Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2)

Chapter 49 Scarlett

CHAPTER 49

SCARLETT

S carlett awoke in her chambers to find Sorin still sleeping peacefully, his arm draped protectively over her waist as it was nearly every night he slept beside her. She had fallen asleep quickly last night to Sorin making long soothing strokes down her back and side. Despite the uneventful and deep sleep she’d had that night, she still felt utterly exhausted. She could have slept for the entire day. She studied the sleeping male beside her. His face was softened in sleep, and for just a moment she let herself wonder what it would have been like to be just two ordinary people. To wake up like this every morning and not have a million responsibilities demanding their attention. To wake up and eat breakfast in their bedclothes and not have meetings and people to kill and children to save, but…

Queen.

Prince.

Mortal kings.

Fucking Mikale.

Careful to not wake Sorin, Scarlett sat up thinking she would sneak down to the chamber beneath the library and gather some books to bring with her to Baylorin. She’d need to be fast. Sorin would wake soon.

Silently, she set her feet on the marble floor and hissed at the cold. Fire Prince indeed. A dark shadow drew her attention to the corner where Shirina was sitting, her tail switching behind her, those silver eyes glowing.

Scarlett closed her eyes, inwardly groaning. After the secret chamber, she had planned to meet with Callan this morning to explain everything, and let him know he was going home. She slid gracefully from the bed, grabbing a silk robe from the end and putting it on over her nightgown. She padded silently to the panther, coming to a stop in front of her and crossing her arms. “If I touch you, you’re taking me somewhere, aren’t you?” she whispered to the giant feline. She had to be nearly twice the size of a normal panther. Shirina just cocked her head to the side as all felines had a tendency to do. “I’m changing first this time, you overgrown cat.”

Scarlett quickly changed into some charcoal gray pants and a tunic of the same color with fine silver thread throughout it. She slid on her witch-boots and witch-leathers, strapping various weapons to herself. She slid the Spirit Sword down her back as she came back into the bedroom. Shirina stood when she entered.

Scarlett glanced at Sorin, who was stirring. Oh, he would be livid when he woke and found her gone. Shirina gave a growl, and Scarlett knew it for what it was— a warning that he could not come. At the sound of the growl, though, Sorin’s eyes flew open.

“I’m sorry,” was all Scarlett had time to say as she reached for the panther.

“No!” Sorin roared, his eyes wide with fury and terror, as Scarlett was pulled through a rip in the world.

S ORIN

He couldn’t feel her. He threw himself down that bridge farther and farther, but he couldn’t find her.

Scarlett!

He screamed her name over and over down the connection. He stormed from their chambers, flames licking at his body as his leathers and weapons appeared on him.

How could he not feel her?

A fire portal appeared before him, and he stepped through directly into the White Halls, right outside the doors to Talwyn’s private chambers. Flames wreathed his wrists and trailed behind him. He pounded on the door, yelling her name.

The door opened, and he was face-to-face not with Talwyn, but Azrael Luan.

The Earth Prince gave him a sneer. Sorin bared his teeth and snarled, “Where is Talwyn?”

“Not here,” Azrael growled back.

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I was meeting with the queen before she had to go,” Azrael replied with deadly calm.

“Where did she take her this time?” Sorin spat.

“What are you talking about?” Azrael glowered, stepping from the rooms and closing the door behind him.

“Shirina. Talwyn sent that panther to her once before, and she was taken to the Witch Kingdoms. Where did she send her this time?” Sorin breathed, using every ounce of self-control not to throw the male before him against the wall.

“I do not know,” Azrael ground out between gritted teeth.

Sorin huffed a laugh in disbelief. “These damn queens and their secrets.” He hurled a ball of flame into the wall of the Halls, leaving a scorch mark against the gleaming white marble.

“Enough, Aditya,” Azrael snapped, and Sorin whipped his head to him at his tone. He seemed almost nervous.

“Where is Talwyn?” Sorin asked slowly.

“I do not know,” Azrael snarled. “I woke her when Maliq appeared in the room. She walked over to him and when she touched him—”

“He took her somewhere,” Sorin finished. “She did not seem to know where she was going?”

“I do not think she was planning to go anywhere,” Azrael replied, his voice clipped and short. “She grabbed a dagger from her nightstand, but she was in casual clothing. She did not even have boots on.”

The two males walked down the stairs to the meeting rooms. Sorin reached up to send fire messages to his Inner Court and Briar at the same moment Azrael sent sand swirls up to his own Inner Court. Ashtine stepped from the winds a moment later directly into their path.

“This is a sight never before seen,” she said curiously, observing the two males. Sorin had always found Princess Ashtine different to say the least, but she was astute and unrivaled in her stealth. As a Wind Walker, she knew the secrets carried on the winds, and his wards were carefully crafted to keep her from hearing things from his own home.

“Do you know where the queens are, Ashtine?” Azrael asked, ignoring her comment.

“I do not.”

The three continued down to the council rooms, and when they entered, they found their Courts and Briar with his own, presumably having stopped to bring the Fire Court with him. Nasima flew into the room, settling on Ashtine’s shoulder. A moment later, a male stepped to her side from a whirlwind portal. Ermir, Ashtine’s Second in the Wind Court. Ermir rarely joined them at meetings. While the princes always attended matters with their Seconds, Ashtine never did. She didn’t need to. The winds warned her of threats well before anyone could get near her. The fact that she had summoned him made Sorin’s stomach drop.

“What is going on?” Briar asked, as the whirlwind snapped shut. He addressed the room, but his eyes were fixed on Ashtine.

“The queens are missing,” she replied simply, as if the matter required no further explanation.

“What do you mean they are missing?” Eliza snapped from beside Cyrus. Eliza had little patience for anyone, let alone Ashtine and her peculiarity.

“She means,” Sorin cut in before Ashtine could give a reply that was sure to piss Eliza off even more, “that the queens were taken somewhere. Shirina appeared in our chambers about twenty minutes ago and took Scarlett somewhere.”

“And Maliq did the same to Talwyn,” Azrael added.

“The Witch Kingdoms?” Cyrus asked, raising a brow.

Sorin shook his head, “I cannot feel her there.”

“You have heard nothing?” Briar asked, again addressing Ashtine.

She tilted her head as if listening to something, then replied, “Nothing. The winds do not know.”

“They cannot have just disappeared,” Azrael snarled. He turned to Sorin. “You are the one with the twin flame. Can you not locate her?”

Sorin bared his teeth at the Earth Prince. “I cannot feel her in the territories. I cannot feel her anywhere.” His eyes settled on Rayner, who merely gave a nod of his head, and disappeared into smoke, understanding the silent command to comb the lands for her.

“Because they are not in the territories.” Ermir’s voice was calm and prudent. “Not the lands of this continent, anyway.”

Everyone turned to the Wind Court male. Well, everyone but Ashtine, who continued her queer listening to things no one else could hear. She walked to the window, allowing her Second to speak, as though she already knew what he was going to say.

Ermir was one of the oldest of all of them present. He had been young when Ashtine’s parents had ruled the Wind Court and had also served in Queen Henna’s Inner Court. He had silver hair, the color of Ashtine’s and Scarlett’s, and he was just as discerning and clever as the Princess.

“Where are they if they are not on the continent?” Azrael demanded. “Why would Sorin not be able to feel his twin flame?”

“Because the Darkness has powers of its own. Powers that can stifle such connections,” Ermir replied. His tone was neither grave nor grim. It just was, as if he were stating the weather.

Sorin’s blood ran cold at the words, though.

“Are you suggesting they are across the seas?” Briar asked in disbelief.

“Possibly,” Ermir said, considering. “Possibly not.”

“Where else would there be Darkness?” Azrael snapped.

“Darkness is everywhere, of course,” came Ashtine’s lilting voice from near the window. “Queen Scarlett walks with it in her wake much of the time.”

“I swear to Silas,” Azrael seethed. “The two of you need to stop with the fucking riddles and give us answers. The queens of the Courts are missing. We do not have time to sit here and listen to the two of you talk in your Wind Court perplexity.”

For once, Sorin had to agree with Azrael.

Ashtine merely studied Azrael, those sky-blue eyes calculating. Ermir had gone silent, stepping to his princess’s side, hand within casual reach of his weapon.

Briar stepped before her, his back to the rest of them. “I think what everyone is trying to say, Ashtine, is that time is of the essence here. If the queens are in trouble, we need to know where they are so we can aid them.”

A small smile formed on her lips, and as she spoke, her eyes stayed fixed on Briar. “Darkness exists everywhere, in every world, and on every plane.”

“Every plane?” Briar pressed. He had always been the one, other than Talwyn, who could speak to Ashtine without losing his mind in frustration. Everyone had gone silent as they let Briar and Ashtine converse.

“You did not think there was only one, did you?” she asked, cocking her head to the side quizzically. When Briar did not answer, she continued, “The planes overlap each other. They are the spaces between the worlds. The planes are how the Spirit Animals can travel among the territories. They travel along the Spiritual Planes. But there are others. The Darkness waits there, in the places between the stars, patiently waiting to be let in when one opens a door.”

“So you are saying Shirina and Maliq could have taken them to another plane, and that is why Sorin cannot find Scarlett through their twin flame bond?” Briar asked tentatively.

“If a door was left open, the Spirit Animals would know and would have come to collect one of the beings in this world who can close the door before the Darkness can come through,” Ashtine replied.