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“Then give it to me,” Talwyn replied, matching his tone.
“No.”
“Who bears it?” she snarled. “Who is she?”
Sorin could have sworn that, for a split second, her eyes dartedto his hands resting in his pockets. “She is none of your concern,” Sorin answered. The ground shook, and the winds whipped, but behind their shields and wards they hardly felt a breeze. Sorin merely smirked at the queen. “Still have that temper I see.”
“Watch your mouth, Aditya,” Azrael snarled, stepping to Talwyn’s side once again.
“Let the Queen handle her own affairs, Luan,” Eliza crooned from Sorin’s right.
“Enough.” Talwyn’s voice rang clear and commanding through the night. Her eyes came back to Sorin and as she spoke, Sorin could hear the anger being restrained in her tone. So much like Scarlett, this queen that stood before him was. “I am your queen, Prince. Tell me who she is.”
“No.”
“You will openly defy me?” He could feel her power scraping along their shields, like it was dragging claws down walls of stone. Not one of his Inner Court moved.
“According to the Charters of the Courts, I am permitted to defy you if I believe there is a credible threat to my Court by complying,” Sorin replied, stepping right up to the edge of their shields. Talwyn was just on the other side. There were only a few feet separating them. Her jade eyes glowed brightly with rage. “The only work around is the Blood Vow, which you have already invoked. She is a member of my Court, and you, myQueen, are the credible threat.”
“I may have used my Blood Vow with you,” she spat, “but what of the Water Prince?”
“Would you really waste another Blood Vow on this? You have hundreds of years left to reign and only three vows remaining,” Sorin replied, calling her bluff.
“This is not over,” Talwyn seethed. She closed the distance between them, and he saw her flinch slightly as she brushed the edges of their shields. “You are allowing your bitterness and animosity to cloud your judgment, Prince.”
“It must be like looking in a mirror, then,” Sorin replied coolly.
“You have no idea what your actions will cost us.”
“Enlighten me.”
Talwyn’s eyes narrowed. He felt a shield of wind surround them, locking out the others. “I know who she is, Sorin.”
“I do not believe you,” he replied, low and vicious. “But if you do know who she is, then you know where my true allegiance lies.”
A smile appeared on Talwyn’s lips then, slow and malicious. “And you will discover that in the end, the Fates will plant us on the same side.”
Then she was gone. The wind instantly died. The shields came down save for Eliza’s as Azrael still stood before them.
“Run along, Luan,” Cyrus taunted. “Without the queen here, you have crossed Court borders without permission.”
Azrael gave them all a vulgar gesture before vanishing into nothing.
There was silence for only a moment before Eliza sighed. “Can we please go to bed now?”
They walked back up to the palace and through the halls in silence, each departing for their own chambers without so much as a good night. He opened the door to the bedroom as quietly as he could. He didn’t know how Scarlett was adjusting to sleeping without a tonic, and he didn’t want to disturb her, but when he stepped into the room, he found it wouldn’t have mattered. She was standing on the balcony that overlooked the front grounds. Her back was to him, her shadows blending in with the night. She would have had a perfect view of everything that had just happened. She had a blanket wrapped around herself, and she didn’t even look over her shoulder when she said, “I felt something. It woke me. I went out to the main room, but you weren’t there.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, quickly crossing the room. “I had to take care of something. I did not intend to leave you alone.”
“Talwyn was here. She is looking for me,” Scarlett supplied. Her voice was that same monotone voice from when she’d first awoken, as if she were in some sort of trance.
“Yes.” He didn’t know if he should reach out to her, if he should touch her. So he stood a few feet away, shoving down every desire to pull her to him. She turned to look at him, her icy blue eyes glowingin the night. He hadn’t realized how similar she was to her cousin. They were so similar, yet so incredibly different.
“Thank you for tonight,” she said. Her face was stoic and unreadable. “It was a sense of normalcy. It felt like a family. It felt like home. Thank you.”
Sorin gave her a soft smile. “Thankyou. For putting up with a little family drama.”
Scarlett huffed a laugh, returning to look out over the balcony. “You’ve seen how my family fights end up. Nuri and I are usually both bleeding by the end.” He noticed she no longer gripped the railing at being so high up. If she only knew she could Travel like her cousin, she’d never fear confined spaces again. “Why does she seek me out? What exactly does she want from me?”
