Page 46 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

“None across the Edria,” she replied.

“And in Avonleya?”

“I found one other one. In the southern part of the continent.”

“And you’ve kept it a secret because …?”

“Because I don’t want Cethin thinking I need to be followed everywhere. I am not entirely sure how much I trust him right now. If I happen to find something unexpected, I want to be in control of if and when he learns it,” she answered.

“Kailia hasn’t followed you?”

“I’ve had to be more strategic since the attack at the estate, but no. She does not follow me. That way,” she said, pointing to the right.

She turned, starting down a small decline. He knew she was using a Mark she had drawn on the palm of her right hand to guide her. How it worked, he had no idea.

“There is nothing guarding the mirror gates?” he asked.

“I never said that.”

“Scarlett …”

“I’m fine, aren’t I?”

“By the gods,” he cursed under his breath. “What guards them?”

“My shadow panthers took care of them.”

“Scarlett. What were they?” He reached out, tugging her to a stop.

“I don’t know what they were, Sorin. Some type of serpent creature.” She swiped a gloved hand down her face before her eyes fixed on the ground. Then she was dropping down and wiping away the small smattering of snow that had fallen. “Sorin, do you see this?”

He crouched next to her, seeing nothing but barren grey ground. He’d long since learned that didn’t mean anything, though. “I do not,” he answered, looking over at her. “What do you see?”

She pulled a glove off, her finger tracing along something. “I can’t make out what it says,” she murmured. She used her other hand to clear away more snow. “This isn’t Avonleyan.”

But he was only half-listening to her now. Something felt …wrong. He scanned the surrounding area. There was nothing out here but snow and rock and grey skies. Pulling one of the short swords strapped to his waist, he pushed to his feet and turned in a slow circle.

“I feel it too,” Scarlett murmured, still studying the ground. Shadows pooled, her panthers forming and beginning to prowl around them. “I can’t figure out what I’m missing.”

“Perhaps we go figure it out somewhere else then come back,” Sorin muttered. “Something is not right here, Scarlett.”

“Just a few more minutes. It has to be here,” she replied. She pricked her finger, now tracing whatever she saw with her blood.

Then the ground began to shake.

“Scarlett,” Sorin snapped, gripping her elbow and hauling her upright and into his side. “What did you do?”

“I think my blood activated the Marks,” she whispered, a slight nervousness in her voice.

“And what are those Marks going to do?”

She bit her lower lip, gaze fixed on the Marks he couldn’t see. “Hopefully take us to the mirror gate?”

“By the gods, Scarlett,” he growled, clutching her tighter as the ground lurched beneath their feet.

But the air around them was shimmering. The various towering cliff sides and ledges were shifting as the earth shuddered again.

Scarlett had a wall of starfire around them in the next breath, and her shadows covered them like a second skin as she shielded them from whatever was about to happen. Still the world shook around them.

“Travel us out,” Sorin gritted, another violent tremor making them both stumble.

“A little longer.”

“We can come back, Scarlett,” he insisted.

“There’s something bigger, Sorin. We’re missing something so much bigger. It has to be connected to the mirror gates.”

Before he could argue further, everything stilled.

Scarlett looked up at him in question. He sighed, his lips forming a tight line.

He didn’t like this. He didn’t like that he had no idea what they were walking into, what danger she might be in.

But she was including him. She was finally letting him in on her plans.

Sorin gave her a tight nod. Her shadows tightened around them as she slowly lowered her starfire. Then the white flames disappeared altogether, and they stood gaping.

There were doors and balconies. There were buildings .

Bridges spanned between various levels, a network of paths connecting it all.

They spanned farther than he could see. Up, down.

Left and right. They seemed to be standing in the very heart of whatever this was.

Everything was stone, and there were several places where the rock was crumbling or gone all together. Ancient and lovely and—

“Ruins,” Scarlett whispered. “These are the ruins of a city.”

“It would make sense if a mirror gate is hidden here,” Sorin replied, still trying to take everything in.

Scarlett looked down at her palm where the guiding Mark she’d drawn was still stark against her skin. “This way, I guess.”

She stepped from his hold, her shadows going with her and swirling until two panthers stalked at her sides. She had a dagger in her other hand, and Sorin adjusted his grip on his short sword as he followed her deeper into the ruins.

They came to a decrepit fountain a few minutes later, and she turned, starting down a ramp that led into a crevice.

Bits of debris crumbled as the ramp became a bridge, winding down into the dark.

There were no railings or sides on the bridge.

Just a fall to one’s death. Two glowing flames appeared above them, and he couldn’t help but marvel at her effortlessly using so many facets of her magic at once these days.

Natural. A fate she had fought for so long.

“I feel you looking at me,” she muttered. “Stop thinking such silly thoughts.”

“What thoughts?”

“That you believe I’ve followed fate more than I care to admit.”

“All evidence does seem to point in that direction.”

She hummed in response. “I suppose we shall see who wins in the end.”

Once he would have said the Fates always win, but now?

They finally reached the base of the winding ramp, and Scarlett made the guiding flames flare brighter. She sucked in a breath. “Sorin?”

“I see them, Love.”

Doors. Giant onyx doors stood before them. Numerous Marks were etched into the doors, but in the center were three that were bigger than the rest: Arius, Achaz, and another he did not know. A triangle inside a circle.

But there were others he had never seen before as well, and it was these that Scarlett was tracing with her finger.

“These are the same as the language we found in the snow,” she murmured.

She swiped the dagger across her palm before placing it on the door, directly over the Arius symbol. There was a faint click, and she pushed, the ancient door grinding against the stone floor.

On instinct, Sorin tugged her back to him, his sword raised, but her shadows swept inside. They were both holding their breath, and it took a minute before she released hers. “Empty. There’s nothing in there.”

She gave him another shaky smile, and Sorin stepped forward, pushing the door open farther. “The others are going to kill us for going here without them.”

“Probably,” she muttered. She let the fire flare again, and Sorin saw it before she did. A ledge that ran around the perimeter of the room. He sent an ember from her flame to it, and the oil he suspected was there caught light, the chamber suddenly cast in a warm glow.

And at the end of the corridor was the mirror gate.

Scarlett rushed forward, setting her dagger down on a cracked stone table as she went. The same symbols surrounded the mirror, and she again began tracing them with a slight frown.

“You know,” he ventured carefully, “Saylah would likely know of them.”

The frown became pursed lips, her hands coming to her hips. “I know.”

“She is your mother.”

“Eliné was my mother,” Scarlett said sharply.

“I know, Love,” he said, stepping closer. “All I am suggesting is maybe if we were a little more …cooperative, she might be willing to give a little more.”

To his utmost surprise, she murmured, “Maybe.”

She continued inspecting the mirror. For what, he didn’t know, but he watched her pace back and forth in front of it.

He took in the rest of the chamber. There was nothing. It was completely empty save for the table in the center of the room. No other markings. No books like in the chamber beneath the Wind Citadel. He turned back and froze.

Scarlett stood directly in front of the mirror, and someone was on the other side.

It was a male with clean cut brown hair that matched his russet colored eyes.

His hands were shoved into the pockets of pants from material Sorin had never seen before.

He had a thick wool shirt on and some type of large satchel slung across his chest. The male tilted his head, watching Scarlett curiously as he rocked back on his heels.

“Where are you?” she asked cautiously, bringing her fingertips to the mirror.

The male glanced between them, then shook his head as if to tell her he could not hear her. He lifted the flap on his bag and pulled out some paper. Sorin stepped to her side, and they both watched while he wrote on it.

He held it up in the mirror. There were various lines written, all in languages Sorin did not recognize except for one.

“This one,” Scarlett said, tapping on the one written in the Avonleyan language.

The male looked at which one she’d pointed to, then back at her in surprise. He flipped the paper over, scribbling on the back, before holding it up again.

“What does it say?” Sorin asked, not nearly as proficient in the language yet as Scarlett was.

“He is asking if we are Legacy,” she said with a frown.

She gave him a tentative nod, and he quickly began scribbling on the paper again.

“Which god,” Scarlett read when he held the paper back up.

Looking around helplessly for something to write on, she finally settled for drawing in the air with her starfire.

She drew Saylah’s symbol, and confusion passed over the male’s features.

But then his attention went to something else wherever he was at.

He gave them a small smile with a quick bow before he stepped out of view.