Page 60 of Lady for Embers

Cassius nodded, his eye sweeping over her. It was still a vertical pupil, but it no longer glowed. The amber-red color was dull and muddied, almost back to its usual brown color.

“We checked on the other ships before we came here,” Cyrus was saying to Sorin. “Luan was taking care of the last seraph on our ship. Briar and Sawyer have their ship secured. Eliza and Neve had three left here. Auberon was helping them. We found no signsof them anywhere else. Cassius pressed stronger wards out around the ships once his magic had recovered enough to do so. When he’s fully replenished, we will look through books and ?nd ways to strengthen them even more.”

“How many did we lose?” Scarlett asked, trying to catch her breath. She was bent forward, hands on her knees. Sorin was running his hand up and down her spine.

There was a tense silence before Cyrus cleared his throat slightly. “Other than Nakoa, we do not know for sure. But we did lose some. Normally Nakoa reported that.”

Scarlett squeezed her eyes closed, breathing deep. The Water Commander had not been her biggest fan. In fact, he’d ?at out told her he didn’t think she should be leading their Courts, that she hadn’t proven herself to be worthy of such a position. But he’d been loyal to his Court and loyal to Briar. He’d been an excellent warrior and leader. She might not have been close to the Fae, but her Inner Court had been.

“Let’s go talk to Briar. Figure out what we need to do from here,” she said, straightening. Sorin’s hand fell to the small of her back.

“Can you Travel us?” Sorin asked Cassius. “She is too drained.”

Cassius nodded, reaching for her hand, but Cyrus was giving Sorin a dark look. She brie?y wondered about that, but there were far more pressing matters that needed to be dealt with now. Because as she looked at her Guardian once again, she realized how Alaric and Balam had likely tracked them down.

Chapter 12

Sorin

They trudged into the small dining room on his ship. The smell of sweat and blood ?lled the air as bodies crammed onto benches around one of the tables. Cassius and Cyrus were sitting close together, Cyrus ?lling a cup with more blood for Cassius.

Briar and Sawyer looked spent. All the Fae did really. The amount of magic they’d had to use when fighting the seraphs was extraordinary. They would never hold out against an entire army of them, and the grim looks on everyone’s faces said they were all thinking the same thing.

Luan had taken up the task of going from ship to ship and assessing casualties, Eliza overseeing him because none of them fully trusted the Earth Prince. Auberon and Neve were helping clean up the ships. The priority was the ship with the children. They wanted it cleaned and ?t for them to come back topside as soon as possible. The mortals were tending to them until that was possible. They hadn’t seen Rayner since he’d left with Tula and the other two children, but he’d tapped into the greatest parts of his magic. Using it the way he did would have quickly depleted his reserves. He was surely resting somewhere, unable to move among smoke and ashes right now. Using that particular set of his gifts and using so much of it? That would take weeks to re?ll. He understood why he did it, but weeks without his ability to move among the ashes was not ideal at the moment.

But as exhausted as they all undoubtedly were, Scarlett looked like she was about to keel over. She was pale, her lips nearly bloodless. The various bruises and cuts she’d received during the ?ghtwere taking far too long to begin healing, and those were dull, icy-blue eyes staring down at the table. She was pulling daggers strapped to various parts of her body and tossing them unceremoniously onto the table before her. And while she looked utterly worn out, she also had her brow furrowed and lips slightly pursed. He knew that look. It was one he both loved and hated. She was trying to work something out. The question was how long would it be before she let them in to help her ?gure it out.

She stumbled slightly as she swung a leg over the bench to sit, and that was his tipping point. Sorin was reaching for his own dagger to access the Source Mark and re?ll at least some of her gifts, but before the blade made contact with his skin, his Second opened his godsdamned mouth.

“Sorin couldn’t create a ?re portal today,” Cyrus announced to the room. “That’s why we couldn’t get to you when Cassius needed blood.”

Sorin felt every set of eyes in the room land on him, but he was glaring at Cyrus in irritation.

“She needed to know before you give her more of your magic,” he said, not looking remotely sorry about bringing this up now.

Scarlett had stilled, a foot on either side of the bench. She braced her hands on the table, her head hanging down. Much of her hair had come loose from her plait, and it hung around her face, hiding her features from view. He didn’t need to see her face to know what she was feeling though. He could feel all of it.

“As concerning as that is, it is not the most pressing matter that needs to be addressed,” she said. Even her voice sounded weak. She couldn’t seriously expect him to just let her sit here when he could help her.

You need this right now,he sent down the bond, moving to her side. He reached over and moved some of her hair back, tucking it behind her arched ear.

You let me draw from you when there is something wrong,she shot back.I am furious with you. I am just too tired to properly?ghtwith you at the moment.

She swung her other leg over the bench, sinking down onto it, and her attention shifted to Cyrus and Cassius. She seemed to study them for a long moment before saying, “You good, Cass?”

Cassius’s grip tightened around the cup he’d been drinking from, but it was Cyrus who answered her.

“You cannot possibly be suggesting you want to draw from him right now?” he all but spat, glaring at the queen.

“First of all, I do not decide when I draw from him,” Scarlett retorted. “The Guardian Bond does that all on its own.”

Cyrus made a noise of disbelief. “So I didn’t see you draining him of every bit of power with your shadows on a beach weeks ago? Because that certainly looked like you were controlling it, Darling.”

“That was different,” she argued, guilt ?ickering across her face. “I wasn’t in any more control of it then than I am now.”

“I beg to differ on that. Your shadows latched onto him and stopped anyone from interfering,” Cyrus said, a ?nger pointing at her in accusation.

Scarlett opened her mouth as if to argue further, but then she snapped it shut. Again she seemed to study the two males, before she said, “If the Guardian Bond was going to draw from him, it would have done so already. It seems to know when it would not be ideal to do so.”

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