Page 90 of Lady for Embers

He pushed out a long breath. “I do not know. I was going to see Beatrix after this. See if she has any insight.”

Cyrus was already getting to his feet. “I’ll go with you.”

Sorin nodded, standing, and they fell into step beside each other as they went in search of the Witch that was bound to the Fire Court.

“Has Scarlett spoken to the Night Lord or whatever he calls himself? Maybe he would know something,” Cyrus said as they moved across the deck.

Sorin shook his head. “As far as I know, she hasn’t seen or spoken to him since he told her how to bring me back. And she cannot simply summon him. Especially not here, without a mirror gate nearby.”

They fell into silence, and Sorin’s mind circled around the Lord of Night as it always did whenever he was mentioned these days. He felt like there was something he should know, some memory he should be recalling. It seemed to hover just out of reach, and it irritated him to no end. It felt important, like something that could change everything if he could ?gure out what exactly it was.

“So where exactly have Cass and Scarlett been Traveling to during the night?”

“To the northern continent.”

“To Pyry?”

Sorin nodded in con?rmation of the icy tundra of a continent north of their own. “We ?gured as far away from where we are actually headed would likely be best. Scarlett and Cass think Alaric will become paranoid that they ?gured something important out and split his focus.”

“Yeah, that could work,” Cyrus said, scratching at his jaw. “From what she’s told me, Alaric is going to become obsessed with trying to get one up on her again.”

Sorin nodded again. “He already is. Mikale came to her the other night.”

“In a dream?”

“No,” Sorin bit out. “In the godsdamn mirror. Like he did that night of the Samhain ball. And as concerning as that is, more so isthe fact that she called for me down the bond, and I did not hearher.”

“What?” Cyrus asked, gripping his arm and pulling him to a stop.

He had told no one else about this part. Eliza, Rayner, and Briar knew there was something going on with his power, but no one else knew about the bond. He had failed her yet again when he couldn’t hear her calling for him. What if Mikale hadn’t only been in the mirror? What if Alaric had come for her again himself? He hadn’t heard her down the bond, but he also hadn’t felt her. There had been no jolt of panic or rush of fury. He had walked Eliza to her room before checking in on Rayner one ?nal time, taking care of his Court like he always had, while his wife was facing down one of her demons alone.

“That shouldn’t be possible,” Cyrus was saying. “Your bond is Anointed. Nothing supersedes that anymore. There is nothing more powerful. Nothing should be able to come between you two.”

“Nothing should be able to, and yet something has,” Sorin said, hands sliding into his pockets, staring out at the waves over Cyrus’s shoulder. “Something has felt... off since I woke up at the chateau. My power is different. The bond... Well, I attributed the bond being different to the fact that we had completed the Trials, and that we’d had it Anointed. I did not realize it was different in an unfavorable way until that moment.” He finally met Cyrus’s gaze. “I do not know what to do, Cyrus.”

Cyrus reached out, squeezing his shoulder. “We’re going to ?gure it out. We’re going to ?gure everything out. What is that shit Scarlett is always saying? Hope even when it’s pointless?”

“Hope is for the dreamers, you asshole,” Sorin said, shoving his hand off his shoulder.

Cyrus grinned that sarcastic smirk at him. “Same thing. Let’s go ?nd Beatrix.”

They checked her cabin ?rst and then the back of the ship before systematically working their way towards the front.

“What about Rayner?” Cyrus asked as they descended a set of stairs to the main deck.

“What can we do? There is no way to make his reserves ?ll faster unless... ” Sorin sighed. “Unless Scarlett is right about him too.”

“Go on.”

“You heard her after the battle. She thinks Rayner has Avonleyan blood, and it all godsdamn ?ts,” Sorin sighed.

“Rayner is not Avonleyan. We would have known.”

“Like we knew Scarlett was Avonleyan?” Sorin countered. “Like we knew Luan had Avonleyan blood?”

“Shit,” Cyrus muttered. “She’s going to ask him about his past, isn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

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