Page 90 of Lady of Shadows

“Where the hell is she?” Eliza demanded, looking around the room with wide eyes.

“She Traveled,” Sorin answered hoarsely.

“You said she hadn’t learned how to do that yet,” Cyrus said slowly.

“She has done it one other time. It is how we got out of the Lairwood House.”

Rayner was gripping his arm, helping him to his feet as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Vomit coated his tongue, his mouth. Briar handed him a glass of water.

“Then how did she do so now?” Cyrus pressed.

“We… Emotions were high,” Sorin ground out. “As you can imagine.”

“Where the hell is she?” Eliza demanded again.

“I don’t know.”

“Then find her,” Eliza spat.

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? You’re her twin flame. Find her,” Eliza ordered, her words cool and clipped.

“I. Can’t.” Sorin said again.

Cyrus's eyes went wide as he reached out and snatched Sorin’s left hand. He swore at the sight of the faded Mark. “What did you do?” he whispered in horror.

“Where is she?” Eliza demanded once more.

“He can’t feel her, Eliza,” Cyrus said, disbelief in his voice. “He can’t find her.”

Eliza stalked from the room, the door slamming behind her.

“I can’t feel her. I do not know where she is,” Sorin’s eyes went to Briar’s. “Which means my enchantments are down.”

This time Briar swore viciously. “I cannot help, Sorin. Not without knowing where she is.”

“Rayner,” Sorin started, turning to him.

“I am already on it. All of our resources are combing every territory,” he said softly.

Sorin swallowed. He tried. He braced himself and looked inward, down that bond between their souls, but the threads connecting them had all but snapped. There was only one left, and it was stretched tight. He didn’t know how long it would last.

Thick silence fell in the room, no one knowing what to say. And in that silence all he could hear was Scarlett screaming at him, pain and hurt entrenched in every word.

You broke this! You broke us!

“She said there was no fixing this,” he said quietly to Cyrus. “You are the only one who has had a twin flame. Is she right?”

“I don’t know, Sorin.” His voice was somber, still in shock. “Thia and I had fights. There is no denying that, but we had been Anointed. Our bond was firmly in place and was always stronger. We weren’t in the Trials. You aren’t even in the Trials. You are the only one with a Mark.”

Silence fell again.

I trusted you with all of me, and you used it against me. You shut me out.

He had shut her out. Talwyn had berated him all afternoon about his failures. About Eliné not trusting him with information about where she was going.About his failure in the mission to recover her. About those that were lost in that mission. Then she had started in on how he was continually failing her, starting with keeping Scarlett from her. He had pushed Scarlett away, not wanting Talwyn to be able to use her against him. He had shut her out, knowing she was a weapon that could and would be wielded against him. He had done it to protect her…and if he were being honest with himself, to protect himself as well.

Eliza burst back into the rooms, Prince Callan and his guards in tow.

---