Page 37

Chapter 36

Scarlett

S carlett Traveled them all through the air, across a sea, to the center of the continent. They emerged exactly where she’d wanted to— a good two miles away from the Eternal Necropolis. This entire part of Rydeon was ?at plains. There really wasn’t any place to hide, which only added to the need to come in under the cover of darkness. They had likely already caused some ward somewhere to go off, alerting Alaric to their presence. They needed to get moving.

But Traveling that far with so many people was a lot, and she was breathing hard when she jerked her chin at Rayner, sending him off to spy in the smoke and ashes. Her hands were braced on her knees as she worked to control her breathing. Cassius gripped her upper arm, and she glanced up at him.

“You good, Seastar?”

She nodded, her gaze cutting to Cyrus. The two had been... different since they had argued about Cassius obtaining a Source again. Cassius hadn’t spoken of it to her, acting as if nothing had happened. Cyrus had told her he still refused but that he wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea anymore, whatever the hell that meant. It was something she’d worry about when they got back.

Cyrus was watching them from where he stood by Drake, Eliza on the other side of the Rydeon King. His lips pressed to a thin line, and she knew he’d rather it was him at her side than Razik. Sorin’s loyal Second, wanting to watch out for his prince’s twin ?ame.

She could feel her bond with Sorin stretched taut but that was about it. She tried to speak to him, to let him know they were here and had made it okay, but the words seemed to fade away down the bond. When she didn’t get a response, she could only assume it meant he had not heard her.

Which meant their bond was weakening as he weakened.

She shook her head as she straightened, clearing her thoughts. This ?rst. Then Sorin. One thing at a time. The whole point of asking Sorin to stay back was so that her focus wouldn’t be split.

Rayner appeared a moment later, his swirling eyes ?nding hers in the darkness. “There are ?ve seraphs at the entrance. One had water magic, the others I did not see. I suspect there are more in the sky, but with the cloud cover, I cannot tell.”

“Once we’re inside the Necropolis, the walls are tall and the passages narrow. It gives us an advantage. They won’t just be able to drop in on us,” Scarlett said, reaching behind her to pull her hood up over her head. “Rayner will scout ahead, Azrael and Callan at the front once we are inside the Necropolis. I’ll be right behind them with Cass and Razik. Briar at the end with Hale and Drake between him and Eliza and Cyrus. If this works, you should have access to your magic immediately. If Alaric shows up, snuff out any power so he cannot draw from it,” she ordered. “Do not engage him. If something seems off, ask someone nearby. Remember Lord Tyndell can alter reality. Whether or not he can in?ltrate more than one person’s mind at a time, I cannot answer. Let’s hope not. Any questions?”

“Let’s get going,” Azrael gritted out. “The sooner we can have access to our magic here the better.”

Scarlett nodded. The Fae were all taking not having their magic fairly well. They knew what to expect after coming last time, were prepared for it as much as they could be, but they were all depending on this to work. In short, they were all depending on her.

“Let’s start a ?re,” she purred, shadow wolves forming in front of her and prowling ahead as Rayner disappeared among smoke again. Cassius and Razik fell into step beside her. Callan and Azrael would take the lead once they were inside the Necropolis. For now, it was her and the dragons.

Everything was quiet for the ?rst mile, the braziers outside the Necropolis entrance burning bright and getting bigger as they got closer. She tensed as she felt her shadows begin to vibrate. Her shadow wolves lunged ahead into the dark, and a second later two grunts of pain ?lled the air. She was sending star?re into the void in front of them, wings of two seraphs catching alight moments before black ?ames devoured them both in seconds. Turning to Cassius, she smiled darkly at him, his hand still raised. She turned to Razik, who seemed to have stopped mid-step.

“Problem?” she asked.

“Currently wondering why you needed me to come with you for this,” he replied.

She reached up and patted his shoulder. “Are you sad we didn’t save you one?”

“Don’t touch me.”

Scarlett snorted, her wolves pacing in front of them. She sent them ahead as they all began moving again. Rayner appeared when they were a few hundred feet from the steps of the Necropolis. -Cassius moved down, allowing Rayner to walk beside her.

“They are waiting for us. They summoned more. There are ten now,” he reported.

She nodded. “Do they know how many we have with us?”

“No. Their scouts did not return,” he said darkly.

“Nice work.”

She nodded, turning to speak over her shoulder. “Keep the kings protected. I will have shields around them, but someone is by their sides at all times. I’ll light up the area when we reach the base of the steps. Briar and Azrael, ?nd the water seraph and take care of him. I’ll set wings on ?re to keep them on the ground until someone can deal with them. Cass and Razik will help as much as needed, but we’re all trying to reserve power. Blades through throats and chests work, but you’ll get one chance. They are trained to take down whoever they can when they go down.”

They knew all this, but it never hurt to repeat the plan one more time. There was quiet acknowledgment, the mortal kings letting them do their thing. Callan and Drake were used to this, but she idly wondered what Hale was thinking. She was certain he hadn’t experienced real-world battle. He might have trained and watched some of the Avonleyans train, but this? Being in the thick of it? When would he have ever experienced that?

A few feet from the base of the steps, she tossed star?re into the sky. The top of the steps lit up, a line of ten seraphs waiting at the top, just like Rayner had said. She didn’t stop, didn’t pause. Shecontinued up, one step after another, her wolves a step in front of her.

“A welcoming party just for us?” she asked. “How thoughtful.”

She watched their eyes skate over all of them behind her, taking them in, calculating. She was halfway up the steps when one near the center said, “How will you do anything when we will take care of this from the air?” At his words, half of the seraphs took to the sky, arrows nocked into bows and aimed at them. “You can save a lot of lives by sitting quietly until your master gets here.”

“That’s cute,” she mused, getting a shield in place around all of them. “Apparently your master neglected to tell you about my dragon friend over here. His ?re turned your pals back there to ash in seconds.”

“We know about the Witch child,” the seraph sneered again. “Why do you think all the arrows are aimed at him?”

“Oh, I meant the other one,” she said, nodding in Razik’s direction. She brought her hand up to her mouth, mock whispering behind her hand. “Between you and me, he’s a little crabby about not getting a kill back there, so I think we’ll let him have ?rst shot at your friends. That seems fair, right?”

Razik slowly turned to look at her incredulously, his eyes already glowing bright blue, pupils vertical. She smiled sweetly. “Well?”

He rolled his eyes, wings ripping from his back and scales rippling across his body as he shot into the air. Two seraphs were ashes before they even realized what had happened. Cassius was in the air the next moment, Cyrus moving to his place seamlessly as they reached the top of the steps. Arrows bounced off her shield in front of them, and she felt the same hit her shields around the mortal kings. She looked up, ?nding Cassius and Razik engaged with the two remaining seraphs in the air.

She drew the spirit sword from her back, star?re winding around the blade. “That one,” she said to Cyrus. “We’ll do him ?rst.”

There was a seraph with earth magic attempting to get past her shield, but a moment later, his wings were ?ames. She dropped the shield at the exact moment Cyrus struck out, cutting a wing from his back in one clean swipe. The other landed on the ground as Scarlett sliced down from his throat to his navel, blood spraying and insides falling to the ground.

“By Anala,” Cyrus said. “You couldn’t just slit his throat, -Darling?”

“He’s the one who insinuated I had a master,” she sneered, the star?re burning away the blood on her blade.

“Fair enough,” he said as Cassius and Razik landed beside them.

She turned to see Rayner behind another, a dagger going across the seraph’s throat. She sent star?re to ?nish the seraph as he grappled at his throat, blood running between his ?ngers.

The mortal kings had been herded off to the side. Briar, Azrael, and Eliza were in front of them, engaged with the remaining three seraphs.

“One for each of us,” she mused, stalking forward. “I will still be in the lead that way.”

“The lead for what?” Razik asked.

“The most kills,” she answered with a wide grin, star?re igniting down her sword once more.

Until all three seraphs went up in black ?ames in front of her. She turned to Razik, her mouth gaping. “You took my kill.”

“Now I’m in the lead,” he said with a shrug.

“You motherfu—”

“Let’s get going,” Azrael said, cutting her off as he and Callan moved to the archway. “I want my godsdamn magic so I can do something here.”

Scarlett grumbled under her breath, moving to follow.

That entire ?ght had taken less than ?ve minutes, but that had been her using her gifts alongside Cassius and Razik. There were Fae here to re?ll from if needed, and she could draw from Cassius, but none of that was ideal. Frankly, Azrael was right. They needed to get going. That had worked for a small number of seraphs, but if there were more waiting for them inside, it was going to get dicey.

They moved through the passageways quietly, Scarlett remembering most of the twists and turns. It still took nearly an hour to get to the center, but as soon as they reached it, it felt like she could breathe again. The passageways were so narrow, and they immediately fanned out around the circular chamber. Her eyes instantly went to the mirror gate where she’d seen the man last time. Now it only re?ected the room back to her. She moved closer, ?ngers running over the various symbols around it.

“Do you know how they work?” she asked Razik beside her.

“How what works?” he asked, sounding annoyed like always.

She jerked her chin at the mirror. “The mirror gates. Is this one only connected to one other mirror? Or can you talk to people wherever there is one of these mirrors? If I wanted to talk to Cethin, could I do that right now?”

Razik blinked at her. “There are different mirrors in different kingdoms that can only be activated by Avonleyans. You speak into the god’s symbol. The person you are trying to contact has to be connected to that god.”

Her brow furrowed. When she had spoken to Cethin through the one in the Wind Citadel, she had been studying Temural’s symbol. Cethin was bonded to Altaria, Temural’s spirit animal, so that made sense, she supposed. But she hadn’t been studying any of the symbols last time, which could only mean the man on the other side had called to her. He had seemed as surprised as she had though.

She found Arius’s symbol, running her ?ngers over it. He had to be a descendent of Arius. The blackness that had seeped from his ?ngertips was like Cethin’s— shadows dark as night, inky and thick. She watched carefully, holding her breath, but no emerald eyes appeared in the mirror to stare back at her.

“Are there only mirrors in our world? Or could I summon someone in another world?” she asked.

“Do we not have more important things to be doing?” Razik asked, crossing his arms. “Cethin can give a history lesson on the mirrors later. When I’m not around.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes, taking one last look at the mirror gate before moving to the stone table at the center of the room. She pulled a scroll from some shadows, unrolling it across the table. A map of the continent spread out before them, and Azrael found some stones to place on each corner to keep it from rolling closed.

She had been practicing the Mark for days now, making sure it was perfect. The mortal kings had been practicing it too. She would still monitor and instruct them, but at least this wouldn’t be their ?rst time drawing it. She would draw it ?rst, one on each of the mortal kingdoms on the map. They would have to trace it with their blood over their respective country.

Azrael held out his palm, a piece of charcoal in it, and she began to sketch the one in Rydeon ?rst. That was the only one that was for sure going to work since they were currently in Rydeon, and it would be the one to give the Fae access to their gifts.

She carefully outlined the Mark, checking it over three times before looking up to summon Drake. She pressed her lips together when she found him standing in front of the tombs of King Dalton and Queen Octavia. Drake’s hands were in his pockets as he stared at the words etched into stone. Then he slowly reached out and skated his ?ngers over a third one. The tomb of the Crown Prince. What was supposed to be his tomb.

“Drake,” she said softly. “It’s time.”

“Scarlett,” Eliza gritted out. “We have company.”

She turned, eyes going to the mirror gate instinctively, but there wasn’t anyone in the mirror.

Only leaning beside it.

Dressed in all black, gloves in place, ?ipping a dagger in her hand. “For fuck’s sake,” Scarlett sighed. “What are you doing here, Nuri?”

“Here’s the thing,” Nuri said, tossing the dagger into the air. “I was positive we had the foolish Fae Queen tucked away for safekeeping, yet I think you might actually be the stupid one.” She slid the dagger into a sheath on her thigh. “What the fuck are you doing back here, Scarlett?”

“I have some things to take care of, Sister,” she replied tightly. “So if you could kindly fuck off, that’d be great.”

Nuri pulled her hood back, her honey-colored eyes sliding to Azrael. “Plant Prince, you’re looking well. Your queen will be glad to hear that.”

“My queen stands beside me,” Azrael gritted out.

Nuri’s brows shot up, while Scarlett clamped down on her own surprise, keeping her gaze trained on Nuri. Sure, he’d made the Blood Vow, but she had never expected him to claim her as his queen over Talwyn.

“That is an interesting development,” Nuri quipped. She took a few steps forward, and Azrael, Cassius, and Razik tensed around Scarlett. Nuri smirked. Her gaze slid around the room as she said, “Three mortals in your company.” She raised a ?nger, pointing at Callan beside Azrael. “Prince Callan. Or is it King? Or just Callan? I really don’t know anymore.”

“King,” Callan said tightly.

“Cute,” Nuri replied, her eyes moving and her ?nger with them. “Drake. Nice to see you, but silly of you to come here.” Her gaze and ?nger moved again, settling on Hale. “You, however, I do not know.” Her head tilted. “But I would really, really like to.” She smiled wickedly, her fangs snapping out. “Care to introduce me, Sister?”

“If anyone is getting to know the new mortal, Sister, it will be me.”

Scarlett couldn’t keep the surprise off her face this time. Not as Juliette appeared from the passageway they had come from. She was dressed in all black like the rest of them, her red-brown hair braided over her shoulder, snaking out from beneath her hood.

Nuri sighed. “Must we really ?ght over him? You always got them ?rst.”

Juliette scoffed. “You were the greedy one. I had to ?ght you to share twins .”

“For the love of Silas,” Azrael said. “I cannot deal with all three of you in the same vicinity again.”

Nuri laughed, her insane, maniacal one, lifting her arms out to her side and spinning in a slow circle. “So many family reunions this night.”

“What are you talking about?” Scarlett asked, tone full of trepidation.

Nuri may be slightly crazy, but she never spoke in riddles.

“Hello, Drake.”

Scarlett’s blood went cold at the sound of Lord Tyndell’s voice. She whirled around to see Cyrus and Eliza pulling swords where they stood in front of Drake. Scarlett immediately sent her shadows to him, a panther snarling, eyes glowing, while a shield locked into place around the Rydeon King.

“Scarlett, my dear,” Lord Tyndell chided. “Do you really think I would hurt my son?”

“I am not your son,” Drake said loudly, but he was pale. Scarlett could see it from across the room. The color had drained from hisface, his hands curled into ?sts at his sides. She had been readyfor this; Drake had not, despite their best efforts to prepare him for this.

“Is that what they told you?” The Lord’s voice had gone cold at Drake’s words.

“It is the truth,” Drake retorted. “You are a Maraan. I am not. Tava is not.” He looked over his shoulder at the tombs behind him, then back at Lord Tyndell. “They are not buried here, are they?”

A muscle ticked in Lord Tyndell’s jaw, the only sign of fury Scarlett had ever seen from the man. “That piece-of-shit king is,” he ?nally snarled.

“And her?”

The Lord’s face instantly softened. “She was buried in a ?eld of wild?owers in the western part of the kingdom.”

“You killed her? Like you killed him?” Drake demanded. “Why not me too?”

“This is not the time nor the place for this, Balam,” came yet another voice that Scarlett recognized.

Sybil. The current High Healer in the Black Syndicate and Juliette’s mother appeared next.

Nuri clapped her hands once in excitement. “It’s like a party.”

“Mother,” Juliette said curtly.

“My disappointment of a daughter,” the High Healer replied tersely. “I am not surprised to ?nd you here.”

“It must irk you to no end that I became the Oracle while you are stuck serving at the feet of another,” Juliette replied.

“I gave you everything and more,” Sybil snapped.

“I know exactly what you gave me, Mother,” Juliette said calmly. “I know what you gave others too. How you reported all of Eliné’s movements to Alaric.”

Sybil scoffed. “As if you and Nuri did not do the same of Scarlett. That was your entire purpose. It was why I gave you to him in the ?rst place.”

“One of the many things you gave me, right?”

“You ungrateful little bitch,” Sybil snarled. “If you would have done what you were told, he would have rewarded us both when he rules this world.”

“ If he rules this world,” Juliette corrected. She tapped her temple once. “So many outcomes I have seen. They are all different, but one thing remains constant throughout them all.” Sybil stared back at her daughter. “Your only reward is death.”

“Enough of this,” Lord Tyndell ordered. His brow furrowed before his gaze slid to Scarlett. “You cannot hold shields around all of their minds all night, my dear. You will slip eventually.”

“I don’t need to hold them all night,” Scarlett retorted, drawing her sword. “Only long enough to kill you.”

Chaos erupted as Lord Tyndell and Sybil both pulled weapons, advancing in clean and precise movements. Lord Tyndell went to Cyrus and Eliza, while Sybil went to Briar, who was guarding Hale.

Juliette and Scarlett exchanged looks before they began advancing on Nuri.

“Two on one?” Nuri said, drawing her scimitars.

“It will be like training,” Juliette replied, pulling her own blade that was sheathed down her back.

“Just like old times,” Scarlett added.

She let Juliette make the ?rst move so she could turn to Cassius.

“Get Drake to this table, Cass. Call me when you do so I can instruct him on the proper way to trace the Mark,” she ordered, her voice low.

Cassius nodded, and she turned back to see Nuri blocking a swing from Juliette. She stepped in, swinging her sword, and Nuri dropped to a knee, a scimitar meeting her blade with a clang.

“How did you know to be here?” Scarlett gasped as Nuri ?ipped backwards, getting into a defensive stance once more.

“I had a vision,” Juliette answered, whirling and striking high while Scarlett went low. Nuri managed to duck and jump at the same time, spinning out of the way when she landed. “I saw you’d need help.”

“How did you get here?”

Scarlett parried a swing from Nuri. “A grif?n,” Juliette answered.

“Jealous,” Scarlett grunted, de?ecting another blow. She could use magic for this, end it quickly enough, but she needed to keep Nuri busy until Drake was at that table. Not to mention she was focusing on keeping shields around everyone’s minds so Lord Tyndell couldn’t mess with them.

Once the magical wards were down though, the Fae would be able to put up their own shields.

Juliette snorted. “Says the woman who rode a dragon out of Baylorin.”

“A real dragon?” Nuri asked, dancing backwards as Juliette and Scarlett advanced again.

“A spirit animal,” Juliette answered, swinging once more.

“You guys always get to do the fun things,” Nuri whined, kicking out as she spun away. “This is why I should get the new mortal.”

“Neither of you is getting the new mortal,” Scarlett snapped, looking over her shoulder to see that Drake was almost there. “Cover me?”

Juliette nodded. “That’s why I’m here.”

That was unsettling and convenient all at once.

Scarlett ran for the center of the chamber, leaping atop the stone table, trying not to move the map. Cassius and Drake made it in the next moment, and as soon as they did, Scarlett pulled her shadow panther apart, creating four more to prowl about while a ring of star?re encased them all. It was a lot of magic, too much power, but if they failed at this, she knew there would not be a second chance.

She could tell Razik was conserving power, catching onto the fact that he was likely going to be the one that would Travel them all out of here. This was going to take all of her magic and then some. She would end up drawing from Cassius at some point.

Cassius had already cut the tip of Drake’s ?nger, and as Scarlett gritted her teeth against the strain of maintaining her magic in so many different places, she said, “Start at the top of the center line and go down, just like we’ve been practicing. Whatever you do, do not lift your ?nger until the Mark is complete. Do you understand, Drake?”

He nodded, and she could see his hand tremble as he brought his ?nger to the map.

“You can do this, Drake,” she said, wincing as a panther lunged at something. “You were born to be a king. It’s in your blood, your very being. Do it for Rydeon. Do it for Tava. Do it in vengeance of your mother and father.”

Something shifted in Drake at those words. She saw the deep, steadying inhale before his blood met the map, and he started to trace the center line from top to bottom.

“Drake! Stop!” Lord Tyndell’s sharp bellow carried over the mayhem in the room. Eliza and Cyrus were keeping him back, while Briar was battling Sybil all on his own. “You do not understand the cost of this!”

“Keep going, Drake,” Scarlett ordered. “Do not listen to him. Go back up halfway, then follow the curve that loops around the bottom.”

“No!” Lord Tyndell bellowed at the same time Azrael said, “Incoming.”

Scarlett glanced at him, ?nding his eyes up, and she knew without looking that seraphs were descending.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

They didn’t even have one ward down yet. The Fae didn’t have their magic. This was going to end before it even began. It would be a bloodbath. She could only hold out for so long, even with Cass and Razik.

She glanced down, ?nding Drake ?nishing the loop. “Follow the diagonal line up to the end,” she urged, shuddering against the impact of a few seraphs landing. The stone table shook slightly beneath her. “Do not lift your ?nger!”

Drake nodded once, entirely focused on his task.

“When you reach the top, trace the short line down then back up, before ?nishing the long swirling one,” she instructed, looking up to see a seraph with what appeared to be power like Veda had once had. He pulled a weapon from Cyrus’s hand with nothing but air. Air magic, then? Maybe?

“Now what?” Drake asked.

“That’s it!” she said. “Lift your ?nger and step back.” Drake did, and Scarlett held her breath, waiting.

And waiting. And waiting.

Until something tingled against her skin, washing over her. Her gaze shot to Azrael at the same moment that a long vine appeared in his hands. He whipped it out, stretching it and winding it around a seraph, trapping his wings in the bindings. Thorns appeared, shredding through feathers.

She gasped, pulling back some of her magic from the Fae and letting them get their own defenses up. She tightened the shields around the mortals and Cassius. Cassius had started to master shielding his mind, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

“Now we all play,” she said darkly, leaping down from the table. Louder she yelled, “Hale, you next!” as she reached for the charcoal she’d set aside and began drawing the same Mark on the map across Toreall.