Chapter 47 Scarlett
CHAPTER 47
SCARLETT
W hen they came back to the clearing, they found Eirwen tied to a tree. The others had apparently gone on, assuming they would catch up. Sorin helped Scarlett up into the saddle, swinging up behind her. His hand once again rested on his own thigh, and she gritted her teeth.
“Something wrong?” he asked casually as he urged Eirwen into motion.
“No.”
“You seem tense.”
“Will your healers really be able to heal my wound in a few hours?” she asked, leaning back into him for the support she desperately needed.
“Our Healers use magic to heal, so yes. And once you have detoxed from your damn tonic, your Fae abilities will start healing you as soon as you are injured. Although a Healer would still be required for a shirastone wound that extensive,” Sorin answered.
Scarlett had just started to make out shapes far in the distance ahead of them when Sorin slowed Eirwen down to a walk. “Don’t you want to catch up to them?”
“Eliza knows we are here,” he replied. “Is your wound hurting more than you are telling me?”
“No,” she lied. “Why are you asking?”
“Because you were stabbed with shirastone, Scarlett. It is extremely painful for Fae, even with the ointment. Shirastone wounds for Fae can be fatal, as you well know.”
“It’s fine. It just seems more sore since sleeping on the ground and then riding and having to use the muscles to maintain balance in the saddle and—”
Sorin’s arm came around her the next moment, gently tugging her farther into the cradle of his hips, his hand settling onto her own. “A necessary touch,” he said softly into her ear, making her stomach dip.
“How is this necessary?”
“Because it is necessary to ease your discomfort.”
“Easing my discomfort is not a necessity.”
“It most certainly is,” he replied.
They rode in silence as he eventually eased Eirwen into a trot, and they got closer and closer to the others.
“I want to tell you a story,” he said after an hour or so, and he pressed a piece of bread into her hand. She smiled as she took a small bite. They were near enough to the others now that she could see Callan glancing over his shoulder at them, and she could make out Eliza ahead of everyone, her red-gold hair shining in the sun.
“All right,” she said slowly.
“After the end of the Great War, after the Avonleyans had been sequestered to their continent, Deimas and Esmeray still wanted revenge against the Fae who had fought against them,” Sorin started. His fingers had slowly started making small circles where his hand rested on her hip.
“I know this story,” Scarlett cut in. “They created the wards to keep the Fae from entering the mortal kingdoms. To keep the humans safe.”
“But I have already told you that the Fae never wanted to harm the mortals.”
“Then…why did Deimas and Esmeray create the wards?”
“They didn’t. The Fae did, with the help of the Witches.”
“The Fae created wards to keep themselves isolated in their own lands?”
“Partially. They created the wards to keep the Fae in and to keep Deimas and Esmeray and their supporters out after they exacted their revenge,” Sorin replied.
“The wards weren’t the revenge?” Scarlett asked.
“No, Love, the wards were not their revenge. You already know what their revenge was. What happened to the Court Royals,” he said softly.
Scarlett swallowed. “The Court Royals were killed for their aid of Avonleya.”
“Yes,” he answered. “The Princes and Princesses of the Courts were slaughtered very publicly over a century after the Avonleyans were secluded. They also eventually killed the Queen of the Eastern Courts, one of Esmeray’s sisters, and the King of the Western Courts.”
“I was taught they did so to make the Fae think twice about trying to enslave the humans again,” Scarlett said quietly.
“They did so to make us think twice about standing against them again.”
“You were alive during this time?”
“I was young by Fae standards, decades old, but I remember the slaughter of the first Prince of the Fire Court and his wife.”
Sorin was quiet for a long moment, and Scarlett didn’t feel right saying anything, so she remained silent, slowly eating the bread she still held. Finally, he spoke again. “There is a reason I cannot say the Fae Queen’s name here. The Fae Royals’ names can not be spoken in a way that makes their identity known in order to keep their identities a secret. While the Fae Royals were slaughtered, their children were hidden. The Queen of the Eastern Courts had hidden them away, refusing to reveal their location to Deimas and Esmeray when they came to exact vengeance. The thing was, she hid them in plain sight. They were among the crowds, disguised as regular Court folk. Esmeray originally spared her sisters, but when she later learned that the Court Royals’ children were being raised and trained to rule the Courts once more, she came back.”
“But weren’t the wards in place by then?” Scarlett asked, finishing off the bread.
“Yes, but remember that Esmeray was, in fact, Fae. She could cross the wards. She crossed into the Wind Court and Queen Henna met her. She died defending all the Royal Children, refusing to even say their names, but what Esmeray did not know was that Queen Henna had an infant daughter. That is why she fought and not the Western Fae Queen. Queen Henna had an heir.”
“The Fae Queen,” Scarlett whispered.
“Yes,” Sorin answered. “No one here knows the names of the sitting Court Royals. No one knows the name of the Water Prince or the Earth Prince or the Wind Princess—”
“Or the Fire Prince,” Scarlett finished.
“Exactly,” he said, passing her a handful of nuts. “Are these fine, or do you want dried meat?”
“These are fine,” she said quickly. After she had eaten a few, she ventured, “You said you weren’t going to give me to the Fae Queen.”
“I’m not,” he answered, his tone tight. “She will want to use you to exact vengeance for the death of our people, of her mother, and eventually her father and others.”
“Can she not force you to? As your queen?”
She felt him shake his head. “No, she cannot force me to do anything. Not any more. There are charters and accords in place to keep her power in check.”
“What of the Queen of the Western Courts? You said Queen Esmeray left her alive,” Scarlett said.
“She did, and she ruled all the Courts beautifully for decades, helping to raise her niece and teaching her how to rule until she was ready to take up her place as queen,” Sorin explained.
“You speak as if you knew her personally,” Scarlett said, finishing the nuts and dropping her hand to his that still splayed across her hip. He intertwined their fingers.
“I did, Scarlett,” he answered, his tone somewhat melancholy. “I was her Second-in-Command. She was a dear friend. Do you remember how I told you of Fae and twin flames?”
Scarlett stilled. “Was she your twin flame?”
“No,” Sorin said quickly. “Nothing like that, but she was my soulmate.”
“That sounds like a lover,” Scarlett said skeptically.
“It is actually the farthest thing from it. Soulmates are people who understand each other on a deeper level, but there is no romantic attraction. The intimacy is deeper than friendship. It is soul deep. They connect with each other almost on a…spiritual level for lack of a better explanation.
“Anyway,” he continued, “as you know, the Fire Court and the Water Court were loyal to the Western Fae Queen, so when she… died, it strained relations with the Fae Queen of the Eastern Courts. Our queen did not have a known heir, and we later learned she had made it so that should such a thing happen, her death would trigger a transfer of her subjects to fall under her niece.”
“I can see why you would dislike the Fae Queen so much, but why do you have to deal with her? If there is no longer a Western Fae Queen, wouldn’t your role be obsolete?” Scarlett winced at the insensitivity. “Wouldn’t she now deal mainly with the Fire Prince and Water Prince?”
“Yes,” he answered quietly.
“That didn’t really answer my question…”
Then something else struck her.
“Wait, you said the Western Fae Queen did not have a known heir. That makes it sound like she does have an heir.”
Sorin’s grip on her hip tightened. “She does. She has been hidden and unknown to us. The Fae Queen still does not know she exists because she has been kept a secret.” Before Scarlett could question how he learned of her, Sorin said words that made Scarlett’s blood freeze in her veins. “She was kept hidden and raised by an Assassin Lord. She was kept a secret and trained to kill her own kind. She was honed into a weapon.”
“Stop,” she whispered. “If you are telling me you have kept something else so major from me, I need you to stop right now.”
But he didn’t.
“Queen Eliné was the Fae Queen of the Western Courts, Princess.”
The roaring in her head that had been absent since last night came back with a vengeance, and her shadows thickened around her. There was no way what he was suggesting was possible.
“Scarlett,” Sorin murmured into her ear. “Stay with me, Love.”
“ Do not call me that,” she hissed from between her teeth.
Sorin pulled her back against him, and she strained against his hold. “Feel me breathing, Scarlett. Match our breaths,” he was saying into her ear. “Your heart is beating too fast.” He had moved Eirwen into a gallop, and they were suddenly flying by Callan and his guards. “Eliza does not know,” he continued. “No one here knows, but the border is a few miles away, and you needed to know, Scarlett.”
“You have truly used me. In so many ways,” she whispered, her chest clenching.
“No, Scarlett. I have not used you,” he returned, pleading heavy in his tone. “I did not think it was possible. I still do not know how it is possible.”
They were past Eliza now, and Scarlett heard her call out after them, but Sorin did not slow.
“You weren’t content to simply break me?” she cried. “You had to wait until I was able to pick up a piece or two of myself and then shove me back down? Move me from one pretty cage to another? Use me to get your Fire Prince out from under your queen?”
“No, Love, no—”
“Do not call me that!” she screamed.
She was plummeting. She was free-falling into that darkness inside her soul. Her shadows swirled thickly around her, and she could feel frost on her fingertips. Eirwen reared back, and Sorin held her tight, keeping her in the saddle, but she was straining against him.
“Stop, Scarlett,” he said tightly. “Stop it. You are going to rip your wound wide open.”
“Sorin!” Eliza cried. “To your left!”
Sorin whirled Eirwen around, and there were three men with shirastone daggers in their hands, racing along beside them, nearly keeping pace with the horse.
No, not men.
Night Children.
“Take that rage and use it, Scarlett,” Sorin said directly into her ear, pressing a dagger into her hand.
Then he was pulling Eirwen to a stop, and he slid from the saddle, pulling his sword from his back. One of the Night Children threw his dagger at Sorin, and he blocked it with his sword before running straight at him and tackling him to the ground. He pulled a dagger from his boot and plunged it into the man’s chest, directly into his heart.
Eliza came up beside her then, and flames shot from her hand. She burned a Night Child to ash in mid-air as he leapt towards them.
“Eliza!” Sorin called out from where he was engaged with another Night Child. “She needs a sword.”
From a burst of flames, Eliza pulled a sword from what appeared to be thin air and tossed it to Scarlett. Shouting came from behind them, and Scarlett twisted in the saddle to see Callan, Finn, and Sloan being ambushed behind them.
Without thinking, Scarlett grabbed the reins and dug her heels into Eirwen’s side.
“Scarlett!” Eliza screamed after her, but she was already gone, racing towards the prince and his guards. She was still nearly fifteen feet away when she cocked her arm with the shirastone dagger and let it fly. It struck true, and a vampyre fell to the ground on impact. As Eirwen drew nearer, Scarlett was tucking her feet underneath her in the saddle, and when she met four vampyres surrounding Callan and his guards, she leapt, landing on one as her sword slid into his neck.
Scarlett and the vampyre rolled over each other a few feet until she landed on top of him. She got to her feet, yanking the sword out, and swung, severing his head. She whirled in time to catch another Night Child in the stomach as a black ashwood arrow whizzed past her, striking his chest. It missed the heart, but it knocked the vampyre to the ground on impact. Scarlett looked over her shoulder to see Finn nocking another arrow to his bow. He nodded to her as he pivoted, taking aim at another Night Child.
“Her side,” she heard one of the vampyres hiss. “She has an injury on her side. I saw her favoring it near the stream.”
So there had been someone there. Sorin was right. The stealth these men exhibited was second to none.
And completely explained Nuri’s skills.
Two more rushed at her, and she plunged her sword deep into the belly of one. He went down to his knees, but the other grabbed her hair and yanked her back against him. “I will be rewarded handsomely for your return to your master,” he hissed into her ear.
“I have no master,” she purred, and her booted foot cracked hard into his shin.
The vampyre swore, but his grip held. Scarlett dropped to a crouch, took a deep breath in, and sprang up, launching herself skyward. She flew into the air, flipping over the top of the man, and as she did, she grabbed his shoulders, yanking him backwards.
Surprise flared in his eyes as he was thrown to the ground, his grip on her hair releasing. Scarlett landed on her feet, and her sword came down into his throat. She twisted her sword hard, and his head was severed.
“Holy fuck.”
She whirled to see Callan staring at her with shock all over his face. Scarlett thought it might have been the first time she’d ever heard the prince swear. Sloan was at his side, guarding him.
“I need a dagger,” she yelled, and Sloan plucked one from his boot and threw it to the ground at her feet. She had in her hand the next second and turned back to see Sorin and Eliza sprinting down the path towards her, but she turned back to the one she had caught in the stomach.
He was back on his feet and making his way towards her, fangs bared and hissing. “That dagger isn’t shirastone, girl. It won’t kill me.”
“Maybe not, but it will still hurt like a bitch,” she sneered, cocking it back and hurling it towards him directly into the gushing wound in his stomach. The man went down again with a howl of pain.
Scarlett stalked towards him and, as she bent down to retrieve it, she dragged the blade across his stomach, slicing it wide open. His insides spilled to the outside. “Tell me, Son of Night, how long will it take you to heal from this type of wound?” Her voice was darkness incarnate.
Her voice was that of Death’s Maiden.
The vampyre screamed in pain as she stepped on his entrails that were lying in the dirt. “You’re wishing I had a shirastone blade right now, aren’t you? Then you could actually die,” she mocked.
“Bitch!” he hissed out. She drew her hand back to plunge the dagger into his mouth to cut out his tongue when a black ashwood arrow went into his head.
Scarlett whirled to see Sorin lowering a bow.
“I was fine,” she seethed at him
“We need to go, Scarlett,” he said, striding towards her. “There are more. We need to cross the border.” Eliza came up behind him on her mare, leading Eirwen by his reins. Sorin extended his hand to Scarlett. “We need to go,” he repeated.
“I will ride with Eliza,” Scarlett spat, taking a step towards the female.
“No, Scarlett,” Sorin said, shaking his head. “You will ride with me. Let’s go.”
“No!” she screamed, pointing her sword at Sorin.
“Scarlett, you will not win this fight. Not today. And it is not a fight we can have out here. We need to go. There will be more Night Children here any minute. We are only a few miles from the border.”
Sorin was taking slow steps towards her, like one would when approaching a wild horse they were trying to catch and break. She cocked her arm and threw her dagger at him. He caught it by the handle, just as he had that day in the training barracks, and she heard Sloan swear under his breath. Sorin merely dropped the dagger to the ground and took another step.
“Stop, Scarlett. I know you are mad at me—”
“That is the understatement of the century,” she spat.
“Scarlett, we really do need to go,” came Eliza’s voice from atop her mare. “I understand wanting to kick his ass, I really do, but we must go. ”
“Scarlett, he is trying to keep you safe.” Scarlett’s eyes flew to Callan. She couldn’t believe those words had just come out of his mouth. “We can figure everything out once we cross the border, but we need to go.”
That distraction was apparently what Sorin had been waiting for because while her eyes were on Callan, he darted forward, his arms coming around her. He pulled her back against his chest, pinning her arms to her sides. Eliza was off her mare in seconds and taking the sword from her hand. She kicked back, striking Sorin in the shin.
“Shit,” he barked. “Stop it, Scarlett.”
“Let me go,” she seethed.
“Once we cross the border, I will let you beat the shit out of me,” he said, hauling her towards Eirwen. “But until then, you need to stop.”
“You need to stop touching me.”
“Our agreement was I could touch you when it was necessary. This is necessary,” he replied, completely calm.
“I hate you,” she hissed.
“I have no doubt that will not be the last time you say those words to me today. In fact, I fully expect you to actually mean them by the end of it,” he said. They were stopped by Eirwen now. “Here’s the deal, Love—”
“Do not call me that!” she shrieked.
“Right. Sorry. Here’s the deal, Lady —”
“I am going to gut you.”
Sorin continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “You can either get on Eirwen nicely, and hopefully we can cross the border without any more disturbances, or I am going to have to have Eliza restrain you.”
“I’d like to see you try to fucking restrain me,” she snapped, jerking against this hold.
Sorin merely sighed, and she found her wrists being snapped together and encircled by manacles of flame. Her shadows immediately began twisting and tightening around the flames, and Scarlett dragged her eyes to Sorin’s. A wicked smile curved her lips. “Looks like you were wrong, General. The Darkness does love me more than you do.”
“Sorin, we need to go,” Eliza said through gritted teeth. “I will not be able to hold these long.”
Sorin swore under his breath, turning Scarlett in his arms. “Give me a shield, Eliza.”
A circle of flames sprung up around them, separating her and Sorin from everyone else. “Scarlett, I know you are mad. I know you have questions, but I need you to understand that if you do not cooperate and get on that horse and willingly go with me, there is a very good chance that Prince Callan and his guards will die here. Do you want that on your conscience?”
“Don’t try and—”
She didn’t get to finish what she was going to say because his lips were suddenly on hers. She jerked back, but his hands held her to him, one sliding up to the nape of her neck, keeping her in place. The kiss was desperate and heady, and Scarlett found herself kissing him back. He pulled back, but only far enough so that when he spoke, his lips brushed over hers.
“I know you still hate me,” he said quietly, “but I do not hate you, Scarlett Monrhoe, and I need you safely across that border. You will be safest with me on Eirwen. I do not want you bound, but if that is how I need to accomplish this need, then that is what I will do.”
There was a beat of silence as she stared into his golden eyes.
“We need to go,” he whispered.
“That seems like it would be a necessity.”
“That it is, Love.” The hand that was cupping her neck reached out and pressed against the wall of the shield, but his eyes remained on her. The shield instantly vanished. “Can she take the restraints off your wrists?” he murmured.
Scarlett nodded, and Sorin stepped back from her, glancing at Eliza. The flame manacles also disappeared, and Scarlett turned to find the female panting slightly.
“Come, Scarlett,” Sorin said softly, reaching for her to help up onto Eirwen.
Scarlett didn’t wait for his help, and she swung herself up onto the stallion. When Sorin was settled behind her, the five horses were worked into runs as they raced for the border.
A few minutes later, the trees broke and across a grassland, perhaps two miles away, two horses were racing towards them. Scarlett tensed, but Sorin said into her ear, “They are friends. They are on our side.”
A minute later, she saw that he hadn’t been lying. Night Children came from both the left and the right. Eliza pulled ahead, shouting some sort of command to the newcomers. One with dark hair like Sorin’s made his way to the middle, and Eliza and the other tossed him their reins. Eyes wide with disbelief, Scarlett watched as Eliza and the other male leapt from their horses, flipping in midair and landing in front of the Night Children. Daggers and arrows flew through the air and met their marks. The other male had fallen back, coming alongside them.
“Get the mortals across!” Sorin yelled. “Do not worry about me.”
The male nodded once in confirmation and fell into step beside Callan and his guards. He yelled to them, but Scarlett didn’t hear what he said because Eirwen was suddenly rearing up. Sorin’s arm tightened around her as he gripped the reins, calling to the horse. Eirwen’s front hooves slammed back to the ground, and he pranced around in a tight circle.
Scarlett saw why when she saw the five vampyres break free of the clamor and race in front of them. Eliza and the other male were in the midst of their own fights, slowly making their way forward.
“Dammit!” Sorin swore. “We are almost there.”
“Where?” Scarlett cried. “How do you know?”
“The border is a quarter of a mile away,” Sorin said, struggling to hold Eirwen steady. “Rayner will come back for us.”
Sorin handed Scarlett the reins and reached down to unhook a bow that was strapped to the back of the saddle. He nocked a black ashwood arrow and let it fly. One of the vampyres fell to the ground. “Get down!” he cried, shoving Scarlett forward. She gasped at the pain that lanced up her side, but when she looked over her shoulder, Sorin had caught a dagger in his palm. He flipped it and threw it back, taking out another Night Child.
Scarlett sat back up and watched as the male with the dark hair seemed to appear out of nowhere ahead of them. He still had one horse in tow, the one the other male had been riding. The other male was running towards him now, only two of his vampyres left alive, and he caught the saddle horn as it came by, pulling himself up.
“Get, Eliza!” Sorin called as the other male came up beside him. The one he called Rayner flew past.
“Sorin, to the left!” the other male cried, and Scarlett whipped her head around in time to see a Night Child fling himself up at them, toppling them both out of the saddle and to the ground. She was ripped from Sorin’s arms as the Night Child hauled her to him. Scarlett jabbed her elbow up and back, striking the vampyre in the face, but just as quickly, her side burst into burning agony. She looked down to find a dagger in the same wound, and while the vampyre held her, he twisted the blade, dragging it up her side.
She screamed in anguish, and her shadows swarmed the vampyre. He dropped her as he cried out, but his screams were cut off when the shadows tightened around his throat, cutting off air. They lifted the vampyre off his feet and into the air, then slammed him to the ground as Scarlett’s vision began to swim. Her hands were clamped to the wound, and her blood gushed out from around the dagger still embedded in her side. A metallic taste coated her mouth as she dropped to her knees.
There was a flash and a circle of flames surrounded her. A moment later, Sorin burst through them, dropping down beside her. He guided her down onto her back.
“Pull them back, Love,” he panted. She started to move her hands, but he stopped her. “Your shadows. Pull back your shadows. Cyrus will finish him.”
Scarlett lifted her head and looked over to see the male circling around the vampyre that her shadows had completely encased. She drew in a shaky breath, letting her head fall back. Sorin’s hand was there to catch it before it hit the ground.
“Give me the ring, Eliza!” Scarlett could hear panic in Sorin’s voice as he shouted. She’d never heard him sound like that before. “I need to pull the dagger out, Love,” he said, bringing his face close to hers.
Was it still in her?
She screamed as he slid it free. Then she felt his hands putting pressure on the wound. Boots landed beside them, and a horse swam in her vision. Eliza had slid from the horse Rayner had been on. “Let’s get her across the border and then we can portal her to Beatrix.”
“There is not time,” Sorin snarled. “Give me the ring.”
His hand left her wound for a moment, and then his hands were on her face, her own blood smearing there from his palms. She tasted ash and smoke in her throat, mixing with the metallic taste of her blood. A warm pressure pulsed against her side, and she recognized the feel of Sorin’s magic holding her wound together, but this time it did little to dull her pain.
“Stay with me, Love,” he said. She could swear there were tears glimmering in his eyes.
“Get on the horse, Sorin. We will hand her up to you,” someone was saying to him. She saw hands grip his shoulders and pull him from her, and she tried to reach for him. A moment later, strong arms were scooping her off the ground. He had golden eyes like Sorin’s.
“Hi,” Scarlett whispered.
“Hi, Darling,” he answered, a corner of his lips kicking up. The dark was calling to her, and she started to close her eyes, but he spoke again. “No, don’t do that. He’s ready for you.”
Then she was being passed to someone else, and ash and cedar filled her nose. She nestled into his chest, leaning her head against his shoulder, and Sorin met her eyes. “Hey, Love.”
She tried to smile, but her face felt numb. She whimpered as they began moving and the jostling of the horse had a wave of nausea rushing through her. She was tired. She just needed to sleep for a bit.
“No. No, Scarlett, keep your eyes on me.” The crack in his voice tugged at her chest, and she forced her eyes open wider. “Good. Stay with me. We are here. We are home.”
“Hand her to me, Sorin.” She was handed back to the same male. “Eliza will take the horses to the stables. Rayner went to get Beatrix. They’ll meet us in your rooms.”
Scarlett felt pulses of heat, but another familiar voice floated over, full of panic.
“Let me see her!”
Callan.
“Do not let him near her,” she heard Sorin snarl.
There was swearing and then she heard Sloan saying, “We’re in the Fire Court now, Cal. They’re all going to have fire magic. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Scarlett lifted her head to see a dagger of flames at Callan’s throat.
“Don’t,” she rasped. “Don’t hurt the prince.”
“The prince? Why would I hurt the prince, Darling?”
“Not the prince you are thinking of, Cyrus,” Sorin said as she was passed back to his arms. “Bring them through the portal.”
“Where are we going?” Scarlett whispered, looking up into his eyes. The shadows that encircled her curled around his arms and ears, and they looked different, she realized. These shadows were embracing him, loving him, caressing him.
“To find the stars,” were the only words he said as he held her tighter to his chest.
“Sorin?”
“Yeah, Love?”
“I don’t hate you.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I know, Love, but you will.”