Page 124

Scarlett grabbed Rayner’s hand and closed her eyes. She thought back to the cellar in the Lairwood House, how Sorin had instructed her to focus so intensely on the beach, picturing every detail. On the edges of her mind, she saw the room. The room she’d been sharing with her twin flame for weeks. She could see the room as if she were looking through a smoke screen. She heard the words Sorin had whispered to her.You need to take a step. Do not think. Just do it.She sucked in a breath and took a step forward, as if creating a rip in that screen, in the world, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself looking into Eliza’s grey ones.

Eliza’s eyes were wide with shock, but Scarlett only said, “You knew?”

At the confusion that flitted over Eliza’s face, Scarlett held up her left hand. Eliza’s eyes widened more as she took in the Mark. “Who Marked you?”

“That is irrelevant. You knew. How long have you known?” She tried and failed to hide the hurt in her voice.

“We all knew,” Eliza replied. “I Marked him. The others saw the Mark when he returned.”

“When did you Mark him?” Scarlett demanded.

“Before he came for you in the mortal lands. It was how he knew where to find you in the house.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Scarlett demanded.

“It was not our place. It was between you and him. He was adamant that he did not want to make the choice for you. You needed to make it on your own. You need to speak the claiming words to start the Trials,”Eliza said as she stepped back from Scarlett.

“What?”

“The Mark is not completed until you have spoken the Claiming Rite to initiate the Trials.”

“What are they?”

Eliza told her what they were, and Scarlett’s lips formed a thin line. “I shall say them when I am damn well ready to say them. For now, we must go.”

“But he will not…recover until you speak it,” Eliza argued.

“Then we better hurry,” Scarlett purred, narrowing her eyes at the general. She grabbed Eliza’s hand and looked over at Rayner. “You will carry yourself?”

“The queen will not permit me to enter on my own. She will have wards. I do not even know if you can get in,” Rayner answered.

“She is no longer the only queen, and she will not keep me from him,” Scarlett answered, a maniacal gleam in her eyes as she grabbed Rayner’s hand in her other.

“Where are we going?” Eliza asked.

“First, we are going to get my Court. Then we are going to find some damn keys,” Scarlett answered as she peered through that screen in her mind, searching.

“And then?” Eliza asked, her voice hushed, as if she were seeing Scarlett, really seeing her darkness that she kept so locked up, for the first time.

“Then we are going to set the world on fire,” Scarlett answered.

The Mark may not have been complete, but she could still feel that bridge between their souls. The one that had been there since she first saw him in a training barracks in Baylorin. She mentally ran along that bridge now, and she saw him sitting at a giant polished oak table. Talwyn was at the head of it, her face as cool and calculating as always. To her right was a male with black hair and bronze skin, a crown of autumn leaves and vines above his head. To her left was a female with silver hair like Scarlett’s own. She was lean and gorgeous, one of the most striking people Scarlett had ever seen.The silver hawk, Nasima, sat upon her shoulder. Briar was on the side with the male, and his face was grave. She had never seen him without his flirty smile in place. A male, whom Scarlett assumed was his Second, was seated beside him and looked almost identical to him. Across from him sat Sorin with Cyrus. Sorin was pale, and the crown atop his head was dimmer than it had been this morning, but you wouldn’t know he wasn’t at his strongest. Not if you didn’t know what to look for.

Scarlett grabbed hold of that bond she’d been so adamantly ignoring, and she stepped through a rip in the world.

CHAPTER 40

SCARLETT

There were gasps of surprise and the scraping of chairs as nearly everyone around the table shot to their feet when Scarlett, Eliza, and Rayner appeared in that room. Nearly everyone. Talwyn and the silver-haired female stayed sitting. Scarlett felt multiple powers spearing toward them all at once. Rayner and Eliza shielded with their flames and smoke, but Scarlett’s own white flames shot up like a wall between them and the others in the room.

“Starfire?” the silver-haired female asked. She didn’t seem surprised, but rather an air of curiosity was in her tone.

Scarlett cast them all a wicked grin as she threw her shadows into the flames, turning them black.

“Interesting,” the silver-haired female said, cocking her head to the side as she studied the flames.

“How dare you come here without being summoned!” the male with the black hair roared, coming towards them.