Page 254 of Lady of Ashes

Him swearing there would be no more goodbyes. A bolt of energy hitting his chest.

Him staggering before dropping to his knees. His golden eyes ?nding hers, slowly dimming.I would still choose to stay in the darkness.

And screaming.

So much screaming.

Her eyes dipped to her bare left hand once more before refocusing on Alaric. He was watching her carefully, taking in all her little tells that he knew so well.

She cleared her throat, placing the amulet on the desk before her. She couldn’t lose it here.

Not now. Not yet. Soon.

“You are really going to do this?” she asked. “You are really going to be no better than your parents and start a war? Over what? What exactly is it you want with Avonleya?”

“My dear child,” Alaric said, a cruel smile tilting up his lips just the slightest amount. “The war never ceased. This war has been raging for centuries. Perhaps longer than this world has even existed. They brought war to this world. Did you forget? We were sent to retrieve what they guard.”

“We? You speak as if you were not born here.” Her eyes widened as the Sorceress’s words replayed in her head. “You weren’t born here. You came through the rips. Was Esmeray even your mother?”

“No,” Alaric answered.

“But Deimas was your father?”

Alaric’s blank stare was answer enough. Yes, he was.

“Were they killed here?”

“Esmeray was.”

“And Deimas?”

“He suffered the consequences of his failure.”

“Consequences you are about to face? That is why you are out of time,” Scarlett clari?ed.

Alaric’s lips pursed slightly. “Sometimes I think it was a mistake to train you as my prodigy.”

She tossed him a saccharine smile. “I suppose you live and learn.”

“I suppose we do.”

He moved forward then, sinking into one of the chairs before his own desk. How many times had Scarlett sat in that very chair? Discussing jobs and targets. Juliette in the other chair. Nuri lurking in the shadows.

Her heart tugged at the thought of Nuri.

Not now, she chided herself, forcing her attention back to Alaric as he reclined in the chair.

“So what now, Death’s Maiden?” Alaric asked, bringing up a leg and crossing his ankle over his knee. He was the portrait of arrogant ease.

Scarlett hummed again in contemplation. “Now I am going to make your life a living hell.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhmm,” she replied. “The beauty of it is that you won’t even know it has happened until it is too late.” She smiled then. A thing of horror and malice. “For the most part anyway.”

Alaric smiled, his hands resting on his bent knee. “You really think you can beat me, Scarlett? I made you what you are. I created you.”

“You did,” she agreed, standing then and moving to his alcohol cart. She poured herself a knuckle’s length of liquor, swirling it around the glass. “And I want you to remember that when you are standing among the ashes of everything I’ve burned to the ground. You taught me everything I know. You taught me what weaknesses to expose. You taught me how to ?nd cracks and make them chasms.” She knocked back the entire glass of alcohol. “I am already inside, Alaric,” she purred.

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