Page 208 of Lady of Ashes

More sounds of ?ghting came from beyond the front gates. She could only assume Talwyn and Azrael fought there. Auberon was ?ghting with twin short swords off to one side, and Juliette was …?

Where were Nuri and Juliette?

“Scarlett!” Cyrus cried.

As if in slow motion, Scarlett looked his way just as one of the ?ying men dove at her. She ducked, feeling soft wings brush her back. The ground shook when he landed nearby, and she stood upright once more.

The man advanced, a shirastone dagger in one hand. He was huge. Easily taller than Sorin and more muscled. He wore a sleeveless grey tunic and grey pants that matched the grey of his wings, and some kind of lightweight armor over top of everything. She cocked her head, studying how he moved.

“Not the time to admire the pretty muscles, Darling,” Cyrus panted, suddenly at her side. He nocked another arrow, sending it ?ying at the advancing man, but the man caught it by the shaft, just as she’d seen Sorin do.

“What are they?” Scarlett asked, raising a hand and letting shadows begin to pool there.

“Don’t really give a fuck right now,” Cyrus replied, another arrow already nocked and being released at one of the men still airborne. “You going to help out at all or just stand here?”

Scarlett rolled her eyes, snapping her shadows out from her like a whip and wrapping them tightly around the winged-man’sneck. He paused, grabbing at his throat, his ?ngers closing around black mist.

A smile curled onto Scarlett’s lips, and she winked at him when the man’s eyes widened, ?xating on her. He cocked his arm back to throw his dagger, but another whip of shadows wrapped around his wrist, halting his movement.

“They did not tell us one of you were here,” the man gasped out.

“Surprise,” Scarlett purred, stalking forward.

“Scarlett,” Cyrus warned.

The shadows around the man’s throat squeezed tighter, but he didn’t show any sign of panic. Signs of strangulation, yes, but no terror and unease. These beings were warriors, impeccably trained to not show weakness and to face death fearlessly.

She was mere feet from him when a scream pierced the air.

A scream she knew in her bones.

“Where is Juliette?” Scarlett demanded, turning to Cyrus.

He shook his head, arrow after arrow ?ying from his bow. One look at his quiver told her he would be switching to a sword soon.

White ?ames sprang from her ?ngertips and landed directly on the man’s feathery wings. A bellow of rage and pain left the man then. A second later, her sword was slashing across his throat, blood spraying her face and neck.

She left Cyrus to ?nish him, racing towards the sound of the scream. Rounding the corner, the scream pierced the air again, and she looked up to ?nd Juliette being hauled through the sky by one of the winged men. Her arm hung at an odd angle, and there was blood dripping down her temple.

“Scarlett,” Sorin panted, appearing at her side. “I couldn’t get to her fast enough.”

“I got her,” Scarlett replied, sheathing her sword down her back. She pulled a small vial from her pocket, throwing it to the ground and stomping on it. A wisp of violet smoke wafted up before dissipating on the breeze. “Cover me.”

“What are you—”

But she was already running, her shadows converging before her. They twisted and writhed.

Four legs. A long, spiked tail. A snout. Scales. Wings.

And right before that shadow dragon went for the sky, Scarlett was leaping to its back. She didn’t know how it worked. She wasn’t about to question how shadows could hold her. She suspectedthey could only do so because itwasher. With a ?ick of her wrist, she fashioned a bridle of sorts out of white ?ames, clinging to the reins as the dragon shot straight up, racing after the man who had Juliette. She knew more winged men chased her.

She knew Sorin’s arrows found their marks when they bellowed in agony.

The ones that he missed, her shadow dragon did not, orange ?ames spewing from its mouth.

The man holding Juliette looked back, his eyes widening. Juliette twisted, taking advantage of his moment of shock, and then she was falling, plummeting towards the ground. Scarlett snapped cords of shadows for her, wrapping around her torso, but her power was waning. It was taking too much to keep this shadow dragon corporal. Could Juliette die again? Scarlett didn’t know, but she had prepared for this possibility.

And as an eagle’s screech reached her ears, Scarlett’s entire body heaved a sigh of relief as a blur shot by her. Wings tucked in tight, diving straight for where Juliette was hanging from nothing but swirling darkness. Scarlett may have been sitting atop a dragon of shadows, but she still stared in complete wonder at the half-lion, half-eagle beast the High Witch sat atop as it hovered beside Juliette. Sleek golden fur ran along its back half, a tail with a tuft of hair at the end helping it maintain balance.

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