Page 142 of Lady for Embers

He had never seen her so helpless. Was this what she faced every time Mikale entered her dreams? She had told him, but seeing it—experiencing it ?rsthand—was a completely different matter.

“Let her go,” Sorin ground out.

“No. I do not think I will,” he replied, hand moving from her stomach to her hip. “We tried to tell you she is not yours. Apparently we need to make the message a little clearer.” He tugged Scarlett back into his chest a little more, and a strangled whimper escaped her lips. “Good luck waking her.”

And then he was gone, Scarlett with him.

Sorin jolted awake, turning to Scarlett’s sleeping form beside him on the bed. Her face was pinched in pain, tears on her face exactly as they had been in the dream.

“Scarlett. Love.” He shook her shoulders, hand smoothing over her hair. “Scarlett. Wake up. I’m here.”

Her eyelids did not even ?utter.

“Scarlett,” he growled, an order that she refused to follow even in sleep.

Scarlett!

Nothing. He could feel nothing down the bond. He could not feel her emotions. Could not hear her thoughts. He could not feelher.

He tried once more to wake her before he was out the door, slipping his pants on as he went. The front of his pants weren’t even buttoned when he was pounding on Cassius’s door.

“Cassius!” His ?st hit the wood again, not caring if he woke the entire godsdamn house. “Cassius! She is in trouble!”

“Sorin?”

He twisted, the door across the hall opening to Cyrus’s room. He didn’t have time to process that Cassius was in Cyrus’s room at this hour.

“You need to Travel and get Cethin. Now!” Sorin said, rushing over to him.

“Sorin, calm down,” Cyrus tried, coming out behind Cassius.

“I will not calm down,” Sorin snarled. “Go, Cassius!”

“It is the middle of the night—”

“Mikale has her! Trapped in some godsdamn dream! I cannot wake her! Go and get Cethin!”

He turned from them, racing back into the suite. Scarlett hadn’t moved an inch.

It was only a few minutes, but it felt like hours until Cassius appeared with Cethin. Cyrus, Kailia, and Razik were with them. Sorin spent the entire time trying to wake her, pulling her into his arms, smoothing back her hair. He sent his fire trying to rouse her shadows, her starfire, anything. “Tell me what happened,” Cethin said tightly as he took in Scarlett, his features tense. Kailia reached up, running her hand down his back while murmuring something to Razik.

“We were sleeping. Mikale— He brought her intomydream. Said he was going to keep her— Fuck! Just dream-walk and go get her!”

“They are getting smarter. I did not think he would be able to carry others when dream-walking,” Cethin murmured, reaching out and running his ?ngers along Scarlett’s brow.

“What are you waiting for?” Sorin demanded. “Go get her.”

“I can’t,” Cethin said, the agony of that statement clear in his tone.

“Why the fuck not?” Cassius asked, looking as helpless as Sorin felt.

“A number of reasons, not the least of which is that my reserves are not full enough for me to do such a thing. I do not have a Source to draw from,” Cethin answered. “But even if I could... ”

“You would not,” Sorin spat. “After all of this, you still will not help her? We are ?nally here! What more do you want from her?”

“I did everything I could every time I saw her,” Cethin snappedback. “You think I did not want to tell her more? I was the one who awakened her magic. I was the one who made sure Shirina became bonded to her whenyoubroke her heart. I told her to ?nd a Source, ?nd the keys, discovered the draining Mark. I was the one who risked the wrath of Arius to make sure you came back to her.”

“What?” Sorin said, lurching back.

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