Page 13 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

Her violet eyes brightened with the madness of being locked up for centuries. “Who said anything about death? It drains you to the very precipice of death, but never lets you cross into the After. Much can happen in the in-between.”

“That is …horrific.”

“Isn’t it, though?” she sighed wistfully. Then her eyes narrowed on him, as if she had suddenly recalled who she was speaking with. “Are you ready to make a bargain?”

“No,” he answered quickly.

“You know there are worse things than my bargains.”

“I am aware,” he muttered, trying to mentally prepare himself for the next memory she was going to taint.

“Many unnecessary sacrifices have been made in efforts to avoid bargains with me.”

“Can’t imagine why.”

“Me either,” the Sorceress said with a shrug. Her hand dropped to her side, fingers slipping into a pocket where she kept the vial of his blood.

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“A story,” he said, scrambling to hold on to this moment of peace a little longer. “You have not told me a story in a while. I quite enjoy your stories.”

“You do?” she asked eagerly, hands coming back to the bars as she pressed herself as close as she could to them.

“Yes, of course,” he answered quickly.

“I can tell you one of betrayal.”

“That sounds …nice,” Cyrus said, debating whether this was indeed a good idea.

“In all things there must be balance,” she started, and he loosed a breath of relief when the story started the same way the others had. “When the balance tips, who must pay the price? She was supposed to be his, but she chose another.”

“You fault Serafina for falling in love with Arius instead of Achaz?” Cyrus asked.

“What is love?” the Sorceress replied. “Love changes the course of the realms. It upsets the balance. They upset the balance.”

“Arius and Serafina?”

“They upset the balance. They could have ended one war, and instead started another. And now they must pay the price to right it,” the Sorceress continued.

“He hunts them. All life they created—together and separately. He will not rest until not one remains, until dreams are gone and death is dead. Not until they have answered for their betrayal. But there are many realms. He could not find them all on his own, so he created new life.”

“The seraphs?” Cyrus asked, trying to piece together everything she was saying.

“They aid him, but he created more ,” the Sorceress said, her smile widening.

“He created the Hunters. Night and shadows thought she could hide them behind the mirrors, but she cannot outsmart him. Oh, no.” She tipped her head back, an eerie laugh coming from her throat.

“Her own flesh and blood let the Hunters into this world, into her own kingdom, and when the gateway is unlocked, they will return and tell him what they have learned. Then he will come for them all, and the Maraan Prince shall pay for his failure unless he can fix his errors before he arrives.”

“Who are the Hunters?” Cyrus asked.

“ What are the Hunters,” the Sorceress corrected, her head tilting as she began studying him once more.

“What are the Hunters?” Cyrus agreed.

“You do not know?”

Cyrus shifted on the ground. “No?”

“But you were across the Edria,” she said, watching him carefully. “The Cursed King did not tell you?”

“Tell us what?” Cyrus asked, unease creeping up his spine at her referring to Cethin as ‘the Cursed King’.

Her lips tilted again. “Perhaps he will not need to come here after all.”

Cyrus was silent, trying to think of how to pose his next question in a way that would keep her talking, but she spoke again first.

“Would you like to make a bargain?”

“No,” he said immediately.

“I will tell you of the Hunters if you tell me where my spell book is,” she continued as though he had not spoken.

“No,” he repeated.

Her lips pursed, and her shoulders fell in disappointment. “We were having a pleasant conversation, and you ruined it.”

He’d been nibbling on some stale bread while she spoke. He didn’t eat a lot, never knowing what kind of nightmare she was going to throw him into next. At her obvious displeasure, he set the bread off to the side.

“Would you like to hear another story?” she asked suddenly.

And he could tell by the look on her face this was a bad idea. But would it be worse than her dragging him back into a memory or Merrik or Thia? He doubted it.

“Sure,” he said, tipping his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. “Tell me a happy one this time.”

“A happy one?” she repeated. “Like a story of love ?”

“Fuck,” Cyrus muttered. He should have known better.

“In all things there must be balance,” she started, and he relaxed a bit when the story started the same way the others had. “Love is no different. It has the power to create balance, but more often creates chaos.”

That …was actually a fairly accurate statement when he really thought about it.

“When the gods began to have offspring with the mortals, the Legacy came into being. Some said they loved their mortal partners. Others simply did not want the other gods to have something they did not. But as more and more Legacy were born, the gods began to fear being overthrown by their children.”

“I thought this was supposed to be about love?” Cyrus said.

“I am getting to that part,” the Sorceress hissed. “They put limits on the powers of the Legacy, and they made them dependent on others to maintain that power.”

He knew this story, knew how the Fae came into being, but if she was talking, he wasn’t suffering, so he let her continue.

“Together with the Witch Goddesses, the Fae were created and given their gifts in gratitude for agreeing to watch over and aid their children. But their gifts were not the only thing they gave to the Fae.”

Cyrus opened his eyes at that, dipping his chin to see the Sorceress better.

The faint smirk on her lips told him whatever she was about to say wasn’t going to be good.

If he’d thought a story would give him a reprieve from her torture, he was clearly mistaken.

He sucked in a sharp breath, waiting for her to continue.

“They were given twin flames.”

He released the breath in a rush. But he did so too soon.

“The twin flame bond was a gift to both the Fae and the Legacy. A bond of love to link the two together. Some found it a blessing, others a curse.”

But that meant—

“Thia was Fae.”

“Was she?” the Sorceress asked, that faint smirk growing wider.

“Yes,” he said firmly.

“Then she was not your twin flame.”

“The bond was Anointed. If she had not been my twin flame, the Anointing would have failed,” he gritted out.

“Then she was not Fae,” Gehenna sang lightly.

“Stop,” he hissed. “You are lying.”

He refused to let her take this from him.

She could take his good memories and alter them.

She could trap him in his nightmares and make him relive them over and over again, but not this.

Even if she ruined every memory he had, he could still cling to the fact that he had once had a twin flame.

Had once known love on such a deep level, there were no words in any language to describe it.

The Sorceress clicked her tongue at him. “I have not lied to you once, Son of Fire. Why would I start now? What do I have to gain from it?”

“I do not believe you,” he said, trying to steady his breathing.

“You need a Source, Cass. For all the reasons Cethin said and more. Scarlett is worried. We’re all worried. If you don’t want it to be me, fine, but we need to find you one.”

Cassius ran a hand down his face. “Can we talk about this later? I just need some time to think.”

“So think with me,” Cyrus said, moving to the small sofa against the wall and sinking down onto it.

Cassius sighed, settling back down at the desk without another word. But he didn’t tell Cyrus to leave, which meant he’d eventually say something. Cyrus just needed to wait for it.

When he finally did speak a half-hour later, it was certainly not what he was expecting him to say.

“You know you never deserved a twin flame, right?”

Cyrus had been absent-mindedly tossing a ball of fire into the air and catching it. At Cassius’s words, he dropped the damn thing, singeing the rug beneath his feet before he could put it out. He cursed under his breath.

“You’re probably right,” he replied thickly, prodding at the burn mark with the toe of his boot. “But we don’t get to choose what we deserve. We only get to make the best out of what the Fates decide we get.”

“Maybe,” Cassius mused, and Cyrus heard him shift in his chair. “But you have to realize they made a mistake by giving you a twin flame, especially after how things ended with Merrik.”

Something was wrong. This was …wrong. Cassius would never say something like this to him.

But he had told him to leave.

Cassius pushed to his feet, crossing the room in a few long strides. He stood over him, forcing Cyrus to tilt his head back to look up at him. “You call me self-sacrificing, but you? You just keep taking and taking from people because you think you are deserving of it.”

“Stop.” He meant to say it with some bite behind the word, but it came out as more of a pained rasp.

Cassius bent down, bracing his hands on the back of the sofa on either side of Cyrus, bringing his face inches from his.

“Merrik and Thia were the cost of you claiming something you should have never had. Do you know what I’ve been researching in that book, Cyrus?

Twin flames.” Cassius’s mouth twisted into a cruel smirk as he brought his face closer to Cyrus’s.

“Twin flames happen between an Avonleyan and a Fae. You claimed something that was never yours to have, and Thia paid the price. How many more people will you sacrifice? If you were anyone else, I would be selfish like you all keep telling me to be. But that’s the thing.

I am being selfish. I want a Source bond with anyone but you.

And if you can’t see that all you do is damage everyone around you, then I will keep reminding you until you believe it. ”

“Stop,” Cyrus gasped, feeling the tears trail down his face. “Stop,” he whispered again. “Leave those ones. Please.”

The Sorceress hadn’t done this yet. She had not touched one memory of Cassius.

Not a single one. She had clearly been saving them for this exact moment.

But the way she had just altered that memory was already sinking into his soul and taking root.

It didn’t matter how much he tried to rationalize with himself. The damage was already done.

All you do is damage everyone around you.

“You will let me play with memories of everyone but him?” she asked, her head tilting in curiosity. Her fingers curled around the bars once more. “I am intrigued, pretty Fire Fae.”

He knew it seemed odd, but Merrik and Thia were in his past. He had once thought Cassius could be his future in some way or another. But now …

You just keep taking and taking from people because you think you are deserving of it.

He shook his head, trying to get the words out of his head, but they kept replaying over and over. And it was his voice he kept hearing say them.

“Get out,” Cassius said, his voice low and gravelly. His pupils had shifted, eyes glowing. “Get the fuck out.”

Cyrus stared at him for a long moment before turning and stalking to the door, but right before he pulled it open, he looked over his shoulder.

“I was coming here to tell you that after we got back from the Southern Islands, I wanted to go to Aelyndee with you. For the first time since Thia, you made me feel seen. I never want to step foot in Aelyndee again, but for you, I would have. I would have jumped through every godsdamn hoop if you’d have let me. ”

“Get out,” Cassius said again. “I want nothing to do with you. I never did. I used you for your blood, and I tolerated you for Scarlett. That is no longer necessary.”

“Stop!” Cyrus cried out, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath.

He couldn’t get enough air into his lungs.

He thought he could hold out. He thought he could be strong enough to withstand her, to keep his family safe.

But he wasn’t. He was weak. He couldn’t do this.

Not if she started messing with those memories.

He was already too far gone. Losing those memories would tip him over the edge.

“Are you ready to make a bargain?” Her voice drifted over to him, soft and coaxing.

All he did was damage everyone around him. They would expect nothing less at this point.

“Fae of Fire,” she whispered again.

He opened his eyes, connecting with her stare. “Yes,” he rasped. “I will tell you where your spell book is if you leave my memories of him be.”

Triumph danced in her violet eyes. “Oh no, pretty Fae,” she said, manic glee dripping in her tone. “The price to leave those memories alone is much steeper.”

Of course they made a mistake.

No one wants you, Cyrus.

If you can’t see that all you do is damage everyone around you, then I will keep reminding you until you believe it.

“Name the cost,” he said hoarsely, fingers digging into his scalp, hating himself for those three words, knowing they would indeed damage everyone he loved.