The Golden Chalice

✰✦✰ Chapter 6 ✰✦✰

✰✦✰ Chapter 6 ✰✦✰
" Challenge Accepted "

"SCARLETT! GET UP!"

I rubbed my tired eyes, ready to punch the crap out of whoever thought it appropriate enough to wake me. I noticed it was still dark outside and I was sure I wasn't supposed to be up for at least another two hours. But when my eyes landed on a very panicked Sarinne, I kept the insults from spilling from my tongue.

"What?" I studied her face frantically. "What's the matter, Rinne?"

"The Shielder of Darkness will be here any minute," she said.

It was as though my soul had left my body and now I was left to stare at the shell from above. "What?"

Sarinne told me, "His soldiers are here. He'll be here any second now—"

I jumped up, elbows bumping my bed frame. "Why? How—"

"He got your letter," said Sarinne, her eyes drowned in fear. "And he's not happy, Scar. The whole country knows about it too."

"What?" I repeated, gasping. I couldn't think of anything else to say, I was too confused, all of it almost felt like a dream, an insanely elaborate joke. "How? I only sent the letter two days ago?"

"They know your real name too," said Sarinne. I could see the tears starting to form in her eyes while my heart began pounding against my chest.

This isn't happening. It isn't happening. There's no way—

"Scarlett Solaris?"

A man's raspy voice cut off my train of thoughts and Sarinne shifted slightly on my bed as a light flickered on. I glanced over her untamed curls and saw a man with a black uniform on, covering him from head to toe, his eyes the only revealed body part. The fabric swirled with intricate details of skulls and markings of Death. But the eyes. They were a striking red. Like those of Fae.

"How do you know my name?" I demanded.

"The whole country does," he said, pulling out something from his back pocket. My breath hitched when I recognised it as a sword. A very sharp, silver one too. He started sliding it between his hands smoothly, as if somehow threatening me without words. "You've been believed to be dead for a very long time, Your Highness."

I stood up, somehow now very awake and alert. And angry. "Must I repeat my question, Red Eyes?"

He scoffed. "Do you honestly think I'd be threatened by someone who can't even be man enough to sign her own name?"

My fear was slowly evaporating and turning into fury instead. "Why does everyone now know my name? And why is the Shielder of Darkness on his way here?"

"Because," Red Eyes leaned down from his tall frame, "you were an idiot."

"Stop it!" Sarinne growled, shoving him away. His eyes crinkled like he was grinning at our unease. Sarinne's chest heaved and she faced me. Held onto my shoulders and explained, "The Messenger you gave your letter to opened it. She was suspicious and she went to the Shielder of Darkness," she said. "And he. . ." Sarinne's lashes fluttered. "After she informed him of what you had planned, he executed her."

My body locked. I couldn't move and nothing inside me could either.

"That. . ." I gasped quietly. "That still doesn't explain how everyone knows my name now? I signed it as Sofia—"

"Because," a deep, dark and chilling voice called from the living area just beyond my room. "You left your royal mark, Your Highness."

We froze. Even Red Eyes stiffened, his posture straightening as his gaze stared ahead into nothingness. A trillion questions poked my mind and tried to rack my brain until—oh, Agora. I knew that voice. I'd heard it before. It was his. The Shielder of Darkness was inside of my home.