Page 199 of Lady of Starfire

So she welcomed the Chaos.

Let it take her.

Let it break her.

Let it consume her.

Chapter36

Sorin

He’d Traveled them the moment Scarlett had touched the lock with her blood. She’d done it. Shown the Chaos within what she could give it. How much power she had to offer. What they could create.

Because at its core, that’s what Chaos did. It created and shaped, broke and remade.

Scarlett had found texts about it in the catacombs, but it wasn’t until they’d learned of the World Walkers that they had figured out what the lock was. Why it could unlock the realm. What Scarlett could do with it— a secret not even Saylah knew.

Saylah had been right. The Chaos in the lock was drawn to Scarlett more than her. Scarlett carried Chaos from multiple different magical bloodlines. That alone made the lock seek her out more than others. It was why Alaric wanted her so badly. The power she could not only wield but create—just like she created shadowfire and a new Mark to take her to Shira Forest. It was something written in the pages Sorin had grabbed from the cliffs that made them come up with the idea of showing the Chaos all the power it could have to shape and break and create.

But the lock would also be drawn to her because the Chaos within recognized its own. Because while Scarlett had Chaos from Fae and Witches and a god, she also had Chaos from a World Walker.

Shirina had breathed it into her one day on a beach when Sorin had had a foot in the After, and Scarlett had screamed to the stars that she was done. She and the others had assumed it had just made her sleep so Cethin could dream-walk to her, but it had done more than that. According to the research Scarlett had translated, Shirina had been the daughter of a powerful high ruler. Whether or not that had been Korra, they couldn’t know for sure, but still the panther was powerful. How she had transferred the Chaos, they did not know, but Sorin ventured to guess it had connected to Chaos that Scarlett already possessed.

Whether Scarlett wanted to admit it or not, the Fates had been walking beside her in more ways than one.

Now he and Rayner stood dumping a small vial of her blood atop the spot where Scarlett had summoned an ancient city. The same city a High Queen had once inhabited after she’d created this world. The three of them had Traveled here before they’d gone to Elshira to meet with Saylah. Scarlett had marked the spot that neither of the Fae could see.

They didn’t know if their plan would work. They didn’t know if she’d be with them or not. It ended up being not. When her blood had touched the orb, darkness had erupted, throwing them all back from her. When it had receded, the lock was gone and so was Scarlett.

If the Chaos had taken to her like they’d thought it would, she was likely between worlds right now.

Among the stars.

“This is going to work,” Sorin said, the ground trembling beneath them as he and Rayner raced for the descending bridge that would lead to the mirror gate below.

Rayner didn’t reply because they had no idea if this was going to work or not, and if it didn’t…

They ran down the winding bridge, grateful to not find any of the feline creatures waiting for them. Hopefully that remained the case when they left. By the time they reached the base, the world had stilled. Sorin drew another vial from his pocket, smearing Scarlett’s blood across the doors, and when they creaked open, he was shoving inside.

He threw flames into the air, casting the entire room into a soft glow and rushing to the other end of the chamber where the mirror gate stood. Pulling the final vial of her blood from his pocket, he studied the symbols and Marks around the mirror. The symbols of the gods, yes, but there were others. Scarlett called it the Runic Language, but they both knew it was more than that.

“Which one?” Rayner asked, coming to a stop beside him.

That was the real question.

Which symbol would call her back to this world?

He could still feel her down their bond. She was alive. That fact alone was keeping most of his panic at bay. As long as she lived, he could find her.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “It can’t be one of the gods. It would call to the wrong being.”

“So one of these then?” Rayner asked, brushing fingers along various symbols Sorin did not recognize.

Sorin nodded, pulling paper from his other pocket. Scarlett had listed out various symbols and their meanings, but none of them surrounded the mirror. Learning that an actual World Walker’s essence was inside that lock had altered things. He’d promised he would not fail her, and he wouldn’t, but they were running out of time. It would only stand to reason that the longer she was gone, the harder it would be for her to find her way back.

Scarlett? Love?

There was no arrogant voice replying in his mind.

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