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October 10 - October 16, 2025
Hazel’s violet eyes widened in surprise. “What does that mean?” Scarlett pressed. Tears welled in the Witch’s eyes, and Scarlett stepped back, stunned. “It means,” Hazel said, her voice softer than it had been all day, “that you know my son and that it is time for him to return.” “Your son? But Witches don’t—” she stopped herself before she finished what she was going to say. The Witches despised men. Male children were looked at as a curse, not a blessing. “You are right,” Hazel replied, as if she could read her thoughts. “We do not. But when he was born, I could not kill him. He was my
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“Cassius,” she breathed. “Your son is Cassius.” The tears spilled from Hazel’s eyes.
“He is my soulmate,” Scarlett answered, tears spilling down her own cheeks. “He saved my life, in more ways than one.” “Go. Aid your twin flame. Then bring my son home,” Hazel said.
“The Mark is not completed until you have spoken the Claiming Rite to initiate the Trials.”
Scarlett grabbed hold of that bond she’d been so adamantly ignoring, and she stepped through a rip in the world.
but Scarlett’s own white flames shot up like a wall between them and the others in the room. “Starfire?” the silver-haired female asked. She didn’t seem surprised, but rather an air of curiosity was in her tone.
He stared at her, and she could see the question in his eyes. “I have so many treats to give you should you speak the question on your tongue,” she said, her voice low and full of promise. Sorin swallowed. “What are you to me?” His own voice was hoarse, hardly more than a whisper. “You came for me, and I have come for you.” Sorin’s eyes widened as she held up her left hand. Then she spoke words she had said before, but not in the Old Language. They were words her soul had known before she had. “I am yours, and you are mine. I choose you, above all others. Always.”
“You are my home, Sorin Aditya. I want no one else. I want it to always be you.” Sorin took her face in his hands and kissed her. Deeply. Thoroughly. A claiming. Caring as much as she did that they had an audience, which was not at all. She pulled back and brought a hand to cup his cheek. I am yours and you are mine. She heard him echo the words into her own mind as he gazed into her eyes. She watched as his own eyes flicked up to her crown of starfire, and he crooned, Princess of Fire.
“I am also the daughter of Eliné Semiria, and I am her heir. I am a queen in this land, and I lay claim to the Fire and Water Courts that are rightfully mine.”
“Of course I acknowledge it. I sent you to find her,” Talwyn answered snidely, rising from her chair. She waved a hand, and the table before them disappeared in a swirl of sand. She strode for them, and Scarlett felt the entire Inner Court fall into line behind her and Sorin. “You sent me to find a weapon,” Sorin countered, a shield coming up around them all. “I told you that you were going to find a weapon. I sent you to find your twin flame,” Talwyn corrected.
so I summoned you here with the other Courts. We needed to plan, and I needed you away from her. When I felt you enter these halls with Cyrus, I sent Shirina to take her to the Oracle.” Talwyn stopped on the other side of the shield, her jade eyes shimmering. “Welcome home, Scarlett.”
“I can. Eliné hid them, so I am the one who can find them. Henna disguised them so Talwyn can restore them to their true form.”
Prince of Fire, you finding your twin flame indeed found me the weapon I sought. The weapon that will aid me in finding the Avonleyan Keys, which will get us inside of Avonleya to seek our true revenge.”
“I have known you my entire life, Prince of Fire. You were by my aunt’s side every single day. I would pray to the Fates that if I could not have you by my side when I was queen, that I would have someone just as loyal. No, I did not start to hate you until you left me alone. A child on a throne. Even now, years later, I cannot find it in myself to entirely hate you, if only because I once loved you so fiercely.”
I was your last remaining connection to Eliné. You had watched me grow up. You had trained me. In many ways, you were more my father than my own ever was, even with the short time I had with him. I had barely lived. I have barely lived, not compared to you and many of the others. And now I was expected to rule in a realm, in a world, I knew very little of, and you begged to leave my side to retrieve her. You left me and lost what I valued most in the world.”
“I will not deny that our personalities and styles of ruling clash on more than one level. I will not deny that how I do things is very different from how Eliné did things. We will likely continue to fight each other in many areas, but not in this. Not when it matters. Not when the entirety of the world is at stake.”
“Talwyn,” a deep male voice snarled from the other side. “Your twin flame?” Scarlett asked, sniffing once. “No,” Talwyn answered, her eyes hardening. “Do you need a portal to get out of my face?” “No, no,” Scarlett drawled. “Until next time, Cousin.”
“Really? Wolves?” Cyrus asked with an unimpressed glance as they all turned to face her. “Would you prefer something with a bigger bite, Darling?” As she spoke, the wolves merged until a dragon filled the space behind her. Its eyes were glittering ice, and it spewed flames from its mouth as it huffed and curled protectively around her. She reached up and stroked its head, and it set its massive snout on her shoulder, smoke furling from its nostrils.
The embers in the fireplace roared to life as he released some of the ire roiling with his frustration. Scarlett smirked at him and added her shadowfire to dance among his flames. Then ignored the unexpected rush of having her magic intermingle with his and what that did to her body.
“It continues to try to find its mate and drains its owner of their power. It weakens them until they have depleted their magical reserves or until something else finds it.” “And then it drains your very life force,” she snapped.
“The connection from the twin flame bond—it allows us to find each other, Scarlett. It is a supernatural linking of our souls. It is why we can speak into each other’s minds. We can feel each other’s fear and sadness and joy.”
How she felt like he could sometimes hear her thoughts. How he always seemed to know where she was. How he could reach her when the darkness was suffocating.
“And I would do it again. I told you the day I pulled you from that hellhole that I would cross deserts and oceans and lands and realms to get to you. Then I told you in a dark forgotten library passage there will never be a world where there is not a you and me because should you be ripped from me in this world, I will cross them all to find you. I have told you in every possible way I could without coming right out and saying the words.”
“I would have chosen you,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I would have chosen you the day you kissed me in the archery grounds. I would have chosen you the night we danced at the Pier. I would have chosen you when I saw the pride in your eyes when I wielded my magic in the courtyard for the first time. I would have chosen you the moment you showed up in that room to rescue me.”
I will always come for you because I choose you, Scarlett Monrhoe. I choose every flame, every drop of water, every shard of ice, every bit of darkness. I choose each smart ass comment and each middle finger you throw at me. I choose every way we challenge each other. I choose every night of dancing and scandalous dresses. I choose every morning of waking up next to you and watching you master your magic. I choose you, and I will always choose you. I am yours, and you are mine. In this life and every life after.”
“Scarlett, I love you like the stars love the night. All the way through the darkness,” Sorin said gently. “You are not alone, and never will be again. You get all of me, and I get all of you. We do not shut each other out. We do not get to tell each other to leave. There will forever be a you and me.”
“I choose you, Sorin Aditya. I choose every ember and wisp of smoke. I choose every snarky comment about my cranky mood, and every teasing remark about my love of books and shoes. I choose every time you challenge me and call me on my own bullshit. I choose falling asleep next to you every night and kissing you good morning with each sunrise. I choose to follow you to the ends of this realm and every other realm known and unknown. And after we fade, I will follow you to whatever life is next. I choose you, and I will always choose you. I am yours, and you are mine. In this life and every life
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I love you, he said down the bridge between their souls. Always, she replied, bringing her lips back to his.
Scarlett looked the male up and down again. “You are the earth guy?” Eliza had told her about the feuds between the Fire and Earth Courts. How had she managed to travel here? She was sure Sorin was going to literally combust into flames at the laughter she could feel him holding in. The male before them snarled with rage. “I am the Prince of the Earth Court and the Second in Command to the Queen of these lands,” he spat.
Why does he seem nervous about that? “Because,” Sorin answered her out loud, apparently having heard her question, “Fae can be…territorial.”
lands. I have told you we get very protective of our people, our loved ones. It is a little more intense when it is our twin flame.”
I do believe a palace was destroyed once because another male smiled at one’s twin flame shortly after the connection had been Anointed.”
“Interesting tidbit— females can get just as territorial over their lovers and families.”
The Earth Prince cried out in rage and swung with his sword, but it was met by Scarlett’s own, her shadowfire wreathing its blade. “The Spirit Sword,” he breathed,
“Who are you?” the Earth Prince snarled. “Scarlett M—” she paused and looked down at her ring. A smile filled her face, and her shadow dragon formed behind her and Sorin. With a roar, it spewed a ring of fire around them. “Scarlett Semiria, Queen of the Western Courts, and a queen of this realm.”
She whirled to Sorin, who was watching her with anticipation, his golden eyes so full of joy and love. “Are we at your mountain home?” Scarlett breathed, stepping closer to the window. There was nothing else around for miles. Not that she could see, anyway. “Our mountain home,” Sorin said, coming up behind her. “You get all of me, and I get all of you. No one else is allowed in. Ever.”
“Hmm. The palace isn’t big enough for us to get some privacy?” “Not for the sounds you will make this evening, Princess,” he growled as he brought his lips to hers.
Sorin gave her a devilish grin, and flames licked along her body, up her legs and torso, across her arms, and when they had disappeared she stood in the red dress she’d worn the night of the party on the Pier last summer. “This one?” Scarlett asked, raising a brow in surprise. “My Love, the ways I have imagined taking this dress off of you since that night are impossible to count,” he whispered into her ear,
She reached up to remove the crown that still adorned her head, but he hissed, “Leave it.”
“Now, Prince, there was mention of worshipping me, and I do like to be adored,” she crooned.
Scarlett couldn’t help it. A low moan escaped her as she tilted her head back against the window behind her, giving him better access to her neck. He chuckled darkly in approval, and the sound skittered along her bones. He kissed and licked down her throat, down to her collarbone. Lower. And then he stopped. Scarlett whimpered in protest. Sorin braced a hand beside her head against the window as he brought his face close to hers, running his nose down the length of her own. “Such new sounds from you, Princess,” he teased.
Until he knelt before her. Until he knelt before his queen. Until he knelt before his twin flame.
She whimpered again, not caring that she was begging. “Sorin. Please.” He laughed low. “I guess you do have manners.” Before she could reply, his tongue dragged across the apex of her thighs, and she cried out. His hand gripped her hip, pinning her to the wall.
“Gods, Scarlett.” His tone was raspy and ravaging as he ran his tongue across his glistening lips. “You taste divine.”
“I love you, Sorin, and I choose you.” The words snapped something in him. He pushed into her slowly, inch by inch. She moaned as he filled her. She clenched his muscled biceps when he was seated to the hilt and stilled, letting her adjust. “I love you, too, Scarlett,” he said, his own breathing as shallow as her own.
The connection between them was vibrating wildly. It was a hum in her veins. It was tangible, like she could reach out and touch it. It wove between them, intertwining around them, joining every facet of their beings and souls.
Their powers tangled around each other as if they, too, were connecting. She could feel them, flames dancing with ice, ashes swirling with water. Where they mingled, they glowed, and an aura of flames surrounded them. Her shadows swirled amongst it all.
Scarlett lifted herself up to look into his eyes, where she found home staring back at her.
“Love, I plan on worshipping you in every possible way for the next thousand years and even that will not be enough.”
The crown she’d summoned for herself lay on the bedside table near them. She’d removed it after he’d flipped her onto her stomach, and it had fallen to the side. She had simply plucked it from her hair, throwing it to the ground as he had given her what she’d begged for. Repeatedly.
