Page 191 of Lady of Starfire

“That explains the urgent need for the bathing room,” she mumbled. “Which is why you didn’t feel me when I woke up,” she added. “I didn’t need a mother hen running around the room.”

“For the love of Anala,” he muttered. “Six days, Scarlett. I have been going mad.”

“And throwing things,” she added, crossing the room and retrieving the pencil, his shirt riding up her thighs.

“Pants,” he growled. “We need to work on this no-pants issue.”

“If memory serves, your master plan was to burn all my clothing,” she replied, tossing the pencil onto the desk. Then she noticed what he’d been poring over these last few days. “Did you learn anything?” she asked, flipping open one of the books.

“Not really,” he answered, watching her flip pages. “You should eat.”

She hummed in response, closing the book and opening another. “Does Rayner still have the lock?”

“Yes. He has been keeping it hidden.”

“Who else knows we have it?”

“Only those of us who went to the Southern Islands.”

She glanced up at him. “Cethin hasn’t asked about it?”

Sorin shook his head. “Not once.”

“Interesting,” she murmured, closing the book and shuffling through the pages of Moranna’s notes. Then she was pulling one from the stack, eyes moving rapidly over the page. “Sorin?”

“What is it?” He came up behind her, peering over her shoulder.

“Cethin said when we got here that the spirit animals are not from this world, and Saylah told me when she left to get help, she came back with them.”

“Yes,” Sorin said slowly.

“Why would she go get them to aid in a war against Deimas and ultimately Achaz? Why the spirit animals?”

“I am going to need more to go on here, Scarlett. What are you figuring out?”

“He thought they were myths,” she murmured, flipping the paper over to find the other side blank. “But they weren’t. They’ve been here the entire time. It fits. If I’m reading this right, and if what I found in the Elshira catacombs is true… It all fits.”

“Love…” Sorin said, reaching out and tipping her chin up to get her attention.

“They’re World Walkers, Sorin,” she said excitedly. “Callan read about them in passing in the libraries at the Fire Court. He thought they were myths, but this?” She held up the parchment. “They weren’t always animals.”

“Are you saying that Amaré and Shirina once had another form?”

“Yes,” she said, stepping around him and heading back to the bedchamber. “We need to go to the catacombs. Then we need to go see Saylah.”

Sorin dragged a hand down his face, glancing at the clock on the desk.

Thirteen minutes.

She had been awake for a whole thirteen minutes and had already figured out something profound.

He followed after her. “Scarlett, you need to bathe and eat.”

“This is important, Sorin,” she called out from the large closet.

“Important, yes, but not time sensitive.”

She came out of the dressing room, a pair of pants and tunic in hand. “It is kind of time sensitive,” she argued.

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