Page 207 of Lady of Ashes

“Is that so? But what of your sister?”

“What?”

A muf?ed scream had her head whipping to the side to ?nd Juliette bound and gagged in the corner of the room. Where had she come from?

Scarlett? Nuri is out here. Where are you?

I can’t Travel, Sorin. Juliette is here—

Juliette is out here with us.

What?

Juliette is out here with us, Scarlett. I am coming for you.

She slowly dragged her gaze back to Lord Tyndell, her lip peeling back into a sneer at the realization that he had somehow slipped into her mind and altered her reality. “I am going to kill you,” she hissed, her panthers moving forward again. Flames rose at her ?ngertips, and she took a step towards the Lord.

“He will be so pleased to know your powers have grown,” Lord Tyndell said.

The illusion of Juliette screamed again, and Scarlett tried to block out the sound. Until the doors burst open, and Sorin ran through, Cyrus on his heels. Relief tumbled through her, but she didn’t stop her advance.

“I would give you a message to deliver to him, but the dead cannot speak,” she replied.

Lord Tyndell chuckled merrily. “Always so quick-witted. It truly made for the most entertaining dinners.”

Scarlett? Where are you?

What do you …She glanced back over her shoulder where Sorin and Cyrus were ?anking her, swords drawn, faces merciless.Where are you?

Trying to get inside this fucking house, but there are … I do not know what we are ?ghting, but I am coming.

I need to block you out, Sorin.

What? No! Don’t you dare, Scarlett.

I have to. I love you like the stars love the night.

Scarlett—

But she slammed shadows around her, strengthening her shadow armor and putting up a mental shield. Shadows and ?ames and ice. All of it thickening and climbing higher, blocking out everyone and everything. She could feel Sorin banging against it, but as those shadows slid into place, Lord Tyndell disappeared from before her eyes along with Juliette’s cries and Sorin and Cyrus at her back.

Lord Tyndell was here. She was certain of that. But where he was playing these games from she did not know. Sending her panthers before her, she crept out of the study and back through what appeared to be an empty house. She kept her mental shield ?rmly locked in place. Even a crack and Lord Tyndell would be inside her head again. As she drew near the front of the estate, thesounds of swords clanging and shouting reached her. She raced for the front door.

And then skidded to a halt on the front porch.

There was … a small army here. Skilled soldiers. The High Force?

“Up, Scarlett! Look up!” Sorin was bellowing from somewhere.

Her eyes scanned the yard, looking for him as she moved to the edge of the front porch and looked up at the sky from beneath the veranda.

Where men with wings ?ew.

“What the actual fuck?” Scarlett whispered, stepping out from under the veranda.

Were those feathers on the wings?

There were ten of them from what she could see, dodging ?re as Sorin and Cyrus shot ?aming arrows at them.

---