Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2)

Chapter 58 Scarlett

CHAPTER 58

SCARLETT

S carlett crept along the trees of the forest. The camp of mortal soldiers was precisely where she expected they’d be— as close to the southeast corner of the Earth Court as they could be without having to be in Dresden Forest.

The forest ran along the entire eastern border of the Kingdom of Toreall with the Witch Kingdoms on the other side. It was an expansive forest with oak trees so thick you knew they were ancient. Growing up, they’d been told stories of spirits and wicked animals that roamed these woods. Now she suspected such rumors were likely the Witches moving about the forest. And the griffins, she supposed. She still wasn’t sure she quite believed Sorin that those creatures were what the Witches flew on. But he did have a good point. Griffins seemed much more fitting for the terrifying females she’d encountered on her brief visits to the territory.

She pushed aside thoughts of the Witches and griffins as she watched the forces before her. There were less here than were camped at the Fire Court border.

Something had not sat right since she had seen those reports in Talwyn’s council room a few days ago. Sorin had confirmed that Ashtine had learned that forces were being moved to all the borders, but no one could gather why. No one had any idea as to why the mortals had suddenly decided that they needed to add security along the Fae borders.

Scarlett was beginning to suspect it had nothing to do with the mortals. There were at least two Maraan Lords in Baylorin. What were the odds they were only in Windonelle? The odds were as likely as coincidences had become in her life. Nonexistent.

There had been three Night Children at her own border and three at the Water Court. Their demand had not been for her. The others had assumed that was what they would want, but their demand had been to speak with the princes. When they’d arrived at the border, and she’d discovered only three vampyres present, her suspicions had only grown. If they had been there for her, more than three Night Children would have been there. Lord Tyndell and Mikale knew of her powers. Mikale had seen her since she had fled for the Fire Court. He knew she was working to master her magic. Three Night Children would have hardly been a challenge, even without her magic. No, they were not there for her.

Sorin had thought she was worried about her own safety, but her thoughts had been on anything but her wellbeing. If they weren’t moving into place to take her, then what were they doing? Sorin hadn’t recognized any of the mortal soldiers stationed near the Fire Court. None of his High Force was there.

The High Force was a small, tight, and impeccably trained unit. One soldier from the High Force was likely equal to ten regular soldiers. They had been learning about the Night Children.

And was likely right in front of her.

Scarlett had watched as Sorin had spoken to the three Night Children. She had watched as they had gone back and forth verbally. She had seen the fury cross Cyrus's face when the one vampyre had spoken of her being stabbed months ago. She’d smiled at the arrow he’d loosed in vengeance for her. She’d listened as the leader had told Sorin they’d expected to see her there. As he’d tried to enrage Sorin enough to tell him her whereabouts. Not because they wanted her, she’d realized, but because they’d wanted to make sure she was, in fact, in the Fire Court.

They were the distraction while something else was going on.

The High Force had not been learning about the Night Children to invade their territory. They had not been training to fight against them, not in the end. They only needed to fight against the ones who wouldn’t join their own forces. They only needed to get to the ones who would want to get revenge on Avonleya and feast on the Fae.

She had known then what she needed to do. She’d known Sorin would object, would fight her on it. He would have wanted to meet with Talwyn and Azrael, but there wasn’t time. The distraction was staring them in the face, which meant whatever they were up to was happening now. There was not time for meetings and correspondence.

But she also didn’t know what she was facing. Nakoa had been right when he’d flung accusations at her. She was a novice who had no fucking idea what she was doing. She was an assassin who hunted down Fae and those who didn’t want to be found. She was an expert at taking out one person. She could fight her way out of a crowd. But facing down trained soldiers by herself? A unit that had been trained by Sorin? This could all go very, very badly, and if it did, if she were hauled back to Baylorin, she didn’t want it known that she was married. She didn’t want Sorin to follow until she knew what she’d be facing. So she’d left her wedding ring behind, and she’d used the Blood Magic she’d been studying in that chamber in the dark hours of the night. She’d used a blocking Mark to create a barrier in their twin flame bond to keep him from sensing her and her from sensing him.

The cost had been having to kiss him and knowing it could very well be the last time. The cost had been having to act completely natural, argue with him, and watch him cross that border without her at his side. The cost had been the trust she very well could have irrevocably broken the second she’d sliced her palm and let her blood drip on that Mark she’d so carefully drawn in the dirt.

She glanced down at her now clear skin. The Mark hidden as a demand of the glamour in the mortal lands. She gritted her teeth, straining to hear the men beyond the trees. How had Sorin lasted three years in these lands with diminished Fae senses?

All the people she’d seen among the small camp were covered head to toe so any of them could be High Force or vampyre. She couldn’t scent them this far away, so here she sat, watching and waiting. Something had to happen soon if the Western Courts were currently being distracted.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, all the men began to congregate near the edge of the forest. Scarlett had slunk back farther into the trees as their leader began speaking and giving orders. The leader was the closest to her. The scents of blood and night-kissed wind drifted towards her. A Night Child then. Nine others were hanging on the edges of the group, watching not the leader but the surrounding lands. An escort, she realized. They were an escort of Night Children to lead them through the lands, but they had to cross a small section of the Earth Court first. Prince Azrael would destroy them. Either that or they’d have to cross through a small section of the Witch Kingdoms, which was arguably more terrifying.

This was all assuming they could get past the wards.

Scarlett carefully crept closer.

“Our sole goal when we get into the territory is to find the Contessa,” the leader was saying. “We have reason to believe she is not in her palace, but in her private residence. We have someone on the inside close to her who knows where it is. He’ll be meeting us as soon as we cross the border. He will fill us in further and tell us how to tell which Night Children to kill and which are on our side.”

The Contessa?

Scarlett racked her memories. The Contessa ruled the Night Children. Other than that, she knew little of her. To rule over such a bloodline, though, she had to imagine she was not an easy target and would be incredibly dangerous.

“As soon as the queen arrives and is taken care of, we move,” the leader continued.

Scarlett sat up at that. They hadn’t moved yet because they were waiting for her? No. They were waiting for Talwyn. Talwyn would kill them all by sucking the air from their lungs. They wouldn’t stand a chance against Talwyn.

And they wouldn’t stand a chance against her.

Scarlett took a deep breath, calling her shadows forward. They swirled and danced and nearly trembled at being allowed out, waiting to pounce and attack and kill. Then she plunged down deep into that well of magic in her soul. She pushed down and down and down, drawing every ember and drop of water and cold ice to herself. She had summoned her witch-suit and fighting leathers before she’d left the Fire Court.

Drawing the Spirit Sword from her back, she sauntered out of the woods to the waiting forces. They all froze, turning to stare at her as she propped the sword blade on her shoulder, one hand going to her hip.

“If you’re waiting for the queen, then here I am,” she drawled.

The leader’s lip curled back under his hood and his nostrils flared. “You are no queen,” he purred. “You are something so much better.”

The hand on her hip came dramatically to her chest. “I’m flattered that you think so.”

Four of the men guarding the small unit had come to flank the leader. The other five had closed in tighter, herding the men. Not herding them at all really. The High Force was getting into a formation.

“How cute,” she smirked. “Practicing those moves that General Renwell spent years teaching you.”

“Do not speak to them,” the leader hissed, taking a step towards her. “Where is the Fae Queen?”

“Now, now,” Scarlett chided. “We just agreed I’m much better. Don’t offend me by asking for her when we can play.”

A smile curled on the leader’s face. “And play we shall, but we cannot make another move until the Fae Queen arrives and is…handled.”

“Have you met the Fae Queen? She will destroy you all in a single breath. Literally,” Scarlett answered, her tone bored as she flipped her sword hilt in her hand.

“We are well aware of the Fae Queen’s gifts,” the leader gritted out. “We are prepared for her.”

“Pity,” Scarlett said with a shrug.

“Why is that a pity?” the leader demanded.

“Because I really like to play,” she purred. Flames encircled their entire company, the Night Children hissing back towards the men.

Scarlett stalked forward, her shadows growing thicker with each step creating a shield of darkness locking out all threats. She stopped on the outside of the fire enclosure and gave the leader a simpering smile…as two of the Night Children flanking him froze from the inside out. She sent a whip of her shadows at them, breaking them into chunks of frozen blood and gore.

The leader’s eyes dragged back to hers, and she purred, “Let’s play a game.”

“It appears as though you’ve already cheated,” he hissed, his fangs on full display.

Scarlett winked at him. “I was just leveling the playing field a little bit. You still have way more men on your side than I do on mine.”

A snake’s smile slowly flitted over the leader’s features. “Then let’s play a game, Princess.” His honey-colored eyes locked onto hers as his voice shifted. It was calm and soft and enticing. Her body went tense and lax all at once. The other Night Children around the men began to move once more. Her gaze flickered to them, but the leader tsked, and in that same voice purred, “Your eyes stay on me, Princess.”

Her eyes slid back to his and held. Something in the recesses of her mind thrashed in response, but she quieted it.

“Take down your flames,” he ordered smoothly.

Scarlett did so, and as the last of the flames disappeared, the leader came to a stop directly in front of her. He reached up and ran a finger along her jaw. “Everyone desires you. Everyone fears you. Everyone finds you so…uncontrollable. It wasn’t really that difficult to leash you.”

“What is your name?” she breathed, bringing her own hand up to his cheek, stepping into him further.

His nostrils flared, and he grazed his nose along her throat. “Lennox. Say it,” he demanded. “Let me hear it on your lips.”

“Lennox,” she crooned, her hand sliding across his chest.

One of the other Night Children came up beside Lennox and whispered in his ear. He only nodded, that serpentine smile growing wider as the male stepped back. “It appears I am winning our game, Princess, and our plans have changed.”

“What plans?” she asked, her fingers continuing to trail along his chest.

“Our plans to enter the Night Children land, but much more interesting prey has come along,” he answered, his hand coming up to cup the back of her head. His fingers gripped her hair, and he gave a sharp tug to jerk her head back and to the side. Again, his nose grazed her neck, a fang sliding along her throat. “The mortals have fallen back to give us room to…work. To contain you.”

Scarlett stepped farther into him, all of her pressing against all of him. The vampyre groaned softly. “I’d love for you to contain me,” she whispered.

Lennox chuckled. “I bet you would, Princess.” A fang scraped again. “If it would not make my death imminent, I’d taste you in more ways than one.”

“Pity,” she breathed into his ear, “because your death is imminent, anyway.”

Her shadows struck, wending around his throat and lifting him off his feet before her. Lennox was kicking his feet in the air, his hands trying to grip the shadows around her neck, but his fingers slid through the darkness as if going through fog. “Interesting fact, Son of Night,” she drawled, “entrancing doesn’t work on me.”

“How?” he gasped out.

“Not entirely sure, and I don’t entirely care.” With a thought, her shadows threw Lennox to the ground, and she shoved that darkness down his throat into every vein on his body until he stilled.

The remaining eight vampyres descended on her, and flames of white erupted from her hands. Two were dead before they took another step. She dragged up more and more power as she plummeted down into that pool inside herself. A swirling vortex of darkness and starlight, flame and water. She wreathed the spirit sword with those white flames and plunged it deep into the chest of a vampyre that charged at her. Hands snagged her around the waist, but her shadows immediately clamped onto him, prying arms from her. They held him in place until her sword went through his throat.

Two shadow panthers took down two more Night Children, ripping them apart. Arms and legs and chunks of flesh littering the ground. They prowled to her side as she faced the final two vampyres. They were hanging back, fangs bared, circling her.

Two left. She could feel herself lagging, exhaustion seeping into her being. She’d get information from these last two and then Travel back to Sorin. She’d collapse into his arms and apologize for what she’d done and beg him to touch her to get the feel of Lennox’s hands off of her.

“What do you want with the Contessa?” she snarled, trying to hide how drained she was.

“The Contessa controls the Night Children,” one hissed in response. “Whoever kills the Contessa, takes her place.”

And could order the Night Children to aid the mortals and Lords.

The vampyre that had spoken suddenly had a shirastone dagger in its head. Scarlett whirled in the direction it had come from, but blinding pain sparked in the back of her head. Her vision blurred and spots danced. Her shadows flickered as she dropped to her knees.

Another burst of pain…and then blessed darkness.