Page 97 of Lady of Ashes

“And Cassius?”

“Is half-Avonleyan, half-Witch,” Scarlett con?rmed, ?nally meeting his stare once more.

“And you will need to feed from Fae? To replenish your Avonleyan powers?” Sorin asked, his eyes searching hers.

“No. I mean, yes. For now. If it’s needed again, but apparently that is not the best way. The man in my dream told me I need to ?nd a Source.”

“What does that mean?” he asked, his hand moving to tuck her hair behind her ear.

Scarlett sighed. “I don’t know. He’s about as helpful as the Oracle. He just said the way I … fed from you is apparently outlawed? I suppose I’ll need to venture beneath the library in Solembra and see what I can ?nd. Along with the keys. And a lock. And he mentioned training with my shadows and white ?ames more.”

“There is so much to go into here, Scarlett. So much you need to explain,” Sorin said with a shake of his head.

“Where do you want to start?” she asked, biting her lip. She would start with whatever he felt was most important, but she was also itching to go check on Cassius. She hadn’t anticipated sleeping until the next day, when Sorin had brought her here yesterday afternoon.

“You should start with getting dressed and then you need to eat,” he said knowingly. As if on cue, her stomach grumbled loudly, and she scowled at him. He chuckled, turning her towards the armoire. “Get dressed, Love. I will meet you in the kitchen. You can grab something to bring with us.”

She dressed quickly in black pants and a white tunic, tugging her boots on before she descended the stairs. Sorin was waiting for her, holding out a pear in one hand and a pastry in the other.

“Ready?” he asked.

But she wasn’t. She knew she had to face everyone, but her stomach dropped at actually having to do so now.

“We can go see Cassius ?rst,” Sorin said gently.

“And I need to check on the children.”

“Yes, but I think it would be best to see everyone else ?rst. I don’t want you to run into any of them in front of the children …” Sorin trailed off.

“It’s going to be that bad?” she asked quietly, glancing at the food in her hands. She suddenly wasn’t hungry at all.

“It will be ?ne. I will be there with you. Always together,” he replied, and she felt the heat of a ?re portal open behind her.

She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and stepped through into the room Cassius was sleeping in. Hazel was standing exactly where she had been when Scarlett had left yesterday. She set her food down on a nearby table before coming to her side, immediately taking Cassius’s hand. It was no longer cold to the touch, but warm as it should be, and she let out a long breath of relief.

“You are feeling better?” Hazel asked with a sidelong glance.

“Very much so,” Scarlett answered. “How is he today?”

“He is progressing,” she said.

“Are you still giving him blood every two hours?”

“It does not need to be as frequent. Three or four times a day should suf?ce,” Hazel answered.

“But if we continued with every two hours, would it speed things up?” Scarlett pushed, looking up and meeting her violet stare.

Hazel shook her head. “Now that you are not trying to draw power from him, it will be more than enough.”

She felt Sorin come up behind her, and a moment later his arm slipped around her, the pear in his palm. “Eat, Love,” he whispered into her ear. “I cannot imagine they fed you much these last weeks.”

She looked at him and gave him a slight grimace. “I really don’t think I can eat right now, Sorin.”

He pulled the pear back and nodded once. “Let’s get this over with then. You need to eat.”

With another glance back at Cassius, she followed Sorin out and down a hallway.

“This is the queen’s private wing of the Black Halls,” Sorin said, interlacing his ?ngers with hers.

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