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“After the first month, Cassius would make me get up, and he would set me up in the sunroom or my room or somewhere else before he’d report for his duties. Tava would try to talk to me. Most days, she would just sit with me until Cassius returned. Nuri came one night. Said the Assassin Lord demanded I be brought to him. Cassius couldn’t refuse, but I did. I refused to set foot in the Black Syndicate. I couldn’t face going there knowing she was gone. He eventually came and collected me himself.”

“The Assassin Lord came to the Tyndell manor?” Sorin asked. His first question in the entire time she had been speaking.

“Yes,” she whispered. “He came in the night and… Let’s just say he knew what wounds I had received to my stomach and ribs. He knew where to strike. He took me before the Council himself. Nuri and Cassius were also summoned.”

“What happened?”

“Cassius was punished. For leaving me.”

“But he saved Nuri.”

“Yes, but—” She chewed on her lower lip. “Cassius was not only assigned as my private tutor. He was assigned as my personal guard. His job is to put my safety above all else.”

When it comes to her, I outrank everyone.

“Why?”

“Because of who I am, whose daughter I am. Who I am supposed to become to the Syndicate,” she whispered.

“You are to eventually take her place on the Council?”

“Yes.

“But you are not a Healer.”

“No. That was to be Juliette’s place. She was Sybil’s daughter.” She was still, hardly daring to breathe. “I outrank Nuri because she is not the Assassin Lord’s blood daughter. I am to take his place when he dies. Nuri shall only inherit his riches. Cassius outranks her because he is my personal guard, and my safety is his highest priority.”

“Did Juliette not have a personal guard then?”

“Yes. Rylan. He was killed for his failure to protect her. It was not quick nor painless.”

“Were you…” He almost couldn’t bring himself to say it. After everything she’d gone through they couldn’t have still… “Were you punished?”

For the first time since she’d started speaking, she turned to face him. Her eyes were dark and hollow. Shadows seemed to swirl in them. “Yes. Nuri and I had to clean out her room. I would have rather they had beaten me within an inch of my life.”

“They did not demand retribution for Juliette’s life?” Sorin asked.

“No.” Scarlett’s tone turned bitter. “I fought for it. I argued with the Council and then with the Assassin Lord himself. I refused to give in. I became obstinate and refused to take assignments or jobs. When it became clear, I would not let it go, he devised a new punishment for me. I was to remain with Lord Tyndell. How it was worked out, I do not know, but he knew that shoving me into a life of propriety and rules would be worse than locking me in a dungeon. He knew that shoving me into a pretty cage would break me more than any amount of physical pain would. So here I sit in a cage that keeps Mikale at bay but still forces me into his presence, designed to eat away at me until the Assassin Lord can keep me under control to use as his own once more.”

“And your current assignment? The one you have not yet completed? He will punish you for such tomorrow night?” Sorin inquired.

Scarlett did not speak for several minutes until she said softly, “Months later, in the early days of summer, Callan and the king had come to dine at the manor with Lord Tyndell. Lord Lairwood accompanied them, along with Mikale. I was, of course, required to attend now being a member of the household. Cassius made sure I was seated at the opposite end of the table. Between Callan and Mikale, I was watched constantly.”

“I was at that dinner,” Sorin said, his eyes widening at the recollection. He hadn’t wanted to attend, but his hand had been forced by Lord Tyndell. That was the night he’d first seen her, first caught her scent. He remembered the wraith of a woman at the other end of the table. Cassius had sat next to her, often hiding her from view. She had slipped from the room as soon as dinner was over, and he had thought nothing of it. He had simply thought she was a shy, docile Lady.

“You likely were,” she replied. “I wouldn’t have noticed. I said little and left as soon as it would no longer be considered rude to do so. I was nearly to the steps to go upstairs to my room when Mikale’s voice came from behind me down the hall.‘Off so quickly, my pet?’ he had crooned.

“I froze at the base of the stairs, forcing myself to breathe in and out. He continued down the hall to me until he was a foot away. ‘You do know we are not done yet, don’t you?’ He brought his hand to my cheek, and I flinched away. He only chuckled under his breath. At the sound, something in me snapped. I grabbed his tunic and threw him against the wall. The dagger I always carry was at his throat. ‘You are right,’ I told him. ‘We are not finished. You and I. I shall kill you for taking her from me. Mark my words.’

“He only purred back to me, ‘Then let the games begin.’

“Cassius came down the hall then. He saw me with my knife at Mikale’s throat and his lips thinned. He sent Mikale back to the dining room and took my hand. He led me outside and summoned a carriage, and he took me to the waterway by the Pier where we walked along the waves. The sea has always been a place for me to sort myself out. My mother had often taken me there. That was the night we found the beach I took you to. When we emerged from the cavern, there were sea stars all along the beach under the moonlight. It was beautiful, but as we walked, we came across one that had gotten too far up the beach. The waves couldn’t reach it. It was already starting to dry out and gulls were circling. I scooped it up and carried it to the water. As I released it, I fell to my knees and sobbed. It was the first time I had cried since that night.

“The sobs wracked my body, and Cassius dropped down beside me and held me, saying nothing. My stomach hurt, and I had phantom pains from the rib injuries I incurred that night. I cried until there was nothing left in me, and when I stood, those memories were shoved so far down… I never allowed them to come to the surface again. I met you a few months later.”

He felt Scarlett shiver against him as she finished speaking, and he restarted the fire in the fireplace with a flick of his hand. “I am sorry. About the fire going out,” he said, interlacing his fingers with hers.

“It is a dark tale,” she said simply. “I suppose it makes sense to tell it in the dark.”