Page 105 of Feral Guardian
She opens her arms to me, but Alastair’s grip remains firm. I drag him along with me as I close the distance to Belle. Finally, he releases me, and I throw my arms around her back. My hands land on bare patches of skin and I look down to see her shirt is missing a triangular swath across her back.
“You’ve got a hole in your shirt,” I say as tears burn at the corners of my eyes.
She chuckles, then sniffles. “Yeah, I do.”
“Belle, I’ve missed you so much,” I whimper.
“I’ve missed you, too. And it’s Scarlett now,” she says as she pulls back from me.
“Scarlett…the Bloodletter?” Alastair asks.
She leers, then sketches a mock bow. “The one and only.”
I gasp and my face burns hotter, but with anger.
All this time she’s been here in the Underbelly and never once tried to come see me. All those years of enduring Mother’s torture with no one to help me, no one to talk to.
“What have you been doing down here? What happened to you? Tell me everything!” I demand, shaking her arms.
The man behind her tenses, his teal magic shifting closer to me. Alastair steps forward, his axe raised. The two men glare each other down and I can feel the kinetic energy of a fight building in the air.
“Boys, please,” Belle—urgh, Scarlett says, smacking away one of the teal ribbons of power. I’m surprised to see it has solidity. “Zane, sweetheart, you can measure dicks later. Lily and I have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Starting with why you never came home,” I say, crossing my arms as my anger burns brighter and tears blur my vision completely.
My sister sighs, her thumb swiping an errant drop from my cheek. “Mother tried to have me assassinated just before my fifteenth birthday. I’ve been planning on coming back, to save you. I made it into the castle for the ball that was hosted for your return, but you weren’t there—”
“We got waylaid by pirates, and Mother’s own guard Trask tried first to sell me to Wolfsheim, and then kill me.” The words tumble from my mouth in a rush.
Scarlett nods gravely. “When you weren’t there, I assumed she’d tried to hurt you.”
“My love, the private room,” the man behind her—Zane—says, his knuckles grazing the bare skin of her back.
I turn an appraising eye on this man who just called my sister hislove.His gaze locks with mine, his expression revealing nothing. He’s stone-cold like the teal power glowing in his eyes…like the teal in Scarlett’s missing eye.
“Why don’t you two join me for a drink and some food,” Scarlett says with a bright smile. “Then maybe a bath and a warm, safe bed?”
Alastair pulls me back a measure and drops his lips to my ear as he whispers, “Are you sure about this?”
I lock gazes with my long-lost sister. She’s different. Harder. Deadlier. But she’s still Belle, my rock, and a ruthless survivor who’s already tried to kill the very queen Alastair and I seek to dethrone.
I nod. “I think we’re right where we’re supposed to be.”
Chapter thirty-one
Alastair
Lily wants to walk with her sister, but I keep her at my side as we move through the Underbelly. This woman may be Belinda, but twelve years is a long time to change. I’m not passing judgment based on her appearance, though she is quite intimidating. I’m judging based on the company she’s keeping.
Zane, the Spider Lord, is a ruthless murderer. But the way he’d softly touched Scarlett’s cheek and whispered away her insecurities threw me, canting my vision of the feared gang lord. Perhaps a demon who rips men in half with his bare hands shouldn’t be so disparaging.
Scarlett turns around to walk backwards through the alley. “So, you finally got your guard into bed, eh, sis?”
Lily turns bright red, and outrage burns through me. I hold Lily closer, my grip tight on her shoulder. “I’m not justbeddingher. We’re engaged to wed.”
Scarlett’s smirk gets broader, and she claps slowly. “Nicely done, Lil. Wait—you’re not pregnant, are you?”
“Oh,you,” Lily growls and rune-writes a burst of Gaien’s breath between them.
