensure there are no hard feelings between us due to misunderstandings.”

Sariah nodded once, her gaze moving over Talwyn’s shoulder. Talwyn turned to ?nd Stellan entering the room, Ilyas beside him in his natural form. He wore a sleeveless tunic over his broad chest, and Stellan had donned a sleeveless tunic as well. Ilyas’s black hair was nearly as long as Talwyn’s and was tied back at the nape of his neck. His hazel eyes landed on her with a glare as he stalked to the wine cart. Sariah brushed past him, taking a chalice of wineto Stellan, brushing her ?ngers down his arm before she made her way to the table. When they had all taken their seats, their plates were ?lled with roasted lamb, rice, greens, and ?atbread. “Thank you for inviting me to stay for dinner,” Talwyn ventured, cutting off a piece of lamb.

Stellan merely nodded in acknowledgement, biting off a piece of his bread. Despite what Sariah had said, Talwyn wasn’t so sure that she was still in his good graces, even though she’d had nothing to do with Sorin recruiting Arianna. But Stellan’s protectiveness of his sister rivaled a twin ?ame’s possessiveness. His agitation likely was not with her, but the fact that Arianna was not here.

After several more minutes of silence, Talwyn took a sip of her wine and cleared her throat. “May I ask you something, Stellan?”

He nodded, picking up his own chalice.

“Did you ever have dealings with the Avonleyans? Before they were sequestered across the sea?”

If Ashtine was going to refuse to supply her with information, she’d hunt it down herself.

The Shifters around the table all froze, Ilyas and Sariah looking at their Alpha.

“You know we fought in the Great War alongside the Fae against Deimas and Esmeray,” Stellan answered, slowly setting his chalice down.

“Yes, but did you personally interact with any of the Avonleyans?”

“Queen Henna and Queen Eliné handled most of that. As you know, we were not granted our gifts until the Sorceress was detained. Avonleya was banished shortly after she was captured, so I did not get much interaction with any of them, no.”

Talwyn nodded, stabbing some of her greens onto her fork. “Why did you ?ght with them?”

Stellan’s brow furrowed. “I did not ?ght with them. I fought with the Fae Queens. It was why we were granted our gifts. To aid the Fae in the ?ght against Deimas and Esmeray.”

“But you were alive for some of the ?ghting, before Avonleya was defeated, yes? Would you have sided with Avonleya if you’d been asked to ?ght in their war?” Talwyn pushed.

He sat back in his chair, his olive eyes studying her. She stared back, refusing to blink at his scrutiny.

“Why do you ask such questions this evening, your Majesty?”

“I have been studying the Great War and the repercussions of the event,” Talwyn answered with a slight shrug. “I have obviously never met anyone from Avonleya. I am just curious about those who did have relations with the kingdom before they were banished.”

“Some say they were not banished, but that they retreated themselves,” Sariah said, swirling her chalice of wine.

Talwyn met her golden gaze. “I am not sure which would be worse. To have surrendered and accepted banishment as the cost for inciting an unnecessary war, or to have run back and locked themselves away, leaving the Fae to clean up their mess.”

“You are bitter,” Stellan observed, picking up his chalice again.

“It seems like it was a pointless war with many lives lost for no reason,” Talwyn countered.

“You speak of your parents, of your mother,” Stellan replied, understanding dawning in his eyes.

“They were not the only unnecessary casualties of that war,” she ground out.

Stellan seemed to mull this over before he said, “Without that war, we would not have been given our gifts. Nor would the Witches.”

Talwyn stilled.

“We fought with the Fae because the Fae Queens were the ones to gift us such power,” Stellan continued. “We were given such a thing for the purpose of aiding your kind. The Fae were given their own gifts by the Avonleyans for the purpose of aiding them. Surely you know this.”

“Of course I know my own history,” Talwyn said.

“Do you?” Stellan countered. “Because based on the questions you have posed this evening, it would seem you do not know your full history. It also makes me truly question why you are suddenly seeking such answers.”

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