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Sorin sighed. He was exhausted. He could get by on very little sleep in this land. He wasn’t able to access his magic, so there was very little drain on his energy; but he did requiresomesleep when he was putting in a full day of training the king’s soldiers and spending time training Scarlett. The sun would rise soon enough, although after her very eloquent message had been delivered by Cassius this evening,he obviously didn’t need to meet her at dawn to train tomorrow.

He drained his whiskey at the thought of it. He had been certain she’d been a daughter of Anahita, the goddess of water and ice, with the frost he had glimpsed and the freezing of those branches that first morning of training; but tonight he had pulled fire from her veins while smoke had seeped from her palms. No, not smoke. It had been thicker and darker than smoke.

Sorin rose and walked to his bedroom, where he picked up a piece of frozen branch from his dresser, turning it over in his palm. He’d known it wouldn’t melt when he’d slipped it into his pocket in that clearing. It was still just as cold as it had been when it had shattered. Whenshehad frozen and shattered everything around them in her anger. It wasn’t just encased in ice, though. Scarlett had frozen it in hoarfrost. Unlike hoarfrost the way mortals knew it, this was Fae hoarfrost. In the Fae Courts, he would have been able to melt it with his fire gifts, but here, nothing would melt it. Not only that, the branches were black, like they’d been burned first. No, not burned, because the blackness seemed to swirl within the ice, as if it were ashes in a wind.

The hoarfrost wasn’t the most perplexing thing about any of this, though. She had accessed her magic that day without her ring on in the mortal kingdoms, which was supposed to be impossible.

Sorin ran his hands through his hair as he set the shard back onto his dresser and crossed to his large bed. Settling in, he propped his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, and finding himself oddly disappointed he wouldn’t be seeing that silver hair and those icy blue eyes in the morning.

CHAPTER 12

SCARLETT

“Let’s go shopping,” Juliette said to Scarlett, looking up from her book. The girls were lounging in Juliette’s room on her bed, each with their noses in books. Scarlett was stretched out, her feet propped across Juliette’s lap.

“It’s the middle of summer, and it’s sweltering outside. I do not feel like walking around the Syndicate fully hooded and masked in stifling heat,” Scarlett grumbled, turning the page of her book.

“When was the last time you were out of the Fellowship for something other than a job?” Juliette asked with a glare, toying with the Spirit Amulet around her neck. It was for the goddess of health and healing, Reselda. Ironic considering their profession, but her mother was a healer, and it had been hers. She had insisted Juliette have it.

“I went to see your mother yesterday,” Scarlett replied with a shrug.

“The Healer’s Compound doesn’t count.”

“I can’t help it that I’m sequestered here for who knows how long,” Scarlett replied, not even looking up from her book this time.

“We’re the most feared executioners in the kingdoms, and you are…who you are,” Juliette muttered, returning her attention to her own book. “One would think we’d be able to go and do whatever we wish at this point.”

“Maybe someday we’ll actually just disappear into the shadows and not return,”Scarlett mused. “We can find somewhere no one has ever heard of the Wraiths of Death.”

Nuri breezed into the room, her ashy-blond hair flowing behind her. She chucked a small stack of papers at them. “Job requests,” she said by way of explanation as she plopped into an armchair near the bed.

The other girls both shut their books, and Scarlett sat up. Juliette handed her half of the small stack, and they began rifling through them as Nuri said, “Have either of you seen Gracelynn lately?”

“The little orphan?” Juliette asked, her eyes skimming the job prospects.

“Yes. I haven’t seen her around in a few days.”

“Madam Jayana probably finally found a way to get her into her clutches,” Scarlett offered.

“For her sake, I hope not,” Nuri said darkly. “I made it perfectly clear what would happen if she put her whoring paws on that little girl.”

“I’ll help you look for her later today,” Scarlett said, setting down the papers she had skimmed. “None of these seem to require all of us. Does he want us on any of these?”

“No. He said Ridgely or Kade could handle them if one of us didn’t want them,” Nuri answered. She pulled a dagger from her boot, grabbed a nearby whetting stone, and began sharpening it.

Juliette snorted. “That’s about all they’re good for these days.”

Nuri grinned. “I could not agree more.”

“Gross,” Scarlett said with disgust. “Please do not tell me you have allowed either one of them in this bed that I am sitting on.”

Juliette gave her a mischievous grin. “The sheets were washed.”

“Just gross,” Scarlett said, her nose wrinkling in disgust.

“Let’s go out today. I’m bored with them,” Nuri whined.

“My point exactly,” Juliette said with a pointed look at Scarlett.