Chapter 43 Scarlett
CHAPTER 43
SCARLETT
S carlett sat outside on a bench in one of the courtyards of the Black Halls. Many of the children were running, playing with balls, and just generally enjoying the sunshine after having been stuck inside warehouses and secret hideaways for months, if not years. Add the balmy weather here, versus the winter chill that plagued Baylorin, and the children were thrilled.
She had a book in her lap. She’d been trying to ?nd information on these winged men they’d fought two days ago. Sorin had carried her through a ?re portal, and she’d almost immediately passed out. Apparently they had gotten her to drink some of Sorin’s blood at some point, because when she’d woken this morning after sleeping straight through the prior day, her power reserves were no longer empty. They weren’t completely full, but she didn’t feel completely drained either.
The sun had been streaming in the windows, and she’d woken to an empty bed. The sofa in her room had not been empty, however. Cassius sat, apparently holding vigil until she either woke or Sorin returned. He’d informed her that Sorin had gone with Cyrus and Eliza to the Fire Court to check on some things and make sure their forces were primed and ready to face what was coming. She wasn’t completely sure what that meant, but as soon as Sorin returned, she was sure she’d ?nd out. She also wanted to know what they’d heard from Talwyn and Prince Azrael.
“What’s this one about, Seastar?” Cassius asked when she paused the turning of her pages to skim the text. He sat beside her, his arm stretched along the back of the bench.
She sighed. “Nothing helpful. The word ‘wings’ caught my eye, but it’s speaking of different types of wings, not the beings that bear them.”
She began turning the pages again. Cassius was idly ?ipping through the pages of the book on Blood Magic. Not that he could read it well, but he was studying the Marks intently, trying to learn what he could. Hazel was still checking in with him daily. Sometimes he would ask her questions, other days he was stonily silent while she tended to him. The wound in his side was almost completely healed, and his leg was likely as good as it was going to get. She still taught him how to make an herbal compress to apply to the wound while he slept, hoping it would encourage more healing.
“This Mark matches the one on your arm,” he said, tapping on a page of the book. She glanced over to ?nd the three stars below an inverted triangle. She propped her arm beside it, comparing the two. “What is it for?” he asked.
Scarlett sat up straighter, pulling the book towards herself. “It’s how he woke my Avonleyan magic,” she murmured, her eyes ?ying over the words.
“Who?”
“The man in my dream. The Lord of Night or whatever,” she said, growing more excited the more she read. “He gave me this Mark in one of my dreams. It wasn’t until after that, my magic started getting out of control.”
Cassius was shaking his head. “No, Scarlett. Your tonic was keeping it suppressed.”
“The ?re and water maybe,” she countered. “But when did the shadows start showing up, Cass? Think about it.”
“I … Perhaps you are right, but how did he do this in a dream?”
“It is connected to his own magic somehow,” she answered. “But do you know what this means?” When he stared back at her in confusion, she said, “This is why you’ve never exhibited your father’s gifts. They haven’t been awakened.”
“You think that if you give me this Mark, I will start …” He blew out a long breath, running his hand through his hair. “I think you are right, Seastar.”
She jumped to her feet, gathering both books to her chest. “Let’s go somewhere else. I don’t want the children witnessing Blood Magic.”
“Right now?” he asked, arching a brow.
“Now seems as good a time as any. The sooner it starts manifest ing, the sooner you can begin learning to control it,” she answered, striding for the opening across the courtyard.
Cassius fell into step beside her, and she led them down the rocky paths along the dunes and to the beach. When they came to a section far from the Halls, she knelt, flipping back to the page with the Mark. Cassius knelt beside her, watching as she began practicing the Mark in the sand. It wasn’t nearly as complicated as some of the other ones. It would require mixing his blood with the blood of one whose gifts were already awakened. “What do you think my father’s gifts are?” Cassius wondered aloud while she worked.
“I don’t know, Cass,” she answered softly. “How are you and Hazel getting on?”
“She is … formidable, yet I think she is trying.”
“She is,” Scarlett con?rmed. “She cares deeply for you. When she learned that I knew you … She cares, Cass.”
“I know. I just cannot reconcile that fact with the knowledge that she sent me to grow up on the streets. Alone.”
“You were not alone,” Scarlett countered, erasing the Mark in the sand and drawing again. But she understood what he meant. She had felt alone in Baylorin, despite having him and Nuri and Juliette.
“She did not know that was how things would turn out, Scarlett. She had no idea what would happen to me. She did not know if I lived or if I died before I saw my ?rst year of life completed,” Cassius countered, a hard edge slipping into his voice.
“That is a fair point, but …” Scarlett trailed off, studying the Mark she’d just drawn for errors before wiping it away and drawing again.
“But?” Cassius prompted.
“The Oracle had given her a prophecy as to when you could return. That would give her reason to believe that you would live, Cassius. That would give her hope.” When Cassius didn’t say anything, she went on. “And despite the circumstances you were dealt, you not only lived, you thrived. Was your childhood one of dreams? Of course not. Nor was mine. Nor was Juliette’s or Nuri’s. I cannot imagine any of us would have chosen to be trained in how to take life. Well, maybe Nuri,” she added with a slight frown, again wiping away the Mark in the sand. “My point is, despite how you were raised and what you were trained to do, you are still kind. You are still compassionate. You are loyal to a fault. You are still someone I am honored to call a friend, and I do not deserve to call you my Guardian, but I am so grateful I can.”
“Seastar,” he said, fondness clear in his tone.
Scarlett sat back on her heels, meeting his eye. “You owe her nothing, Cassius. If you wish to never speak to her, never get to know her. If you wish to have nothing to do with her, I will support your decision. But I also think you should give her a chance. I think you will ?nd when you are with her, in her element, she becomes much more approachable. She only wishes to know you.”
A half-smile curled onto Cassius’s mouth. “When did our roles reverse, Seastar? Usually I am the one giving the advice.”
“When you spend so much time around ancient, immortal Fae who speak like sages, it’s bound to rub off at some point, I suppose,” she said. “I have this down. Are you ready?”
“Ready if you are,” he replied, rolling back the sleeve of his tunic.
Scarlett pulled the dagger she had sheathed at her thigh and cut a gash along her palm before handing it to Cassius. He cut his own palm, tipping it to allow his blood to mix with hers. She mixed them in her hand just as she remembered the man doing in that dream, then began drawing with the tip of her ?nger onto Cassius’s skin.
She was starting on the second star when a furious growl sounded behind her.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Um, Seastar …” Cassius said, his eyes wide, staring over her shoulder.
She said nothing. Just threw up a wall of ?ames and shadows behind her to keep Sorin and whoever was with him back.
Scarlett! That same growl came down their bond, and she slammed a wall of shadows around her mind, too. She’d deal with that in a moment. She didn’t know what would happen if a Blood Mark went un?nished, but she didn’t really want to ?nd out.
Dipping her ?nger back into the blood, she ?nished the Mark. It ?ared brightly before fading to silvery-white against Cassius’s tanned skin. She dropped all her shields when she ?nished, and Cassius drew his arm back to study the Mark.
“What now?” Cassius asked.
“We wait,” Scarlett answered simply.
“And the brooding Fae at your back?” he asked in amusement.
“I have found it best to let him throw his temper tantrum before we discuss things.”
A snicker told her Cyrus was with him, and a glance over her shoulder found Eliza and Rayner there as well. They looked wary, but Sorin was livid. Flames ?ared in his eyes. Embers were ?oating among his black strands, and his hands were curled into tight ?sts at his side.
“Well? Go on, Prince,” she said, leaning back on her hands and waiting for his tirade.
“Sometimes I cannot decide if you are brave or stupid,” Eliza commented, her eyes darting from her to Sorin and back.
“Sometimes I question the same thing,” Scarlett replied nonchalantly with a shrug.
“You were doing Blood Magic,” Sorin cut it, his voice lethally calm.
“I was,” she agreed.
“Without a discussion ?rst.”
“I discussed it with Cassius.”
His answer was another growl.
“Gods, you’re like an animal,” she sighed, pushing to her feet and moving to stand in front of him. Reaching up, she took his face in her hands. “Sorin, that Mark is nothing bad. The Mark I gave him matches the one on my arm. It will awaken his Avonleyan magic.”
The ?ames in his eyes slowly banked. His breathing slowly returned to normal. “How can you be sure?”
“Because despite what you seem to think, not all Blood Magic is bad,” she answered, running a thumb along his cheek. “I will not deny that Blood Magic can be incredibly dangerous, obviously, but so can your own magic until you understand it and learn to control it. Just as I was taught the Fae were the enemy, you were taught falsehoods about Blood Magic.”
“You truly believe that?” Eliza asked curiously.
Her hands slowly slid from Sorin’s face. “I do,” she answered, facing her friend. “When used properly, it is just as valuable as a spell a Witch casts or the gifts we all use.”
Cyrus was running a hand along his jaw. “She makes a valid point, Sorin. Look at everything that has come to light in the last few months that we knew nothing about. She’s full-blooded Avonleyan for fuck’s sake. We thought they were all locked away across the sea, and yet here she stands. And the son of the High Witch stands beside her, Avonleyan blood running in his veins too.”
“On the way to the Fire Court when this all began, you said to me that history depends on which book you are reading. This is no different,” Scarlett said, stooping down to pick up the books from the sand, passing them to Cassius. “Darkness is feared because you cannot see where it leads. Blood Magic is the same. But I would venture to guess there are stars to be found within it, too.”
Sorin swallowed thickly. He reached for her, pulling her back into his chest, his hands settling on her waist. “All I can think of, all that ?lls my head when I see you doing Blood Magic, is you being taken from me.” His brow fell against hers. “I cannot unsee that Mark in the dirt. Your blood splashed across it. Your ring ?oating on shadows …”
“I know, Sorin,” she murmured, her hands resting against his chest. “That is not happening again. I swear to you I do not use those spells, those Marks, unless I am certain I understand all the costs. Never again like before. I promise.”
His eyes fell closed, and he inhaled deeply. “Do we need to leave or …?” Cyrus asked.
Scarlett pulled back, shooting a stream of water into his face from her palm as she shifted her attention to Rayner. “Do you have news from Nuri?”
Rayner nodded, his grey eyes swirling. “She said the Contessa is still well, but it is not safe to bring her out yet.”
Scarlett nodded. As long as Nuri was with the Contessa, Scarlett wasn’t worried about Alaric getting near her. And if these tunnels were as hard to enter as Auberon claimed, Nuri should be able to keep her hidden as long as necessary.
She turned back to Sorin. “Lunch?”
“Who fed you when we were not around, Darling?” Cyrus asked, a ?re portal opening to the left. Scarlett stuck her tongue out at him as they all ?led through and stepped into one of the private dining areas of the Halls, a lunch spread already set and waiting for them.
She looked up at Sorin, batting her lashes knowing he was the one who had made sure this would be waiting for them. “You really do love me, don’t you?”
“Perhaps,” he agreed.
“Or he does not wish to deal with you when you are ravenous,” Cyrus interjected. “I’m sure it is one of the two.”
“Considering he has put up with you for the last how many decades, I’m delightful by comparison,” Scarlett retorted, making her way towards the food.
“Darling, you literally growl if someone gets in the way of your food.”
“The males in this room, save for Cassius, literally growl all the damn time,” she replied without looking up from the plate she was ?lling.
“Stop speaking, Cyrus,” Eliza cut in before Cyrus could say anything more in response.
“Eliza, dear, are you feeling left out?” Cyrus teased.
“No, but I only seem to acquire a headache when you open your mouth,” she retorted.
Scarlett snorted a laugh, giving a taunting smirk to Cyrus.
“Why do I feel like I am refereeing children?” Sorin drawled from down the table.
“The actual children in these Halls are better behaved,” Rayner grumbled, pulling out a chair for Scarlett as she approached the dining table.
“Rayner!” Scarlett cried with glee. “Did you just join in the bantering?”
“We should declare this day a holiday to memorialize the moment,” Cyrus called from the food spread.
“Can I do that?” Scarlett asked.
“You are the queen. I don’t see why not,” Cyrus replied.
“We should get cake to celebrate,” Scarlett mused.
“For the love of Anala,” Eliza muttered, plopping into a seat at the table.
Scarlett laughed, feeling a lightness in her chest she hadn’t felt in days. Sorin sank into the seat beside her a moment later, leaning over and pressing a light kiss to her cheek.
What was that for?
You slept for two days, Love. You are lucky that is the only place I am kissing at this moment.
I wouldn’t exactly call that luck …
Scarlett watched as his pupils instantly dilated, followed by swift glances from the rest of the Fae at the table.
Cyrus cleared his throat from across the table where he sat next to Cassius. “Care to share how Hazel showed up at the River Estate, Darling?”
Scarlett scowled at him. There went the lightheartedness she’d felt moments ago.
She took a bite of cheese before she said, “She came when I summoned her.”
“You summoned the High Witch,” Cyrus repeated dubiously. “In the middle of that ?ght.”
“Obviously.”
“How?”
Scarlett sighed, setting down the bread she’d been about to take a bite of. “Bringing Juliette with us was a risk. She is the Oracle, after all. She may have died a mortal death, but I am assuming she can die a more permanent one. And I do not wish to know what would happen if the Oracle died before being replaced or whatever happens with that. I had Hazel brew up a potion that would signal her if she was needed to come in and get Juliette.”
“But how did she know where we were?” Sorin asked.
“I sent her a message when Talwyn Traveled us upstream from the manor. The same time I let Rayner and Eliza know where we were.”
“But she cannot cross the wards without an escort,” Eliza cut in.
Scarlett reached for her glass of water. “I may have taken Hazel across the wards right before we entered the Night Children territory. How she got the grif?n across, though, I have no idea.” She turned to face Sorin. “So much better than broomsticks, by the way.”
Sorin stared back at her, unimpressed.
“And you felt the need to leave us uninformed yet again because …?” Cyrus asked, settling back in his chair, drumming his ?ngers on the table. His food forgotten before him.
Scarlett rolled her eyes. “I was not leaving you uninformed,” she replied. “You were all busy preparing things in the Fire Court, communicating with Talwyn and Prince Azrael. These were matters I could handle myself, and I did. If you lot think I am going to run every small detail and decision past you, you are in for a rude awakening.”
Scarlett glanced at Cassius, who was trying to keep a smile from forming on his lips. When he couldn’t ?ght it, he snatched up his glass of water, hiding the smile behind it.
“This is not funny, Cass,” she snapped at him.
“Watching them try to ?gure out how your mind works is rather entertaining, Seastar. I haven’t ?gured it out in ?fteen years,” he said with a wink. “Speaking of which …”
“No one was speaking of years, Cassius,” she said pointedly.
“Twenty of them is a pretty big deal, Seastar.”
“Shut up, Cassius.”
“Scarlett … When is your birthday?” Sorin asked slowly from beside her, clearly catching on.
“It does not matter.”
“Cassius?”
“It is in three days,” Cass replied.
“Shut. Up,” she snarled, throwing her bread at him.
“You were seriously not going to tell me it was your birthday?” Sorin demanded.
Scarlett picked up her fork, pushing vegetables around on her plate. “I have not celebrated my birthday since my mo— Since Eliné died.”
That had not stopped Nuri and Juliette and Cassius from attempting to celebrate it. But Eliné had always made the day so incredibly special. She’d take the day off from healing, and they would spend the entire day together. With her birthday being on the tail-end of winter, it was usually chilly and dreary outside, but that never stopped Eliné from waking her up before the sun rose with hotcakes smothered in rich syrup and topped with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. Then they would bundle up and spend the entire day on the beach if the weather permitted. Eliné would build a ?re, and they would roast meats and treats all day long. She would read her books, build in the sand, and tell her stories of all sorts of imaginary kingdoms and people. Although, Scarlett had to wonder now if they were all that imaginary. When the sun would start to set, they would lie on their backs on the blankets Eliné would always bring. More would be piled on top of them to keep the winter chill out, and they would watch the stars come out.
There had only been one year that Scarlett could remember the weather being so terrible they could not go to the beach. It had been her last birthday before Eliné had been killed, and, of all people, Alaric had been the one to make that day special.
By giving her her very ?rst dagger. To a godsdamn eight-year-old.
Granted, it had come with chocolate cake, hot cocoa, and the only time she had been allowed into his private quarters. He had a partially-covered balcony off of his bedroom, and he had let them sit there and watch the stars come out that night. Even then, he had been subtly planting those tiny nuggets in her mind— that he would take care of her, provide for her, save her.
Scarlett tossed her fork down, no longer hungry. The table had fallen silent while she’d slipped into memories.
“Scarlett,” Cassius started.
“Don’t.” She pushed away from the table, moving towards the double doors that led out to the balcony. Reaching the railing, she leaned on her arms, breathing in the sea air. She closed her eyes, her hair blowing across her face.
She felt someone settle beside her. Not Sorin. She would know if it was him.
“Your birthday should be celebrated, Seastar,” Cassius said gently. “I did not bring it up to drag up old memories.”
“You know why it is just another day to me, Cassius,” she said, turning to look at him. “You know why, and you still chose to bring it up. In front of so many people.”
“Because they love you, Scarlett. They would want to share in your birthday. They can create new memories to replace the ones that bleed every time they are scratched open.”
Her head fell against his shoulder. “Eliné and Alaric always seemed so … close. Do you think she knew?”
“That he was the son of Deimas and Esmeray? I cannot imagine she did.”
“Why there? Why would she bring me to the Black Syndicate? To an Assassin Lord of all people? She could have hidden me away anywhere.”
“I don’t know,” he replied, his cheek pressing against her hair.
“There had to be a reason that they chose there. Nothing was left to chance. Nothing was done without planning. Even you and I.”
“Maybe that’s why you were brought to Baylorin. Because I was already there,” Cassius supplied.
“Perhaps.”
The sound of rushing water had them both turning to see Briar stepping from a water portal. He stilled when he saw them.
“I apologize if I am interrupting.”
“You aren’t,” Scarlett said, pushing off the railing and going to him.
“You are sure about this?” Briar asked, pulling open one of the doors for her.
“I am.” The Fae around the table all turned to her, but her eyes landed on her twin ?ame’s. “Have you ?nished eating, Prince? We have a date with a Sorceress.”
“Do not get near her cell,” Sorin was saying as they traversed the halls. “Offer her nothing. Give her nothing.”
Briar seemed to choke down a laugh. “The irony of this moment,” he muttered.
Sorin glared at him over Scarlett’s head where she walked between the two princes. Cassius was at her back. Briar had portaled them into the Underwater Prison, and the feeling of her magic being forced quiet when they had crossed wards was unsettling. They had explained before coming here that their magic would be inaccessible, but actually experiencing it had summoned memories of being chained to walls, her gifts just out of reach.
After several minutes, they stopped at the top of a small staircase. Sorin gripped her shoulders, turning her to face him. “She is not from this world, Scarlett. She will say things that will make you question yourself, what you know. She is—”
“She is cunning and conniving and will do and say whatever she can to get out of there,” Briar cut in harshly. “There is a reason we rarely speak with her.”
Scarlett peered curiously down the dark stairwell once more. It might be all kinds of wrong, but she was genuinely intrigued at this point.
They quietly descended the steps and when they reached the bottom, the area illuminated by several lit braziers along the wall opposite her cell, she was standing just on the other side of her bars. They had told her the bars were made of shirastone. Apparently all the cells here were. There were small windows through which Scarlett could see the mer on guard outside her cell down here, sea water and sea creatures drifting by.
But Scarlett’s attention was ?xed on the woman standing still as a statue on the other side of those bars. Jet black hair hung to her waist, stark against her pale skin and beige shift. Bright violet eyes that seemed to radiate stared back at her, and the smile that was on her lips was nothing short of serpentine.
“I told you I would call in my debt when I was ready, Prince of Fire,” the Sorceress said, her eyes still ?xed on Scarlett. Her head tilted to the side. “Although I suppose it is King of the Western Courts now, is it not?”
The blood of a god. That is what Sorin had agreed to give her should he ever ?nd such a thing.
“I am not here to discuss my bargain with you,” Sorin replied coolly, his hand coming to the small of Scarlett’s back.
“No,” the Sorceress agreed, drifting closer to the bars. “You have come to make a new bargain.”
“There will be no bargains made this day,” Briar cut in sharply.
The Sorceress’s violet stare shot to him. “Prince of Water and Ice.” Her nostrils flared as she seemed to sniff the air, her smile curving upwards even more. “You smell of the winds.” Her eyes drifted to Cassius, and they seemed to widen slightly. “You, however, smell of other worlds.”
Scarlett stepped forward at that, drawing the Sorceress’s gaze back to her. “What world do you come from?”
“Release me from this cell, and I will show you.”
“Not happening,” Sorin said ?atly.
The Sorceress drifted away, moving about her sparse space. She dragged her hand along the stone walls of her cell. If her nails weren’t broken and cracked to nothing, Scarlett imagined the sound would have been horri?c. “Do you like stories, Lady of Darkness?”
Scarlett lurched forward, Sorin’s hand latching onto her arm and stopping her from coming any closer to the cell bars. “How do you know that title?”
“I know a great number of things,” she answered, her lips turning down in a slight pout. “Is that not why you are here?”
“What is your name?”
“In this world? The Sorceress.”
“And in other worlds?”
The Sorceress shrugged a bony shoulder. “Depends on the world.” She moved closer to the bars once more, seeming to glide in front of them. “You smell like her.”
“Like who?”
“You never answered me. Do you like stories?”
“Only if they are true,” Scarlett answered.
“Truth is a matter of perspective, don’t you think?” the Sorceress countered. “Would you like to hear one about beginnings and endings, or one about two sisters?”
“What is the cost?” Sorin demanded before Scarlett could answer. Briar stood stoically on her other side, arms crossed and features impossible to read.
The Sorceress’s lips curled up. “I shall give her one at no cost. The other … We can negotiate if she wishes to hear it.”
“I would rather you just answer some questions,” Scarlett replied, trying to shrug off Sorin’s grip, but he held ?rm.
“Do not be rude,” the Sorceress chided lightly. “A story ?rst and then we can discuss a cost for the answers you seek.”
Scarlett sighed. “Fine. Which story would be more bene?cial to hear?”
“Who am I to decide such a thing?”
“Beginnings and endings,” Cassius said from behind Scarlett. She glanced back at him, but his entire focus was on the Sorceress before them. She turned back to the Sorceress and nodded for her to go ahead.
“In all things there must be balance,” she began. “Beginnings and endings. Light and dark. Fire and shadows.”
Scarlett stepped back into Sorin as the Sorceress went on.
“The worlds are no different. Beings emerged from the Chaos to create such a thing.”
“You speak of the gods?” Scarlett asked.
“Do not interrupt the story,” the Sorceress snapped, her tone so vicious, it had Sorin wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her back farther from the cell. “They went to various parts of the stars, setting up their own kingdoms, maintaining balance. The Firsts created the Lessers, and from them the various worlds grew and prospered. Some grew faster than others. Some worlds were favored more than others.”
“The beginning,” Scarlett breathed.
“He was one of the Firsts.”
“He?” Scarlett asked, moving closer to her once more.
“There were six Firsts, but Beginning and Ending each have their roles to play. They became the most powerful, working together to keep the balance. Beginning created. Ending judged.”
“You speak of life and death,” Scarlett said quietly.
The Sorceress’s hands shot out, grasping the bars of the cell. She didn’t seem to notice the shirastone biting into her skin. “Stop interrupting, Lady .”
She stepped back from the bars, moving to the wall and dragging her hand along it once more. “With the aid of the other Firsts and Lessers, new beings were created and scattered among the worlds, but some were created and kept close. Some were loyal to Beginning. Some were loyal to Ending. But over time, Beginning began to crave something more. He had always favored her, always desired her.”
“He loved someone?” Scarlett asked, drifting closer still to the cell, ignoring Sorin’s low warning.
“What is love?” the Sorceress countered with a small shrug, not seeming to mind this particular interruption. Her slim hands gripped the cell bars once more. “He wanted , but she did not, for she had already bound herself to another. Had already created with him, keeping their true heritage a secret. When he learned of this, rage consumed him. He summoned those loyal to him, waged war against the other. And so the balance tipped.”
“She had bound herself to death?” Scarlett asked. “You speak of Arius and Sera?na. And their children, Temural and Saylah.”
“Chaos descended on the worlds they ruled. Some worlds were ended. Some were abandoned. Some were forgotten.”
“What of this world?” Scarlett demanded. “What of the world we live in?”
“Some worlds became sanctuaries,” the Sorceress whispered.
“How do you know these things? Who are you?”
The Sorceress stepped back from the bars. “The other story comes at a cost, Lady.”
Scarlett’s nose scrunched in confusion. “The story of two sisters is about you?”
The Sorceress only smiled back at her.
Huf?ng a sigh of frustration, Scarlett pulled her spirit amulet from her pocket. “What do you know of this?”
“Of what? The skystone? The nightstone? The goddess of that symbol? Or the key?”
Scarlett’s lips pursed, unsure of how to respond to that, knowing that any answer she sought would require a price to be paid. The Sorceress’s head tilted slightly as she studied Scarlett. Scarlett cleared her throat. “I have several questions. I will not negotiate a price for each answer.”
“You will not negotiate a price at all,” Sorin cut in, stepping to her side.
“But she must,” the Sorceress replied, her tone shifting, becoming like the hiss of a snake. “She requires what I have.”
“Knowledge can be found in other places,” Sorin ground out.
“Yes, but the ?nal key cannot.”
Scarlett felt her world shift beneath her as Sorin said, “You lie.”
“Did I not tell you the last time you were here that Eliné and Henna came to visit me?”
“And you denied them aid,” Sorin retorted.
“I did not,” the Sorceress disagreed. “They refused to pay my price, but it was you who assumed that was all they asked of me.”
“Why would Eliné entrust a key to you?” Cassius interjected from where he stood against the wall.
“What are you doing on this side of the Edria Sea?” the Sorceress asked, curiosity ?lling her violet eyes.
Scarlett sighed in exasperation. “What is the price? For the key you possess and the answer to ?ve questions. Beyond your freedom. That is not an option.”
“You shall ?nd anything is an option if the need is great enough,” the Sorceress said.
“She cannot possibly have the key, Scarlett. Where would she even keep it hidden?” Sorin cut in.
Scarlett turned to him. “We are not going to ?nd out if you keep interrupting my negotiations with a Sorceress from another world,” Scarlett bit back.
“You are fascinating,” the Sorceress mused. “So much like him.”
“Like who?” Scarlett demanded.
“Keys and locks. Locks and keys,” the Sorceress said in an eerily sing-song voice, backing away from the bars. “But you only need one lock. One lock, seven keys.” Her violet eyes scanned over everyone on the other side of the bars before settling back onto Scarlett. “Of course, keys can open more than one lock, and some keys and locks do not go together at all.”
“You know where the lock is?” Scarlett asked, trying to track the Sorceress’s erratic movements.
But the Sorceress dropped to the ?oor of her cell, beginning to draw Marks in the dust there. Scarlett stepped closer, watching carefully.
“What is she writing?” Sorin asked softly.
Scarlett shook her head. “I am not sure yet. I don’t know them well enough to say for sure without that book.”
The Sorceress’s head ?ew up. “What book?”
Scarlett’s eyes widened before a smile slowly began to curve up her lips. She pressed her palm to Sorin’s chest, pushing him back so it was just her and Sorceress.
“I will tell you of the book I speak of, for the answer to one of my questions,” Scarlett purred softly.
The Sorceress’s features shifted, fury ?lling her eyes. She lurched forward, grasping the bars and seeming to crawl up them as she drew herself to her feet. She was slightly taller than Scarlett, and when she was standing, she pressed her face to the bars as well. “This is not a game, Lady of Darkness.”
“No games,” Scarlett agreed. “Information in exchange for knowledge.”
The Sorceress hissed at her.
Scarlett gripped the bars, right below the Sorceress’s hands, bringing her face inches from the female’s. She heard all the males behind her shift closer, heard Sorin’s reprimand down the bond, but she ignored it. “Men with wings. We fought them a few days ago. What do you know of them?” Scarlett asked, ignoring the Sorceress’s shift in demeanor.
The Sorceress’s brows arched in surprise. “The seraphs are here? Beyond the Lords?”
“I cannot answer that without knowing what the seraphs are,” Scarlett drawled sarcastically.
The Sorceress’s eyes ?ashed. “If they were feathered wings, they were likely seraphs, summoned by their kin, the Maraans. What book?”
“It is a book of Blood Marks and spells,” Scarlett replied. “The Maraan Lords do not have wings.”
“The highest of the seraphs, the Maraans, were gifted the ability to banish their wings when desired, like the beings that created them,” the Sorceress replied impatiently. “Where is this book?”
“In my possession,” Scarlett answered. “Where is my key?”
“In my possession,” the Sorceress snarled. “I will trade it for that book.”
“No.”
The Sorceress threw herself back from the bars, beginning to prowl around her cell. Fingers gripped her hair, pulling at the lank, black strands. Scarlett hadn’t moved, but when the Sorceress whirled on her, ?ying for the bars with her teeth bared, Scarlett lurched back. Sorin’s arm was already looping around her waist, jerking her back against him, while a sword was leveled at the Sorceress’s throat.
“Where did you ?nd it?” the Sorceress demanded.
“You are saying Alaric is one of these seraphs? And Mikale? Lord Tyndell? What of his children?”
“The seraphs cannot have offspring here. New seraphs can only be born in one world with the aid of—” The Sorceress hissed, her lips pressing together.
“Go on,” Scarlett crooned, drifting closer once more.
“The key for my book,” the Sorceress bit out.
“ Your book?”
“It was stolen from me,” she spat.
“And now it is mine,” Scarlett replied casually, moving along the cell, dragging her hand along the shirastone bars. “Seraphs cannot be born here, but what of half-seraphs?”
The Sorceress’s hands ?sted at her sides. “There can be no such thing.”
Scarlett paused. “But Lord Tyndell has two children.”
“They cannot carry seraph blood.”
That didn’t make any sense, but Scarlett didn’t have time to ponder why Lord Tyndell would keep two mortal children and raise them as his own.
“How did these seraphs get here?” Scarlett asked.
“Enough,” the Sorceress hissed. “I will tell you no more. Not without payment.”
“Fair enough,” Scarlett conceded. Before anyone could utter another word, Scarlett had a dagger slashing across her palm. She shoved her hand through the bars of the cell, her blood dripping onto the Marks the Sorceress had drawn.
“No!” the Sorceress wailed, dropping to the ground and trying to wipe the Marks away, but all she managed to do was smear Scarlett’s blood across the ground.
“What are you doing?” Sorin demanded, yanking Scarlett’s hand back out of the bars.
“Cass, search for a Mark,” Scarlett called out, her gaze dropping to the ?oor, searching. Only he would be able to see it besides her.
“What kind of—”
Scarlett looked up when Cassius sucked in a breath. She followed his gaze to the wall at the end of the room where a faint Mark was shimmering in the torchlight.
“Clever of you,” she remarked to the Sorceress, drawing her dagger once more. She cut her palm again, dipping a ?nger into her blood. She began to draw a new Mark over the shimmering one.
“You would not have known of it if you did not have my book,” the Sorceress cried, still on her knees on the ground. “I cannot use this now,” she wailed, dragging blood and dirt stained hands down her face, blood smearing across her cheeks. “You have ruined everything. I have nothing any more. No more debts to call in. Nothing.”
Scarlett stepped back when she ?nished the Mark she was drawing. It ?ared slightly before fading, and Scarlett tentatively touched her ?ngertips to the stone. When they met no resistance, she pressed her hand into the compartment that had been concealed with an illusion Mark. Withdrawing it, she held a necklace in her hands, the symbol of Sera?na, goddess of dreams and stars, carved of nightstone hanging from a chain of white.
“Thank you for your help,” Scarlett said, pocketing the amulet.
The Sorceress grabbed the bars, dragging herself forward. “Achaz sent his deadliest seraphs here to hunt them down. He will wipe you all from the face of this world and all the others, and he will make them watch while he does it. He will reward me for being faithful, and when I have retrieved my book, I will bring you back from the After to drain your blood again myself,” she hissed.
Scarlett slowly lowered to a crouch before the Sorceress, so that she stared directly into violet eyes. “I do not know who Achaz is, but I am going to kill every single one of the seraphs he has sent here. I have already started,” she said in a deadly soft tone. “And if he comes for me himself when I am done, I will kill him too.”
“You cannot kill him. He cannot die,” the Sorceress spat back.
A smile as chilling as death itself tilted up on Scarlett’s lips. She grasped the Sorceress’s hands over top of the shirastone bars, squeezing so the stone bit into the female’s skin even more. She hissed, but Scarlett did not release her, bringing her face right up to the Sorceress’s. “Then he can live on as ashes beneath my feet.”
Scarlett pushed off the bars. She strode for the stairs, the three males falling into place behind her.
“You are not a goddess,” the Sorceress called after her. “You cannot stop this.”
Scarlett paused at the base of the stairs, glancing back over her shoulder. “Perhaps a goddess cannot stop this, but a Lady of Darkness can.”
The Sorceress was left shrieking on her knees as Scarlett climbed the stairs, the Sorceress’s screams echoing off the walls.