Page 78 of Lady for Embers

“What are you thinking, Seastar?” Cassius asked gently when she trailed off. His arm slid around her shoulders, her head falling against him.

“That maybe we should leave it for now?”

She voiced the idea as a question, clearly uncertain of the idea. And she should be. Because fuck no.

“We are not leaving a Mark on him that allows them to know his exact location at any point in time,” Cyrus snapped, shooting to his feet.

Scarlett sent a look at Sorin, who was looking back and forth between him and Cassius, a furrow in his brow.

“Right now, they do not know thatweknow about the Mark,” Scarlett said. “We have an advantage here. The minute I nullify that Mark, we lose that advantage.”

“And you think it is better to have the Maraans know exactly where we are?” Cyrus asked in disbelief.

“No,” she countered. “I just think we should be strategic about when we remove it.”

“So you want to, what? Leave it on him until we get to ­Avonleya?”

“No,” she said again, her tone tightening as he wore on her patience.

“I don’t want to wait too long. I don’t want to lead them directly to Avonleya. I just think this could be a potential opportunity, and we would be stupid to not at least consider ways to use it while we ?gure this out.”

Godsdamnit. She was right. The strategist in him knew that. The part of him that knew how to play on people’s weaknesses and use them against themselves knew she was brilliant to think of things like this. She made a damn good point about using this toour advantage, letting the Maraans think they had one up on them. They’d lost an immense advantage when they’d been surprised and the Maraans had learned that Sorin lived. This was an opportunity to gain a surprise of their own. They needed to be smart about this.

He just wished that Mark was on anyone else.

He pushed his hand through his hair. “What are you thinking?”

“I was hoping you and I could toss around ideas after we discuss a few other things,” she answered tentatively. Cyrus met her gaze, and he could see it in her eyes. She felt guilty about this. She didn’t like leaving this Mark on Cassius any more than he did. This choice was being made as a queen rather than as a friend, and it was agonizing for her.

“Yeah, we can do that,” Cyrus answered, rubbing at the back of his neck. “If Cass is ?ne with that.”

“Whatever you need, Seastar,” Cassius answered, his arm tightening around her shoulders.

Cyrus gritted his teeth in annoyance, because of course he wouldn’t argue about this with her. He held no regard for his own well-being when it came to her.

And why the fuck did it bother him so damn much?

“Have you two discussed your power?” Scarlett asked him, shifting on the bench so she was facing Cassius.

“Not much,” Cassius answered. “Cyrus just woke up a bit ago.”

“You haven’t slept?”

“I have, but not as much as the rest of you.”

“He fed, Scarlett,” Sorin chimed in. “He likely did not need the couple days’ worth of restorative sleep the rest of us did. He does not have Fae magic.”

“That makes sense,” she said. “Your power reserves are full then?”

“They feel as they normally do after Cyrus gives me blood.”

Scarlett was shaking her head, pushing to her feet. She turned, resting her hands on the ship railing, looking out at the sea. “That’s not enough, Cass,” she ?nally said. “Not anymore.”

“What does that mean?” Cyrus asked.

She turned back to face them. “He needs a Source.”

“I am only half-Avonleyan,” Cassius argued. “I do not think a Source is necessary.”

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