Page 126 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

Scarlett

“I still don’t know why you think he came here,” Scarlett muttered when they reappeared in the tunnels outside the Baylorin castle.

She knew these tunnels like the back of her hand. She’d used them almost nightly for a year to sneak into the castle and see Callan.

Callan.

Was he gone from this world already? Had Eliza already done it? Had the general’s hand shaken with grief and regret like hers had?

“Were you not listening?” Nuri retorted, leading Scarlett and Juliette down a tunnel. “They have entire networks underground. Why do you think he is so well-versed in the underground?”

“We know these tunnels just as well,” Scarlett argued.

“Because he made us learn them,” Nuri shot back, taking a turn at speed. “He always thought we’d be at his side once you came into your power.”

“Where does this tunnel lead to?” Scarlett asked, rubbing at her chest. She could feel whatever Alaric had done to the mirror gate. Something wasn’t right.

“It eventually connects to the Fellowship, but there is another area,” she answered. “Up ahead.”

“Do we have a plan here?” Juliette asked, her hair flying out behind her as they ran.

“We’ll probably run into some seraphs shortly,” Nuri answered.

“Thanks for the heads-up,” Juliette retorted.

“One would think you’d see that coming.”

“Fuck you,” Juliette snapped. “How is Cai, by the way?”

“How is Arantxa?” Nuri shot back.

“Wait, what?” Scarlett cut in as Nuri rounded yet another corner.

“Our sister has adopted quite a few of the Witch’s ways, and I do not mean bonding with a griffin,” Nuri called back to her.

Scarlett’s head whipped to Juliette to find a small smirk playing on her lips. “Really?”

“You should take Arianna up on her offers sometime,” Juliette replied.

“Oh my gods! How do you know about that?” Scarlett demanded.

“Incoming!” Nuri shouted.

Juliette and Scarlett drew blades simultaneously. “Who puts beings that can fly beneath the ground?” Scarlett mused, sending shadow panthers ahead of them to take care of the first seraphs coming their way.

“Better question. Why aren’t you leaving any for us?” Nuri groused. “I’ve had to kill them in secret for months now.”

“Fine,” Scarlett sighed, pulling her shadows back.

The tunnel was small. The three of them could hardly stand side-by-side let alone fight side-by-side. The seraphs could scarcely fit two of them side-by-side with their warrior builds and wings. It gave the Wraiths an advantage, even if the seraphs did have magic.

Nuri went straight for the throat, her fangs snapping out and tearing straight through flesh and muscle. Juliette took the other, rolling to avoid a torrent of water the male sent her way, before she was back on her feet and dragging her blade down a grey wing.

While her sisters had their fun, Scarlett stepped through her shadows and appeared behind them to find another group of seraphs coming their way.

She planted her feet and smiled, letting starfire build and build around her before she released it to barrel down the tunnel.

She stalked forward before the flames had cleared, sword already cleaving wings and heads.

All the while, the feeling in her chest kept growing. The Chaos was vibrating as it sensed what she did. Something powerful was coming. She knew. It wasn’t something. It was someone.

Achaz.

She could keep him out for a time. She controlled the mirror gates after all, but whatever spell Alaric had put on that mirror would eventually let the god in.

Together the three of them made their way down that tunnel, killing as they went, just as they’d been trained to do.

When Juliette dropped for Nuri to come down with her scimitar, Scarlett was there to slide a dagger home, while Juliette was already taking on the next target.

They moved in tandem, knowing exactly how one would move to make room for the next.

Scimitars sliced through wings while Juliette’s sword went through throats and chests, and Scarlett’s flames set fire to it all.

When they had finally cleared the passage, their hands, faces, and clothing covered in blood, they took a moment to catch their breath. Scarlett had a hand braced on her hips, and she rubbed at her chest again. Nuri was leaning against the wall, and Juliette was bouncing from foot-to-foot.

“For the love of Arius, please tell me we are close,” Scarlett said between harsh breaths.

“Straight ahead,” Nuri answered. “Are we ready to do this?”

Their gazes all connected at the question.

“It seems right. That it is us,” Juliette said. “I saw so many ways this could play out, but I always hoped it was us. The three of us. Where it started.”

“Where it will end,” Scarlett said, smiling at her sisters.

“Is he in there for sure?” Juliette asked.

“We’ll know in a minute,” Scarlett answered, pulling a vial from her pocket. Cethin’s blood. She had it in case she needed to get back into Avonleya, but that’s not what she was going to use it for now.

Pulling out the cork, she tipped it back, wincing at the coppery taste. “Gods, Nuri. How can you like that?” she asked, tossing the vial aside. It was ashes before it hit the ground.

Nuri shrugged. “The more powerful, the more divine it tastes.”

“Cethin is pretty fucking powerful, and it still just tastes like blood,” Scarlett deadpanned.

“Are we ready?” Juliette cut in, always the peacekeeper. Half of the time anyway.

Scarlett tugged up the sleeve of her tunic, seeing the interlocking circles glowing faintly on her arm. A Melding Mark. It could only be used by those who shared blood, but for blooded siblings, it allowed them to share gifts for brief periods of time.

And she could feel Alaric.

“He’s in there,” Scarlett confirmed.

“Of course he is. That’s why I brought us here,” Nuri retorted.

They fell into step beside each other once more, and when they came to the end of the passage and turned left, it opened into a cavernous space. It reminded Scarlett of his dungeon study. Dank and cold. A desk. Liquor cart. Sofa. One small bookshelf.

Alaric was leaning against the desk, swirling a glass of amber liquid, his black eyes fixed on them.

“My Wraiths.” He sighed. “What am I going to do with you?”

They prowled into the room, fanning out. Nuri to her left. Juliette on her right.

“I think the better question is what are we going to do with you,” Scarlett mused, taking in more of the space.

There was a small bed tucked against a far wall.

A nightstand beside it. A chest of drawers was on another wall, and atop it was the only thing with color in the space.

A vase of red roses. She sauntered over to it, feeling Alaric’s eyes on her the entire time.

She ran her fingers along various items as she moved before she plucked a rose from the vase, bringing it to her nose to smell it.

“It’s rather anticlimactic, don’t you think?” Scarlett prompted.

“What is?” Alaric asked, tilting his head in question as he took a sip of his drink.

“After all this, you are going to die in some underground hideout. I wish we could have made a more public spectacle of your death,” she said with a wistful sigh. “I wish Cassius were here to see it.”

Alaric’s lip curled back at the name. “When Achaz gets here, the dragons will be the first to go.”

“Achaz will not make it here, I’m afraid,” Scarlett said with a pout, twisting the rose stem between her fingers.

Alaric’s smile grew. “He is almost here already, Scarlett. I bet you can feel him. Pacing on the other side of the gateway. Eventually your new gifts will falter, and he will break through.”

Juliette and Nuri had been wandering around the room too, picking up random objects and studying them. Alaric’s gaze kept bouncing between the three of them.

“What are you two doing?” he snapped.

“Looking for something,” Nuri replied, picking up what appeared to be a small wooden box of some sort.

“And you, my daughter ,” Alaric sneered, eyes narrowing on Nuri. “How many days will you spend in the sun for your insolence on this day?”

“I am going to make you scream,” Nuri said casually, setting the box back down and turning to face him.

Alaric scoffed, knocking back the last of his drink before dropping the glass onto the desk behind him. “Your threats are becoming tedious, Nuri.”

“Why aren’t you lecturing Juliette?” she asked, slowly beginning to peel off her gloves.

Alaric’s gaze flickered to Juliette, where she was lifting the lid of a teapot and peering inside. “I wrote her off long ago. The day she let herself die.”

Juliette acted as though she had not heard him, moving on to the next item without a glance in his direction.

But Scarlett said, “ Let herself die? As if you didn’t know exactly what was going to happen that night.”

Alaric shrugged. “I did not know how that night would play out, but … She did, didn’t she?”

“Fuck all the way off, Alaric.”

“Watch that mouth of yours, Scarlett,” he snarled, pushing off the desk and taking a step towards her, but the sound of something crashing to the floor had him spinning back to Juliette.

“What are you looking for?” he gritted out.

“Nothing,” Juliette answered sweetly, kicking the tin she had dropped off to the side. “When did you become so paranoid?”

He glared at her, making to turn back to Scarlett, but Nuri said, “Which side would you prefer?”

“Which side of what, Nuri?” he asked in exasperation.

“Which side of your throat should I rip out? Do you have a preference?”

“What is the purpose of this pointless conversation?”

Nuri shrugged. “I was trying to be courteous, but I can do either side. I’m not really picky. Although, I have this ache in my neck from earlier, so maybe the left side would be better. Not as much strain and all.”

“Enough, Nuri,” Alaric spat. “Stop talking. It’s an order.”

He turned back to Scarlett. Then he went eerily still when Nuri said, “But I have something to show you, Father .”