Prisoner of Darkness (Whims of Fae Book 2)(50)

Cade and Poppy stood, both dressed in ball apparel, staring wide-eyed at his presence.

Sage pulled the bow from her back as Raith reached for his daggers.

“Brother,” Raith said.

A group of Winter guards rushed past, oblivious to the exposed weapons. They headed to wherever Scarlett was.

“I see you’re alive and well,” Cade said. He had no weapon, but an aqua orb grew in his hands. “You should have stayed away.”

“She’s in trouble.”

“Who?”

“Scarlett.”

Cade clenched his teeth.

“You already almost killed her once,” Raith said. “She could die any moment. I can feel her panic.”

Cade glanced around the room as if he was looking for someone.

“Now’s your chance,” Poppy said. “We can take them.”

“Please.” Sage chuckled. “You have no weapons.”

Poppy lifted her dress and pulled out a dagger. “Don’t we?”

Sage raised her bow and pulled an arrow from her back, loading it and aiming it at Poppy’s forehead.

Poppy was one of the fiercest females Raith had met—until he met Sage. She fought like no one he’d ever seen. She’d wipe the smugness right off of Poppy’s face.

“Save her,” Cade said.

Poppy snapped her head toward him. “What?”

“We can battle each other another day.”

Raith wasn’t sure if he should trust his brother, but he didn’t have time to overthink it. “C’mon.”

He and Sage walked around Poppy and Cade, not turning their backs until they were around the corner.

Raith could feel Scarlett near. He just needed to find her before it was too late.





Chapter Twenty-Five





Scarlett’s head exploded into pain. Pressure built, pushing against her mind, begging for release. She searched for her mental wall, which was all the way down.

Another wave of pressure sent her to her knees.

A vision appeared. Her mother, dead on the ground with blood dripping from her wrists.

No.

The funeral, Ashleigh next to her, tears dripping from her cheeks to the floor.

Scarlett found the wall and shoved it up. A scream blew from her lungs as a flash of light burst from her.

The sound of footsteps approaching caught her attention. More guards, and from the sound of it, a lot of them.

Scarlett heard words that weren’t her own.

My son will thank me some day.

Son? Had she heard Kassandra’s thoughts?

Scarlett reached out her mind and found a hole in Kassandra’s mental shield. She actually could invade the minds of others. She couldn’t explain how she knew what to do, but as if it were as simple as breathing, Scarlett snuck through Kassandra’s mental wall. Using the emotion she’d felt as she’d been forced to see her dead mother, she sent a wave of light through Kassandra’s mind.

Kassandra screamed, throwing an orb of Summer energy at Scarlett.

Scarlett leapt out of the way. She threw another wave of light. And another. It was as she was a ghost of brightness inside the room that was Kassandra’s mind. She didn’t have a body, but she could observe her surroundings as if she did.

Another blast of light pulsated from Scarlett. With each vibration, Kassandra’s mind weakened.

The hatred inside powered Scarlett as she let everything out. The shock of finding her mother on the floor, the pain of Ashleigh’s blame, the feelings of fear as Kassandra had shown her images of Ashleigh dying.

Another pulse.

Cade’s possessiveness in the battle when he’d heard Scarlett had chosen Raith over him.

Pulse.

Kaelem showing her Ashleigh trapped inside the mirror.

Pulse.

Knowing she’d never again be mortal.

Everything that had happened to Scarlett since losing her mother swirled into a hurricane of rage that she flung into Kassandra’s head over and over again.

A flash of light shattered the last barrier inside of Kassandra’s mind keeping Scarlett from the very essence of her brain.

With one more forceful blast, Kassandra would meet her final end.

It would be so easy. Scarlett could taste the power she possessed. It exhilarated her. To hold someone’s life in her hands sent a thrill through her veins.

Just one more strong strike, and Kassandra would be gone forever.

But her death—deserved or not—would stain Scarlett’s soul. Was she capable of it?

Yes, she knew she was. Perhaps mortal-Scarlett would have feared such power, but fae-Scarlett reveled in it.

But today would not be the day she’d cross that line.

A final flicker sent Kassandra crumpling to the ground, unconscious but alive.

The Winter Queen stared at her ally, mouth gaping. “How?”

Even Kaelem seemed surprised, but he focused and threw shadows around Nevina. They curled around her neck, strangling her.

The Winter Guard had arrived. There had to be at least thirty of them, maybe more.

Three of them nocked their arrows and aimed at Scarlett.

“Let our queen go,” one said, “or we shoot.”

Scarlett readied her stance. She might be able to dodge one arrow. With a miracle, maybe even two. But three? Her light magic had saved her a few times already, what were the odds it could save her again?