Page 256 of Lady of Ashes

She yanked on the invisible thread within her soul that she had slowly unspooled across the entirety of the Fellowship as she’d walked the halls.

And she smiled darkly as white ?ames erupted everywhere, and Alaric’s face went slack with shock.

It took him a few seconds to recover before wings ripped from his back, black and feathered. He shot to the sky with a roar of rage, but the orange ?ames that spewed from her shadow dragon’s mouth had him staying back several feet.

She’d been banking on his ability to snuff out life with his ?st being useless against her. From the fact that he hadn’t even tried to use it, she appeared to be correct.

“You will pay for this!” he bellowed, his beloved Fellowship burning around him. “Enjoy your freedom,ScarlettMonrhoe.This is the last time I will let you walk away from me.”

“You created this nightmare, Alaric,” she replied, loud enough for him to hear. “You won’t wake up from it until I allow it, and then it will only be for me to kill you myself.”

Before he could say another word, her dragon was ?apping up. She ?ew in a tight circle, swooping low enough for her to grab Cassius’s outstretched arm when they glided past where he was hidden on a rooftop.

“You burned it down,” Cassius said, looking back over his shoulder at the building that had been their home for so many years. She hadn’t told anyone of that part of her plan. It was nearly ashes now, her white ?ames consuming it within minutes.

“That was just the beginning. Soon the entire world will be on ?re,” Scarlett replied, the dragon climbing higher into the sky.

Towards the stars that chose the darkness and the ashes in the voids between them.

CHAPTER 52

ALARIC

That fucking girl.

That fucking girl.

It was all Alaric could think as he ?ew towards the castle.

He landed on an upper terrace, banishing his wings as he stormed through the doors and into the council room. Rage ?ooded through him, hot and acidic.

She was going to pay for all of this. She thought she knew what suffering was? She thought losing her twin ?ame was as bad as it could get?

She was going to learn exactly what it meant to be in a nightmare. “Get the Fae Queen,” he snarled at Mikale, who had shot to his feet at his entrance.

“What happened?” Mikale demanded.

“She burned the entire fucking Fellowship to the ground,” Alaric ground out. A servant entered the room carrying a tray of food, and he immediately gripped the young woman’s heart in his power, squeezing and squeezing until there was nothing left.

She’d ?gured it out, too quickly, that he wasn’t able to use his power on her. She likely didn’t know why yet, but he knew she’d ?gure it out soon enough. And when she did, his task would get that much harder to complete.

And now she knew he was on a timeline and that his time was running out.

“Fuck!” he bellowed, snatching up anything he could get his hands on and hurling them around the space. Books. Papers. Dishes. Decor. Furniture. By the time he could see through thehaze of red that had clouded his vision, the council room was destroyed. The servant’s dead body was on the ?oor amid spilled food and beverages and debris.

Scarlett may have taken his strong hold, but that arrogant child had forgotten about the last key. She thought she’d been so damn sneaky taking that nightstone dagger from his desk, but in her haste to leave with it, she’d left the last key sitting there.

He had them all.

All seven of the Avonleyan keys.

He would have Talwyn shift them to their true form, and then he would hunt Scarlett down. She would take that fucking Blood Bond, and she would let him into Avonleya. He would not fail like his father had. He would succeed, and this world would be his to rule, his to own. Far from Achaz. Free of the duties required of him as a Maraan Prince.

That would be his reward for completing this task.

Nuri emerged from the shadows of the room, a maniacal smile on her face. “She is going to destroy you.”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” Alaric snarled, his hand snapping towards her. Nuri’s hands grasped at her chest, a strangled cry rising up her throat, but that smile never left her face.

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