Page 59 of Lady for Embers

Scarlett nodded subtly in understanding. She had been told Rayner rarely lost control, but that when he did, he left carnage in his wake. She could see the truth in that now.

“The last one told me to come to the back of this ship. That we would ?nd them there,” Rayner was saying.

She nodded, and they slowed to cautiously climb the last set of stairs. When they reached the top, they went still. There were at least a dozen seraphs there, wings flared out behind them. The two on the end each had a child, and the one in the very center held Tula. The other two children were crying, tears streaming down their faces. Both were older than Tula by a couple of years, but Tula’s face was set with determination. There were no tear trails down her face despite her entire body shaking. There were scratches and bruises on her arms and legs that suggested she had fought. This tiny girl had fought against her captors.

Her baby blue eyes skimmed over them before settling on Rayner. It was only then that Scarlett saw the girl’s lower lip wobble slightly.

The two children on the ends were suddenly shoved towards them, Scarlett and Sorin each catching one in their arms. One seraph stepped forward, his white wings splattered with dirt and blood.

“We released those two in good faith,” he said. “The last one remains with us until we return you and receive word from our Lord to release her.”

“Not an option,” Scarlett bit back, shoving the child she held behind her. She heard Sorin murmuring softly to them, but couldn’t pay attention to what he was saying.

“Then she dies and we retrieve you by force,” the seraph said with a shrug.

At those words, a small whimper came from Tula’s lips.

“Brave girl.” Scarlett’s gaze slid to Rayner, but he was looking intently at Tula. “Do you remember what I told you?”

Scarlett looked back at the little girl, who was nodding slightly. Her tiny body was trembling violently now, and two tears slipped down her face. But her eyes stayed ?xed on Rayner. She may have been terri?ed, but that was pure trust shining there.

“Good. I need you to do exactly what I showed you and closeyour eyes. Keep them closed until I say. Are you ready, brave girl?”

“Rayner—” Scarlett started, reaching out to stop him from whatever he was about to do. They couldn’t risk Tula getting hurt. They couldn’t—

But a moment later, her eyes went wide as she watched Rayner unleash hell.

Tula had reached up to the necklace she and Sorin had made when they had traded for the amulet she had worn. The amulet had been one of the Avonleyan keys, but the child had been reluctant to give it up. So Sorin had suggested a trade. They had created a beautiful necklace combining their gifts, but apparently Rayner had added his own magic to the creation, because there was the smallest trace of smoke wafting from it now.

And that was all the Ash Rider needed.

In the blink of an eye, Rayner had moved from Scarlett’s side. He reappeared in front of the seraph to the left of Tula, his blade slicing through his throat. Blood sprayed. But before a drop of it had hit the deck of the ship, Rayner had disappeared again, appearing behind the seraph to the right of Tula.

He didn’t use a blade this time.

The seraph’s eyes ?ew wide. He opened his mouth, but all that came out of it was a dribble of blood. The seraph dropped to the deck, and Rayner stood there, the seraph’s heart in one hand and another organ in the other. The seraph’s liver maybe? Scarlett had no idea. He released the organs, and they turned to ashes that slowly ?uttered down to rest over the seraph’s still body.

Rayner was already moving through the smoke and ashes again. He was moving so fast, Scarlett couldn’t track him. She could swear he was some place else every time she blinked as two more seraphs fell to the ground. In her next breath, the head of the seraph holding Tula was falling from his neck as two blades cut clean through it. The seraph’s body went lax, his hands releasingthe child. Rayner sheathed the blades down his back before tossing the headless body to the side and scooping Tula into his arms.

The little girl wrapped her tiny arms tight around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. She still had her eyes squeezed tightly shut, and Rayner was murmuring into her ear. Blood was spattered across his face, and red coated his hands.

Because he had ripped out organs. Good gods.

Rayner had reached through a man’s back and ripped vital organs from his body.

His strange eyes were swirling faster than Scarlett had ever seenas they settled onto her. “Rain hell on these bastards, your ­Majesty.”

His words snapped her from her awe, because she was seriously amazed by what she had just seen. She was going to need to know exactly what the fuck had just happened, but ?rst, she had her own hell to unleash.

Pulling every last bit of her magic to the surface, she sent shadow snakes slithering across the deck. The remaining seraphs tried to take ?ight, but she’d already encased their feet in ice, freezing them to the deck. Their wings strained, trying to break them free, but her snakes were winding up their legs, around their torsos. They slithered higher and higher until they reached their mouths. Sorin’s power coiled around hers, making their wings smolder, and when they opened their mouths to scream, her shadow snakes entered. As they slithered down their throats, she turned them to white ?ames.

Their screams didn’t last long.

An arm slipped around her waist, and she leaned into Sorin. Rayner had disappeared at some point with Tula and the other two children, leading them away from the carnage.

Cassius and Cyrus appeared at their sides, Cassius reaching to tip her chin up. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. “We got here in time.”

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