Chapter 37 Sorin
CHAPTER 37
SORIN
“ I t’s freezing here,” Scarlett groused.
Sorin hid his smile, reaching over and sending a ?ood of heat through her. She stuffed her hands deeper into the fur-lined cloak she was wearing. The winds swirled around them, snow ?urried with it, and her hair ?uttered around her face. She wasn’t wrong. The Wind Court was always, well, windy. The winds tended to shift from breezy to gale storm depending on the princess’s mood, and with Ashtine’s demeanor lately, the winds whipping about weren’t a surprise.
They stood before a stone bridge that stretched across a cavern leading to Ashtine’s Citadel. The domes of the various towers of her fortress reached into the clouds. The Citadel sat atop the highest cliffs. Only the cliffs where skystone could be found towered higher. Those same cliffs could also only be reached by the winding steps located in the back courtyard of the Citadel.
Sorin pressed a hand to the small of Scarlett’s back, guiding her forward. “It will be warmer inside.”
She grumbled something under her breath that Sorin couldn’t make out, even with his Fae hearing. She had woken in a mood, and he hadn’t quite worked out if it was simply an off day or if something was bothering her.
Nothing else was said, and when the main doors were pulled open, they were greeted not by Princess Ashtine but by Briar. It was still a shock for Sorin to think of him with the princess. Ashtine was just so … Ashtine.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” Briar greeted warmly when Scarlett pulled back her hood.
“Morning,” she replied, far more subdued than normal. Well, it used to be unusual. This mood and state were starting to become more commonplace, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it yet.
Briar’s eyes darted to Sorin in question, but he could only shrug as he watched Scarlett taking in the great foyer.
“Ashtine will be along shortly. Did you eat this morning?” Briar asked.
“Mhmm,” Scarlett murmured, moving to look at a large painting along the wall.
“You had a pear,” Sorin said, his tone conveying exactly what he thought of that “breakfast.” It wasn’t enough for a mortal, let alone a magic-wielder who needed food for their power reserves.
“I’m ?ne,” she replied dismissively.
“Scarlett.”
She waved him off, moving on to another painting.
True to her word, she’d drunk a small cup of his blood a few nights ago. She hadn’t requested more since, and he didn’t want to push her on this again. Not unless he needed to, but he also couldn’t wrap his mind around why she wouldn’t want to keep her power wells fully replenished at all times. Not with everything that was going on. Not with everything she had just been through. If they had known, if her Avonleyan powers had been at full-strength, she would have been better prepared for that ?ght at the border. Yet she still resisted.
“That is a portrait of Sefarina.”
They all turned to the lilting voice when Princess Ashtine entered the foyer.
“What someone thinks she looks like?” Scarlett asked, her head tilting as she studied the painting of the wind goddess. She had hair like moonlight, white and silver— much like Ashtine’s— and sky-blue eyes with winds that seemed to swirl in them. How someone could paint wind Sorin didn’t know, but the artist had managed it. A long, silver gown ?owed around her ample curves, and the woman appeared to be ?oating, her bare feet an inch above the clouds painted beneath her.
“One of her preferred forms, perhaps,” Ashtine agreed.
Scarlett turned from the painting to face her. “Thank you for allowing me to come here this morning.”
“You brought the amulets?”
“I did,” Scarlett answered, patting a pocket on her cloak. “Briar also mentioned you have extensive libraries here. I was hoping to look through them.”
“The keys ?rst,” Ashtine answered. “Then we can discuss the libraries.”
Briar fell into step beside her, keeping space between them. Apparently their relationship was a secret from all except their Inner Courts. Did Ashtine’s Inner Court even know? Should they ever take their affairs public, the two Courts would likely not be happy. The Royals taking an of?cial partner outside of their own Courts would be nothing short of a scandal. Such politics among the Courts were the reason Eliza now resided in the Fire Court. Any heirs produced would favor one power or the other, not both, leaving one Court essentially heirless.
He glanced side-long at his wife while they followed behind. Her hands were shoved back in the folds of her cloak, as if even inside she had not escaped the winter chill.
Are you all right?
She looked at him quickly before ?xing her eyes ahead once more. I am ?ne.
You do not not seem ?ne …
Her lips pressed into a thin line. I am just tired.
His brows rose at that. She had slept soundly all night. He had no doubt about that. She had been asleep well before he had climbed into bed beside her. He had continued combing through her translation notes and trying to read the books they’d brought from Solembra. How she had learned and mastered the language so quickly was beyond him. It was incredibly complicated. That aside, he had only slept a few hours himself, and he woke before her. She hadn’t moved from where he’d pulled her into his chest.
Before he could decide what to say in response, they’d reached doors that would lead out to the Citadel courtyards. Scarlett was already pulling her hood back over head, sighing slightly when the winds blew snow inside the moment the doors were opened. Maybe she just really did not like the cold, and it had put her in a foul mood. They hadn’t even known each other a year. There was still plenty to learn, he supposed.
Her head tipped back as she beheld the winding stairs along the steep cliffside that Ashtine and Briar were leading the way to.
“Can we not portal to the top?” she asked. “Or Travel? I can Travel us up there.”
“Sorry, Sunshine,” Briar said, looking back over his shoulder with a quick grin. “It is warded against portals.”
Scarlett opened her mouth to speak, but Ashtine said ?rst, “And Traveling.”
The princess began climbing the narrow steps, Briar right behind her. The steps weren’t wide enough to walk side-by-side. Sorin ushered Scarlett forward behind the Water Prince and began climbing behind her.
“This trek could take the place of training today,” he said to her lightly.
“Sure,” she replied.
He reached forward, grabbing her hand, and she paused, looking back at him. Shadows ?itted across dull, silvery-blue irises. This was more than the cold weather.
“Do you need to talk about something, Love?” Even a step above him she didn’t reach his full height. She still had to tilt her head back slightly to look into his face.
“Not that I am aware of,” she answered. “Unless there is something you need to talk about? In which case, I ask that we do so when we are not freezing our asses off.”
“Is this delightful mood solely because you are cold?” he asked, sending another wave of heat into her. “You have magic to stay warm, you know.”
“I am well-aware of what my magic is capable of,” she snapped in reply.
His brows ?ew up at her sharp tone.
“I apologize,” she sighed. “As I said, I am tired.”
“Did you have dreams last night?” he asked cautiously.
“No.”
“You are feeling all right?”
“You already asked me that today.”
“But I do not believe your answer, so I feel the need to ask again,” he countered.
She squeezed his ?ngers still wrapped around her hand before she let go and turned back to continue up the stairs. It was a ?fteen minute climb until they ?nally reached the top. Ashtine sent a small whirlwind through an archway, and the arch glowed faintly, recognizing her magic and lowering any wards to allow them to pass.
“It is beautiful up here,” Scarlett said softly, pushing her hood back.
The winds were calm and still in this space. They had climbed through clouds when they neared the top, and he had watched Scarlett trail her ?ngers through them before quickly shoving her hand back into her cloak. Then he’d heard her grumble something about how she should have brought her fur-lined gloves.
“Not quite the song of the sea but serene nonetheless,” Briar said, tossing a wink at Ashtine.
A slight smile graced the princess’s lips, and Sorin recognized Briar doing the same thing he was trying to do— anything that would lighten the mood of the one he loved.
Ashtine turned to Scarlett, gesturing to her pocket. “The amulets.” Scarlett pulled the four necklaces from her cloak, placing them in Ashtine’s palm. She crossed to a small rocky platform in the center of the space. An altar, Sorin realized. He’d only been here once, and it was before he ruled a Court. He’d come with Briar on a tour of sorts. All the heirs to the Courts had been given tours of the other territories.
Scarlett followed Ashtine, watching the chains carefully. “What are they supposed to do?”
“The silver in the chains should be moving,” the Wind Princess murmured. “There is something wrong.”
Sorin shot a look at Briar before he said cautiously, “Maybe it is not skystone after all.”
“It has to be,” Scarlett said, a slight desperation ringing in her tone that had Sorin moving to her side and placing a hand on her shoulder.
“It is skystone,” Ashtine said.
Sorin tried again. “I understand why you think that, but—”
“It is!” she said sharply, and Sorin’s eyes widened. He had never heard the princess speak in something other than her signature mystical lilt.
“What could be wrong?” Scarlett asked.
“It is not the skystone. It is me,” Ashtine whispered, eyes ?xed on the amulets.
“Try to call Nasima, Ashtine,” Briar said softly.
“She will not answer. She does not heed my summons anymore.” The princess struck out, slapping the amulets from the altar and sending them ?ying to the ground. “Nothing is right anymore. Down is up, and left is right. Black is white, and the winds ?ee from my mere presence.” Her small hand slammed down onto the altar, and a blast of wind erupted from it, the rock shuddering beneath the impact. Her chest was heaving, and the winds she’d created seemed to swirl about the Courtyard as if they were seeking a way out but could not ?nd it.
Sorin had tugged Scarlett back and into his chest, a thin shield of ?ame surrounding them. She had buried her face in his chest at the wind explosion, and she peeked out now, but Sorin’s hold on her did not lessen. Every part of him was on high alert.
He watched the Wind Princess warily as Briar slowly reached for her. Both of her hands were braced on the stone, her head bowed. Sorin knew she had not been herself. Briar had told him what had happened. Or the little that he knew anyway. Sorin had not realized it was this bad. That Ashtine, the quirky princess who spoke in lilting riddles and oddities, had descended into … this.
“Come here, my dear,” Briar said softly, and when Ashtine lifted her head, tears were coursing down her face.
“I cannot survive this, my heart. I cannot live without them,” she cried softly.
“I know, Ashtine. I know.” He pulled her into his chest, meeting Sorin’s gaze as the princess cried into his cloak.
Scarlett began squirming, trying to work her way out of Sorin’s grip, but he still refused to ease up.
“You’re being a mother hen,” she muttered.
“Did you not just see that?” he demanded in a hushed whisper.
“She is hurting, Sorin. She is not going to hurt me.”
“Not on purpose maybe.”
With a sigh, she created a swirl of shadows that cloaked her. They hovered close to her body and moved as though they were dark scales on her skin. “She will not touch me,” Scarlett said.
“When did you …” Sorin trailed off, not quite sure what to say or think as he looked at his wife. She could be Saylah herself. “When did you learn to do that?”
“I was told to master my Avonleyan magic. I have been doing so,” she answered, glancing back to Briar and Ashtine. The prince was murmuring softly into her ear.
“But when?” Sorin asked again. She was rarely out of his sight since returning.
“I came across some things during our research,” Scarlett answered, watching the other Royals.
Sorin stilled at her words. “What other things have you learned?”
“Nothing exciting.”
“Scarlett …”
Her gaze came back to his. “I am keeping nothing I have learned from you,” she hissed, those shadows swimming across her eyes again.
What is wrong? he pressed down the bond, but a wall of shadows slammed down along that mental bridge, and he took a physical step back from her.
“When did you learn how to do that ?” he demanded, his tone no longer hushed.
“There is something wrong,” Ashtine said, her head lifting from Briar’s chest.
“It is okay, Ashtine,” Scarlett said gently, ignoring him and taking a step toward her. “I believe you. I believe that these are skystone. I do not need proof. I never did.”
Ashtine shook her head. “Not that. You are … You are different. You are not the same as when you left.”
Scarlett stooped to scoop up the amulets from the ground. “I suppose I am not.”
Ashtine extracted herself from Briar, coming to stand before the queen as she stood. Sorin tensed at her closeness after such a burst of uncontrolled power, but he forced himself to remain where he stood. For an entire minute, no one said anything, and the two females simply stared at one another.
“The turmoil in my soul is a fraction of the tempest that plagues your own,” Ashtine murmured.
Scarlett said nothing.
“I will take you to the libraries,” Ashtine said then, stepping back from Scarlett. “There is one chamber in particular I think you will ?nd of special interest.”
She turned and made her way to the archway, Briar moving to follow. Sorin caught his eye, and the Water Prince understood the silent words he conveyed: they would catch up in a moment.
Sorin stepped into Scarlett’s path when she began to move towards the archway.
“Out with it,” Sorin demanded, folding his arms across his chest. “With what?”
“With what has you in this mood. What Ashtine was referencing. Where you learned to block the bond like that.”
“You have been blocking me out whenever you please since I returned. It only seemed ?tting that I be able to do the same when it suited me,” she retorted.
“Fair enough,” he conceded, and her mouth gaped open in obvious shock at his agreement. “But where did you learn it?”
“A book.”
His eyes narrowed. “The same one you learned that from?” he asked, with a jerk of his chin towards what he could only call shadow armor.
“ Perhaps ,” she said with a sardonic curl of her lips.
“Why are you so insistent on picking a ?ght with me today?”
“Because you keep asking me annoying questions.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Sorin said, raking a hand through his hair. “I am trying here, Scarlett. I need you to meet me halfway.”
“I am tired, Sorin.”
“You should be more than rested. You slept soundly for hours. Are you feeling unwell?”
“My soul is tired. I mean, yes. I am physically tired as well, which is concerning and something I want to discuss with you, but I mean my soul is tired. I am tired . This, all of this,” she continued, gesturing widely with her hand and sighing deeply. “Today my responsibilities are just weighing on me. I am not trying to be a pain in your ass. Not any more than usual anyway.”
He huffed a soft laugh, reaching over to pull her hood up for her. “Let’s go to the libraries, and when we return to the Black Halls, we take the rest of the day off. We can go to Solembra if you want. Or the mountain chalet. The Water Court and sit next to the sea in the sun and warmth. Whatever you need.”
She smiled weakly up at him. “We cannot afford to take time off right now, Sorin.”
“We cannot afford not to. Not if days like today are going to be the result.”
“Let’s see how long this takes before we plan the rest of our day,” she said, stepping around him and making her way to the steps.
“I am not going to give up on this, Scarlett.”
“I do not doubt that,” she murmured, pulling an amulet from her pocket and studying it as she crossed under the archway.
He followed, feeling the wards snap back into place once he cleared the archway, and they made their way back down to the Citadel.
“Do you have any idea where the Fae key might be?” Scarlett asked Ashtine while they were led through underground passageways beneath the Citadel. They’d shed their fur-lined cloaks above, and he’d gotten Scarlett to eat the small sandwiches that were awaiting them when they returned. Briar and Ashtine had gone back to putting distance between themselves, and now Ashtine was escorting them to the libraries.
Each Court had a library, as did the White Halls and Black Halls, but none of them compared to that of the Wind Court. Their libraries were housed in catacombs beneath the Citadel, spanning the entirety of the structure and beyond. Sorin had no idea how big the libraries truly were, only that they were extensive and the Wind Court was extremely protective of the tomes they contained. Visitors were always escorted, never allowed to roam alone, and several areas were closed to outsiders.
“I have many ideas. Will any of them be helpful to you? Likely not,” Ashtine replied, her usual lilt and oddness having returned. “But I suspect they will ?nd their way to you as the others have.”
Scarlett nodded. She pulled an amulet from her pocket again as they walked, her own this time. She ran her ?ngers over Saylah’s symbol, goddess of shadows and night. “Any idea who the ?nal bloodline might be? The six bloodlines of this continent are covered.”
“That you know of,” Ashtine said.
Sorin and Briar were walking behind the females, but they were listening to every word. Briar met Sorin’s quick glance at Ashtine’s words.
Scarlett seemed to weigh how to respond, clearly remembering that speaking with the Wind Princess could be difficult. “You have said my powers walked this world before. Did you know I was Avonleyan when you met me?”
“No. I am not a Seer.”
“But you are very knowledgeable.”
“Only when the winds speak through me.”
“Do you regret your choice?”
“Scarlett,” Sorin warned, but Briar shook his head, apparently wanting to hear the answer.
Ashtine was quiet for so long Sorin didn’t think she was going to respond.
“Queen Talwyn is unaccustomed to loyalty given freely. She does not understand the idea of someone willingly choosing her above others. Not without some kind of cost to her. No one has ever done so before.”
Guilt barreled into Sorin at those words. Scarlett obviously felt it too, glancing back over her shoulder at him, her eyes wide in alarm.
“Queen Talwyn does not understand unconditional love,” Ashtine continued, drawing Scarlett’s attention back to her. “To answer your inquiry, no. I do not regret choosing my queen, my friend, over my gifts. I do not regret being able to show her that unconditional love exists in this world, even for her. The cost for me has been extreme, something I would only bear for one other person. As for your previous question,” she said, her tone making it clear any discussion about Talwyn was over. She reached for the amulet Scarlett was still ?ddling with. “Many bloodlines have walked this world at some point or another. How many remain is unknown even to the winds, but I would start beneath the Black Halls.”
“You mentioned this before,” Scarlett said, and dread pooled in Sorin’s gut. With everything else going on, he had also forgotten Ashtine’s brief mention of what, who , exactly resided beneath the Black Halls. His hand instantly brushed over where the Bargain Mark was on his skin. Briar gave him a pointed look, saying he remembered the last time they were beneath those Halls too.
“Something about a sorceress,” Scarlett was saying.
“ The Sorceress,” Ashtine corrected. “Yes, she resides in the prison beneath your Halls.”
“And she is in this prison because …?”
“Yes, Sorin, please explain who exactly the Sorceress is to your wife,” Briar chimed in, and Sorin shot him a dark glare.
“The Sorceress was captured by Queen Eliné and Queen Henna during the war. She is said to be not of this world. No one knows where she came from, but her powers were stripped from her. Half of her gifts were used to create the Witch bloodline. Her other gifts were bestowed upon those who are now the Shifters,” Sorin explained.
“Why would you not mention her sooner?” Scarlett asked. “Ashtine is right. She could be the ?nal bloodline.”
“She does not have an amulet, Scarlett. Her cell is bare. She is incredibly dangerous.”
“How so, if she no longer has her gifts?”
“She still has her knowledge. She can still practice Blood Magic if she gets access to blood,” Sorin said darkly.
“Perhaps her knowledge would be helpful,” Scarlett tossed back over her shoulder, continuing to follow Ashtine.
“Everything has a cost with her. Answers to questions will be no different, and her prices are steep,” Sorin replied.
“Your husband would know,” Briar cut in.
Scarlett seemed to miss a step, but she kept walking. “Sorin?” A clear demand for an explanation.
He glared at Briar again. “She is how I found you in Baylorin after we fought. When you Traveled and could not get home.”
“She was your work around?”
“Yes.”
“And the cost?”
“I made a bargain with her.”
“What did you barter with?”
“The blood of a god.”
Scarlett stiffened, but she kept walking. “How do you plan to attain such a thing?”
“I don’t,” Sorin answered.
“It seems unwise to break a bargain with this Sorceress.”
“I will not be breaking it. She said if I did not ?nd such a thing before my death, my bargain would be ful?lled. I have not looked very hard,” he said.
Scarlett glanced back at him once more but only said, “We need to go see her.”
“Prince Briar is the only one who can grant such access,” Ashtine lilted.
She handed the amulet she still held back to Scarlett as they came to a stop in front of a set of towering white doors. He had been to the Wind Court libraries before, but he’d never entered through these doors. A guard was stationed on either side, and when Sorin reached out a hand to touch the doors, spears blocked his access.
“Touching without permission is rude, Prince,” Scarlett chided.
“Says the queen whose manners only appear when—”
“Sorin!” Scarlett exclaimed, her cheeks ?ushing.
He smirked tauntingly, arching a brow at her and latching on to this small piece of normalcy between them.
You are an ass , she sent down the bond.
Sorin only chuckled softly, looking at Ashtine. “These doors are skystone.”
“Yes,” the princess replied. “Only the Royal family and priestesses have been in this section of the catacombs.”
“You think the books I need are in there?” Scarlett asked, turning back to the doors with renewed interest.
“Perhaps,” Ashtine replied simply. “But that is not why I brought you here.”
Ashtine nodded to the guards who immediately stepped aside, one grabbing a handle and pulling the door open for them to pass. They crossed the threshold, and Scarlett audibly gasped. Sorin nearly did the same.
Everything beyond the doors was skystone. The shelves. The tables. Even the godsdamn ?oor was skystone. A few priestesses moved among the stacks, bowing when Ashtine passed. Scarlett was moving towards a shelf as though she were being drawn to it by some force she couldn’t control.
Touching without permission is rude, he taunted down the bond.
She ?ipped him off over her shoulder, not bothering to look back at him.
Her ?ngers glided along book spines. Ashtine stood back, her hands clasped in front of her, a small smile on her face as she watched Scarlett move along the books. “I am afraid those books will likely not provide the answers you seek.”
“How do you know where everything is?”
“Ashtine spent much of her childhood among these catacombs,” Briar answered. “She likely knows them better than the priestesses who serve here.”
“Why do priestesses serve in a library?” Scarlett asked.
“They are priestesses of Falein,” Briar replied, referring to the goddess of wisdom and cleverness.
“Ah,” was Scarlett’s reply. She moved to another shelf. “I could spend months in here.”
“Unfortunately for you, you only have the day,” Sorin teased. “And we do have pressing matters, Love.”
“I know,” she sighed, looking longingly at the books before making her way reluctantly back to where the rest of them stood waiting for her.
“There are texts on Avonleya in here,” Ashtine said. “However, before I take to you their location, there is another place I wish for you to see.”
“Lead the way,” Scarlett murmured, her eyes bouncing around the space.
Sorin grabbed her hand, leading her forward. She nearly tripped on her own feet.
“You still need to watch where you are going, Love,” he said in amusement.
“I trust you not to lead me astray,” she replied, tipping her head back to the ceiling. Various depictions of the gods had been hand-painted there over the years.
He followed Ashtine, towing Scarlett along behind him, and the princess led them down several hallways that seemed to slowly bring them deeper below ground. When she turned another corner, Sorin stilled. Scarlett ran into his back.
“Gods, Sorin,” she grunted, bouncing off of him, but then she stilled, too.
At the end of the corridor they’d just entered was a set of black doors, so dark they seemed to swallow any light.
Scarlett released his hand, taking another step forward. “Is that … nightstone?”
“I have never been beyond those doors,” Ashtine said. “Although I tried many times as a child.”
“Who has?” Scarlett asked, moving past her.
“No one that I have ever met,” the princess answered. “We cannot unlock the doors.”
Scarlett froze. “Then how are we to enter?”
“You believe what you carry in your pocket to be a key, do you not?” Ashtine asked.
“But I would need Talwyn to change its shape.”
“There is not a lock on these doors, your Majesty,” Ashtine said, gesturing to the doors. “I do believe the key lies in your blood, just as it draws the Avonleyan keys to you.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“A shadow or white ?ame should suf?ce,” Ashtine said with an encouraging smile.
Scarlett looked up at Sorin.
Go ahead, Love .
She swallowed before wreathing her hand in shadows and laying her palm on one of the doors. Silver light ?ared beneath it, and there was an audible click. She pushed, and the door slowly opened. She went to take a step in, but Sorin was beside her in the next breath, grabbing her elbow.
“Let me go in ?rst,” he said, pushing the door open farther, a ball of ?ame appearing above their heads.
Scarlett rolled her eyes. “She just said no one has been beyond these doors in centuries. Do you think someone has been living in there?”
“No one has been beyond these doors in centuries. That is the entire point here,” Sorin retorted, pushing past her and peering into the darkness beyond the door. The ?ames illuminated a long, rectangular chamber. Shelves full of books ran the length of both sides.
White ?ames raced past him along the skystone ?oor, running the entire length of the room and re?ecting off of it. The room illuminated, and he looked back at Scarlett, who gave him a simpering smile. “You were taking too long.”
“These books are not in any language I have ever seen,” came Ashtine’s voice from where she’d drifted over to one of the bookshelves.
Scarlett moved next to her, pulling one from the shelf. “This is similar to the Avonleyan language, but slightly different. Some of these words though …” She ran her ?nger along some text. “Some of these words will be the same.”
Briar had moved farther down the chamber along the trail of ?ames Scarlett had let linger to keep the space lit in a low light. “Any guesses as to why there is a mirror at the end of this chamber?”
Ashtine’s head snapped up. “A what?”
He pointed to the end of the chamber where the room was indeed re?ected back to them. The mirror was the size of a large door, starting at the ?oor and reaching perhaps a foot taller than Sorin.
“It is a mirror gate,” Ashtine breathed.
“What is that?” Scarlett asked, returning the book to the shelf, her attention now also on the mirror.
“There have long been legends of the mirror gates. They are said to be doors between the kingdoms,” Ashtine replied, making her way towards the mirror.
“So every kingdom would have one?” Scarlett asked, following her. “In theory. Knowledge of them was long lost. Only brief mentions in old scrolls,” Ashtine said.
As they neared the mirror, they could see the symbols of the gods were carved faintly into the skystone around it. Scarlett reached into her pocket, drawing out one of the amulets, holding it up beside the symbols. A messy knot, black as night, beside the same carved into stone blindingly white. Temural, god of the wild and untamed.
“Where do you think it leads?” Scarlett asked, leaning in to study the symbols more, her breath coasting over the amulet.
“Home, Lady of Darkness. It will lead you home,” came an answering voice, and Sorin was snatching Scarlett back from the mirror in the next heartbeat.
Standing in the mirror, looking back at them, was a tall, broad man. He was as muscled as any Fae warrior. His silver hair reached past his shoulders, arched ears barely visible, and his silver eyes matched Scarlett’s when her power was at full strength. The male barely glanced at the rest of them, his focus on Scarlett, who was staring back with wide eyes.
Shock was ?ooding him down the bond, but there was no fear. No terror. And the shock was quickly morphing into something else. Her shadow armor covered her skin as she forced Sorin to release her, and she stepped towards the mirror.
“Time for explanations, Lord of Night.”