Page 53 of Lady of Darkness

“Because they put her in a cage,” Cassius said simply.

Tonight I do not need to be reined in. Tonight I need to be let out.Her words clanged through him.

“What happened?” Sorin snarled softly.

“That is not my tale to tell. We have tried to coax her out of that cage for over a year, but now that she has tasted this freedom again…” He trailed off for a beat, but then said, “Why did she call you Sorin the other night?”

Sorin tensed. When Cassius had not asked him the next day, he had thought the Commander had missed when she had called him by his real name.

“Because that is my name. Who put her in a cage in the first place?” Sorin demanded. He would explain about his name later. His eyes were fixed on Scarlett as she swayed and moved with her melody, as if every minute she played was another release.

“People who will do whatever they can to shove her back in it,” Cassius answered grimly.

SCARLETT

She didn’t know how long she’d been playing. It could have been minutes or hours. She suspected the latter as she settled back into herself. Every song was like gulping down a breath of air when she hadn’t even realized she’d been suffocating. Sweat beaded her brow, and her cheeks were stained with trails of tears. She could still smell Callan on her hair, on her skin, and her song that had transformed into major chords transitioned abruptly back to the minor keys she’d been exhaling.

Movement out of the corner of her eye snagged her attention as the owner of that movement seemed to sense the sudden shift in her song as well. Her fingers kept moving over the keys as she realized she didn’t know where she was. She took in the doorway on the wall to the right that she guessed led to a kitchen, seeing as the dining table was across the room from her. It was piled high with books and papers, and sitting at it, reading reports of some sort, was Sorin. He had stiffened slightly when her song had switched keys, but his eyes remained on the papers he was studying, almost as if this had been happening all evening. She didn’t know. She didn’t really remember anything after crawling into Cassius’s bed after that night. The minutes had stretched into hours. The hours into days. How long ago had that been?

Without missing a beat, she looked over her shoulder. Cassius was stretched across a sofa before a hearth. There was a small fire in it, but it was more for light than warmth. He had a book propped open. The windows were unlatched, letting in the stifling night air. She breathed in deep, and her fingers clanged to a stop.

Sorin and Cassius both snapped their heads up to her. She stood from the piano bench, and Cassius was instantly on his feet. She saw Sorin’s sword belt discarded on the floor by his seat, and she snatched it up, drawing the blade from the sheath and staring at the window.

“Scarlett…” Cassius said cautiously.

Sorin was on his feet now, too, though not in front of her, guarding her, but beside her. He had a dagger resting casually in his own hand. “She is here,” was all he said.

A moment later, a shadow came in from the window. “Well, well,” came her voice of silk and honey. “Look who finally got out of bed.” She stood before them in her black clothes of death, and had Sorin not been standing next to her, she would have pulled that hood back and punched the girl in her face. Rage coiled around her insides, and she felt as if the sword hilt burned against her palm.

“Get out,” Scarlett said quietly. Her voice was icy and venomous and razor sharp all at once.

“You said you would come to me in two days’ time. It’s been two days,”Nuri answered, perching on the edge of the sofa. “What happened with Callan, Scarlett?” Scarlett staggered back a step at the name, and Sorin pressed a hand to her back to steady her. She could feel Nuri studying her underneath that damn hood. “I see. Gods, no wonder you look like a wraith right now.”

“Do not call me that,” Scarlett hissed, pointing the sword at Nuri. It was heavier than her own sword and was slightly awkward to hold, but she held it steady.

“That’s what we are, isn’t it?” Scarlett could hear the smirk on Nuri’s face. “But I suppose I did forget that’s whathecalls you, too, hmm? His Wraith of Shadows.”

Scarlett lunged, but Nuri was just as fast as she blocked Scarlett’s sword. Again and again she swung, Nuri blocking her each time. She saw Cassius move to intervene, but the sound that emanated from Nuri froze him in place. “Do not come to her rescue, Cassius,” she panted, as she parried another attack from Scarlett.

“This is not the time for this, nor the place,” Cassius snarled back.

Nuri was striking back with such force now that Scarlett’s arm was shaking under the awkwardness of Sorin’s blade. “Come out, Scarlett,” she taunted with glee. “Come out to play.”

“I will kill you for making me do that,” Scarlett growled back.

“Not with that blade you won’t,” Nuri scoffed, lunging again.

Somehow she knew what he was doing without having to look at him. Scarlett reached behind her back and grabbed the dagger that Sorin was holding out to her. Sorin, who had been training her, and who had taught her how to fight with an off-balanced blade.

Then she did indeed come out to play.

SORIN

She was a whirlwind of wrath and rage and steel as she pushed Nuri back and back and back in that spacious apartment. Cassius had fallen silent, and Sorin monitored everything from the side. He had sparred with her so many times, but he had never seen her move like this. She moved as if she had indeed been caged and confined, but was now freed to unleash hell. He could tell his sword had been hindering her, and before he could say her name, she had reached behind for his dagger that he had already had outstretched to her.

Nuri matched every movement, every thrust and lunge, like she knew exactly how Scarlett would move. Until she didn’t. Until Scarlett whirled fast enough and used a move he had taught her to land a clean kick to the woman’s chest. Nuri went sprawling to the floor, and Scarlett was atop her in an instant. Miraculously, the hood still covered her face, and her gloves remained intact. He still had not glimpsed the woman’s features. Scarlett yanked back the collar of the girl’s jacket and sliced a thin line down the entire length of the girl’s collarbone, right below a spirit amulet she wore. Blood trickled down the girl’s pale skin.

“Scarlett!” Cassius cried, lunging forward.

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