Page 132 of Stealing Embers
“This girlis sitting right here and can hear everything you’re saying,” I remind him. Does he hope to intimidate me by refusing to refer to me by name? I’ve been called way worse than “her” and “this girl,” but intentionally being belittled still gets my hackles up.
“Emberly is none of your concern.” Sable’s voice rings clearly in the cavernous room. If I were closer, I’d slap her a high five.
“The hell she isn’t.”
“Nor is she up for debate right now.”
“Oh, snap,” Ash whispers beside me.
“Yeah, apparently she’s a princess. You don’t mess with royalty, Dad.”
Oh, Sterling. Gotta love him.
Laurent leans forward even farther to glare at his son. I half expect frozen projectiles to shoot from his ice blue eyes. Sterling ducks and mumbles, “Just sayin’.”
“Lay off her, Dad.” My back straightens when Steel speaks up. “If it weren’t for Emberly, you’d be searching for my frozen corpse right now. Not to mention the whole lot of us would have been slaughtered by the horde of Forsaken.”
Okay, I didn’t exactly do anything except touch a mysterious object, but I’m not about to point that out.
Laurent opens his mouth to argue when his wife places a hand on his back, stopping whatever flow of words he was about to expel. “Emberly helped save our children, even at the risk of her own life. We owe her a debt of gratitude, not our suspicion.”
After a beat he leans over and cradles his wife’s face in his hands, placing a chaste kiss on her lips. His actions are so sweet, so caring, that watching them makes my heart twist. True love and respect exist between the pair. A rarity in this messed-up world.
It would be beautiful to watch if Laurent hadn’t just demonstrated what a grade-A jerk he can be.
Looking into Eloise’s eyes, Laurent nods once before turning his crystal gaze back on me.
The air of superiority and hostility is absent from his mannerisms and speech when he says, “Apologies. My wife is right; we owe you much.”
“You’re . . . welcome?”
Wow. That was a speedy change of heart. What sort of witchcraft does his wife practice to be able to unruffle his feathers so quickly?
Eloise catches my eye and a conspiratorial smile lifts the corners of her mouth. She winks.
She may look like Silver, but I’m beginning to see where Sterling gets some of his charisma.
Greyson lets out a wet cough, catching everyone’s attention.
“Bro, you bleeding again?” Sterling asks his twin.
Lifting a hand from his side, it comes away with a coat of fresh blood. “That blows. I really did like this shirt.” Greyson seems way more upset about his ruined clothing than the fact he’s leaking fluid from his gut.
“All right, everyone,” Sable says. “We can talk more in the morning, after everyone has had a good night’s rest and their injuries treated properly. Greyson, I’m looking at you.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m off.” Pushing up from his seat, Greyson’s the first to leave the room, but he starts the mass exodus. Most of us are past the point of exhaustion, so there’s a lot of shuffling going on and a bit of grunting.
“Emberly, can I talk to you?”
My lids flutter. I’m half asleep already. “Sure.”
With a hand gently wrapped around my arm, Sable leads me off to the side, out of hearing range from the group. Ash shoots me a questioning look, but I wave her off. When he spots us, Steel stops, a frown pulling down the corners of his mouth. My mind is too fuzzy to work out what he’s displeased about.
“Do you know how you manifested your wings in the mortal world?”
Mentally dismissing Steel, I fix my attention on Sable, rubbing a hand back and forth across my forehead. “I know we have to figure this out, but I’m not sure I have the bandwidth to tackle that topic right now. I have a feeling it might have something to do with that magic orb. I wasn’t able to phase back into the mortal world with them after I touched it. But you know I’m still trying to figure out how all my powers work.” I rub my eye with the back of my hand. My eyeballs are scratchy and dry. “I just don’t know. That could be coincidental.” I can’t quite keep all the frustration out of my voice.
She nods, but the look in her eyes causes a ball of anxiety to roll in my belly. “I get that.” She takes a deep breath and purses her lips before continuing. Whatever she’s going to say, she’s having a hard time getting it out. “I hate to tell you this, I really do, but I’m going to have to reveal your skills to the Council. All of them. I can’t keep you under wraps any longer.”