Page 50 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

“Only Kailia can kill them,” Razik retorted. “If you think they are dead, you are wrong. They will come back.” Then his eyes widened. “Wait. Is that what is all over you? You think you burned them to ash?”

“Those and some other creatures,” she answered with a shrug. “Is there food? I’m starving.”

Razik cursed colorfully. “You brought them back here? Do you know how hard we have worked to keep them from this side of the Nightmist Mountains?”

Scarlett pushed up onto her elbows. “No, actually, I don’t,” she snapped. “Because you lot decided to keep it from us, even though they apparently come for me as much as they do for Cethin.”

“We didn’t know that,” Razik countered.

“And we would have never figured it out if I hadn’t gone to the estate that night alone. Even then, we weren’t sure if it was merely coincidence or not.”

“It is most definitely not coincidence. Not after what I saw today,” Rayner muttered. “But I have to agree with her. They combined their power to take them out. It was unlike anything I have ever seen.”

“They are not gone,” Razik insisted. “We have tried everything. Fire has never worked. Only the dark stone Kailia can conjure kills them.”

“Dark stone?” Rayner asked. “Nightstone?”

Razik shook his head. “This is different.”

“Like deathstone?”

Everyone turned to look at Cyrus who had been watching and listening to everything play out. Being gone for three days, and then sleeping for nearly five, he felt like he had nothing to contribute to current conversations or planning.

“How do you know of deathstone, Cyrus?” Rayner asked, and the way he said it—like he was seconds away from destroying someone—told Cyrus he’d struck a nerve.

He grabbed the rack to busy himself and began collecting balls, even though they were in the middle of a forgotten game. His eyes were on the green felt of the table as he said, “The Sorceress told me of it.”

The others fell silent. The only sound was the light clinking of the balls as he dropped them into the rack.

After several awkward moments, Rayner said, “Moranna had some deathstone. Not much. A few items at most.”

“What does it do?” Scarlett asked, her tone soft.

Cyrus shrugged. “She said it was like nightstone in that it suppressed and drained power, but when the power was gone, it drained your life-force. Never actually killed you. Just held you in the in-between.”

He felt Cassius move closer to him, but he didn’t acknowledge it. The balls in position for a new game, he lifted the rack. He didn’t want to be thinking of any of this. He’d come down here to keep his mind busy, and it had been working until now.

“Kailia can conjure deathstone?” Rayner asked, and when Cyrus glanced at him, he looked as if he’d just put something together.

“Yes,” Razik said. “It is the only thing we have found that truly kills the things that come for Cethin. And apparently Scarlett.”

“You’re talking about the Hunters, right?

” Cyrus asked, lining up his shot to break the balls.

He hit the cue ball, the other balls scattering.

Straightening, he studied the layout, trying to decide which ball to try to sink next when he realized no one had answered him.

He looked up to find them all staring at him. “What?”

“Who are the Hunters, Cyrus?” Sorin asked. Scarlett was sitting completely upright now, silvery-blue eyes pinned on him. How much magic had she used?

Cyrus cleared his throat. “Not who. What.” He looked at Razik. “You don’t know what they are?”

Razik shook his head, arms crossed over his chest. “Explain.”

The solid purple ball. That one would be the easiest to sink.

Except it was violet. Like Gehenna’s eyes.

And he could feel them on him as she’d told him of the Hunters that day.

So he lined up a shot for the striped green ball instead as he cleared his throat.

“Achaz created them. Their sole purpose, according to her, is to hunt the bloodline of Arius, and any beings created by him or Serafina. She said there are some here, and when they can leave, they will report back to Achaz what they discovered. She wouldn’t tell me anything else about them. ”

He hit the white cue ball, but he hit it too hard. It bounced up over the side of the table, and Cassius shot out a hand to catch it. “My shot,” he said with a smirk.

Cyrus moved out of the way, swiping up his drink.

“But there are no twin flames over here, right?” Scarlett piped up.

“That is random,” Razik muttered.

“It’s not though,” she said, pushing up onto her knees and leaning over the back of the sofa to see him better. “You said you’ve tried everything, but if there are no twin flames over here, you wouldn’t know if our combined power could kill them. And Sorin’s magic is … Well, it’s stronger now.”

“There are not twin flames here because we are separated from the Fae,” Razik replied, rubbing his jaw in thought. “But I suppose you could be right. There is not much research on the twin flame bond. The gods keep the specifics of it hidden from most.”

“Why would it matter that you are separated from the Fae?” Cassius asked, and Cyrus felt his stomach plummet.

Razik paused, his drink halfway to his lips. “Because a twin flame bond occurs between a Legacy and a Fae.”

“What?” Scarlett asked, lurching forward and nearly falling over the back of the sofa. Sorin reached out a hand and grabbed the back of her tunic.

Razik sighed heavily, as if having to explain this to them was the worst thing to happen to him all day.

“The basic history is that the twin flame bond was given to the Legacy and Fae as a gift. A gift to the children of the gods, and a gift to the Fae who watch over them and provide them with power.”

“So that’s why it is so rare to find your twin flame?” Scarlett asked, her nose scrunching. “Because the Avonleyans were separated from the Fae?”

“Yes and no,” Razik answered. “Finding your twin flame is still rare, but not as uncommon as it is here in this world. It was another cost of the Wards.”

“But you wouldn’t need to be full-blooded Avonleyan, right? To have a twin flame.”

That question came from Cassius and had Cyrus averting his gaze to the night sky out the window.

“The pull is not usually felt right away or as strongly when the Legacy line is not pure, but no. Any amount of Avonleyan blood would allow one to have a twin flame.”

“How do you know all this?” Scarlett asked, falling back down onto the sofa, her head once again resting on Sorin’s thigh.

“I read a lot,” Razik muttered. Then he added, “I need to go find Cethin and Lia.” He paused, looking back over his shoulder and catching Cyrus’s gaze. “They are going to want to speak with you. About your time with the Sorceress and what you learned of these Hunters.”

“I already told you everything she said.”

“Regardless.”

“Another day,” Cassius said curtly, sending a solid yellow ball into the pocket.

Razik nodded once before he left the den, leaving Cyrus alone with his family, minus Eliza.

The quiet was thick and uncomfortable. Cyrus was about to announce he was going to return to his room when, in usual fashion, Scarlett broke the tension with an absurd statement.

“I just want you to know that if I had met Rayner first, you and I would likely not be together.” Everyone’s head whipped to her. She was looking up at Sorin, batting her lashes.

Sorin blinked back at her.

“All I am saying,” she went on, “is that Death’s Maiden and The Reaper sound like they belong together.”

Cassius chuckled as he went back to clearing the table yet again. “How long have you been contemplating this, Seastar?”

She shrugged. “It just fits. Don’t you think?”

“I find myself suddenly suspicious of all these murmured conversations the two of you have been having as of late,” Sorin said nonchalantly, his fingers winding into her hair, clearly unfazed after the initial shock of what she’d said.

“Maybe after we save the realm, I’m ready to explore more of your experiences , Prince,” she replied innocently.

Sorin’s amber eyes darkened, and Cyrus saw Rayner’s lips twitch as he took a sip of his liquor.

“You lie,” Sorin retorted, his voice gravel.

“Me?” she teased, pushing up to a sitting position. “I would never.”

Then her cheeks flushed bright red, and a satisfied smirk tilted on Sorin’s lips that had Cyrus chuckling as Sorin clearly spoke to her down their bond.

She cleared her throat, getting to her feet, and there was a slight quiver in her voice as she said, “I believe I called next game.”

Cyrus teased her relentlessly over the next hour, Sorin sipping his alcohol and smirking every time her cheeks went red again. It was well into the dead of night when they started the trek up to their wing of the castle.

When he stopped outside his rooms, Scarlett pushed up onto her toes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. “It was nice to see you out of your rooms. Even if you were an ass the entire time.”

“Let me know when to expect my invitation to the experiences , Darling,” he retorted.

Sorin clapped him on the shoulder when Scarlett scowled, her face flushing yet again. “I hate you all. I need Eliza to come back,” she grumbled under her breath, jerking out of Sorin’s reach.

The two continued down the hall, Sorin slinging an arm around her shoulders and bending down to whisper something in her ear that had her shoving him away yet again. His laughter echoed down the corridor.

Rayner bid them goodnight and disappeared among smoke, likely going to check on Tula, and Cyrus turned to his door. “Good night,” he said stiffly to Cassius, pushing into his room, but of course, Cassius followed him in.

“Sleep in your own room tonight, Cass,” Cyrus sighed. “I’m just going to bed. Surely you’re sick of sleeping in an armchair.”

“You’re not going to sleep,” Cassius said, kicking the door shut behind him. “You’re going to lie awake and let memories torture you. You don’t need to be alone for that.”