Page 47 of Lady of Shadows

“My pet,” he said with a slight smile, “how lovely you look this evening.” Scarlett looked behind her again. Was she hallucinating? Had she finally gone so mad she was seeing things? “Look at these delightful talents I am learning.” Scarlett slowly turned back to the mirror. “Tell me, Scarlett, where in his Fire Court has Sorin Aditya hidden you?”

Scarlett watched as her shadows darkened and swirled faster around her, flowing through her hair and around her skirts. “I am not hidden well if you are speaking to me, am I?” she finally managed to say. If she had finally gone mad, it didn’t much matter what she said to him, did it?

“If only that were the case,” Mikale answered, his smile turning into a sneer. “My source in the Black Syndicate has a few ideas and has heard several rumors, but we are unable to confirm any of them. I am assuming he is responsible for that.”

His source in the Black Syndicate?

“I have no idea about what kind of defenses he has,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

“I highly doubt that is the case,” Mikale retorted, his face taking on a hard edge. “My source is also most upset about the updated wards around the children. However did your beloved prince manage that from so far away?”

“Shall we make a trade, Mikale?” Scarlett asked sweetly. “You tell me who your source is,and I shall reveal how he enhanced his wards.”

Mikale glared at her in the mirror. He lifted a hand and stroked her cheek in the reflection, and Scarlett could feel it on her own skin, as if he were indeed standing behind her. “Do not worry, my pet. Soon enough you shall be back where you belong, and we will move forward with our plans.”

“Who is we?” she asked, trying to hide her shortness of breath.

He leaned down and whispered into her ear as that hand slid along her throat, down the front of the plunging neckline of her dress. “When you learn who had your mother killed, then you will know the answer to that.”

Then he was gone.

CHAPTER 14

CALLAN

Callan stood at one end of the Great Hall listening to the musicians play a lively tune. All around him Fae twirled and danced, laughed and shouted to one another. There were even a small number of humans present. He watched as the Fire Prince made his way through the room, and his people came up to him and shook his hand, welcoming him home. He greeted them all by name. Every single one, as if he personally knew every person in his city. He scooped up babies and children, swinging them through the air to delighted giggles. He ate off trays of food as they came by, like everyone else. There was no high table where he and his household sat and presided over everything. He mingled and laughed and visited with them all.

Callan couldn’t deny it was inspiring. It was a vision he had once told Scarlett he had for his own kingdom. He had once told her that he wished to focus on those already in his kingdom’s care, and watching Sorin, he realized this was what he desired. He desired people who would see him as one of them, not fear him as a king and ruler.

A flash of vibrant red-gold hair in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and Callan turned to see Eliza striding through the crowd.Gone were her usual leathers, although he had no doubt daggers were still strapped to her thighs beneath the cerulean blue dress she wore. Her mask was a lighter shade of blue with rose gold accents that seemed to reach for her unbound hair cascading all around her. Her sleeveless dress revealed every tattoo down her arms and across her chest. She came to a stop beside Rayner who was in black pants and a black tunic. On anyone else, they would have been considered plain, but on Rayner, they looked regal. His black mask covered his eyes and nose. Eliza grabbed his hand, dragging him to the dance floor. She laughed as Rayner grumbled something to her. Callan watched with no small amount of shock as the two began to twirl around the dance floor.

“It is odd to be on this side of things,” Finn commented from beside him.

“We have been guests at various feasts and balls in the past,” Callan replied.

“Yes, but here nobody knows who you are. It is unknown that you are a prince for the most part,” Finn said simply. “The threats are substantially less. It is just different. That is all.”

“It is not all that different,” Sloan grumbled. “We are still on the lookout for her.”

The words were like a calling as the double doors at the end of the hall were opened, and Cyrus strode in with Scarlett on his arm. She was stunning in her dress of dark teal and silver. Even with the shadows, which seemed to have become a part of her, she looked more like a princess than the wraith she had been two years ago at a different Samhain ball.

Two years that seemed like a different lifetime.

Callan had expected her to come with Sorin and had been more than a little surprised when the prince had arrived without her. Callan had wondered if she would even come when she wasn’t with him. Every head turned to look at her as Cyrus led her into the crowd. He leaned over and murmured something in her ear, and she grinned wide, giving him a little shove with her elbow. Cyrus led her to the long table laden with food, and the two began filling plates with the various delicacies that had been prepared for the evening.

“Will you approach her tonight?” Finn asked, his eyes also fixed on her as she moved along the table, chatting casually with Cyrus.

“If I did not know any different, I would think she was from here,” Callan said instead.

“SheisFae,” Finn replied.

“I do not mean like that. I mean, watching her interact with Sorin’s Court, one would think she has always lived with them. They are like a…”

“Family,” Finn finished. “It is as if you are watching her with her family.”

“Do you think this is what she was like with Cassius and Nuri and others in the Black Syndicate?” Callan asked, tracking her as she and Cyrus found a bench along the wall and sat among a few others, digging into their now full plates.

“I do not know. I do not know how you could know that,” Finn supplied.

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