Page 112 of Lady of Ashes

Eliza spotted her ?rst and quickly ended the match they were engaged in. Cyrus took one look at Scarlett, then crossed to the far side of the pit, drinking from a waterskin. Eliza made her way to Scarlett, her eyes taking in her training gear, the sword strapped to her back.

“You are here for him?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“I am,” Scarlett answered. “You and I are … okay?”

Eliza pushed her tongue to her cheek. “Not entirely, but we’re certainly better off than you currently are with him.”

“I will ?x it. With you. With him,” Scarlett said, her eyes darting to the Fire Court Second.

“You damn well better,” Eliza retorted, sheathing her sword before grabbing her things and stalking from the pit.

Scarlett slowly made her way over to Cyrus, who was now sitting on the bench, staring straight ahead. She lowered down beside him, her elbows coming to rest on her knees.

“Hi, Darling,” she said softly.

“Donot‘hi, Darling’ me,” he hissed at her.

She gave an exaggerated sigh. “Let’s take this to the sparring ring then.”

His lip curled up as he ?nally met her gaze. “That would not be a good idea right now.”

“Well, you are clearly refusing to speak with me, so it appears that is our only other option at the moment,” Scarlett said.

“Or you could just fuck off,” Cyrus spat.

She rolled her eyes. “These godsdamn Fae temper tantrums.” She pushed to her feet. “Get your ass in the ring.”

“No,” Cyrus snarled.

“No?” she questioned, her head tilting slightly to the side.

“I know it is not a word you are accustomed to hearing,” he bit out. Scarlett gritted her teeth at the jab. “If you can verbally spar with me, you can certainly spar with me with a sword. Get in the fucking ring, Cyrus.”

“No, Scarlett,” he snarled back.

“Okay, have it your way,” she said with a wicked smirk, slowly beginning to back away from him, holding her hands up in a placating gesture.

His golden eyes narrowed on her, and when she was several feet back … she blasted him with ice cold water from both hands.

She was already racing for the ring when his bellow of rage reached her ears. A shield of thin shadows swirled around her, and she saw him stalking towards her, his hair and clothing already dry from the ?ames licking up and down his body. She sent some of her shadows slithering towards him as she taunted, “Show me your darkness, and I’ll show you mine.”

Cyrus’s lip curled up in a snarl, and he drew a sword from ?ames,the same wreathing down the blade. Scarlett pulled the Spirit Sword from her back, her white ?ames encompassing it.

“Are you going to hide behind your shadows,Darling?”

“I do not hide from anything, asshole,” she bit back, her shadows dissipating.

Their blades met, and they were both thrown backwards from the blast that radiated from their power colliding. Neither of them were putting much effort into tampering down their magic.

Scarlett was back on her feet in an instant and saw Cyrus had done the same. They were slowly circling each other, and golden eyes locked on silver ones. “I am sorry, Cyrus,” Scarlett said, making sure she spoke loud enough for him to hear.

His response was lunging at her. She brought her blade up to meet his, and she leapt back from him, anticipating he would do the same, but he did not. He advanced, and Scarlett had to duck to avoid his next swing. She popped back up, spinning to the side, and caught his next strike at the last second, their magic ?aring and exploding from them again and sending her ?ying.

She managed to keep her grip on her sword and roll back to her feet, ?nding Cyrus standing a few feet away and waiting for her, already in an offensive position. Movement caught her eye, and she saw Sorin leaning against the stone archway of the entrance to the private pits, his ankles crossed. His arms were folded over his broad chest, but he made no move to intervene. He just jerked his chin in Cyrus’s direction, telling her to get back in there.

Scarlett gritted her teeth, prowling forward. Their blades met again.

And again. And again.

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