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“I should,” he sneered.

“But you won’t.”

“What makes you so sure, Scarlett?”

“Killing me would mean you lose something you view as belonging to you. You would never willingly allow yourself to lose,” she replied, boots sliding along the shirastone floor. “It does beg the question though…”

“What question?” Alaric gritted out when Scarlett forced him to ask by trailing off.

“How do you plan to convince Achaz to let me live when he desires the death of every descendant of Arius?”

Cyrus’s head snapped up at that question, and the way Cassius and Rayner were looking at Scarlett told him they did not know what she was talking about either.

He hunts them. All life they created—together and separately. He will not rest until not one remains, until dreams are gone and death is dead.

The Sorceress had told him, had all but spelled it out, but he’d been too lost in his own head to comprehend what she was saying. Achaz would not stop at Saylah, but would come for Scarlett and Cethin too. What else had he missed? What else had Gehenna revealed to him that he hadn’t understood?

Another thing he had failed his family in. He was proving just how useless he was at this point, and—

A dark brown eye landed on his, the other hidden behind an eye patch. It pulled him from one spiral into the darkness and into an entirely new one. Cassius was in all black, but whereas Scarlett was in her witchsuit, Cass had on a fitted black tunic and pants. Vambraces were on his forearms, daggers and knives strapped to his weapons belt and thighs. His upper half didn’t appear to have any weapons, likely on purpose in case he needed to shift. He had a black cloak on, though, that Cyrus was sure hid more weapons beneath it. But the look on his face?

Complete indifference.

Cassius looked away a heartbeat later when Scarlett took another step forward, and he moved with her. Because of course he would. He was her Guardian. She was what mattered most to him. Always had, always would.

“If you would simply do as you were trained to do,” Alaric was saying, “I would have been able to deal with Achaz. If you would have followed through on the deals you made, none of this would be an issue.”

“The deals?” Scarlett repeated. Then her eyes went wide. “Are you speaking of Mikale?”

“Did you think I gave you to him solely as a punishment?” Alaric sneered. He moved towards her until they were mere feet apart. “There is always a motive, Scarlett. Always a piece being moved into place in a bigger game. You know this.”

That wicked smile curved on her lips again as she replied. “You have no idea.”

She moved again. A clever, subtle move that appeared casual, but put her in between Cyrus and Alaric. A move of her own in this game between her and her former master.

“Let’s get this over with,” Scarlett said, turning to Neve and jerking her chin. The Water Third glanced between her and Alaric before tentatively taking a step.

“Wait,” Alaric said, holding up a hand, and Neve immediately stopped, wincing. “I want the Fae Queen’s shackles removed before this is done. I do not need her bound in chains I do not hold the key to.”

“Then I want Cyrus and Neve’s shackles removed.”

“I can agree to that,” Alaric replied, nodding at the seraph. He moved silently forward, removing Neve’s chains first, then his. Cyrus rotated his wrists, rubbing at the red flesh left behind.

“Why can I not feel power from her?” Alaric demanded, his eyes narrowing.

Scarlett rolled her eyes. “Aside from the fact you insisted on meeting in a room made of shirastone, it is because the Avonleyans are more thorough than you are. She has been in nightstone chains, not shirastone.”

“Nightstone?” Alaric repeated, his brow arching. “A little overkill, don’t you think, my Wraith?”

She flashed him a mocking smile. “Like you said, she shouldn’t be breathing. A little overkill was more than warranted.”

“So, what now, Scarlett?” Alaric asked, watching her keenly. Cyrus and Neve still hadn’t moved, and Rayner still gripped Talwyn’s arm. “We go our separate ways until the next battle or prisoner exchange? Seems rather pointless, does it not?”

Scarlett stepped back and turned to Cyrus, reaching a hand down for him. She didn’t bother looking at her former master when she clicked her tongue and said, “I am hurt that you have forgotten one of our most important conversations.” Her silver eyes held his as he reached for her, smaller fingers wrapping around his and pulling as he pushed to his feet. She smiled softly, her grip tightening on his hand, before she turned back to Alaric. “Although that was a fairly eventful day for you.”

“What are you talking about?” the Maraan Prince asked tightly.

“The day your Fellowship burned to the ground, I told you I was already so far under your skin, you didn’t even know I was there.”