Page 20 of Lady for Embers

“Yes, but... ” she said, her smile slipping. “There was an unexpected cost to the Mark we used to hide me from their wards.”

“Which was?” Sorin gritted out.

“Cassius couldn’t sense me, which we anticipated, but I alsocould not Travel with him, so we had no choice but to ride my shadow dragon. When my power gave out and I’d drained Cass of all of his... ” She shrugged as she trailed off. “Apparently his daddy knew we’d need help because Ranvir appeared just as my shadows began to give out.”

“You and Cyrus need to stop calling him my ‘daddy,’” Cassius grumbled.

Sorin cut a glance at Cassius, who was sipping from the glass of Cyrus’s blood. “Anything to add to her account of events, Commander?”

“She pretty much summed it all up,” Cassius replied. Cyrus had an arm looped around his waist, keeping him on his feet while he drank.

“You have been ?ying on a dragon of some sort for the last two days?” Eliza asked, her brows high.

“Has it been that long?” Scarlett asked, her forehead falling back to Sorin’s chest as she continued to draw power from him. “I lost consciousness for a while, so I really can’t say. That’s why I wasn’t as responsive down the bond.”

“Why is it that I have been missing out on all the excitement lately?” Eliza grumbled with a scowl.

Scarlett huffed a dark laugh. “Don’t worry, Friend. There will be plenty of seraphs for you to slaughter when we return.”

Eliza muttered something else under her breath, her arms folding across her chest.

“You need to rest,” Sorin said, tilting her chin up to look into her eyes. They were still icy blue. Not a hint of silver. She was completely drained. This would take a few days to restore.

“We can do the thing ?rst,” she insisted, trying to push off of him and stand on her own.

He ended up catching her when her legs buckled. Her hand slipped from his bleeding arm as he scooped her up. “It can wait.”

“I don’t want to wait,” she whined, nestling into him.

“You do not have a choice, Love,” he replied, striding for the prince’s cabin.

“So fussy,” she murmured, her eyes already ?uttering closed.

“Tell me again why we’re doing this on your ship instead of Briar’s,” Scarlett called out from the small bathing suite off the prince’s cabin.

“Why would we do this on Briar’s ship?” Sorin asked, moving to the doorway of the bathing room to ?nd her adjusting the dress she’d put on.

“Because his ship is prettier than yours.”

“For fuck’s sake,” he muttered under his breath.

She straightened, turning to face him to say something, but her eyes widened slightly when they landed on him, her lips parting just a touch.

Sorin smirked back at her. He could feel every lustful thought down the bond.

He wore black pants with a black jacket. Red, orange, and yellow threads ran up the sleeves, creating the illusion of ?ames. It had been tailored to ?t him perfectly. His black hair was swept back casually, a few strands falling over his brow, a crown of ?ickering ?ames sat atop his head. They’d hardly had any time alone since he had nearly died. He’d been healing. She’d been scheming.

And burning things to the ground apparently.

His golden eyes glimmered when she ?nally dragged her eyes back to them, her mouth snapping shut.

“Something to say, Princess?”

“No,” she whispered hoarsely.

Worry crossed his features, his brow scrunching slightly. “Are you all right?” he asked, stepping into the small bathing room.

“Yeah. Yes,” she replied quickly, clearing her throat and shrugging slightly. “You look... ”

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