Chapter 23 Sorin
CHAPTER 23
SORIN
“F uck,” the Commander swore as Scarlett passed out in his arms.
“I thought she had her tonic with her,” Sorin asked. He had stood back, watching everything play out. Nuri had been right. This was interesting.
“She does have a tonic with her, but she can’t take it here. It will knock her out. I need to get her back to the manor first,” he answered, gently brushing a stray hair from Scarlett’s face. Her breathing was ragged and fast, as if she were in pain, and her face was so pale one would think she was one of the Night Children.
“She has passed out now. What is the difference if it is from this or her tonic?”
“Because she will not stay unconscious right now,” Cassius snapped in reply. “She will come in and out of it, making it easier to get her back into the manor.”
“What is in her tonic, Redding?” Sorin asked, carefully watching the man holding Scarlett gently in his arms. Scarlett insisted there was nothing going on with them. Maybe not on her end there wasn’t, but he wasn’t so sure about Cassius. Prince Callan was a whole other matter.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it made, but what I’m currently debating is if you are that na?ve or just a fucking idiot?” Cassius retorted.
“What?” Sorin asked, going very still.
“You know she has an ailment, and you let her stay out here,” Cassius spat, his voice rising to a yell. “Did you think we were kidding? Playing some kind of a stupid joke as a power play?”
“Be careful how you speak to me, Commander,” Sorin replied, ire lacing his words.
“I do not give a fuck that you outrank me, General ,” Cassius replied. “We are not in a barracks or the castle. When it comes to her, I outrank everyone . You knew she needed to take her tonic.”
Sorin studied Cassius carefully then said, “I needed to see what happens when she does not take it.”
“You let her get like this on purpose?” Cassius yelled at him. “What kind of sick bastard are you?”
“Nuri suggested I may need to see what happens when she does not take it in time,” Sorin ground out from between cliched teeth.
“Nuri can go to hell,” Cassius barked. If he hadn’t been cradling Scarlett in the sand, Sorin was sure Cassius would have taken a swing at him. Sorin didn’t say a word. He could still feel the heat and ice being sucked from her palms. He could feel the underlying current of power as he’d done so. Even without the ring on anymore, he could still feel a faint thrum of power in his veins, as if he’d absorbed hers and was storing it.
Cassius’s voice was suddenly calm with icy rage. “You know what’s happening to her, don’t you? You know what this is.”
“I don’t know,” Sorin replied. Then with a sigh, “Maybe.”
“If you know what’s going on, you need to help her. She’s getting worse,” Cassius said, looking back down at Scarlett. Cassius tugged the cloak tighter around her. “She has her…episodes, even with the tonic sometimes. As she’s gotten older, it’s like they break through the tonic. The last few months have been the worst yet. Like that night with the dream and the smoke. If you know what’s happening, you need to help her.”
Sorin ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “I do not know if I can.”
“Sorin!” Cassius yelled. “Look at her! She can’t keep this up the rest of her life.”
“I am trying,” Sorin replied through gritted teeth. He could feel his temper slipping.
“Then try harder. Try like you actually give a damn,” Cassius spat, his voice rising again.
“She is Fae, Cassius. I cannot help her here,” Sorin snapped.
“She is what ?” Cassius cried, his eyes snapping to Sorin’s.
“She is Fae, and she is powerful.”
“That’s impossible,” Cassius whispered, his gaze going to the unconscious female in his arms.
“It should not be possible, and I do not know how it is, but she is beyond a doubt Fae,” Sorin said, his voice dropping low at the last words. The silence hung thick between them, and Sorin could faintly hear the party still going on in the distance. “I think…” Sorin sighed. “I think the tonic somehow suppresses her magic, but she should not be able to access her magic in this land at all. Not without that ring.”
Cassius lifted Scarlett’s right hand gently, examining the ring. “She wears it all the time. It was her mother’s.”
“Not all the time,” Sorin answered. “She has accessed her magic unknowingly without it on. I have seen it. I know it was her mother’s, but where did her—”
Her mother .
It wasn’t possible.
“How old is she?” Sorin asked quietly.
“What?”
“Scarlett. How old is she?”
“She’s nineteen. Why?”
Sorin closed his eyes. Eliné had left nearly twenty years ago, in the middle of the night without a word to anyone. A lost Fae child in the mortal lands who possessed both fire and water magic. Coincidences weren’t a thing when magic was involved.
“What was her mother’s name?”
“Eliné,” Cassius answered. “Eliné Monrhoe.”
Scarlett had refused to tell him, not that he’d pushed very hard, thinking it didn’t matter. Eliné’s husband had been killed in the war. She had no one to conceive a child with.
Or so he had thought.
“What did you just figure out?” Cassius asked slowly.
“I cannot explain now. We need to get her home.”
“Sorin,” Cassius said, standing and sweeping Scarlett up with him. Her arms looped around his neck, and she moaned softly, “If she’s truly Fae, she needs to sleep this off outside the manor. She’s not safe there.”
“What do you mean she is not safe there? She said she has been living there for the last year,” Sorin argued.
“There are…” Cassius hesitated. “This information goes nowhere but here.”
“You have my word.”
“There are wards around the manor. If anything not mortal enters the grounds, Lord Tyndell knows,” Cassius said quietly.
“How? How do you know this? How is it possible?” Sorin demanded. He’d never felt them. Never once had he felt the presence of wards. But then again, there shouldn’t be magic here. His own magic didn’t work. How would he sense wards? He forced down the faint nausea roiling in his gut. The thought of her living in a home that knew what she was but didn’t do anything about it? Why wouldn’t they tell her?
Better question: Why hadn’t they killed her? Fae were not allowed to enter, let alone live in the human lands. If they were discovered, they were immediately hunted down and killed on site if caught.
“Because I put them there,” Cassius answered.
Sorin felt his eyes widen in surprise. “You?”
“Yes, me,” Cassius snapped. “We do not have time for this discussion and certainly not here.”
“Lord Tyndell knows?” Sorin asked, his voice a whisper.
“If she is not human, yes, he knows…and he knows that you are not mortal as well,” Cassius confirmed. “Can you stay with her while I find us some horses? I’ll figure out where to take her, and once there, she can take her tonic.”
“We can take her to my apartment,” Sorin answered. “Give her to me.”
Cassius gently handed Scarlett over to Sorin. She nestled in, her hand settling against his chest. “Stay hidden and try to keep her quiet. She will likely wake screaming.”
Before Sorin could question that last part, Cassius took off running.
Go somewhere secluded? Where was he supposed to go on a beach?
“This way, you Fae ass,” came a voice of silk and honey.
He whirled to find Nuri up the beach, beckoning him to follow her. She led him along the shadows of the cliffs to a small cave.
“Cassius will know where to find you,” she said when they entered the cave.
Sorin slid down the wall, keeping Scarlett close to him. She was shivering uncontrollably. Nuri stood, watching her.
“You knew this would happen?” he asked her.
“Yes. I have seen her not take her tonic a few times. She will drift in and out of consciousness until she takes that stronger dose,” Nuri answered. “Can you warm her?”
“If I have her ring, I can,” Sorin answered.
“Her ring? That’s unexpected,” Nuri quipped, striding over to them. She dropped to a crouch in a fluid motion, gently easing the ring from Scarlett’s finger.
“How much do you know that you have not shared, Daughter of Night?” Sorin asked as he slid the ring on to his own hand once more.
“Same question to you, Fae of Fire,” Nuri purred.
A scream of pain suddenly burst from Scarlett as she lurched from his arms. She landed on her hands and knees, her stomach convulsing, but it wasn’t vomit that came from her mouth. It was smoke, dark and thick.
Nuri casually stood and stepped back. “Calm her, General. I’m going to find Cassius.”
“You are what?” Sorin asked, his eyes flying to hers. “You are going to leave her here?”
“No. I’m going to leave her with you ,” Nuri replied simply, and then she was gone.
Scarlett cried out again, her hands going to her head, covering her ears. “Make it stop,” she panted.
Sorin jolted to his knees in front of her. Her eyes were not their usual icy blue, but gold with smoke swirling in them, and she didn’t seem to see him. She seemed to look right through him. “Cassius!” she cried. “I need Cassius. He can make it stop.”
She was gasping for breath, as if she couldn’t get enough air down. She convulsed again, and smoke rose from her fingertips, coiling around her wrists, her arms. Sorin reached out a hand for her, and she jerked back at the touch. She tried to take in a breath but coughed and gagged, choking on nothing.
“Scarlett,” Sorin whispered. He had never seen anything like this. He had watched young Fae struggle to control their magic, but he had never seen a display like this.
Scarlett screamed again, pulling at her hair. “Cassius!”
The sound pulled Sorin from his shock. He gripped her wrists, and this time when she jerked, he held firm. “Scarlett,” he said again, louder. Commanding. “Scarlett, look at me.”
Her eyes snapped to his and a flash of recognition flickered. “I need Cassius,” she sobbed. “He can make it stop.”
“Cassius is not here. I am all you have, Love. Let me help you.” He tugged at her hands. “Let go, Scarlett. Let go.” He gently pried her fingers from her hair. She was shaking, and he sent a flood of warmth through her skin. “Breathe, Love. Take a breath.”
“I can’t,” she gasped. “I need Cassius.”
“He is coming, Scarlett. Just take a breath.”
“Make it stop!” she cried around the gasping sobs. Her hands slammed over her ears, as if she were hearing something unbearable. “Sorin, make it stop! Please! Please!”
Sorin gathered her into his lap, prying her hands from her ears and wrapping his arms tightly around her. He sent another wave of warmth through her and guided her head to rest against his chest. “I’m here, Scarlett. I’m here. I am not going anywhere,” he said, rocking her gently. “Take a breath.”
“I can’t,” she panted. Her hands fisted into his shirt as she struggled against his hold.
“You can, and you will. Take a breath,” he answered, his tone sharpening into a command. He felt her inhale deep and shudder. “Again,” he ordered.
Another shaky breath filled her lungs. Her entire body went from taut to lax, and she collapsed against his chest. “I need Cassius,” she whispered, her words barely audible.
“I know, Love. He is coming,” Sorin said, letting his head fall back against the wall. Her breathing was still unsteady, but she was getting air down and had stopped convulsing. He didn’t know when she passed out again, but he held her tightly against him.
Minutes later Cassius called out to him as he entered the cave. “Let’s go,” he said, striding over and scooping Scarlett into his arms. “Did she say anything?”
“Did she say anything?” Sorin snarled. “She godsdamn erupted! She vomited smoke and nearly ripped her hair out!”
“But at least you got to see what happens when she doesn’t take her tonic, right?” Cassius spat back bitterly.
“I have never seen anything like that,” Sorin replied, ignoring the verbal jab. “She kept screaming for it to stop. She kept crying out for you.”
“I’m sure she did,” Cassius answered, quickly walking along the beach. “I’m assuming she passed out again because she couldn’t breathe?”
“No. I got her to breathe,” Sorin answered, seeing the horses tied to a post.
“That’s impressive. I can’t even get her to do that sometimes. She passes back out from the pain and lack of oxygen.” They came to a stop beside the horses. “Take the brown one,” Cassius said, jerking his chin towards a chestnut mare. “I’ll hand her up to you.”
“You want her to ride with me?”
“Yes. I need to ride ahead and scout the path to make sure we’re not followed or watched. Nuri will be guarding us as well,” Cassius said. “Hurry up.” Sorin swung up onto the horse and reached for Scarlett as Cassius lifted her to him. When she was settled against him once more, Cassius hoisted himself onto the other horse. “We cannot be seen with her. If we are, it will surely get back to Lord Tyndell and the Assassin Lord.”
“Does the Assassin Lord know she is Fae?” Sorin asked, urging his horse forward.
“I don’t know. I don’t know that I want to know,” Cassius answered, pulling ahead and leading them down a side street. “Keep her quiet.”
“She is unconscious.”
“She won’t be for long.”
“Why do we not just give her the tonic now?”
“Because I need her to be somewhere safe. Once she takes it, we will not be able to wake her. Right now, if required, she could wake and fight. It would be horrific, but she could do it. Survival instincts would take over,” he answered as he turned down a dark alley.
“Who would she need to fight? Who would attack her while she is with us?”
“You have no idea the people who want her,” Cassius murmured quietly.
“Want her dead, you mean?”
“No, Sorin, very few of them want her dead.”
Scarlett stirred against his chest, and he tightened his arm that held her to him. “Cassius,” she moaned, her back arching against Sorin’s chest.
Cassius’s head snapped towards them, and his eyes narrowed at Sorin.
“Shh,” Sorin murmured into her ear. “He is here, Scarlett. Cassius is here.”
Her eyes fluttered open and met his. “Sorin?”
“Yes, Love. I’m here.”
“You made it stop,” she breathed. She held his gaze, relief and focus sharpening in her eyes.
“I’m glad I could help,” he replied with a tight smile.
“You made it stop,” she murmured again. She reached a hand up and tentatively touched his lips. Frost coated her fingertips, and the cold against his skin sent a chill down his spine. A half grin kicked up on his mouth, and he huffed a breath onto them, breathing out his magic. The frost melted instantly.
Cassius had slowed and was riding beside them in the quiet alley. They were only a few blocks from Sorin’s apartment now. The shortcuts and side streets they took were completely unknown to him.
“Cass,” Scarlett called out quietly, her eyes still on Sorin’s. “He made it stop.”
“I heard, Seastar,” he replied. “We’re almost there, and then you can sleep.”
“Okay,” she breathed, her eyes closing once more, her head resting against his chest. Without thinking, Sorin pressed a kiss to the top of her head. As soon as he realized what he’d done, his eyes darted to Cassius.
“There are so many people who want her,” he said, his brown eyes holding his gaze.
Sorin clenched his jaw. “I am not one of them.”
Cassius arched a brow but didn’t say anything. When they were outside the complex, he slid down and took Scarlett while Sorin dismounted. They quickly and quietly made their way up to his apartment where Cassius laid her on the sofa.
“In her cloak there is a hidden pocket with her tonic,” Cassius said, handing the garment to him while he gently shook her shoulders. “Scarlett. Seastar. You need to take this.”
Her eyes opened, and Cassius lurched to his feet. “Sorin,” he said quietly.
Sorin paused his searching and turned to them. Scarlett’s eyes were no longer golden, nor were they icy blue. They were silver and glowing. Something like smoke swirled in them, and tendrils of the same seemed to be slowly coiling around her.
“What is happening to her?” Cassius asked. Scarlett’s head tilted at the sound of his voice, and she looked at him as if she didn’t recognize him.
“I don’t know,” Sorin replied slowly, “but if I had to guess, I would say it is her magic waking up. Find that tonic.” He shoved the cloak into Cassius’s hands and stepped toward Scarlett. That coiling smoke struck out at him, and he threw up a shield of fire around himself. The smoke leapt back from his flame. Not smoke, he realized. Shadows.
That was intriguing.
“Here,” Cassius said from behind him. “Get her to drink it. She’ll fall asleep almost instantly.”
Sorin reached back and felt the vial being pressed into his hand. He stepped towards Scarlett again, and her eyes settled on his. They narrowed as he slowly crouched before her. “Hey, Love,” he said softly. “How are you doing?”
“I told you not to call me that,” she said, her voice hoarse from the screaming and vomiting.
Surprise coursed through him. She remembered that?
“Maybe I like calling you that.”
“I don’t care what you like,” she whispered.
“Liar,” he purred. He slowly brought his hand up and cupped the back of her head. Cassius had uncorked the vial that he held in his other hand. “But we will have to discuss what I like and do not like later. Drink up…Love.”
He brought the vial to her lips as he gently guided her head back, letting it rest in his hand. She swallowed the contents down. Almost instantly, her eyes shifted to icy blue, the smoke and shadows disappearing. She let out an exhausted sigh. “When I wake up, I’m going to kick your ass for calling me that,” she murmured as her eyes closed and sleep dragged her under.
Sorin chuckled under his breath, gently pulling his hand from under her head. Her breathing was already evening out.
Cassius cleared his throat from behind as he said, “She will likely sleep for two days. I need to return the horses and figure out what to tell the manor. I will have Tava get me some extra clothes for her, and I will come by later to check on her and explain what I can.”
“All right,” Sorin replied, standing and handing the empty vial to Cassius.
“I have never seen her eyes like that,” he said quietly. “Is that part of being Fae? Do your eyes do that?”
“No,” Sorin said, his gaze going back to the sleeping female on his couch. “My eyes do not do that. I do not know what that was.”