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“You do not need to protect me,” he said, bringing his hand to her cheek.

“I am not protecting you,” she replied. “I am protecting myself because I do not have guards following me around to tell me when what I am doing is stupid not brave, and perhaps you need new ones who would do the same for you.”

“Stop,” Callan snapped. “You do not mean that, and you know it.” Scarlett raised her brows. “If that were the issue then it is easily rectified. I can have a dozen guards telling you when you are doing stupid things if you desire.”

Scarlett gritted her teeth, staring down the Crown Prince. “What do you want me to say, Callan?” she finally asked.

“The truth,” he answered, pulling her towards him, bringing his brow to hers. She closed her eyes, a look crossing her face Sorin couldn’t quite read. Resignation? Regret? Despair?

He hadn’t even realized he’d pulled a dagger from his side, but his grip tightened on the hilt.

“I told you watching them interact is always entertaining,” came a whispered voice of silk and honey from his side.

Every head whipped to Nuri, who was clad in her usual attire, hood up and in place.

“Where the hell did you come from?” Sloan said, eyes wide as he stepped closer to his prince.

“Hell indeed,” she purred in response.

“Not now,” Scarlett snarled at Nuri. The prince still had his hand on her waist, and she turned back to him. “I trust Sorin because he has helped me,Callan. He has helped me with more than just the missing children. If you do not trust him, then trust me. If you do not trust me, then we are done here, but I have never lied to you, not once. You have brought others into this, so my question now is, canwetrustthem?”

“You can’t be serious,” Sloan sneered.

“She most certainly is,” Nuri said gleefully from beside Sorin.

“You have the worst timing, you know that?” Sorin remarked.

“You think so? I think it’s impeccable timing. I’d hate to miss out on this exciting drama,” she answered, one hand on her hip, the other brandishing a dagger nonchalantly as she spoke.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Finn asked. Sloan had his sword still pointed at Scarlett and the prince. Finn’s now guarded against him and Nuri.

Sorin looked to Scarlett, who gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes. She swore colorfully and pulled away from Callan. Sorin crossed the room to meet her halfway, ignoring the glare from the prince. He led her to a corner of the room, away from the others, Nuri watching them curiously. He leaned in close to whisper in her ear quietly. “I put a shield around us. No one can hear us.”

She raised her brows. “You can do that?”

“I can do more than that,” he crooned with a smirk, his gaze dipping to her mouth.

“Stop that,” she snapped, smacking his shoulder. He gave a quiet chuckle. “I’m glad you find this funny. This is a disaster. I don’t know how to get rid of them. They shouldn’t be here. Anyone could have seen them come here.” She bit her lower lip in worry.

“Maybe we should tell them what we have learned. Maybe we should include them,” Sorin replied.

“We cannot do that. I cannot be seen with Callan.”

Sorin ground his teeth. “I know this is something you do not want to talk about, so I will not ask you to tell me why, but we could use the help of the crown.”

“So what? You want to tell them that you are Fae and Nuri is a vampyre?” she retorted.

“You are Fae, too,” he answered dryly. “It concerns me that you keep forgetting this fact.”

She merely waved him off. “That’s under control with my tonic.”

“It is not something to have under control that way,” he argued.

“We are not talking about this right now. The Crown Prince and his personal guards are standing in your sitting room. Death’s Shadow looks like she’d love to clash swords with them, and you and I are standing apart from them all, arguing, which they apparently cannot hear. I need to do something,” she hissed.

This close to her and behind a shield, her scent was twining around him. He was having trouble focusing on anything else. “Do you want to get rid of them, or do you want to involve them?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know what to do.” Without warning, she leaned her forehead into his shoulder in frustration. “All my interactions with him are carefully planned, then he just showed up here…”