Page 79 of Lady for Embers

“You are wrong,” she replied simply. “Your Witch gifts may not require a power Source, but that other half? Cassius, you sproutedwings. You produced some type of ?ames. Your eyes changed. That is powerful magic. You will need a Source.”

“I think we should be sure before we jump to that conclusion.”

“And what will you do when Cyrus isn’t nearby to give you blood? You already fought me about feeding from another Fae.”

He had?

Cyrus looked at Cassius, but his gaze was ?rmly ?xed on his Ward. “That is no different from a Source,” Cassius was countering. “In fact, a Source is worse. Then I have only one option, and I do not have a Guardian as a back-up plan.”

Scarlett winced. It was slight, but Cyrus saw it. He could only assume Sorin did too.

“Stop being an ass,” she spat. “You’re not a godsdamn back-up plan, and you know it.”

Gods, these two bickered like siblings.

“This isn’t a big deal,” Cyrus cut in. “I can be his Source. Isn’t that basically what I am anyway?”

“No,” Cassius said in a tone that said he wasn’t arguing about this anymore.

Too bad for him the female beside him was as stubborn as they come. Scarlett seemed to inhale deeply, as if she were trying to calm herself, before she said carefully, “I understand the hesitation, Cass. I get it. When Sorin wanted to—”

“This is nothing like you and Sorin, Scarlett,” Cassius snapped, getting to his feet.

“I think it might be, Cass,” she said quietly.

“I said no,” he snarled, before snatching up his discarded tunic and stalking away from them.

“Cassius!” Scarlett called, starting to go after him, but Sorin gently gripped her arm.

“Give him some time, Love. You struggled with this too.”

“He needs this, Sorin. Not having a Source makes him vulnerable.”

“I know. But I also recall ?ghting with you for weeks about simply feeding.”

“That was... different,” she grumbled, her arms crossing.

“Mhmm,” he murmured, bending and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “You can talk to him again about it later. Tomorrow perhaps.”

“Perhaps,” she muttered in a mocking tone, rolling her eyes,and a small smirk pulled at Sorin’s mouth. Then she turned to Cyrus. “You have not discussed his power at all?”

“No,” Cyrus replied. “There were The Farewells yesterday, and afterwards... Well, you know how we were all feeling. When I woke this morning, I washed up and changed. I found him in the dining room. We ate a little bit, then came up here. We really haven’t had much time to talk.”

“Any ideas? I don’t know how much of his magic you saw... ” She trailed off, looking up at him, and there was hope in her eyes. Hope that he had answers for her.

“One minute he was ?ghting beside me, the next he was yelling your name and was in the sky,” Cyrus answered, wishing he could give her more. “Sorin and I both tried to keep an eye on you two, but we had our own seraphs to worry about. Cass went to protect you, and I stayed to protect Sorin.”

Scarlett swallowed thickly. “Thank you.”

Cyrus nodded as Sorin tugged her into his side.

“What thoughts do you have on his gifts?” Sorin asked.

“Wings. Fire. It almost appeared as if he were going to shift into a... ” He trailed off because that wasn’t possible.

“A dragon,” Scarlett ?nished for him. “He was partially shifted into a dragon. I could see his eyes, Cyrus. They looked like Ranvir’s. And his wings were exactly like Ranvir’s, only smaller.”

Cyrus rubbed at the back of his neck. “Not much is known about Sargon. I tried to look into it some at the Black Halls, but ran out of time. I was hoping to look into it more once we get to Avonleya.”

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