Lady of Embers

Scarlett rides her shadow dragon away from the Fellowship she has reduced to ash with white flames, Cassius pressed to her back.

Scarlett rides her shadow dragon away from the Fellowship she has reduced to ash with white flames, Cassius pressed to her back. She left an altered key for Alaric—bait to trigger a plan months in the making. But weeks of depleting her Avonleyan gifts have drained her dry, and Cassius is empty too. The shadow dragon flickers beneath them. They plummet toward the Edria Sea, unable to Travel, unable to stop their descent. Then a roar splits the sky. Ranvir—the spirit dragon bonded to a father Cassius has never met—swoops beneath them, catching them on iridescent black scales. Scarlett collapses onto the dragon's back and stares at the twin flame Mark on her hand, watching it dim. Sorin is somewhere between life and death across the sea. She tells Cassius they will be fine, but the emptiness in her soul says otherwise.

Scarlett drains her Guardian dry to restart a dead heart

Three weeks earlier, Cassius Traveled from the throne room with Scarlett screaming in his arms and Sorin motionless on the floor, chest charred by Talwyn's bolt. Cyrus, the Fire Second who lost his own twin flame years ago, recognizes the grief descending and orders them to the beach. Scarlett screams Sorin's name until she retches. Shirina, the shadow panther, breathes darkness into her, forcing sleep. In the dream realm, a silver-eyed man she knows only as the Lord of Night tells her Sorin hasn't fully crossed the Veil. He draws a new Mark on her arm and sends her back. She wakes, drains Cassius of every ounce of magic through her shadows, and pours it all into Sorin through their Source Mark. His heart restarts. Hazel, the High Witch, confirms he will live. Scarlett collapses beside him.

Fae Courts flee their homeland with children and no maps Ashtine, the Wind Princess, warned them just in time. Ships had been loaded for weeks. The Fire and Water Inner Courts, along with orphaned children from the Black Syndicate, set sail west toward a kingdom sealed behind wards no one knows how to breach. Scarlett and Cassius stayed behind to burn the Fellowship and plant the altered key, then caught the fleet on Ranvir's back when their magic gave out. Now Sorin paces the ship deck, still healing, while his Court strategizes around a map of nothing. They have no coordinates, no guarantee of entry, and a tracking Mark on Cassius they've just discovered—a hidden leash that lets Alaric pinpoint their location anywhere in the Edria Sea. Scarlett decides to leave it for now, hoping to use it as…