Page 11

Chapter 11

Scarlett

S carlett stood on the main deck of their ship, Sorin and Cassius at her sides. Rayner, Sawyer, Eliza, and Neve were guarding the children and the Baylorin royals. Briar and Auberon were on Briar’s main ship, along with a few other warriors from Briar’s Court. They’d strategically placed the rest of their small forces on the supply ships. They’d had to be crafty with their maneuvers, not sure where exactly the seraphs Lord Tyndell had mentioned were at on the ships. Maybe they didn’t truly have them stationed on every ship. Maybe the Lord had been bluf?ng. It was entirely possible, but they had to treat his words as the threat they were intended to be.

Cyrus had stayed on their ship with them, standing at Cassius’s side, and Azrael was here too. Mainly because Scarlett didn’t trust the Earth Prince not to try to return to his queen’s side by whatever means necessary. She’d been contemplating how to handle the prince this last week. If she was going to bring him into Avonleya with them, she had to be certain he wouldn’t try to pass information back to Talwyn. She had to be sure he was on their side. Time and again she kept coming back to the Blood Bond, but she couldn’t bring herself to demand that of him.

Which left her back at the beginning with no viable options.

But now wasn’t the time to think about this. She’d gotten Callan and Eva below deck, despite Callan being a royal pain in her ass. She’d spoken the truth in that short meeting. He would be a liability. Instead of being solely focused on killing Alaric when he showed his face, her attention would be divided if Callan had stayed above. She’d threatened that she’d instruct her warriors not to make him a priority, but it had been a lie. Everyone knew that, even if no one had called her out on it, but it had gotten her point across. It’s not that the mortals were useless, but they weren’t prepared to ?ght magic-wielders.

Now they stood and waited. For what? She didn’t know. They couldn’t possibly think that a legion of seraphs could just descend on them and win. Alaric was too smart for that.

But how had they found them?

That had been the single question that had been running through her mind over and over. How had they been able to pinpoint their exact location in the entirety of the Edria Sea? They had been sailing for weeks. They could have literally been anywhere west of the continent. So how had they done it?

“You should ?ll your reserves,” Sorin said quietly into her ear.

“You need your magic as much as I need mine,” she countered. “I will not draw from you right before battle.”

“Yours are depleted from training this morning. I have some to spare.”

“No.”

“Scarlett.”

She tipped her head up to look at him. “Silver eyes, Sorin,” she said, pointing to them. “My reserves are ?ne.”

“Fine is not good enough to face Alaric,” he retorted.

Scarlett rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I’m even letting you stand beside me right now. I should have made you stay below with Callan and Drake. If Lord Tyndell hadn’t already seen you, you would be.” A growl emanated from him, and she patted his chest mockingly. “Glad to see you’re back to being an animal.”

“If you think you could keep me from your side, you are delusional,” Sorin snarled.

“If you think I’m going to draw power from you and weaken you before battle, you are delusional,” she snapped back. “I will not even entertain the idea of doing something that will increase the likelihood of having to repeat the experience of that throne room, so do not ask it of me again.”

Sorin’s golden eyes softened. Scarlett, came a soft caress down the bond. We are going to need to work through this, my love.

And we will, but not today.

He leaned forward, brushing a soft kiss to her lips.

Cyrus cleared his throat loudly. “You two do realize we are about to be ?ghting for our lives, right?”

Scarlett pulled back with a sigh. “Yes, Darling.”

“Just making sure.”

She ?ipped him her middle ?nger as the air shimmered across the deck a moment before Lord Tyndell stepped from the air, the seraph from before at his side. He scanned the deck behind her, his features falling for a moment before hardening.

“My children have decided not to come home, I see,” he said gruf?y.

“They have,” Scarlett replied.

“And our offer of exchange is being rejected as well? Since Callan and Eva are also absent?”

“How observant of you.”

There was a small tilt of lips as the Lord said, “I do so miss your dinner conversation.”

“Where is Alaric with his message?”

“I came ?rst. To see if his presence was necessary.”

“Even if I had agreed, he could still drag his ass here and collect me himself,” she replied. Her shadow armor was tight against her body atop a Witchsuit Hazel had given to her. More shadows swirled along her feet, seeming as restless as she was. She hated the waiting, the anticipation of ?ghting. She was ready to get on with it if it had to happen.

“Always so blood-thirsty, my pet.”

The cruel voice sent a shiver up her spine and had Sorin snarling again, drawing his swords from his back simultaneously.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Scarlett demanded when Mikale appeared beside Lord Tyndell. A huge seraph appeared with him. He was taller than anyone on the ship, his grey wings stretched out behind him. His black hair was tied in a knot on top of his head, and green eyes glared back at her.

“This is her?” the seraph asked, his gaze never leaving hers.

“It is,” Mikale answered.

“Seems a little rude that you know who I am, but I do not know who you are,” Scarlett drawled, her shadows writhing and beginning to take shape behind her. She crossed her arms, her head cocking to the side as she studied the seraph.

“You will become well acquainted with him soon enough, my pet,” Mikale said, his hands sliding into his pockets.

She lifted a hand with a dark grin, white ?ames ?aring to life in her palm. “Does he like ?re as much as his kin?”

“More so,” the seraph returned, his wings ?aring brightly as ?re wound around them with what had to be his own ?re magic.

“Fuck,” she heard Azrael breathe.

“That’s inconvenient,” Cyrus muttered.

“Not the word I would use,” Cassius murmured.

Scarlett clenched her ?st, extinguishing her ?ames and shoving down her frustration. “I’m sure my blades will cut your wings from your body all the same.”

“You will never get close enough with one to ?nd out,” the seraph returned stoically.

“Why are we just standing around talking? What is the message?” Sorin asked tightly.

“It had to be retrieved ?rst,” Lord Tyndell replied.

“What do you mean ‘retrieved?’” Scarlett asked.

But a moment later, her question was answered as objects appeared in the sky, dropping to the decks of the ship with sickening thumps. Sorin was reaching for her, but she shoved his hands away.

“What the fuck?” Cyrus muttered, stepping forward.

Cassius and Sorin were closing in around her, while Azrael moved forward with Cyrus to try to ?gure out what exactly they were looking at.

“Move, you overbearing asses,” she growled, trying to shove by Cass and Sorin, but they were solid walls of muscle. There was no getting by them without tapping into her magic, and she needed to save that.

Cassius was spinning to face her a moment later, his hands gripping her shoulders. “Seastar...” He looked utterly helpless as he met her gaze.

“When we tell you what the message is, you need to keep control of yourself. Do you understand?”

“Why wouldn’t I keep control of myself?”

“Because those are heads and body parts, Scarlett,” Sorin answered grimly.

“What?” Her face scrunched at what he’d said, certain she hadn’t heard him correctly. “Of what?”

“Of people, Scarlett. Of... Fae. From our Courts.”

Her entire body went ice cold. Then hot. Then cold again. Her shadows thickened, swirling around her, ?ames and ice whirling among them.

“Move.”

Her voice was as dark as her magic, and Sorin and Cassius both stepped aside. Mikale was smirking at her. Lord Tyndell looked sorrowful, as if he was upset it had come to this. The seraph looked bored, his arms crossed, watching her warily.

She looked down at the body parts scattered around the deck of the ship. You wouldn’t be able to tell if the limbs were Fae simply by looking at them. Arms. Legs. Feet. Hands.

But the heads? They all had the arched ears of the Fae.

How Sorin knew they were from their Courts, she didn’t know. Maybe he’d just assumed. She didn’t care. Alaric had killed innocent people to send her a message.

And then Alaric stepped from the air in front of her.

“You are dead,” she said, her tone the embodiment of darkness itself.

“You killed my people; I killed yours. You wanted a war, my Wraith. I gave you one,” he returned, his voice deathly calm.

She lunged for him, and he leapt for the sky, black wings ripping from his back. Scarlett’s shadows were already forming a dragon behind her but not fast enough. She threw ?re, freezing it as she had done in the Night Child territory. Leaping from blocks of frozen ?ames, she went higher and higher, racing after him until her shadow dragon bellowed its own fury. She knew where it was without having to look, and she leapt to its back as it soared past her, a stream of ?re erupting from its mouth.

Alaric spun in the air so that he faced her, and when her shadow dragon spewed ?re again, it hit a shield of something Scarlett could not see.

“Those were innocent people!” she screamed at him.

“You have been killing people since you were twelve,” he retorted, black wings ?apping lazily to keep him aloft. “Or has it become so second nature to you that you have forgotten your ?rstkill?”

“They were not innocent people,” she retorted, blades of ice forming in her hands.

“How would you know?” Alaric asked. “You were told what you needed to hear.”

“What?” Scarlett balked, rearing back and nearly losing her balance on the dragon. “You lie.”

“I suppose you will never really know, will you?” he sneered.

Her shadows were snaking over his shield, trying to ?nd a way in until she realized they weren’t moving along his shield at all.

The shield was absorbing them.

She wrenched them back to herself, strengthening the dragon that was hundreds of feet above the ships and the sea below. Alaric’s lips tilted up slowly as she realized what his power was.

He couldn’t only crush hearts with his ?st. He could draw the life force from a person. Not from her apparently—or he would have surely done so already—but he could draw her magic from her, slowly drain it like the draining Mark he’d placed on her had done. He would absorb every bit of power she threw at him until she had nothing left.

“You are my weapon,” Alaric said coldly. “I created you. I will have you back one way or another.”

He nodded at something over her shoulder, and she looked behind her to ?nd the seraph from the ship hovering. She’d been so focused on Alaric, so blinded by rage, she hadn’t heard him follow them to the sky. She threw one of her ice daggers at him, but his ?re magic melted it before it made contact. Turning back, she tried to keep track of Alaric as well, but he was gone. He must have Traveled. It wasn’t safe to assume anything, but she didn’t expect him to stay and do his own dirty work. That was clearly what this seraph was for.

She swung her shadow dragon around to face-off with the seraph, discarding the ice dagger and pulling a knife from her belt, sending white flames winding around the blade. She cocked it back to throw at him.

“They instructed me not to kill you,” he told her ominously, “but I will hurt you if required to incapacitate you.”

“He really didn’t prepare you for me at all, did he?” Scarlett simpered, sending the knife ?ying, aiming for his chest.

He shielded with ?ames of his own, but she’d expected that. She’d sent her white ?ames hurling for him directly behind the knife. White ?ames met with orange ?re, and the result of those two powers colliding threw her backward.

Her shadow dragon was quick to react, swooping under her and catching her, but she heard the muf?ed cries from below, her name being yelled. No one could reach her here. No one else could get into the sky like she could. Not without some wind magic.

She turned back to ?nd Alaric hovering in the air again, and she cursed. She would not win like this. Not with Alaric’s newly revealed power.

“Come home, Scarlett.” His tone was clipped and edgy. “Come home, and your friends live.”

“I’ve stopped believing anything you have to say,” she spat back. Alaric’s features darkened, the sharp lines of cheekbones going taut.

“So be it.”

Then he was gone, but only for the time it took Scarlett to blink. He appeared again to her left.

With a dozen seraphs.

And again to her right with the same. And then above Briar’s ship with more. And above the ship with the children.

Traveling with that many people had to be draining him. How much longer could he keep this up? And how did the Maraans replenish their gifts for that matter?

It dawned on her then. The Fae. They had to use the Fae the same way the Avonleyans did. There had been times when she and Nuri and Juliette had been ordered not to kill Fae targets, but to bring them back to the Fellowship for questioning. Scarlett had always assumed someone else had interrogated, tortured, and then killed them.

But she’d seen some held in the cells beneath the Fellowship. She’d never thought anything of it, believing Alaric had a good reason for keeping them alive. He’d always given her an explanation for why her targets had to die. The only time he hadn’t was when he’d wanted her to kill Sorin to earn the ending of her stay at the Tyndell Manor.

And it had all been lies. Just like everything else this male had fed her.

He appeared in front of her again, anger and victory glinting in his dark eyes. He stretched out a hand, drawing her shadows to him, and she felt her shadow dragon drop slightly. How the hell was he doing that?

A cruel smirk appeared on his face. “You think you have me all ?gured out, don’t you, Death’s Maiden? I still have cards up my sleeve. I am just as much under your skin as you are under mine. You cannot win. You will not beat me, but you can save those you care for.”

“You can drain my power?” she asked, trying to stall for time while she ?gured out what to do.

“I can,” he answered. “I can draw it to me and strengthen my own.

The stronger the magic I draw from, the stronger I become.”

He’d been feeding from her , she realized. He’d kept her locked up in the Fellowship for more than one reason.

With a wicked grin of her own, she replied, “Keep your cards close, Alaric. I’m coming for them all.”

Then she sucked every bit of her magic into herself and plummeted to the sea below.

She heard Alaric’s bellowed yell of fury and panic, her stomach in her throat, as she free-fell. She looked up to ?nd ?ve seraphs diving for her, their feathered wings pinned back. They were much bigger than her, gaining on her quickly.

She twisted so she was facing them, her back to the waves below, and sent white ?ames in their direction. Two shielded with ?ames, but the others veered off to avoid their feathers catching alight. She twisted back, ?nding the sea below much closer than she’d anticipated, and quickly grappled for her water magic. It wasn’t seamless enough yet though. She had been practicing ?ghting with her gifts, using her magic, but her water magic had always been her weakest power. Not that she was any less powerful with it, but she leaned on her Avonleyan gifts too heavily. They came more naturally to her, and she wasn’t as pro?cient with the Fae gifts that had been transferred to her.

She heard Cassius yelling her name and felt Sorin’s panic down the bond. She had to block him out to put all of her focus into her magic. Flipping again, she threw out her hands to try to draw up some water from the sea, but she was still ?fty feet above it. Her shadow dragon would never form in time to catch her at this rate. She could hear the seraphs drawing closer again.

And then water was surrounding her. An orb of water in midair, suspending her there. The outer layer of water froze solid, creating a shield, and she looked down to ?nd Briar’s eyes ?xed on her. He gestured towards his mouth and nose, and she knew he was telling her to make an air pocket. Because she could breathe underwater, like he’d always said she could, and a moment later, she was gasping down deep breaths to calm her racing heart. She was still stuck in midair, the seraphs hovering around her aquatic safety, but then the ?re seraphs began throwing ?ames of orange and yellow at the ice-encased bubble. She glanced back down at Briar, his features tight as he worked to hold the shield, and she sent her own water magic to work with his, reinforcing the outer layer of ice.

Until black ?ames were shooting past her.

She whirled inside that bubble of water to ?nd Cassius. In theair.

Dark leathery wings protruding from his back like... Ranvir’s.

Those were dragon wings.

She lurched forward, her hands coming up to the icy wall of the bubble. Her gaze connected with his good eye. But it wasn’t chocolate-brown. It was a deep amber-red color, his pupil a vertical slit, and it was glowing like her eyes did when her reserves were full.

More black ?ames sprung up around him, and he threw them at the nearest seraph. And then the seraph was gone, nothing but grey ashes on the wind drifting down to the sea.

“Fall back!”

Scarlett looked up to ?nd another seraph hovering above them all. He had brown wings and black hair knotted on top of his head. His grey eyes were ?xed on Cassius with hatred. Cass was reaching for her with one hand, motioning to her to lower her shield. His other hand was still raised, black ?ames at his ?ngertips, warning off the seraphs.

None of them made a move for her as she pulled back her magic and felt Briar’s slowly peeling away too. The Water Prince kept a sheet of ice at the base, giving her some place to stand, and she inched towards Cassius. The moment her ?ngers touched his outstretched hand, he was jerking her into him, an arm looping tightly around her waist. She felt Briar’s magic disappear, and then she was hanging in mid-air, her arms tight around her Guardian’s neck.

There was utter chaos all around them. The sounds of battle rang out below, but their attention was ?xed on the ?ve seraphs before them. Cassius’s wings beat harder to keep them aloft. She didn’t know how long he’d be able to keep hold of his gifts. This was the ?rst time he’d ever used them fully, and she did not know how he was controlling them right now. The ?rst time she’d accessed her gifts fully, it had been a disaster.

“How is one of Arius’s guards here?” the lead seraph demanded. The remaining four who had been trying to get to her were in formation behind him, their wings an array of colors.

“He is not full-blooded.”

Alaric’s angry snarl cut through the din, and he appeared next to the seraph. His lip curled back as he took her and Cassius in.

“Put your ?ames out,” she said to Cassius. “Now.”

He didn’t argue. It took him a few moments to do it, but the black ?ames at his ?ngertips disappeared.

“Then who is his father?” the seraph demanded again.

“I do not know, but we will ?gure it out. There are not many options. Sargon is very particular,” Alaric answered. His gaze lingered on Cassius a moment longer before he met her eyes again. “Looks like we both had cards revealed today, my Wraith.”

“The only thing I am of yours is your death,” she snarled back. She felt Cassius’s arm ?ex around her waist. He had to be getting tired. No one could maintain this much magic their ?rst time accessing it fully. He didn’t know how to draw from his power wells properly. Hell, she could scarcely manage that most days, and she’d been training with her gifts for months now.

Alaric seemed to almost appreciate the statement she’d made, a look of pride crossing his features. “You are exactly as I trained you up to be, Scarlett Monrhoe. Ruthless. Vindictive. A weapon . I will see you at home.”

He turned to the seraph beside him. “I want her brought to me. The rest can go to the bottom of the sea.”

The seraph nodded, a warrior following orders, and then Alaric Traveled. Scarlett knew he wouldn’t be back. Not this time.

The moment he was gone, she released her shadows, willing them to pool quickly into her dragon. The seraphs above were already attacking again, but none came for them.

“Let go of your magic, Cass,” she said. “My shadows will catch us.”

“Gladly,” he muttered, and a second later she was falling again, only to land on shadows a few moments later. They were directly above Briar’s ship, and she dove for the ship’s deck.

She leapt from the shadows, landing on her feet next to the Water Prince. Cassius landed beside them, immediately sinking to a knee and trying to catch his breath.

“You need blood,” she said, dropping to a crouch beside him, a hand coming to his back. She signaled to a Fae across the ship who began to make his way over. It was slow going though. He had to stop every few feet to defend against attacks.

“I can wait for Cyrus,” Cassius said.

She turned back to him. The wings were gone, but his eye was still glowing, the pupil still vertical.

“You’re still using your magic, Cass,” she insisted. “You need to stop, and you need blood now.”

“I will wait for Cyrus,” he repeated.

“Cassius! He is on another ship. We are in the middle of a battle—”

“Then get him over here,” Cassius snapped at her, and she drew back.

Cass was never like this. Ever. He was level-headed and logical. He only got like this when it involved her.

“I’ve never fed from another Fae,” Cassius grumbled. “Just... get Cyrus.”

Scarlett studied him for a fraction of a second longer, about to argue further, but then Briar was beside them.

“I hate to interrupt,” the Water Prince said tightly, two long spears of ice appearing in his hands. “But we have incoming, and my reserves are not at their fullest at the moment. I have brought Sawyer from the other ship to help.”

Scarlett looked up to ?nd several seraphs descending on their ship.

Can you get Cyrus to Briar’s ship? she sent down the bond. Cassius needs blood.

She glanced across the water to the ship Sorin and Cyrus were on, a unit of seraphs descending on them as well.

We’re coming.

That was all she got back, and she knew it could be a bit before they managed to ?nd a way to make it over here.

Cassius pushed to his feet, pulling his sword from his side. He met her eyes and jerked his chin, telling her to fall into position. They’d fought together hundreds of times, trained for hours together. It was like ?ghting with the Wraiths at her side.

She didn’t question him again, and she pivoted so they were back-to-back.

“Sawyer and I will bring them down,” Briar was saying as he began to make his way to one side of the ship. Sawyer was on the opposite side, seeming to wait for something. “You two can take care of them from there.”

“How will you bring—”

But her words were cut off as the Water Fae stretched their arms out over the sides of the ship. Sea water shot straight into the air, and as Scarlett watched them work, she realized she really needed to practice with her water magic more.

Briar sent ropes of water to the winged men, wrapping around necks, ankles, and wrists, pulling them to the decks of the ships. Some seraphs seemed to know the attack was coming and dodged at the last minute, but three of the seraphs weren’t so lucky. As they hit the deck, Scarlett wasted no time using her magic to set wings ablaze and sending shadows down throats, while Cassius severed heads and made sure the seraphs stayed incapacitated long enough for her to ?nish them with ?ames.

Instead of using ropes of water, Sawyer sent his water magic pouring down on a seraph like a tidal wave, water-logging the feathers of its wings. The seraph plummeted from the sky. If they didn’t hit the deck, Scarlett froze them solid before they hit the water. They bobbed there, and Scarlett almost laughed at the image of ?oating seraph cubes. That would hold them until they could ?nish them off later.

White ?ames leapt from her hand to another set of feathered wings as Cassius plunged his sword through its chest then severed its head. Cass was pale and breathing hard. So was she, but not like him.

Sorin! Where is Cyrus?

We’re trying, Love. He sounded out of breath even down the bond, and Scarlett spared a glance at his ship again. They were holding their own ?ne enough, and the number of seraphs above Briar’s ships was down to three.

She clamped a hand onto Cassius and pulled him through the air, Traveling to Sorin’s side. Her boots hit the deck, and she was promptly sending white ?ames at a seraph diving for her twin ?ame. Sorin whirled, and relief ?ashed through his golden eyes when they landed on her. Her chest loosened some at seeing him whole and unharmed.

“Cyrus!” she cried, looking around wildly for him. Cassius had immediately sunk to his knees when they’d landed on the ship. She threw up a shield of shadows to keep them somewhat protected from the chaos.

A moment later, the Fire Second was at their side. He didn’t say a word, just dropped down beside Cassius. “Gods, Cass,” she heard him mutter, slicing a dagger down his forearm. “We’re not bothering with a cup. Drink.” He brought his arm to Cassius’s lips, and Cass didn’t argue with him. Just latched his mouth to his arm and drank deeply. Cyrus lifted his other hand as if he was going to cup Cassius’s head before he dropped it to his shoulder instead.

“You should ?ll your reserves too,” Sorin said, pulling her attention away from the males before her. He’d snatched up Cyrus’s bow and was sending an arrow ?ying at an incoming seraph.

“She most certainly should not,” Cyrus snapped, glaring up at the Fire Prince.

“Keep out of it, Cyrus,” Sorin shot back.

“What do I need to know?” Scarlett asked, sending a pack of shadow wolves to take care of a seraph trying to get through her shield. Her reserves were depleted, and there were still at least a dozen seraphs in the sky, not to mention the ones on the ships. How many were on the other ships? The children?

As if in answer to that question, Rayner appeared amid the ashes of a seraph left burning on the ship to their right.

And he looked pissed.

Cyrus and Sorin both went preternaturally still as they took in the Ash Rider.

“We need you,” Rayner gritted out, and Scarlett’s stomach dropped to her toes. “Not all the children were accounted for when we got there. Several were missing, including Tula.”

No. That little girl had endured enough trauma in her life, just like Eva. She had survived too much. If she was...

A sharp pain along her palm had her sucking in a breath, and Sorin placed her hand over the Mark on his arm, mixing their blood. She sighed deeply at feeling her magic wells ?ll, and she leaned against Sorin. Heat from his ?re magic ?ooded her, but her eyes stayed on Rayner.

“They are being held until you come and trade yourself for their freedom,” he said. His grey eyes were veiled and stormy, his features sharp and terrifying.

She was already Traveling to the ship Callan and Tava were on, Sorin in tow as she ?lled as much of her reserves as she could. The ship they appeared on was as chaotic as the others. Drake and Callan were above deck, guarding the door to get below deck. Neve was guarding them and somehow Auberon was here too.

Eliza was currently engaged with two seraphs, her ?ames and swords moving seamlessly in sync with each other. She sent her ?ames wrapping around the neck of one of the seraphs, while simultaneously blocking an attack from the other one. The one with her ?ames reached up and snuffed her ?re out, and Scarlett had to assume he had some type of wind magic, able to suck the air from the ?ames. He moved to attack her from behind, but before Scarlett could open her mouth to yell a warning, Eliza was pulling a second sword from ?ames and plunging it through the man’s gut, ?ames still wreathed around the blade.

Well then.

She was going to make Eliza teach her that move tomorrow.

She tried to pull her hand from Sorin’s arm, but he held on to her wrist, keeping it there.

“Sorin, you need to keep some magic. I cannot drain you right now,” she said in disbelief. This was exactly why she had argued against him becoming her Source in the ?rst place. She couldn’t imagine having a Source bond with anyone else, but in the heat of battle, it was rather stupid to be weakening him. Especially when he had recently died.

Gods! He had recently died .

She yanked her hand away from his arm at the thought. He needed his magic as much as she did. He gave her a hard look when he met her eyes, and she knew he was feeling her panic and guilt down the bond. She scrambled, trying to block it, but there was too much going on around her. She couldn’t focus the way she needed to in order to block the bond. He was already gripping her chin, forcing her to hold his stare.

“Stop. Now. Do not feel guilty for taking what you need from me,” he ordered in a low tone.

And somehow, even in the midst of battle, she could feel everything they were. He calmed her soul. His touch made her breathe easier. His words settled into her bones.

“Where are they?” he asked, looking over her shoulder.

She turned her head, Sorin’s ?ngers drifting along her jaw as she did. Rayner was behind them, and he jerked his chin towards the back of the ship. The three of them began stalking that way, and Rayner ?lled them in on what he knew.

“We have held this ship well. Briar summoned Sawyer a bit ago. I assume that was to aid you,” he said, glancing down at Scarlett.

She nodded. “Alaric said some interesting things we need to discuss when this is over.”

“What else?” Sorin asked as they ran up a set of steps.

“Drake and Callan came up when they realized some children were missing. They haven’t been able to get back below. Tava is still down there with the others.”

“How many do they have?” Scarlett asked.

“From what I was able to gather, three.”

“I don’t understand. Haven’t you seen them?”

“No.”

“Then how—”

But she stopped speaking when Sorin’s voice echoed in her mind.

He tortured a seraph for that information. Likely several until he found out what he wanted to know. Rayner is not in control right now.

Scarlett nodded subtly in understanding. She had been told Rayner rarely lost control, but that when he did, he left carnage in his wake. She could see the truth in that now.

“The last one told me to come to the back of this ship. That we would ?nd them there,” Rayner was saying.

She nodded, and they slowed to cautiously climb the last set of stairs. When they reached the top, they went still. There were at least a dozen seraphs there, wings flared out behind them. The two on the end each had a child, and the one in the very center held Tula. The other two children were crying, tears streaming down their faces. Both were older than Tula by a couple of years, but Tula’s face was set with determination. There were no tear trails down her face despite her entire body shaking. There were scratches and bruises on her arms and legs that suggested she had fought. This tiny girl had fought against her captors.

Her baby blue eyes skimmed over them before settling on Rayner. It was only then that Scarlett saw the girl’s lower lip wobble slightly.

The two children on the ends were suddenly shoved towards them, Scarlett and Sorin each catching one in their arms. One seraph stepped forward, his white wings splattered with dirt and blood.

“We released those two in good faith,” he said. “The last one remains with us until we return you and receive word from our Lord to release her.”

“Not an option,” Scarlett bit back, shoving the child she held behind her. She heard Sorin murmuring softly to them, but couldn’t pay attention to what he was saying.

“Then she dies and we retrieve you by force,” the seraph said with a shrug.

At those words, a small whimper came from Tula’s lips.

“Brave girl.” Scarlett’s gaze slid to Rayner, but he was looking intently at Tula. “Do you remember what I told you?”

Scarlett looked back at the little girl, who was nodding slightly. Her tiny body was trembling violently now, and two tears slipped down her face. But her eyes stayed ?xed on Rayner. She may have been terri?ed, but that was pure trust shining there.

“Good. I need you to do exactly what I showed you and closeyour eyes. Keep them closed until I say. Are you ready, brave girl?”

“Rayner—” Scarlett started, reaching out to stop him from whatever he was about to do. They couldn’t risk Tula getting hurt. They couldn’t—

But a moment later, her eyes went wide as she watched Rayner unleash hell.

Tula had reached up to the necklace she and Sorin had made when they had traded for the amulet she had worn. The amulet had been one of the Avonleyan keys, but the child had been reluctant to give it up. So Sorin had suggested a trade. They had created a beautiful necklace combining their gifts, but apparently Rayner had added his own magic to the creation, because there was the smallest trace of smoke wafting from it now.

And that was all the Ash Rider needed.

In the blink of an eye, Rayner had moved from Scarlett’s side. He reappeared in front of the seraph to the left of Tula, his blade slicing through his throat. Blood sprayed. But before a drop of it had hit the deck of the ship, Rayner had disappeared again, appearing behind the seraph to the right of Tula.

He didn’t use a blade this time.

The seraph’s eyes ?ew wide. He opened his mouth, but all that came out of it was a dribble of blood. The seraph dropped to the deck, and Rayner stood there, the seraph’s heart in one hand and another organ in the other. The seraph’s liver maybe? Scarlett had no idea. He released the organs, and they turned to ashes that slowly ?uttered down to rest over the seraph’s still body.

Rayner was already moving through the smoke and ashes again. He was moving so fast, Scarlett couldn’t track him. She could swear he was some place else every time she blinked as two more seraphs fell to the ground. In her next breath, the head of the seraph holding Tula was falling from his neck as two blades cut clean through it. The seraph’s body went lax, his hands releasing the child. Rayner sheathed the blades down his back before tossing the headless body to the side and scooping Tula into his arms.

The little girl wrapped her tiny arms tight around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. She still had her eyes squeezed tightly shut, and Rayner was murmuring into her ear. Blood was spattered across his face, and red coated his hands.

Because he had ripped out organs. Good gods.

Rayner had reached through a man’s back and ripped vital organs from his body.

His strange eyes were swirling faster than Scarlett had ever seenas they settled onto her. “Rain hell on these bastards, your -Majesty.”

His words snapped her from her awe, because she was seriously amazed by what she had just seen. She was going to need to know exactly what the fuck had just happened, but ?rst, she had her own hell to unleash.

Pulling every last bit of her magic to the surface, she sent shadow snakes slithering across the deck. The remaining seraphs tried to take ?ight, but she’d already encased their feet in ice, freezing them to the deck. Their wings strained, trying to break them free, but her snakes were winding up their legs, around their torsos. They slithered higher and higher until they reached their mouths. Sorin’s power coiled around hers, making their wings smolder, and when they opened their mouths to scream, her shadow snakes entered. As they slithered down their throats, she turned them to white ?ames.

Their screams didn’t last long.

An arm slipped around her waist, and she leaned into Sorin. Rayner had disappeared at some point with Tula and the other two children, leading them away from the carnage.

Cassius and Cyrus appeared at their sides, Cassius reaching to tip her chin up. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. “We got here in time.”

Cassius nodded, his eye sweeping over her. It was still a vertical pupil, but it no longer glowed. The amber-red color was dull and muddied, almost back to its usual brown color.

“We checked on the other ships before we came here,” Cyrus was saying to Sorin. “Luan was taking care of the last seraph on our ship. Briar and Sawyer have their ship secured. Eliza and Neve had three left here. Auberon was helping them. We found no signs of them anywhere else. Cassius pressed stronger wards out around the ships once his magic had recovered enough to do so. When he’s fully replenished, we will look through books and ?nd ways to strengthen them even more.”

“How many did we lose?” Scarlett asked, trying to catch her breath. She was bent forward, hands on her knees. Sorin was running his hand up and down her spine.

There was a tense silence before Cyrus cleared his throat slightly. “Other than Nakoa, we do not know for sure. But we did lose some. Normally Nakoa reported that.”

Scarlett squeezed her eyes closed, breathing deep. The Water Commander had not been her biggest fan. In fact, he’d ?at out told her he didn’t think she should be leading their Courts, that she hadn’t proven herself to be worthy of such a position. But he’d been loyal to his Court and loyal to Briar. He’d been an excellent warrior and leader. She might not have been close to the Fae, but her Inner Court had been.

“Let’s go talk to Briar. Figure out what we need to do from here,” she said, straightening. Sorin’s hand fell to the small of her back.

“Can you Travel us?” Sorin asked Cassius. “She is too drained.”

Cassius nodded, reaching for her hand, but Cyrus was giving Sorin a dark look. She brie?y wondered about that, but there were far more pressing matters that needed to be dealt with now. Because as she looked at her Guardian once again, she realized how Alaric and Balam had likely tracked them down.