Page 31 of Lady of Ashes

One of those knives in her hands was ?ying through the air in the next blink, and he barely managed to get a shield up to avoid it. His Court was instantly before him as Nuri prepared to hurl another knife at him.

“If you release that blade, you will regret it,” Cyrus said, his voice low and full of warning.

A sinister grin twisted onto Nuri’s features, and she let her fangs slide free. “I think you will ?nd that you will be the one with regret, ?re bastard,” she retorted.

Sorin could feel her voice of silk and honey scraping downhis soul as she tapped into her entrancing abilities. Before Sorin could do anything, vines were snaking up Nuri’s legs and torso, snagging her wrists and pinning them behind her back. She hissed in outrage, and Sorin turned to ?nd Azrael leaning casually against the wall. His face was hard, and he looked bored out of his godsdamn mind.

“If you are not going to play fair, Nuri dear, neither are we,” Sorin taunted with a mocking grin.

“Fuck you, Sorin,” she spat. “You sit here and blame me for what Scarlett endured in the Black Syndicate? She was not the only one there. Juliette and I were trained just as harshly. We were treated just as brutally. In fact, I would say our training was even more vicious because everything was always abouther.Shehad to be protected at all costs.Shewas the one that mattered above all else.Shewas the reason Juliette gave her life to begin with. So do not stand here, berating me for doing nothing, whenyoulet her get taken from your own godsdamn Court, right from underneath your arrogant ass. Do not sit here and tell me how much she suffered for years at the hand of myMasterwhen there was nothing I could do but endure the same beside her. She is not the only one who has made sacri?ces.”

“What the hell is going on in here?”

Cassius and the Tyndells stood in the doorway of the warehouse, the door clicking shut behind them. His eyes bounced from Nuri, restrained in vines, to Sorin, where ?re simmered at his ?ngertips.

“Sorin wants to march into the Black Syndicate and take on the Assassin Lord,” Nuri quipped with a sneer.

“That is not what I said,” Sorin retorted, the ?re at his ?ngertips ?aring brighter.

“Sorin,” Rayner said, in quiet warning.

“Why do we think he has her?” Cassius asked, stepping further into the room.

Drake and Tava stayed near the entrance.

“Because he had a super special feeling,” Nuri sneered again.

A hand clamping onto his shoulder from behind had Sorin halting mid-step when he began to move towards the Night Child. He bared his teeth, Cyrus’s ?ngers digging into his ?esh.

“Sorin, you are riding a very dangerous edge right now. Maybe you should take the ring off for this conversation,” he said, his voice low.

“Maybe we should be making plans to enter the Black Syndicate and ?nd her, rather than arguing with a godsdamned vampyre,” Sorin snarled in reply.

Nuri hissed again, but Cassius interrupted before she could say anything. “What did you learn and how?”

“I felt our bond brie?y. She managed to tell me she was with Alaric. She is weak, Cassius. She is not—” Sorin paused, swallowing the smoke curling in his mouth and pushing it back down with the rage and worry and helplessness that were surging up once again. He would not be able to contain it much longer. They needed to come up with a plan and put it into action. Now. “She is there. Tell me what we need to do so we can get her the hell out.”

Cassius blew out a deep breath, running his hand through his hair. “It will not be that simple, Aditya. We cannot just go into the Black Syndicate. It will take at least a couple days to plan and—”

“We do not have a couple days,” Sorin spat, jerking free of Cyrus’s grip and stalking forward. “Did you not hear what I said?”

“I heard you,” Cassius replied, his voice even and strained. “I want to ?nd her as badly as you do, but there are dozens of places he could have her. Even at that, the places that are most likely …” He ran his hand through his hair again, letting out another heavy breath. “They will be nearly impossible to get into undetected. This plan will need to be precise and intricate, and if we make one error, the consequences for her, for everyone involved, will be horri?c. You think she is weak now? You think she is hurting now? Alaric is just getting started.”

The room fell silent. Sorin’s chest was heaving with every breath. He let the ?ames spring to life around him once more. “The Assassin Lord will not be an issue for two Fae with access to their magic, let alone if the others take the tonic you brewed to access theirs as well. The only thing we need to do is ?gure out where the fuck she is. Once that task is done, getting to her and getting her out should not be an issue.”

Nuri snorted derisively, still bound by Luan’s vines. “You think they do not expect you to come for her? I assure you, asshole, they are more than prepared for you and your ?re tricks.”

“She is right,” Cassius said. “Also, I would release her. She has likely already planned ?fty different forms of revenge.”

Nuri’s face twisted into a half-grin as her eyes narrowed on Luan. The Earth Prince glanced once at Sorin, and Sorin gave a jerk ofhis chin. The vines unwound, and Nuri slowly rolled her neck and shoulders, her honey-colored eyes closing. When they reopened, a Night Child stared back at them. Her face was cold, her eyes hard as they stared down Luan. She said nothing, that half-grin growing more wicked, and Cassius casually stepped between them.

“As we were saying,” Cassius continued, his eyes ?xed warily on Nuri, “?guring out where exactly she is being kept is likely the least complicated part of this. We are not going there today.”

“The fuck we aren’t,” Sorin snarled.

“Sorin,” Rayner warned, “we cannot risk it. We need to listen to them.”

“It will take us several days, if not weeks, to ?gure out where she is. And even at that, we’ll be lucky,” Cassius said. He glanced at Nuri again. “I have a few suspicions about where she might be, but getting into them to see will be … dif?cult.”

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