Page 145 of Lady of Starfire

She felt his growl in her soul as he hauled her up and shifted beneath her so she was in his lap. He yanked her back down onto him, another sharp gasp forced from her lungs. Her hands were on his shoulder, nails leaving indents in his flesh. His hand slid up her spine, embers left in its wake as he wound his fingers into the length of her hair and pulled, forcing her head back to look into his eyes. She found pure lust. Primal desire and need.

She took over the movements as his other hand snaked around her belly and down to play with those nerves. There was no rhythm. There was no rhyme or reason to their push and pull, not as he drove her to the edge of pleasure with his thumb on her center, his tongue in her mouth, and his cock buried deep inside of her. Their magic swirled around them— fire and shadows, light and dark. It was power she had never felt before. It was them. Fierce and raw and wild.

And when release slammed into her, when she tipped her head back in pure pleasure, Sorin followed, hauling her into his chest and clutching her tightly as his movements slowed.

Their breathing was erratic as they clung to each other, clung to this moment. Sorin eventually pulled back, tenderly brushing his lips along her brow, her temple, her mouth before there was a burst of flame and a dagger appeared in his hand. They said nothing as he cut across the Source Mark, and she held out her palm for the same. He only pulled her back to his chest, letting his magic feed hers. The same way he fed her body. The same way he fed her soul.

And later, when her power was brimming and after they had eaten with their family, when Sorin was deep in sleep restoring his own power reserves, Scarlett slipped from their bed yet again. She pulled on pants and a loose tunic, along with some silk slippers, before she slipped from their rooms.

She made her way up one level of the castle, to the entire floor that was Cethin and Kailia’s. When she rounded a corner that would take her to the main doors of their suite, a swirl of ashes and smoke appeared before her, just as she’d known it would.

Kailia stood there, amber eyes narrowed and an arrow nocked loosely in her bow. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, actually,” Scarlett said. Then she jerked her chin at the arrow. “No need for that. I’ve had enough deathstone for one day, thank you.”

Kailia eyed her, leaving the arrow in place. The female certainly didn’t trust easily, but that was to be expected, she supposed, given where she was raised.

“I came to see if you wanted to come with us in two days.”

At that, the queen jerked back a step. “No. I will never step foot there again.”

Scarlett held her palms up placatingly. “I can understand that, but our plans have changed slightly, and I think… I think you may just want to be part of them.”

Slowly, Kailia removed the arrow from the bowstring, and it disappeared among a swirl of ashes. She looped the bow across her back as she met Scarlett’s gaze and said, “I’m listening.”

Chapter27

Scarlett

“There are seraphs everywhere,” Rayner said before he’d fully stepped from his ashes. “In the skies. Around the perimeter.”

That was fine. Not ideal but fine. They’d expected as much. Scarlett knew it had been too much to hope for anything else.

“And the entrance?” Sorin asked, arms crossed as he surveyed the dense foliage around them.

“Easily a unit of forty,” Rayner answered, grey eyes swirling. The Ash Rider was tense. Simply being here put him on an edge that Scarlett rarely saw from him. Kailia was in the same state. The Avonleyan Queen was rigid, her grip on her bow so tight her knuckles were white. She always wore a black gown, but today she was clad in tight fitting black pants and a black tunic. She had fighting leathers in place, a quiver at her back, and Scarlett was fairly certain the dagger in her belt was a deathstone blade that she would be asking about if they all survived this day.

“Kailia?” Scarlett ventured tentatively.

Amber eyes snapped to her. “I can take care of a good number of them from a ways back, but once the initial surprise wears off, it will be more difficult.”

“That’s not what I was asking,” Scarlett said softly. “You know you do not have to do this, right?”

“I am aware of my freedom,” she answered, eyes sliding back toward the cliffs.

Scarlett was fairly certain that if Cethin had had any semblance of his full power, she would have found her shadows locked in a battle against his darkness when he learned she had approached Kailia about coming with them.

“She will never breathe the air of those islands again. I promised her that.” Cethin had snarled, advancing on Scarlett when she met with him the morning after she’d spoken with Kailia.

“Stop right there, Cethin Sutara,” Scarlett had said sharply, holding up a hand. “If you make me tap into my power right now, I swear to Arius, I will make you regret it. It will fuck up everything.”

“I cannot believe you went behind my back and asked her to do this,” Cethin had said, his fists clenched at his sides.

“I asked her to do nothing,” Scarlett had retorted. “She deserves the opportunity to be part of this. Have you ever thought that maybe sheneedsto do this?”

“I cannot go with her,” he had all but roared at her. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to have to sit back and watch all of you go and fight while I can do nothing? How do I protect her from across the fucking sea?”

“You trust she can do this. She is one of the fiercest females I have ever met. I have watched her fight the Hunters, Cethin. You think she cannot do this?”

---