At her urging, he’d agreed to sleep.
But it came as no surprise to her that Alistair remained awake, keeping silent watch over his soulmate.
“I guess it would be stupid to ask how she’s doing,” Scarlett said quietly.
He looked up at her, then back at Shoshanna. His nose wrinkled. “What’s that?”
“It’s the tea she drank back at the house. I guess it’s stupid, but I thought the smell of it might help,” she said.
He didn’t speak, but gestured half-heartedly as if to say feel free to waste your time.
She perched on the bed and gently took the witch’s hand, then pressed it to the teacup so the woman might feel the warmth. “I’m sorry you’re in this state, Shoshanna, but you are the most stubborn and clever person I’ve ever met. If you’re in there, you have to keep fighting your way out,” she said. Beneath her hand, Shoshanna’s fingers twitched.
For one brilliant moment, Scarlett thought, I did it! I saved her!
But the witch gasped, and suddenly Scarlett was thrown back. The teacup shattered across the room while she slammed into the wall. Alistair stood between her and the witch, eyes red and teeth bared. “What did you do?”
“Nothing!” she protested. But that wasn’t entirely true, not when the lights were flickering and an oily black shadow dripped down the walls and oozed across the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut, and opened them again to see the room back to normal.
Except for Shoshanna, whose skin crawled with black tendrils. She was still and quiet again, but a spiderweb of tangled black thread covered her body. The air was frigid, her breath pluming in little puffs of smoke.
“Do you see that?” Scarlett said quietly.
Alistair stared at her and shook his head.
Shadow coalesced over Shoshanna’s sleeping form, then rushed toward Scarlett. She shrieked and recoiled as the cold washed over her, a voice rising in a shout. One word rang in her head, in a familiar voice.
Wait!
The shadow slithered along the wall, and she shuddered at the sight of it, a massive body with spindly legs like a spider that had long branched away from its evolutionary origin. The black form peeled off the wall and shimmered through the air, settling over Shoshanna.
And stranger still, Shoshanna let out a soft sigh.
Was it…was it helping?
Staring at her, Scarlett could swear she saw a flicker of flame-orange hair whipping through the shadow. It faded quickly, making her wonder if she’d really seen it.
“I know you want to help,” Alistair said quietly. “I think it’s better if you go.”
“I understand,” she said, backing away quickly.
Her heart raced as she hurried down the hall, leaving them alone. This entire place was in shambles. Julian’s family was split, with some of his closest friends captured by Lux and presumably turned against him.
All for her.
Her chest swelled, threatening to overwhelm her with another storm of emotion. A terrible thought slithered through her mind. Maybe it would have been better if you just accepted your fate, a cold voice said. At least then it would only be Julian who suffered.
When she emerged from the residential building, she stepped into the sunny morning and sighed. Becoming embroiled in this court had broken her open, softening her and bringing out emotions she’d never really embraced.
But the Scarlett Ward of a year ago would have set her jaw, braided her hair a little tighter, and said, what’s the mission?
And while she liked the soft side that Julian brought out in her, she was also a woman who had walked off a gunshot on more than one occasion to keep taking down the enemy. That was who the court needed now—who her friends needed—and that’s who she would be.
With renewed resolve, she returned to the main building and headed to their armory, where she picked out her weapons, lamenting the loss of her collection that was still locked away in Armina’s house. She spent half an hour stretching before taking a run around the campus, then retreated for a shower shortly before noon.
When she emerged, hair tamed into a perfect French braid, she dressed in black and headed to the conference room to rejoin what remained of the court. There would be time to worry about the emotional fallout, about who was to blame for what. For now, there was a job to do.
Inside the conference room, a dark-haired vampire woman was setting up a computer monitor mounted to the wall. When Scarlett entered, the woman glanced back and said, “Halo. We’ve not met. Karina. You’re Julian’s…person,” she said sheepishly.
