Page 30 of Lady of Ashes

The Assassin Lord had her. Not Mikale.

Not Lord Tyndell.

This changed everything. They didn’t need to scout anywhere or try to ?nd a way into the castle. They needed to get into the Black Syndicate, into the heart of hell itself.

“Sorin!” Cyrus snapped. “Get it under control, or I’ll be forced to get Luan.”

Sorin glanced down to ?nd the ?ames in his palms had grown, tendrils of ?re snaking up his wrists and around his arms. And allhecould think about as he watched his ?re was how much it reminded him of Scarlett’s shadows doing the same.

Why weren’t her shadows helping her? They’d protected her from the Night Children all those months ago. They’d bit at him. They’d cocooned around her when she was at her darkest. They’d been there when he couldn’t, so why wasn’t she using them now?

“We will get her back, Sorin,” Cyrus said, his voice low and tense as he watched his prince. “We will ?nd her, but you need to remember that you are the Prince of Fire. There are innocent children in this building. Get it under control.”

He inhaled deeply, but it didn’t feel like enough air. Nothing felt like enough. Not without her here.

Cyrus was right. They would ?nd her.

And then he’d burn every motherfucker who’d touched her until even the ashes were nothing.

“Get the others,” Sorin said, his tone low and lethal as he strode for the door. “Meet me on the beach.”

Without another word, he left the room. He was down the four?ights of stairs and out the back door facing the docks within minutes. He ?nally stopped when his feet sank into wet sand, the waves lapping at his toes. He hadn’t even bothered to put on boots when he’d left the warehouse, despite the winter weather. With a bellow full of every bit of rage and helplessness and longing building in his soul, he released a stream of ?ames across the water, steam rising and hissing.

He heard his Court come up behind him, but they said nothing. There was nothing to say. There had been nothing to say for four days. Their queen was missing. His wife had been taken. She was in the hands of perhaps the one person who was worse than Mikale. She was in the hands of the person who knew how to break her. She could handle Mikale. She could take every touch and every foul thing that man would do and say to her. The Assassin Lord, though? That man was a master manipulator. That man knew her inside and out. That man knew just how strong she was and exactly how to wreck that strength. That man knew how to break her in ways he didn’t know that he could help her walk through twice.

When you ?nd her, she will not be the same as when she left.

The Oracle’s words had haunted him since she’d said them in his study two days ago. He’d tried not to assume the worst. An Oracle’s words were often vague and misconstrued. The true meaning of them not becoming clear until the events had come to pass. But knowing she was in the hands of her former Master?

She will not be the same as when she left.

The only sound was the waves. A gull occasionally squawked as it ?ew overhead. He didn’t know how long they stood there, his Court a solid presence at his back. He stared across that sea until he ?nally began registering the chill air against his skin. And when he turned to face his family, it was the Prince of the Fire Court who looked at them. It was the face of the Court that ?lled the nightmares of mortals; and the looks on the faces of his Inner Court told him they had gone to this place, too. They had come for what was theirs, and the gods help anyone who stood in their way.

“We need to ?nd Nuri and Cassius,” Sorin said, his voice low and lethal. “She is in the Black Syndicate. They will know the layout and what we need to do.”

“You can feel her?” Rayner asked.

“For a brief moment. She is … not well,” he answered, quellingthe rage that immediately tried to surge up once more; the wet sand beneath him beginning to steam.

The faces of his family darkened even more, and they all turned and headed back into the warehouse. Sorin went to the room he shared with Cyrus and got dressed, stopping in a washroom to run some water over his face and hands. By the time he stepped into the ?rst ?oor room, his Inner Court was there along with Luan, Arianna, and Nuri.

“Cassius is coming with Drake and Tava,” Nuri said tightly. She had several knives in her hand and was hurling them into a wooden beam at the other end of the room. They landed nearly on top of each other. When she had thrown the last one and was stalking to retrieve them, she said, “You believe she is with Alaric.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement, and Sorin could hear the skepticism in her tone.

“Iknowshe is with Alaric,” Sorin corrected.

“I have eyes inside the Fellowship,General,” she replied. “No one has said a word about her being there.”

“She is there,” Sorin ground out from between gritted teeth.

“All I am saying is that we shouldn’t entirely abandon our other plans,” Nuri argued, prowling back towards him, her knives in her hand. “Yes, we can investigate the Syndicate, but I think we should also still look into the Lairwood house—”

“There is no need,” Sorin interrupted. “All of our efforts need to be focused on the Black Syndicate.”

“And if you are wrong?” she snapped. “We could at least have other leads to follow if we still look into—”

“No,” Sorin growled. “She is with your Master. She is in that hellhole you call home, where you knew what was happening to her for years and did nothing. You and Juliette let her—”

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