Lady of Starfire: The spellbinding epic dark fantasy spicy BookTok sensation for 2025 (Lady of Darkness Book 5)

by Melissa K. Roehrich

If the Chaos had taken to her like they’d thought it would, she was likely between worlds right now. Among the stars.

The symbols of the gods, yes, but there were others. Scarlett called it the Runic Language, but they both knew it was more than that.

Which symbol would call her back to this world? He could still feel her down their bond. She was alive. That fact alone was keeping most of his panic at bay. As long as she lived, he could find her.

Learning that an actual World Walker’s essence was inside that lock had altered things.

“What is this?” Sorin asked, reading through words Razik had translated. Devram. Nordrir. Orlandria. Waelore. Siadrin. “The best we could come up with was that they are other worlds,” Cethin answered. “But some symbols appear to correlate.”

There was a female standing there. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, but that didn’t mean anything if she’d gone through her Staying. She had arched ears, and long red hair so dark it was more burgundy than red. It was pulled back and tied high on the top of her head. She was of average height, and she was sipping something from a cup as she studied them. Her blue pants hugged her legs and hips, and the tunic she wore was too short, exposing her torso. She had Marks along her arms and across her chest, and what appeared to be some type of jewelry in her navel and nose, as well as her ears. But none of that was what had Sorin taking a step back. No, that was her honey-colored eyes.

The female smiled at him, and that was the same as another too. She pulled something from her pocket. It was a small box of some sort, her thumb moving rapidly across it. Then she held it up. Sorin stepped closer. There was an even smaller screen on the small box, and he peered closely to see what was on it. A Runic Symbol, if he was seeing it correctly.

Sorin shifted uncomfortably at the words. “What world are you in? His?” She shrugged. “The Light King thinks they’re all his.”

Her thumb moved quickly across the box again. Then she held it back up, showing him the screen once more. “This one. It will call her to this gate,” she said. “But hurry. He knows too.” “How do I know I can trust you?” That manic grin returned. “You don’t, but you called me here, so …”

What is important is that more than her blood will be needed to call her back.”

“You know this, Ash Rider. Love, blood, and family.” Sorin pushed to his feet, stepping back to give Rayner room. “How do you know of this?” he asked the Avonleyan Queen. She shifted cool amber eyes to him. “Some knowledge is learned. Some is innate. Some is both.” She spoke as nonsensically as an Oracle at times.

The mirror was no longer reflecting the room back at them. There were images whirling past too quickly for Sorin to make them out. They were simply blurs of color, morphing from one to the next. “Different worlds?” Rayner asked. “Likely different mirror gates,” Cethin said,

“The theory is if a World Walker’s power was used to fuel the mirror gates, a World Walker’s gifts could also alter them. If it were powerful enough,” he explained. “The theory?” Cethin deadpanned. “You are placing the fate of the realm and your twin flame on a theory?”

“She has a theory about you and the mirror gates too.” At that, her brother froze. “What does that mean?” “She thinks that if you travel through a mirror gate, you are not technically crossing the Wards. You would be able to leave without taking them down.”

“Yes, but you could fight. The Wards could come down after the Maraans are defeated, so that—” Sorin cut himself, realizing how insensitive this was about to sound. Perhaps now wasn’t the time to discuss this. “So that Avonleya will be safe, even if the Wards coming down takes my life,” Cethin finished for him.

When the flames receded and Sorin’s chest was heaving, the symbols around the mirror were glowing brightly, as if the mirror itself had absorbed the power. The symbol where they’d smeared their blood was glowing the brightest, a brilliant white. The same color as Scarlett’s starfire. More than her blood will be needed.

“The blood of the three of you called to her, but power calls to power.” She stopped before the mirror, shadows beginning to pool in her hand. “Your flames alone will not be enough to call to her Chaos. Others in the universe know this. They will try to call to it too.”

An Ash Rider. A Fae Prince. A goddess of shadows and night. An Avonleyan King. Some unknown power only Chaos would recognize. Would it be enough?

As the shadows receded, she stood there, her mother kneeling at her feet. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to his. Silver and glowing, wisps of shadows swirled faintly among them. Her shadows wound around her arms, starfire embers drifting among them. She was different. He could feel the power radiating off of her.

She raised a hand. Darkness swirled with starfire drifting among it. “She gave me her Chaos so I could control this. It was too much without it. I was trying to come back. I could hear you all calling me, but the Chaos … It wanted to go somewhere else. There are so many worlds, and they were all screaming at me. I didn’t …” She ran her hand down her face, and Sorin was tucking her into his side a little more. “It took notice when it felt all of your power, but even still …” “The Mark she drew on the mirror transferred her Chaos to you,” Kailia said softly. Scarlett nodded.

They all fixed their attention on Saylah. “I can Travel,” the goddess said. “I was born a goddess. To give up all of my Chaos would kill me. I retain a small amount. I will eventually be able to summon a shadow, but nothing like I once was.”

“Everything I have ever done is for you and Cethin. This was no different.”

Before she had given away her Chaos believing she would restore it with the lock. Saylah had known she was weakening herself, but it had been temporary. This was permanent. This was willingly given to spare ...

“I told you the most powerful crave more power. But the moment I realized what you were doing … I knew it would consume you. You were too fast. I couldn’t explain the cost. That the Chaos would use you. That it would take control of you and not the other way around.”

“You have always been a mother,” Scarlett whispered. “In the only way you knew how.”

“Nurturing is certainly not some innate thing to us. But I like to think that I have learned how to love, at least to some extent, in my centuries of life. From your father. From …” She cleared her throat, smoothing her hands down her dress. “There is not a sacrifice too great for you or your brother, Scarlett. If it would have required the entirety of my Chaos to save you, I would have given it. There would not have been a question.” “I know,” Scarlett said quietly, reaching up and wiping at her cheeks. “I know, Mother.”

“It is an odd thing. I just …know where they all are now. If I wanted to go to one, I could. I caught glimpses of them. It was as if the Chaos couldn’t decide where to go.”

So she told them everything. How she’d known for quite some time who he was to her. How she’d known before she took the Source Mark.

“He will take it,” Rayner said. “You two have not witnessed them together. All of this,” he gestured to the twin flame Mark, “explains a lot.” Eliza jerked her hand back again, muttering a curse at the Ash Rider under her breath. Rayner smirked at her.

“You are essentially a First goddess?” “I guess so,” she sighed. “A High Queen of the World Walkers with a little something more.” Her shadows appeared, thicker and darker than before, white embers drifting among them. Scarlett frowned. “A little something more …chaotic.”

She’d said too much. She’d meant it all, but she’d never meant to tell him all of that. Her gaze fell onto her hand where the Mark swirled down her pointer finger, the Rescuing Trial already completed.

Irritation that he apparently felt because he turned to face her fully. Bright sapphire eyes swept her up and down—twice—before he crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter, wings shifting behind him. They just …stared at each other for a long moment before Razik said, “Come here.”

His eyes seemed to darken as he felt her internal struggle. “Come here,” he growled again.

“We should talk about this.” Razik’s eyes narrowed. “Did you accept the bond solely to save me?” “What? No, but I …”

She stopped speaking when Razik lifted his left hand, turning it so she could see the back where the twin flame Mark stood stark against his golden skin. “Come here.”

When she was within reach, his hands grasped her face, fingers sliding into her unbound hair and his mouth crushing against hers. And this kiss—Gods, this kiss was everything the others had been and more. Hot and desperate and all-consuming. He didn’t wait for her to let him in. His tongue invaded her mouth, taking whatever he wanted from her.

“I meant what I said,” she panted into his mouth. “You’ve fucking ruined me.” “I know,” he rumbled, hands leaving her face to grip her thighs and hoisting her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist, arms looping around his neck.

“You’re so godsdamn arrogant,” she snarled as he carried her to the dining table, setting her atop it and peeling off her tunic. “I know,” he said again, hand cupping her face and tipping her head back so he could take her mouth once more. Her teeth sank into his bottom lip...

He met her gaze as he said, “I am sorry I could not get to you.”

“Obligation was the very last thing I felt when I had Cethin give me this Mark, mai dragocen.”

“The only thing I want to figure out is what you taste like,” he replied, reaching for the fitted undershirt.

“Me being on my knees is not going to affect any of our wounds,” he replied in that same matter-of-fact tone he said everything else in. “Arms up.”

She was obeying the command and lifting her arms before she even realized what she was doing. “So you can follow instruction,” he said with a smirk,

His eyes heated, shifting to vertical pupils and glowing softly. One of his hands slid to her throat, grasping it loosely and tugging her forward. She tilted her head back to look up at him, and his mouth was hovering over hers when he said on a soft growl she felt in her core, “You’ll be begging me for orders by the end of this, mai dragocen.”

“Lose the pants.” “I can’t with your hand down them,” she tried to snap, but he was pushing a second finger inside her, and she was burning away her remaining clothing. “Open your legs,” he ordered. “People eat on this table,” she argued. “Perfect. I’ve been starving for weeks,” he replied, releasing her throat and pushing one of her knees wide.

But then her head was tipping back and her eyes were fluttering closed when he ran the flat of his tongue across her center. “Eyes stay on me, Eliza,” he said, nipping at her inner thigh. “I’ll stop every time they’re not.”

“What do you want, Eliza?” Her breath mingled with his, eyes holding his sapphire stare. Challenge glimmered there, and she pushed forward so her lips brushed across his when she whispered, “You, Raz. I want you.” Her words shattered whatever semblance of control they were pretending to have. Everything was desperate and needy. Razik released her wrists as his hands landed on her hips and tugged her forward so she was balancing on the edge of the table where her legs now dangled over the side. Bare skin brushed against bare skin, and she only had a moment to wonder when in all this he had lost his own pants before he was pushing into her.

“You’re such a liar,” he growled, flipping her onto her stomach as he crawled up the bed behind her. “Trying to tell me your fingers are better than me when you make that sound.” “Fuck off,” she spat, pressing back against him when he hauled her hips into the air. Then she was moaning as he thrust back into her in one hard movement.

His hand slid up farther, sliding around her neck to grip her throat once more, and he was hauling her up, pressing her back to his chest. He bent one of his knees, planting his foot beside them. Tilted his hips, he hit a spot inside her that drew a sound from her that was pure sinful pleasure. “Say it, Eliza,” he said.

But he wanted her to say something she had never said to another male. Something no one else would ever hear come from her lips, and something more primal and permanent among the Fae.