Chapter 9 Scarlett
CHAPTER 9
SCARLETT
S carlett was jolted awake from her soft cocoon of warmth when the blankets were ripped from her body. She whimpered as her arms were dragged above her head and her stiff shoulders screamed in protest. The chain of her shackles was clipped to a hook in the headboard that had not been there the night before. She looked around blearily, trying to get her bearings as her ankle shackles were hooked onto something at her feet, rendering her immobile.
Mikale stood at the end of the bed, a maniacal grin on his face. He was dressed in pants and a thick tunic. The small ?re in the hearth had been extinguished, and the window was open, letting in gusts of winter wind. Her skin had broken out into goose?esh the moment the blankets had been stripped from her, and in the thin gown she was wearing, her body was already beginning to shiver from the chill.
Mikale began walking towards her, and she plunged into the darkness within her soul as deeply and as quickly as she possibly could. She knew what was coming. Some type of punishment and she wasn’t mentally prepared to handle it yet. She wasn’t in the right headspace as she plummeted deeper and deeper, racing towards that place where it didn’t matter what happened to her.
This was how the Assassin Lord worked. He tortured you, then he cared for you. He made you ache, then he made it better. Over and over again until he got what he wanted.
One of her punishments had once involved withholding food from her for days. She had been chained in the same spot in his dungeon study, and it had been day ?ve of no food and minimal water. Alaric had come in with a small feast of meats, breads, and vegetables. She’d known it was a trap. She’d known she’d regret it, but survival came ?rst, and she’d needed food. She’d needed sustenance. So she’d devoured what he laid before her, only to learn within an hour or so that everything had been laced with minute doses of columbine that left her with abdominal pain and violent vomiting for nearly two days. It was during the second day that Alaric had gently unchained her and carried her up to her room himself. He’d sat by her bed, pressing a cold cloth to her forehead and holding her hair back when she vomited, until she’d ?nally fallen asleep and the fever broke.
Mikale straddled Scarlett at the waist and looked down at her, pure desire ?aring in his dark eyes. His hands roamed over her hips and up her sides until one gripped her jaw, forcing her to meet his eyes. She said nothing as they stared at each other, but a look of confusion passed over his features before he was able to school them back into neutrality. He broke the stare ?rst and his eyes ?ashed to her arms above her head. He leaned over her, running his thumb along the silver Mark on her forearm, then dragging his hand down the length of her arm and over her shoulder.
“That Mark would not stop me,” he murmured to himself, his eyes following his hand.
“Stop you from doing what?” she rasped, trying to move her arms into a position to put less strain on her shoulders, but it was useless.
Mikale suddenly stilled over her, his eyes going wide. Scarlett stilled too at the rage that ?lled his face. He yanked the tie of the strap over her right shoulder and pulled the fabric aside, exposing half of her chest to the freezing room.
“What are you doing?” she cried, but the sound was cut short when his hand wrapped around her throat, squeezing tight enough to cut off her air.
“When did you get this?” Mikale snarled, his ?ngers brushing along the length of the right side of her collarbone.
“Get what?” she gasped, writhing beneath him to try to loosen his grip.
He only squeezed tighter, bringing his face close to hers. “This Mark?” he spat. “When did you get it? How did he do this?”
He loosened his ?ngers enough for her to speak, and Scarlett gulped down the little air that she could. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she rasped out, and his ?ngers tightened once more.
“Liar,” he spat. His ?ngers ran over the Mark again. It was the Mark the beautiful man had given her when she and Talwyn had been taken to that rip in the plane. Mikale’s ?ngers dragged down farther and cupped her right breast, squeezing. He groaned, tilting his head back and closing his eyes brie?y.
When he opened them once more and looked back at her, lust mixed with the ire in his gaze. “Alaric will not be pleased with this development, my pet. Maybe he will let me have you after all.” A cruel smile tilted on his lips as he ?nally released her throat and reached to retie the strap of her gown.
Scarlett panted out a string of curse words at him, gulping down breath after breath. Mikale only chuckled as he refastened the tie and climbed off of her, unhooking ?rst her ankle shackles and then her wrists. He yanked her from the bed, and she fell to her knees before him.
Mikale reached out and gripped her hair, yanking her head back. “See, my pet, this is how you should always be. On your knees, that fucking mouth quiet for once, and waiting to serve me.”
Scarlett wanted to spit at him, but her mouth was so dry there wasn’t anything to spit. So instead, she spat words laced with venom. “Fuck you, Mikale.”
Mikale only smiled at her, like he knew a secret that she didn’t. “You will learn soon enough, my pet.” He reached down and grabbed her elbow, pulling her to her feet. He tugged her to the door and began leading her down the hallway. She stumbled along down the stairs, trying to keep her head from spinning. She was dehydrated. Combined with the lack of food and hunger pains, she was ?ghting dizziness and nausea.
More than once Mikale had to steady her and keep her on her feet, but he didn’t slow his pace.
He didn’t bother to knock before he burst into the Assassin Lord’s dungeon study, and Scarlett dropped to her knees as the nausea ?nally overtook her. With nothing in her stomach to vomit up, she dry heaved as Mikale held the chain in his hands.
“We have a problem,” he snarled.
Scarlett couldn’t focus on the two men in the room. Her vision was blurring, and there was a sharp burning along her left hand.
“Sorin,” she gasped out, heaving up nothing again.
Alaric had surged to his feet when they’d burst into the of?ce, but now he was storming around his desk. “I’ll say we have a problem!” he roared. “What part of do not let her get too weak did you not understand?”
“What?” Mikale bit back in obvious shock. “I took care of her, just as you ordered. She was bathed and given water, and she slept soundly on a soft bed beneath blankets. That is not the issue—”
“It is the only issue that matters right now,” Alaric barked.
Scarlett!
The voice was so faint in her mind Scarlett was sure she hadn’t actually heard it. It had to be the dehydration causing some sort of delirium, but she didn’t care at this point. She needed to hear him, even if it was all in her head.
“Sorin,” she rasped again.
“No!” Alaric snarled, dropping to his knees in front of her. “Go and get Tarek. Now!” he barked at Mikale. If she hadn’t been half-conscious, Scarlett likely would have marveled at the idea of the Assassin Lord being on his knees in a panic before her.
Scarlett! Love, where are you?
“This is hardly my fault,” Mikale was arguing with Alaric.
“She is so weak that her magic is taking over to keep her alive. Soon she will be weak enough that her Blood Magic will shatter. It is already cracking,” Alaric snapped. “Go and get Tarek!”
Mikale turned and stalked for the door, but Scarlett couldn’t even lift her head to watch him go.
“Sorin.”
Mikale had dropped the chain for her wrist shackles to the ?oor, and Scarlett curled in on herself, her stomach aching from dry heaving, and her head throbbing.
“Scarlett, open your eyes,” Alaric demanded.
I am here, Love. I’m here. Tell me where you are.
So much desperation in the words swirling in her mind. She tried to form a thought to answer him, but someone was shaking her shoulders, moving her body.
“Open your eyes, dammit,” Alaric snarled again. “Now.”
Scarlett cracked her eyes open, seeing two of the Assassin Lord before her as her vision continued to blur. He was cradling her in his lap. “Good. Good, Scarlett,” he praised, a look of relief passing over his face. “Drink.” A glass was pressed to her lips, and she tried to turn her head from it.
She attempted to crawl from his lap, but Alaric held her ?rm. “It is water, Scarlett. Drink,” he ordered again.
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, but the movement just made the nausea rise again. She lurched forward, convulsing once more.
“That useless son of a bitch,” Alaric muttered under his breath. When she was done heaving, he pulled her back into his lap. “This could all be avoided if you would just make a decision, Scarlett.” He brought the glass of water back to her mouth, tipping it up so it wet her dry lips. “Drink.”
But Scarlett pressed her lips into a ?rm line. She’d learned a long time ago that if he was acting this way, it was a ruse. Something much worse than what she was currently enduring was to follow. She closed her eyes, breathing in deep. Darkness reached for her, and she sighed at the familiarity of it.
I am coming for you, Love. We are coming for you. Tell me where you are.
“No.” Alaric’s sharp command reached through the fog in her mind. “Stay awake, Scarlett. Look at me.”
But she didn’t want to. Here in the darkness she could hear him. She could almost see his face.
“More,” she whispered to the darkness.
“No!” Alaric bellowed. She felt the glass press to her lips again, but she still refused.
Scarlett, please. One word, Love. That’s all I need.
There was yelling and cursing around her, but she couldn’t process what was being said or who was saying it. Something warm and sticky was pressed to her mouth, but she clamped her lips shut tighter.
There was clanging and more cursing as the warmth withdrew from her mouth.
“Scarlett, open your damn eyes!”
Come on, Scarlett. One word. Just one. Please.
“Alaric,” she gasped, and when she said it, something was shoved into her mouth, forcing liquid down the back of her throat. It tasted of copper and metal, and her mouth was forced closed before she could spit it out.
“Swallow, Scarlett. Drink it down.” Alaric’s voice was low and coaxing in her ear. She fought against his hold and new hands gripped her, holding her down. She had no choice but to swallow whatever it was they’d given her.
“That’s good. Good, Scarlett,” the Assassin Lord praised, as though she were indeed a prized pet.
Something smooth was pressed into her mouth again, more liquid shooting down her throat, forcing her to swallow it again. Two more times of the same before she was ?nally able to crack her eyes open and the room didn’t spin around her.
She was still held in Alaric’s lap, and he looked frantic, sweat beading at his brow. Mikale was above her, holding her shoulders down. Above them both stood Tarek, blood leaking down his arm for whatever reason.
A look from Alaric had Mikale releasing her shoulders, and the Assassin Lord helped her slowly sit up. He gently smoothed her hair back. She was so weak she couldn’t even raise her arms with the heavy shirastone shackles on her wrists.
“Get her some water, Tarek,” Alaric ordered calmly. “Mikale, go get her some food.”
A moment later, a glass was being handed to Alaric, and he brought it to her lips. “Drink or we force it down again, Scarlett,” he commanded, tipping the glass up. She took a small sip, then a big gulp as the cool water rinsed the coppery taste from her mouth. He pulled the glass back before she could take another gulp.
“Small sips, or it all comes back up,” he chided, setting the glass on the ?oor. She followed it with her eyes and saw a metal syringe beside it.
“What did you give me?” she rasped at the sight of it.
What fresh hell would await her now?
“It is nothing that will harm you, Scarlett,” Alaric answered, adjusting the fabric of the black gown she was wearing, as if he actually cared about her propriety after he’d given her to Mikale.
“Bullshit,” she breathed, trying to free herself from his hold once more.
The Assassin Lord chuckled low in his throat as Mikale came back into the room with a covered platter. He placed it down on the ?oor, removing the lid to reveal a small plate of eggs and toast.
Scarlett shook her head in refusal when Alaric began stabbing pieces of egg with the fork. He sighed, bringing the fork to her mouth. “You will eat, Scarlett. While I require your submission, I also require you healthy and well.” When she still refused the food, he calmly set the fork back down. “Very well, Death’s Maiden. We will do this the hard way.”
He stood, bringing Scarlett with him and carrying her to the wall where he could hook her chains to the wall. As he secured the shackles once more, he said over his shoulder to Tarek, “Send a message to Balam to come here immediately.”
When he stood, Mikale cleared his throat. “Balam will be needed for more than one reason.”
“I am assuming you are referencing the Mark along her collarbone?” Alaric ground out, walking behind his desk. He braced his hands on it, leaning forward, his head hanging down.
“You knew?”
“I just saw it this morning,” he admitted. “That suit she was wearing hid it from me the past few days.”
“It is why I brought her down early this morning,” Mikale supplied.
“It is a good thing you did. She is more powerful than I anticipated her to be at this point. She will need to be fed more often to keep it in check,” Alaric answered, lifting his head. He looked over to Scarlett, a look of wariness about him.
Scarlett was too exhausted to care. She leaned her head back against the wall, closing her eyes once more. With the water and whatever it was they’d forced her to swallow, the delirium had lifted. Her head was quiet once more, and she found herself wishing it weren’t. The hallucination of his voice had been comforting to her soul.
“I want extra security around the Fellowship and an extra guard stationed outside this room at all times, two more in the hall. When she goes up with you, the same. No one gets near her without us knowing about it,” Alaric ordered.
“You already have three guards—”
“I know what security is already in place,” Alaric said harshly. “You underestimated them once. I am not as foolish as you.”
Mikale bristled at the insult but said nothing. He crossed to the sofa, taking a seat as Alaric lowered himself to his desk chair, rubbing his temples. Scarlett remained silent, trying to focus on the conversation happening around her, but her head was still spinning.
“Do not sleep, Scarlett. You need to be awake to eat.”
“I’m not eating anything,” she retorted, her voice gravelly and hoarse.
Mikale snorted in disbelief from the sofa, and her eyes dragged to him. “It is funny you think you have a choice in the matter,” he sneered.
“Mikale,” Alaric warned. “She will come around soon enough.”
Nothing more was said for the next hour, until Lord Tyndell knocked and entered the of?ce, Tarek ?ling in behind him.
“Good Morning, Alaric,” he greeted cordially. “Mikale.” Then his attention swiveled to Scarlett. If she didn’t know he was a conniving bastard, she’d have thought his smile was genuine. “Scarlett, my dear, it is so wonderful to see you.”
“I wish I could say the same, but I’m not a lying asshole like the rest of the people in this room,” she spat back with as much of a sneer as she could muster.
Lord Tyndell let out a chuckle. “Your dinner conversation always did entertain me. And I am told you have begun to master your magic. How delightful.”
Scarlett bared her teeth at him as she ?ipped him her middle ?nger.
Alaric stood at that, coming around to pick up the plate of eggs and toast. “She has refused to eat,” he explained to Balam. “She has also acquired a new Mark.”
“Has she now?” Lord Tyndell asked, a brow arching. “If only someone had not let her escape for a second time, that could have likely been avoided.”
Mikale cursed under his breath from where he sat behind the two men who were clearly superiors to him, aside from the fact that the Assassin Lord was actually a Maraan Prince.
Lord Tyndell crossed the room, crouching down and reaching forward to touch her. Scarlett lurched back, pressing herself as much as possible against the wall. He tsked. “I am not going to hurt you, my dear,” he chided, reaching forward again and brushing the strap of her gown aside so he could see the whole Mark lining her collarbone.
“How can you see it?” she breathed, while Lord Tyndell continued to study her skin.
“Now that your magic has emerged, your glamours are different from Fae since you are not, in fact, Fae,” Lord Tyndell answered simply, his gaze staying ?xed on the Mark.
“If I were Fae, you wouldn’t be able to see it?”
“If you were Fae, I would not be able to see your Fae Marks. However, this is not a Fae Mark,” he replied, pushing back to his feet. He turned to speak to Alaric. “Order her some fresh food. It will take some time, but I should be able to work around that. Getting her to eat, though, should not take too much.”
“Thank you, Balam,” Alaric said, nodding to Tarek to apparently fetch more food.
Lord Tyndell nodded and removed his cloak, moving to lay it across the sofa before coming back to crouch before Scarlett again. Alaric and Mikale came to stand behind him, and Scarlett stared at the three men before her.
No.
At the two Maraan Lords and a Maraan Prince.
“You need to eat, my dear,” Balam said with fake gentleness.
“You need to go to hell,” she bit back, drawing her knees to her chest.
A half grin tilted on the Lord’s lips, and he reached out to grasp her chin between his thumb and fore?nger, forcing her to meet his stare. “Now, now, my dear. If something happens to you, you would cause us to go after someone else you love. You do understand that, don’t you?” Scarlett went utterly still. She tried to jerk her chin from Lord Tyndell, but he held ?rm. “Do you really want to be responsible for another death?”
Breathing suddenly became dif?cult as she found herself on the ?oor in the stone cell of the Lairwood House. Juliette was lying in her lap, blood pooling from her chest. Her own hand was curled around the dagger.
“No,” Scarlett gasped, releasing the hilt from her hand. It clattered to the ?oor. “This wasn’t my fault. Mikale made me do this.”
“Did he?” came Lord Tyndell’s voice. “If you had done things differently, everybody could have walked out of that cell that day. You should have negotiated better. You could have saved her, and you know it.”
She shook her head at Juliette’s vacant and lifeless eyes staring up at her. “No. This had to happen. It needed to. To set other events into motion,” she answered ?rmly.
“And this death? Did this death need to happen too?”
Scarlett peered out of a hole in a rubbish bin as Dracon began cutting her mother into pieces. Eliné’s screams were echoing off the alley walls.
“Stop!” Scarlett cried, slamming her hands over her ears. “Stop!” “Shh, Scarlett,” Alaric soothed, his voice seeming to come from beside her. She felt a hand stroking through her hair. “You can make this all stop.”
Scarlett opened eyes. She hadn’t realized she had closed them. Her cheeks were wet from tears, and blood was running down her arms from the shackles biting into her wrists as she had yanked on them, trying to bring her hands to her ears outside the vision Lord Tyndell had somehow thrust her into. Her breathing was uneven, and she choked trying to draw air into her lungs that wouldn’t expand. Lord Tyndell was sitting back on his heels, a faint smile on his lips.
“What did you do?” she managed to gasp, trying to even out her breathing.
In and out. In and out.
She repeated it over and over in her mind, trying to make her lungs obey.
“I did nothing, my dear,” he replied, his tone ringing with innocence. “You are the one who causes so much death around you.”
“Those were not my fault. He ordered my mother killed,” she hissed, with a jerk of her chin to Alaric.
“Perhaps, but it was still because of you. If she had not taken you in, and agreed to act as your parental ?gure, she would still be living and breathing in the Fae lands. She was only in Baylorin because of you,” Lord Tyndell said casually.
“That …” Scarlett trailed off as she contemplated those words. Then shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “No. Stop it. Those deaths were not my fault.”
Lord Tyndell sat forward and gripped her chin once more, his dark eyes boring into hers. “You can spin it any way you want, my dear, but you know deep down that you are responsible for their deaths. It is their curse for simply knowing you. And should something happen to you, the next one will be your fault as well.”
Scarlett suddenly found herself in the Fellowship dungeons, a man with shoulder-length brown hair lying in a pool of blood at her feet.
“Cassius!” she cried, dropping to her knees and frantically searching his body to ?gure out where the blood was coming from. Cassius gripped her hand, blood smearing over her ?ngers.
“Seastar,” he rasped. He coughed and blood sprayed from his mouth. “Cassius, no,” she sobbed, leaning over him.
“You can stop this, Seastar,” he whispered, his chocolate-brown eyes so dull as he stared up at her.
“You’re going to be ?ne. I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” she promised, brushing her bloodied ?ngers along his brow. “You’re going to be ?ne.”
“Eat, Scarlett,” Alaric purred into her ear as warm eggs were touched to her lips. “Eat, or what you are seeing will come to pass.” There was a promise in his voice, and she knew he’d follow through. She knew what this monster was capable of. And she knew she’d do whatever was necessary to keep her family safe.
She opened her mouth and allowed that forkful to be fed to her. “Good,” the Assassin Lord praised softly, brushing a tear from her cheek. “I knew you would see things my way eventually.”
Scarlett swallowed the eggs, opening her eyes to look at him. Alaric speared some more eggs onto the fork and before she took another bite, she said, “I am going to kill you. You and all your Lords.”
“Not before I have broken you so thoroughly, you will never contemplate leaving my side again. By the time I am done with you, you will call me Master and mean it. You will know who owns you, Scarlett. And when I claim my throne, you will be my greatest weapon to help me maintain it,” he replied. “Now eat before I summon Cassius home.”
Scarlett did as she was told, allowing Alaric to feed her the entire plate of eggs and two slices of toast. She would do this for now, but she would die before she’d allow him to use her for such a purpose. All that was left to do now was ?gure out how to eliminate herself from the equation.