Page 91 of Lady of Darkness

“Back to the shadows,” she answered.

“So now you are a Wraith of Shadows?” His fingers still gripped hers as she made to move to the stairs. If he only knew how close he was.

“Good night, Callan,” she said gently, with a soft smile.

She felt him watching her as she crossed the ballroom. Finn appeared at the bottom of the stairs, and she merely nodded to him. When she reached the top, Cassius pressed her tonic into her hand, and she drank it down as he said, “He’s falling for you, you know.”

“I know,” she said.

“This was your plan?” he asked sharply.

“No, but I suppose it could work to our advantage.”

“It is a dangerous game, Scarlett,” Cassius said quietly.

“The only kind I know how to play.”

The next week, five children went missing from the Black Syndicate, and Scarlett knew it was time to ask Callan for help. She placed the note on his pillow as she usually did and then slid into the shadows of his room to wait. An hour passed. Then two. She was growing restless and bored when she finally heard the creak of his hall door.

She watched as he entered his private bedroom, untucking his shirt as he went.He reached up to begin unbuttoning his tunic when he spied her note. He crossed the room quickly and sat on the bed, unfolding it. Then his head jerked up.

The note had held only one sentence:

What if the shadows spoke to you tonight?

Callan stood, crossing the room to the door. He closed it, sliding the lock into place, then asked cautiously in the dark of the room, “What would the shadows say?”

Good. He hadn’t called for anyone.

“They would ask if you could keep some of its secrets,” she purred back.

His head whipped in the direction of her voice. “If they would trust me enough to share them, I would take their secrets to the grave for the return of two favors,” he replied, taking a step towards where she stood hidden. She was next to an open window, a quick escape route already noted should she need it.

“That’s mighty brave of you to ask from the darkness,” she crooned back.

“Brave or stupid, I am not yet sure,” Callan said with another step.

“And what are these favors?”

“One.” Another step closer. “Your name.”

“And the second?”

“To see your face without a mask in place,” he breathed. He was a few feet from her now, but the clouds were obscuring any moonlight. She was indeed ensconced in shadows, blending in with the darkness.

“Well then, Prince,” she said, stepping from the shadows now. She heard him suck in a breath as he beheld her in the little light from the flickering hearth. She was bedecked in her usual black with more weapons than teeth upon her. She reached up and pulled her hood back, revealing her face. “I shall fulfill the second favor now, the first after we have discussed a matter I need your help with.”

They spoke long into the night. Scarlett told him of the children disappearing;although she left out where they were disappearing from. A dangerous line she was toeing, being here, asking him for help. He listened, only interrupting when he needed clarification. Callan kept a healthy distance from her for much of it until she needed to leave to take her tonic. She pulled her hood back into place, and as she made to move to the window, he caught her arm. She froze, her eyes dragging from his hand to his face.

“That,” she said, her voice lethal, “is very stupid of you.”

“Or mighty brave,” he countered, his voice low.

“I must go,” she answered, making to leave again, but his grip tightened.

“My first favor,” he growled, bringing his face closer to hers, searching it, as if memorizing every feature.

“Tomorrow,” she replied, her own voice dropping low. “Have information for me tomorrow night, Callan, and I shall tell you my name.”

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