Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2)

Chapter 35 Scarlett

CHAPTER 35

SCARLETT

S carlett sat across from Sorin at a small table in a little restaurant along the Tana River. Since most of the residents of the Fire Court possessed fire magic, the city was kept as warm and toasty as the palace by the various business owners and patrons. The hostess had greeted Sorin by name, addressed as Prince Sorin of course, and immediately taken them to this table. Scarlett hadn’t asked if he sent notice ahead or if he just always had a table on stand by.

Eliza, of all people, had helped her get ready for the night. For a female who was more comfortable on battlefields and with books in her hands, she certainly knew fashion well enough. Scarlett wore a tight forest green dress that made her hair shine in the setting sun. It boasted sheer panels that ran along her midriff, and the sleeves were sheer as well. The back was open and exposed. Tiny beads of silver adorned the whole thing. Eliza had used two ornate floral hairpins to sweep half of her hair up. The rest she had curled down her back. Then she’d sent her on her way to meet Sorin at the palace entrance, promising to join them for dancing later in the evening.

“I’ve heard him talk about this city so many times I could recite everything he’s going to say,” she’d said with a wave of her hand. “Let him show you Solembra. We will show you the nightlife.” The feral gleam in her eyes had Scarlett laughing as she’d sauntered down the hall.

The guards had given her appreciative glances when she’d passed, and the look on Sorin’s face when he’d seen her would forever be etched in her memory. How he had stilled. How his eyes had swept her up and down. Twice. How, when he finally began moving again and reached her side, her toes had curled when he had whispered directly into her ear, “You shall start rumors tonight in that dress, Princess.”

They had walked the half mile or so to the City. With Sorin beside her, the biting cold of winter was stifled. She didn’t even need her cloak, and Sorin had sent it to whatever pocket between the realms where he stored everything else it seemed. He had pointed out various places on their way to the restaurant. Next time, he promised, he was taking her to the artist’s district.

The sun was setting as they sat beside the Tana River. Despite it being winter, the magic of the Fire Court kept the river from freezing, and she could hear the rushing sounds of the water. Not quite the waves of the sea, but they quieted her soul nonetheless. They had already ordered, and she sipped at her wine. He studied her, taking a drink of his own, before he said, “You were back earlier than usual from the library today.”

She paused, slowly setting her goblet back onto the table. She leaned back in her chair, her eyes gazing out at the Tana. “We weren’t in the library long today. Callan was restless and wanted to walk the gardens. It was freezing, so it did not last long.”

“Let’s try again,” he said gently. “You were upset when you came back to our rooms earlier than usual today.”

She brought her eyes back to his where he was patiently waiting for her. “He grows restless and is ready to return to Baylorin.” Sorin was silent, waiting for more. She sighed. “I told him that while I will return to Baylorin, I likely will not stay in Baylorin when everything is taken care of. He did not take it well.”

“I am sure he did not,” Sorin said, taking another drink of his own wine. She couldn’t read the expression on his features.

“We argued.”

“I am gathering that.”

Her gaze slid back to the river, and she strained to hear the waters over the din of the restaurant. “About more than me not staying in Baylorin.”

“Oh?”

“He still holds out hope that I will be his queen, that we will be together. No matter how many times I tell him or reasons I give him that it cannot be so.”

“Do you want it to be a possibility?” Sorin asked evenly.

“No,” she answered softly. “I still do not desire to be chained to a throne.” Sorin was quiet, letting her ponder, letting her volunteer whatever was on her mind. “He questions what you are to me,” she ventured carefully.

“Does he now?”

“He thinks you are my soulmate.”

A faint, almost sad smile crossed his lips. “I am not your soulmate, Scarlett.”

“Because you were my mother’s?”

“No. You can actually have more than one soulmate, but I am not yours.” He paused a moment before he added, “Cassius, however, is your soulmate.”

Her brows rose in surprise. “How do you know?”

“I am ancient as hell, remember?” he said with a wink.

Cassius was her soulmate. She let that truth plunk into her soul and sink to the bottom. Now that it was said, the obviousness of it stared back at her.

“Do you wish you were my soulmate?” she asked, picking up her wine glass just to have something to do with her hands.

He was quiet, contemplating. “No, Scarlett, I do not wish I was your soulmate.”

She was both crushed and relieved at his answer. Soulmates were intimate friends, but nothing beyond friendship. She had stared at her hand clasped in Callan’s when he told her he would be fine with Sorin being her soulmate, and she had realized the truth.

She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t be fine with that at all.

She did not want him to be her soulmate. She wanted more than just soulmate intimacy. The thought of him with another female made her want to rage and vomit and cry all at the same time.

But he had a twin flame. Somewhere out there. And despite her conversation with Eliza, if she ventured down that road, should his twin flame come along, the urge to kill her on sight would be strong.

“I am closer to you than I am with Cassius,” she said quietly. “You know things I have never told him.”

“What are you to me?” he asked, his eyes studying hers intently.

“A pain in your ass?” She batted her lashes at him as she took a sip of her wine.

He barked a laugh. “That you most certainly are.”

The sun dropped the last beat behind the mountains, and there was a sizzling sound. Scarlett’s eyes widened as she looked frantically around the restaurant.

“The river, Love,” Sorin said calmly. “Look at the river.”

She turned back to the water as flames rushed along the banks on either side, starting at the palace and flowing down the river and out of sight. She had seen the fires in the palace but had thought it was part of the palace magic. She did not realize it spanned the entire length of the river. The flames lit up the banks and the little businesses that dotted its shoreline. She could feel the heat from the blazes and couldn’t help but gape in wonder as small seals jumped as they swam downstream.

Finally she tore her gaze from the water and turned to Sorin, who was staring not at the river, but at her. His eyes were practically glowing. “They are the Twilight Wildfires. They start at the river’s source and go along the entire length to the border until dawn.”

“They are beautiful,” she breathed, turning back to the river.

“That they are,” he replied.

The food arrived, and Scarlett ate some of the most divine seafood she had ever encountered. After finishing off a piece of raspberry glazed cake, they had meandered around the city a little more. The Twilight Wildfires cast a twinkling glow along the streets, illuminating their path, until they came upon the dance club and found Eliza, Rayner, and Cyrus waiting for them outside.

They were handed drinks as they entered. Well, the others were. Apparently everyone here knew exactly what they drank. “Wine,” Eliza said to the hostess over the music, with a nod of her head to Scarlett. A few moments later, she had a glass in her hand and was following them through the crowd to a reserved table. This one, she was fairly certain, was always on reserve for them.

For hours they danced, and she silently cursed them all for taking so long to show her this side of the Fire Court. Cyrus whirled her around the dance floor, expertly guiding her through some popular Fae dances. She drank, Eliza pressing a full glass of wine into her hand whenever hers was empty. Even Rayner took her around the dance floor a few times. She laughed, carefree and joyful, with a family she didn’t know she had been missing.

Cyrus had just finished twirling her around to a particularly fast-paced number. She was breathing hard, laughing as Eliza sauntered over and began dancing between Cyrus and Rayner. Then she spotted Sorin across the room. He was sitting at their table, and his attention was fixed solely on her.

What are you to me?

His words from earlier that evening came floating back. She had deflected and had been grateful for the Twilight Wildfires interrupting that particular conversation because she didn’t know the answer.

But that was a lie.

Cassius had told her once that there was a connection between her and Sorin. Mikale had sneered that everyone could see it. Callan was beyond paranoid about it. She hadn’t believed them.

That wasn’t true either.

If she were honest with herself, she hadn’t allowed herself to believe them. She kept boundaries in place, kept feelings pushed so far down, to keep herself safe. Just as she had screamed at Sorin that day in the mountains. She’d known what he was doing because it was what she did herself. She was used to doing the protecting, constantly guarding those she loved. She had loved Callan once, but even then, she was constantly watching for threats and lived in the shadows.

But the way Sorin was looking at her, as if she were the only person in the room, despite the chaos and revelry going on around him, she allowed herself to peel back the outer most layers of whatever it was they were. She allowed herself to entertain the idea of letting herself love him, the one who always came for her. The one who let her work through things. The one who knew every secret her heart held. The one who did not fear her darkness.

She had meant it when she’d said she hoped he found his twin flame someday, but the deepest parts of her did not want to share him with anyone. A horrible part of her prayed to whatever gods would listen that his twin flame was already long gone from this world, and they wouldn’t find each other until the After. Even then, she didn’t want to share him.

She pushed aside the shame that washed over her at the thought of that for her friend, about what kind of person that made her. She shouted to Cyrus over the crowd and music that she was going to take a break. Cyrus smirked at her, as if he knew something she didn’t. Sorin’s eyes locked onto hers as she made her way towards him, and she held them the whole way there. She slid onto the bench beside him at their table.

“Hello, Prince.” Her voice was low, sensuous.

“Hello, Princess.” Sorin’s voice was thick, and a predatory hunger filled his eyes.

“You are not dancing?”

“Cyrus informed me that I had you all evening and that I could share you for a while,” he answered, sipping from his drink.

“I think we’ve finally proven they do actually prefer my company over yours,” Scarlett replied with a wink.

He huffed a laugh. “It only seems natural, I suppose.” He paused, drumming his fingers on the table before him, seeming to debate saying something.

“Do I need to find a treat for you tonight, Prince, or are you going to say what you’re wanting to?” she asked, running her finger along the rim of an empty glass on the table.

“Love, that dress is all the treat I need tonight,” he purred.

She placed a hand on his upper thigh, and he stilled, watching her closely, studying her as he had all night. “Are you sure? I think I’ve finally thought of a better use for my tongue,” she replied, her fingers inching up his thigh.

Without taking his eyes from hers, he drew a fire message in the air. Then he knocked back his glass of liquor as if trying to clear his head. He brought his hand up, the one with the unfinished tattoo, to her cheek and dragged his fingers slowly along her cheek, her jaw, along her neck to her shoulder. As he lazily pulled them across her collarbone, he leaned forward so she could hear him over the noise of the club. “My dear Scarlett, I have done nothing but think about all the uses I could find for that tongue since the day I watched you spar with Cassius in that training barracks. It has really been quite distracting.”

And it was her turn to still.

“Then,” he continued, his breath hot in her ear, “I thought of all the things I could do with my tongue.”

His fingers had slowly trailed down from her collarbone, stopping right at the top slope of her breast. Her breathing hitched, and her core heated.

She swallowed as she breathed, “Who’s starting rumors now?”

His laugh was deep and carnal. “What kind of rumors would you like to start, Love?”

Sorin’s eyes followed his own fingers as he dragged them down between her breasts. Down slowly to her navel, then curved and slid down to her thigh. He started making idle circles on that thigh, slowly, so slowly, working his way back up.

She was done. She was done flirting. She was done keeping him at arm’s length. She was done. “Sorin,” she ground out, “let’s go.”

A slow smile spread across his face as he leaned in even closer, so that his mouth was right next to her ear. She could feel his lips brush the shell of it as he whispered, “As ravenous as this dress makes me for you, Princess, not tonight.”

She actually groaned. Out loud. “Why?”

He didn’t move, still whispering into her ear, “Because, Scarlett Monrhoe, you are drunk on wine.” She started to protest, but he continued over her. “And the first time I take you, I want you completely aware of every single way I worship you.”

Scarlett felt a pulse of heat behind her, and she turned to find he had opened a portal. Eliza was standing beside it, a look of pure amusement on her face. She scowled at her friend as Sorin said, “Take her home, Eliza dear.”

She turned back to him. “You are not coming?”

“Love, if I came home with you now, I would go back on everything I just said.”

“Then come home,” she purred.

But then Eliza was taking her hand, tugging her to her feet. Scarlett was still staring at Sorin, a look of pure desire on his face, when Eliza pulled her through the portal, holding in her laughter.