Chapter 41 Scarlett
CHAPTER 41
SCARLETT
“ I think you’ve got it,” Scarlett said, studying Auberon’s latest drawing of the Mark they were going to be using. “Are you ready?”
The vampyre met her gaze, his blue eyes bright. She didn’t miss how they dipped brie?y to her throat. Neither did Sorin, and he shifted subtly closer to her. “How will this work exactly?”
“I have no idea,” Scarlett said with a shrug. “I suppose we are about to ?nd out.”
They were outside on a terrace of the villa. The sun was shining brightly, and she breathed the fresh air deep into her lungs. She rolled her shoulders, stretching out her neck as they moved to the dirt beyond the stone patio. Shaking her arms out, she glanced at Juliette and Nuri who were sitting along the low terrace wall. Scarlett had no idea what they were going to ?nd when they ?gured out where the Contessa was, but the dread coiling in the pit of her stomach told her it wasn’t going to be anything good.
“You good, Love?” Sorin asked, coming to her side.
“Mhmm,” she hummed, pushing down the unease. He had already ?lled a small glass with his blood, Cyrus now holding that cup ready and waiting for her.
Auberon dropped to his knees in the dirt, a knife in hand, and Scarlett knelt opposite him. The four Fae gathered around them. Azrael hadn’t been particularly happy about this development, but Talwyn had been surprisingly amenable to the idea, agreeing that they needed to ?nd the Contessa as quickly as possible.
Auberon cut a gash along his palm, dipping his ?nger in and beginning to draw the Mark she’d made him practice for the last hour. When he was done, Sorin handed her a dagger, and she quickly dragged it down her forearm, letting her blood spill over it. She didn’t know how much of her blood it would take, but the moment the ?rst drop hit the Mark, she felt a tug at her shadows. White ?ames raced along the Mark, tracing every line and angle as her blood dripped onto it. Shadows ?lled her vision and twined around her arms.
“Anything?” she heard Sorin grit out to Auberon.
“Nothing,” the vampyre replied.
“Focus,” Scarlett hissed from between her teeth. “The magic will show you. Focus on it.”
“You are beginning to heal, Love,” Sorin said softly. She felt him lower to the ground beside her.
“Then reopen the wound,” she ordered. She’d dropped the dagger at some point. Her shadows were beginning to strain, as if suddenly realizing they were being used and pulled from her.
“Perhaps we should re-evaluate—”
“No coddling, ?re prick,” Nuri chided, and Scarlett turned her head to ?nd Nuri kneeling beside her other side. In less than a second, she pulled a knife from her boot and sliced along Scarlett’s forearm again, moving it back over the Mark. “Focus on the Contessa,” she ordered Auberon.
Scarlett’s breathing was ragged as her magic was forced to give more and more. White embers were sparking in her vision among the shadows, and she was fairly certain she was going to pass out when Auberon said, “Got it.”
Nuri released Scarlett’s arm, and she fell against Sorin’s chest. He was already lifting a glass to her lips, and she couldn’t help the grimace as she swallowed the coppery-tasting liquid. Her magic sighed in relief, already refilling with each gulp from the glass. She drained the entire thing, and when Sorin tipped the glass up, his voice came down the bond.
Do you need more?
No . Her voice sounded breathless even down the bond. I just need a minute to recoup before we go.
You swear it?
I know that I need to be at full strength right now, Sorin.
He pressed a kiss to her temple, and Scarlett tuned back into the conversation happening around them.
“The riverfront property? You are sure,” Talwyn was asking.
“Positive,” Auberon con?rmed. “What are we waiting for?”
“She needs a minute,” Sorin replied, his voice low and lethal, daring anyone to challenge him.
“Is she all right?” Cyrus asked.
“I’m ?ne, Darling,” Scarlett said. “Do you have any water?”
A minute later, he was handing her a glass, and she downed the entire thing, trying to get the taste of blood out of her mouth. “Can we portal there?” she asked, passing the glass back to Cyrus.
“I can Travel us,” Talwyn said. “I know where we are going.”
Scarlett nodded, pushing off of Sorin and sitting up. When her head ?nally stopped spinning, Sorin helped her to her feet. He swung her cloak around her shoulders, clasping the clips for her.
“You are sure about this?” he murmured, reaching to pull her hood up.
“Do we have a choice?”
“You always have a choice, Scarlett,” he said, his hands cupping her face.
“Then my choice is to help the Contessa,” she said with a weak smile.
He brushed a quick kiss to her lips. “Then let’s go, my Queen.”
She felt her cheeks flush slightly as she turned to the others. “It would be best to take us in some place farther away,” she said to Talwyn. “Then we can see what we are dealing with rather than landing at the front door.”
“Agreed,” Azrael said, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I will take us in a few miles north,” Talwyn replied.
“We evaluate and make a plan before anyone goes ahead. Can we all agree on that?” Sorin asked, command ringing in his tone as he leveled his gaze on Scarlett, Nuri, and Juliette.
“You act like we run into dangerous places without thinking,” Nuri scoffed. “We always know what we are doing.”
“Are we in agreement?” Sorin asked again.
Scarlett patted his arm with a sympathetic smile, while Nuri gave him a feral grin.
“Let’s go, your Majesty,” Scarlett said, reaching for Talwyn’s hand.
A moment later, they were standing upstream of a river. She reached up, sending off a message among her shadows, something she’d taught herself to do, just as she’d taught herself mental shields. The shadow messages let Eliza, Rayner, and Briar know where they were, on the off chance they would need back-up. Briar could have help here fairly quickly, and Rayner was around somewhere. Her gaze fell on a sprawling estate along the river a little over two miles off. It was larger than the villa they had stayed in last night. Tall, white pillars were visible even from this distance, and a veranda ran around the entire second story of the building.
“You have not checked here before?” Scarlett asked Auberon, scanning the estate.
“Of course I have. Multiple times,” Auberon retorted. “But the Contessa has a network of underground passages connecting her homes. She moves about unseen if she so chooses.”
“Then why have you not monitored these tunnels?” Talwyn demanded.
“Because they are warded so that only the Contessa can access them,” Auberon gritted out.
“That seems incredibly irresponsible in the case of an emergency,” Scarlett mused, tilting her head as she studied the estate more.
“Obviously,” Auberon muttered under his breath.
“You are seeing what I am seeing, yes?” Juliette asked, coming to her side.
“I am,” Scarlett con?rmed. “Nuri?”
“Yes. I will go up. You two do your usual?”
“No,” Sorin snarled, stepping into their path. “Explain.”
Juliette and Nuri moved away a few steps, giving her room to deal with the Fae.
“I need you to trust me on this, Sorin.”
“I need you to include us on this, Scarlett,” he countered.
Scarlett glanced back at the estate before looking back at him. “It is not that I do not trust you,” she replied. “It is that I have worked with them for years. Did you just witness our thirty second conversation? We already knew what each saw and were thinking. We already have a plan that does not need to be explained to each other. When we are down there, we will know how each will react.” Sorin tried to interject, but Scarlett raised a hand to stop him. “I know that someday, I will have that with all of you. Years from now, I will ?t with your Court the way I ?t with them now. But that day is not today. That time is not now. It is why I wanted them with us for this task.”
“You have been planning to exclude us this entire time?” Cyrus demanded.
Scarlett shook her head. “No. I am not excluding you. I am simply asking that you let us go ?rst.”
“You are a queen ,” Azrael sneered, as if that was argument enough.
Scarlett supposed it probably was. Who in their right mind would let the queen of two Fae Courts scout an obviously dangerous property for foul play?
“Do not allow this, Sorin,” Talwyn interjected. “Or this will end like it did for Thia.”
Scarlett whirled on her. “Do not try and make him feel guilty about that,” she spat, her ?nger pointed at the Fae Queen. “ That has nothing to do with this. This is different in every way, and he does not allow me to do anything.”
She turned back to Sorin. “I will be able to communicate with you through the bond. If anything feels wrong, I will Travel us out immediately and we regroup.”
“This entire thing feels wrong,” Cyrus muttered.
Scarlett ignored Cyrus, holding Sorin’s gaze. Golden eyes searched her own. “You feel well enough? Your power reserves are full enough?”
“Yes.”
An arm looped around her waist, tugging her roughly forward, and she tilted her head back to be able to see his face. “You do not block the bond. Not even a little bit. And no Blood Magic.”
Scarlett swallowed, nodding once. He lowered his mouth to hers, the kiss full of his worry about this entire scenario.
“I do not like this,” he breathed onto her lips, so low she barely heard him.
“I know,” she whispered back. “I will be ?ne. I promise.”
With another quick brush of lips, he released her, and she stepped back. “Once we are inside, I will let you know. Then send Auberon in to help us ?nd the Contessa. The rest of you search the grounds.”
She didn’t wait for con?rmation, turning and striding to Nuri and Juliette. In unison, the three of them pulled up their hoods. Black stains against the bright early spring day. They wouldn’t be staying in the light, though. They had already spotted the shadowy valley down the hillside that would take them almost the entire way to the estate.
“It has been so long since we started a ?re,” Nuri mused when the three of them began stalking forward.
“We are not burning anything today,” Scarlett replied.
“At least I hope not,” Juliette added.
“Eliza is going to be so pissed,” Scarlett heard Cyrus mutter.
They moved soundlessly through the valley, Scarlett using her shadows to veil them even more, and when they reached a small copse around the property, they darted among them, disappearing into the trees. Nuri veered off, climbing an oak to the right. Juliette and Scarlett continued forward and waited on the edge of the copse. When Nuri did not reappear after a few minutes, they prowled forward. Nuri was either waiting for them or in trouble. She only came back if they needed to re-evaluate. Unless she’d been detained. Which had only happened once.
Or twice.
“See you on the other side, Sister,” Juliette said, a wild grin ?lling her face, and Scarlett couldn’t help but grin back. Because as wrong as it was to be a killer, to be trained to execute judgment for those who believed themselves gods, she had missed prowling through the night and the shadows with her sisters.
Juliette went to the left. Scarlett went to the right. They would each come in from separate sides of the gate. Nuri would ?nd them eventually.
Scarlett kept close to the wall, her back pressed to it, her breathing steady.
You split up? Sorin demanded, his voice ringing with disbelief and disapproval in her head. Where the fuck is Nuri?
Already over the wall, Scarlett answered. We will reunite shortly.
Why are you not together?
So that we’re not all caught at once, obviously, Scarlett said. If one of us is caught unawares, there are two others to assist.
She ran her hands along the wall. It was smoother than the one around the villa had been. There had at least been cracks in that stone wall to provide the smallest amount of grip to climb up. There was nothing on this one. It was as smooth as marble, which was rather inconvenient.
Glancing behind her, the trees were perhaps a hundred feet away. That could be enough room, she supposed. It would have to be. Slipping into the trees, she pulled her hood back and unhooked her cloak, tossing it to the side. She didn’t want to risk it getting caught on anything.
Scarlett … What are you doing?
It should work, she replied .
Scarlett!
She didn’t let herself think about it, though. She took off running, throwing white ?ames in front of her, followed by ice to wrap around that ?re, freezing it. She leapt, over and over, making the ?ames higher and higher. Steps up. One. Two. Three. She felt them shatter under the impact of her feet, leaving no room for hesitation, as she kept building ?ames higher and higher.
Her hands grasped the ledge of the wall, and she hoisted herself up. Dropping to the other side, she landed in a crouch, pulling a dagger from her boot, ready to throw it, stab someone with it. Whatever was needed really.
But all was quiet on this side of the wall. And there was Nuri, lounging against the rail along the top of the veranda. She pointed to the right, and Scarlett saw the trellis. In a matter of minutes, she’d crossed the yard and climbed to the balcony, striding to Nuri’s side.
“Juliette?” she asked, taking a moment to catch her breath.
“Here,” she answered, dropping down from the eaves of the roof.
“The front door?” Scarlett asked, turning to Nuri.
“All doors are securely locked. Warded, too, if I had to guess,” she replied.
“So just this window, then?”
They all turned to the window before them. They’d seen it from the hillside where the Fae were waiting. The slightest ?utter of a curtain. The window was cracked open the smallest amount. If it hadn’t been for that slight movement, they never would have known. Either someone had moved it inside, or a passing breeze had ruf?ed it. Either way, it meant someone was inside or the window was a way in.
“Ready?” Juliette asked.
Nuri and Scarlett nodded, and they moved forward. Juliette pulled her short sword, wedging the blade into the crack and pushing down, creating the leverage to lift the window just enough for them to squeeze in. Nuri quickly pushed the window back into place once they were inside.
We’re ?ne, she sent down the bond to Sorin. Juliette will be out in a minute to unlock the front gates for you.
You made steps. Out of ?re.
Scarlett snorted softly in laughter, Nuri and Juliette glancing over at her. Is that admiration I hear, Prince?
“Quit ?irting,” Nuri chided.
“How many times did I have to put up with you two ?irting and sneaking off on jobs?” Scarlett whispered back.
“She makes a valid point,” Juliette said.
They stepped from what was obviously a bedroom out into a hallway.
Doors lined either side, all of them closed.
“We need Auberon. He’ll know where these tunnels are,” Scarlett said.
“I’ll get the gates,” Juliette answered.
She peeled away, heading for the stairs. She’d ?nd the keys easily enough. People always kept them in the same places. Nuri and Scarlett began checking the rooms along the hallway. She didn’t expect to ?nd anything, but they could at least clear them before Auberon got here.
“Will you stay in Avonleya when you go there?” Nuri asked casually, opening another door.
Scarlett paused, her hand hovering over a door handle. “That is random.”
“I am assuming when you ?nd the keys, you will go there. That is your homeland,” she replied, poking her head into the room she was checking.
“I cannot imagine I will. I hold a throne here. I have responsibilities,” Scarlett said, eyes scanning her own room.
“That did not stop you from leaving the Syndicate.”
“ You aided Sorin in taking me from there,” Scarlett retorted, clamping down on the surge of irritation.
“Yes, but I thought you’d come back,” Nuri said, her tone the same.
Casual and relaxed, as though they were discussing books. “I came for the children, did I not?”
“Only because Alaric took you.”
Scarlett pulled her door closed sharper than she’d intended. The snap of it echoing down the deserted hall. “Just because I did not plan for the way it happened does not mean I was not planning to return. We were planning to leave, to come for you and Cassius and the others, two days from the day everything happened.”
Nuri didn’t say anything, moving to the next room.
“I was trying, Nuri. I was drowning and trying to stay a?oat and trying to get back to … I was trying,” Scarlett said.
“It was only a question,” Nuri said, closing the ?nal door as they came to the end of the hall.
But it was never ‘only a question’ with Nuri.
They were descending the stairs, when Auberon came rushing through the front doors. “The Witch is searching the grounds with the Fae. This way.”
He led them through a grand room, an elegant dining room, and into a decent sized study. But the moment the study doors opened, they all froze. Sitting behind a gleaming oak desk was a woman, who if it wasn’t for the dirt covering her skin and in her hair, would surely be stunning. She had golden hair beneath the dirt and mud from what Scarlett could tell. Her skin was pale, and she was thin. Far too thin. She wore a thin red dress that clung to her. A gag was in her mouth between dry and bloodless lips, and her amber eyes had a reddish tint to them. They widened with dread when they entered, chains securing her to the chair.
Shirastone chains.
“Your grace,” Auberon cried, rushing forward to his Contessa’s side. He hissed when he touched the chains, jerking back. Nuri and Scarlett moved to come to her side as well, but a deep voice came from the left.
“Scarlett, my dear. I have been looking forward to seeing you again.”
Scarlett pulled the spirit sword that was sheathed down her back, her shadow armor slithering into place atop the Witch--leathers she was wearing.
“And you have mastered more of your darkness. Delightful,” Lord Tyndell said, clapping his hands as if this indeed excited him.
“Help Auberon with the Contessa,” she said to Nuri. “I will take care of this.”
Nuri didn’t ask questions, just rushed to the Contessa, who was screaming around her gag.
“How did you ?nd her?” Scarlett asked.
Lord Tyndell made a show of seeming to consider her question before ?nally saying, “Your Court has spies. So does ours.”
“Like Tarek?” Scarlett countered.
“He has been a valuable asset, yes,” he agreed.
He took a step forward, and Scarlett raised her sword, leveling it with his chest. Her shadows writhed into panthers before her, and white ?ames sparked off the blade.
Lord Tyndell’s smile only grew.
“Do not take another step,” Scarlett said, her voice soft venom. “Nuri, get them out of here.”
“Working on it,” Nuri hissed back.
Lord Tyndell clasped his hands behind his back, making no move to try to keep the Contessa for his own.
“Who is here with you?” Scarlett demanded.
“They are keeping your … associates busy at the moment.” Dread ?ooded her veins like ice water.
Sorin?
Scarlett. What is wrong?
She swallowed thickly, glancing at Nuri and Auberon. The latter was trying to loosen the gag from the Contessa’s mouth, but it was apparently kept in place with magic. Nuri was struggling with the chains.
We found the Contessa. She’s … Lord Tyndell is here.
Get out of there, Scarlett. Now.
But she couldn’t leave the others.
“You will ?nd Traveling ineffective inside the estate,” Lord Tyndell said as if he’d read her mind.
“Fuck this,” Nuri suddenly said. “Grab the chair, Auberon. We’ll ?gure out the chains after we’re out of here.”
Scarlett was completely ?ne with that idea. She kept her sword trained on Lord Tyndell while Nuri and Auberon hauled the chair across the study and out the door. Scarlett slowly started backing towards the door to follow.
“Leaving so soon?” Lord Tyndell asked. “I would love the opportunity to catch up with you, my dear.”
“I do not plan on leaving without killing you ?rst,” Scarlett retorted, her shadow panthers prowling forward.
“Is that so? But what of your sister?”
“What?”
A muf?ed scream had her head whipping to the side to ?nd Juliette bound and gagged in the corner of the room. Where had she come from?
Scarlett? Nuri is out here. Where are you?
I can’t Travel, Sorin. Juliette is here—
Juliette is out here with us.
What?
Juliette is out here with us, Scarlett. I am coming for you.
She slowly dragged her gaze back to Lord Tyndell, her lip peeling back into a sneer at the realization that he had somehow slipped into her mind and altered her reality. “I am going to kill you,” she hissed, her panthers moving forward again. Flames rose at her ?ngertips, and she took a step towards the Lord.
“He will be so pleased to know your powers have grown,” Lord Tyndell said.
The illusion of Juliette screamed again, and Scarlett tried to block out the sound. Until the doors burst open, and Sorin ran through, Cyrus on his heels. Relief tumbled through her, but she didn’t stop her advance.
“I would give you a message to deliver to him, but the dead cannot speak,” she replied.
Lord Tyndell chuckled merrily. “Always so quick-witted. It truly made for the most entertaining dinners.”
Scarlett? Where are you?
What do you … She glanced back over her shoulder where Sorin and Cyrus were ?anking her, swords drawn, faces merciless. Where are you?
Trying to get inside this fucking house, but there are … I do not know what we are ?ghting, but I am coming.
I need to block you out, Sorin.
What? No! Don’t you dare, Scarlett.
I have to. I love you like the stars love the night.
Scarlett—
But she slammed shadows around her, strengthening her shadow armor and putting up a mental shield. Shadows and ?ames and ice. All of it thickening and climbing higher, blocking out everyone and everything. She could feel Sorin banging against it, but as those shadows slid into place, Lord Tyndell disappeared from before her eyes along with Juliette’s cries and Sorin and Cyrus at her back.
Lord Tyndell was here. She was certain of that. But where he was playing these games from she did not know. Sending her panthers before her, she crept out of the study and back through what appeared to be an empty house. She kept her mental shield ?rmly locked in place. Even a crack and Lord Tyndell would be inside her head again. As she drew near the front of the estate, the sounds of swords clanging and shouting reached her. She raced for the front door.
And then skidded to a halt on the front porch.
There was … a small army here. Skilled soldiers. The High Force?
“Up, Scarlett! Look up!” Sorin was bellowing from somewhere.
Her eyes scanned the yard, looking for him as she moved to the edge of the front porch and looked up at the sky from beneath the veranda.
Where men with wings ?ew.
“What the actual fuck?” Scarlett whispered, stepping out from under the veranda.
Were those feathers on the wings?
There were ten of them from what she could see, dodging ?re as Sorin and Cyrus shot ?aming arrows at them.
More sounds of ?ghting came from beyond the front gates. She could only assume Talwyn and Azrael fought there. Auberon was ?ghting with twin short swords off to one side, and Juliette was …?
Where were Nuri and Juliette?
“Scarlett!” Cyrus cried.
As if in slow motion, Scarlett looked his way just as one of the ?ying men dove at her. She ducked, feeling soft wings brush her back. The ground shook when he landed nearby, and she stood upright once more.
The man advanced, a shirastone dagger in one hand. He was huge. Easily taller than Sorin and more muscled. He wore a sleeveless grey tunic and grey pants that matched the grey of his wings, and some kind of lightweight armor over top of everything. She cocked her head, studying how he moved.
“Not the time to admire the pretty muscles, Darling,” Cyrus panted, suddenly at her side. He nocked another arrow, sending it ?ying at the advancing man, but the man caught it by the shaft, just as she’d seen Sorin do.
“What are they?” Scarlett asked, raising a hand and letting shadows begin to pool there.
“Don’t really give a fuck right now,” Cyrus replied, another arrow already nocked and being released at one of the men still airborne. “You going to help out at all or just stand here?”
Scarlett rolled her eyes, snapping her shadows out from her like a whip and wrapping them tightly around the winged-man’s neck. He paused, grabbing at his throat, his ?ngers closing around black mist.
A smile curled onto Scarlett’s lips, and she winked at him when the man’s eyes widened, ?xating on her. He cocked his arm back to throw his dagger, but another whip of shadows wrapped around his wrist, halting his movement.
“They did not tell us one of you were here,” the man gasped out.
“Surprise,” Scarlett purred, stalking forward.
“Scarlett,” Cyrus warned.
The shadows around the man’s throat squeezed tighter, but he didn’t show any sign of panic. Signs of strangulation, yes, but no terror and unease. These beings were warriors, impeccably trained to not show weakness and to face death fearlessly.
She was mere feet from him when a scream pierced the air.
A scream she knew in her bones.
“Where is Juliette?” Scarlett demanded, turning to Cyrus.
He shook his head, arrow after arrow ?ying from his bow. One look at his quiver told her he would be switching to a sword soon.
White ?ames sprang from her ?ngertips and landed directly on the man’s feathery wings. A bellow of rage and pain left the man then. A second later, her sword was slashing across his throat, blood spraying her face and neck.
She left Cyrus to ?nish him, racing towards the sound of the scream. Rounding the corner, the scream pierced the air again, and she looked up to ?nd Juliette being hauled through the sky by one of the winged men. Her arm hung at an odd angle, and there was blood dripping down her temple.
“Scarlett,” Sorin panted, appearing at her side. “I couldn’t get to her fast enough.”
“I got her,” Scarlett replied, sheathing her sword down her back. She pulled a small vial from her pocket, throwing it to the ground and stomping on it. A wisp of violet smoke wafted up before dissipating on the breeze. “Cover me.”
“What are you—”
But she was already running, her shadows converging before her. They twisted and writhed.
Four legs. A long, spiked tail. A snout. Scales. Wings.
And right before that shadow dragon went for the sky, Scarlett was leaping to its back. She didn’t know how it worked. She wasn’t about to question how shadows could hold her. She suspected they could only do so because it was her. With a ?ick of her wrist, she fashioned a bridle of sorts out of white ?ames, clinging to the reins as the dragon shot straight up, racing after the man who had Juliette. She knew more winged men chased her.
She knew Sorin’s arrows found their marks when they bellowed in agony.
The ones that he missed, her shadow dragon did not, orange ?ames spewing from its mouth.
The man holding Juliette looked back, his eyes widening. Juliette twisted, taking advantage of his moment of shock, and then she was falling, plummeting towards the ground. Scarlett snapped cords of shadows for her, wrapping around her torso, but her power was waning. It was taking too much to keep this shadow dragon corporal. Could Juliette die again? Scarlett didn’t know, but she had prepared for this possibility.
And as an eagle’s screech reached her ears, Scarlett’s entire body heaved a sigh of relief as a blur shot by her. Wings tucked in tight, diving straight for where Juliette was hanging from nothing but swirling darkness. Scarlett may have been sitting atop a dragon of shadows, but she still stared in complete wonder at the half-lion, half-eagle beast the High Witch sat atop as it hovered beside Juliette. Sleek golden fur ran along its back half, a tail with a tuft of hair at the end helping it maintain balance.
Feathered wings of the same color swept out from both sides, before fur shifted to feathers of ivory and paws became taloned feet at its front half.
The Witches actually ?ew on grif?ns. Scarlett let out a breath of laughter.
The grif?n was taking Juliette gently between its talons, and since Juliette didn’t seem at all panicked, she’d clearly been around the grif?ns before. Hazel looked back at Scarlett, nodding once before the grif?n rose to the sky and ?ew from that battle still raging below.
Right. Battle.
With a tug on the reins, the shadow dragon shifted and began making its way back to the ground.
She leapt from its back, landing on her feet next to Sorin, who was shoving his sword through the gut of one of the winged males before pulling the sword back and slicing through his neck and setting his wings on ?re. Then he whirled to Scarlett, who was sucking the last of her shadows into herself. No more shadow armor. No more shielding with it. She needed to conserve that power from here on out.
Which also left her more vulnerable to Lord Tyndell. He had to still be here somewhere.
“You are utterly reckless, utterly stupid, and utterly brilliant,” Sorin seethed, his free hand snapping out and grasping the front of her leathers, tugging her into him. His mouth slammed onto hers, his tongue forcing its way in. The kiss ended as quickly as it had started and well before Scarlett could get over her surprise.
Sorin pulled back, already throwing a dagger over her shoulder, and she glanced back to see it sink into the thigh of … a Night Child.
“Really? Now there are vampyres here? Fantastic,” she said with a slight whine.
She and Sorin pivoted so they were back-to-back. She’d unsheathed her sword, her other hand holding a long knife that Sorin had tossed to her.
“Why hasn’t Auberon called them off ?” Scarlett demanded, meeting the blade of one of the Night Children, her foot planting into its gut to shove him back.
“I do believe these particular Night Children have defected from the Contessa,” Sorin replied, another knife leaving his hand.
“Where are Nuri and the Contessa?” The same vampyre came at her again, and she let him get close enough that his fangs grazed her arm before her knife went into the side of his head.
“Stop playing,” Sorin growled, his eyes dipping to the shallow wound on her arm.
“It’s a scratch,” she shot back. “Where is Nuri?”
“Auberon told her of some place to take the Contessa. She said she would get in contact with us when Rosalyn was safe,” Sorin replied. “Why was Hazel here?”
“To get Juliette obviously,” Scarlett retorted. Three Night Children were converging on her. One look back told her four more were coming for Sorin.
And she was so, so done with this shit.
She threw her weapons to the ground and spun, grabbing Sorin’s arm. Before he could react, she was shoving up his sleeve and her canines were piercing his forearm. She took three big swallows, enough to feel her reserves swell the smallest amount, before she released him. His eyes were wide, but the shock quickly became understanding, those golden irises ?ickering ?ames.
Collars of white ?ames appeared around every Night Child she could see, shadows slithering up their bodies before going up their noses and down their throats. No room for screams. Shadows shaped like eagles were soaring for the three remaining winged men. They were back-?apping, trying to get out of range, but they weren’t going anywhere. When the shadows caught up with them, they shifted to ?ames. Feathers caught alight and then they were plummeting to the ground, where Cyrus and Sorin were waiting, swords wreathed in ?ames severing heads.
“Behind you,” Cyrus yelled, and she spun to ?nd a Night Child less than ten feet away. Water sprang from her palm, freezing on contact with the vampyre. She let the ice encase him, freezing him solid. She’d let one of the males take care of him from there.
“Talwyn and Azrael?” she panted.
“Still outside the gates,” Sorin answered. “We need to go before more show up.”
“We cannot leave them here,” she said, sinking to her knees to give her trembling legs a break, trying to catch her breath.
“Luan will make sure she gets out,” Sorin said, sending ?ames to the man she’d encased in ice. He stood over her, his eyes scanning every direction, watching for more threats. “We need to go.”
“Is that who I think it is?” Cyrus asked suddenly, and Scarlett lifted her head. Her gaze followed Cyrus’s to a section of the perimeter wall where the air seemed to be shimmering slightly.
Where Lord Tyndell stood staring back at her.
And beside him a ?gure, his face hidden by his cloak and hood. Alaric.
“Motherfucker,” Sorin snarled, gripping her arm and hauling her to her feet. A ?re portal sprang to life beside them. “We are going, Scarlett.”
Lord Tyndell only smiled at her before both him and Alaric disappeared into the air.