Page 152 of Lady of Shadows

“No, my Love,” he said, walking by her into the closet, “the Witches do not ride around on broomsticks. They fly on griffins.”

“On what?” Scarlett asked, turning to face him.

“Griffins,” he answered, like she should know what he was talking about. He peeled his tunic from his chest and tossed it to the laundry bag in the corner. Noting the confusion still on her face, he said, “You know, half lion, half eagle beasts. Griffins.”

This time, Scarlett burst out laughing. “Oh, come off it,” she said between giggles. “What do theyreallyfly on?”

An amused smile was on Sorin’s face now. “The Witches fly on griffins, Scarlett. I swear it.”

Scarlett stopped laughing, her eyes widening. “I want to see one.”

“We do not have them here. Only the Witches have managed to tame them, if you can even call it that,” Sorin replied. “When the territories were isolated, all the griffins were sent to the Witch Kingdoms because they were the only ones who seemed to be able to do anything with them.”

“I won’t believe you until I see one,” Scarlett replied matter-of-factly, striding past him and bending down to unlace her boots.

“You will believe they fly around on broomsticks before you will believe they fly on griffins?” he asked. She felt him come up behind her.

“I suppose that’s a valid point,” she conceded as she stood once more. She turned to face him, reaching up a hand to his cheek. There was slight stubble there, and it rubbed at her fingers. “I am sorry my mother kept so much from you.”

Sorin’s eyes darkened a touch, and his own hand came to cup her face. “The thing that haunts me most about the things your mother kept from me is not the threat of what lies in the mortal lands, or the fact that she was with Hazel for nearly three years. It is that I could have found you so much sooner. I could have found you before…”

Scarlett’s heart clenched as she felt his pain and regret. “Sorin, do I wish I had not experienced some of the atrocities I have? Yes, but somehow it all led me here. Somehow, it all led me to you. Even when I lay on a stone floor in a cold manor house believing all hope had been lost, it still led to you. It still led to us. I do not know that I believe in the Fates as you do, but I have to believe that something beautiful always comes from the heartaches we experience. I have to carry that hope that it’s not all for naught.”

A soft smile spread across Sorin’s face as she stared into his golden eyes. “Hope is for the dreamers, Princess.” He leaned in and kissed her softly.

“Darkness is for finding the stars, Prince,” she murmured onto his lips.

Then he pulled back and said, “But can I make a request?”

“Hmm?” Scarlett murmured, still tasting him on her lips. Maybe the bath and bed could wait a little longer…

“I need to know that we will not keep things from each other. We cannot keep the secrets your mother did,” Sorin said tentatively.

Scarlett snapped from her thoughts at his words. “I do believe, Prince,youkept dozens of secrets frommeabout my very existence.” She stepped back from him slightly, her hands going to her hips.

“Valid point,” Sorin said, crossing his arms across his muscled chest. She tried not to stare as those muscles rippled with his movements. “But to be fair, had you been more forthcoming about things when I met you, I would have figured out who you were a lot sooner, and it would have saved you a lot of trouble.”

An unimpressed smirk formed on Scarlett’s lips. “Are you suggesting I should have just shared intimate details about myself with a complete stranger who clearly disliked me when I first met him?”

Sorin sighed with acquiescence. “My darling, tenacious wife, from this point forward, there are no secrets between us. No hidden plans to surprise one another in other lands.”

“Sorin Aditya,” Scarlett said, stepping back to him and looping her arms around his neck. “I trust you with everything I am. After today, there is nothing I will keep from you. I swear it on the Fates.”

“You do not believe in the Fates,” Sorin said pointedly.

“Fine, I swear on my life,” she answered with a roll of her eyes. “Is there anything elseyouneed to share with me?”

“Not so much a secret, but something you need to know about me and Talwyn,” Sorin ventured cautiously. Scarlett threw him a suspicious glare and stepped back once more. She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms across her chest, waiting for him to continue. He took a deep breath and leaned back against the dresser behind him. Bracing his hands on it, he said, “After your mother left, I went to see the Oracle. To see if she could tell me where your mother had gone.” Scarlett’s brows rose in surprise, but she said nothing. “I went to the Witch lands uninvited and begged the High Witch to take me to the Seer. I did not care if she killed me. I almost wanted her to at that point, but after I spent three nights in their dungeons, she took me there herself.Now I realize it was likely because your mother was there that I was spared.”

“Cyrus didn’t know you went? Or Briar?” Scarlett asked quietly.

“No one,” Sorin said, shaking his head. “The Oracle, of course, did not tell me where Eliné had gone or why. She cut my palm and dripped my blood into a scrying bowl. After peering into it for a long while, she told me something that… I cannot even begin to describe how I felt. Terrified? Enraged? She told me that the daughter of a queen was my twin flame.”

Scarlett’s eyes widened. “You thought your twin flame was Talwyn.”

Sorin shook his head. “I could not even fathom such a thing. I could not imagine ever loving her like that. I had watched her grow up. I loved her as my dear friend’s daughter. Nothing more. The idea of her being my twin flame was horrifying. Even worse, Talwyn believed she had found her own twin flame. His name was Tarek. They had taken the Mark and were in the Trials. The rift between me and Talwyn? It is a great deal my fault. After visiting the Oracle, I did not know what to think. I believed her Trials would fail, and I hated that she was the person I thought I was supposed to love on such a level. I knew she would hate me if I ever told her. She loved Tarek with her entire being.”

Scarlett’s thoughts were racing as she replayed all the various interactions she’d seen between Sorin and Talwyn. “In the courtyard, she asked if your love for her died with my mother?”

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