Chapter 21 Scarlett
CHAPTER 21
SCARLETT
T here was no moon on this night.
There were just the stars and the dark.
She did not know where she was, as she stared up at the black sky. She was not in the Black Halls. She was not in the Fire Court. She was not in Baylorin. She was not in a forest.
She found she did not care.
In this place, she did not feel. She did not feel the crushing grief of not knowing if Cassius was going to live or die. She did not feel the guilt for blocking her twin ?ame bond without fully understanding the cost. She did not feel the pressure of Courts and kingdoms depending on her. She did not feel the insatiable craving that had driven her to sheer madness. She did not feel the pain, the fear, the agony.
She interlaced her ?ngers, placing her hands on her stomach. She was lying in grass of some sort. It was soft beneath her back. If it was winter here, the chill of the season did not touch her, did not sink into her bones.
Her shadows shuddered as they rose from beneath her skin, and she inhaled deeply at feeling them again. They seemed just as joyous to be with her once more. They swirled along her arms, her legs. They drifted among her hair and caressed her face. She lifted a hand in greeting, swiping her ?ngers through them, feeling them dance at her touch.
And when the cry of an eagle reached her ears, she did not need to look around to know who was coming. She did not even bother to sit up. Her eyes went back to the stars.
“Welcome back, Lady of Darkness,” the beautiful man with the silver hair said, dropping down beside her. He bent a leg, his arm resting atop it, and a moment later, Altaria swooped down to perch on his forearm.
“You are blessed by Temural,” she said. A statement, not a question.
“One could say that,” he agreed.
“What else could one say?” she asked, sensing the moment Shirina entered this place, wherever she was.
“One could say I have missed seeing you,” he answered.
“That Mark blocked your way to me, too?” she guessed.
“That Mark did many things,” he said. “But, yes, it blocked my ability to communicate with you among them.”
“Am I dreaming?”
“Yes.”
“You can enter my dreams at will.”
“When my power reserves are relatively full, yes.”
Scarlett chewed on her lip for a moment before saying, “You have never been so willing to answer my questions.”
“You have never asked the right ones.”
She tsked in annoyance under her breath, and the man chuckled. She turned her head as Shirina came into view, her silver eyes bright in the dark.
“Your eyes match hers,” she said, glancing at the man.
“So do yours.”
“My eyes are blue.”
“When your power reserves are not full they are, but when you are at your most powerful, they are silver.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, so she didn’t say anything.
The two sat in silence for long moments before she said, “If I am a Lady of Darkness, then what are you?”
“A Lord of Night,” he said without a moment’s hesitation.
“Is it always night here?”
“No, but we cherish the darkness like other places covet the light.”
“Where are we?”
“Home.”
Scarlett only nodded, not that he could see her. A comfortable silence fell between them again.
“It seems rather unfair that you can come to me whenever you please, but I have no way to contact you,” she mused, her ?ngers brushing along Shirina’s coat where she had lain down beside her.
“Allow me to rectify that,” he answered. Scarlett turned her head in time to see him raise a hand. Something she could only describe as night itself seeped from his palm. It was darkest black and seemed to suck any light into itself. It was nothing like her shadows, yet somehow exactly like them, too.
When it receded, a piece of stone sat in the center of his palm. It was just as dark as whatever power had bled from him, and she pushed herself up into a sitting position when he extended it to her.
“What is it?”
“It is nightstone.”
“What am I supposed to do with it?” she asked, turning the thing over in her hand.
“Use it if you need to speak with me,” he said, leaning back on his hands and tilting his face back up to the sky.
“What? Just speak to it?” she scoffed.
She could somehow make out his smile in the starlight. “Something like that.”
“You’re seriously not going to tell me? You’re just going to give me a rock?”
“You’re welcome,” he answered.
“Oh my gods,” Scarlett muttered.
She had nowhere to put the thing, still in that black gown Alaric had dressed her in.
But then again, this was a dream. How was she going to take a rock out of here?
“Your focus now needs to be on ?nding the keys,” the man said eventually.
She sighed deeply. “I ?gured as much.”
“You will ?nd the keys have always been trying to get home.”
Her eyes snapped back to his at the words. “And I suppose I need a lock, too?”
He chuckled. “One would assume so. Or what use is a key?”
“Profound,” she deadpanned.
Another bird’s cry broke the quiet of the dark, and a moment later, Amaré appeared, swooping down and landing on Scarlett’s shoulder. As she reached up to stroke his feathers, the man said, “He waits for you to wake.”
“How long have I been sleeping?”
“Long enough.”
She nodded again at his non-answer.
“You need a Source,” he said.
“A source of what?”
“A Source to keep your power reserves replenished.”
“You mean a Fae I can … drink from?”
“No,” he answered, shaking his head. “Replenishing your power that way is... There are better ways.”
“Good. That was … not enjoyable,” Scarlett said, her ?ngers coming to her lips as she remembered them fastened to Sorin’s ?esh. Coppery liquid sliding down her throat, tasting like he did. Honey and cloves and lush smokiness.
“The problem is that it is too enjoyable,” the man countered, knowingly. “It is why it was outlawed, and why the Night Children were forbidden to feed from the Fae. That is history you should look into. I do not have time to teach you everything right now.”
Scarlett nodded, glad he couldn’t see her properly in the dark. She was pretty sure her cheeks were slightly ?ushed because he was right. Drinking Sorin’s blood gave her a feeling she couldn’t describe. It was ?re and power and strength, and the high she got from it was unlike anything she had ever felt before. But the frenzy she had experienced, the complete loss of control, the utter madness? That had not been pleasant in the slightest.
“You need to practice with your shadows and white ?ames. Learn your limits, so that what happened with the vampyres does not happen again. Learn to recognize when you are low on power, when you need to replenish. Keep your Source close always,” he said.
“How do I ?nd a Source?”
“I suspect you will ?nd you already have one.”
“That’s helpful,” she replied sarcastically.
“I am glad you think so,” he said with a smirk. She rolled her eyes. “Do you have a name?”
“I do.”
“Care to share?”
“Soon, Lady of Darkness.”
“That’s vague.”
The man chuckled again, pushing to his feet and reaching down to help her to her own.
“When night and darkness meet, when dreams and stars collide, when ashes meld with shadows, you will ?nd me waiting, and the ?rst words from my lips will be my name.”