Then, suddenly, the most irritating person in existence made his entrance—Devran.
Not surprising, really. These woods were his domain. His stench of sticky magic practically oozed from the earth itself.
I exhaled sharply, willing the night to hurry up. Dusk dragged on like a stubborn child refusing to go to bed. My magic was already fraying at the edges, dangerously low. But, well... it was just Devran. After all the times I'd shooed him away, he might as well have been a nuisance of nature—like a pesky pigeon. I didn't need magic to deal with him.
"Oh, hey, Devran," I greeted, the politeness forced, as I lazily bit into my chicken skewer, not bothering to rise.
Scarlette shot me a curious glance before taking a subtle step back. She must have sensed it too—whatever was about to happen—or maybe she was just better at pretending than I gave her credit for. Love Fairies are naturally scared of Dark Fairies, after all. If Dark Fairies really did invade the Love Fairy Kingdom before, like she said, then her fear wasn't unfounded. Not every Dark Fairy was me.
Devran strutted forward, that infuriating smirk of his in place, but there was something sharper in his eyes this time—something... darker. He wasn't here for a casual chat.
"Well, well," he said, his voice oozing amusement. "If it isn't the most miserable duo in the woods."
I clenched my jaw, resisting the urge to snap.
Scarlette's gaze flickered between the two of us. She must have been trying to figure out who this menace was, but I wasn't sure how much I wanted to say about him. I wasn't even sure how much I knew about him, and that was a problem in itself.
"What's up, Devran?" I asked, feigning indifference.
"Why, hello, Veravos," he mocked, his voice slow and deliberate, savoring every syllable. "Looks like I've found your weakness."
I barely missed a beat. "An extrovert?" I deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.
He didn't laugh. Shame. I thought that was a good one.
"Funny," he growled, the humor gone, replaced with something colder. "For someone trespassing in my woods."
I shrugged, casual as ever. "You've trespassed in mine countless times. What's once in return?"
But the air shifted, a knot forming in my stomach. Something wasn't right. He wasn't playing his usual nosy neighbor routine. That dark gleam in his eyes? No…
Queen Judorah sent him.
Before I could react, Devran lunged.
His hand shot out, closing around my throat, lifting me clean off the ground. I choked, the skewer slipping from my grasp and hitting the dirt below.
"What the hell are you doing?" I rasped, clawing at his grip.
"It's not personal, Veravos," he said, his tone almost bored. "I'm just following orders. And right now? You've burned through so much dark magic, I could crush you like a bug."
Seriously? Was this how I was going to die? At the hands of Devran, of all people? If I had one more hour, just one damn hour, I could recharge.
Devran grinned, twisting the knife. "And to think you even brought me a Love Fairy for dinner."
Wait—Scarlette.
I flicked my gaze around, expecting to see her scrambling away. Of course, she would run. Self-preservation and all that.
But she was gone.
Wait. The deal. She's bound to me.
Then, like a ghost, she appeared behind Devran.
My red-haired hero.
Dark magic bled from my weakening body, swirling into a black orb in her hands. But it didn't stay black. Crimson mist spiraled into it, blending and merging.
Scarlette's emerald eyes darkened—no, flared—into a fierce scarlet glow. In one swift motion, she drove her hand straight into Devran's back, fingers curling around something solid.
Devran froze. His grip on my throat slackened as his breath hitched.
Then she plucked something from him.
A black, pear-shaped object, slick and pulsing in her palm.
Devran stumbled forward, coughing violently, his knees hitting the dirt.
"What… magic is this?" he gasped, bewildered.
Scarlette tilted her head, examining the object as though it were a mere curiosity. Then, with an eerily serene expression, she squeezed.
Devran convulsed, vomiting blood.
I stared, my pulse roaring in my ears.
Oh my gods.
Is that his heart?
"Didn't you just say you wanted to eat me?" Scarlette's eyes gleamed, but there was something new there—something unhinged. "Well, sweetheart, my heart's got teeth." She smirked.
She tightened her grip on Devran's heart, and a sinister laugh bubbled from her lips. The air around her thickened with crimson mist, swirling in an eerie rhythm.
Crap. My dark magic must be amplifying her bloodlust.
"Scarlette, stop this!" I snapped, my voice sharp.
She didn't hesitate. With an almost careless flick of her wrist, she tossed the heart at me, as if it were a trinket she had grown bored of.
"All yours," she said, her voice laced with amusement.
I caught it. The still-warm organ pressed against my palm, pulsing faintly. The sheer brutality of it should have repulsed me—but instead, I hesitated, too transfixed by the strange thrill of it. I stared at her for too long, intrigued, captivated by her unhinged energy.
Scarlette stood before me like something out of a nightmare. Her red and violet hair whipped around her, stirred by the unnatural energy in the air. Her emerald eyes glowed, now darker, twisted into a deep, fiery red. She was a force, raw and unchecked—chaos meeting destruction, a living storm.
I blinked, snapping myself out of the moment. Devran's heart still lay heavy in my hand.
"Come on, crush it," Scarlette urged, her impatience creeping into her voice. The dare in her tone was unmistakable.
Oh, Scarlette. You think this is over?
A slow smirk tugged at my lips.
"No, don't be rash," I replied, my voice smooth.
Instead of squeezing, I let my dark magic slither over the heart, tendrils of shadow wrapping around it, tightening ever so slowly.
Devran's breath caught in his throat. His eyes clouded with pain, but there was a flicker of something—realization.
"He's going to be my puppet," I murmured, more to myself than to her.
Scarlette tilted her head, studying me closely. Was she impressed? Curious? Or had she just realized that, between the two of us, I was the real monster?
Devran's eyes flicked to the emerald as we exchanged a glance, and his desperation became clear. He lunged for it with a wild snarl.
Scarlette was faster. The gem was in her hand before he could reach it, and she sprang to her feet.
I placed my foot on his back, pinning him down with satisfying weight.
"Kill me if you must," he spat, voice hoarse with defiance.
Pathetic.
Scarlette crouched beside him, her grip firm on his heart. "What does Queen Judorah want with the emerald?" she asked, her voice smooth, but with an edge of curiosity.
Devran's face slackened, his resistance crumbling. "For her spell."
Wait—just like that? No resistance? Too convenient.
I snatched the heart from Scarlette's hand, almost dropping it in the process. "What spell?"
"A spell to alter reality… into endless night," Devran murmured, his tone flat and hollow.
I froze. Endless night. Reality-shaping magic… and Scarlette had been using the emerald to slice meat?
I shot her a sharp side-eye, but she didn't notice, too absorbed in her line of questioning.
Scarlette pressed on, unfazed. "What are the spell's ingredients?"
"The Baltimorean Emerald… an ancient scroll… and a Light Guardian willing to activate it. The Light Guardian would rewrite reality itself. Permanently."
It all clicked. The Baltimorean Emerald—King Baltimore's prized possession. No wonder Scarlette had been hunted.
"Where do we find the scroll or the Light Guardian?" she asked, her voice steady.
"The Light Kingdom. That's all I know," Devran droned, his eyes glazed over.
I couldn't help the smirk that tugged at my lips. The Light Kingdom. I was right.
Scarlette turned to me, eyes flickering with something I couldn't quite place. "Oh, you were right after all."
A lucky guess. Or a well-timed lie. I'd take it.
She turned the heart in her fingers, the firelight dancing off its surface. "So... do you still want to play with his heart? Crush it? So many options."
The bonfire's glow painted her face in shades of gold and crimson, making her expression eerily unreadable.
I exhaled slowly. "It's not a toy, Scarlette. It's a heart. And if we destroy it, Queen Judorah will know something's wrong. Devran needs to return."
She pouted, rolling her eyes. "Does he? Fine. Be that way."
I was about to pocket Devran's heart when I caught the look on Scarlette's face—or rather, the lack of one.
She wasn't pushing me to crush it. She wasn't mocking me for being sentimental. She wasn't arguing. She was just… watching.
I narrowed my eyes. What was she thinking? Why had she wanted me to crush it in the first place?
Then it hit me.
Oh. Oh. Devran was a loose end. He knew too much, had seen too much. He knew where we were and what we had asked of him.
Clever, ruthless, Scarlette.
I sighed, rolling the heart between my fingers. "You will forget this ever happened," I whispered, my words barely audible. That should do it. Queen Judorah would never know we were onto her.
Scarlette didn't respond, still standing with arms crossed, waiting.
I frowned. "What?"
"You're not going to ask how they're infiltrating the Light Fairy Kingdom?" she asked, her tone sharp, cutting through the quiet like a knife.
Ah. There it was.
Before I could respond, she plucked the heart from my grip. It gave a pathetic squeak of protest.
I scowled. "You're going to bruise it."
"Fine, I'll be gentle," she replied with an air of nonchalance. Then, leaning in close to the heart, her voice dropped to a whisper. "How exactly are you all getting inside?"
Devran's face remained a blank slate, his eyes vacant. "We're already inside. Hiding in plain sight."
A coil of unease tightened in my gut.
Scarlette tapped the heart thoughtfully against her palm. "How many?"
"Five. More to come."
I exhaled sharply, the weight of the information sinking in. Fantastic.
Scarlette's lips curled into a sly smile as she turned the heart in her hands. "Now, forget you ever saw us. You were just on your way to the Love Fairy Kingdom."
My brows shot up. Oh, she wasn't just erasing his memory—she was sending him straight to the Love Fairy army, the same ones who'd been chasing us earlier.
Now that was an elegant way to tie up a loose end.
I glanced at Scarlette, a slow smirk creeping onto my face. "You are really something."
Without a word, she sat back down, casually resuming her meal as if nothing had happened. Skewers in hand, she tore into them with that same cool, collected air.
Devran, his eyes hollow and distant, turned and walked into the woods, a puppet on invisible strings.
And Scarlette? She didn't spare him a second glance.
"Skewer for you?" she asked casually, holding a chicken skewer in one hand while placing Devran's heart beside the emerald on the floor as though it were just another trinket.
I stared at the heart, then at her. She actually had the nerve to eat after everything?
I exhaled slowly. Nightfall was drawing near, and with it, the opportunity to replenish my dark magic. That's what I should be focused on.
Instead, my gaze kept drifting back to her.
"So what are you going to do with the heart?" I asked, trying to keep my tone indifferent, even though my mind was buzzing.
She twirled the skewer in her fingers with an almost unnerving casualness. "Depends on my mood."
Oh my gods. She's insane.
And yet...
I couldn't look away.
This reckless, infuriating Love Fairy. Those emerald eyes, her purple-streaked red hair, the porcelain skin glowing in the firelight. The way she wielded her enigmatic magic with unsettling ease. That eerie, eccentric sense of humor.
Something inside me twisted.
My heart skipped—no, lurched.
Wait. Wait.
Was I… interested in her? After all these centuries?
Is this my type?
An eccentric Love Fairy with a casual disregard for life and a fondness for skewers?
I need therapy. Immediately.