Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2)

Chapter 6 Callan

CHAPTER 6

CALLAN

C allan had been watching them for nearly ten minutes. He had seen them rounding a corner in the guest halls. Finn had tried to grab his arm, but he had shrugged him off and trailed them. He had hidden in an alcove as they crossed onto the bridge. She was so relaxed with him. So…carefree. As if nothing could go wrong as long as he was beside her. She had never been that relaxed, that comfortable, around him. She was always prepared to flee. Always prepared to fight her way out of anything. Even when she had been naked in his bed, daggers had always been within reach.

He watched as she lightly shoved the Fire Prince, and he heard her endearingly call him a prick. She was still a wraith, her eyes still haunted, but even the shadows that trailed her had dimmed. And when he had pulled her to him, they flickered. Callan had been sure they were going to go out.

And he couldn’t help himself. He had to talk to her. He had to know. She had said she and the general were friends. She had said she couldn’t be tied to a throne. If she chose him, wouldn’t it be the same? Was she choosing him?

He had stepped from the alcove and had begun walking towards the bridge when she had spotted him. Her eyes had widened, and those shadows had swirled. As he came closer, Sorin had bent down and whispered into her ear. Some discussion was had, and when he came to a stop at the edge of the bridge, Sorin’s voice floated down to him. “Of course, Love. You are free to do as you wish. Always.”

Love. He had called her that the entire trip. A pet name. That’s what he had told himself. A name to get under her skin, to tease her like he seemed to like to do. He hadn’t meant it as Love . Right?

Callan had stilled as Scarlett had begun walking towards him. He made to move toward her, but shadows speared from her and created a wall at the edge of the bridge. He watched as she stopped a few feet from him, cocking her head to study the wall of shadows, like she was unsure of how they had created such an obstruction.

The guard beside the bridge started at the shadowy wall, but Sorin said coolly from down the way, “It is fine, Talis. No need to worry.” The guard nodded at his prince and stood back.

Her eyes slid to him. “Hello, Callan.” Her voice was as it always had been, yet was far away. Her ears were pointed now, and he couldn’t help but notice elongated canines that peeked out when she spoke. She seemed taller. Fae. One of them.

“Scarlett,” he breathed. “You are…different.”

“Different?” She seemed to mull the term over in her mind. “I suppose. I am not clad in black and armed with weapons. Then again, I’ve been told I am a weapon.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Callan said, shaking his head. “Come and talk to me.”

“I cannot talk to you right now,” she whispered.

“Cannot or will not?” he asked, the question coming out sharper than he had intended. She flinched at his tone. He had never seen her flinch in his life. What was Sorin doing to her?

“Are you all right?” he asked, taking a step forward. “Are you safe?”

“Why would I not be safe?” she asked.

Sorin was hanging back, leaning against the bridge railing. His arms were crossed, a bored expression on his face. He had not seen the Fire Prince once since he was led from his chambers nearly a week ago.

“Just please come talk to me,” Callan pleaded.

“I am not ready to talk to you, Callan. There is much I need to work through—”

“Then let me help you,” he cut in.

“You cannot,” she replied sadly.

“And I suppose he can?”

“There is much you do not know.”

“Then tell me.”

“There is much even I do not yet understand,” she tried again. Her tone was beseeching.

“And I suppose he holds the answers? How do you know he is not controlling you?”

At the words, Sorin pushed off the railing and came strolling casually along the bridge. “Are you suggesting that I am forcing Scarlett to do something?” His voice was dangerous and cold.

“It’s happened before,” Callan said defiantly. “Or did it? Did Mikale really threaten me?

“Callan, I would not make that up,” Scarlett said, hurt flickering on her face.

“Maybe you didn’t. Maybe he did. Maybe he has orchestrated all of this. To get you here,” Callan spat.

“No. That is not true. You know that’s not true,” Scarlett cried, but a flash of uncertainty crossed her features.

“Then let me go back and confront him,” Callan said. “Let me go home where I am free to go where I please and see whom I wish.”

“You are not a prisoner here, Callan, but you cannot go back yet,” Scarlett pleaded. “It will put you and Cassius in danger.”

“Cassius?” Callan blinked, and he let his anger blurt out the next thing he said. “Ah, Cassius. The fourth piece of this equation. Tell me, Scarlett, which of us do you love, by the way? Or do we all serve your purposes in some way or another?”

Scarlett took a step back, and Sorin reached out a hand to steady her. Her shadows receded into her as if she had been punched. Sorin reached up with a finger and drew flames in the air. The symbol shimmered for a moment, then disappeared.

“What do you want me to say, Callan?” she whispered.

“I want you to say to my face that you used me. That you never cared for me,” he spat.

“That is not true! I will not say it,” she said, shaking her head. “I still care for you.”

“I want you to say to my face that you lied to me when you told me he was not the reason you stopped coming to me.” He threw an accusing finger in Sorin’s direction.

“I did not know him until a few months ago,” she retorted, her eyes darkening. She took a step forward, shrugging off Sorin’s hand at her back. She came to the edge of the bridge, and Callan met her there, toe-to-toe. Fury lined her features now, but he refused to back down from her. “Ask me what you wish to know, Prince,” her voice now lethal.

Callan knew. He knew he was pushing her to a dangerous edge. He knew what she was capable of. He’d watched her cut down vampyres like they were nothing. He’d watched her step on entrails just to inflict more agony and pain.

The sound of rushing water echoed in the space, and the Water Prince stepped from a portal at the other end of the bridge. He stood back, waiting for something, watching.

“Well?” she demanded.

“A few weeks ago, you told me he was a close friend like Cassius. Was that true?” He held his breath, waiting for her answer.

“Yes.”

“And now?”

She studied him, her stare penetrating, as she asked quietly, “Are you asking if I have fucked him, Callan?”

The river began to stir below them. The serene waters began churning and waves appeared as if they were rapids. Sorin glanced over his shoulder, and Briar leaned over the bridge, peering down at the water. He stretched a hand out over the side of the bridge, and the waves calmed, but the water still rushed through the palace faster than it had before, like the current had increased in the normally calm, peaceful river.

“Is that what you are asking me, Callan?” she demanded again.

He felt Finn grab his elbow and try to tug him back, but he shook him off. “Yes,” he ground out from between his teeth.

A serpentine grin formed on her lips, and her eyes narrowed at him. Shadows slithered and coiled around her arms, her wrists, her torso. She leaned forward, almost as if she were going to kiss him, and tendrils of those shadows reached for him. He flinched back. “You are the first and only person I have ever given myself to by choice,” she said with a venomous quiet. “Mikale, however, has also been between my legs, only he took what he wanted. About a year ago. Any other questions for me, Prince?”

Callan recoiled as her words hit him, eyes widening in horror. A year ago. When she’d stopped coming to him. When everything had changed.

“Scarlett,” Sorin said softly, placing a hand on her arm, the shadows seeming to embrace his touch. “Go with Briar. He will take you to your rooms. I will be there shortly.”

Scarlett looked at Callan, her face hard. “I may have loved you once, Prince, but now I do not know what I feel for you.” She turned on her heel and, without looking back, strode across the bridge to where Briar waited for her, his face grim.

“Scarlett,” Callan called, and stepped onto the bridge to go after her, but he stilled at the cruel smile that spread across Sorin’s face. A second later, Rayner stepped from smoke and swirling ashes behind him. He stepped to Sorin’s side and whispered something into his ear.

“Interesting,” Sorin said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his charcoal gray pants and leaning a hip against the bridge railing. “Rayner tells me you have been to the other side of this bridge once before?”

“Yes,” Callan replied coolly. “I was inquiring after her.”

“To call her a whore to her face the moment she woke up?” he asked, raising his brows mockingly. Cyrus appeared from a hallway on the other side of the bridge and stalked across it.

“No,” Callan retorted. “I did not mean to make her—”

“You did not mean to hurt her,” Sorin corrected. And then Eliza was coming up the stairs and making her way across the bridge. How did they all get here so damn fast? Briar and Scarlett had disappeared. He had not even seen which way they had gone. The river below them had calmed and was now serenely flowing once more. “You know,” Sorin continued, taking a step forward now, his Court falling into place behind him. Callan took a step back, off the bridge. “She would have come to you. Had you been patient and courteous and given her a little time, she would have come and explained what she could, but you just couldn’t wait.”

“You were keeping me from her out of spite,” Callan spat.

“I was keeping you from her so that this little scene did not happen the moment she opened her eyes, which by the way, was this morning,” Sorin said coldly.

“Mikale. He…” Callan couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

“Yes, he raped her, and yes, he would have done so again had we not gotten her out,” Sorin said, his lips forming a thin line. “Mikale knows she is Fae and desires her bloodline to merge with his own. That is all we know right now.” Callan didn’t know what to say as Sorin continued. “Scarlett was correct. You are not a prisoner here. You and your little posse,” he said with a smirk at Finn and Sloan, “are free to go wherever you wish. You are free to go to the city. You are free to leave these lands if you think you can make it out and survive amongst what lurks in these mountains without magic. You are free to go wherever you wish in the palace on the eastern side of the river. I highly recommend our library. Brush up on some history.

“But allow me to give you your first lesson. The rumors that swirl among the human lands about the Fire Court being the cruelest are true. Step foot on any of these bridges again, Crown Prince of Windonelle, and you shall learn exactly just how true they are.” His Court behind him all grinned, callous and wicked. Sorin took a step towards him. Finn and Sloan made to move in front of him, but Sorin raised his hand and flames encircled them. Sorin’s voice became venom. “Make her feel like a whore again, and you will learn exactly what it means to be a prisoner in my home. Do I make myself clear?”

“Perfectly,” Callan said, his jaw clenched.

Sorin closed his fist, and the flames around Finn and Sloan disappeared. “Eliza, dear, show them to the library, will you?” he said as he turned and began to cross the bridge. He was not even halfway across it when a fire portal opened in front of him, and he stepped through, disappearing from sight.

“He is in a pleasant mood today,” Eliza commented, looking up at Cyrus.

“I thought the princeling was going into the river,” Cyrus said, disappointment on his face. “Did you see the Mark?”

“Yes,” Rayner answered.

Eliza was quiet.

Callan could only stare with his mouth gaping open like a fish at their nonchalant exchange.

“Eliza?” Cyrus hissed, his eyes narrowing at her. “When did you Mark him?”

“Who says I Marked him?” she snapped.

“You are the only one he would trust to give him that Mark,” Rayner argued quietly.

“For good reason,” she returned haughtily.

“When?” Cyrus demanded.

She tsked and crossed her arms. “Before we returned from the mortal lands.”

“He hid it from us when he crossed the border?” Cyrus asked, gritting his teeth.

Eliza rolled her eyes. “Careful, Cyrus, you’ll give yourself a headache from all that thinking.”

Rayner stepped between the two Fae as they glowered at each other. “Enough,” he growled.

“Did either of you see her?” Cyrus asked, stepping back to lean against the railing.

“No. The last time I saw her, she was bleeding out in the Prince’s arms right after we’d crossed the border,” Eliza sighed. “Dinner tonight I suppose then.”

“Maybe he can tell you more about her on your little walk,” Cyrus said, now eyeing Callan.

“It does not sound like his opinion of her is very high,” Rayner supplied thoughtfully, studying Callan as well.

“He is jealous, Rayner,” Eliza sighed again. “Jealousy makes people say and do stupid things.”

“If that twin flame Mark is Anointed, Sorin will—” Cyrus started.

“Stop speaking,” Eliza snapped, stepping from the bridge. She gestured to Callan and his guards to follow. “Come. I will show you to the library.”

She led them away towards the back of the palace. When they were out of earshot of the bridge, he said to Eliza, “You were being sarcastic. About Sorin being in a pleasant mood, right?”

“Not at all,” Eliza scoffed. “Had he been in a foul mood, you would have indeed ended up in the river. You did not spend much time with him in the mortal lands if you thought that was a pissy mood.”

Callan swallowed, slipping into silence. After another minute he asked, “What is the twin flame Mark?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” she answered tightly, rounding a corner and stopping before a set of double doors.

“It sounded like it should be concerning to me,” Callan argued grimly.

“I tell you what, Princeling,” Eliza said, pushing open the doors before them. Inside were rows and rows and shelves and shelves of books, reaching to the ceiling. Not just the ceiling of the second floor they were on, but clear to the top of the palace. All seven levels. The ceiling was the same glass material as the bridges, and the clear blue sky could be seen through it. “You find a book in here about it, and I shall answer any questions you have regarding the twin flame Mark after you have read about it. Good luck.”

Eliza turned and left the library, closing the double doors behind her.

“These Fae are real bastards,” Sloan grumbled from beside Callan.

“I could not agree more,” Callan retorted and set off to look for a book.