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A muscle in Razik’s jaw feathered. “No one can say what the world will look like when this is all said and done.”

“Fair point. You in?” Cyrus asked as Cassius started racking the balls again. Razik shrugged, but reached for a pool cue.

Razik broke the balls, and as he began working the table Cyrus asked, “But Eliza is all right?”

Razik’s gaze flicked to him for a moment. “She is healed and well, Cyrus.”

“I lost her arrows.”

They’d bickered before he had left. It was nothing new. They always did. He’d insisted on needing her Fiera arrows, and she had finally given in with a threat to never come to his aid again if he lost them. He knew it for the empty threat it was, but he still felt terrible about losing them. He’d have to get her a new set, he supposed. It was the very least he could do.

“I assure you, she does not care about the arrows,” Razik replied in that bored tone he always spoke in. He hit the cue ball towards a striped ball, sending it into a pocket.

“Did you know it took her years to say more than five words at a time to me and Rayner? She would snap at us, of course, like she does at others in the forces, but truly talk to us?” Cyrus shook his head as he trailed off, heading to a liquor cart in the corner. He poured three glasses of alcohol, passing them out.

“That seems fitting,” Razik said, lining up his next shot.

Cyrus nodded. “She’ll either be your greatest asset as your Source if you can get past her defenses, or the biggest pain in your ass. Either way, probably both.” Razik huffed in a way that had Cyrus thinking he knew exactly what he was talking about. “Does she? Talk to you, I mean?” he asked curiously.

“Not like she should,” he answered roughly. “Legacy and their Sources are not meant to be separated by thousands of miles.” He hit the cue ball, but it ricocheted at the wrong angle. He didn’t seem to care as he swiped up his liquor glass and drank the liquid down. “She does not seem to care how things are meant to be,” he added, his words laced with a growl.

Cyrus snorted a laugh, setting up his shot. “She never has. How do you think she became the Fire Court General?”

* * *

Two hours later, the three males all paused at the sound of laughter. Rayner came stalking through the door looking more than irritated, grey eyes swirling slowly but violently. The Ash Rider went straight to the liquor cart, and Cyrus caught a glimpse of his hands smeared with…black and gold?

A minute later, Scarlett and Sorin burst into the room, and Cassius and Cyrus both straightened at their appearance. Both of them had eyes bright with exhilaration, but the rest of them…

There was dried blood on various places— arms, necks, faces. Scarlett’s hair was half out of her braid, and their clothing was torn in random spots. A fine layer of what appeared to be ash covered every inch of them. Sorin’s ebony hair was speckled with grey from it.

“Where have you three been?” Razik asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Out,” Scarlett said far too sweetly for Cyrus’s liking. “I want in the next game.”

“My team,” Cyrus said immediately.

Scarlett smirked, flopping down on her back onto the sofa. Some ash fluttered to the ground at the movement. Sorin took a seat next to her, and she rested her head on his thigh. Lifting a hand, shadows appeared, and she let them flow and coil around her fingers.

“Are you going to tell them where you were? Or do I have to?” Rayner asked, his low tone cutting through the room.

“Oh, you can,” Scarlett sighed dramatically.

“They were in some rocky lands. Looking for a fucking mirror gate,” Rayner muttered, taking a sip of his drink.

“There is no mirror gate in the Nightmist Mountains,” Razik said sharply.

“Not those,” Scarlett answered bitterly. “These had snow. Or the mountains to the west did. The cliffs we were in just had small bits of snow here and there, but it was still miserably cold.”

Razik went rigid. “You were in the Runic Lands?”

“Is that what they’re called?”

“If you were between the Olwen Mountains and the Nightmist Mountains, then yes,” he snapped. “And you’re lucky to be alive. Cethin is going to be livid.”

“We killed some of those floating beings with the gold swords,” Scarlett said with a smirk.

“Only Kailia can kill them,” Razik retorted. “If you think they are dead, you are wrong. They will come back.” Then his eyes widened. “Wait. Is that what is all over you? You think you burned them to ash?”