Page 44 of Lady of Darkness

“Holy hell. At least we agree on something,” Death’s Shadow grumbled from beneath her hood.

Scarlett shot her a glare before returning her attention to Sorin. “Since you’re a stubborn ass, I assumed you wouldn’t heed his warning, so here we are. You’ve seen me. You can see I’m perfectly fine and up and…better than ever,” she added with a grin. “And now,Iam warning you. Stay away from me,Ryker.” She emphasized his fake name with a hint of amusement. “I have matters to attend to and cannot risk you becoming a pain in my ass when my focus needs to be elsewhere.”

Now that she was up close and in his face, he could see the dark circles under her eyes and the exhaustion that lined her features. She may be up and sneaking around on rooftops, but she was anything but fine. He glanced quickly to Death’s Shadow and then back to her. Dropping his voice low, he said, “Let me help you.”

Her voice became stern, her mouth becoming a thin line. “No,” she answered, stepping back from him.

To his surprise, Death’s Shadow, who shouldn’t have been able to hear him, said from behind her, “If he’s offering, Scarlett, maybe we should take him up on it. He could—”

“No,” Scarlett said again, her voice lethal as she looked over her shoulder at the other woman.

“Why the hell not?” he spat, his temper rising.

“Who was that woman?” she asked sweetly, looking at him from under her long lashes.

Sorin gritted his teeth. “Not the same one from your dream.”

He could have sworn her icy blue eyes flickered like flames. He looked to her hand on the wrist he still held in his grip and found no ring adorning her finger. “That is why not,” she seethed, noting his gaze. “I won’t work with lying pieces of shit.” She jerked her wrist from his hand in a quick, expert maneuver and stalked back over to her companion. “Stay away from me, General. I mean it. Unless you’re planning to tell me who that woman is, stay the hell away from me. If you interfere with what I am doing, whether intentionally or not,shewill be keeping you busy while I finish what needs to be done,” she said with a jerk of her chin to Death’s Shadow beside her. “Then I will come take care of you myself.”

Death’s Shadow leaned over and whispered something to Scarlett that Sorin could not hear. Scarlett merely nodded, and before his eyes, the woman stepped back and seemed to disappear into the shadows. She was gone before he could take another breath. He stepped towards Scarlett, and she snarled at him. He froze involuntarily, as if his body had no choice. Her Fae instincts were taking over, and she had no idea.

Fae were clever and cultured enough, but they were also far more primal when it came to instincts. It’s why their senses were impeccable. It’s why they could smell and hear better than mortals. It’s why they became territorial and protective and could become savage on the battlefields when they let those survival instincts take over completely. A snarl like the one she’d just given? That was a command to stand down, an order, but he was not her subject.

He took another step, and it felt like dragging his foot through mud. His face was hard and challenging. “Why didn’t you tell me you were trained in the godsdamned Black Syndicate?”

A vindictive smile spread across her face. “Oh, so you’ve heard of it?”

“Heard of it? It is well known even in the—” he stopped himself. “Even where I am from. Some of the most wicked and foulest of the world come from there. It is said King Deimas himself aided in establishing it for his own dark dealings.”

“Mind how you speak of us, General. We are not as we appear. Not entirely anyway,” she added with a lazy grin.

“You grew up there? Your mother was a healer there?”

Her face hardened at the mention of her mother, and she clicked her tongue. “So many questions. You already owe me four. You will not answer myone. I don’t feel the need to share anything else with you.”

She took a few steps to the right, inching towards the edge of the roof. He growled at her, low and rough. She only laughed at him, as if he were a pup playing with a toy, thinking he was bigger than he was, and stuck out her tongue at him.

Quicker than she could move, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, baring his teeth. He wrapped an arm around her waist as he growled into her ear, “You and that tongue still have not learned manners. I am a general in your king’s armies. I will not be dismissed.”

Scarlett only smirked at him, pressing herself up against his front. He could feel every inch of her that touched him. Oh, she knew how to wieldeveryweapon in her arsenal and how to wield them well.“If only I answered to the king,” she purred. Then she leaned in close to whisper in his ear. “Careful, Sorin. I bite.”

Before he could respond, she whirled from his grip with a maneuver he himself had taught her. With one last wicked smile, she stepped from the rooftop. A moment later, he could just make her out, running in the shadows across the top of the wall surrounding the manor. She leapt down onto the grounds, no one on patrol even turning to indicate they’d heard a sound. A few minutes later, a light flared in the windows of what he now knew to be her room.

He stared at those windows, running over everything he’d just seen and heard, and as he watched them, she appeared there. Her cloak was off, along with her jacket. She seemed to look right at the rooftop he was standing on…and flipped him off.

“She is delightful, isn’t she?”

He whirled at that voice of silk and honey, expecting to see her standing right behind him, but the rooftop was empty. Then directly into his ear, that voice purred again, and he froze. “She might bite, but I grow fangs.”

He whirled once more, his fingers grazing her cloak as she danced backward. She laughed, and it was one of the cruelest sounds he’d ever heard. The sun had set completely now and in the darkness, he could barely make her out in all the black she wore. Even her hands were in black gloves. “Show me your face,” he growled.

Death’s Shadow merely laughed again and said, “Oh, we shall have fun, you and I. I look forward to it, General.” Then she was gone.

CHAPTER 15

SCARLETT

“He’s still following you,” Nuri said as Scarlett came through the doors to one of the training rooms beneath the Fellowship. There was training with Sorin, and then there was training for sneaking into a castle undetected. Sorin’s training was certainly superior for hand-to-hand combat and weaponry. But stealth and secrecy and nimbleness? Those kinds of skills were forged here. Under a house full of assassins and thieves.

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