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Chapter 1

Cyrus

The Day the Stars Went Out—Three Weeks Ago

"W hat the fuck?” Cyrus demanded when they appeared from the air in Cassius’s rooms where he and Eliza were waiting for them.

Cyrus’s gaze went from Cassius, who was holding a screaming Scarlett, thrashing violently in his arms, to Rayner kneeling beside the Prince of Fire, who was as still as death on the ?oor before them. The Ash Rider met Cyrus’s golden eyes. Pain and grief and sorrow stared back at him.

And he knew in that moment what was going to happen. “Get her to the beach. Now,” Cyrus ordered.

“I can’t Travel again so quickly,” Cassius panted, trying to keep a hold of Scarlett. “I haven’t—” He grunted at her elbow breaking free and slamming into his gut. “I haven’t used the power enough, and she is drawing from me. I have nothing left,” he ?nished, wrestling with her to try to get her back under control.

But there would be no controlling her. There would be no stopping what was to come.

No one knew that better than him.

Cyrus turned to Briar. “A portal, Drayce. Now,” he said, moving forward to help with the mess of darkness and shadows and ashes before him. Cassius was pale, and Cyrus could tell he needed blood; but even that would have to wait until they got Scarlett some place she could implode and not take out everyone around her.

“The mortals?” the Water Prince asked, a water portal opening behind him.

Cyrus glanced at the Crown Prince of Windonelle who was holding a child. His other arm was wrapped around Tava Tyndell, and her brother, Drake, stood next to her.

“If we do not get her out of here, there will be nothing left of the mortals to worry about.” He had to yell to be heard over Scarlett’s piercing screams. “Bring him, Rayner,” he added, looking back at the Ash Rider, who still knelt beside their prince and king. His best friend. Eliza had fallen to her knees at his side, silent tears tracking down the general’s face.

Cyrus helped Cassius haul Scarlett through the portal. “Let me take her, Cass. She is drawing from you. You are weakening,” he said as they stepped onto sand, his boots sinking in.

Cassius nodded, letting Cyrus snake his arms around Scarlett, drawing her into his chest.

“Scarlett.” He wasn’t nearly loud enough for her to hear him, but he couldn’t speak around the thickness in his throat. He knew what she was experiencing. He knew she wouldn’t hear him anyway. Not with the hysteria, the pain, the utter agony she was currently feeling.

That would not let up anytime soon.

He did not remember much of the initial days and weeks after Thia was taken from him. He could not say what he did, what he said. The others told him he’d raged, destroyed things with ?ames. He was told he’d go from being quiet and still, seemingly unable to hear them, to bellowing in pain and fury while torching anything in sight. Apparently he’d thrown down more than once with all of them, oftentimes without warning.

Cyrus didn’t remember anything aside from the agony and pain and unrelenting grief.

“Sorin!”

That was all she screamed. Over and over and over. Gasps came between each scream as she managed to drag air into her lungs.

Cyrus forced Scarlett to the sand as he lowered himself down so he could wrap his legs around hers to keep her from kicking at them. He cradled her thrashing body tightly to him. It had taken both Sorin and Rayner to restrain him when Thia had died. He knew if her power reserves had been even slightly full, this would not be possible. She had to be completely drained for him to be overpowering her this easily.

Her face was pressed to his chest, her tears soaking through his tunic and into his skin. He pressed a hand to the back of her head, threading his ?ngers into her hair, holding her there. He looked over at Eliza as another portal opened and Briar stepped through with Hazel. Cyrus hadn’t realized the Water Prince had left.

The High Witch looked at her son ?rst before her gaze moved to the queen, then to the king, her eyes going wide with shock as she dropped to Sorin’s side. White light ?ared, but a minute later, when violet eyes met his, Cyrus knew what she was going to say.

There was nothing she could do.

She was saying something to Rayner, and the Ash Rider was nodding in understanding, but Cyrus couldn’t hear anything over Scarlett’s unrelenting cries.

“Scarlett,” Cyrus murmured, bringing his mouth close to her ear. “Darling.” He swallowed thickly. “Scarlett, you are not alone. Hear me. Please. You are not alone. You are not alone.”

Her screams became sobs, and then she couldn’t breathe. She was gasping for breath.

“Breathe, Scarlett,” Cyrus said, his own tears spilling down his face. “You are not alone. There are still stars worth ?ghting for.”

Her answer was another scream, before she lurched away from him so suddenly he wasn’t prepared for it. She heaved into the sand beside them, and Cyrus gathered her hair back as she retched and retched and retched. Cassius was there, wiping her mouth in between bouts of hurling, and then she was crawling across the sand to Sorin’s body.

And Cyrus let her go. Because he did not get to say goodbye to Thia, and he would have given anything to do so. He wouldn’t take this from her. Maybe the mania that was coming for her at this loss wouldn’t be as intense as what he’d experienced if she got this chance.

He knew that was wishful thinking.

He turned to Rayner. “We need to make sure the chateau is prepared. I will stay there with her.” He glanced at her Guardian. “Cassius and I will stay there with her. Take Hazel. Put up the same wards he had her put up for me.”

Rayner nodded, moving to speak with Hazel, and Cyrus’s eyes went back to the queen. She was bowed over Sorin’s still body, ?sts curled into his tunic, and her brow pressed to his chest where charred ?esh was visible beneath the hole that had been burned into the fabric.

“You promised,” Scarlett was sobbing. “You promised there would be no goodbyes. You promised there would always be a you and me. You promised.”

Then she was screaming those words over and over. “You promised! No goodbyes! Always be a you and me!”

They stood around her— Eliza, Cyrus, Cassius, Rayner. The Water Prince. The High Witch.

They stood and watched the Queen of the Western Courts break completely.

“She will not survive this,” Cassius said quietly. Cyrus barely heard him over Scarlett’s renewed screaming.

“You promised!”

“She can,” Cyrus insisted. “I did. She’s stronger than I could ever hope to be.”

“No goodbyes!”

“It is not that she cannot,” Cassius said. “It is that she will not.”

“Always be a you and me!”

“She wouldn’t... ” Eliza trailed off, swiping ?ngers across her cheeks, wiping away tears. “She will not do that.”

“She will,” Cassius said. “We can try to stop her, but she will ?nd a way to follow him to the After.”

“You promised!”

“She will want to. Gods, I know she will want to die,” Cyrus said, familiar agony crawling up from the depths of his soul. Agony he lived with every day. Heartache that had become a part of who he was. “That is why we will stay with her.”

“No goodbyes!”

Cassius shook his head, a hand carving through his brown hair. “She will ?nd a way to follow him,” he repeated, swaying on his feet.

Cyrus gripped his arm. “You need to rest.”

“I cannot leave her right now.”

“Always be a you and me!”

“Just sit,” Cyrus said. “I will give you blood in a bit. Can you wait? I know that’s a lot to ask of you right now, but—”

“Yes,” Cassius cut him off. “I can wait.” Briar helped him lower to the sand as he said, “Go to her.”

“You promised!”

Her head was tipped back now, and she was screaming her wrath to the night sky above them. The waves of the sea were crashing violently against the shore, the icy spray misting across his face, dampening his clothes. Cyrus didn’t know if Scarlett was simply so weak that the most she could do was create turbulent waves, or if Briar was working against her power.

He knelt beside her again, pulling her into him once more. “He promised, Cyrus,” she sobbed. “He promised he would never leave me alone in the darkness.”

“I know, Darling,” he murmured into her hair, clutching her tightly. “You are not alone.”

“He promised.”

That became her new chant. Over and over. And all he could do was say, “I know. I know.”

He wanted to ask what the hell had happened. He wanted to hear every detail of what had occurred after Rayner had shown up with Briar and Luan. Luan had given Cassius the fastest lesson possible on Traveling, and thank Anala he was half-Avonleyan or that would have never worked. But how had this happened? Where was Scarlett’s Semiria ring? Where was the Earth Prince now? Talwyn and Ashtine? How had Sorin fallen? What were the mortals doing back here?

What the actual fuck had happened?

He didn’t know how long they all sat there. Several minutes maybe?

No one moving. No one speaking. Only Scarlett’s cries of despair ?lling the night. She eventually fell still and silent in his arms, and he didn’t know if she’d ?nally passed out from utter exhaustion or if something far worse was about to happen.

Rayner moved to his side, crouching down beside him. His voice was low, barely audible. “The High Witch says he has not fully crossed the Veil. His heart beats but is... ” His eyes cut to Sorin’s still form, his jaw clenching. “He will not come back like Cassius did.”

“What happened?” Cyrus asked, looking over his shoulder to where Cassius sat, his tired gaze ?xed on Scarlett. He really needed to get the commander some blood.

Rayner glanced at the unmoving queen cradled in Cyrus’s arms before he said, “A lot happened.”

“What happened to... him?” he clari?ed, ?nding himself unable to say his friend’s name.

“Talwyn.”

Cyrus had barely heard Rayner say the name, but he tensed, his hold on Scarlett tightening as she went rigid in his arms.

“Scarlett... ” he ventured cautiously.

Her eyes slowly opened, pale blue irises instantly going to her twin ?ame before her.

Somehow shadows began coiling around her, and Cyrus didn’t understand it because she had nothing left. She should not be able to access any of her magic.

Until he glanced at Cassius and found him grimacing as she pulled the dregs of his own unknown gifts from his very being.

“Scarlett. Stop,” Cyrus said in a low command. “You are hurting Cass. You are— Stop, Scarlett.”

“I am going to kill her.” And her voice. Holy gods. Her voice was cold and eerie and oddly monotone. It was what he imagined a true wraith would speak like. He’d joked with Cassius that the Wraiths of Death weren’t nearly as wicked as they were made out to be.

Seeing and hearing her speak now, he took it all back. She was darkness incarnate.

“I am going to kill her. It will not be quick. It will be long and painful and slow. I am going to kill them all, but her death will make the Pits of Torment feel like a reprieve when I am done with her.”

“Okay,” Cyrus breathed when she fell quiet once more. “I will help you do that, Darling, but I need you to stop drawing from Cassius right now. I need you to stop. I need you to—”

A snarl pierced the night before movement in the shadows had them all tensing.

All of them other than Scarlett.

She just continued to stare at her husband.

Silver eyes glowed in the darkness, and a moment later, a panther as black as the night they stood in emerged. No one dared to move as the feline slunk towards Scarlett who was still drawing from Cassius. The commander was breathing through his teeth, Hazel kneeling beside him with white light ?aring under her hands, trying to ease the strain he was feeling.

Shirina, the spirit animal of the goddess Saylah, came to a stop in front of the queen. The panther’s nose was nearly touching hers.

“I am done with you,” Scarlett said to the feline. “I am done with all of you. The gods can fuck off. The Lord of Night can go to hell. And if the Fates try to direct my path again, I will burn the entirety of the worlds and stars to nothing.”

Shirina only bowed her head for a long moment. And then she pounced.

Massive paws landed on the queen’s shoulders, knocking her to the ground onto her back. A scream of rage left Scarlett, shadows lashing out and Cassius grunting in pain as she pulled and pulled from him. But her rage was quickly cut off as Shirina reared over her. Her maw opened, and a shadowy mist ?owed from the panther into Scarlett’s parted lips and down her throat.

And then there was nothing but silence as the queen’s eyes closed, and she became as still as her twin ?ame beside her.

Fire and shadows, side-by-side.

And while Cyrus stared at them, Rayner and Eliza moving to his side, all he could do was wonder about the ashes and darkness that would be left behind in their wake at the end of all of this.