Page 141 of Lady of Starfire

He was there to help Cassius and her utilize their Guardian Bond more. She wished he could keep training her to defend against his draining power—the same magic Alaric had—but he was still replenishing his power after using the last of it to dream walk to her. She had wondered if he would find a Source when the Wards were down and the Fae and Avonleyans would coexist once more. But as Kailia appeared at his side, and he looked at her the same way she and Sorin had been looking at each other moments ago, Scarlett knew he wouldn’t.

The next hour was grueling. Their group trained hard with magic and weapons, knowing this was the last time they could do so before they left on their mission. Cassius was in the sky with Tybalt. She was shielding against Sorin’s fire, while Cyrus and Rayner were assaulting him with counterattacks. Her world was fire and darkness, ashes and ice. Cethin was barking commands at her, at Sorin, at all of them.

“More, Sorin,” she ground out, purposely letting his wild flames get closer. He immediately backed off, as he had been doing the entire time.

“The bond won’t let him, Darling,” Cyrus panted, appearing at her side and throwing up a shield of flame when Kailia sent an arrow at him. The fire didn’t stop the deathstone arrow, but it did slow it enough for Cyrus to catch it in midair before it found its mark.

“I know,” she ground out in frustration. She glanced up at the sky, still in awe at seeing a dragon flying around. Tybalt couldn’t half-shift like Cassius and Razik could. It was either his human form or his dragon.

And the dragon was magnificent.

Smaller than Ranvir, the spirit animal of Sargon, he was still huge. His charcoal scales seemed to absorb the sunlight as he soared above them. Black wings flapped as dragon fire spewed from his mouth with a roar that forced Cassius to back flap and guard at the same time. Cass would never be able to shift fully into a dragon due to his Witch blood, but Razik could. Scarlett hadn’t seen it yet, but she was sure it was just as spectacular.

“We should take a break before—” Cyrus started.

“No,” she interrupted. “No breaks.”

“Scarlett. I still don’t think—”

“We’re doing this, Cyrus,” she retorted, catching Cethin’s eye. Her brother nodded in understanding.

Kailia sent an arrow into the sky. The signal they’d all agreed on as Tybalt turned sharply and began to dive straight for her.

They’d all agreed Sorin needed to lose control. For centuries, he’d had his fire mastered. He was training with his new gifts, sure, but she needed him to be ready faster. She neededhimto understand what he was capable of now, because if she was reading those scrolls in the catacombs correctly… Well, if she was, neither of them truly knew what they were capable of.

In the Runic Lands, he’d only given in when they were in danger. Even then, he’d waited until she had leashed his power with her shadows. She understood the twin flame bond thing. She truly did.

Which is why there was currently a dragon flying straight for her. Tybalt could protect himself with his dragon fire, and Scarlett had already leashed Sorin’s fire once. She could do it again.

Cyrus and Rayner were keeping Cassius busy. Despite knowing the plan, the Guardian Bond would still try to force him to come to her aid. Everything was going to plan.

Except when Kailia appeared directly in front of her, a wicked glint in her amber eyes, as she slipped a band onto Scarlett’s wrist before disappearing amidst her ashes.

Scarlett looked down as she felt her starfire thrash in her veins. Her shadow armor vanished. Her fire and ice slipped away to nothing.

And when Tybalt hurled dragon fire in her direction, she was left with only her training and wits, and that did fucking shit against godsdamn dragon fire.

She ducked and rolled out of the way seconds before the fire hit directly where she had been standing. She tried to reach Sorin down their bond, to tell him what was going on, but there was nothing. There was silence in her head. Deathstone killedeverything. It nullified her Marks. She could feel her power draining, a steady trickle from her soul.

She clawed at the band on her wrist as she ran, but it was stuck. There was no removing it.

“Rayner!” she screamed, ducking when Tybalt swooped low again. Rayner knew about deathstone. He’d know what to do.

But the deafening boom of flames colliding with dragon fire drowned out her scream. She was thrown back by the meeting of those two powers, and the breath was knocked from her lungs as she landed hard on her back. Not only that, she’d landed wrong, and her ankle was screaming in pain.

She was going to kill Kailia for this. She didn’t care if the female was her brother’s wife or not. She didn’t care that the female was a queen.

Coughing, she rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. A low snarl she felt in her bones had her lifting her head as she tried to suck down air, but the air got caught in her throat.

Sorin was striding towards her, and he looked like a god of fire. There was no other way to describe him. Flames of orange and red and blue wound around him. Glowing embers sparked with every furious step. His golden eyes were pure flame as they zeroed in on her, and there was nothing but primal wrath on his features.

“Sorin,” she gasped, trying to push to her feet, but her ankle gave out.

Another roar drew both of their attention to the sky where Tybalt was diving once more, but a wall of flame erupted that had the dragon banking hard to avoid colliding with it.

And then Scarlett was gaping as that wall of flame took on a new shape.

One with a tail and wings and scales of embers.

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