Page 49

Chapter 48

Scarlett

S carlett stood on the balcony off her bedchamber staring out at the Nightmist Mountains. She was leaning on the railing, arms folded in front of her, wishing she could hear the sea. She’d thought of Traveling to the docks, but her family would be here any minute.

Callan hated her. She could see it in his eyes when she’d told him she had taken Tava to the Water Court. She had smelled their intertwined scents on Tava when she and Drake had met them in the foyer of the Greybane manor before dawn. Tava had met her gaze with a tight, sad smile, her arms wrapped tightly around herself before nodding once. Scarlett wasn’t sure if it had been a nod of con?rmation that she had slept with Callan or a nod of determination to go through with this. Perhaps both.

Scarlett had insisted on being the one to take them, both as their queen and as their friend. Just as she had insisted on being the one to tell Callan. The trip had been fast. She hadn’t re?lled her reserves since ?ghting with Talwyn, and she’d had Azrael come with her just in case she couldn’t get back. She was going to be drawing from Sorin tonight anyway, so it didn’t really matter if she drained her reserves dry at this point. They had been gone less than ?ve minutes, but she had asked them all one ?nal time if they were sure about this before she and Azrael had Traveled back to Avonleya. She had tried to convince them that they could ?nd another way, but she knew there would be no changing Briar’s mind. If Drake and Tava were willing to do this, he wouldn’t try to talk them out of it, and the Tyndell siblings were far too sel?ess to let innocent babes suffer because they refused to go back to Lord Tyndell.

So she had left them there with Briar. Sawyer had gone as well to take care of Ashtine when the exchange happened. Then he would take her to Anahita’s Springs. He had given Azrael the small mirror that was connected to the Springs and would let them know when they were ready to come back. Razik and Azrael would be the ones to go get them. Who knew when Alaric would agree to meet them. Knowing the Assassin Lord, Scarlett wouldn’t be surprised if he made them wait a day or two after arriving, just to make them fret and further prove his control. Maybe he’d make them wait until Scarlett showed up in three days. Maybe he had other plans.

Of course he had other plans. “Hey, Love.”

She muttered something in acknowledgment, and a moment later, she felt a light kiss pressed to her temple before Sorin was leaning on the railing beside her. “We did the right thing,” he said.

“I know,” she replied. “But knowing that does not make me feel like any less of a terrible friend, especially after everything he has gone through as of late.”

“Give him some time. He is a rational man,” Sorin said, shifting so he was leaning back on his elbows to see her better.

“He and Tava slept together.”

“Okay...”

“They have never slept together before, Sorin,” she said, turning her head to ?nally meet his stare. “Tava has never been intimate with anyone. They are together, and I sent the woman he loves into danger. He has every right to be upset with me.”

“Drake is a king as much as Callan is, Scarlett,” he said gently. “We have to respect his choices and decisions as much as we respect Callan’s, and Tava has a right to make her own choices as well.”

“Again, that does not make me feel like any less of a terrible friend.”

“To Callan maybe, but to Drake and Tava, you are a wonderful friend by respecting their wishes. To Briar, you are an extraordinary friend and queen.” He reached over, tugging her to him. “A wise queen once said it is the burden of a ruler to make the hard calls.”

“She sounds pretentious,” Scarlett grumbled.

A half smile tugged at his lips. “She is anything but.”

His mouth met hers for far too brief a moment, and she sighed when he pulled back. “Are they here?”

Sorin nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. “All the way through the darkness, Scarlett.”

“I love you too,” she murmured, stepping from his arms.

They stepped off the balcony and moved into the sitting room where Cassius and Eliza were waiting for them. The former was paler than normal with dark circles under his eyes. Scarlett knew Cassius hadn’t slept since learning Cyrus had been taken by Alaric in the Southern Islands. What they were about to do would not make things any better. Callan hated her for taking Tava back to their continent, but she could live with that knowing Tava had truly wanted this. But what Cassius was about to do? She would never forgive herself, even if there were no other options anymore.

Sorin took a seat on the sofa while Scarlett went to where -Cassius stood, staring into the unlit hearth. She reached out, gently touching his arm. “Cassius?” He turned to look at her, and the haunted look in his eye broke her heart. “We are going to get him back, Cass,” she whispered hoarsely.

“That doesn’t change this though, does it?”

“No,” she answered quietly. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Someone needs to ?ll me in on what is going on,” Eliza said from the armchair she was perched in. She was nearly back to perfect health. The dagger Sybil had stabbed her with had been shirastone, so it had taken longer than a regular wound to heal, but Niara was as skilled as Beatrix. If anything, it took longer because Eliza wouldn’t stay in godsdamn bed.

“Tonight when Scarlett draws from me, it will be the last time I will be able to ?ll her reserves,” Sorin said.

“What?” Eliza started, sitting forward in her chair. “Already?”

“If she didn’t ?ll them completely, I could last a little longer,” Sorin said. “But if she is going to see Alaric, they need to be full.”

“And then what?” Eliza asked.

“And then I will be drawing from Cassius when the Guardian Bond senses I need it,” Scarlett said. She glanced back at Cass before she added, “Which means Cassius needs to take a Source.”

“I thought Cyrus was going to do that,” Eliza said.

Scarlett winced. “He was. But he is not here, and it cannot wait. Not with everything going on. We are out of time.”

“Then who is it going to be?”

“That is why you are here, Eliza,” Sorin said. He was leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped in front of him. “You are now the most powerful Fire Fae. Cassius will need a powerful Source.”

“You want me to be his Source?” Eliza asked, something in her face turning to dread.

“It is your choice, of course,” Scarlett said quickly. “We would never force you to do this, Eliza. You just seemed like the best choice now that... Well, you just seemed like the best choice.”

Eliza swiped a hand down her face, and Scarlett glanced at Sorin.

They had thought she would be ?ne with this.

“Eliza?” Sorin said tentatively. “You can tell us no. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I know that,” she said irritably. “I am going to tell you no, but not because I want to.”

“What does that mean?” Scarlett asked, her nose scrunching in confusion.

Eliza pushed out a harsh breath. “I cannot be Cassius’s Source because I am already someone else’s.”

“What?” Sorin exclaimed, lurching to his feet.

Eliza pushed the sleeve of her tunic back, and sure enough, a Source Mark adorned her forearm. Scarlett was gripping her arm, examining the Mark. “Who did this? And when?” Her gaze ?ew to Eliza’s. “Did someone force you to do this? Cethin promised me—”

“No one forced me to do anything,” Eliza said, snatching her arm from Scarlett’s grip and tugging her tunic sleeve back down.

“Whose Source are you, Eliza?” Sorin asked.

Eliza’s hands were bunched into ?sts at her sides, and she wouldn’t look at any of them when she muttered, “Razik’s.”

“I’m sorry. What?” Scarlett said in disbelief.

“I am Razik’s Source,” Eliza said a little louder, crossing her arms. “If I had known that Cassius would need one, I obviously would not have agreed to it.”

“When did this happen?” Sorin demanded.

“Before they went to the Southern Islands. I heard Scarlett and Cassius were not going, and I knew Razik’s power still had not fully replenished from Rydeon. If he was going to be their way in and out, he needed to be at full strength. So I offered,” Eliza explained.

“Why not simply give him blood?” Sorin asked.

“Because it is not the same,” Scarlett said, completely dumbfounded. “And who knows how much he would need. If he has fed from Fae before, he could need quite a bit to fully re?ll his reserves.”

Razik and Eliza loathed each other. The Source Bond was something based on unwavering trust and faith in the other person to be there when needed and to not take advantage. Why either of them thought this was a good idea was beyond her, but there was no changing it. The only way to break a Source Bond was the death of either party.

“Okay,” Scarlett said, taking a deep breath. “Okay. So we ask...” She turned back to Sorin. “Rayner? Probably not. His power takes so long to re?ll as it is because of the Avonleyan blood. Sawyer? Can he be a Source with his Avonleyan blood? Is it weaker?”

She turned to Cassius to ask him what he thought, but the words died in her throat at the two tears tracking down his face.

“Oh, Cass,” she whispered.

We will go . Sorin’s voice came down the bond at the same time she heard the door open and close.

There was a low table between the sofa and armchairs, and she climbed on top of it so she could wrap her arms around Cassius without having to strain on her tiptoes. Cassius’s broad arms looped around her waist, and he buried his face in her neck. She could feel his tears soaking into her tunic as she ran her ?ngers through his hair.

“I’m sorry, Cass,” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. “I am so godsdamn sorry.”

“Why did I ?ght you so adamantly on this?” he said, his words muf?ed against her skin.

“Because it is a big thing to ask of someone you care so deeply for,” she answered gently.

“The last thing I said to him was ‘get out.’ And now, when he returns, I will have another Source. If he returns at all.”

“We will get him back, Cass,” Scarlett said, leaving no room for argument.

“And he will think I chose someone else. I made him think he was not good enough, Scarlett,” Cassius said. “But he saw through my bullshit. He always saw through it all.”

“Shh, Cass,” she soothed, clinging to him as tightly as he was clinging to her. “He is going to understand. He would want you to... He will understand.”

“I cannot do this with someone else.”

“I do not know what else to do, Cass,” Scarlett said, agony twisting through her soul. “I do not have any other answers to this. We are out of time.”

She had never seen Cassius cry. In the entirety of the years she had known him, she had never witnessed it. But now, he wept.

“We can wait until tomorrow to talk to Sawyer,” she whispered, ?ngers going through his hair again. “Maybe...” She swallowed down her emotions. “Maybe things will look different in light.”

But they couldn’t wait any longer than that because when the sun rose tomorrow, Sorin would be powerless, and she would no longer have a Source she could draw from.

She rested her cheek against the top of her soulmate’s head, holding him close, knowing she wasn’t who he wanted.

She sat on their bed, one of Sorin’s tunics bunched at her thighs while she waited for him to come back from the bathing room. She’d spent the rest of the day with Cassius, and when he’d ?nally passed out from sheer exhaustion on the sofa in the sitting room, they’d just let him stay there and sleep.

In the morning, they would be going to Sawyer to ask him to be Cassius’s Source. She did not expect him to decline. Unless, of course, he was already someone else’s Source too, because what the hell?

She still could not believe Eliza was Razik’s Source. That she had done that without telling anyone, without telling her . But Razik ?

Even if Sawyer agreed to be Cassius’s Source, it was going to take time—so much time they did not have—for them to get to the point of being able to move and work seamlessly with each other. The males hardly knew each other outside of council meetings and casual evenings of cards or visiting. And the intimacy that comes from the Source bond? Cassius didn’t open up to anyone. This was going to be a complete disaster, and yet it was one they could not avoid. Honestly, a female Source would be better. But the only other option was Neve, and she was across the Edria with Cyrus. She also wasn’t powerful enough to be Cassius’s Source.

She shook her head at everything that had gone to utter hell in the last day. She had felt like they were making progress with all the blows they’d been able to land against Alaric. His one act of retaliation had set them back ?fty paces.

The sound of the bathing room door drew her attention to the Fire Prince walking shirtless towards her, pants on but unbuttoned as he climbed onto the bed. He settled against the headboard, and Scarlett immediately crawled up his legs to straddle his hips, looping her hands around the back of his neck.

She was already swallowing down the tears burning at the back of her eyes, but one snuck out anyway.

Sorin reached up, thumbing it away. “None of that, Love.”

She nodded, her throat working as she got herself under control. “This changes nothing,” she whispered, resting her brow against his.

“You are mine, and I am yours. Bond or not. With or without ?re in your veins. I love you, Sorin Aditya.”

“You are mine, and I am yours,” he replied. “A you and me. All the way through the darkness.”

She felt his ?ames brush down her soul, and she cherished every second of it. Of feeling his heat lick along her ?esh. Of feeling his ?re wind around her, warm her bones. She let her shadows loose to mix with them and felt Sorin tense beneath her, a shiver of pleasure skittering through his limbs that she felt in her core.

His breathing was harsh as he reached for the dagger he had set on the pillow. He drew it along his forearm, and then golden eyes met hers as she held up a shaking palm. He made the cut, and Scarlett brought her hand to the Source Mark. Their magic collided, and she sucked in the same sharp breath she always did when they did this.

Except they would never do this again.

This was the last time she would feel him in this way. This was the last time she would be able to sense his presence, feel his emotions, hear him in her mind.

At the thought, the tears she had been holding back broke free, along with a sob.

I love you, Scarlett Aditya.

The whispered words down the bond only made her cry harder, and then she was feeling him, his emotions crashing into her. And it wasn’t the agony of what was ending. It wasn’t the sorrow she was feeling clawing at her soul. It was everything they were. The love that transcended the realms. The love that had found her in the shadows, that had loved her in the middle of the darkness. The love that ?lled all the spaces in her soul that she thought no one would ever want. He was making sure that the last thing she felt from him in this way was the love that would not dim just because they would no longer have this. What they were would remain. Would still tear the stars from the sky.

She brought her other hand to his face, thumb brushing over his lips as her power ?lled, and she felt his slowing, emptying.

And then she watched as the Mark on her hand slowly began to fade from her skin. This wasn’t like last time. Sorin wasn’t dying. She didn’t feel like her soul was being ripped from her being, but the pain of watching that Mark dim wasn’t any less excruciating.

“Here, Scarlett. Keep your eyes right here,” he whispered.

And that’s what she did. She stared into golden eyes as they dimmed to a muted amber, never to be as bright as they’d once been. She held his gaze as the last of his power went into her, as he gave her every last ember.

And when it was done, when he was no longer the Prince of Fire, she rested against his chest, power thrumming in her veins. His arms came around her, clutching her close. His skin was cool beneath her cheek. Not cold, but not the warmth she was accustomed to. His hand slid up and down her spine. Fingers toyed with her silver strands. Lips brushed the top of her head occasionally.

She didn’t know what he was feeling. Was he trying to ground himself ? Adjust to not having ?re at his ?ngertips? Was he cold?

She didn’t know because she couldn’t feel him. She couldn’t fucking feel him.

Because he was no longer her twin ?ame.

His breathing had shifted to a deep and steady rhythm when she slipped from his lap like the wraith she was. She dressed in a close-?tting black tunic and pants and grabbed a cloak before she slipped out of their rooms. She left the princess’s wing all together, making her way down to the small den with the piano, her resolve growing with each step.

She laid the cloak over the back of an armchair before pouring herself a knuckle’s length of liquor. She took a sip, then set the glass on top of the piano as she settled onto the bench. Her ?ngers hovered over the keys, her eyes going to the window where the mountains were dark splotches against the starry night sky.

But she wasn’t staring at the mountains.

She was staring beyond them, at the forest she could not see that was hidden deep inland.

She began to play, and her song was one of sorrow and grief as she worked through everything going on in her soul.

Sorin. Cassius. Cyrus.

Drake and Tava and Callan. Briar and Ashtine.

Her song shifted to chords of anger, and then they became the sound of tenacity and conviction. Because she had been working something out for weeks, trying to ?gure out how to keep Sorin from losing his power. It had come to her one night while studying the Sorceress’s spell book. She hadn’t told anyone, not wanting to get hopes up unfounded, but while she had listened to Sorin’s heart beat beneath her ear tonight, the ?nal pieces had clicked into place. It shouldn’t work, but she had both Witch gifts from Eliné and the blood of a goddess in her veins.

She could feel Sorin’s ?re under her skin, her star?re ?aring within it, and she’d be damned if this was the last time she would feel this. She would not allow it. The gods, the fates, could not take one more thing from her.

Her brother stepped from the air. She could just make out the concern lining his features in the few ?ickering candles in the otherwise dark space. “Scarlett?” He took a tentative step towards her. “I got your message.” She looked up at him, ?ngers still moving over the keys, and he took in her tear-stained face. “It is done,” he said sympathetically, glancing up at the ceiling as if he could see where Sorin slept.

“It is done, but it is not over,” Scarlett said, her song ending on a chord that clanged in a challenge. She picked up the liquor, knocking back the last of it. She stepped from behind the piano, moving to the armchair and slinging her cloak around her shoulders, beginning to fasten the buttons.

“There is nothing to be done about this, Scarlett. The gods did this.

The Fates require balance.”

Her head tilted, a cold smile ?lling her face. “I make my own fate,” she said, ?nishing the last button. She took a step towards him, and he had the good sense to take one back. “And if the gods want me to ?ght in their petty war, then they will bow to me.”

“There is nothing to be done, Scarlett,” Cethin said again, his voice low and tense, a thread of panic slicing into his words. “Think about this before you do something you cannot undo.”

“Too late,” she breathed.

She pulled a dagger strapped to her thigh, dragging it across her palm and letting her blood drip onto the ?oor.

Onto the Mark she had drawn there before she’d sent Cethin a message to meet her.

Onto the Mark she had created.

“What did you do?” Cethin demanded in a horri?ed whisper.

“Imake my own fate,” she repeated.

The snarl of a big cat broke through the still of the night. Shirina prowled from the shadows, large paws silent on the ornate rugs.

“Scarlett, do not do this,” Cethin pleaded.

“You named me, brother,” Scarlett replied, darkness coiling up from the Mark between them. Shirina prowled around her, tail switching, eyes glowing. The darkness swirled and wove, dark mist dancing with itself, until it became an archway to a void of nothing. “A Lady of Darkness belongs in the dark, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Scarlett...”

But she stepped into the dark, letting it swallow her whole. Letting it take her to Shira Forest.

To the goddess of shadows and night.