14. Awakening in the Shadow
Chapter fourteen
Awakening in the Shadow
Scareltt
Scarlett’s eyes fluttered open to muted light. Her body felt heavy, her magic spent, and for a long moment, she simply breathed, hearing Maddox’s and Arley’s breaths close at either side of her.
“Hey,” Maddox murmured, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead, his voice rough with concern. “You’re awake. Finally. Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
Her lips curved faintly, though her voice rasped. “I can’t promise that.” The humor didn’t linger; her eyes opened wider, serious now. “It’s hard to control.”
Arley leaned closer, his storm-colored eyes burning with worry, and something sharper. “You nearly tore yourself apart. And for what? To stop us from tearing him apart?” His glance cut to where Ace lingered at the far end of the chamber, shadows clinging to him like chains.
Scarlett drew a slow breath, leaning back against Maddox’s chest, letting his warmth anchor her against the chill.
“Because it isn’t that simple anymore,” she whispered.
Her gaze moved between them, steady despite her exhaustion.
“Ace kidnapped me, yes. But I see him now. He’s not the enemy.
He never was. He was a puppet—just like I was—bound into a marriage arranged to chain us both to our parents’ thrones.
He’s just as trapped in their games as I was in my mother’s magic. ”
Maddox’s jaw clenched, his voice dark and edged. “That doesn’t change the danger he’s put you in.”
“No,” she admitted softly. “But it changes what I feel. I don’t hate him anymore.
I can’t. There’s… something between us, whether it’s desire or fear or something nameless.
I can’t deny it.” Her eyes shifted to the shadows where Ace lingered, then back to Maddox and Arley.
“But understand this—what I choose isn’t him.
It’s all of you. Not because fate forced it, not because blood or duty demanded it.
But because I want you. Because with you, I burn. With you, I am free.”
Arley’s gaze softened, tension flickering into something fierce and unspoken. “Even knowing ruin waits for us?”
Scarlett’s lips curved, the fire in her voice defiant despite her exhaustion.
“Especially knowing ruin waits. I’ll take ruin over chains.
Over lies. Over my mother binding me in ignorance, keeping me from the truth of what I am.
” Her voice dropped, sharp with rage. “She kept the Crimson Deep from me. She made me believe I was nothing but an heir to a fragile throne of hearts—when all along, I was meant to rule with the Crimson Deep. My throne. My birthright. My choice. What my father wanted for me. For the peace he dreamed of. The peace he died for.”
Maddox’s hand squeezed her shoulder, grounding her fury. “Then we’ll stand with you. Whatever comes.”
“And fight for you,” Arley added, quiet but confident, his blade already in his hand. “Even against him. If it comes to it.”
Scarlett shook her head, eyes lingering briefly on Ace, whose silence cut sharper than steel. “No. Not here. Not now. He’s not our enemy tonight. Cyrus is. And if we turn on each other, we all die before the Deep ever sees me crowned.”
The mountain wind shrieked through the stone, carrying with it the sound of boots and Spade war cries. Shadows lengthened as soldiers closed in.
“They’ve found us,” Arley muttered, bracing for the first wave to breach the mountainside.
Maddox rose, steadying Scarlett as he drew his blade. “Stay behind us. Cyrus doesn’t care who dies. He just wants you broken.”
Scarlett forced herself upright, power humming faintly at her fingertips, her voice iron despite the tremor in her limbs. “Then let him try. We survive first. Then we tear down every chain they ever put on us—my mother’s,” she points to Ace. “His father. All of Underland will see peace once again.”
Maddox and Arley stepped forward as one, steel gleaming in the half-light. Scarlett’s magic flared, crimson fire licking her palms. In the shadows, Ace shifted, the weight of his choice still unspoken.
“Together,” Scarlett whispered, her gaze sweeping them all. “For freedom. For ruin.”
The first Spade soldiers emerged from the corridor, blades raised. Maddox and Arley struck in tandem, Scarlett’s magic blazing behind them, and Ace moved with them, no longer captive to his own hesitation, bound by the fire of her declaration and the impossible, unbreakable pull of her will.
Maddox and Arley moved immediately to shield her, but Scarlett felt the Crimson Deep surge like a living thing.
She raised her hands instinctively, and fire—bright, scorching, crimson fire, unlike anything she’d wielded before, arced across the corridor.
Soldiers screamed as heat and flame knocked them off their feet.
Maddox and Arley froze for a fraction of a second, eyes wide.
Her power, uncontrolled and new, crackled around them, sending waves of heat that made it hard to focus.
Maddox grunted, swinging his sword, but Scarlett’s fire splintered his line of sight.
Arley hissed as the air shimmered with heat, disrupting his dagger strikes.
“Scarlett!” Maddox barked, trying to reach her. “Focus! Don’t burn us all!”
“I’m trying!” She shouted, sweat and exhaustion prickling her skin. Her magic was raw, potent—but draining. Each pulse left her weaker, unsteady on her feet. The fire obeyed her will, but her body was screaming for release, for rest she couldn’t give.
Ace stepped forward, shadowsteel in hand, trying to intercept soldiers while avoiding her flames. He glanced at her, concern flickering in his dark eyes. “Careful! You’ll burn yourself out!”
But Scarlett couldn’t stop. The fire was a part of her now, the Crimson Deep calling to her, and she used it with everything she had.
Another wave of soldiers collapsed, their shouts echoing in the stone corridor—but in that exact moment, the exhaustion hit her hard.
Her arms trembled, the fire flickered, and she stumbled.
Maddox lunged to steady her, Arley sliding close—but the distraction was enough.
From the shadows, more Spade soldiers had flanked them, cutting them off from Ace and Scarlett.
In an instant, Ace and Scarlett were surrounded.
Before Maddox and Arley could react to get closer, shadowed hands and magic strikes overwhelmed them.
Ace struck back, but the soldiers were precise and numerous.
Scarlett’s fire faltered, sputtering weakly as the exhaustion overwhelmed her.
“No!” Maddox roared, hacking down a soldier, but Arley’s grip couldn't reach her.
Scarlett faltered under the sheer number of attackers.
In a heartbeat, shadow ropes and chains of magic wrapped around Scarlett and Ace, binding them tightly.
Her fire pulsed weakly, burning in small flares against the restraint, but she was trapped.
Ace’s shadowsteel lashed out, cutting one of the chains, but the others held, pulling him down as well.
Scarlett gasped, fighting to push the Crimson Deep through the bindings, but each pulse left her weaker, dizzy, trembling.
Her power was no longer enough to free them both against the overwhelming force of the Spade soldiers.
Their time spent developing their magic and using it in battle is evident against her newly found powers.
Maddox and Arley fought furiously, blades flashing, but they were pushed back by sheer numbers, unable to reach Scarlett and Ace before the soldiers dragged them into the shadows of the corridor.
Scarlett’s chest heaved, fire sputtering along her fingertips like dying embers. She glared at Maddox and Arley as they were forced to retreat, unable to save her. “I… I’ll hold on,” she whispered, though every muscle screamed with exhaustion. “I won’t… let them break me.”
Ace’s dark eyes met hers, shadowed and raw. Even as he struggled against the restraints, she could feel his pulse, his unwillingness to let go. “We’ll get out,” he murmured, though his voice was strained. “Together. I promise.”
But even as the words left him, Scarlett knew the fight wasn’t over. The Crimson Deep surged faintly in her veins, a reminder that she was stronger than she’d ever been—and that even in captivity, even exhausted, she would use that fire to claim her freedom.
Maddox and Arley fought with every ounce of strength left in their bodies, blades flashing, muscles screaming—but the soldiers pressed with relentless precision. Each strike Maddox landed was met with another, each dodge Arley made countered by a dozen more.
“Scarlett!” Maddox roared, swinging wildly, eyes wild with desperation.
But a sudden strike from behind slammed into his side, and he crumpled to the cold stone, blood blooming across his chest. Another blade followed, and he screamed, each sound cut short by the merciless steel of the Spade soldiers.
Arley twisted, parried, and slashed, but there were too many.
Pain exploded across his shoulder and ribs, blood slicking his hands and face.
He fell to one knee, fighting to rise, but another brutal blow sent him sprawling across the floor.
The corridor's light reflected off his dagger one last time before he, too, was overwhelmed.
Shadows burst with blue lights, the finality of the attack heart-wrenching.
Scarlett’s eyes widened, her heart hammering in her chest. Her crimson magic, the fire of the Crimson Deep she’d barely learned to wield, surged weakly along her arms. She reached for them, tried to push her fire outward—but the energy drained from her faster than she could call it.
Her fire faltered, and she was forced to watch helplessly.
As the light in their eyes she once loved burned out.
Maddox lay prone, broken, blood pooling beneath him.
Arley’s battered form slumped near him, chest no longer moving.
Scarlett’s throat closed, a raw scream tearing free as she thrashed against the blackened chains that bit deep into her skin.
Her fire flickered in weak bursts, scorching the stone at her feet, but unable to reach them, unable to save them.
Her vision blurred with tears. “No! No! You can’t—don’t leave me!
” The corridor felt impossibly long, the torches casting cruel, flickering light across their bodies.
Every heartbeat was a hammer, each moment a knife twisting in her chest. Heartbreak wasn't a new feeling to her, but this was deeper than any loss she's ever suffered before.
Her bond with Maddox and Arley screamed in sorrow in her soul.
Ace’s shadowsteel flashed futilely, but he, too, was restrained, dragged by the soldiers who pressed in from all sides.
Scarlett’s pulse raced as terror, grief, and exhaustion combined into a suffocating weight.
Maddox and Arley—her anchors, her shields, her loves—were gone.
She could feel nothing but the hollow, gaping space they had left.
Her fire sputtered once more, weak and flickering, leaving only a faint glow against the cold stone.
She gasped for breath, every muscle trembling.
The Spade soldiers laughed, voices cruel and sharp, tightening their hold as they dragged Scarlett and Ace deeper into the shadows out of the mountainside.
There was no doubt. They were dead. Gone. Lost to her for eternity. And all she could do was scream against the chains that bound her. The darkness of nightfall swallowed her and Ace, dragging them into an uncertain nightmare.