Page 68 of Lady of Darkness

SORIN

“Fuck,” 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 naïve 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 outrankeveryone. 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 iswhat?” 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—”

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