Page 4 of Lady for Embers

And then there was nothing but silence as the queen’s eyes closed, and she became as still as her twin ?ame beside her.

Fire and shadows, side-by-side.

And while Cyrus stared at them, Rayner and Eliza moving to his side, all he could do was wonder about the ashes and darkness that would be left behind in their wake at the end of all of this.

Chapter 2

Scarlett

She knew where she was. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know where Shirina had sent her when she’d breathed the essence of Saylah, goddess of night and shadows, into her soul. She could feel the too soft grass beneath her. She could smell the darkness of the night surrounding her. She expected to hear the cry of an eagle.

It never came. “Scarlett.”

She didn’t open her eyes at the sound of his voice either. The Lord of Night.

He could go to hell just like she’d told the panther.

On second thought, no. That’s where she was. She didn’t want company here.

Hell. Eternal damnation. The Pits of Torment. Didn’t really matter what it was called. That had to be where she was. Because a world without him? That was her own personal purgatory of suffering.

So she didn’t open her eyes when the beautiful man from her dreams and the mirror gate said her name again. She just lay there. Numb and lost in the nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. A nightmare she’d never wake up from.

At least here she’d stopped screaming.

Maybe you couldn’t scream in the Pits. Maybe that was part of the torment. You could only scream in your mind. No outlet. No way to give voice to the never-ending anguish and soul-shredding pain. Could only let it drive you even more mad until you were nothing.

She was nothing anymore anyway. “Scarlett.”

His voice was sharper. Harsher. Urgent. “Scarlett, please. Hope is not lost.” Hope.

There was no hope in hell.

The air stirred beside her, and there were hands on her face.

“Scarlett, please,” he begged. “Arius has not yet claimed his soul, but if you do not open your godsdamn eyes itwillbe too late.”

“You speak as if he has not crossed the Veil,” she croaked out, her voice raspy and hoarse from the screaming.

“He has, but only just. He has not crossed fully to the After. There is still time.”

Scarlett slowly opened her eyes to?ndsilver ones peering down at her, full of concern and panic.

“I know it hurts, Star?re, but you need to get up. You need to call him back. He cannot?ndyou if you stop calling for him.”

He pulled a dagger from his boot, slicing it across his palm before reaching for her hand. She didn’t feel the gash along her own skin as he once again mixed their blood in her palm. He began tracing a Mark on his forearm, above a Mark that matched her own. The Mark that he had given her to awaken her Avonleyan magic.

The Mark he drew was a circle with two interlocking circles inside it. Scarlett watched him, not really seeing or caring what he was doing. When he reached for her arm, her eyes fell closed again.

How soon does a person go mad when their soul is shattered into nothing? Would it truly only take mere hours? Had it even been an hour? For some reason she’d thought it would take longer. Silly really when she thought about it. Without a soul, could a person really even be considered sane?

“Stay with me, Star?re,” he said, his?ngergliding along her arm.

“How do you know that name?”

His movement paused for a fraction of a second before he continued drawing on her?esh.“I will tell you the answer to that when I can tell you my name.”

“I don’t really care,” she sighed as he withdrew his?nger.“It doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”

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