Page 230 of Lady of Ashes

“You are sure about this, Sorin?”

“Yes, Scarlett. It will be an honor to be such a thing for you,” he said.

“You do not need to do this. I will not hold it against you if—”

He brought a hand up, pressing a ?nger to her lips. “You are mine, Scarlett, and I am yours. In every possible way.”

She held his stare for a moment longer before nodding once. “Where do you want the Mark?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

“From what I read, it needs to be easily accessible,” he answered, having put quite a bit of thought into this. “I was thinking my forearm.”

Scarlett considered for a moment before agreeing, leaning back slightly and reaching for his right arm. Her ?ngers ran along his skin, and he fought back the shiver that her touch always elicited. She raised the dagger, slicing a long, thin gash down his forearm, before setting it aside and dipping her ?nger into the welling blood. She began to trace a Mark along his ?esh. He wasn’t watching her ?nger move, though. Sorin’s eyes were ?xed on Scarlett’s face as she took such care, her brow scrunched in concentration.

When she had ?nished the Mark, she sat up, reaching for the dagger once more. She met his eyes, the question she sent down their bond evident in her own.

Are you sure? Last chance …

Sorin took the dagger from her hand himself then, and when she shifted her palm face up, he made the cut himself. She leaned forward, brushing her lips across his in the lightest of kisses, before she brought her cut hand down on top of the open wound in his forearm, over the Mark she’d just painstakingly traced onto him.

He had experienced his power mixing with Scarlett’s before. He had felt the euphoria of it when it had come together while he had driven into her body. But this? This was rawer. Rougher. So pleasurable ithurt.

He felt his ?ames rise up in a bid to protect him, ?ghting against the shadows and white ?ames she was forcing into him. His ?re seemed to sense what was happening, and her magic bore down on the embers, forcing them into submission. The pleasure turned into real pain then, as their magic fought for dominance in his very soul.

He hissed between his teeth, his entire body tensing. Scarlett’s fingers were digging into his arm as she held onto him, refusing to break the connection. If she did, they would have to restart the entire process.

Sorin was panting when her white ?ames began to win out. Burning raced through his veins. He’d never felt the pain of a burn. Not with ?re literally running through his blood, but he felt it now. And gods, it was excruciating.

“I’m sorry,” Scarlett was saying, tears slipping down her cheeks as she gritted her teeth. The sight of her crying for him made his chest ache more. And that pain? That was worse than the stars seeming to explode under his skin. Her shadows wound around his ?re, still struggling to ?ght against her.

A cord of ?aming orange seemed to vibrate up out of his skin beneath her palm, at the same moment a cord of black did the same from hers. They wrapped around each other, intertwining until they were so tangled together they couldn’t be separated. The cord ?ared bright silver before it settled back into them.

Scarlett released his arm, gasping, and Sorin collapsed back against the sofa. Her hands came up, framing his face. “Are you all right?” she asked, ?ngers smoothing down his cheeks.

“Fine, Love,” he muttered, his eyes falling closed. “Just give me a moment to catch my breath.”

Now that the searing burning had subsided, he didn’t feel … anything. No different than he had before. A little weaker maybe, as though he’d been training heavily with his power and needed to sleep to re?ll his reserves. He really did just need to catch his breath.

When he opened his eyes, she was staring at him, studying him anxiously, but her eyes were bright silver. They were practically glowing, like they got when she’d lost control and wouldn’t stop drinking directly from him.

“How doyoufeel?” he asked, reaching up and brushing back the hair that had fallen into her face.

“I feel ?ne,” she said quickly. “I am not the one who just became a Source of power.”

“It worked then?”

“Yes, Sorin, it worked. Are you all right?” she said impatiently.

His hand wrapped around the nape of her neck, pulling her mouth to his. She instantly melted against him, and he wasted no time pushing his tongue into her mouth. Her soft whimpervibrated against his lips, and he was shoving that dress up the rest of the way. She pulled it over her head for him, just as impatient, before her hands slid beneath his tunic, skimming his sides when she slipped it over his head.

She leaned in to bring her lips back to his, but he halted her, his ?ngers coming up to brush against her collarbone where a silvery Mark was visible. He heard her suck in a sharp breath when he reached for her arm. Three stars and an inverted triangle. Right there where she had once asked if he could see a Mark. The same place the Source Mark sat on his arm.

“You can see them,” she breathed.

His hands fell to her hips, and he rotated her until he found the Guardian Mark on her back. He traced it with a ?ngertip, goosebumps erupting along her skin when she shuddered slightly.

“I can,” he said in awe. “I can see them all. It must be because …” “Because you’re my Source,” she agreed. “You need to be able to see if there are any threats to my power. Just like Cassius.”

“Do you think I will be able to see his too?” he wondered, unable to pull his eyes from the Marks she had always insisted were there.

---