Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2)

Chapter 34 Sorin

CHAPTER 34

SORIN

S orin sat in his bathing pool, the steam wafting up from the water. The entire afternoon had been spent trying to sort out the never-ending issues with some Earth Court merchants, and he was exhausted. Cyrus had done well in his absence, but the Earth Court wanted to renegotiate their Marking fees for the third time in three years. He’d listened to concerns and calmed his panicked shopkeepers and business owners. He and Cyrus had gone back and forth on what they should do. Then he had received the summons from Talwyn, addressed to all the Court Royals, for an urgent meeting to be held at dawn. They were only allowed to bring their Seconds to such gatherings.

His thoughts drifted to Scarlett as they always seemed to when he had a quiet moment. She had forgiven him for the debacle at the chalet, but she hadn’t forgotten. She was more subdued around him and didn’t share things as readily. It was almost like being back in Baylorin when he had been trying to coax secrets from her. He didn’t blame her. It was his own fucking fault. He knew she was trying, but she had been partially right that day she had screamed at him. He had broken them. The repairing was excruciating.

She had come out of that day with a renewed will of shoving down things she didn’t want to face, throwing herself into her training. All of it. Physical, weaponry, and magic. She could summon flames of various colors at will. She had recently begun simultaneously crackling ice at the tips of her fingers. Her shadows still hung around her shoulders, but they seemed muted these days and sometimes flickered. She was still cautious, despite him and the others telling her how well she was doing. She refused to use it outside the courtyards unless she was alone or solely with him. The others stopped by the courtyard every once in a while to see how things were progressing, but other than that, they had no idea what the true extent of her power was. Neither did he.

He wasn’t surprised that she was progressing so quickly. He had trained her in combat and weaponry. He knew she would do whatever was required of her to obtain something she desired. To her, mastering her magic was protection and safety. He knew she was a quick study and would likely learn her craft faster than others, but Talwyn had been right that morning months ago. Summoning it and wielding it were two very different things.

He winced as he shifted on the bench of the tub. While Scarlett was getting stronger, he was getting weaker. The bond was thicker than the thread that had threatened to snap that day, but it was not the bridge it had once been. Even with concentrated efforts to reserve his magic, he could feel it, slowly draining away day by day. He grew tired more quickly, and the others were noticing. He had argued again with Cyrus yesterday about telling Scarlett about the Mark. He couldn’t do it, though, because he knew her. He knew she would accept the Mark to save his life, and he wouldn’t force something upon her, not when she had been forced into so much in her short life. And he damn well wouldn’t make it appear as if he only came for her because she was his twin flame.

He scented her then. Out in their room. She was back early from her usual sessions in the library with the mortal prince, and something was wrong.

Sorin quickly exited the bathing pool and toweled off. He pulled on his charcoal pants and slid on a white shirt. He was just finishing the final button as he entered the bedroom to find her out on the balcony in the gently falling snow, large fluffy flakes getting caught in her flowing hair. Flames were in her hands. Practicing. She was always practicing her magic when they were alone. The flames were various colors, but he could swear he glimpsed black amongst them.

She turned quickly at the sound of the door, extinguishing the flames instantly. “You are doing well with your magic,” he said, crossing the threshold to the balcony.

“The fire seems far easier to control than the water,” she replied. As she said it, she held her palm open and a small orb of water formed…and then splashed into her hand. She sighed in frustration.

Sorin leaned against the railing, bracing his hands behind him. “Talwyn was right on that,” he said. “Your fire magic will be dominant when in the Fire Court.”

“I can control ice just fine, though,” she argued. In emphasis, ice crystals danced at her fingertips amongst her shadows.

Those shadows of hers. Those she could control with a half a thought these days.

“Is the ice not easier to control than flames? Water is a liquid. I imagine it is harder to control than ice,” Sorin offered.

“So I just don’t do anything with the water magic then?” she asked.

“Gods, no,” Sorin exclaimed. “When you go to the Water Court, I suspect you will find it easier to access that power. With practice and training, you will be able to access them equally, no matter where you are.”

“When I go to the Water Court?” Her brows rose at the idea. “I can go there?”

“You are no one’s subject, Scarlett. You can go wherever you please,” he replied softly.

“Your meetings went well today?” she asked, summoning a bracelet of flames around her wrist. Each bead of the bracelet was a flame of a different color.

“As well as can be expected with the Earth Court,” Sorin answered, watching her work as she called each flame forward, one by one.

“Eliza said your Courts do not get along,” she replied, not looking up at him.

“No, we do not.”

“Why?”

“Various reasons. Old blood feuds,” he shrugged. “Things to discuss at another time.”

“Hmm,” she hummed, her brow scrunching in concentration. Those flames around her wrist froze, became a bracelet of brilliantly frozen flames of ice. “How did I do it? How does she do it? Disappear into nothing?” Scarlett mused after a beat of silence. The ice bracelet vanished, and she absent-mindedly began rolling a string of flames between her fingers, snaking it along her knuckles.

Sorin straightened at her questions. She hadn’t spoken much of that day.

“It’s called Traveling. Few Fae can do it,” Sorin answered.

“Can you?”

Sorin shook his head. “No. I can create fire portals because I am the Fire Prince, but I cannot Travel. You have Traveled before that day, you know,” he answered with a wry smile.

“When?” she demanded. Her flames blazed, and she flinched slightly.

Sorin chuckled under his breath as he extinguished her flames for her. “In the mortal lands. You traveled us from the Lairwood House to the beach.”

“But how did you know I would have the ability?” she pressed.

“Because your mother could Travel.”

She considered this for a moment. “Do you know who my father is?”

Sorin shook his head. “I do not have any idea. She was not with child the last time I saw her. Not that I was aware of anyway.”

“My mother told me he had been a sailor and that he was dead. She kept so much from me, I wonder if that is even true.” She had ceased with her magic and had braced her arms on the railing, looking out over the mountains before them. He wished he could capture the moment as snow gently drifted down around her.

Sorin shoved down the desire to go to her. While he still slept beside her every night and they still flirted incessantly, they had not kissed since that day in the Princess’s Gardens when he had shown her the sea star. Gods, he had wanted to. He had wanted to touch her again since the day she had begged him to after her first nightmare. Feeling her come around his fingers had him imagining her doing so around other parts of him. Had him thinking about how he’d make her come in other ways, too. But after the chalet, after the way he had so thoroughly shredded her, he would wait. He would let her come to him if she ever chose to do so again.

Then there was the mortal prince. Where things stood with him, he had no idea. She continued to meet with him nearly every day in the library, and once a week, she had dinner with the mortals in their guest suite. He was always a moody bastard at his own dinner with his Inner Court those evenings. She always came back to their rooms in the wee hours of the morning, the mortals’ scents wrapped around her, along with another scent he couldn’t figure out. It smelled of musty dirt and earth.

“How do I learn to Travel?”

Sorin considered the question. “I do not know,” he admitted. “It is different from portaling. Portaling opens a doorway between two points. Traveling is bending the air between time and space, like folding a map to make two points closer to each other and stepping through a rip in the world.”

“Do you know any other Travelers?”

“The Prince of the Earth Court is a Traveler,” Sorin replied darkly. Then after a moment, he added, “We should talk to Rayner, though. He may be able to help.”

“What exactly is Rayner?” Scarlett asked, curiosity taking over her features.

“After all these months, you finally ask of him?” He had been waiting for her curiosity to get the better of her. He was surprised she had held out this long.

She shrugged indifferently. “It seemed rude to pry.”

“You love to pry,” Sorin said with a pointed stare.

“Fuck off,” she replied with a roll of her eyes.

Sorin gave her a teasing grin. “Rayner is an Ash Rider. He can move among smoke and ashes, including across the territories,” Sorin answered. “It is like his own personal portal except that he can move mostly unnoticed and unseen if he desires.”

“So when he’s gone all the time, he’s…” she trailed off.

“Rayner is my Third, but he is also a spy. He is constantly in other Courts and lands gathering information and reporting back. Ash Riders are rarer than Travelers. Wind Walkers are the same,” Sorin explained. At the look of confusion on Scarlett’s face, he added, “Wind Walkers are able to move among the winds, just as Ash Riders move among smoke and ash. In fact, because the winds are constant, they do not need to rely on smoke or ashes and can be even more discreet.”

“Do the Earth and Water Courts have rare gifts as well?”

“Yes and no. Not in the way Fire and Wind do, but do not discount them. The Earth Court has the Artists. They are the only Court that can bestow Marks.”

Scarlett’s brows rose at that. “The tattoos?” Her eyes raked over him, pausing where she knew many of his Marks adorned his skin.

“Yes. Highly skilled Artists can charge astronomical fees for their services.”

“Interesting,” Scarlett mused. “And Water?”

“As for Water, they can imbue water to make weapons susceptible to magic. It is how my blades can become wreathed in fire. They were dipped in such water. Additionally, water is all around you and can be used as a looking glass if the right Fae is on the other side,” he answered with a knowing smile.

“Briar?” she guessed.

“He is a Water Gazer, among others, yes,” Sorin answered.

“How far can someone with the Traveling gift actually go?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can clearly Travel across the territories, but how far can I go? Can I Travel across the seas? Or is it like portaling where I have to know where I am going?”

“I do not know,” he said slowly. “Why the sudden interest in such things?”

“Inquisitiveness, I suppose,” she replied, waving her hand dismissively. She sounded as if she were half-listening at this point, clearly pondering something.

Secrets. She was keeping secrets from him. He had startled her a few times in their rooms when she had been poring over those ancient texts she kept hauling up from the library. She kept them hidden somewhere. He had gone back down to that passageway himself, to see if he could glean what books she was reading, but the shelf was always full, not one book missing.

She was staring out over the balcony again, playing with her shadows that swirled around her, lost in her thoughts.

“You have been preoccupied these last few weeks,” he said cautiously, leaning against the balcony rail once more.

“Have I?”

He clenched his jaw, not knowing how far was safe to push her yet. “What have you been researching in all those books you have been reading lately?”

“Various things,” she answered vaguely as she shaped her shadows into flowers.

“Such as?”

“The territories. The Avonleyans. Deimas and Esmeray.”

“Deimas and Esmeray?” he asked, unable to hide his shock at the admission.

“You said Talwyn has been upset with you because you didn’t find the weapon for her to seek her revenge. That is what caused your…mood that day,” she said, glancing at him sidelong.

He had told her about that meeting, about some of the things that Talwyn had said to him that had put him in such a state of mind. He didn’t know she had started researching things because of it.

She shrugged. “I thought if we could find something to give her to seek that revenge, maybe she would stop being such a raging pain in your ass.” She shrugged again, as if it were nothing.

He swallowed. “Have you learned anything?”

“About Deimas and Esmeray? Not much,” she admitted.

“But you have learned other things?”

Scarlett took a step back from the railing as she said, “I suppose we should go find Rayner. See if he can help me learn how to Travel.”

Too much. He had pushed her as far as she was willing to go today.

“I was thinking we could take a night off,” Sorin said, a half smile curling on his lips.

“I don’t need a night off,” she replied without looking at him.

“You may not need a night off, but I would like to show you the city.”

Scarlett turned to face him. “You’ll take me into the city?”

“I did tell you that you could go into the city whenever you wanted to,” Sorin reminded her.

“I know, and I have been a few times on quick errands with Eliza, but never out for fun. There’s just been so much going on, and we were going up to the courtyards every day. And now there’s the— I just forgot there were other things to see,” Scarlett said, looking out over the balcony once more. From up here, you could just see the start of the city beyond the sprawling grounds.

“There will always be something to tend to or something to train for. There will always be people vying for your attention and places to run to, but it is just as important to take the time to look at the stars and feel the sun on your face and enjoy good food with excellent company,” he said.

“Excellent company? Are Eliza, Cyrus, and Rayner to join us as well then?” she teased with a smirk.

“My dear Scarlett,” he purred, coming up behind her, “when shall we find a better use for that wicked tongue of yours?”

Her citrus and embers and jasmine scent filled him. The Mark on his left hand burned as desire coursed through him, and he hid his grimace. She turned to face him, her composure more alluring than ever. Her voice was low and sultry as she said, “Oh Prince, you shall find out just how wicked I can be when you see what I’m wearing out tonight.”

Sorin had no doubt it was true as she sauntered past him, swinging those damn hips of hers just right, and went to dress for a night in the city.