Page 64 of Lady for Embers

“You are aware you have water magic, right?” he ?nally asked, using every bit of self-control not to laugh at her small ?t.

“Yes, I am aware,” she drawled.

“Then use it.”

“What? I can’t just create a bath.”

“You create ?re and shadows out of nothing. Why not water?” he countered.

“I...” Her eyes went wide at the realization. “I have been on this ship for weeks, and you only now suggest this?”

“Sorry. I thought the one withwater magicwould utilize her own gifts,” he said with a huff of laughter.

She snatched a piece of bread off the tray while glaring at him. He thought for sure she was going to throw it at him, but instead she said, “What do you make of Cassius’s powers?”

Sorin blinked at the sudden subject change. “They are gifts I have never encountered, but that is to be expected given they are Avonleyan gifts.”

“He had wings, like a dragon. It was almost as if he’d been halfway to shiftingintoa dragon.” She chewed on another bite of bread. “Can Stellan and Arianna shift into dragons since they are power Shifters?”

“I suppose they would be able to,” Sorin said thoughtfully. “Although I have never seen it.”

She nodded, seeming to mull that over. “One seraph asked what one of Arius’s guards was doing here, and then Alaric said he was only half. That Sargon was very particular.”

Sorin shook his head, trying to make sense of what she was saying. “I do not know, Scarlett. I do not know what any of that would mean, but we should probably speak with Cassius about all of this.”

“I know. Just thinking out loud,” she murmured, picking up another piece of dried meat. “There’s so much in my head right now. It’s so loud.” How long had he waited for them to get to this point? For her to willingly come to him with all of her thoughts?To talk to him right away instead of letting her thoughts fester and consume her? He wasn’t her last resort anymore, and his chest expanded at that realization. Granted, he hadn’t been her last resort for quite some time now, but he had never had her willingly come to him and just... talk through all her thoughts. It had always felt like pulling teeth and had taken days to get her to this place.

She gave him a perplexed look as she picked up a few grapes. “You are feeling something... odd.”

He gave her a soft smile, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. Not wanting to slip out of this moment, he asked instead, “What else did Alaric say?”

“He could drain my power from me.”

“What?” he demanded, shooting to his feet. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that is his power, Sorin. He absorbs your power when you’re using it. He was draining my power from me, just like he could drain life by crushing a heart,” she said, reaching over and pouring a glass of water from the pitcher. “It’s how he feeds his own magic. All these years he... ”

She trailed off as she took a drink.

“He was feeding off the gifts you did not even know you had,” Sorin ?nished for her.

She nodded, not looking at him. “The only thing I can think of as to why he stopped is that when I got the Mark to fully awaken my Avonleyan gifts, I wasn’t staying at the Fellowship so he did not have access to me.”

“No, but Lord Tyndell did,” Sorin said. “You were living in his house.

Do all Maraans ?ll their reserves that way?”

“I don’t know.” She pressed her lips together, staring into the glass of water. “He also implied that not all the people he ordered me to kill were deserving of such a thing. That some were ­innocents.”

He stepped in front of her, taking the water cup from her hands and setting it aside. He tilted her chin up, and this time his heart clenched tight at the sight of the thin pools of silver in her eyes. “They have manipulated you and lied to you your entire life. He is likely doing the same now to do exactly this to you. Make you question yourself, what you stand for. He doesn’t get to consumeyou like that anymore, remember?” He tucked some hair behind her ear before trailing his ?ngers down her neck. “You are mine, Love. Only I get to consume you.”

“So wise in your old age,” she murmured, reaching up and brushing back a lock of hair from his brow.

Sorin huffed a soft laugh, leaning down and brushing his lips across hers. “What do you want to deal with ?rst? Go ?nd Cassius?”

“No. I think Cyrus and Cass need some time ?rst,” she answered, picking up another piece of bread.

His brow furrowed. “Why would Cyrus and Cassius need some time?”

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