Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2)

Chapter 11 Scarlett

CHAPTER 11

SCARLETT

C assius was here. Cassius was sitting beside her at a table in the Fire Court. Scarlett still couldn’t believe it. Her hand was wrapped tightly in his as they continued discussing matters happening in Baylorin, and Scarlett kept glancing at him from the corner of her eye. That Sorin had arranged this for her…

She had woken still wrapped in his arms the morning after he’d erased so much of Mikale’s touch from her body. Her naked body had still been pressed against him. He’d been right. It hadn’t fixed a damn thing. Her darkness still pressed in on her. But he’d also been wrong. The phantom touches she felt on her skin now were his. His hands slowly exploring her skin. His fingers inside her. She didn’t regret one bit that she’d begged him to touch her.

When she’d opened her eyes, she’d found Sorin watching her. “Hey, Love,” he’d whispered.

“I still hate you,” she’d whispered back.

He’d pressed a kiss to her forehead as he huffed a laugh. “Good to know.”

Several moments passed, and then she had said quietly, “In my dream, Mikale said that they were close to breaking the wards to gain access to the orphans. Do you think that is possible?”

Sorin pulled back from her to see her face. “A month ago, I would have said no,” he had answered, “but now, I do not know. Cassius is powerful. The wards he created were impressive. I do not think they could unravel them in only a week.”

“Can we send them a warning?”

“We could send Amaré with a message.”

“Okay,” she had whispered and fell silent. A moment later, Sorin reached across the space between them and stroked a single finger down her cheek before he had disentangled himself from her. He’d gone out to the sitting room to give her privacy to get up and get dressed without the awkwardness of her having to leave the bed naked in front of him.

He had slept beside her every night since, but nothing else had happened. He was there when she’d wake screaming from nightmares and would stroke her hair or back until she had calmed and fell back to sleep, usually with her hand on his chest to remind herself she wasn’t alone.

Her eyes went back to Sorin now as he was telling Cassius what he had found to strengthen the wards around the orphans until they could figure out what the end game was and why. In a swirl of flames, books appeared on the table before them, all with various pages marked. Cassius reached for one with his free hand, as adamant to not let go of her as she was to not let go of him. She helped him flip pages, and he studied them briefly before going to the next.

“These are even more complex than the ones Lord Tyndell had me studying,” Cassius remarked, reviewing a page.

“I do not know where Tyndell got books for you to study from,” Sorin said, “but these are directly from the Witch Kingdoms.”

At the words, Scarlett noticed his entire Inner Court stiffen. “When did you obtain those?” Cyrus asked slowly.

“Not relevant,” Sorin said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“It most certainly is relevant,” Cyrus retorted, fire flashing in his eyes. “When did you go there?”

“Later, Cyrus,” Sorin said. “The Commander can only be here for a few hours, and I do not want to monopolize his time. You can take the books with you, just keep them hidden. Were you able to obtain any of the information we are hoping for?”

Cassius shook his head. Scarlett had helped Sorin draft the letter to him asking if they had learned anything since she and Sorin had left.

“Not as much as I would have hoped,” Cassius admitted grimly. “Mikale is furious. The Council is demanding to know where Scarlett is. The Assassin Lord is even more irate than Mikale. He is working closely with Lord Tyndell. How much he knows of the Lord and Mikale and everything that happened, I do not know. They believe that you enacted the wards with the use of Scarlett’s ring, locking Nuri away with the orphans. She does not leave the place where we have the orphans hidden for fear of being tracked down by the Assassin Lord. If he gets ahold of her, he can apparently force her to supply information. How he would do so, Nuri cannot or will not say. I do not go anywhere alone. They seem to think you will come for me because I am important to Scarlett. The number of things I had to do to come here was… It was a lot. Worth it, but I do not know that we could pull it off again. Not one orphan has been taken with the new wards though, so it’s working and that’s what matters.”

“Hiding is not a long-term plan,” Scarlett cut in. “You and Nuri being hidden away and constantly watched is no different than being locked away in a tower.”

“We are working on it, Seastar,” Cassius said gently, squeezing her hand. “We are figuring it out so you and Callan can come home.”

Home. She swallowed and snuck a glance at Sorin. He was speaking quietly with Rayner who had come to his side. With a nod, Rayner was gone in a swirl of ashes.

Sorin stood then. “Let’s end this for today. We can meet again tomorrow and continue discussing theories. Eliza, if you would escort the Crown Prince and his men back to the eastern side of the bridges.”

Eliza stood, and Callan looked none too pleased, but he and his guards followed her out. Sorin gave a slight jerk of his chin to Cyrus who took his own leave, a look of intense curiosity in his eyes as he nodded to her on his way out. Briar had left shortly after he’d brought Cassius, having matters of his own to attend. Sorin closed the distance between them. “He can only stay until late afternoon. I tried to get the others out as quickly as possible. Go find some stars, Scarlett.”

He made to leave, but Scarlett caught his arm. “On the eastern side of the bridges?”

“No, Love, you are free to go wherever you wish, as always.” Then he was gone.

Cassius turned to her. “The bridges?”

“Come,” she said. “Let’s walk. Tell me everything.”

Cassius filled her in on how Nuri and the orphans were doing. He told her of Drake and Tava. “Nuri must be going crazy being cooped up to avoid Alaric,” Scarlett commented as they meandered up a set of stairs.

“Like a caged feral animal,” Cassius replied. They had come to the highest bridge on the sixth floor and were stopped in the middle, looking out the window over the Tana River. “Sorin told me. Of what happened with Callan a few days ago.”

She turned to him. “When? How?”

“Before your meeting. When he told you he was picking something up. He came to help Briar get me over the border. Briar and I had to work out how I was going to get back, and we sent Amaré to Sorin when we were ready to come to you,” Cassius explained.

Scarlett turned back to the full-length windows, folding her arms and resting them along the railing. “I would have stayed with Mikale, you know,” she finally said. “To keep you and Nuri and Callan safe.”

“I know you would have.”

“He is not done. He is biding his time. He is planning something.”

“We will be ready for it, Seastar.”

“Will we?” she asked, bringing her eyes back to his. “He has already shown I can do nothing against him. He is stronger than me and is nobility.”

“From my understanding, you are royalty,” Cassius said with a smirk.

“How do you know that?”

“Nuri told me. She knows quite a bit apparently, but is bound by some type of magic that does not allow her to share much. It was quite the feat to get that much from her,” Cassius replied.

“It does not matter. I do not want a throne. It is why I walked away from Callan.”

“That is not why you walked away from Callan.” Cassius was staring down at the river flowing far below them. Scarlett was quiet, waiting for him to go on. “You walked away from Callan because you could not be your entire self with him. You were exhausted from having to keep so much hidden from him. You welcomed the cage when it came because it let you breathe for the first time in a long time.”

“How insightful of you,” she said sharply.

“I am not saying you did not have feelings for him, Scarlett. I am not saying you used him. Quite the opposite, actually. I think he used you in his own way, but that is neither here nor there. You loved him, maybe a part of you still does, but he will never be able to accept all of you.” Cassius shifted, leaning his back against the railing so he could see her face. “Your shadows have lessened since that day on the beach.”

“That day on the beach I had no control,” Scarlett growled. “I could have frozen you all. I still can’t control it. Sorin has been trying to teach me, but it feels futile.”

“You have been here less than two weeks, and from what Sorin told me, you spent the first five days either sleeping or vomiting your guts up. You did not learn to fight in two weeks. I’m assuming mastering your power will take time as well.”

“Time is something we do not have,” Scarlett whispered.

“Seastar, you need this time. We do not know what is coming. We do not know what we will face or when we will face it, but right now, in this moment, you need to breathe. Do not apologize for that. You have sacrificed much. You may have to do so again, but we can sacrifice some, too. Take some time to be happy before you come home,” Cassius said.

“How can I be happy when our children are being targeted, Cassius? When you and Nuri are in imminent danger every day because of my actions?”

“You will come for them, Scarlett, but coming back now would be like jumping back into a fight while you are still bleeding from a gaping wound. We are not your responsibility to protect.”

“Yes, you are!” she cried. “You carry two titles, Cassius. You are a Commander and a Black Syndicate Imperial. You know that those below you are your responsibility.”

“Are we discussing the Black Syndicate or your recent bloodline discovery?” he asked gently.

“I am not a princess nor am I a queen.”

“It appears it is in your blood, Seastar.”

“Stop.”

“Your mother was a queen in every sense of the word. I don’t know the story. I do not know how she ruled in this world. I do know how she ruled in the Black Syndicate. I can only imagine how benevolent she was as a true queen, Scarlett. I would have to believe you would be the same.”

“Enough. I am not my mother,” Scarlett whispered.

There was a long pause of silence then Cassius said gently, “We want you home, Seastar, but we can wait for you. You are worth the wait.”

Scarlett sighed, leaning her head against Cassius's shoulder. Home. He’d said it twice now. She felt more at home here in this palace than she ever had in Baylorin, but could a place really be home without Cassius? “Can I be even more selfish and ask you to come here until we figure things out?”

Cassius kissed the top of her head tenderly. “I have thought the same thing so many times, but we both know I need to be there, helping Nuri.” They fell silent again, each soaking in the other’s presence. “Tell me of Sorin.”

“What about him?” Scarlett asked, lifting her head to look into those brown eyes. A soft smile played on his lips, and she knew what he was asking. “It is weird being here with him and Callan. Some days I feel like I can hardly draw enough breath. Thinking of anything else feels like too much right now, even if we do share chambers.”

“You share a room?” Cassius asked, raising his brows in surprise.

“Don’t act so shocked. We shared a bed all the time,” she replied, shoving him lightly.

“You share a bed?” he asked, his brows going higher.

“Only the last few nights. I’ve had nightmares,” she said, her voice falling quiet again. “I wanted you, but…” She trailed off, leaning her head on his shoulder once more.

“I miss you, too,” was all he said as they fell into silence once more.

S ORIN

Sorin stood in the eaves of the fourth floor watching Scarlett and Cassius on the bridge two levels up. It was nearly time for the Commander to be getting back before Lord Tyndell noticed he was gone. The Lord apparently had no idea Cassius and Nuri had seen them before they had fled, and thus didn’t know that they were aware of the Lord’s involvement with Mikale. So Cassius had played along, gathering as much information as he could and “trying to work out the wards” they believed Sorin had enacted.

Sorin had let the two have their space and had gone somewhere not even his Inner Court could follow. He wasn’t jealous of Cassius. He had stopped being jealous of the man the night Scarlett had told him of the day that Mikale had violated her in so many atrocious ways. He had stopped being jealous of him when he’d figured out exactly who he was to her.

They had started working with her magic three days ago, but she had not been able to exercise an ounce of control over it. She had not summoned a single ember, drop of water, shard of ice, or lick of flame. She woke every night reaching for him as nightmares filled her dreams. The second night it had happened, she had cried into his shoulder for nearly an hour while he held her close, feeling utterly helpless, and he knew. He knew what she needed. She didn’t need him to erase vile touches like she had that first night when he’d felt her come around his fingers and held her bare body all night long.

While some days, what she needed might be him, right now it was Cassius. If that was what she needed, then he would do whatever he could to make it happen.

He also knew it couldn’t happen again. Getting Cassius here had been dangerous. They’d had to sneak him out of Baylorin and across the border, which meant getting through Night Child territory. He and Briar had crossed over to cover him for the final few miles, but Briar would have to help him get back. Briar had been right when they had sparred. The consequences of taking the twin flame Mark without a companion were already starting. He could not expend large amounts of his magical reserves right now.

And it killed him that when she said goodbye to Cassius today, he wouldn’t be able to tell her when she would see him again.

“Who is he?” Cyrus asked, coming to his side. Sorin had only returned moments ago, but there was ancient magic binding him and his Inner Court. They knew when their Prince left and returned from these halls.

“Cassius Redding. He is a commander in the mortal king’s armies. He is also powerful. I suspect Witch blood ties but am not certain,” Sorin replied.

“Impressive,” Cyrus commented. “But who is he to her?”

“He is not a threat if that is what you are asking.”

“I assume you would not leave her alone with him if he were a threat, but is he a threat to you?” He, too, was watching the princess. She and Cassius had sat down, right in the center of the bridge, side-by-side. Her head was on his shoulder, his head resting on hers. Their fingers were intertwined. He kissed the top of her head as he laughed about something she said.

“No, he is not a threat to me either,” Sorin said. “I may be her twin flame, but he is her soulmate.”

Cyrus was silent for a moment longer before saying, “At lunch, he said ‘so you can come home.’”

“He did.”

“Will she go back?”

“I do not know.”

“Will you let her?”

“I will not cage her.”

Silence fell again for a beat before Cyrus said, “I haven’t known her long, but I would miss the hell out of her if she is not staying.”

“Me too.”