Page 34 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

Cyrus

T he entire room was shirastone. The walls.

The floor. The ceiling. Shackles on his wrists and ankles really weren’t necessary when he was literally sitting on the floor and leaning against the damn stone.

The soles of his feet burned, cut up from traversing the Underwater Prison and these godsforsaken cliffs barefoot, and now they sat on shirastone.

Neve was standing nearby. She had shackles on her wrists and ankles too, but she had boots on.

She’d been allowed to bathe as well from the looks of it.

In clean fresh clothing, she stood well away from the walls, avoiding any extra shirastone, but her soft grey eyes were haunted.

She’d endured something in her time with Alaric.

Knowing how the bastard had manipulated Scarlett for years, he could only imagine what he’d done to the Water Court Third.

Neve was often mistaken for being soft. Many often wondered how she had become the Water Court Third.

Cyrus didn’t need to wonder. He knew, and the fact she was that shaken told him enough.

He adjusted his arms around his bent knees where he sat curled tightly in on himself to avoid as much shirastone as possible.

But when it came down to it, he would rather endure months of this room than sit in Gehenna’s presence another day.

She hadn’t wasted a moment of the last of their time together, and before Alaric had finally taken him from that dungeon room, she had demanded another vial of blood from Cyrus.

He’d had no choice but to oblige her. Alaric had only muttered impatiently from the bottom of the stairs.

A seraph had escorted him out, the tall one with the deeply tanned skin and brown feathered wings.

His black hair was tied up on top of his head, and his hard grey eyes scarcely glanced at him when he’d roughly slapped the chains to his wrists.

Briar had been present, needing to be there for Alaric to enter the prison, but he’d clearly been instructed to keep his mouth shut after their last visit.

The door opened, and Alaric and Briar came into the room. Neve flinched back, and Briar’s attention snapped to his Third. Still the Water Prince said nothing. Just like Ashtine had said nothing when they had come here before.

Alaric was cursing under his breath. Something about the lock and Gehenna’s useless spell. From what Cyrus had gathered, he was hoping Briar could figure out what he was missing. Guess that didn’t go well.

Cyrus noticed them first while the others remained oblivious.

Probably because he was sitting on the ground.

He saw the ashes creep under the door before instantly disappearing when they crossed the threshold.

Those were Ash Rider ashes. Shirastone did not usually affect Rayner, but besides the shirastone, this room was warded extensively so that no magic could be accessed.

The only room in the entirety of the cliffs from what Alaric said.

That was why he had chosen here for this exchange.

So that there would be no surprises from his protégé.

He sucked in a breath when the door started to open.

It was not hope that filled him, though.

It was dread. What would they say when they found out what he’d promised the Sorceress?

Gehenna had asked if they would want him back.

That question had plagued him since it crossed her lips.

Would they? Could they forgive one more thing that he had done?

Rayner came in first, gripping Talwyn by the elbow. The former Fae Queen looked …different. Less … Just less. Rayner’s swirling eyes went straight to Cyrus, but Cyrus could only hold his gaze for a fraction of a second before he was staring at the floor.

He heard them enter. Two sets of footsteps. One heavier, one lighter. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t look at them.

Couldn’t look at him as his warped words echoed in his mind.

“My Wraith,” Alaric said smoothly.

“Alaric,” she replied coldly.

“I must admit that while I am relieved to see the Fae Queen here, I am disappointed in you that she still breathes.”

Cyrus knew without looking at her that her head was tilted, an arrogant smirk on her lips, when she said, “Disappointing you is my greatest pastime.”

Alaric tsked in disgust. “I trained you better than to leave someone alive who wronged you. I trained both of you better.”

“Do you plan to kill me then, Alaric? For the times I have wronged you these last couple of years?” she asked.

Cyrus watched her boots move across the floor as she edged inside a little more, Cassius sticking to her side. Rayner had moved Talwyn off to the side as near to Briar as he dared.

“I should,” he sneered.

“But you won’t.”

“What makes you so sure, Scarlett?”

“Killing me would mean you lose something you view as belonging to you. You would never willingly allow yourself to lose,” she replied, boots sliding along the shirastone floor. “It does beg the question though …”

“What question?” Alaric gritted out when Scarlett forced him to ask by trailing off.

“How do you plan to convince Achaz to let me live when he desires the death of every descendant of Arius?”

Cyrus’s head snapped up at that question, and the way Cassius and Rayner were looking at Scarlett told him they did not know what she was talking about either.

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.

The Sorceress had told him, had all but spelled it out, but he’d been too lost in his own head to comprehend what she was saying. Achaz would not stop at Saylah, but would come for Scarlett and Cethin too. What else had he missed? What else had Gehenna revealed to him that he hadn’t understood?

Another thing he had failed his family in. He was proving just how useless he was at this point, and—

A dark brown eye landed on his, the other hidden behind an eye patch.

It pulled him from one spiral into the darkness and into an entirely new one.

Cassius was in all black, but whereas Scarlett was in her witchsuit, Cass had on a fitted black tunic and pants.

Vambraces were on his forearms, daggers and knives strapped to his weapons belt and thighs.

His upper half didn’t appear to have any weapons, likely on purpose in case he needed to shift.

He had a black cloak on, though, that Cyrus was sure hid more weapons beneath it. But the look on his face?

Complete indifference.

Cassius looked away a heartbeat later when Scarlett took another step forward, and he moved with her. Because of course he would. He was her Guardian. She was what mattered most to him. Always had, always would.

“If you would simply do as you were trained to do,” Alaric was saying, “I would have been able to deal with Achaz. If you would have followed through on the deals you made, none of this would be an issue.”

“The deals?” Scarlett repeated. Then her eyes went wide. “Are you speaking of Mikale?”

“Did you think I gave you to him solely as a punishment?” Alaric sneered. He moved towards her until they were mere feet apart. “There is always a motive, Scarlett. Always a piece being moved into place in a bigger game. You know this.”

That wicked smile curved on her lips again as she replied. “You have no idea.”

She moved again. A clever, subtle move that appeared casual, but put her in between Cyrus and Alaric. A move of her own in this game between her and her former master.

“Let’s get this over with,” Scarlett said, turning to Neve and jerking her chin. The Water Third glanced between her and Alaric before tentatively taking a step.

“Wait,” Alaric said, holding up a hand, and Neve immediately stopped, wincing. “I want the Fae Queen’s shackles removed before this is done. I do not need her bound in chains I do not hold the key to.”

“Then I want Cyrus and Neve’s shackles removed.”

“I can agree to that,” Alaric replied, nodding at the seraph. He moved silently forward, removing Neve’s chains first, then his. Cyrus rotated his wrists, rubbing at the red flesh left behind.

“Why can I not feel power from her?” Alaric demanded, his eyes narrowing.

Scarlett rolled her eyes. “Aside from the fact you insisted on meeting in a room made of shirastone, it is because the Avonleyans are more thorough than you are. She has been in nightstone chains, not shirastone.”

“Nightstone?” Alaric repeated, his brow arching. “A little overkill, don’t you think, my Wraith?”

She flashed him a mocking smile. “Like you said, she shouldn’t be breathing. A little overkill was more than warranted.”

“So, what now, Scarlett?” Alaric asked, watching her keenly. Cyrus and Neve still hadn’t moved, and Rayner still gripped Talwyn’s arm. “We go our separate ways until the next battle or prisoner exchange? Seems rather pointless, does it not?”

Scarlett stepped back and turned to Cyrus, reaching a hand down for him.

She didn’t bother looking at her former master when she clicked her tongue and said, “I am hurt that you have forgotten one of our most important conversations.” Her silver eyes held his as he reached for her, smaller fingers wrapping around his and pulling as he pushed to his feet.

She smiled softly, her grip tightening on his hand, before she turned back to Alaric.

“Although that was a fairly eventful day for you.”

“What are you talking about?” the Maraan Prince asked tightly.

“The day your Fellowship burned to the ground. I told you I was already so far under your skin, you didn’t even know I was there.”

“You have no idea what you cost me the night you burned that to the ground with your starfire,” Alaric seethed.

But Cyrus did. Gehenna had told him what the Maraan Prince had thought he had lost.