Page 41 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)
“We can circle back to this topic. What is your other condition, Milady?”
“We are not ‘circling back’ to this, Razik,” she said indignantly. She would have said more, but he was leaning closer now, and her thoughts had scattered at the small smirk on lips that were all sorts of distracting.
“The second condition?” he pressed.
She held his gaze when she said, “You never speak of the Mark I bear again.” He went still. “Never again, Razik.”
He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything in response, there was a knock on her door. “General?”
And just like that, she slipped back into her role of Fire Court General. She got to her feet, shoving aside the uncomfortableness of not having even semi-full reserves. Pulling the door open, she found a Shifter. “What?” Eliza asked.
“The Alpha has returned. He has requested your company.”
“Thank you for informing me.”
The Shifter stepped aside as she exited the room. Razik was already at the door, following her out. The Shifter cast him a wary look, to which he flashed his teeth in a challenging taunt, and Eliza elbowed him in the ribs. “Stop being an ass. They are our allies.”
He didn’t say anything, but his features became the bored, uninterested face he usually wore.
When they came to the meeting room, they found Stellan and Arianna seated at either end of the table.
Sariah was pacing back and forth in her jaguar form near the Alpha, while Ilyas sat to his right.
Ashtine, Azrael, Sawyer, and Callan were already here and seated as well.
Eliza slid into a chair next to Callan, Razik taking the remaining one beside her.
“I have news of the Fire Court,” Stellan said, cutting right to the thick of the matter.
It was one of the reasons he’d been gone. With the wards down and the Shifters able to move about freely, he had been out gathering information.
“You traveled all the way to the Fire Court and back in three days?” Callan asked.
“He flew to the Earth Court,” Arianna explained, smiling serenely at Jamahl as he placed a goblet of wine on the table before her.
Azrael tensed across the table, his lip curling in a silent snarl.
“Did Tarek reveal when the armies are to move?” Ashtine asked, her head tilting in curiosity.
“The armies? What is she talking about?” Ilyas asked, looking at his Alpha.
“The winds are speaking more willingly these days,” Arianna commented, swirling her goblet.
Ashtine graced her with a small smile. “They speak of things in passing.”
“Tarek indeed leads the Earth Court. Ermir has kept them out of the Citadel, but the seraphs have taken over the rest of the Wind Court,” Stellan said.
Ashtine did not react, only nodding once at the information.
“I thought Prince Drayce may be seen as a figurehead in the Water Court, but Alaric appears to be keeping him hidden. A seraph with water gifts has assumed control of that territory.”
“And the Fire Court?” Eliza pressed.
“A Fae by the name of Bastien has assumed the throne.”
“Are you fucking with me?” Eliza growled, the wood of the table beneath her palms beginning to smolder.
“I do not know that name,” Arianna commented.
“He is a lower commander in the Fire Court forces,” Eliza answered. “Strong gifts, but too brash and conceited to be given greater responsibilities.”
“The perfect puppet for Alaric then,” Sawyer said grimly.
“The forces are being gathered at seemingly random places in the Courts. There are no significant towns or strongholds,” Stellan continued. “The mortal armies are also preparing, and there are a great number of seraphs in every territory.”
The room fell silent as he finished telling what he had learned in his time away.
“Where would all the seraph forces have come from?” Azrael asked after a moment. “Scarlett closed all the rips with the keys. She essentially locked the realm.”
“That is a question with no answer,” Ashtine said. “But one would assume they wait for the Sorceress to obtain her freedom.”
“Is Talwyn returned to him then?” Eliza asked, realizing she hadn’t been given any type of report after being preoccupied with Razik.
Azrael had clearly already filled in the others as he told her everything that had happened since they’d left Siofra two days prior.
Scarlett being attacked. Cethin draining his magic.
Saylah appearing. Talwyn sacrificing her magic for Sorin.
Sorin getting his magic back. The exchange of Talwyn for Cyrus and Neve.
“What is the plan then?” Eliza demanded. “If Sorin has regained his magic and is even stronger than before, he can feed Scarlett’s power. The two of them together …”
She trailed off, because good gods. Those two mighty powers together? They could literally burn the world to ash. Add in the ability to communicate down their twin flame bond, and they would be virtually unstoppable.
“Scarlett wants to find the lock first,” Azrael said. “She has been planning with Rayner. They will come for it soon. When she has it, the Wards around Avonleya can come down, allowing their forces to cross. When she returns, she returns with an army.”
“And until then?” Callan asked. “What do the mortals and the Fae do until then? How long will she make them wait?”
“She understands that time is not on her side, your Majesty,” Ashtine said kindly. “Until then, we turn to our allies. They prepare to aid us until she can come.”
“The Witches were preparing,” Razik cut in. “When we were there, the High Witch had stockpiles of potions and said they had been training.”
“The Witches on their griffins could be an aerial host to combat the seraphs in the skies,” Eliza said, leaning forward as her mind immediately began planning battle formations. “And any avian Shifters?”
She looked between Stellan and Arianna. It was the Beta who nodded. “Those who have larger forms will fight. The smaller Shifters are trained in stealth. We stand with the true Queen of the Continent.”
Queen of the Continent.
What would Scarlett say to that?
But it was true. She could take it all. They could take it all. No one would be able to challenge her and Sorin. Not anymore. Arianna had all but said they would bow to her.
“And the mortals?” Callan pressed. “What are they to do? Any mortal host will be carrion in this war.”
“Alaric does not care. They are chattel to him,” Stellan said.
“So who does care for us?” Callan asked.
“Scarlett does,” Azrael answered. “It is why I am here. I am to go with you to Baylorin, to aid you and your people in whatever way we can.”
“They will not trust you,” Arianna said, chin propped in her palm. “You are Fae. Everything they have been taught to fear. They are being told this is all because of your kind.”
“She is right,” Callan said, a finger tapping absent-mindedly on the table. “It will be difficult enough persuading them to trust me, let alone if I show up with a Fae Prince.”
“I think you will find your people a little more willing to trust you than you think,” Ashtine commented. “It is interesting what light and dark can accomplish together.” Sky-blue eyes settled on the mortal king. “Angel and Wraith.”
Callan lurched forward. “Tava is already risking enough. She is not to be part of this.”
Ashtine only smiled faintly. “You will find that is not true. She has always been a part of this. Just as you have always been a part of this.”
“So the Earth Prince and mortal king will go to Windonelle,” Stellan said, rolling out the map Ilyas had retrieved for him. It covered half the table, and they all leaned towards it. “The Wind Princess will stay here along with the Water Second and Fire General.”
“What if I didn’t?” Eliza said, the plan already taking shape as she spoke. “What if I went to the Fire Court on Sorin’s behalf? I could regain control of my forces. Alaric would be down at least one Court then.”
“It could make the other Court armies pause,” Azrael said, rubbing at his jaw. “They will see you making a stand. It will spark hope that we are still fighting and cause some unrest among their ranks.”
“Exactly,” Eliza said, pushing to her feet to see the map better.
“We take back the Fire Court, and Windonelle and Rydeon have protection from the north. Toreall and the Wind Court have the Witches to the East. The Shifters can take the Water and Earth Courts. The Fae and mortals at least stand a chance then. We hold the lines until they can get here.”
“This could go poorly,” Arianna warned from where she still leisurely lounged down the table. “Alaric could simply decimate them all if they try to rebel.”
“We have to try,” Eliza retorted. “It is better than doing nothing.”
“I am not saying we do nothing. We will always fight against injustice and for freedom,” the Beta answered. “I am saying be prepared for all the possibilities. You never know what rebellion will cost you.”
It was late, the stars having long since appeared in the night sky.
She should be sleeping. She needed the rest to refill her power reserves.
After she refilled Razik’s magic and sent him on his way, she would go with Azrael and Callan to Baylorin.
Azrael would eventually Travel her into the Fire Court, and she would make Bastien regret ever thinking he could run the Fire Court.
The male had always disliked her. It had probably started the day she’d handed him his ass in a sparring ring when she was still a grunt.
Now she was his superior, and he had continuously toed the line of insubordination.
In short, he was a pain in her ass, but his power was one of the stronger in the Court so she put up with him.
Yet here she sat, propped against the headboard of the bed with her knees bent and a book balanced before her instead of sleeping. The candle on her bedside table was burning low. She’d likely need to get another one soon.
Eliza saw him in her periphery. He was leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed, barefoot, and, of course, shirtless. The same way he’d stood while he’d watched her retch on a bathing room floor weeks ago.
She didn’t bother looking at him when she asked, “Do you have an aversion to fabric?”
She saw his brow furrow. “No. Why?”
“You seem to find any reason possible not to wear a shirt.”
The slight frown disappeared. “What are you reading?”
“A book. Go away.”
His eyes shifted, glowing a faint blue. “Not just any book.”
She sighed, turning her attention to him. “No. Not just any book. Can you see better with your eyes shifted? Better than normal for an immortal?”
Her senses were spectacular as a Fae. She couldn’t imagine them being even more enhanced.
“I can see farther away. When I am flying, I can see things on the ground clearly,” he answered.
That made sense.
Her focus returned to the book she was studying. It was the one he’d given her in his study back in Aimonway, and she was currently trying to figure out how to read the Avonleyan language. Even though it was a book meant for younglings, it was still incredibly complicated.
“Why is it so difficult to understand?” she asked absent-mindedly.
“It is a sub-sect of the Celestial Language,” Razik answered.
“What is that?” She tilted the book. There were two words that were nearly identical. Like the Marks, writing a word slightly different changed the meaning entirely, and she could not figure out how these two differed.
“The language of the gods.” She looked up at the nearness of his voice, finding him standing beside the bed. He pointed to the two words. “Here. The angle of this part is different.”
She saw it then. It was different, but barely. No wonder Sorin had been struggling to learn it. Scarlett had seemed to pick it up easily enough though. It had taken her a matter of months when she’d sneak down to the chamber beneath the Fire Palace library.
“Does it come easier for you? With the blood of a god in your veins?”
“In theory,” he answered. “Move over.”
She did so without thinking, sliding over a bit to give him room to sit beside her. Turning the book so he could see it better, she pointed to another set of words. “What about these two?”
For the next two hours, Razik entertained her questions and taught her the basics of the Avonleyan language. It was only when the candle had indeed burned all the way down and the words on the page blurred that Razik gently closed the book in his lap.
“You need to sleep,” he said. She was nestled against his side where she had been leaning to see the book better as he’d explained things to her.
“I do,” she murmured, eyes already closed. A palm ran down her hair. “I want you to stay,” she added in a whisper.
“I know, mai dragocen ,” he answered, the whisper of lips brushing against her temple.
And when she woke the next morning with her head on his chest and his arm curled protectively around her waist, holding her to him, she couldn’t bring herself to regret asking him to stay.