Page 9 of Lady of Starfire

Clearing her throat, she said, “I just need a moment to breathe before I seek out Cassius.”

“I know,” Sorin replied, winding a tendril of her wet hair around his finger. She could dry it, but he always did that for her. Doing it herself just made all of this more…real.

Too real.

“I had food sent up for you,” he said softly.

“Thank you.”

“Scarlett.”

She tilted her head to look up at him. His eyes may not be as bright, but the love that shone in them was still the same. She reached up, skimming her fingertips along his jaw. “Before we talk about everything, can you kiss me?”

The hand playing with her hair moved to her nape, tugging her lips to his. “You never need to ask twice for that, my love.”

And Scarlett let herself drown in the taste of him. His tongue moved against hers as his fingers slipped up into her hair, fisting gently, and she shifted, sliding her hand up the bottom of his tunic, fingers gliding over the indents of his torso.

She pulled back first, her breathing ragged. “I am fixing this, Sorin,” she rasped.

“And if it cannot be fixed, I do not care, Scarlett. This—a you and me—this is all I need. I will be content. We will figure the rest out as we go.” He brushed his lips against hers once more before he stood, tugging her up with him. “Come. Eat and tell me what you learned.”

What she’d learned.

She’d learned so much and not nearly enough. She also knew Saylah still hadn’t told her everything, especially when it came to Cethin and how exactly he’d become bound to the Wards.

Sorin tossed her a pear, and she took a bite as he began preparing a plate for her. “I am listening,” he prompted, selecting some cheese cubes and placing them on the plate.

“I don’t know where to start,” she said around her mouthful of fruit.

Sorin nodded in understanding of what she was asking of him. Give her somewhere to start. “Why is Paja here?”

“Did you know him?”

“Yes. He was bonded to Eliné. But like I said, I have not seen him since before Henna was killed. That is not to say he did not come to Eliné during that time, but…” He trailed off as he held a plate out to her.

She took it from him, moving to sit at the table in their suite’s dining room while he began fixing his own plate of food. “Paja is here because I asked him to come here.”

Sorin glanced up briefly from the roast meat sandwich he was preparing. “Are you bonded to him?”

“No?”

He stilled, setting down the utensils in his hands and planting his palms on the tabletop. “This is something you would know, Scarlett.”

She sighed, throwing herself back in her chair, and Sorin arched a brow at the action. “I sort of control the spirit animals now.” Sorin blinked slowly. When he didn’t speak, she added, “I told Saylah if she was going to keep hiding in Shira Forest instead of coming to our aid, the least she could do would be to give me control over the spirit animals.”

“You said that. To a goddess.”

She debated internally for a moment before saying, “Among other things.”

“What of those bonded to them?”

“I do not control them likethat,” she said, picking up her sandwich. “I guess it is more so that instead of residing with Saylah when they are not needed, they reside with me.”

“Then where are the rest of them now? Cethin said they have been resting,” Sorin said, resuming preparing his own plate.

“Some are still in Shira Forest. Cethin was right. They were resting, but beyond that, I do not know. I learned much, but Saylah still has her secrets,” she said bitterly.

“And she let you take control of the spirit animals?”