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October 3 - October 4, 2025
“You want to know about that? Why?” “Because where I am from, I have access to some of the most gifted and skilled Healers in all the lands. Maybe I can send word, and they can help.” Scarlett was speechless for a long moment before saying, “Careful, Captain, or it will seem as if you actually care.”
“Healers here are very different from the Healers I have access to,” Ryker said carefully.
It was in the finale when I started to not feel well. My vision became blurry. I vomited. My mother scooped me up, and I remember her exclaiming how hot I was. I was burning up but not with a typical fever. I felt like my insides were on fire, and I felt like the dark night was literally swallowing me up.”
“I don’t remember how we got back to the compound. I’m assuming she found a horse. It felt like we were there in a matter of seconds. I was in and out of consciousness as she forced a different tonic down my throat. I slept for two days straight before I awoke and was completely fine. She made me swear I would never miss my tonic again unless it was absolutely necessary. Then she gave me emergency vials of the tonic she made me drink that night to take should I ever not be able to take the tonic.
“The blurry vision and vomiting and losing consciousness, yes. Now that I am older, I do sometimes skip the tonic if I desire to partake in nighttime activities, or when I have…other things to tend to. But I do so knowing I will sleep for the next few days because I will need to take the emergency vial before dawn or become violently ill. The emergency tonic puts me into a deep sleep for my body to recover or something. I don’t remember much, to be honest. One time I vomited water as if I’d been drowning.”
Ryker reached for her hand, and Scarlett went still, barely breathing. Her hand felt small wrapped in his giant one. His calluses were rough against her own. Scarlett swallowed, not sure what to say, but Ryker spoke first. “You are not as alone as you think you are.” “What makes you think I am alone? I have plenty of people who care for me.” “Yes, but you can be around people and still feel alone. You can feel alone in life, even when you have people you love and who love you in return.”
“I am alone, though. One day they will leave. Cassius. Drake. Tava. And —” Scarlett stopped before she said Nuri’s name. “One day, everyone will leave. And one day, I’ll find my way out, too, because I’m not supposed to be here.
Finally, she started to stand, but Ryker tightened his hand around hers. His other hand gently gripped her chin as he made her look at him. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders now. His golden eyes seemed to swirl, almost as if flames danced in them. “I know you will be just fine alone, Scarlett Monrhoe. You are strong and wicked and brilliant.” Scarlett felt heat rush to her face, but he wouldn’t release her chin. He held her gaze and continued, “But maybe, just maybe, alone is not where you are supposed to be either.”
He was beautiful. There was no other way to describe him. He had shoulder length silver hair and silver eyes that seemed to glow. His muscles rippled as he stepped towards them. The smile that filled his face had her shrinking back into the other man. She instinctively knew that this man was far more dangerous than the one who had just made her—
“What kind of dreams, Scarlett?” Scarlett jumped, the book flying from her lap. She swore as she realized Ryker was at her side. How had she not heard him? Gods, he was nearly as stealthy as Nuri sometimes. “I thought you left with Cassius,” she said, scowling. “I heard you leave.” “Then listen harder next time. You heard one set of footsteps, not two,” Ryker replied, picking up the book and handing it to her. “Is this the book you told me about last week? The one about the war with Avonleya?”
She leaned her head back in the chair and closed her eyes. She was so damn tired. The dreams had woken her every night since they started a week ago. She was always drenched in sweat.
“You can read this?” “Of course I can read it. What kind of question is that?” “You do know it is in a different language, do you not?” Ryker asked, angling his head. “What are you talking about?” She snatched the book back from him, studying the title. “It’s in the common tongue.” “Interesting,”
“Then maybe we will just be done training,” he retorted, glaring at her. Scarlett huffed a laugh. “Don’t be stupid. We both know that won’t happen. You like seeing my pretty face too much.” “You can be ridiculously vexing at times,” Ryker gritted out, his eyes flaring with anger.
“That book is written in the language of lands I am from.” “Do you know what the definition of truth is?” “It is written in a different language, Scarlett. My home has thousands of books written in that language. It is not a language found here.”
“I am not from the mortal kingdoms.” Scarlett’s mouth went dry as it fell open in shock. “Bullshit,” Scarlett whispered. If he was not from the human kingdoms, then that could only mean he was from the Fae lands in which case… “You wanted a truth, did you not? There it is,” Ryker answered.
“You have been indoctrinated not to believe such a thing.”
Scarlett said nothing as she studied the text. It looked completely ordinary. Like the common tongue. How could Tava not read it? And if Ryker hadn’t been lying about the language, then had he been telling the truth about the humans in the Fae lands too? What could have been so bad here that they would seek out the Fae Courts?
Scarlett took it and instantly recognized Nuri’s neat penmanship. She wanted to meet with her tonight, and it was urgent. Which meant that Scarlett would need to skip her tonic and take the stronger one. Scarlett swore under her breath as she left the room.
The wolf tracked his every movement, its jade green eyes beginning to glow. Scarlett made to move, to do something to help him, but then she froze. Ryker did not seem at all concerned with the wolf. He watched it warily, almost as if he knew this wolf. The wolf padded forward, coming to stop a few feet from him. “Maliq,” Ryker said, reverence in his voice, as he bowed to the wolf.
a cool, cultured female voice filled the air. She had a hint of the same accent Ryker had. “You show my wolf more respect than you offer me. How amusing.” Ryker stiffened at the sound of that voice and glared at the woman who stepped into view before him. She had long mahogany hair. It reached past her waist and flowed slightly around her on phantom winds, despite the calm day. Her eyes glowed jade green just as the black wolf’s eyes did. She was a couple of inches shorter than Ryker. Twin blades were strapped to her back. She wore a white tunic with fitted brown pants. Fighting leathers
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The wolf growled low. “Shh, Maliq,” the woman said, soothing the wolf as if it weren’t a giant terrifying predator but a puppy. “This is not the place for this, Sorin.”
“But to answer your question more specifically, I am here to see for myself how your task is coming? Have you found the weapon which I seek?”
“Perhaps I should inquire after the missing Semiria ring then?” the woman said, a cruel smile filling her face. “What of it?” he countered. “You have found it.”
You may have lied to Azrael and think you had gotten away with it, but I never believed that crock of shit for one second.” “What is the prophecy of the Oracle?” “Where is my ring?” “On your finger.”
Ryker watched her as she moved. He had been training her, but she moved like a predator now. She moved like a wraith. She had always held back in training, always kept this part of herself tightly leashed. He studied her like he’d never seen her before her.
“She called me Sorin because that is my name,” he finally said as he patted her arm dry with the now torn hem of his tunic. “What?” Gods, is that the only word she knew right now? It was the only one she could think of to say every time he opened his mouth. “My name is Sorin, not Ryker,” he answered, his focus on her wound. “I told you earlier today that I am not from these kingdoms. I am from the Fae Courts.” “The Fire Court,” Scarlett said. He stiffened almost imperceptibly. “Yes. I reside in the Fire Court.”
“If you are being oppressed in the Fae lands, why do they not just come here? To the mortal kingdoms?” she asked. “Because the Fae would not be welcomed here,” he answered. Scarlett sat up at that. “The Fae are being oppressed?” “Many of them, yes, but they are not the only ones.” Her heart was racing as she voiced her next question. “By the Prince of the Fire Court?”
“Because the Prince of Fire is responsible for the death of my mother.” “What?” It was his turn to be caught off guard by a revelation, apparently. “The Prince of Fire is the reason my mother was killed,” Scarlett repeated, fury lacing her tone.
“And you finding this weapon would ease some of them?” “Finding the weapon would change everything.” “What is it? This weapon?” “That is what I am here to try to figure out.” “You don’t even know what you’re looking for?” she asked, turning to look at him once more. His eyes met hers in the briefest of glances. “I have no idea what I am looking for.”
He reached out, and she felt his finger under her chin, forcing her gaze to his. This close, she could see that the silver in his eyes seemed to swirl like a glass orb. He tilted his head slightly to the side as he studied her. “I can see why he has been trying to keep you hidden,” he said. His voice was gentle and coaxing.
“Such beautiful, unrelenting darkness,” he murmured. He brought his hand to her cheek and stroked his thumb across it. Scarlett couldn’t move as she watched him. As he watched her. “Such untapped power that draws all to you like a siren,” he purred.
The woman was bloody and beaten, but she still recognized her and the mahogany hair. This was the woman she had seen Sorin speaking with.
“Who is she?” “The embodiment of everything that was taken from us,” he replied. “From you.”
“Who are you?” she rasped out. “All in due time,” he answered. Then she was being lifted to her feet, and he draped the cloak that had fallen from her naked body over her, wrapping it around her tightly. “As for him,” he spat the last word. “He will pay for what he did to you on this night. For what he is trying to usurp. They all will.”
He paused, meeting her gaze once more. That small amused smile was back. His eyes locked on hers, he traced a pattern onto her forearm. An upside-down triangle with three stars below it. Then he brought those fingers to his lips and sucked the remaining blood from them. His eyes fluttered closed, as if the taste was the most decadent thing he’d ever tasted.
His eyes cracked open, and he brought his face an inch from hers. “That a siren’s call draws unexpected attention.” Then the woman’s screams began again. And this time, the word, the name, she screamed was crystal clear. Sorin.
All of it— from her back against his chest to her silver hair brushing his cheek when she turned to look at him to her icy blue eyes seeming to flare in surprise at his answers— had distracted him.
When she had frozen those branches in the clearing weeks ago, he had thought she was a daughter of Anahita, the goddess of the seas and water, but this display of power? This was Anala, the goddess of the sun and fire. Scarlett was water and fire. No one but the Fae Queens displayed powers from more than one Court.
Eventually, he needed to figure out who this she was that was constantly being referenced in front of him. They had come close to letting it slip who she was a few times but always caught themselves.
“I am Fae,” Sorin answered, not even hesitating at the revelation he’d kept a secret for the three years he’d been in these miserable lands. He was solely focused on the female before him. Female not woman. Because she was Fae, too, and apparently had no idea she was so. She had caught him off guard the first time he’d seen her with those icy blue eyes, her silver hair, and her scent of the sea and embers and jasmine…and something else he couldn’t place. It seemed almost muted.
He sat gingerly on the bed and leaned close to her. He tried not to notice the tunic that clung to her sweat-laden body. Her tossing and turning had caused it to ride up her torso. Her breasts rose and fell rapidly with her breathing. “Scarlett,” he whispered into her ear. She stopped thrashing, but her eyes remained closed. She continued with the low moans as he whispered her name again. The moans ceased. He heard Tava suck in a breath. “Scarlett, I’m here,” he murmured into her ear. “Open your eyes.” Her eyes fluttered open. They were not the piercing blue he had become accustomed to but
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All he could focus on was the jasmine and sea mist scents that filled his nose.
and the gold in her eyes turned to pure flame. He felt his shields blow apart and shuddered as his magic flinched. “Get out,” she whispered venomously. “Scarlett, I—” he started. She held out her right hand. “And leave my godsdamned ring.” He stood and slid the Semiria ring from his finger. He felt his flames gutter and die out as his magic disappeared and hollowness returned. As he dropped it into her palm, though, he realized her arm was unwrapped, and the wound was completely gone. There wasn’t even a mark where it had been. That had been a deep cut. There was no way it could be completely
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She held up her other hand to stop him from speaking, and Sorin could have sworn a shadow swirled around her palm before dissipating like ashes on the wind. Her golden eyes were still on his as she said, her voice as quiet as death, “I do not want to see you. I do not want to talk to you. I want nothing to do with you until you are ready to tell me everything, starting with who she is.”
He did have immortal speed. He did seem to have better hearing and sight than most she knew. The Fae were powerful, natural born predators that were only made stronger by their connection with nature. It was also the reason they often acted like wild, savage animals with their snarling and baring of their teeth. And she had been training with him. Like a godsdamned idiot, she had been training alongside a damn Fae with weapons that would never harm him. A sword or dagger or arrow might slow him down, but they wouldn’t end his life. Only black ashwood arrows or shirastone could kill a Fae.
After nearly two years here and learning nothing about any weapon, he’d planned to head to the third mortal kingdom, Toreall. He had been planning to leave a few months ago. That was, until he’d discovered her.
similar style to how Cassius sparred, but not entirely the same, and she wouldn’t reveal who else had had a part in training her. She was fast, faster than some Fae he knew, and the fighting mannerisms and style she had somehow combined together were not of the mortals nor of the Fae.
humans lived in the Fae lands seeking an escape from their oppressors. She had to be more than demi-Fae though. The power he had pulled from her tonight was stronger than most. It was impossible that she wasn’t full-blooded Fae. Which begged the question of who were her parents?
A Semiria ring. One of two in existence. The Semiria rings had been crafted by the sister Fae Queens. When first crafted, they were simply like any other family crested ring. When the Great War was nearing its end, and they realized magic was going to be inaccessible in the human lands, they had used their power to enchant their family rings so that they could access their magic no matter which lands they entered. The Fae Queen of the East had one upon her finger. The ring of the Fae Queen of the West, however, had been missing for nearly two decades. The queen had left in the middle of the
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A screech from a bird had Sorin rising to his feet. He looked up to find a great blood red bird soaring towards him. The tips of the bird’s wings were tinged with orange and yellow. A phoenix. The bird of Anala, the goddess of the sun and fire. “Hello, Amaré,”
