Page 122 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

Scarlett

N o.

That’s all she could think when she saw Callan’s shadows. The shadows that were her summoning from him because something had gone wrong. Very, very wrong.

Tomorrow. They were going there tomorrow. She just needed one more day. One more day, and everything would have played out perfectly. The game would have been over.

One more day and—

“Scarlett,” Sorin repeated, drawing her from her spiral.

“We need to—”

“Sorin! Scarlett!”

They all turned at Eliza’s voice as she came rushing towards them, Razik with her.

“Eliza? What has happened?” Sorin asked.

“We just received word. Alaric is attacking in Windonelle. The entirety of his forces. They are coming here. For us. For the Fire Court. Burning everything in their path as they move.”

Burning it all. A message to the Fire Court. A message to her.

“The rebel camps are in that path,” Cassius said, voicing the thought no one wanted to say. “That’s why Callan is summoning you.”

“Okay,” Scarlett said, shoving aside her panic as her mind swirled with possibilities. Wind and Earth Court armies couldn’t leave. They’d risk losing their own territories. But Ashtine and Briar were already here. Cethin, Kailia, Tybalt. She was a goddess. Sorin was basically a god. And they had—

“Briar, you and Ashtine go get Azrael. He can Travel everyone to the rebel camp. Eliza, get everyone else ready for battle so you can go when they get back. He’s the only one of us who has been there.

Make portals for our forces to go and defend the mortals.

Sorin, I need you with me,” she said, turning and running before anyone could say another word.

She raced to the second floor where Mordecai and Nuri were being kept under surveillance. Bursting into the room, they both leapt to their feet, grabbing nearby weapons.

“What the fuck, Scarlett?” Nuri said with a glare.

“Alaric is coming,” Scarlett said. She was still holding the Sorceress’s spell book, and she flipped it open, frantically searching the pages.

She listened while Sorin quickly filled them in on everything that was happening, and when he finished, Nuri demanded, “What the hell are you doing here? Go help them, Scarlett!”

“We’re going to,” she muttered, finding the page she was looking for. She looked up, meeting Nuri’s eyes. “And you’re coming with us.”

“I can’t,” Nuri balked, the little color she had in her skin leeching out. “He will make—”

“Not if you are no longer bound to him,” Scarlett interrupted, turning the book so Nuri could see. “I know how.”

“It is not possible to nullify a Blood Bond,” Mordecai cut in, taking the spell book from Scarlett and studying the page. “Only the death of the one she is bound to can end it. It is fate.”

“A goddess can end it when she can name Fate,” Scarlett corrected.

Mordecai’s brows knitted together. “The Fates’ names are not known.”

“Gehenna said her name,” Scarlett said, turning to Sorin.

“That is not possible,” Mordecai argued. “Her name has been lost since the time of the World Walkers.”

“But I know it,” Sorin said as understanding dawned. “Beatrix told me the name. Their family had been keeping it a secret for centuries.”

“Quick,” Scarlett said, reaching for a knife from her belt. “We do not have time to debate this.”

“You are sure about this, Scarlett?” Nuri asked, extending a shaking hand to her. “If you are wrong …”

“This will free you, Nuri,” Scarlett said, drawing blood and beginning to draw a Mark on Nuri’s palm.

“That does not match the Mark here,” Mordecai muttered, glancing between Nuri’s palm and the spell book.

“Mine is better,” Scarlett returned.

“Explain,” Mordecai demanded.

“No time,” Scarlett retorted, continuing to draw.

She was so focused she didn’t see the rustling wings, but she heard Nuri scoff. “Relax, Cai. If this works …”

“Will you fight with us?” Sorin demanded.

“Of course I will fight with you,” Nuri said, shooting Sorin an annoyed look.

“Not you,” Sorin replied.

Scarlett glanced up at Nuri, who was looking at the seraph. “He can’t,” Nuri said softly.

“Then he will stay here,” Scarlett said, the Mark on Nuri’s palm beginning to glow brightly atop the red Blood Bond Mark. “Sorin.”

“Just say the name?” Sorin asked, moving forward.

Scarlett shrugged. “That’s what Gehenna said. A Mark spoken with the name of Fate.”

“ Avana .”

The name was scarcely past his lips when the Mark radiated with such force it shoved them all back. Sorin caught Scarlett before she hit the wall. When she turned back, Mordecai was already back at Nuri’s side, holding her hand in his own and inspecting her palm.

“Did it work?” Scarlett asked, and when Nuri met her gaze, there were tears glimmering there. Scarlett gave her a wicked smile. “What shall we burn first, Sister?”

Nuri’s features darkened, fangs snapping out. “We burn it all.”

Turned out, they didn’t need to start a fire.

Everything was already burning when they stepped from the shadowy mist that took the three of them to the spot Callan would have crushed the vial. Sorin was already in the sky, those magnificent fire wings of his flaming brightly as he worked to put out the fires Alaric’s forces had set.

An arrow flew past their heads, and Scarlett and Nuri both whirled around to find Juliette.

“I was worried you would not make it,” Juliette said, hurrying to their side. “Come.”

They did not question their sister as she ran. Juliette let another arrow fly, and when Scarlett saw it hit its mark, she raced past them.

“Callan!” she cried, pulling a dagger and slicing away at vines.

The arrow had gone through a seraph’s throat, and with scarcely a thought, the male was burning in starfire.

“Callan,” Scarlett repeated, tearing away the vines that had been around his wrists and throat. “Are you all right?”

There was blood dripping down his temple, and he wasn’t in any sort of leathers or armor.

“You came,” he gasped, sucking down air.

“Of course I came, Callan. Can you stand?”

She tried to help him up, but he stumbled. “They have Drake,” he murmured. “I was trying to get to him.”

“Rayner!” Scarlett screamed. The Ash Rider was there a moment later.

“What do you need?”

“Find a Traveler to take Callan—”

“No,” Callan grunted. “I’m staying. I can fight.”

“You can barely stand,” Scarlett argued.

“I am staying,” he answered, straightening as Rayner helped him up. “I will fight with my people, Scarlett. Do not take that away from me.”

She studied him for a heartbeat, a king staring back at her.

“Stick close to him,” she said to Rayner.

He nodded, and Scarlett turned to find Nuri and Juliette both engaged with two seraphs. With a surge of power, the males went up in starfire. Her sisters both turned to her with scowls on their faces.

“Rude,” Nuri griped. “They were our kills.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes, stalking forward. “There are literally hundreds of other seraphs.”

“ In the sky ,” Nuri retorted. “You couldn’t let us have the ones on the ground?”

“We have more important things to worry about,” Scarlett said. “Callan said they have Drake.” That had her sisters straightening.

“I’ll track him down, then come find you,” Nuri said, pulling up her hood.

She was gone before Scarlett could say anything else. Turning to Juliette, she said, “Shall we?”

Juliette smiled, and together they charged into the fray.

Between Juliette’s glimpses of what could be and Scarlett’s power, they cleared a way through the field like the Wraiths they were.

Scarlett fought with flames and blades. Blood sprayed as she plunged her sword deep into a seraph, and her shadow panthers took down enemy soldiers one after another.

Juliette released arrow after arrow, never missing a target, and when she ran out of arrows, she tossed the bow aside, drawing her sword.

She caught glimpses of the others. Sorin in the air with Razik, Cassius, and Tybalt.

Flames of orange and black lit up the fading sky.

Kailia was a blur as she appeared long enough to fire three arrows at once, already in another spot and firing again before the first set hit their marks.

Cyrus, Eliza, and other Fire Fae were burning the seraphs everyone else fell, keeping them down.

Cethin was clearly working to drain seraphs of their gifts, making them easier for the Fae to fight.

His power was great enough he still had nearly full reserves after the Wind Court battle.

The Avonleyan cadres were fighting with a precision and skill that Scarlett wished she had time to stop and marvel at, because fuck could they move and kill and decimate.

“Scarlett!” Juliette cried, and she didn’t need to ask what. They’d done this so many times, Scarlett knew from the way her sister said her name to drop low as Juliette’s sword swiped, going through an enemy Fae that had come up behind her.

Scarlett rolled, popping back to her feet with a dagger flying from her hand. Flames ignited down the blade a moment before it struck a seraph in the chest.

And then Nuri was there, her blades nothing but steel blurs as they moved through the air, taking down two soldiers at once.

“Did you find Drake?” Scarlett shouted over the screaming of the dying around them.

“Yes,” Nuri answered, flipping backwards a second before an arrow pierced the air where she’d been standing. “But Scarlett, there are Night Children here. Just arrived. They are still loyal to Alaric, even if I am the Contessa. And Drake is so heavily guarded, even I cannot get near him.”

A swirl of ashes appeared near her head, and she reached up, pulling a message from them. It was from Rayner, and all it said was:

They are coming for him.

“Fuck,” Scarlett spat. She turned to her sisters. “Make your way to Drake. If you have a chance to take him, do it. I have help coming.”

Sorin?

What do you need, Love?

Find me.