Lady of Shadows (Lady of Darkness #2)

Chapter 41 Scarlett

CHAPTER 41

SCARLETT

S carlett stepped into Sorin’s private quarters to find the others bickering amongst themselves, apparently about how to get back to her at the White Halls.

“Honestly,” she drawled, as her shadow wolves prowled around her. “I’ve put on such a spectacular display of magic and power today, how could you possibly be worried about me?”

“Really? Wolves?” Cyrus asked with an unimpressed glance as they all turned to face her.

“Would you prefer something with a bigger bite, Darling?”

As she spoke, the wolves merged until a dragon filled the space behind her. Its eyes were glittering ice, and it spewed flames from its mouth as it huffed and curled protectively around her. She reached up and stroked its head, and it set its massive snout on her shoulder, smoke furling from its nostrils.

A mad grin spread across Cyrus's face, but before anyone could say anything further, Sorin growled to his Inner Court, “Go find something else to do.”

Eliza and Cyrus were already halfway to the door before he finished speaking while Rayner disappeared in smoke and ashes.

Sorin turned to Scarlett, and she recognized the hunger that filled his eyes. The same primal lust she’d seen the night before at the dance club lined his features. His eyes went slowly up and down her body, and her shadow dragon dissipated behind her as he purred, “That seems like it will be extremely inconvenient to take off.”

Scarlett looked down and realized she was still wearing the witch clothing. She crossed her arms across her chest and replied shortly, “It was what the High Witch gave me to wear when I showed up on her doorstep in my nightclothes.”

“It is what they wear for flying,” he replied.

“Flying?”

“Yes,” he said as he prowled over to her. He reached for her waist, tugging her closer. “I do not want to talk about the Witches right now.” His voice was thick. So much desire filled his face, his scent, that he had missed her own change in mood.

He was home. He was safe. And now that the utter fear for his life had dispersed from her veins, there was a fury at being kept in the dark. Again.

As Sorin leaned in to kiss her, she said, her voice low and sultry, “Then let’s talk about how long you’ve known I’m your godsdamned twin flame. ”

Sorin took a step back like she’d shoved him. His eyes went from want to dread. He ran his hands through his dark hair, letting out a sharp breath. “I did not… You told me you did not want the Fates deciding your future. The Fates determine your twin flame , Scarlett. I wanted you to have the choice.”

“How long have you known?” she repeated, her voice quiet with rage.

“So because the Oracle told you I am your soul destined, you accept it? Because the Oracle told you that you are a queen of this realm, you are suddenly fine with it?” He retorted. The embers in the fireplace roared to life as he released some of the ire roiling with his frustration.

Scarlett smirked at him and added her shadowfire to dance among his flames.

Then ignored the unexpected rush of having her magic intermingle with his and what that did to her body.

“She helped me realize that just because the Fates decide something, it is still mine to choose. She helped me realize that if I choose it, I still direct my own path. I define what it means to be a queen in this realm. Not the Fates. I define what it means to be your twin flame . Had you told me, it would still have been my choice to choose it.” She took a step towards him. “How long have you known?”

He studied her hard. “A part of me wondered the night you fought with Nuri. I suspected in the days we spent at my apartment after the beach. I knew the moment you walked out to go to Mikale.”

“And you didn’t think I deserved to know?” Her voice was shrill now.

“You wanted to make your own path!”

“You took my choice from me by not giving me the choice!” Her shadows were swirling around her with agitation, and she fought to keep her magic under control with her rising emotions.

Sorin stalked towards her, closing the small distance still between them. “I left it to the Fates. If you felt it, if you accepted it, I would be eternally grateful. If not, I would have accepted that, too, and been grateful for what you did offer me these past few months.”

“If I had not taken the Mark, what would have happened to you?” Scarlett demanded. Frost coated the windows as she worked to control her own frustration and anger.

Sorin didn’t seem to notice as he sighed. “Taking the twin flame Mark without a companion is offering a piece of your soul up for anyone to find. It is drawn to its twin flame, but if it is not accepted…” He paused, running his hands through his hair again. “It continues to try to find its mate and drains its owner of their power. It weakens them until they have depleted their magical reserves or until something else finds it.”

“And then it drains your very life force,” she snapped.

“If you knew, why did you ask?”

She ignored his sarcasm. “You would have lost all of your power? You would have left your Court, your people, defenseless?”

“It was the only way I could find you in the Lairwood House.” His face had softened, but his voice was still edged with frustration as he spoke. “The connection from the twin flame bond—it allows us to find each other, Scarlett. It is a supernatural linking of our souls. It is why we can speak into each other’s minds. We can feel each other’s fear and sadness and joy.”

“It’s how you knew I was in the Witch Realm,” she said, as so many things suddenly made sense. How she felt like he could sometimes hear her thoughts. How he always seemed to know where she was. How he could reach her when the darkness was suffocating.

Sorin nodded. “Yes. It was not a full twin flame bonding, but a fractured one I suppose. I panicked when I felt your terror. I wanted to come to you, but I could not let Talwyn see I was weakening, even though she suspected. Had I left, she would have followed, and I did not know what was happening. I did not want to make things worse, so I sent Rayner.”

“You risked everything. You risked your Court,” she said, her tone still severe.

Sorin took her face in his hands. “Yes,” he snapped, his tone full of uncompromising will. “And I would do it again. I told you the day I pulled you from that hellhole that I would cross deserts and oceans and lands and realms to get to you. Then I told you in a dark forgotten library passage there will never be a world where there is not a you and me because should you be ripped from me in this world, I will cross them all to find you. I have told you in every possible way I could without coming right out and saying the words.”

“You should have just said them,” she cried. “You said you had told me everything. I specifically asked you!”

“You deserved to have the choice, Scarlett,” he answered, searching her eyes, his own seeming to plead with her to understand. “I did not want you accepting the bond because it was shoved on you, or you thought you had to save me.”

“But I needed to accept it to save you!”

“I wanted you to accept the bond because you chose it. Not because my life depended on it. I wanted you to accept the bond because you wanted it. Because you chose me , not the bond.”

“I would have chosen you,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I would have chosen you the day you kissed me in the archery grounds. I would have chosen you the night we danced at the Pier. I would have chosen you when I saw the pride in your eyes when I wielded my magic in the courtyard for the first time. I would have chosen you the moment you showed up in that room to rescue me.”

“You do not need rescuing, my Love. You never have,” he said softly, reaching up to brush back stray hair.

“You’re right. I don’t,” she snapped, stepping out of his reach. “I take care of myself. Every damn day. I have for years. Apparently I still am. I thought I had found some place to breathe, even if just for one second. I thought I had found a place where I could depend on someone other than myself. I thought I had found home.”

“You have found that,” Sorin argued. “This is your home. This is your family.”

“I didn’t realize families kept something like this from each other,” she replied sarcastically.

“Scarlett, that is not fair,” Sorin protested.

“Not fair?” She stalked back to him, poking him hard in the chest with her finger. “What’s not fair is that every single one of you knew I was your twin flame and no one bothered to let me in on the secret.”

“ You wanted to make the choice, Scarlett. You wanted to decide your own future,” Sorin shot back.

“Back to this again?” Scarlett screamed. She raked her hands through her own hair, forgetting it was in a braid. She swore as her fingers caught in the plaits and yanked the tie out, shaking her hair free. “ You took my choice away by not telling me!”

“No. I. Didn’t,” he ground out through his teeth.

Scarlett froze. “What do you mean no you didn’t? The minute you chose not to tell me, you took away my choice.”

“You could have chosen at any moment,” Sorin said. His voice was as lethal as when they had fought that morning. “At any point in time you could have chosen this. You could have chosen us. You told me you chose me. All you needed to do was choose us. You did not need to wait for me to tell you anything. You have never waited for permission for anything before, so why this? You do not get to blame me for pushing something away because you were too scared to acknowledge it was there.”

Scarlett stared at him as emotions warred inside her. She could feel her eyes turn to flame, and Sorin’s did the same. Flames appeared in one hand, and ice crackled at her fingertips in the other. Her shadows swirled around her, a twister of black. She closed both her fists, pushing that magic down, down, down.

After several moments of thick tension, she said, “We are done here.” She turned to leave, not sure where she was going to go. She didn’t care. She took a step through that smoke screen, through that rip in the world in her mind, and as she did, she felt Sorin grip her elbow.

She stumbled when her feet sank into sand, and Sorin caught her, keeping her upright.

“Let go of me,” she seethed, whirling to him.

But Sorin caught her shoulders and held them tight. “No.”

“Let go of me,” she said, her voice viciously low. She made her skin bitterly cold, and she felt Sorin’s hands warm as they held her.

“No,” he repeated through gritted teeth. Her shadows wrapped around his wrists and arms, biting into his skin. “You do not get to walk away from us. We promised each other. We do not shut each other out. Not any more.”

“Let me go!” she screamed. Tears escaped down her cheeks, and she slid to the ground as all the emotions and events of the day pressed in on her.

Sorin slid down with her, pulling her to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her while she cried into his shoulder. He stroked her hair, and she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head. He brought her hand to his chest, letting her feel his breaths. In and out. In and out.

When her breathing had evened out, he gently pulled her away and forced her chin up with his finger. He looked at her as if he could see her soul. His voice was soothing but filled with resolve.

“I will never let you go, and I will always come for you. Whether you are in the human lands, the Witch Kingdoms, or some sandy desert, I will come for you. Not because you are my queen. Not because you are my twin flame. I will always come for you because I choose you, Scarlett Monrhoe. I choose every flame, every drop of water, every shard of ice, every bit of darkness. I choose each smart ass comment and each middle finger you throw at me. I choose every way we challenge each other. I choose every night of dancing and scandalous dresses. I choose every morning of waking up next to you and watching you master your magic. I choose you, and I will always choose you. I am yours, and you are mine. In this life and every life after.”

More tears slipped free. She tried to turn away from him, but he held her there, golden eyes locked on hers. “I don’t know what I am doing. With any of this. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she whispered.

“That has never stopped you before,” he replied, leaning in and kissing a tear away on each cheek.

“I am a mess, Sorin. I am still darkness and shadows and—”

“Scarlett, I love you like the stars love the night. All the way through the darkness,” Sorin said gently. “You are not alone, and never will be again. You get all of me, and I get all of you. We do not shut each other out. We do not get to tell each other to leave. There will forever be a you and me.”

Scarlett shifted into his lap, bringing a leg around each side of him to straddle him, and hooked her legs around his back. He grasped her hips, pulling her close. She looped her arms around his neck. “I choose you, Sorin Aditya. I choose every ember and wisp of smoke. I choose every snarky comment about my cranky mood, and every teasing remark about my love of books and shoes. I choose every time you challenge me and call me on my own bullshit. I choose falling asleep next to you every night and kissing you good morning with each sunrise. I choose to follow you to the ends of this realm and every other realm known and unknown. And after we fade, I will follow you to whatever life is next. I choose you, and I will always choose you. I am yours, and you are mine. In this life and every life after.”

Sorin’s own eyes glimmered with unshed tears as he brought his lips to hers. The kiss was gentle and perfect, encompassing everything they were to each other.

I love you , he said down the bridge between their souls.

Always, she replied, bringing her lips back to his.

Sorin pulled back and, looking into her eyes, he said, “The desert? Really? I hate sand.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes as he helped her up. “Gods, you’re such a baby. You didn’t seem to mind it on the beach that night.” She brushed off her rear and the front of her witch-leathers. Looking around, she said, “Where are we anyway?”

Realization seemed to dawn on Sorin as he muttered, “Shit.”

Sorin was staring over her shoulder, and Scarlett turned to find the male with the black hair approaching. His skin seemed even darker under the hot sun. He was flanked by two sentries, and his face was a mixture of smugness and fury. He stopped a few feet away from them, looking them both up and down. He pulled a sword from its sheath on his back and leveled it at Sorin’s heart.

“I do not believe you were invited to these lands, Prince of Fire,” the male said, his voice filled with calm rage.

“Believe me, I would never come here willingly,” Sorin remarked flippantly. “How anyone could like having sand up their ass all the time is beyond me, although it seems fitting for you.”

The ground beneath them trembled, and Scarlett felt Sorin place a hand on her back to steady her. “You do not get to come to my Court and be disrespectful, Aditya,” the male spat.

Scarlett glanced at Sorin . He was picking at invisible grains of sand on his tunic, still in the elegant clothes he’d worn to the meeting with the other Courts and Talwyn.

“Azrael, I can disrespect you anywhere. I would not travel all the way here just for that,” Sorin replied, his tone bored.

A sharp wooden stake appeared in the male’s other hand, and Scarlett threw Sorin an incredulous look. “He has been here less than a minute, and you have already pissed him off?”

“He’s a prick. He is always pissed off,” he drawled.

“You are such a child,” Scarlett replied, rolling her eyes.

“I am a child? You just dragged me to the middle of a desert to avoid admitting you are madly in love with me.”

Scarlett stuck out her tongue at him.

“I am sorry to interrupt whatever… this is,” the male cut in, annoyance in his tone and all over his face as he looked between the two of them. Then to Scarlett he said, “But who are you?”

Scarlett glanced at Sorin again, but he was glaring back at the male before them. “Sorin, who is this?” she asked instead, looking the male up and down with an unimpressed sweep of her eyes.

The male huffed a laugh of disbelief.

Sorin sighed and, sounding as if he would rather be anywhere but here, said “Scarlett, this is Talwyn’s Second in Command…whom you bound and gagged with your shadows earlier today, by the way.”

Scarlett looked the male up and down again. “You are the earth guy?” Eliza had told her about the feuds between the Fire and Earth Courts. How had she managed to travel here ? She was sure Sorin was going to literally combust into flames at the laughter she could feel him holding in. The male before them snarled with rage.

“I am the Prince of the Earth Court and the Second in Command to the Queen of these lands,” he spat. “You two do not have permission to be here, and as such, I have the authority to bring you in for questioning.”

Vines appeared at Sorin’s wrists, binding them together. Sorin seemed none too concerned as he gazed at the prince unruffled.

That is until the same appeared at Scarlett’s wrists, snapping them together.

A ball of flame appeared at Sorin’s shoulder, and he snarled, “Release her, Luan.”

The prince shot a superior look at him as he wondered aloud, “Who is this female that keeps appearing at your side, Sorin? It is almost as if you came home with a—” The prince stopped short as his eyes fell upon the Mark on her left hand. They darted to Sorin’s left hand and then to his face. The prince seemed to have panic tinging his tone as he said, “She is your twin flame . ”

Sorin's smile was savage and cruel as he growled, “She is. Now release her.”

Why does he seem nervous about that?

“Because,” Sorin answered her out loud, apparently having heard her question, “Fae can be…territorial.”

“Well, clearly,” Scarlett retorted with a roll of her eyes. “He seems very upset that we are standing in his sand.”

The Earth Prince growled low in his throat, but Sorin’s answering snarl was louder and much more threatening. “We are not just territorial with our lands. I have told you we get very protective of our people, our loved ones. It is a little more intense when it is our twin flame.”

Scarlett groaned. “You mean to tell me you’re going to be even more of a mother hen now?”

“There have been many brawls when it comes to protecting lovers, especially twin flames. I do believe a palace was destroyed once because another male smiled at one’s twin flame shortly after the connection had been Anointed . ”

“It sounds like Fae males need to grow up and use their big boy words,” Scarlett mused, huffing a laugh. But then tree roots appeared around Sorin’s wrists, reinforcing his restraints, and blinding rage roiled in Scarlett’s veins.

Sorin’s eyes shot to her with an amused smile. “Interesting tidbit— females can get just as territorial over their lovers and families.”

“ Lover? I do believe you turned me down last night,” she crooned back.

“A mistake I will not be making again.”

“Enough of this,” the prince before them said. “I do believe there is a tower at the palace that can hold the two of you until I have had a chance to confer with the queen and verify your stories, but who knows how long it will be before I can see her. A few days perhaps?”

A tower? Scarlett felt her heartbeat thunder at the word. Her breathing went ragged. He was going to lock them up?

“Easy, Love,” Sorin murmured soothingly.

“Escort them if you will,” the Earth Prince was saying to his two soldiers, a sand portal appearing behind him.

“No!” Scarlett cried out. She looked desperately to Sorin, whose eyes were on her. “Do something!”

He held her gaze, his eyes intense and swirling with so many emotions she couldn’t process them all. “You do not need rescuing, Love. No one can lock you up. No one. No one puts you in a cage.”

With an icy flare, the tree roots around Sorin’s wrists froze and shattered. Starfire followed, dissolving the vines binding their wrists. The Earth Prince cried out in rage and swung with his sword, but it was met by Scarlett’s own, her shadowfire wreathing its blade.

“The Spirit Sword,” he breathed, taking in the blade she wielded. His eyes were blazing with fury as he enveloped them in a swirling sandstorm. Scarlett’s shield flared to life, and she felt Sorin’s do the same beside her. Grains of sand sizzled as it whipped around their flames.

“That sword belongs to the queen,” the Earth Prince seethed.

“And the queen wields it,” Scarlett snarled back. “Talwyn knows I have it, and she knows it is mine to possess.”

“Impossible,” he shot back. “It is her birthright.”

“It is my own birthright as much as it is hers,” Scarlett replied. The crown she had summoned earlier appeared on her brow.

The prince’s sandstorm diminished as he beheld her, bedecked in witch flying-leathers and a crown fit for a queen. She felt Sorin place a hand on her back. “We are fine, Love. We are safe.”

“Who are you?” the Earth Prince snarled.

“Scarlett M—” she paused and looked down at her ring. A smile filled her face, and her shadow dragon formed behind her and Sorin. With a roar, it spewed a ring of fire around them. “Scarlett Semiria , Queen of the Western Courts, and a queen of this realm.”

Sorin ventured, his voice calm but assertive, “There is much you do not know, Azrael. I suggest you speak to Talwyn.”

“Talwyn would never keep such things from me,” the prince spat back, but Scarlett could see the doubt in his eyes as he backed away from them, from her .

“The queens keep their secrets, even from us,” Sorin replied. His tone had softened a touch, like he knew the blow the prince was feeling at being left in the dark.

“I am not you, and she is not Eliné,” the prince shot back.

“Go talk to Talwyn,” was all Sorin said.

Scarlett felt a fire portal flare open behind them, and Sorin took her hand in his, tugging her gently backwards through the ring of flames. The Earth Prince was still staring at them when the portal snapped closed.

“Earth guy?” Sorin asked, turning to look at her. “You called Azrael Luan the earth guy.” He laughed out loud, rich and deep.

Scarlett glared at him and waved him off. “I was flustered. I hate not knowing everything I should.” She huffed a sigh of frustration, blowing a stray piece of hair from her eyes. Then she looked around.

They were standing in the middle of what appeared to be a mid-sized home. She stood in a great room. A moderate kitchen was to the right, with an island in the center of it. There was no separate dining room, and the counter was piled high with fresh groceries. Overstuffed chairs and chaise lounges were scattered around a fireplace that roared to life to her left. Bookshelves filled with books lined both sides of the fireplace. There was a hall that led to a staircase along the back wall. She turned to look out a window and found snow-covered mountain tops staring back. Large evergreens stood stark against the backdrop of the mountains.

She whirled to Sorin, who was watching her with anticipation, his golden eyes so full of joy and love. “Are we at your mountain home?” Scarlett breathed, stepping closer to the window. There was nothing else around for miles. Not that she could see, anyway.

“ Our mountain home,” Sorin said, coming up behind her. “You get all of me, and I get all of you. No one else is allowed in. Ever.”

“Never?” Scarlett asked, with a raise of her brows.

Sorin slid his arms around her waist as he said, “Never. I guess Cyrus has been here once. They have tried. Eliza has come banging on the door more than once, cursing me soundly when I refuse to let her in.”

“How often do you come here?”

“When I need to get away. When I need to think. When I need to drink and brood.”

“So when you need to throw a temper tantrum?”

“When I need to be alone with my twin flame.” His voice had dropped low, guttural.

Scarlett turned in his arms, and the look on his face was pure hunger, his eyes glazed with thick desire. “Hmm. The palace isn’t big enough for us to get some privacy?”

“Not for the sounds you will make this evening, Princess,” he growled as he brought his lips to hers. Scarlett’s toes curled in her boots at the promise those words held. Her twin flame. The one who came for her. The one who wouldn’t let her go. The one who claimed her. She wanted to give him everything she had.

The kiss was slow and gentle at first, until she felt the connection between them practically vibrating. Then she couldn’t get enough of him. She needed to touch him everywhere. She needed him to touch her everywhere. It was as if that bond snapping into place made her need to connect with him in every possible way. She pulled back and purred, “You’re right. These witch-clothes are extremely inconvenient.”

Sorin gave her a devilish grin, and flames licked along her body, up her legs and torso, across her arms, and when they had disappeared she stood in the red dress she’d worn the night of the party on the Pier last summer.

“This one?” Scarlett asked, raising a brow in surprise.

“My Love, the ways I have imagined taking this dress off of you since that night are impossible to count,” he whispered into her ear, and she felt her core heat and her skin tighten in all the right places. She reached up to remove the crown that still adorned her head, but he hissed, “Leave it.”

He brought his lips back to hers, and this time the kiss told her exactly what he wanted. She pressed herself against him, and she could feel him hard against her. His tongue slid across her lips, and she parted them instantly. He swept in, sliding against the roof of her mouth, her teeth. He nipped her lower lip as he pulled back just far enough to look into her eyes, and beneath the predatory lust, there was a glimmer of concern. “You are ready for this? I will understand if you are not.” He stroked a thumb across her cheekbone.

“Now, Prince, there was mention of worshipping me, and I do like to be adored,” she crooned.

That grin on his face turned downright feral. “Thank the gods.” He kissed her again, then began trailing kisses along her jaw. “Princess, I do not even know where to begin,” he murmured, his teeth grazing the shell of her pointed ear.

Scarlett couldn’t help it. A low moan escaped her as she tilted her head back against the window behind her, giving him better access to her neck. He chuckled darkly in approval, and the sound skittered along her bones. He kissed and licked down her throat, down to her collarbone. Lower. And then he stopped. Scarlett whimpered in protest.

Sorin braced a hand beside her head against the window as he brought his face close to hers, running his nose down the length of her own. “Such new sounds from you, Princess,” he teased. She felt his other hand behind her then, reaching for the buttons on her dress.

She couldn’t think of any smart ass comment as his fingers grazed her bare skin. Every bit of her attention, every thought, was focused right there. She reached up to help with the skin tight dress, but Sorin hissed at her again and she froze. “Let me do it,” he growled into her ear.

She buried her hands in his hair as he returned to her neck, sliding her dress slowly down. Finally, that dress fell to the floor, pooling around her feet, and Sorin stepped back, taking her all in. His eyes were heavy lidded as he purred to her, “I do not know which part to worship first.”

She reached for him, ready to undo those buttons and show him exactly where he could start, but he clicked his tongue. Grabbing her wrists, he pinned them against the wall near her head. He kissed each wrist, seeming to remember where those bruises had been from another man who had done the same but with such cruelty. “What kinds of things will you let me do to you, my Love?” he murmured.

Her knees were weak and her whole body was trembling as he kissed her lips, her neck. He reached her breast, and she arched into him. He circled her right breast with kisses while his left hand trailed down to her left breast. As he took her right nipple into his mouth, he palmed her left breast, and she moaned. Still, the kisses trailed lower. Down her torso. Down to her navel. Lower. Lower. Until he knelt before her. Until he knelt before his queen. Until he knelt before his twin flame.

There was wicked dominance on his face as those kisses moved to her inner thighs, circling the spot she wanted him most. She thrust her hips forward in demand, but he only chuckled, trailing a finger lazily around that spot, taunting her. She whimpered again, not caring that she was begging. “Sorin. Please.”

He laughed low. “I guess you do have manners.”

Before she could reply, his tongue dragged across the apex of her thighs, and she cried out. His hand gripped her hip, pinning her to the wall. He took his time with sweeping strokes of his tongue. Scarlett gripped his shoulder, her nails digging in. She moaned when he slipped a finger inside her, then two. She felt release building as he worked those fingers in her, his tongue continuing its ethereal work on that bundle of nerves. Harder and faster he pumped those fingers until he took her over the edge, continuing to stroke her through it all. White starfire flames exploded around her with crystallized ice diamonds dancing among them. She didn’t care. The entire house could have burned down around them, and she wouldn’t have had one fuck to give right now.

She reached for him as he stood, a satisfied, smug male smile on his face. She wanted that shirt off of him. Those weapons. Those pants.

“Gods, Scarlett.” His tone was raspy and ravaging as he ran his tongue across his glistening lips. “You taste divine.”

Her mouth crashed into his, their tongues dancing against each other as she tasted herself on him. He hoisted her onto his hips, his hands squeezing her ass. She wrapped her legs around him tight. Her mouth was still on his when he started towards the hallway, then through a fire portal. Her long hair was a mass around them both. She kissed down his neck and throat while her fingers undid the buttons on his tunic as quickly as she possibly could.

Sorin stepped them into what she assumed was his bedroom. She didn’t care. He could have just laid her down on the floor of the sitting room and taken her right there.

It was easily as big as the kitchen and sitting area put together. A large bed was before them, with a giant soaking tub underneath the window on the far wall. A fireplace was opposite the bed, a grey sofa before it. He set her on the bed, shrugging off the shirt she had managed to unbutton. She reached for him again, undoing all the buckles as daggers and swords thudded to the floor. She made short work of his pants, and her mouth dried out as he sprang free, long and thick. He quickly slid them off, and she reached for him again. He was hard as granite in her hand, and she brushed a thumb over his tip. He groaned low, his cock twitching in her hand. She grinned up at him with wicked delight as he made to move over her.

“But I have so many uses for my tongue,” Scarlett protested, her voice sensual.

“Later,” he growled.

Scarlett wasn’t about to argue. She slid back on the bed as he crawled onto it, hovering over her. He kissed her breasts, nipping and licking her nipples. Scarlett fisted her hands in his hair, bucking her hips up in demand. Sorin laughed low. “But I have so many other ways to worship you, my Love.”

“Later,” Scarlett gasped between her panting breaths.

Sorin dragged himself slowly along her entrance. Scarlett whimpered, dragging her nails down his back, trying to pull him closer to her. With a wicked grin, he did it again. The third time, Scarlett ground out “Enough.” She tried to sound as demanding as she felt, but it came out as a plea. She was growing impatient. She needed him in her. Now.

Sorin gazed down at her, pure love and adoration in his eyes now. Scarlett cupped the back of his neck with one hand. With the other she brushed a lock of that soot black hair from his brow. Looking into his eyes, straight into his soul, she whispered, “I love you, Sorin, and I choose you .”

The words snapped something in him. He pushed into her slowly, inch by inch. She moaned as he filled her. She clenched his muscled biceps when he was seated to the hilt and stilled, letting her adjust. “I love you, too, Scarlett,” he said, his own breathing as shallow as her own.

She writhed beneath him, begging silently with her hips for any type of movement and friction, and with a look of pure possessiveness, Sorin finally obliged her. He slowly pulled out a few inches, and Scarlett squeezed those muscled arms she was gripping as he thrust back in. Slowly, he did it again and again. She pulled herself up to him, kissing his neck, along his chest. She gasped when he started to go faster, harder.

“Scarlett,” he groaned, and she moved her hips in rhythm with his. She dragged her nails down his back again as pleasure seeped into every part of her. The connection between them was vibrating wildly. It was a hum in her veins. It was tangible, like she could reach out and touch it. It wove between them, intertwining around them, joining every facet of their beings and souls.

Their powers tangled around each other as if they, too, were connecting. She could feel them, flames dancing with ice, ashes swirling with water. Where they mingled, they glowed, and an aura of flames surrounded them. Her shadows swirled amongst it all.

She gasped his name as release barreled through her again, and he kept moving in her, drawing out her pleasure. Only when she had neared the end of her own release, did Sorin find his, groaning her name into her neck as he spilled himself inside her.

Sorin rolled off of her, panting as hard as she was. She nestled into his side, resting her head on his chest as he stroked her hair. After a few moments, when their breathing had calmed, Sorin said gently, “You are…all right?”

Scarlett lifted herself up to look into his eyes, where she found home staring back at her. She stroked a finger down his cheek and pushed herself up to brush a kiss to his lips. Then she said with a sensuous grin, “Prince, anytime you feel the need to worship me like that I will be most willing to accept your adoration.”

Sorin’s face was dead serious as he cupped her cheek with his hand and said, “Love, I plan on worshipping you in every possible way for the next thousand years and even that will not be enough.”

Sorin brought his lips back to hers. She hauled herself on top of him, deepening the kiss. She pulled back just enough to murmur onto his lips, “Let’s do that again.”

A wicked grin spread across his face. “Princess, it would be my pleasure.”