Red

31. Lethal Kiss

Viana

There was a fire in Scarlett's eyes that I had never seen before. It was ruthless, and fearless. A fire burning so deeply inside her, I almost feared it could consume her entirely.

     She had slit the ogre's throat without a second thought after he finally went down, and we went on our way once the job was done.

Ever since I came to their kingdom after everything went down, I knew something had happened between Scarlett and Rome. She had this new aura around her that was filled with raw power and it seems she has no idea. Somehow, their consummation only made her more powerful then I had already sensed. The only answer that made sense to the whole thing was that they had to be mates. Mating pairs give each other temporary power through sex, that's how the Elders designed it. And in being mates, typically they join constantly and sometimes without end throughout the night because the bond was so powerful.

So how was that possible if Scarlett had been human? Eden never got a mate from what we know of in the legends. So why is Scarlett different?

     A question that followed that thought, was she taking a tonic? Even with the such a small percentage of pregnancy occurring in fae women, it can happen. It happened to me. I thought at the time that taking a preventative tonic would be useless if it was so hard to even conceive, but I was wrong.

     Would she be mentally prepared for such a situation this early if it were to occur? She was only eighteen, and had so many centuries to live out her life before she even thought about giving Rome heirs.

     I would ask her, but she was already mentally stressed thinking about the days ahead and finding the twins, so I decided to hold my tongue.

     At least for a little while. Maybe I would bring it up at some point down the road.

     Night had fallen on our first day venturing to the mountains, and we made decent progress. Another day and a half, and we would be at the beginning of its ascent.

     Thankfully, we managed to find a small cave on the outskirts of the forest and were able to get out of the harsh icy winds. Using a little bit of my magic, I forged us a fire and laid out our bedding. Scarlett sat over her blankets, crouched just a few feet from the fire. She held out her hands towards the flames and a shiver passed through her body.

     "It was so cold, thank you for the warmth, Viana."

     "Use you're blanket, and you'll feel just as good as a loaf of bread in the oven." I give her a small smile and lay down next to her to curl into my own blanket. She smiled at my comment, but something haunted her mind, I could tell. It didn't quite reach her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing," She responds quietly. "I just wonder how we will find those twins. The mountains are hundreds of miles long in all directions, so what will we do when we reach the base?"

     "I'm not sure," I say, trying not to sound defeated. There had to be a way to find the twins. "We will just have to trust our intuition, and who knows? Maybe you have some sort of eternal link to the brothers that will help us find them. They are alive for the very reason to restore and destroy life. I just don't see how it couldn't be fate."

Scarlett bites her bottom lip and slowly drapes the blanket that was beside her over her body, keeping her cloak and hood on under it. I could hardly make out her face except for the parts where the fire highlighted her skin—her high cheekbones, her delicately pointed chin. She was truly beautiful, and I knew she had to have been even before transitioning into fae.