Page 120 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

“That is disturbing,” he muttered, slipping the folded paper back into his pocket. Then he shrugged. “All right.”

“Did you bring me blood?”

“I think I will be keeping the rest of that.”

Her eyes narrowed, irritation beginning to flicker there. “We have a bargain.”

“Really, Gehenna, you should be more specific with your bargains,” Cyrus said. “A sacrifice of betrayal?”

The Sorceress watched him, irritation shifting to amusement. “Do you think you can get out of this, pretty Fire Fae?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Gehenna.”

Her lips pursed. “You know better than to call me that. Do not do it again.”

“Ah, but as of this moment, my bargain with you is fulfilled.”

“Then where is my spell book?” she hissed. “Where is my ring?”

“Right here,” Cyrus said, slipping it from his pocket and holding it up. “Sacrifices were made for this, you know. People died.”

“But you did not,” the Sorceress said, eyes fixed on the ring. Then they snapped back to his. “And my spell book?”

“Delivered to you as promised,” purred a voice of darkness as Scarlett stepped into view, the spell book in her hand.

Gehenna straightened, her nostrils flaring. She took a step back from the bars. “You smell like …stars and deceit.”

“You would know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Scarlett said, beginning to slowly flip through the pages of the spell book.

“I do not deceive,” the Sorceress said in outrage. “I make bargains. It is no folly of mine if one does not understand the terms when the bargain is made.”

“Agreed,” Scarlett said, snapping the book shut. “Now, since your business with Cyrus is completed—”

“It is not!” she sputtered, hands gripping the bars once more. “I do not have my spell book or my ring!”

Scarlett waved her off. “That is between you and Cyrus. I am here to make a bargain of my own.”

That had the Sorceress shifting to face the queen fully. “Unless you can offer me a way out of this cell, I am not interested in a bargain with you or anyone else.”

“But that is exactly what I can offer you.”

Back to the bars, her face pressed against them, feet braced against the bottom. “You lie, Daughter of Saylah. You are not Fae. Only a Fae Queen can free me.”

“I have one of those.”

“ Lies ,” she hissed.

Scarlett shrugged. “If you do not wish to step outside that cell, then I will take my leave and let you two finish up.”

She took one step towards the stairs before Gehenna shouted, “Wait!” When Scarlett glanced back, she said, “If I were to believe you, what would be the cost?”

“I need to know how to free someone of a Blood Bond. According to this book, you know how to do so,” Scarlett answered.

“A Blood Bond?” Gehenna repeated. “Is that all?”

“Would you like more terms?”

“No!” the Sorceress snapped, but Cyrus recognized that glint in her eyes. He’d spent enough time with her to know that the excitement in her was a twisted sort. The sort that said she believed she had won something. “State the bargain.”

“I will let you out of that cell, and you will clarify how to free someone of a Blood Bond,” Scarlett said. “Do we have an accord?”

“It is an accord,” the Sorceress said in a quiet purr.

Scarlett lifted her tunic a moment later, and Cyrus glimpsed the red Mark in the shape of a raindrop above her hip.

It was probably a good thing Sorin had stayed at the prison entrance with Briar and Cassius.

He would likely go feral seeing that on her skin.

It wouldn’t stay there for long if things went according to plan.

“Let me out,” the Sorceress demanded.

“Relax,” Scarlett scoffed, lowering her tunic. “You’ve been in there for centuries. Another few minutes won’t kill you. Tell me how to free someone of a Blood Bond.”

“The order of the bargain stated you let me out first,” the Sorceress sang, beginning to drag her fingers along the bars. “It is no folly of mine if you do not understand how these things work.”

Sighing dramatically, Scarlett said, “Fine.”

And a few moments later, Ashtine stepped into view.

The Sorceress’s gaze immediately went to her rounded belly, a hunger shining there that had Cyrus shifting in front of the Fae Queen.

For that’s what she was now. The Courts had come together and pledged loyalty to her and Briar, now Fae King of the Courts.

It was temporary. Until the babes were in a position to take the thrones, because those babes would be the most powerful Fae in the realm.

Some of the most powerful Fae in all the realms if what Saylah had said was true.

“Princess of Wind. Fae Queen of the Courts,” Gehenna sang, fingers clinking against the bars once more. Then she stopped. “Temptress of the Fates and Breaker of Canons.”

“She is here to let you out, nothing more,” Scarlett said. “If you make a single move against her, it will be the last thing you do.”

Gehenna tipped her head back and laughed. “You cannot kill me.”

Scarlett only smiled at her.

“Yes, yes. I understand,” the Sorceress finally said. “Let me out.”

Scarlett nodded to Ashtine, and the Fae Queen extended her hand so Scarlett could slice a thin line along her palm.

Scarlett forced the Sorceress to retreat to the back of her cell before Ashtine placed her bleeding palm on the door, the magic around it crackling and flaring before it slowly swung open with a high-pitched squeak.

Cyrus was already tucking Ashtine behind him, shielding her from where Scarlett stood a few feet in front of the door as the Sorceress stepped from the cell.

One step.

Two.

Three.

“That is far enough,” Scarlett said. “Your end of the bargain.”

The smile that filled the Sorceress’s face was as wicked as Scarlett’s when she said, “Only Fate can free someone of a Blood Bond.”

“Yes, I read that in your little book.” Scarlett held the spell book up as she spoke. But when the Sorceress reached for it, Scarlett held it from her reach. “The bargain was that you would clarify what I already know.”

“That is simple enough,” Gehenna answered, her head tilting. “You must speak Fate’s name.”

“The Fates have a name?” Scarlett asked.

“Of course the Fates have names,” Gehenna said sharply. “But you must speak her name.”

“Where do I find it?”

“It is lost among the stars.”

Scarlett stilled before she said, “I am well acquainted with the stars.”

“Our bargain is complete,” Gehenna snapped, her violet eyes sliding to Ashtine as she stepped around Scarlett. “Tell me, Queen of the Fae, would you make a bargain to protect those in your womb?”

“Their protection is already ensured,” Ashtine replied calmly, holding the Sorceress’s stare.

“And when the balance must be corrected? Who will protect them then?” Gehenna countered, eyes dipping to Ashtine’s belly. “I could keep them safe. All that power—”

“Speak one more word of my children, and you will know death at my hand instead of confinement, Gehenna,” Ashtine interrupted.

The Sorceress laughed, lifting her arms and spinning in a slow circle. “You cannot kill me or confine me. I am a deity. Your blood might lock that cell, but only a god has the power to contain me.” She turned to Cyrus. “Give me that ring.”

“Sure thing, Gehenna,” Cyrus said, pulling the ring from his pocket and tossing it to her.

She had surprisingly fast reflexes for having been stuck in a cage for centuries, but she caught it in the air, clutching it to her chest. Then she jerked it back, studying it intensely.

“This is not the portal key,” she hissed. “This does not fulfill our bargain.”

Cyrus pulled up the sleeve of his tunic. The Bargain Mark on his arm was gone. “Apparently it does.”

“This is not the portal key!” she shrieked, throwing the ring to the stone floor.

“It was in there.” Cyrus shrugged. “I did retrieve the item Alaric was seeking. That ring. And your spell book was delivered to you here. Just as our bargain stated.”

Gehenna whirled to Scarlett, pure malice and fury emanating off the deity. Scarlett was leaning against the wall, flipping through pages of the spell book.

“No!” Gehenna wailed. She spun back to Cyrus. “You will pay for this, Fire Fae!”

Cyrus’s features went positively wicked. His voice was low and lethal when he said, “I have a new bargain to make with you, Gehenna.”

“I want nothing else to do with you. I still have some of your blood. You will never be free of me. Death will be a mercy when I am done with you,” Gehenna hissed, pulling the vial of his blood from her pocket.

It was what they had been waiting for, needing her to confirm if she still had any of it.

She was thrown back by a wave of darkness. Coughing out a gasp as shadows wound around her throat, she gasped, “You are not a goddess.”

Scarlett’s smile was pure poison. “Think again.”

“How?” the Sorceress rasped, clawing at the shadows. “How did I not know?”

“I guess it was hidden by deceit,” Scarlett replied, another wave of darkness slamming into the Sorceress.

“You are a World Walker,” Gehenna cried, eyes wide with understanding. “They deceived us all!”

“You came after one of mine, Gehenna. You tortured him. Tried to break him.”

“No!” she screamed as the shadows began to drag her across the floor and back to the cell. Her fingers were cracking and bleeding as she tried to grab anything to slow her. “We had a bargain!”

“That I would let you out of that cell. It is no folly of mine if you do not understand how these things work,” Scarlett replied. “About that new bargain with Cyrus though …”

Scarlett looked to him, twisted delight dancing in her eyes. His queen. His friend. His family. Who had given to save him. Who had never turned away from him despite his failures.

Loyalty he was deserving of.

Cyrus strolled forward, picking up the vial of blood from where it had rolled across the floor. “A sacrifice of blood.”

“No!” Gehenna screamed.

“A sacrifice of betrayal.”

Scarlett shoved her into the cell, Chaos surrounding the bars. He could feel her magic holding, caging, imprisoning.

Ashtine stepped forward, reopening the slice on her palm and smearing blood across the door, sealing it once more.

“A sacrifice of time. A long, long time. Eternity perhaps,” Cyrus finished.

Gehenna was a panting heap curled on the floor, fingers pulling at her hair the same way Cyrus had done every time she’d trapped him in a memory.

He moved up close to the bars, just short of touching them. He knew Scarlett had done something to them. They weren’t just shirastone any longer.

“I have one more thing for you,” Cyrus said, pulling the folded paper from his pocket.

“I will kill you!” Gehenna snarled, lifting her head. It was feral madness that stared back at him. Wild violet eyes. Bared teeth.

“This is the last time you will ever see me, Gehenna,” he replied casually, flicking the paper through the bars to her.

She crawled forward and snatched it up, unfolding it in such a haste it nearly tore. But it was enchanted to never be destroyed. Not by hand nor by fire. Not by any type of power.

It was a drawing.

Of him.

“What do I want with this?” she hissed.

“I told you. It was something to remember me by,” he answered, lowering down to a crouch so he was at eye level with her.

“I wish I could say you didn’t break me, but you did.

You tainted so many things in my life. Trapped me in a house of memories that we sadistically built together.

But now, Gehenna?” He pushed back to his feet.

“That picture is to ensure that I always have a place in your house of memories too. For you to always remember that I was the one who ultimately broke you .”

She was screaming, high-pitched wails of agony as he turned away. Ashtine and Scarlett were waiting for him at the bottom of the steps. Ashtine went first, somehow still gracefully gliding up the stairs even with her rounded belly.

“You are all right?” Scarlett asked him with a soft smile as he tucked the vial of his blood into his pocket.

“Yeah, Darling,” he said, dropping an arm around her shoulders as they followed Ashtine out. “I’m perfect.”

They made their way through the prison to where Briar, Sorin, and Cassius were waiting for them. Cassius reached for Cyrus the same way Sorin and Briar reached for their females, all of them clinging to each other.

“It’s over?” Cass rasped, his voice hoarse.

“It’s over,” Cyrus answered, taking a small step back and holding up the nearly empty vial of his blood.

Briar took them out of the prison, and they Traveled back to the Fire Court. Cyrus opened his mouth to say he was going to bathe, but Sorin spoke first.

“Scarlett.”

“Wh—” she started before she inhaled sharply, causing everyone else to turn.

To where shadows were shimmering like mist.

“Callan,” she breathed.