Page 103 of Lady of Shadows

They entered their chambers, and she began to cross the room.“I’m going to bathe real quick,” she said, pushing open the door to their room. Sorin paused, halfway there, waiting.

She looked over her shoulder as she said, almost inaudibly, “I sleep better when you are beside me.”

“You are sure?”

A small smile graced her perfect lips. “It is a necessity, Prince.”

“As you wish, Princess.”

She disappeared into the bedroom, and he exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. She was back. With him. She was here.

He glanced at the clock on the mantle. It would be nearing dawn soon. If anyone knocked on their door before noon, the ensuing fight would make his match with Eliza a few weeks ago look like swordplay. And after Scarlett finished with them, they’d have to deal with him.

He created fire messages to be waiting for his family once they woke, then he trudged into the bedroom. She was in the bathing room with the door closed. He walked to the dressing room and stripped off his shirt and put on looser pants.

He was walking back out to the bed when he saw the books she had carried up from the library sitting on the chaise. He picked up the top one, finding it written in a language he didn’t recognize. Wheredidthese books come from?

The second book was written in the Old Language and was a spell book, but not like any spell book he had ever seen before. These spells were incredibly complex; something he would expect a Witch to have.

Before he could get any farther in the book, the bathing room door cracked open, and she came out not in one of her nightgowns, but a shirt of his. It was huge on her, and there was no small amount of primal satisfaction at seeing it on her, wrapping her in his scent.

She crossed the space between them and took the ancient book from his hands with a smirk. “Busybody.”

“Can you read the other book?” She could read the Old Language without instruction.Could she read other languages as well?

“Not yet,” she answered, setting the spell book atop the other one and making her way to the bed. He dried her dripping hair with a breath of heat, and she nodded her thanks to him. Then she blew out the candle on her side of the bed before she slipped between the sheets.

“Do you know what language it is?”

“Do you?” she countered.

“No,” he answered, sliding into the bed.

She rolled over to face him, her hand tucked under her cheek. “It seems old. Older than the Old Language,” she mused.

“You plan to learn it? How?”

She clicked her tongue. “So interested in my reading habits suddenly, Prince.”

“What was Mikale talking about today? He mentioned an old alley and your sisters,” he asked softly.

In the dark, he could barely make out her face as it hardened, and she pursed her lips. “That is a tale for another time.”

His stomach dropped at the words. A wall. She had put a wall back up between them. He had expected it but to hear it confirmed…

“Scarlett,” he started.

“No more tonight, Sorin. I cannot do any more tonight,” she said softly. He could hear the wariness in her tone. “I amnottraining tomorrow.”

“I already sent messages to Cyrus, Rayner, and Eliza that if anyone comes to our rooms before noon, your shadows will throw them off the balcony.”

“Mmm,” she hummed. “I knew you were my new favorite for a reason.”

He reached across the bed and stroked a finger down her cheek. She sighed deeply as she whispered, “I missed you.”

Before he could reply, her breathing shifted, and she was asleep.

CHAPTER 32

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