Chapter 15 Scarlett
CHAPTER 15
SCARLETT
“H e’s still following you,” Nuri said as Scarlett came through the doors to one of the training rooms beneath the Fellowship. There was training with Sorin, and then there was training for sneaking into a castle undetected. Sorin’s training was certainly superior for hand-to-hand combat and weaponry. But stealth and secrecy and nimbleness? Those kinds of skills were forged here. Under a house full of assassins and thieves.
Scarlett rolled her eyes now as she unbuttoned her jacket and tossed it to the side. “I know. Maximus headed him off before I turned down the roads to the Syndicate.”
She took a deep breath. This was the first time she had been inside the Fellowship in over a year. The familiarity of the place both calmed and ignited her nerves.
A young assassin sauntered by, giving Scarlett and Nuri appreciative glances up and down. The women were in loose pants and fitted sleeveless tops. She was here to practice her tumbling, and he was apparently just finishing up his own practice, judging by the slight gleam of sweat on his body. She had never seen him around the Fellowship before, but that didn’t mean anything anymore. He easily could have shown up in the last few months. He, apparently, did not know who they were either as his gaze lingered, and he asked with a cocky grin, “Need a spotter, girls?”
Before his next breath, Nuri had him on his stomach, an arm pinned behind his back. Her knee was on his neck, digging in as she murmured sensuously into his ear, “The next time you look at either one of us like that, I’ll rip out your fucking throat.” The young assassin was gagging and gasping for breath as she dug her knee in a little harder. “Then I will let His Lordship have the rest of you.”
She pushed off of him and the young assassin sprang to his feet, his face white with rage. Nuri stared him down, and Scarlett smirked at him as she said sweetly, “You must be new here.”
“Who the hell are you?” the young assassin snapped back, rubbing the back of his neck.
“They are mine,” came a low, rough voice from behind them. The young assassin’s eyes widened in fear as the Lord of the Assassins appeared. His hood was up as usual, hiding his features from view.
The young man’s eyes dropped to the floor and his head bowed. “My deepest apologies.”
“Get the hell out of here, Marcus. You are lucky she did not break a bone before she let you up. She must be in a particularly good mood today,” the Lord growled. Marcus didn’t need to be told twice as he disappeared out the door.
Nuri snorted in disgust. “You seem to be letting any filthy piece of trash into the Fellowship these days, Father.”
A deep chuckle came from the hood. “I suspect he won’t last long, but everyone deserves a chance if they wish it, Nuri.” He turned to Scarlett. “You are going to see Prince Callan tonight.”
It was a statement, not a question. She wasn’t surprised by his words. Some might have expected something else to be the first words exchanged between them after the tumultuous relationship they’d had this past year. Some might have received a soft tone or a gentle touch at the reunion with the man who had practically raised them.
Scarlett expected none of that.
She slid her eyes to Nuri in question. Nuri subtly shook her head. No, she hadn’t told her father what they were planning. The Assassin Lord chuckled darkly again. “You two think I do not know what is going on in my city where my Wraiths are involved?”
“Will you forbid it?” Nuri asked quietly.
He sighed. “It would do no good. You would distract anyone I sent to keep it from happening, and Scarlett would go anyway.” Nuri and Scarlett fidgeted nervously. He wasn’t wrong. “You will need to take care of the general, or he will get in the way.”
“I am aware,” Scarlett answered.
“Are you?” he questioned, his voice going hard. Scarlett stilled. That tone meant violence could quickly follow. “Are you aware that I am still waiting for you to complete your assignment? Or is retribution for your mother’s death no longer enough motivation for you?”
“I would prefer to know why he is my target before I take his life,” Scarlett answered.
Nuri stood quietly, looking between her adoptive father and her chosen sister. She did not know who her target was. No one else did.
“You question me still?”
“I will always question you,” she retorted. “I will question you until you agree to go after Mikale.”
Without warning, the Assassin Lord’s hand shot out and gripped her elbow hard. He dragged her away from Nuri and out of the tumbling room. Nuri did not follow.
“Leave,” he hissed at a couple of people coming down the hall as they rounded a corner. They disappeared in seconds. “You still push for this? You still question this? I thought your acceptance of this assignment meant you had finally given up on this matter,” he growled, shoving her against a wall.
“You assumed wrong,” she seethed. “I will never understand why we have not sought retribution for her death. I will never understand—”
She felt the sting on her cheek before she processed the speed of his hand as it slapped across her face. “How can you not understand?” he seethed. “How can you not understand that this is to protect you ? That this is to protect what has been built here? What you will inherit?”
“I do not want it,” she cried, her voice rising. “What I want is retribution for Juliette’s death!”
“You will not get it,” he replied coldly. As he turned to leave, he said, “Complete this assignment and come home.”
“This is not my home,” she snarled.
The Assassin Lord paused and turned back to her once more. “You consider Lord Tyndell’s manor your home now?”
“I…” She didn’t know where she considered home now. Certainly not the manor and never again here. She didn’t have a home, she realized.
She could not see his face beneath his hood, but she could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “That’s what I thought.”
Fury coursed through her once more as she pushed off the wall. “That is not my home, and neither is here. This will never be my home again. This stopped being my home the moment you turned your back on me. On Juliette.”
The Assassin Lord advanced on her, but she held her ground, refusing to back down. He came to a stop directly in front of her, and he leaned close so he was speaking softly into her ear. “Complete this assignment, Scarlett. If you do not, you may very well find your home to be with the one you so greatly desire revenge against.”
Scarlett felt herself pale. He couldn’t be serious. He would give her to Mikale?
“You wouldn’t,” she breathed.
“I will if you force my hand,” he answered, stepping back from her. “Are we now clear on what is expected of you?”
“Crystal,” she said bitterly.
“Good,” he replied as he turned once more and began on his way down the hall. Then over his shoulder he added, “And Scarlett, I would wear your mother’s ring tonight if I were you.”
Scarlett flitted along the rooftops of the commoner’s neighborhood she had led Sorin down. It was mid-afternoon. She was going to see Callan this evening, after dinner and before she’d have to take her tonic. Her conversation with the Assassin Lord replayed in her mind over and over again. He would give her to Mikale if she didn’t take out her target. She knew he would do it, too. The Assassin Lord did not make idle threats.
Sorin had continued to trail her and follow her despite their warnings and despite the various deterrents Nuri had dispatched over the last week. Scarlett had convinced Nuri to let her talk to him one last time, and if he persisted, she could play with him this evening.
She watched him as he prowled down the street. She could see him scanning faces and shops and roofs. She stayed back, behind some eaves, out of his sight. He started walking again, and she inched along. When he finally came to a completely deserted alleyway, she dropped down beside him, landing silently. He whirled, a dagger in his hand meeting a dagger of her own raised above her head, as she said softly, “Hello, General.” Sorin glared at her, pushing her farther down the alley and looking back over his shoulder. “Really? The alley? I could think of so many other places for our first tumble.”
Sorin jerked back from her, as if only now realizing he was herding her down a darkened alleyway and what that would look like to a passerby. Scarlett laughed under her breath, but it seemed to unleash something in him. He stalked toward her, a predator circling its prey, and her breath hitched. She backed up a step, then another, until her back was indeed against the wall at the end of the alley. He said nothing, his golden eyes seeming to deepen in color as they searched her own, for what she didn’t know. She tried to dredge up her swagger and arrogance, but it seemed to be pinned beneath that stare.
Finally she managed to get out, “Sorin, I—” Her voice was hoarse and breathless. She felt her belly dip as she held his stare. He still said nothing, and she squirmed under his intense gaze, her heart hammering in her chest. “Stop that,” she snapped, pushing against his chest, but she just met hard, unmovable muscle. He smirked at her, and her hands froze against his pectorals. “Gods, you’re such a prick.”
He finally spoke. “Leading me here was clever of you.”
“I needed to talk to you and show you that I’m capable of handling myself.”
“Why would you need to show me that? I have trained you. I know what you are capable of.”
“Do you? Clearly I have plenty of skills you are unaware of,” she replied, “and I need you to be aware of them because I need you to not trail me tonight, Sorin.”
“Oh, I am very interested in these skills I am unaware of,” he answered, his voice low.
“Oh my gods,” Scarlett groaned, leaning her head back against the wall.
At the movement, Sorin stepped back from her, crossing his arms. “Tell me why. Tell me what you are doing tonight.”
“Tell me who the woman is,” she retorted. They glared at each other. After a moment, Scarlett said, “I will tell you this only once, Sorin. Do not attempt to follow me tonight. Do not attempt to trail me. The obstacles we’ve sent your way this past week will be nothing compared to her. Tonight she will be guarding my back, making sure I’m not followed. Tonight she will come out to play, and you will not win.”
Sorin scoffed. “Just as you have kept hidden talents, I have several of my own.”
“You’ve been warned, Sorin. She’s chomping at the bit to have some fun with you, and I shall not be there to rein her in.”
“And who shall rein you in this evening, Scarlett?” he asked, stepping back to her, bracing a hand on the wall beside her on either side of her head.
“Tonight, Sorin,” she replied, placing her hand delicately on his wrist. She could see her mother’s ring glittering in the little sunlight that filtered into the alley. She saw Sorin glance to her ring, too. “Tonight, I do not need to be reined in. Tonight I need to be let out, and you will not like what you learn if you do not stay away.”
S ORIN
Sorin stayed in the shadows as he monitored Scarlett. She was completely in black again, the same way she’d looked that night a week ago on the rooftop. She wasn’t wrong. He had been watching her all week. He’d learned how she snuck from the manor. He’d learned her preferred ways of going unnoticed. He’d tried several times to trail her to wherever she was meeting with Death’s Shadow, but something or someone always wound up in his path.
They hadn’t trained in nearly two weeks. He hadn’t been able to monitor her like he normally did. He hadn’t been able to ask her about that night. He hadn’t been able to study how she could have gifts from both Anahita and Anala in her blood.
An appreciative grin twitched on his lips as he watched her move with unearthly grace. She leapt nimbly onto the back of a lone passing carriage and climbed to the roof. She stayed low, invisible if you didn’t know she was there. With a start though, he realized what carriage that was. It was a royal carriage, heading for the castle.
He started into a run to head her off. She couldn’t seriously be planning to sneak into the castle. It was impossible. A building to his right was made of brick, and he made quick work of climbing to the roof. It would be much faster and easier to run along the rooftops. He leapt to the next one and skidded to a halt as another figure in head-to-toe black stepped into his path.
Scarlett had warned him. She had told him if he tried to follow her tonight that it wouldn’t be just anyone who had her back. He threw a wild grin at Death’s Shadow before him. She said nothing. No smart comments or wicked words came from her mouth. No, the woman before him merely pulled two scimitars from her waist. The swords whined as they came from the sheaths.
“You cannot let her go to the castle. She cannot possibly get in there unnoticed,” Sorin seethed. He took a step towards her, and she shifted into a defensive stance. “You are letting her go there like a lamb to slaughter.”
A low, sensuous laugh came from below that hood. “My dear General,” she purred, “how much you care for her.” Her voice of silk and honey caressed him, and he struggled against the effect it had on his nerves and instincts. She laughed again, taking a step towards him. “No, General, if I let you follow her, then I am allowing a lamb to go to slaughter. A Fae lamb, of course, but a lamb nonetheless.”
“You know I am Fae?” Sorin asked, drawing his own sword as she took another step towards him.
“I know a great many things that you think you are privy to,” she crooned, “and a great many more that you know nothing of.” She had stopped circling now, pausing before him, and sighed. “I suppose I should give you the choice. You can heed my warning and let her go tonight, Sorin . Trust that she will be fine, will see the prince, and will return to her room before dawn, or we can finally play together. I prefer the second option.”
He could hear the maniacal delight in her voice. He didn’t need to see her face to know she wasn’t lying when she said she’d rather fight him. But Sorin. Scarlett had told her his real name. “She is going to the prince? Crowned Prince Callan?”
“She is, and it isn’t the first time she’s done so. She doesn’t trust you with the information, but I see…what she does to you,” she said, beginning her circling again. “I sense not knowing what she is doing, what is at stake, will make you do something incredibly stupid.”
“Why didn’t you go?” he asked instead.
She huffed a laugh. “For two reasons. One, I am Death’s Shadow, Fae Warrior. If the wind whispers of my lurking around the castle, it would be trouble for more than just me. But if the prince’s former lover graces his presence, no one will think anything of it should she be seen.”
Sorin stumbled a step and cursed. “She was his—”
“That was the rumor for nearly a year, yes,” she laughed.
“Is it true then?”
“That is not for me to say.”
“You said there were two reasons. What is the other?” he ground out between his clenched teeth. He’d have to sort through his reaction to that other bit of news later.
“Why, I was needed here, of course.”
“For what?”
“A distraction.” And she launched herself at him, barely giving him time to raise his sword.