Page 42 of Lady of Darkness

“Where are you going?” Nuri asked, standing as well.

“If I’m going to be sneaking into the castle, I’m going to need a new sword,” Scarlett replied grimly. “I never got a new one after… that night.”

“I’ll come with. I love sword shopping,” Nuri said brightly, like they hadn’t just been discussing something so dire moments before.

“You love shopping for anyone new to warm your bed,” Scarlett pointed out.

“True,” Nuri replied, pulling her own hood up. Before she opened the window, she turned back to Scarlett and said, “Don’t tell Cassius you’re going to see Callan until after you’ve done so. He’ll skin me alive if he knew I’d talked you into this.”

“Cassius is not my concern here,” Scarlett said as she followed Nuri out the window, hauling herself up onto the roof.

“Veda and I haven’t had a chat in a good long while. Maybe it’s time,” Nuri said with a wicked grin.

“Let’s not play with fire until we’re sure we need the heat,” Scarlett answered, sliding down a roof slope with ease.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Nuri asked, her grin turning downright feral now.

Scarlett couldn’t help it. A grin spread across her own face. It had been over a year since she’d felt even remotely like her old self,over a year since she’d felt alive. She stepped to Nuri’s side at the edge of the roof. “Then I suppose we better decide what we shall burn first.”

“All of it,” Nuri breathed, as she stepped from the roof. “Every godsdamned inch of it.”

Scarlett dropped down beside her, landing gracefully in the alley street below. “Perhaps we start with a spark and see where it leads?”

“A spark can start quite the blaze,” Nuri replied, her eyes bright, like they always got when she was tunneling down into that place of intense focus.

“Then it shall be one of wildfire,” Scarlett purred as they set off down the street.

Death’s Shadow and Death’s Maiden. Two sparks to set their world on fire.

CHAPTER 14

SORIN

“How is she?” Sorin asked, coming up beside Cassius in the mess hall. It was time for lunch, and this was the first time he’d seen the commander since that night.

Cassius cast a sidelong glance at him as he picked up a tray in the line. “If you honestly think I’m going to join you on Scarlett’s shit list, you are sorely mistaken, Renwell,” he answered grimly.

Sorin picked up his own tray as he said, “Is she awake?” Cassius just stared at him as if to say ‘Are you serious?’Sorin gritted his teeth as food was placed onto his tray. “You won’t even tell me that?”

“Sorry, Renwell,” Cassius said with a low laugh. “We may have become something like friends as of late, but my loyalty lies with the one who said not to tell you a damn thing about her wellbeing.”

“Then I shall go check on her myself,” Sorin snapped, slamming his tray onto a table. Soldiers down the benches glanced up at his tone, scooping up their trays and moving elsewhere. A pissy general was someone no one cared to be around.

Cassius sat down at the table as if they were having a pleasant conversation and motioned for Sorin to do the same. Nothing seemed to ever rile him— unless it concerned Scarlett.Once Sorin had sat, Cassius said, “Why do you care so much?”

“What?” Sorin growled.

“You’ve known her for what? A month now? The woman had to resort to cheating in a sparring match to get you to agree to train her. So what is she to you?”

“I cannot ask about someone who was ill? I cannot simply wish to know how she is faring?” Sorin replied, his voice low and vicious.

Cassius raised a brow. “If that were the reason you were asking, sure, but we both know it’s not. You’ve taken an interest in her from that first day you laid eyes on her, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why. You don’t want her for your own the way Mikale does. The two of you seem to barely tolerate each other most days. Up until she launched herself into your arms the other night when you pulled her from that nightmare, I’d never seen her even look at you without some hint of distaste.” When Sorin didn’t say anything, he continued. “It does make me wonder if she has something to do with your own land, wherever it is you came from.”

Sorin stared the Commander down, and to his credit, Cassius didn’t so much as flinch. He didn’t know how to answer him. He couldn’t tell him his suspicions about her. He couldn’t tell him she had magic, and he was beginning to suspect her tonic did more than she’d been led to believe. He hadn’t pieced everything together yet, let alone trying to explain it to a mortal. He didn’t care about her. No, he cared about getting that ring from her and returning it to where it belonged. She was just a means to an end.

“She is nothing to me,” Sorin finally answered.

“Well then,” Cassius said, pausing to cut his piece of roasted pork and take a bite. He chewed slowly, then continued thoughtfully, “Should you indeed go to check onnothing, you will find she is likely not at the Tyndell manor. More than that, should you try to track her down, you shall likely find a dagger poised at a most inconvenient place.”

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