Page 99 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

Cyrus

“T his is the Black Syndicate?” Cyrus asked, taking in the various shops and buildings along the main street Cassius was leading him down.

Their faces were hidden deep within hoods, but he felt Cassius look over at him. “What were you expecting?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Something more sinister? I’ve only been here in the dark when we came in to get you and Scarlett. Didn’t really have time to take in the sights. It’s so …nice. Not like a place where the foulest of the realm are trained and then released to wreak havoc.”

He could practically hear Cass’s eye roll. “Come on,” he murmured, steering him to a side street.

Cassius herded him down a few more streets before they were scaling a wall to the rooftops.

Cyrus followed wordlessly, knowing this was Cass’s domain and not his.

Cassius had been tense and withdrawn about coming here for the past two days, despite everything that had transpired between them.

But Cyrus had watched as he’d slipped from the role of Hand-to-the-Queen to lethally trained assassin.

He donned a mask the same way Scarlett did when she became Death’s Maiden, and Cassius as …

this wasn’t the same Cassius he’d spent the last couple nights tangled up with in bed or the last months helping learn to hone his magic. This Cassius was cold and calculating.

Cyrus had watched him strap on weapons so methodically, he could tell he’d done it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Something in his chest had twisted at the knowledge that Cassius was only in his mid-twenties, and so many of those years were spent as … this.

“There are four people tailing us and more observing us from various vantage points,” Cassius said quietly, standing perfectly still.

“You said we would be watched before we even entered the Syndicate,” Cyrus replied, noting two figures on a warehouse roof down the street.

“Until we figure out who is watching us, we cannot go near the remains of the Fellowship.”

“We can’t just …take care of them?” Cyrus asked casually.

Cassius slowly turned to him. “If we strike first, it’s as good as declaring a war against them.”

“So we have to wait for them to attack us? I prefer to be on the offensive, not the defensive,” Cyrus said, watching the people move about on the street below.

“Stick to the plan, Cyrus.”

“We don’t know what we’re even looking for,” he retorted. “We don’t have time to waste on waiting them out.”

“I thought we already had this argument,” Cassius grumbled.

They had. A few times during their planning. Cyrus had always relented, telling Cass he knew the place best and would follow his lead. But now that they were here? He really just wanted to get this over with.

“We at least need to figure out where they are hiding out with the Fellowship gone. Then we can monitor their movements, get a feel for their routine—”

“We don’t have weeks to plan a fucking mission, Cass,” Cyrus interrupted.

“You don’t just walk into the Black Syndicate and start killing people, Cyrus,” he countered begrudgingly. “You do that, and you’re the one that ends up dead.”

“Doubtful,” Cyrus muttered.

“Let’s go,” Cass gritted out.

“Go?” Cyrus repeated. “Go where? I thought we were monitoring movements.”

“We are,” Cass said, moving back to the roof edge they’d climbed over. “But we also need to scout out the underground passages that will lead us into the halls beneath the Fellowship.”

“ Or ,” Cyrus said, drawing out the word as he followed Cass down off the rooftop and into the alley below. “We detain one of the fuckers following us and see what he knows.”

“It’s like working with the Wraiths,” he heard Cass grumble from beneath his hood.

Cyrus was still debating if he considered that a compliment or not when he heard it. The release of a bowstring. The stirring of the air. He caught the black ashwood arrow an inch from his chest, incinerating the thing in his palm a moment later. Five figures emerged from the shadows of the alley.

“Now that they have fired the first shot, can we please take care of them?” Cyrus ground out, fire already beginning to wind its way down his arms.

“Try to leave one alive,” Cassius replied, drawing a sword.

A dagger came flying at them, Cassius stepping to the side a second before it grazed his cheek.

“Not that one. He dies,” Cyrus said darkly, fire flaring from his palm. The man who had thrown the dagger was screaming the next moment as flames engulfed him.

“Fae bastard,” one spat, pulling a shirastone dagger from his side and cocking his arm back to throw it.

But it was black flames that had him screaming, the dagger clattering to the stone alleyway.

Black ashwood arrows came from above, forcing them to shield and allowing those on the ground to advance. “Take care of them, Cass,” Cyrus said as he reinforced his shield to deflect more arrows. “I’ll cover you.”

Adjusting his grip, Cassius moved forward, bringing his sword up to meet that of another.

His opponent had a shirastone dagger that Cassius blocked with one of his vambraces before he brought a foot up, landing a clean kick to the guy’s gut.

An oomph sounded from beneath the hood as the guy stumbled back, and Cass wasted no time swiping his blade across his throat.

He spun in time to meet another sword, but this guy was better, already jumping back and circling around Cassius again.

Cyrus watched, keeping the barrage of arrows from striking them. More archers had joined the others, and he had no choice but to focus on keeping his shield intact.

“Cass! There’s one running!” Cyrus shouted as the final man on the ground turned and took off down the alley, but they couldn’t take chase with the constant arrows firing. “Travel to the rooftops and fry these fuckers!”

“And leave you down here?”

“I’ll be fine,” Cyrus retorted. “Go!”

Cassius was gone in the next blink, and Cyrus moved into the shadows along the wall, keeping his shield in place.

He could hear the screams of those Cass was taking out with dragon fire, and he glanced down at his hand, wondering if he would need to fill his reserves right away or if he could wait.

They were still getting a feel for how the whole Source-thing worked.

Another scream echoed.

Only this one was his.

The scent of blood hit him, and he whirled, falling to his knees at the body that was at his feet.

Blood pooled around the female. Red hair the color of flames was flecked with mud and gore.

There were puncture wounds at her throat, on her arms, on her stomach.

Puncture wounds from fangs. Lifeless hazel eyes stared unseeingly at the roof of the cave they were in.

“Thia!” he cried, tears already wetting his face as he reached for her limp body. Blood coated his hands when he slipped them beneath her shoulders, pulling her into his lap. He buried his face in her hair, saying her name over and over. “No! No! No!”

The others were still fighting. Someone was tugging at his arm telling him they needed to go, but he couldn’t go. His entire world was lying in a pool of blood.

“We need to go,” someone said again. Sorin? Rayner? He didn’t care as he jerked out of their hold, clutching Thia to his chest and brushing his lips across her brow, her temple.

“You’re running out of time, Fae of Fire.”

“Cyrus, we need to go,” Cassius was saying urgently, his voice low and coaxing. “Come on, Cyrus. Look at me.”

Cyrus blinked in the darkness. He had no idea where they were, only that he was on his knees and doubled over. His entire body was shaking, fingers wound into his hair and pulling at the roots.

“Cyrus,” Cassius said again, softer still as he closed his hands over Cyrus’s fingers, trying to pry them out of his hair.

“Where are we?” Cyrus rasped.

“I heard you scream,” Cass said. “I found you like this in the alley and Traveled us to an old building in the Syndicate. We’ll be safe here, but we can’t stay.”

“That was really inconvenient timing for Gehenna to send a reminder,” Cyrus muttered, straightening some and shifting so he sat on his ass rather than his knees. He bent one, dropping his brow against it as he tried to steady his breathing.

Cassius had been kneeling before him, and he shifted too, his shoulder brushing against his. They sat in silence for several minutes, Cyrus trying to plant himself back in the here-and-now.

“When this bargain is fulfilled, this shit stops, right?” Cass asked into the dark.

Cyrus closed his eyes, but immediately opened them again when all he could see was Thia lying in a pool of blood. Sure, the Sorceress wouldn’t be able to force him to relive memories whenever she was looking for some fun, but the nightmares she’d already sown? Those wouldn’t simply disappear.

He could lie to him. Maybe he should, but he said, “I don’t think so, Cass, but having the bargain fulfilled should help some.”

“When you’re ready, I’ll Travel us to the Fellowship ruins.”

Cyrus turned his head to look at him, brow still pressed to his bent knee. “What happened to the plan?”

“The plan sort of got fucked when that mercenary got away. He’ll report to Alaric we are here.”

Shit. He’d forgotten about that part of the plan. Not leaving anyone alive who knew who they were. It was his fault the plan was already fucked.

“Don’t do that, Cyrus,” Cassius said, stopping the spiral before Cyrus could dive down it. “You didn’t ruin anything.”

It was another fifteen minutes before Cyrus felt in control of himself again.

It was dusk, the sky a darkening grey when they appeared across the street from the burned Fellowship.

The last time Cyrus had been here, it had been a towering building of four floors with an impeccably manicured lawn and gardens.

Now it was nothing but charred rubble. But even from across the street though, he could still feel the wards around the place.

“Can you get past them?” he asked Cassius in a hushed tone.