Chapter 28 Scarlett
CHAPTER 28
SCARLETT
S carlett emerged from the bathing room in the queen’s private chambers after taking a long, hot bath. The day had been exhausting— physically, emotionally, mentally. All of it.
After Azrael had hauled Talwyn from the Black Halls, Briar and Ashtine had gone to the Water Court along with Briar’s Inner Court. Scarlett and Sorin had enjoyed a dinner with their family in the private wing, and her only request had been that there was no talk of her time in Baylorin or any of the issues they were currently facing. She’d wanted a somewhat normal night, and by the end of the evening, she’d almost felt completely relaxed.
Almost.
“I haven’t seen Nuri since I’ve been here,” she said, running a brush through her wet hair.
Sorin glanced at her over the back of the cream-colored sofa he sat on across the room. Her hair was instantly dry. “She has been busy looking after the children,” he replied, his attention going back to whatever he was looking at. “But you have seen her since we’ve been here. A few times.”
“She did not come here with us,” Scarlett argued, setting the brush on a side table. She had one of Sorin’s shirts on. With it reaching nearly to her knees, she hadn’t bothered with anything else.
“She checked on Cassius a few times,” Sorin said, his focus ?xed on, well, not on her. She had no idea what he was doing. “She was there when you needed to feed. To help you, since she feeds the same way.”
“I do not feed ,” Scarlett scoffed. “Gods, you make me sound like a prized horse or hound or some other animal.”
He looked back at her, clearly trying to ?ght a smile as he said, “You were pretty feral at that time. An animal is probably an accurate description.”
She shot him a dry look while also ?ipping him her middle ?nger.
He chuckled, turning back to whatever had him so occupied. “Speaking of that … You have used a fair amount of your Avonleyan magic since then.”
“And?” she asked, trying to keep the annoyance from his incessant worrying about this from her tone.
“Your eyes aren’t as bright. They are a pale blue,” he added. “And?”
She heard him sigh before he said, “Perhaps you should drink what I left for you by the desk.”
Scarlett turned slowly to ?nd a small glass of red liquid. Endearment and disgust immediately warred inside of her. The mere fact that he cared enough to notice the little tells, to do this for her just in case, knowing she was not a fan of the whole drinking blood thing … But also, that was a small glass of blood sitting there. She did not think she would ever get used to the idea of needing something like that to ?ll her magic.
“I am not drinking that,” Scarlett scowled.
“You need to keep your power reserves ?lled until we ?gure out another way, Scarlett,” Sorin replied. She heard the page of a book turn and ?nally realized he was reading.
Scarlett shook her head. “No. It’s … weird.”
“Would you prefer it fresh from my arm, then?” He didn’t look at her, but she could hear the teasing in his voice. “Or some other place?”
She grabbed a nearby pillow from the bed and threw it at his head.
A low laugh came from him as she made her way over to where he sat, leaving the blood behind and leaning over the back of the sofa. “What are you doing?”
“Research,” he grunted.
“Regarding?”
He slowly brought his eyes to hers. “Isn’t this an interesting turn of events? You asking what I am researching for a change,” he teased.
“You’re such an ass,” she retorted, rolling her eyes and reaching to smack his shoulder, but he caught her wrist.
“I still have that list of names you call me, you know,” he said, before tugging on her arm and hauling her over the back of the sofa. She fell onto the cushions beside him, laughter tumbling from her lips. She pushed herself up to sit beside him, reaching for the book in his lap.
“This is written in the Avonleyan language,” she said, running her ?ngers along a page.
“I am aware,” he replied, turning into her when she pulled the book into her own lap.
“How can you read it?”
“I can’t. Not well anyway.” He nodded towards the side table where a small stack of papers sat. “That is why I have your translation notes.”
“You took them when we were in Solembra yesterday?”
“Mhmm,” he hummed as she skimmed the page.
“Why?”
“A few reasons, but the main one is to help you ?gure out this Source issue,” he answered.
“I’ve been looking through these books for months, Sorin. I don’t remember ever coming across the mention of a Source.”
“I had to start somewhere,” he said with a shrug. “If anything, it will allow me to learn the language a little more to help narrow down books in the future.”
She turned the page of the ancient text. This was a book about Avonleyan history and politics. Things she didn’t understand, involving people and places she couldn’t properly translate.
“What other books did you bring?”
“Hmm?” Sorin asked, and sounded so distracted that Scarlett brought her eyes back to his once more.
“What other books did you bring?” she repeated.
“Books?” She stared at him, part in confusion and part in concern, as he slowly leaned forward to speak into her ear. “Sorry, Love, but you are aware you are not wearing pants, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “I thought we were going to bed, not researching things in ancient books.”
Sorin sat back a bit, arching a brow. A half smile was playing on the corner of his mouth. “So to clarify, you were coming to bed without pants?”
She reached for the pillow beside her and smacked him in the face with it again. “For the record, the nightclothes I usually wear to bed do not include pants, and they tend to leave far more on show than your shirt.”
He sighed dramatically, his ?ngers beginning to draw small circles on her bare knee. “That is a valid point, I suppose. I have missed those nightclothes.”
“Funny,” she quipped, her eyes going back to the text. “You’d become so quick to remove them, I assumed they no longer held your interest.”
A pinch to her inner thigh had her hissing as he muttered, “There’s that tongue again.”
His ?ngers continued painting idle circles on her knee as he peered over her shoulder. These pages were all discussing the various cities in Avonleya and the responsibilities of the Lords and Ladies who presided over them. She had yet to come across a map of the kingdom, though. In her months of research and countless books, even the descriptions of the lands were vague.
“What does this part say?” Sorin asked, pointing to a spot in the middle of the opposite page. “I recognize a few words— king, power, Mark.”
She skimmed the section quickly. “It is speaking of taking a Mark of loyalty to the king, of pledging one’s power to him. I would assume like Alaric wanted me to do.”
Sorin’s ?ngers paused on her skin for just a moment at the mention of Alaric. “Did the Avonleyan Kings require such a thing?”
Scarlett turned the page as she skimmed the text a little more. “I can’t say for sure,” she murmured. She pointed at a word. “This means willingly, but this word here means drawing from or forcefully taken. But it doesn’t appear to say anything about if the ruling parties required it or from whom.”
“How did you ?gure out Azrael had Avonleyan blood?” Sorin asked.
Scarlett’s eyes ?ew to his. “I didn’t know until today. Until that very moment. I wasn’t keeping it from you. And even then, it was more of a hunch than being certain.”
His ?ngers squeezed her knee gently, his golden eyes softening. “I believe you, Love. I wasn’t accusing you.”
She nodded, brushing her ?ngers along the pages of the book. “I found it odd that he created a portal rather than just Traveling with Talwyn. And then I remembered Alaric saying the Traveling gift came from the Avonleyans.”
“All the Fae gifts came from the Avonleyans,” Sorin said.
“Yes, but Alaric also told me that the Maraans could Travel aswell. That they were among the only bloodlines who could doso.”
“But some of the Fae can Travel,” Sorin countered.
Scarlett closed the book, turning slightly to face him better on the sofa. “How many, Sorin? You said yourself it is incredibly rare. Other than the Fae Queens, who were gifted the ability by the Avonleyans alongside their elemental gifts, what other Fae Travelers have you known? Or even heard of, for that matter? Outside of the Luan bloodline.”
Sorin was quiet, clearly contemplating her argument.
“It is also why Tarek thinks his family should still rule the Earth Court. Just like Talwyn doesn’t think I should have my throne because I do not possess Fae blood, Tarek believes the Luans have an unfair advantage for the Royal seat because their Avonleyan blood makes them more powerful.”
“Do you think he is half-Avonleyan like Cassius?” Sorin asked.
Scarlett shrugged. “I don’t know. Like I said, it was just a guess to begin with. I am assuming his power reserves for Traveling haven’t re?lled yet. That’s why he was using a portal instead of Traveling.”
“So he needs to feed?” Sorin asked.
Scarlett made a face. “Stop saying that.”
He smirked at her. “How would you like me to refer to it?”
“Just … don’t refer to it at all.”
Sorin gave her a frank stare as he said, “We cannot just ignore it, Scarlett. You need to keep your power replenished. You need to be prepared for whatever they might try next.”
“What I need to do is train to ?ght using my powers and weapons. I need to be able to use them at the same time seamlessly. Cyrus kicked my ass because I had to either focus on controlling my magic or my sword,” Scarlett grumbled.
“And if you are going to be training that intensely with your gifts, you need to keep them replenished,” Sorin said pointedly.
“Then we best ?gure out this Source thing,” she said blandly.
“Agreed,” Sorin said, “but ?rst I would like to revisit this no pants dilemma.”
“It’s not a dilem—”
But her words cut off when he gripped under her knee and tugged, pulling her down onto her back on the sofa. He was leaning over her a heartbeat later. “It is a dilemma,” he countered. “You are asking me to focus on other things— Avonleya, training, Luan .” He said his name with a sneering curl of his lip.
“Tarek said you do not even know all the reasons there is con?ict between your two Courts. That you are just carrying on animosity—”
“There you go again,” Sorin sighed, cutting her off again, “asking me to focus on something other than the fact that you are not wearing pants.”
She smiled coyly at him as she casually said, “Or underthings.”
Sorin’s eyes darkened as his pupils instantly dilated, and a feral growl rumbled from his chest. He moved so godsdamn fast, she didn’t register it until she felt his tongue licking up her center, ?icking that sensitive bundle of nerves when he reached it.
“Gods,” she gasped, her ?ngers digging into the sofa cushion.
“Not quite, Love,” he said with a satis?ed smirk, looking up at her from his place between her thighs. He brought his mouth to the crease of her left thigh, slowly trailing kisses along it. “Tell me. Did you still want to discuss the feud between the Fire and Earth Courts?”
“Ass,” she breathed as he moved to the other thigh.
Canines scraped and nipped. “You are reusing names. You need to get more creative.”
She pulled her foot up, preparing to show him just how creative she could be, but he caught her ankle with a dark chuckle, throwing her leg over his shoulder. Before she could say anything, his tongue went up her center again, and her hand was slipping into raven-black locks, pulling him closer. She felt him chuckle again, the sound vibrating against her ?esh as his tongue continued to taste her, making her writhe against him. A hand came up to her torso, holding her in place, and a curse fell from her lips as he brought her to the edge of pleasure again and again, but never let her go over.
“Sorin,” she growled when he again pulled her back right as she reached that tipping point.
“Yes, my Love,” he murmured, the rumble of his voice against her holding her right at that precipice.
Her answer was her ?ngers tightening in his hair and tugging his mouth forcefully against her.
His mouth closed around those nerves, sucking it between his teeth at the same time he ?nally slipped two ?ngers inside her, curling them to hit that perfect spot. He had her wound so tightly by now, her head fell back immediately as release raced up her spine, her back arching and pressing her even harder against his mouth where his tongue never stopped, stroking and licking her through it all.
As she fell lax against the sofa, he gave her a taunting smile, his lips swollen and glossy as they curved up. He lowered her leg from his shoulder, and his ?ngers trailed slowly along her now-slick thighs, that small sensation almost too much after what he’d just put her through. As his ?ngers climbed higher, his body followed. His shirt was pushed up as he moved along her body, those lips trailing his hands.
“New pants dilemma,” she gasped, sucking in a breath when he exposed her breasts to the air.
“Oh?” he asked, rolling a nipple between his thumb and fore?nger and making her arch off the sofa again.
“You’re still wearing yours,” she rasped, ?ngers already reaching for the buttons.
A rough laugh left him, and he pressed a kiss to her other breast, before pushing off of her and quickly taking care of the new dilemma. Instead of climbing back onto the sofa, he came to a stop beside it. His eyes raked over her with predatory hunger. Scarlett didn’t have it in her to move. She was still trying to catch her breath, which wasn’t exactly easy with him standing beside her.
Without any clothing on.
His ?ngers trailed lightly from her hairline down to her lips, where he brushed a thumb across her bottom one. “What shall I do with you tonight, my Love?” he murmured, his wandering eyes now ?xed on her rapidly rising and falling chest.
“I don’t know,” she managed to get out. “You’re the one with all that experience .”
His eyes snapped back to hers, and she bit her lip, trying to keep the taunting smile from forming. “You and this godsdamn tongue.”
Then he was hauling her into a sitting position, pulling his shirt over her head and tossing it to the ?oor. His hands landed on her hips, forcing her up onto her knees and turning her to face the back of the sofa. Her knees sank into the cushions further when he was suddenly kneeling behind her. The coarse hairs on his legs felt rough against her own bare legs, and she sucked in another sharp breath when she felt him digging into her back.
“So interested in these experiences ,” he breathed into her ear. His ?ngers were skating up her sides, gliding along her ribs then back down to her hips. “If you want me to set something up with Arianna, you only need to say the word.”
“And Jamahl ,” she drawled.
One of those trailing hands shot to her breast, tweaking a nipple hard enough to make her hiss and bat his hand away.
“What would you do with two males worshiping you, my Love?” And the gravel in his tone had her clenching her thighs together as her core pulsed.
She managed to hold in the whimper threatening to escape her as she rasped, “You could scarcely handle Arianna touching my arm. I doubt you would fare well with more than that.”
“True,” he conceded, his lips brushing over the spot just below her ear. “I could maybe be persuaded to worship you beside another at some point, but not anytime in the near future.” Feather-light kisses continued down her neck and had her dropping her head back against his shoulder. “I suppose that leaves all the worshipping to me.”
“I suppose it does,” she agreed.
His hands came to her shoulders, brushing down the length of her arms until they closed around her own hands. He brought them to the back of the sofa, then he whispered into her ear, “Do not let go.”
She felt his canines scrape down her throat again until they met the juncture where her neck met her shoulder, and he clamped down, drawing a cry from her. Her hips bucked back into him as she jerked forward at the unexpected hurt. But his tongue was already lapping at it, soothing the pain away as her fingers curled into the back of the sofa.
“I have noticed, Princess, that you only tend to follow orders at the same moments your manners seem to make those rare appearances,” he said casually.
“I swear to Saylah, Sorin—”
But before she could ?nish any type of threat, he thrust into her and a moan of pleasure came out instead.
“You were saying?” he crooned into her ear.
All thoughts were driven from her mind as he slammed back into her harder. She couldn’t have said anything even if she’d wanted to. Words weren’t a thing she could focus on when all of her attention was on the feel of him ?lling her, his ?ngers digging into her hips as he drove into her over and over again. Each thrust pressed her deeper into the back of the sofa. His ragged breathing ?lled her ears, mixing with the sound of skin against skin.
One of his hands slid across her torso until two of his ?ngers slid between her folds and began pressing tight circles to her center. Her breath caught in her throat, and she started to bring one of her hands back to loop around his neck, to feel him. Before her ?ngers had even ?nished unfurling though, his ?ngers, his entire body, stilled against her. “Do not let go,” he growled, a single thrust of his hips drawing another moan from her.
“Sorin,” she groaned.
“Say my name like that all you like, Love, but do not let go,” he rasped, his voice near guttural as his ?ngers began moving again too, those circles faster and tighter. Everything in her was tightening, release shimmering at the base of her spine. His other hand moved to her back, pressing down and forcing her forward, her back arching and ass pressing back into him even more.
A feral growl left him when she felt him send his ?ames to brush along her shadows. Then she couldn’t breathe at all as that pleasure washed over her. Devoured her. There wasn’t room for anything but this. For them. For what they were.
He pressed down with those two ?ngers, sending her careening over the edge once more, and his name indeed fell from her lips again. His own movements became choppy and erratic, faster and somehow harder, until she felt him pulsing inside her as he found his own release.
She collapsed against the back of the sofa, and he fell forward on top of her. She could feel his heaving chest against her back. Her ?ngers were still tightly curled around the back of the sofa, and she slowly released her grip as she gulped down air.
Neither of them moved for several minutes until he peeled himself off of her with a groan. Scarlett sank down onto the cushions, rolling onto her back and pushing hair out of her face.
“I’m sleeping here tonight.”
“The fuck you are.”
“I’m too tired to walk to the bed,” she whined.
“It is times like these I ?nd it hard to believe you are Death’s Maiden,” he muttered, arms sliding beneath her back and knees. She was scooped up in a ?uid motion, her head falling against his chest.
“It’s your fault I can’t move.”
“You’re welcome, but I think it is your fault for creating the no pants dilemma.”
“Oh my gods,” she muttered. “Careful, Sorin, or your ego won’t ?t in the bed with us.”
He gently lay her on the bed as he said softly into her ear, “Aren’t you grateful to be bene?ting from all those experiences ?”
“I hate you,” she grumbled, rolling onto her side.
“The sounds you were making a few minutes ago would suggest otherwise,” he replied, pulling the blankets up and over her.
“I’m going to sleep now.”
“Good night, Love.”
“We were quite patient with you before, my pet.”
Scarlett was standing on the balcony of the queen’s chambers in the Black Halls staring out across the sea. But at the sound of his voice, she spun, taking a step back.
“What are you doing here?”
A slow, cruel smile spread over Mikale’s lips as he took another step towards her. “He sent me to deliver a message.”
As he advanced, she retreated until she was bumping up against the balcony railing. “I am surprised to see you still live considering I escaped you … again,” she replied, forcing herself to keep her breathing steady.
This is a dream , she reminded herself over and over. He can’t hurt me here.
Mikale ?ashed his teeth at her verbal jab before seeming to leash his temper. “I am not here to listen to your smart mouth,” he said sharply.
“Then you probably should not have come,” she retorted, her spine straightening.
His smile became one of knowing, as he came closer. “I forget how young you are sometimes,” he mused. “Always seeing things so black and white. Right and wrong.” He came to a stop directly in front of her, reaching up and twirling a strand of her hair around his ?nger. “Light and dark.”
Scarlett slapped his hand away, her hair tugging sharply at the action, and he chuckled lightly as he stepped back from her. “You will understand why I am still breathing soon enough, but as I said, I was sent to deliver a message.”
“What a good little errand boy you are,” Scarlett cooed.
“Careful, my pet, no one has won our game yet,” he retorted sharply.
“I am no longer worried about such things,” she answered, lifting a hand so shadows writhed in her palm.
Mikale sucked in a breath, but instead of a ?ash of fear in his dark eyes, it was … desire?
“Such beautiful darkness,” he said, his eyes ?xed on the shadows she wielded. His head tilted to the side as he continued, “You know, when they ?rst appeared all those months ago in my house, I did not know what they were. I am considerably younger than the other Lords. I knew what was inside of you, but having never seen it … Well, you can understand my wariness.” He stepped closer again, regaining the distance that had been put between them. “We only ever desired to help you learn to control it.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” she deadpanned.
His dark eyes slid to her, and that knowing smile pulled at his lips again. “As I was saying, we’ve been so patient with you.”
“I was unaware I was being vexing.”
Mikale’s jaw clenched as he swallowed down some sort of retort. There was a note of restraint in his voice as he continued. “He’s been patient, but as he told you, his patience is growing thin. He even attempted to make peace with you by denying me access to your body, and you threw it back in his face.”
Scarlett couldn’t help the laugh of disbelief that burst from her. “Oh yes,” she drawled, “how ungrateful of me. He wouldn’t let you take from me, but your hands were allowed to roam. I was still chained to a fucking wall. Still denied food, water. Still forced to watch him torture and nearly kill Cassius.”
Mikale’s hand came up again, and she raised her own, her shadows striking for him as quickly as asps.
But they dissipated before they came close. She tried to summon them again. Tried to summon her ?ames. Something. Anything. But she couldn’t. Somehow, in this dream world, Mikale had managed to cut her off from them. Had given her a false sense of security.
Her heart leapt to her throat as his ?ngers skated down her cheek. She was leaning back, away from him, but that meant she was also leaning back over the balcony railing. This may be a dream, but that was still a drop to death below her, and she didn’t want to test if her death in this twisted dream world would result in her death in the real one.
“What he is going to do to you when you return,” Mikale mused to himself, clearly getting lost in his thoughts. He stepped further into her, her back arching more as she tried to keep distance between them. One of his arms looped around her waist, holding her in place as he brought his face inches from hers. His hot breath fanned over her cheek when he spoke again. “When you return, you will be so broken, you will beg to take that Blood Mark.”
“Cassius lives,” she managed to rasp out.
Mikale shrugged his shoulders slightly. “For now.” His ?ngers ?exed where they held her waist, and he forced her back over that railing even farther, her feet coming up so she was balancing on her tiptoes. “But if you think that was the last time he will willingly give his life to keep you from breaking, you are sorely mistaken. That is the life he is cursed with as your Guardian. Eventually, he will not survive it.”
One of her feet slipped, and a gasp escaped her as she fought for purchase on the balcony ?oor. Her bare foot trying to catch on anything. Mikale only laughed, his other hand coming up to grip her jaw and force her eyes to his.
“That is his message for you, my pet,” he said, nothing but dark amusement staring back at her. “Eventually, everyone you love will give their lives for you. That is their curse for knowing you, for choosing to follow you. You will be the cause of their death.”
Tears stung at the back of her eyes, and she swallowed, willing them back. She tried to shake her head in denial, but Mikale’s grip on her jaw only tightened, becoming bruising.
“How sel?sh of you to allow them to give up their existence so you can live,” he continued, his tone becoming soft.
“I would never ask that of them,” she rasped, her feet completely off the ground now as Mikale held her balanced over that balcony railing.
“Oh, my pet,” he crooned with mock sympathy, “you won’t have to. That is their curse for knowing you, remember?”