Page 258 of Lady of Starfire

Darkness exploded out of her, but she managed to keep it contained. Cyrus suddenly realized why she’d been pacing. The Chaos in her was being drawn to the magic in the portal key, being drawn to its own kind. Shadows and white embers swirled so thickly that he couldn’t see the portal key, the High Witch, or Scarlett, and Cassius was clutching at his arm, dragging him back from the storm of Chaos before them.

But Scarlett was right. She did have control over it. It did not spread or strike out at any of them, but that was because it was drawn to the portal key more. Either way, when the darkness finally dissipated after several minutes, there was no portal key in the center of the triangle. The rings were on the ground a few feet away, as if tossed to the side. The precious gems were cracked and dull. Scarlett was on her knees, chest heaving, and Sorin was rushing forward, dropping down beside her at the same time he was slicing across the Source Mark on his forearm.

And the High Witch was…gone.

“Hazel?” Cassius’s voice was a confused rasp as he looked around.

Scarlett’s head snapped up, eyes looking around frantically. “No,” she said, shaking her head and trying to shove off Sorin. She tried to stand, but her legs buckled, sending her back to her knees. Sorin caught her, and she struggled against him some more. “I didn’t… I had control over it. I kept it away from her.” Her eyes went to Cassius, tears shining in them. “I didn’t, Cass. I swear it.”

Cassius wasn’t saying anything. He was just staring at the spot the High Witch had been standing.

“You did not kill her, Scarlett,” came Tybalt’s voice as he strode forward. He stopped between Cassius and Scarlett, looking between them. “Hazel’s mother was relatively young for a Witch when she Faded. Hazel assumed the role of High Witch when she was scarcely a few centuries old. Her mother Faded so young because that was the cost of separating the portal key. It took so much of her power, she did not have enough left to maintain her Staying. The cost to put the portal key back together took even more power.”

“Are you…” Cassius took a step forward, his mother’s spell book held limply at his side. “Are you saying she…”

Cyrus was reaching for him, but he shrugged him off, taking another step towards Tybalt.

With a sympathetic look, Tybalt said, “She Faded, Cassius. I am sorry.”

“No,” Cassius said, shaking his head. A hand came up, raking through his shaggy strands. “She can’t just Fade away. Just be gone like that.”

“That is how Fading happens,” Sorin said gently from where he was holding Scarlett to his chest. She was silently crying, tears streaming down her face. “Beatrix Faded while I was embracing her.”

“Cass—” Scarlett said, a sob escaping. “Cassius, I am sorry. I didn’t know. We didn’t know.”

“She knew,” Cassius exclaimed in a harsh whisper. “She knew, didn’t she?”

His father looked like he wanted to reach for him, but he didn’t. “The Witches are very cautious about how they interfere with fate. They understand that changing one thing can cause a ripple effect—”

Cyrus sensed it a moment before it happened, and he lurched forward, clamping onto Cassius’s wrist as he Traveled from the gardens. He hadn’t gone far. Only back to Cyrus’s rooms inside the palace, likely because he didn’t really know the place well enough yet to go anywhere else.

He stood there. Still in the center of the room. Staring at nothing.

“Cass,” Cyrus said tentatively, still holding his wrist. He reached up, cupping his jaw and guiding his face to his own. Cassius seemed to look right through him. “Cassius, I need you to say something. Tell me what you need.”

“Say something?” Cassius repeated, his voice a harsh hiss. “What is there to say? She abandoned me to the mortal lands. It should be no surprise that she abandoned me again.”

Cyrus remained silent, letting him get this out. Nothing he said right now would change anything.

Cassius jerked his arm out of Cyrus’s grip, but he didn’t move, didn’t go anywhere. “She could have said something.”

“I know, Cass.”

“But she didn’t. She didn’t say a fucking thing. She just…” He lifted his other hand to drag through his hair, but the spell book was still in it. “She just handed methis.This.”

He held it up before throwing it across the room, and Cyrus winced. That spell book was old. As old as Gehenna’s, if he had to guess.

The book hit the floor with a thud, but something had fallen out during the turmoil, fluttering to Cassius’s feet. An envelope with his name scrawled across it in tight, elegant handwriting.

Cassius saw it at the same time Cyrus did, bending to retrieve it. His hands were shaking as he stared at it.

“You do not have to read it now, Cass,” Cyrus said after a moment. “You do not have to read it ever if you do not want to.”

Cassius was silent for another long moment before he said, “Why do I care, Cyrus? I spent my entire life without a mother. A father. Why do I care that she is gone when she was never there to begin with?”

“Cass,” Cyrus sighed. He reached out and clasped the back of his neck, pulling him into his chest and wrapping his other arm around him. “She was still your mother, even if you only knew her for a short time. Maybe that shouldn’t matter, but it does. It’s more than her. It’s everything that might have been. It’s unanswered questions. It’s something you were still trying to decide if you wanted, but now the choice has been made for you.”

Cyrus got him to move to the sofa where he kept an arm around him, Cass leaning into him and staring sightlessly out a nearby window. Cyrus let him be with his thoughts, knowing he’d speak when he was ready.

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