Page 31 of Lady of Starfire

“You did this to get Ashtine back,” he snarled. “You placed Ashtine and her babes’ well-being above Tava and Drake.”

“No,” Scarlett said calmly. “You are wrong. I tried to talk her out of it. Both of them. I told them we would find another way. I just needed some time, but they were adamant.”

“And now?”

“I am working on it, Callan. I just need some more time.”

“And when this trade is done? When Briar is no longer able to protect her? When she and Drake are back in Balam’s hands?”

“I have taken measures to keep them protected until we can come for them, Callan. Despite what you seem to think of me as of late, I did not sacrifice them. I did not deem their lives any less important than anyone else’s,” she said, her temper beginning to slip.

“You could have waited to take them over. No one forced you to take them that very night,” Callan seethed. “You could have waited—”

“I owed it to Briar to take him back. The female he loves is being held captive. She is carrying twins. His children. If you think Tava would let Ashtine remain in that state when she could do something about it, you do not know the woman you love very well. She would have found another way. She is clever. So maybe, just maybe, I took her back so you would hate me instead of her. Maybe I was trying to spare you the hurt of knowing she willingly sacrificed her own happiness with you for innocent children,” Scarlett said. “I am many things, Callan, but I am not the villain in your story. No matter how much you wish I was.”

Callan stared at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it closed just as quickly. And she could see it all there, shining in his eyes. The anguish. The desperation. The need to dosomething, even if that something was brash and reckless and likely to get him killed.

“I understand who Tava is to you, Callan,” she said, her voice softening. “I understand Tava is to you who Ashtine is to Briar. Who Sorin is to me. But Ashtine is in Alaric’s hands, while Tava returns to Lord Tyndell’s. It is not ideal, but he will not harm Tava. He has kept them safe for years. He will not stop now, even if we do not know the reason. She will be safe until we can get her back, and as I said, I have already sent more protection until we can make that happen. I know why you feel the need to go, Callan. I do.”

“But you will not allow it?” he said, some of that bravado deflating.

“You are a king, Callan,” she said carefully. “I cannot keep you from doing something, but…”

“But you think it is a terrible idea,” he finished for her.

A ghost of a smile danced across her lips. “Isn’t it?”

Callan shoved his hands into his hair, pacing in a tight circle in front of her. “I cannot just sit here, Scarlett. I cannot just… Not while she is there, risking her life, doing something. I cannot…” He stopped, facing her fully once more. A hopelessness shone back at her, stark and desperate. “In the last months, I have watched my parents and my closest friends be slaughtered in front of me. I have fled my home, abandoned my people. I havekilled. I cannot lose another, Scarlett. I cannot lose her, and I cannot sit here, safe behind Wards, while my people are taking the brunt of the anger aimed at you.”

She was pushing up onto her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around him, and he was clinging to her. “I know it is a lot to ask of you, Callan, but can you trust me? Can you trust that I will fix all of this?”

“Can you?” he countered. “Can you fix all of it?”

“I am going to try,” she replied, taking a step back. “I am trying.”

“And I am still to simply sit here? Safe and protected? The coddled mortal prince now king?”

“A mortal king who has killed. Who has lost. Who has sacrificed. Doesn’t sound like he is very coddled anymore, your Majesty.” Her features twisted into something sad and heavy. “Soon you will be back on your throne, Callan. Soon you will be making the difficult decisions of prioritizing one person’s wellbeing over another. Remember you will not always get it right. And when you have to choose between the lesser of two evils, some will hate you for it, but you will hate yourself more.”

The two stared at each other for a long moment in that hallway. So different from what they had been. Lovers to strangers to friends. Wraith and Prince to Queen and King. Two royals trying to navigate their new roles. Neither of them knowing if they were ever doing the right thing. Trying to balance the needs of those they love with the needs of those they had been charged to protect. Trying not to drown while keeping their people above the turbulent waters. But he had never had to learn how to keep going through grief and trauma. He’d never had to be told to get back up because he’d never been knocked down. Not like the rest of them had. He was right. He’d been coddled.Shehad coddled him. Tried to protect him at all costs.

Maybe she shouldn’t have.

Because now he’d been tossed into the sea himself without having learned how to swim. Without knowing how to keep going when everything you knew no longer was. And now he didn’t have time to learn. Now he either needed to swim or drown.

Callan could be reckless. Not her kind of recklessness. Her kind of recklessness was calculated chaos. His kind of recklessness was driven by passion. He loved fiercely, obsessively. She knew that asking him to stay behind was asking him to go against every instinct warring inside of him right now. He wasn’t Fae, but he was still a man, driven by the need to protect what he saw as his. He would need all of that when he was back on his throne. She didn’t want to kill his beautiful recklessness, despite how naïve it sometimes made him, but he couldn’t jump unless he learned to fly.

Or, at the very least, fall gracefully.

So instead of flat out refusing his request, she said, “I will make a deal with you, Callan. If you wish to go to the continent, I will not stop you.”

“You won’t?” Callan asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

Scarlett shook her head. “You deserve to make your own choices, just as Tava does. You were forced to flee for the Fire Court. You were forced to flee across the Edria. I will not stop you from leaving, but I ask that once you have seen Tava is well, you return with the others.”

“And if she will not return with me?”

“Trust me to keep her safe, Callan,” she answered. She held up her palm, shadows swirling, and when they receded, a vial sat in her palm. She held it out to him. “You remember how to use this?” He swallowed thickly, nodding. “Tava and Drake each possess one as well.” His gaze snapped to hers. “I did not send them there with nothing, Callan, and I have sent more protection. I will continue to do so. They are not expendable to me. Trust me, and trusther.”