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That was an Ash Rider moving faster than the smoke he commanded.

Those were dragons flying up and out of the main gates.

One of shadows and one of flames.

A king and queen atop them.

Scarlett was finally here.

And she had brought an army.

Chapter41

Scarlett

They had run. Raced through the catacombs, past crying children and mortals praying to the gods. Sorin and Rayner were shouting at people to move out of the way as Scarlett ran faster than she ever had before.

They had still been in the Citadel foyer when her shadows had begun to swirl and form around her. Scales. Wings. A dragon of flame taking shape alongside it.

They had burst from the front gates to find chaos.

Then she’d added some chaos of her own.

Their plan had worked. Her newly acquired power had connected with that of the mirror gates, and she now controlled them to a certain extent. They could still be used by anyone to communicate with another realm, but she controlled when they could be used to move between lands and worlds. She had been able to make them all portals whenever she wished.

They had rested another day after she had assumed control of the mirror gates, spending the time planning with Eliza and Razik, who had finally ventured down from that cave in the Nightmist Mountains. Eliza and Razik would take a few more days to heal properly, then they would be going to the Fire Court. The rest of them were going to track down Cassius and Cyrus. The mirror gate in the Citadel had been the most logical one on the continent to use, especially since they couldn’t cross the Wards with Cethin.

Razik had agreed with her that if Cethin left Avonleya by way of a mirror gate, he wasn’t technically crossing any Wards. The mirrors operated on a different plane. Not a spiritual one or a physical one. A different plane all together. She was pretty sure that’s what she’d gotten out of Razik’s detailed explanation of why it would work. Scarlett thought she had read a lot, but she had nothing on the male who devoured any book he came across, not only reading it but remembering every detail.

She’d hugged Eliza tightly before they’d left, once again demanding chocolates and wine when they were done saving the world. No twin flames invited.

Scarlett had gone through the mirror gate first with Sorin and Rayner. Auberon, Hale, Neve, and Tybalt came next. Then she had held her breath, waiting for Kailia and Cethin.

With her new godlike status, she had been able to fill Cethin’s reserves the way Saylah had been for decades. It had taken a toll, and she had understood why Saylah could only do so a few times a year in her weakened state. It wasn’t something Scarlett could do often, but she could do it more than their mother had because she had a Source and Saylah did not. They’d also wanted him at full strength for going through the mirror gate, giving him every advantage possible in case there were repercussions for trying to alter his curse.

When Kailia and Cethin had stepped through, she still hadn’t released her breath, waiting nearly a full minute for something to happen.

“You did it, Starfire,” Cethin had said in awe.

“Partial freedom is better than none, I suppose,” Scarlett had said, smiling softly at her brother, knowing he wouldn’t truly be free of the binding Wards until they took them down.

But before they’d been able to say anything else, the very walls had shaken around them. Then the sounds of screaming and shouted orders had reached them, and they’d known then they had emerged in the middle of a battle. Or the end of a losing one, judging by the frantic clipped orders of the priestesses in the library.

Cethin had turned to Tybalt, commanding him to go and get troops and to send the cadres immediately. Everyone was pulling weapons from pocket realms and tunneling down into their magic as quickly as possible. Within minutes, there were several warriors coming through the mirror gate, and Cethin was barking orders. The cadres had been mentioned a few times in meetings, but there had always been more pressing matters at hand. Apparently they were some kind of special forces in Avonleya, trained to be ready at a moment’s notice. Something like the High Force maybe? She didn’t really care at the moment. She only cared that they were here and that they reported Tybalt was sending more forces. Even as they spoke, another unit came through the mirror gate.

And then they’d run.

When she and Sorin had leapt atop their dragons, they’d left Cethin in charge of ground defenses, and now they were soaring up to aid the Witches and griffins who were being overrun by seraphs in the sky. She felt her lips tilt up as her shadow armor slid into place, but more than that, the Chaos inside of her seemed to thrum in excitement. That was new, but she didn’t have time to evaluate it. Not as her shadow dragon reared back with a roar before releasing a stream of starfire on a small host of seraphs. Sorin was soaring through their ranks a moment later, his sword drawn and slicing through wings and flesh alike. The seraphs were plummeting to the ground moments later for the forces below to finish off.

They managed to surprise another unit before the seraphs shifted their focus, abandoning the Witches and coming for them. They would be shielding against flames now, the seraphs using their stolen magic to combat them. Her dragon roared orange flames this time. A sweeping arc of them that she froze and was leaping atop of in the next breath. They formed a semi-circular platform, and Sorin was landing beside her a moment later. Her shadow dragon had dissipated, but Sorin’s fire dragon continued to fly around them, herding seraphs right to them.

She met his gaze. His golden eyes were molten flames, a grin of pure wickedness filling his face.

Let’s set the world on fire, Princess.

High Queen,she sent back down the bond, pulling her sword and a long knife from a swirl of shadows. Starfire ignited down the spirit sword, and Sorin had drawn his short swords.

They turned back-to-back, and while his fire dragon herded more and more seraphs to them, they fell into the song and dance that had always been them. Wild and chaotic. Push and pull. Fire and shadows.