Page 102 of Lady of Starfire

“You know, I think I like this snarky side of you,” she replied. Then she looked up at Sorin. “Try your fire?”

His head whipped to her. “If your power does not work against them, what makes you think mine will?”

“You’re stronger now, right?”

“You are still stronger, Scarlett!”

“Blood of death,” one of the beings breathed, his eerie voice raking along Sorin’s bones.

“Ugh,” Scarlett drawled. “Again with this?”

“Scarlett, this is not the time for your dramatics,” Sorin chided. “You told me you had a plan if they showed up.”

“I do,” she replied, twirling the dagger she had pulled. “Use your fire.”

One being glided closer, his golden sword slicing easily through Rayner’s shield of ashes.

“Now, Sorin,” Scarlett said, her back straightening with the demand.

A command from a Queen.

Rayner glanced at him sidelong, his features tight. He nodded, moving closer to Scarlett, preparing to shield her if necessary.

Sorin stepped away from her before he let his fire out to play. His eyes fell closed as he worked to control the raging wildfires in his veins. He couldn’t let it run wild. Not with her so close.

“All of it, Sorin,” Scarlett demanded.

“Scarlett—” Rayner started.

“He said it himself,” she interrupted. “I’m still stronger. He’s not going to hurt me.”

Then her shadows raked down his soul, calling to his power. Taunting it. Any control he had snapped. His fire exploded out. He felt Rayner’s shield shatter at the impact. In a panic, he opened his eyes.

And found Scarlett smiling wickedly at him.

“There it is,” she purred. Flames of red and orange, yellow and blue, reflected in her silver irises. “Keep them burning, Prince.”

Before he or Rayner could stop her, she was tossing starfire and freezing it in the air. Godsdamn steps that went higher and higher into the sky.

The beings were hissing, their swords cutting through his flames as they pushed forward, but his fire flared right back to life. He was scarcely scratching the surface of his power well.

“Be ready to catch her,” he snarled at Rayner.

“Already prepared,” he muttered, his eyes fixed on the queen leaping from flames in the sky.

When she was a good seventy feet in the air, she lifted her arms, all the frozen steps of flame coming to her and creating a stage in the sky. Her braid was floating among shadows that were thickening and swirling around her, strands of silver falling from the plait. Her gaze connected with his, and she fucking winked at him as she unclasped her cloak and let it fall from her fingers, the black material fluttering to the ground.

Then, as if she were pushing them down, her shadows plummeted when her arms dropped. Darkness crashed into his flames, and he staggered under the weight of it. Her shadows latched onto his fire, merging with it. She was walking along her platforms of ice, leading the dark flames along. He’d seen her use this before with her own fire. Shadowfire she had called it, but she’d had to split her power between shadows and flames. Now, though? Now she could put her full strength into her shadows, and their twin flame bond let her combine them with his fire.

His fire magic was now more powerful than an Avonleyan.

“Holy gods,” Rayner murmured.

Where she pulled, the shadowfire went. She was a dark goddess that could claim the world for her own or burn it to nothing.

The beings were screeching, golden swords clattering to the ground as the shadowfire consumed them. And while he kept his focus on his fire, making sure it flared back whenever one of the beings cut through it, he could hear her laughing in delight. From her vantage point, she could see every one of them.

“She is terrifying,” Rayner muttered again.

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