Page 19 of Lady of Darkness

She gasped again.

“Scarlett,” Cassius whispered. She could hear the slight panic in his voice.

In and out. She tried to talk her body through the motion. She just needed to get a solid breath down. This was real. She was in her bed at the manor, not in that cold cell or that small office.In and out,she ordered herself.

Finally, the oxygen filled her lungs fully, and her head fell against Cassius’s shoulder, his hand continuing to stroke her hair. When she had managed to get down a few more breaths, she felt him rise from the bed, taking her with him. A moment later, he was setting her into his own bed in his room next to hers. She felt the bed dip when he crawled in beside her.

“Sleep, Seastar,” he whispered as he resumed the calming motion on her hair.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered back.

“I know. I’m sorry I haven’t been here.”

She didn’t know how long she laid there, but sleep eventually found her again. Cassius’s hand never stilled.

CHAPTER 6

SCARLETT

“What a surprise. You have your nose in a book,” Tava drawled from the doorway of the sunroom. Her long blonde hair was tied in a simple knot at the base of her neck, and her mint-green gown brushed the floor as she entered the room and plopped into the chair adjacent to where Scarlett sat.

Scarlett glanced up from her book. “Hmm. Book or tea with a bunch of girls gossiping about the latest goings on in court? I’ll go with the book, thank you.”

Tava rolled her eyes. “You left me to go to Kiara’s tea by myself…again.”

“I wish I could say I am sorry, but…” Scarlett shrugged her shoulders and returned her attention to her book.

Tava glared at her and crossed her arms across her chest. “I have hardly seen you lately. Do you want to see if the training barracks is empty?”

“No,” Scarlett answered, not even looking up from her book this time.

“Shopping?”

“No.”

“Anything?”

“No,” Scarlett snapped.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Tava demanded, eyeing Scarlett warily.

“I’m just—” Scarlett sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m tired from training with Ryker, and then my dreams… I’ve hardly been sleeping.”

“Have you talked to Mora? She could probably give you something to help you sleep,” Tava said, worry sounding in her voice.

“I don’t need to take another tonic. I need to figure out what these dreams mean.”

“Maybe they don’t mean anything. Maybe they’re just dreams, Scarlett.” Tava’s tone had grown tense at the tone of Scarlett’s own.

“I thought that at first, but they’ve changed. They’re different from the usual ones that wake me in the night,” Scarlett said.

The beautiful man had been in every dream since he’d first appeared a few nights ago. He was always there, as if he were watching her. He never spoke. He never did anything. He was just… there.

“Different how?” said a male voice from the doorway of the sunroom.

Scarlett turned and saw Cassius leaning against the door frame. His shoulder-length brown hair was tied back from his shoulders and his sword hung at his side. Ryker stood behind him, the usual look of annoyance firmly on his face.

“Scarlett is having dreams that she thinks mean something,” Tava replied, rolling her eyes again.

---