Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2)

Chapter 40 Scarlett

CHAPTER 40

SCARLETT

T here were gasps of surprise and the scraping of chairs as nearly everyone around the table shot to their feet when Scarlett, Eliza, and Rayner appeared in that room. Nearly everyone. Talwyn and the silver-haired female stayed sitting. Scarlett felt multiple powers spearing toward them all at once. Rayner and Eliza shielded with their flames and smoke, but Scarlett’s own white flames shot up like a wall between them and the others in the room.

“Starfire?” the silver-haired female asked. She didn’t seem surprised, but rather an air of curiosity was in her tone.

Scarlett cast them all a wicked grin as she threw her shadows into the flames, turning them black.

“Interesting,” the silver-haired female said, cocking her head to the side as she studied the flames.

“How dare you come here without being summoned!” the male with the black hair roared, coming towards them.

Scarlett merely blinked, and her shadows had him bound and gagged and kneeling on the floor.

“Scarlett?” Sorin said her name in shock, his eyes wide with terror. He made to come to her but was stopped by Talwyn.

“Stay where you are, Prince,” Talwyn said. Her voice was even and calm, like this happened every day. Thick vines appeared, ensnaring Sorin to his chair.

Scarlett smirked at her. With half a thought, she had those vines frozen and shattering, just as she had done to those tree branches all those months ago in the clearing in Baylorin. The Court Royals and their Seconds were all shielding as the frozen shards sprayed around the room. Then she leveled a deadly glare at Talwyn. The male who had been advancing on them raged around his bindings as Scarlett took a step towards his sovereign.

“Dismiss them,” Scarlett ordered, her voice lethal.

“Leave us,” Talwyn said, her voice cool, commanding. With a wave of her hand, every single other person in the room was gone except for Sorin and his Inner Court. “You have something to say?” she purred at Scarlett, but Scarlett’s attention had turned to Sorin, whose golden skin was so, so pale. She could feel him. Everything. The fracture not only to his power but to his soul. The breaking of taking a twin flame Mark without having it returned. She ignored Talwyn completely, taking a step towards him. The Mark on her hand tingled, as if it anticipated what was about to happen.

“You told me to figure out what I was.”

She took another step towards him and lifted a hand. In it, flames of purest white hovered.

“You told me to figure out what I was to the realms.”

Another step had her lifting her other hand where water and ice swirled in an orb.

“You told me to figure out what I was to you.”

Sorin was so still, as if she had frozen him when she’d frozen those vines. When she took the last few steps to close the space between them, he stood. She took in those golden eyes, his dark hair. She noticed his crown of flame still glowing atop his head, and with a smirk, she lifted her palms. The flames and water and ice jumped above her head, weaving amongst themselves to form a crown of ice and water, the flames creating a burning jewel in the center.

He gaped as the crown settled down onto her silver hair. She sent tendrils of her shadows snaking up the crown, winding their way around the ice and sparkling like black diamonds. And then, just because she could, she sent shadows dancing among the flames of his own crown.

He stared at her, and she could see the question in his eyes. “I have so many treats to give you should you speak the question on your tongue,” she said, her voice low and full of promise.

Sorin swallowed. “What are you to me?” His own voice was hoarse, hardly more than a whisper.

“You came for me, and I have come for you.” Sorin’s eyes widened as she held up her left hand. Then she spoke words she had said before, but not in the Old Language. They were words her soul had known before she had. “I am yours, and you are mine. I choose you, above all others. Always.” Scarlett gasped slightly at the burning that seared through her hand as the Mark flared gold then stood black as night against her skin. “You are my home, Sorin Aditya. I want no one else. I want it to always be you.”

Sorin took her face in his hands and kissed her. Deeply. Thoroughly. A claiming. Caring as much as she did that they had an audience, which was not at all. She pulled back and brought a hand to cup his cheek.

I am yours and you are mine. She heard him echo the words into her own mind as he gazed into her eyes. She watched as his own eyes flicked up to her crown of starfire, and he crooned, Princess of Fire.

About that…

Sorin’s brows rose in question, and she turned to face Talwyn.

The queen’s long mahogany hair flowed around her on that phantom wind that seemed to always accompany her. She still sat in her chair at the head of the table, her face unreadable. She propped her head on her hand as if bored when Scarlett said to her, “I am also the daughter of Eliné Semiria, and I am her heir. I am a queen in this land, and I lay claim to the Fire and Water Courts that are rightfully mine.”

Talwyn’s jade green eyes were fixed on hers, and a knowing smile spread across her face. “Of course you are a queen, Cousin.”

Scarlett stilled, not sure of what to say. Was Talwyn being sincere, or was it some kind of trick? She glanced at Sorin, who was also staring at Talwyn.

“You willingly acknowledge that she has a right to rule beside you?” he asked. His skin already had its color back. His crown was glowing brightly atop his head.

“Of course I acknowledge it. I sent you to find her,” Talwyn answered snidely, rising from her chair. She waved a hand, and the table before them disappeared in a swirl of sand. She strode for them, and Scarlett felt the entire Inner Court fall into line behind her and Sorin.

“You sent me to find a weapon,” Sorin countered, a shield coming up around them all.

“I told you that you were going to find a weapon. I sent you to find your twin flame, ” Talwyn corrected. “I had assumed you had found her when you sent Amaré to Briar asking about the Semiria rings all those months ago, but when she returned with you without her Mark, I did not know if it was her. And then there was the matter of the mortal prince that is squatting in your palace. I thought he was brought with because he was her husband. I needed to know, so I came to him to try and learn the truth.”

“You kidnapped him!” Scarlett growled, orange flames appearing at her fingertips.

Talwyn sneered at her and a gust of wind had her flames extinguishing.

Scarlett felt her mouth twist up in a fiendish grin as she sent her shadows slithering across the floor to her cousin. Then she shaped those shadows into actual snakes. With tongues of fire. And scales of razor sharp ice.

“Scarlett…”

She could hear the awe in Sorin’s voice.

“So many treats, Prince,” she crooned.

Talwyn stilled, but she did not back away from the shadow snakes that hissed from the floor, rallying to strike at Scarlett’s first thought.

“I did not know it was truly her until the day I surprised you both in the courtyards and saw your Mark but without a companion.” Talwyn’s eyes were on Sorin, and they narrowed in disgust as she said, “Only you would do something so reckless and stupid. I had hoped she would discover it while you trained her. I had hoped that you would help her see it, that your useless Inner Court would step up and do their godsdamn jobs and tell her.” She threw a glare at the others when she said it. “But it was taking too long. Things are happening too quickly across our borders, so I summoned you here with the other Courts. We needed to plan, and I needed you away from her. When I felt you enter these halls with Cyrus, I sent Shirina to take her to the Oracle.” Talwyn stopped on the other side of the shield, her jade eyes shimmering. “Welcome home, Scarlett.”

“You lie,” Sorin breathed.

“Do I?” Talwyn countered, raising her brows. “Ask her.”

Sorin turned to Scarlett. “Shirina? That is how you got to the Witch Realm?”

Scarlett nodded. “Yes. She took me to the High Witch who took me to the Oracle.”

Sorin blinked in surprise and horror, glancing behind himself to Rayner who nodded confirmation. His eyes settled back on Scarlett as he asked, “You met the High Witch?”

“I do believe the Oracle also told you of some keys?” Talwyn chimed in again, an arrogant smirk in Sorin’s direction.

Scarlett looked from Talwyn to Sorin. He was waiting for her to answer. Scarlett felt as though she were being forced to choose a side when Juliette had made it sound like they’d all be working together.

“Yes, she told me of the keys,” Scarlett sighed.

“Who can find them, Scarlett?” Talwyn taunted softly.

Scarlett glared at the queen. Turning back to Sorin, she said through her teeth, “I can. Eliné hid them, so I am the one who can find them. Henna disguised them so Talwyn can restore them to their true form.”

“So in a way, Prince of Fire, you finding your twin flame indeed found me the weapon I sought. The weapon that will aid me in finding the Avonleyan Keys, which will get us inside of Avonleya to seek our true revenge.” Her jade eyes were glowing brightly as she held Sorin’s stare. Scarlett looked back and forth between them.

“The Oracle also told me that the two of you would willingly help with the tasks that lie ahead,” Scarlett ventured.

“What tasks?” Cyrus asked from behind them.

“Oh, you know. Keys. Answers. Blood magic,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “All the fun things.”

“Of course I will help you,” Sorin interjected, still glaring at Talwyn.

“Yes, but we will need Talwyn’s help, Sorin. She is the only one who can restore the keys, and if you two cannot at least tolerate each other, it will not help matters.”

“We all have our roles to play in this,” Talwyn said, turning and walking back to her chair. She sat down, leaning back comfortably and crossing her legs one over the other. “Sorin and I do not agree on many things, but I do not hate him entirely.”

Sorin snorted a laugh. “It appears we are getting lots out into the open today, Talwyn. Let’s not fabricate more lies now.”

Talwyn’s voice was hard as she replied in that cool, calculated voice of hers. “I have known you my entire life, Prince of Fire. You were by my aunt’s side every single day. I would pray to the Fates that if I could not have you by my side when I was queen, that I would have someone just as loyal. No, I did not start to hate you until you left me alone. A child on a throne. Even now, years later, I cannot find it in myself to entirely hate you, if only because I once loved you so fiercely.”

Scarlett looked between Sorin and the queen. She couldn’t quite read his face. It was a mixture of regret and disbelief.

“You sent me from your side,” Sorin snarled. “I was there for you. You sent me from your side and replaced me with Luan.”

“You begged to leave my side and retrieve Eliné,” Talwyn snarled. “You led that mission yourself and lost more than a queen in the process.”

Scarlett could feel the hurt and betrayal emanating off of Talwyn.

“I know you, Sorin," Talwyn continued. There was no kindness in her voice. “You are the one who taught me how to watch others. To learn their tells and weaknesses. I was your last remaining connection to Eliné. You had watched me grow up. You had trained me. In many ways, you were more my father than my own ever was, even with the short time I had with him. I had barely lived. I have barely lived, not compared to you and many of the others. And now I was expected to rule in a realm, in a world, I knew very little of, and you begged to leave my side to retrieve her. You left me and lost what I valued most in the world.”

Scarlett had no idea what she was talking about. Her mother? Did she blame Sorin as he had blamed himself for her death for so many years? Sorin said nothing as he stared at Talwyn.

“Sorin is not responsible for Eliné’s death,” Scarlett said slowly, glancing between the two of them.

Talwyn huffed another humorless laugh. “My aunt chose her own fate when she left in the middle of the night for her own reasons. However, her Second chose to try to retrieve her and lost so many on a fool’s errand. He is responsible for those lives, Cousin. Those losses are his fault. Those losses are his failures.”

She felt Sorin’s guilt down their twin flame bond. She felt him inwardly flinch at her words. Was she referencing Thia? If Cyrus could forgive him for that, who was she to hold such a grudge?

But before Scarlett could voice her questions, Talwyn said, “I will not deny that our personalities and styles of ruling clash on more than one level. I will not deny that how I do things is very different from how Eliné did things. We will likely continue to fight each other in many areas, but not in this. Not when it matters. Not when the entirety of the world is at stake.”

A swirl of sand appeared near Talwyn’s head, and she reached up and plucked a note from the center, just as Scarlett had seen Sorin do with the fire. Talwyn read the note once and stood from her chair.

“You all must leave. Azrael is returning.” Talwyn waved her hand, and the table reappeared, complete with papers strewn about. “Who else knows who Scarlett really is?” she asked of no one in particular.

“The people in this room, and Briar and his Inner Court,” Sorin answered. “And apparently the High Witch.”

Scarlett did not interject to mention the fact that Mikale, Nuri, and Cassius also knew who she really was.

“Let’s keep it that way for now,” Talwyn said, coming to stand before them once more.

“Azrael does not know?” Sorin asked incredulously.

“No,” Talwyn confirmed. “I have told no one of what I suspected, not until I was sure you would indeed find her. Not until she had accepted her place. Let’s keep it quiet a while longer, if you please. It will likely be to our advantage in the end. Now go. He approaches.”

“I do not know if I believe you, Talwyn,” Sorin said, a fire portal appearing behind the Fire Court.

“I understand,” Talwyn said, “but I do believe I told you that the Fates would place us on the same side.” Her arrogant smirk of victory had returned. “We shall speak soon, Prince.”

As she said it, an unexpected gust of wind swept through the room, pushing them all out into the open portal except Scarlett. The portal snapped shut behind them, and the two queens stood facing each other.

“What else did you learn? What else did the Oracle reveal to you?” Talwyn demanded.

“You show me yours, and I’ll show you mine,” Scarlett crooned in reply.

“This is not a game. You accepted that throne and became a part of something. You have responsibilities to your people,” Talwyn retorted.

“Yes, I did. I became a part of something I think is much bigger than you realize,” Scarlett replied, picking up a stack of papers from the table. She skimmed the first page. Reports from the mortal lands.

“Explain,” Talwyn said with venom in her tone.

“I don’t trust you enough to explain myself to you,” Scarlett answered casually.

“What about working together?” Talwyn snapped. “Did you not just preach to your twin flame that we were going to need each other?”

“I did, but loyalty and trust are not things I just give blindly.” Scarlett flipped the page of the report. This couldn’t be right.

Talwyn took a step towards her, but one of Scarlett’s shadow snakes rose up before her, and she froze.

“Nice pets,” Talwyn said snidely.

“I thought so,” Scarlett retorted, flipping another page of the report. “So much more effective than wolves.” She leveled a cool stare at Talwyn. “Although, they can really become anything I need them to be.” The shadow snakes twisted and writhed until three wolves stood before her. Their eyes swirling with flames.

“It would appear you’ve learned some new tricks,” Talwyn said through clenched teeth, her eyes on the shadow wolves. “But have you mastered your magic enough to wield it when it matters?”

“Step closer and find out,” Scarlett purred.

“My Second is nearly at these doors,” Talwyn snapped, thrusting a hand towards the double doors at the end of the room. A gust of wind barreled into them, keeping whomever was on the other side from entering.

“Talwyn,” a deep male voice snarled from the other side.

“Your twin flame?” Scarlett asked, sniffing once.

“No,” Talwyn answered, her eyes hardening. “Do you need a portal to get out of my face?”

“No, no,” Scarlett drawled. “Until next time, Cousin.”

Then she stepped through a rip in the world, taking her shadow wolves with her.