Page 7 of Lady of Ashes

“You have been in and out of consciousness for several hours.”

“That’s impossible. We could not have traveled all the way here from the far edges of Toreall in just a few hours. It would have taken at least two weeks and that’s riding with very few stops,” Scarlett argued.

“True,” the Lord replied. “But you did not ride. You were Traveled back here.”

“Tarek is a Traveler? How did he do so in the mortal lands?”

The Lord laughed softly. “No, Scarlett. Tarek is not a Traveler. Tell me, do you know where the Traveling gift came from?”

“I would assume from the Avonleyans like the other Fae gifts,” she ground out, drawing her knees to her chest. The chains on the shackles scraped along the ?oor.

“Very good,” the Lord replied. “But they are not the only ones who possess such gifts.”

“Let me guess,” she drawled. “The Maraans?”

The head beneath the hood nodded. “The Maraans are even more powerful than the Avonleyans were when it comes to Traveling,” he answered.

“That doesn’t explain how they accessed their magic in these lands.”

“You can access your magic here, can you not?”

“Not currently,” she muttered, wriggling her wrists and causing her chains to rattle once more in emphasis.

“Yes, well, can you really blame me there?” he asked with a shrug.

“Scared of a little ?re and ice and darkness?” Scarlett crooned.

“The ?re and ice, yes. The darkness, however … We have not given you enough to restore the depths ofthatmagic.”

Scarlett bit the inside of her cheek, unsure how to respond to that. A game. The Assassin Lord was playing a game, dangling information in front of her. She knew if she were to ask what he meant, there would be a price for the answer.

When she didn’t say anything, he went on. “However, I do believe that the little bit we are giving you is also the reason the Fire Prince has not been able to ?nd you yet. If I were to let youweaken to such a state that the Blood Magic Mark you enacted were to wear off, a certain bond may be reestablished.”

For all her years of training, Scarlett could not hide the shock that came over her face.

“I ?nally have your full attention,” the Assassin Lord mocked as he rose from the desk. He came to stoop before her once more. “While I am not entirely surprised that you learned how to interpret and use Blood Magic so quickly, I am amused that you did so without understanding the costs of such things.”

“I know the cost I paid,” she spat at him.

The Assassin Lord reached out and stroked ?ngers down her cheek. She jerked her head away from him, but had nowhere to go. “You really do not. I am guessing you had no idea that when you enacted that particular Mark to block your twin ?ame bond, you also blocked all bonds to you, including the bond with your spirit animal.”

Shirina. Scarlett had not even thought of the panther. He was right. She’d had no idea. The thought had not even crossed her mind.

“Did you not wonder why she did not come to your aid in Toreall? Or here?”

Scarlett swallowed. She didn’t know what to say as she processed what he was revealing to her.

“Not only did you sti?e those two incredibly important bonds,” he continued, “but you blocked the bond to your Guardian.”

“My what?”

“Your Guardian. I am not sure when or how she did it, but your mother bonded you to another as your Guardian. That is ancient magic of the gods, but I have seen the Mark on both of you at various times over the years,” he said bitterly. “She bonded you, and then a Witch cast a spell to make you both forget the encounter.”

And the dream came ?ooding back to her. The memory of her mother taking her to the beach where they met the strange woman with silver hair. She had drawn on her and Cassius and made them drink a mixture of their blood. She had told her of a kingdom where people were bonded as Guardians and where they danced under the stars.

“So you see, Scarlett, the cost of that Mark was blocking every single bond put in place to keep you safe. To keep you from the Maraan Lords.”

“How do you know all of this?” she whispered to the Assassin Lord.

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