Page 50 of Lady of Ashes

“Yes, but …”

He glanced back up at her hesitation, waiting for her to continue.

She sighed, all pretenses seeming to disappear when she spoke again. “I know you loved her, Callan. I can only assume you are not ready to devote yourself to another so soon after everything that you have been through these last few months.”

“Everything I have been through?” he repeated.

“Going with Scarlett to escape a threat on your life. Having to watch the woman you love fall in love with someone else. Coming home and not being able to actually go home …” she explained, trailing off when he just continued to stare at her.

He had forgotten how observant the Lady was. He had forgotten how clever she was. Admittedly, he spent most of his time with Drake when in the company of the Tyndells, so he didn’t know her well, but he remembered her brilliance at the dinner with Mikale and Veda months ago.

“I apologize if I am overstepping,” Tava said in a rush, her eyes falling to the ?oor and a blush entering her cheeks once more.

“No, you aren’t. Overstepping, I mean,” he said quickly. “I just forgot how nice it is to converse with someone who isn’t … Fae or some other immortal being. A human conversation is refreshing.”

Tava met his gaze once more, her head tilting slightly to the side. “Your guards were with you. They are mortal.”

“You spend months with the same two people, and you will ?nd you are craving some new company from time-to-time,” he answered with a small smile.

She smiled at that and gave a slight nod. “Well, I am sure you will have plenty of options when you return to court.”

Callan’s smile slipped from his face. “Apparently, that has already been decided for me as well. I have learned that my father has made an arrangement with Lord Lairwood.”

Tava audibly gasped, her hand coming to cover her mouth at the sound. The same horror he felt at the idea was in her eyes. “He is not giving you a choice?” she asked.

“It would appear not, but I suppose we will see when I actually return.”

“Will you agree to such a thing?”

Callan was quiet for several long moments, Tava patiently waiting for his answer, before he ?nally said, “I do not know. I do not know what I will do.”

“You went to the mortal prince before you came to me?” Sorin demanded when Arianna ?nished explaining what she had discovered at the Fellowship.

Apparently Sorin had learned of her return soon after she’d come back, but true to her word, she’d been “preoccupied” for the last few hours, sending the Fire Prince into a rage at having to wait for her. As soon as she’d emerged from her room— the guard she’d brought with her sneaking out behind her with his head ducked down— she’d come to collect Callan before following Sorin up to the fourth ?oor. His Inner Court was already there, along with Nuri and the Earth Prince.

“Why would I come to you with information that directly affectshis Highness?” Arianna asked, clearly unconcerned as she lounged back in one of the chairs, her legs crossed one over the other.

Callan watched with no small amount of amusement as Sorin swallowed, sucking his teeth and clearly reining in a temper. “Because I brought you here for a speci?c purpose, Arianna, and you learned things that directly affect mywife.”

“I just told you everything I learned,” she replied, brushing her long braids over her shoulder and proceeding to inspect her nails.

“Arianna,” Sorin growled, but his tone had the Lady snapping her head up.

“Do not, for one second, think I answer to you, Sorin Aditya,” she hissed, her tone dark and deadly.

The Fire Court all sat up a little straighter, hands sliding into casual reach of their weapons as ?ames ?ickered in Sorin’s eyes.

“This is not the time nor the place, Aditya,” Prince Azrael cutin.

“No one asked you for your input, Luan,” Sorin retorted, his eyes still ?xed on the Shifter.

“Does it really matter at this point?” Tava asked. “What’s done is done. Can we ?gure out what we are going to do? We are not really going to let Callan marry Veda, are we?”

Sorin dropped into a seat with a sigh, running a hand through his dark hair. “Scarlett would not be happy with that turn of events.”

“I do not think it is Scarlett’s happiness we should be concerning ourselves with here,” Tava argued. “We can only assume Veda is one of these Maraanthings, but even if she were not, Callan should not be forced into a marriage he does not want.”

“That is often the life of royalty,” Sorin countered.

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