Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2)

The Darkness

Scarlett couldn’t tell what was real and what was a dream. She remembered riding with Sorin, racing for the border. She remembered fighting and cutting down Night Children. She remembered Callan and Finn and Sloan and Eliza. She remembered fiery pain in her side.

She remembered vomiting over and over. She remembered fire and water and ice and ash. She remembered pain. So much pain. Her entire body ached. Her ribs throbbed in agony where they had once been broken. Maybe they were broken again. She didn’t know.

There were times she could swear she saw a black panther lying at the foot of the bed. There were times white light seemed to encompass her. There were times the beautiful man was there, watching her. There were times she was sparring with Nuri. There were times she was sitting on a bed talking with Juliette. There were times she was walking along the beach with Cassius. There were times Mikale was kissing her, and there were times it was Callan whose lips were pressed to hers. There were times she was lying with her head in Sorin’s lap, each reading a book, content to just be.

Sorin.

Sorin with his arm wrapped around her waist while they rode. Sorin kissing her by a stream. Sorin telling her that her mother had been a Fae Queen, that she was a Fae Princess. Sorin, the Prince of Fire. Sorin, who called her Love. Sorin, who had saved her only to break her.

Was any of it real?

She didn’t know. She wasn’t entirely sure she cared anymore.

The only constant was the shadows. Shadows that kept her company. Shadows that twisted around her, keeping out the others. Keeping out the crushing darkness. Odd, she thought, that shadows were creatures of darkness but kept the dark from encompassing her wholly. Every once in a while, a light would try to break through, but the shadows were impenetrable. Shadows that protected her. Shadows that sang to her. Shadows that soothed her.

Now she found herself in a thick forest, and the beautiful man was here. His silver hair was the color of her own as he walked silently beside her. She was barefoot, but pine needles did not prick her feet. Sunlight streamed through the trees, illuminating a well-worn path.

The man stopped as they entered a clearing, so she did too. The air was still here. Not a leaf moved on the trees around the clearing.

“Close your eyes, Lady of Darkness.” The man’s voice was smooth and cool. A chill went down her spine. She hadn’t heard his voice since he’d bid her to rise when she had been in Mikale’s grasp.

Real? Dream? Did it matter?

Scarlett closed her eyes and images flashed through her mind.

Veda stabbing Cassius. Nuri bleeding out. Mikale taking her in an old office. A prince sleeping before a fire. Plunging a dagger into Juliette’s heart. A friend stroking her hair to help her sleep. A dark shadow leaping the rooftops with her. Golden eyes staring into hers. A star going out. A Prince of Fire.

She gasped, her eyes snapping open, her hands clutching at her chest.

“Shh,” the man murmured, and for the first time ever, Scarlett glimpsed a flash of sadness on his face. “Not yet, Lady. Close your eyes.”

Scarlett shook her head. If she closed her eyes, those images that haunted her, that dragged her down into the depths of her darkness, that pulled her under, would come for her again.

“Do it,” he whispered, bending down to speak into her ear. “See who answers your call.”

Dream. This was a dream. It was too bizarre not to be.

Maybe it had all been a dream. Maybe she would wake up on the cold stone floor in the Lairwood House. Maybe Mikale would still have her…

She sighed and closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there until she felt a soft wind rustle her unbound hair. The cloak she was wearing shifted in the breeze, and she felt her shadows almost vibrating with excitement.

She’s coming, she’s coming, she’s coming, they whispered to her soul.

Scarlett felt the man beside her stir. He had moved behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. He squeezed them gently, tenderly. “Open your eyes, Lady of Darkness. See who answers to you.”

Scarlett slowly opened her eyes and before her stood a panther. She was sleek and beautiful and her muscles shifted under her gleaming coat of shadow and darkness and night.

“Shirina,” the man whispered reverently into her ear. “Lady Saylah’s servant.”

Saylah. The goddess of shadows and night. The goddess who was often whispered of along with her brother, Temural, the god of wildness and untamed adventure, and their parents Arius, the god of death and darkness, and Serafina, the goddess of dreams and stars.

The panther’s silver eyes mirrored Scarlett’s as it let out a loud growl. Scarlett jumped back, but the beautiful man steadied her. “Do not fear her, Lady of Darkness. She will guide you. She will protect you. A creature of untamed shadows.”

The panther slunk forward and brushed against Scarlett’s side. Scarlett tentatively reached a hand out and ran it along her back, feeling those powerful muscles under her fingers.

“It will be time to wake soon,” the man said quietly. “It will soon be time to face the shadows.”

“I’m not ready,” Scarlett whispered.

“One never is.” His cool, low voice sent shivers up her spine every time he spoke.

“Who are you?” Scarlett whispered, as she sank to her knees. Shirina laid down beside her and rested her giant head in her lap.

The man sank down to the ground next to her, propping an arm onto his bent knee. From the trees, a giant eagle swooped down and came to rest on the same arm. He gently stroked the bird’s head.

“Go and face your shadows. Then it will be time for us to meet,” he said, his voice impossibly gentle.

“I don’t want to go back.” She dug her fingers into the panther’s silky fur as tears slid down her cheeks. “It hurts. It just… I am not strong enough.”

The beautiful man beside her was quiet for so long she thought he had gone back to just being a silent presence, but then he spoke. “True strength, Lady of Darkness, is being brave in the hard seasons. True strength is getting back up one more time. True strength is believing you were made for such a time as this and fighting against all odds. True strength is having hope even when the stars go out.”

The panther had rolled to its side and was practically sprawled across her lap now, purring deeply. The eagle on the man’s shoulder ruffled its feathers slightly.

“Are you real?” Scarlett finally asked after several more minutes of silence. “Or are you just a dream?”

“Are reality and dreams mutually exclusive?”

Scarlett turned to look at the beautiful man, and a faint cool smile played on his lips. The eagle suddenly let out a screech and soared into the sky. The man stood and extended a hand to Scarlett. “Get up, Lady of Darkness. Hope is for the dreamers.”

With a final stroke of her hand down the panther’s sleek fur, Scarlett placed her hand in the man’s and rose to face the shadows.