Page 2

Chapter 2

Scarlett

S he knew where she was. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know where Shirina had sent her when she’d breathed the essence of Saylah, goddess of night and shadows, into her soul. She could feel the too soft grass beneath her. She could smell the darkness of the night surrounding her. She expected to hear the cry of an eagle.

It never came. “Scarlett.”

She didn’t open her eyes at the sound of his voice either. The Lord of Night.

He could go to hell just like she’d told the panther.

On second thought, no. That’s where she was. She didn’t want company here.

Hell. Eternal damnation. The Pits of Torment. Didn’t really matter what it was called. That had to be where she was. Because a world without him? That was her own personal purgatory of suffering.

So she didn’t open her eyes when the beautiful man from her dreams and the mirror gate said her name again. She just lay there. Numb and lost in the nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. A nightmare she’d never wake up from.

At least here she’d stopped screaming.

Maybe you couldn’t scream in the Pits. Maybe that was part of the torment. You could only scream in your mind. No outlet. No way to give voice to the never-ending anguish and soul-shredding pain. Could only let it drive you even more mad until you were nothing.

She was nothing anymore anyway. “Scarlett.”

His voice was sharper. Harsher. Urgent. “Scarlett, please. Hope is not lost.” Hope.

There was no hope in hell.

The air stirred beside her, and there were hands on her face.

“Scarlett, please,” he begged. “Arius has not yet claimed his soul, but if you do not open your godsdamn eyes it will be too late.”

“You speak as if he has not crossed the Veil,” she croaked out, her voice raspy and hoarse from the screaming.

“He has, but only just. He has not crossed fully to the After. There is still time.”

Scarlett slowly opened her eyes to ?nd silver ones peering down at her, full of concern and panic.

“I know it hurts, Star?re, but you need to get up. You need to call him back. He cannot ?nd you if you stop calling for him.”

He pulled a dagger from his boot, slicing it across his palm before reaching for her hand. She didn’t feel the gash along her own skin as he once again mixed their blood in her palm. He began tracing a Mark on his forearm, above a Mark that matched her own. The Mark that he had given her to awaken her Avonleyan magic.

The Mark he drew was a circle with two interlocking circles inside it. Scarlett watched him, not really seeing or caring what he was doing. When he reached for her arm, her eyes fell closed again.

How soon does a person go mad when their soul is shattered into nothing? Would it truly only take mere hours? Had it even been an hour? For some reason she’d thought it would take longer. Silly really when she thought about it. Without a soul, could a person really even be considered sane?

“Stay with me, Star?re,” he said, his ?nger gliding along her arm.

“How do you know that name?”

His movement paused for a fraction of a second before he continued drawing on her ?esh. “I will tell you the answer to that when I can tell you my name.”

“I don’t really care,” she sighed as he withdrew his ?nger. “It doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”

“Scarlett Aditya, open your eyes.”

The sound of his surname made her entire body jerk. Her eyes ?ew wide, and she lurched for the Lord of Night. To do what, she wasn’t quite sure. Hit him? Scream at him? Anything to release the torrent of emotions crashing over the scattered remains of her soul and slowly drowning her.

He caught her wrists, bringing his face right in front of hers, their brows nearly touching. “Listen to me, Scarlett. Focus and listen.” He paused for a moment, holding her stare. When she didn’t look away, he continued. “He can come back. He has not fully crossed, but you must call him home.”

“I don’t understand,” she whispered.

“I know you don’t, and I cannot explain everything. There is not time. We waste seconds at this very moment. When you wake, Altaria will be there. He has a vial tied to his leg. Drink it. It will activate this Mark,” he said, releasing one wrist to run his ?ngers along the new Mark on her skin. “When you have done so, use the Source Mark.”

“The Source Mark?” she balked, shaking her head. “I cannot draw from him. That would—”

But he was shaking his head too. “The Source Mark works both ways, Scarlett. As he could give to you, you can give to him. Call him home.”

“And then?”

He ran a hand over her hair, cupping the back of her head. He brought his brow to hers as he said, “Then remember, Star?re, that hope is for the dreamers.”

Scarlett’s eyes ?ew open. Cassius and Cyrus were leaning over her, concern and terror ?lling golden eyes and a chocolate brown one. Cassius still had his eye patch over his injured eye that would never heal. She moved to push herself up, but Cassius’s hands were on her shoulders.

“Easy, Seastar. Take it easy,” he murmured. “Just take a moment to—”

But she was pushing his hands from her body, trying to see around him, looking to the sky where no stars were visible among the night. If she could just see a glimpse of dark movement. Just to know it had been real. To know that it hadn’t been a dream...

“Scarlett,” Cyrus was saying, trying to pull her back down. “I know you are not okay. I know none of this is okay, but—”

He barked a curse when she caught him in the chest with her ?st, scrambling away from them before either male realized what had happened.

“How does she have that kind of strength right now?” Cassius muttered.

“I don’t think she realizes what she’s doing at the moment,” Cyrus replied. “I scarcely remember a thing the hours and days after Thia died.”

Scarlett ?inched at the word.

Died.

No.

No, no, no.

It wasn’t an option. If he was going to the After, she was going with him. If whatever the Lord of Night was doing failed, she would follow her twin ?ame across the Veil. He wasn’t leaving her here alone. He wasn’t leaving her in the darkness. He had made a promise, and godsdamnit, he was going to keep it. Always be a you and me. That’s what he had said. Always.

She was on her feet, scanning the sky, straining to hear anything. The others were murmuring behind her. She didn’t know what they were saying. She didn’t care. Her only focus was the sky. And when the cry of an eagle reached her ears, a sob escaped her lips.

Altaria was soaring straight for her and diving fast, as though he was going after prey. She lifted her arm for him, and a second later, talons were curling around it. One of the ?re Fae had lit a few small ?res in the surrounding sand; and in the ?ickering light of the ?ames, she could see a vial tied to the eagle’s leg, just as the Lord of Night had said it would be.

“Scarlett... ?” Cyrus started.

But she said nothing. She could focus on nothing else. Only this. This one thing. This one possible star.

Her ?ngers began trembling when she saw her twin ?ame Mark beginning to fade from her skin. Panic snaked along her being because if that Mark was fading, he was already gone. She was too late. He was gone, and she was still here. A you and a me. Separate. Apart. A world without him in it.

She was trying to untie the vial from the eagle’s leg, but her ?ngers wouldn’t work right; and her legs were going to give out; and she was going to vomit because a you and a me.

A you. And a me.

Then hands were brushing hers gently aside. Dark ?ngers were working the knot, and icy blue eyes void of their usual twinkle met hers when he closed her ?st around the tiny glass container.

“Bring him back, Sunshine,” Briar said. How he knew what she was trying to do, she didn’t care.

“She cannot bring him back,” Hazel cut in. Even the High Witch’s usually stern voice was softer, kinder. Just as blunt, but full of pity. “His heart stopped. Moments ago. While she slept.”

He has not crossed fully to the After. There is still time.

She pulled the cork from the vial, drinking down what she immediately recognized as blood.

Blood that tasted dark and cold, of night and death, of wildness and the unknown.

There is still time.

Those four words were the only thing she focused on. Anything else, and she’d slip into the nothingness once more. She’d give in to the hysteria raking at her, slithering through her veins, sinking in deep.

The new Mark ?ared slightly, and Cassius stepped forward, taking her forearm in his hand.

“How did you get this?” he murmured, his thumb brushing along the Mark.

She felt it then. He’d fed. His power reserves were brimming with something ?erce and intense and hot . She glanced at Cyrus, a slice on his forearm still visible con?rming her suspicion.

She’d never been able to sense the power of another magic-wielder before. But she could feel all of them. The ?ames of Cyrus and Eliza. Rayner’s strange ashes and smoke. Briar’s water and ice that matched her own. The High Witch’s healing gifts.

She met Cassius’s gaze, unable to ?gure out what kind of power she was feeling from him, but she wasn’t focused enough to even try to work out that puzzle. Whatever Cass saw in her eyes, though, had him taking a step back. Cyrus apparently saw it too, because he was rushing forward, ?ames swirling from his palm and reaching towards her.

But she was already moving. She was not entirely sure what this Mark did that the Lord of Night had given her, but it was night itself that pooled in her hand. Not her shadows, but pure darkness, absorbing the light of Cyrus’s ?ames.

“Scarlett!” Cassius cried, his eye going wide in disbelief.

Her gaze ?icked back to him, and her shadows did appear then. They leapt from her to her Guardian, latching on and sinking in deep to his freshly ?lled magic wells. He grunted, falling to a knee, hands hitting the sand to hold himself up, as she pulled deeply, seeking out every last ounce of his magic.

“Scarlett! Stop!” Cyrus was shouting, dropping down beside Cassius as if he could somehow shield him.

Hands were reaching for her. Eliza. Rayner. Her shadows held them back.

Water and ice tried to restrain her. The darkness absorbed it all.

Her own power wells were ?lling, gorging on Cassius’s gifts, and she moved to Sorin’s side. Dropping to her knees, she reached for a dagger in her boot, but it wasn’t there. All of her weapons were gone. She saw Eliza shift in her periphery, moving to try and block all of her weapons piled in the sand.

A wicked sneer formed on her lips as she met the Fae general’s grey eyes, and Eliza seemed to shrink back from her. They’d tried to prepare for her wrath. For the whirlwind of rage and grief that was working to encompass her.

There was no preparing for her storm.

If she could stop this, if she could keep him on this side of the Veil, no one was going to stop her. Not the Fire General. Not her family. Not the gods. And certainly not the fucking Fates.

She reached for a knife Sorin had sheathed at his thigh. Rotating his arm, she found the Source Mark. She ran the blade across the Mark before cutting her palm. And then, like the night she gave him this Mark, she poured her magic into him. Every last bit of embers. Every drop of water and ice. Every shadow. Every white ?ame. All of the dark and cold thing that had come from the Lord of Night. All of her healing gifts as an Avonleyan. She gave it all to Sorin. Every piece that was left of her shattered soul.

“You promised me, Sorin Aditya,” she rasped between breaths. “There would be no more goodbyes. There would always be a you and me. You promised. I cannot live in a world without you. I will not do it. Come back.” Her voice broke on the last words, tears slipping down her face from the draining of her power and strain on her heart. “Come back to me. You promised.”

Someone tried to pull her away, but she threw them back with her shadows that were still drawing from Cassius.

“Scarlett. Enough.” That was Cyrus’s voice in her ear, full of anguish and panic, but steady and ?rm. “Scarlett, stop. He cannot come back. And I know that pain. I know—gods, I know what you are feeling right now—but you are killing Cassius by trying to change this. You are killing him, Scarlett. Do you hear me? Please hear me.” He was begging, pleading with her.

“He promised, Cyrus,” she gritted out, power still pouring from her and into her twin ?ame.

“I know, Scarlett. I know he did.”

“No more goodbyes.”

“There will be another one if you do not stop.”

His hands were on her face, trying to force her gaze to his, but her eyes were ?xed on Sorin’s chest. This had to work. He had said it wasn’t too late. That there was still time. He had said to have hope. He had said...

“That is not possible,” came a gasp from the High Witch.

And she saw it then. She saw the smallest movement of Sorin’s chest.

Hazel was dropping down on Sorin’s other side, white light ?aring from her hands as Cyrus’s hands slipped from her cheeks.

“His heart beats, yes?” Scarlett panted, continuing to pour power into him. She didn’t dare stop until she knew for sure.

“It does. It should not, but it does,” she replied.

“You can heal the wound now? You can... heal him,” she managed between labored breaths, her gaze shifting to the High Witch. “Tell me that, Hazel. Tell me that he will live.”

Violet eyes met hers. “His heartbeat grows stronger with each passing second. I do not know what deal you made with Arius in your dreams or what cost is to be paid, but he will live, young queen. Your twin ?ame will live.”

And that was all she needed to hear.

She collapsed beside the one star she was unwilling to live without, nestling into his side, and slipped back into her blessed darkness.