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“There are so many people who want her,” he said, his brown eyes holding his gaze.

Sorin clenched his jaw. “I am not one of them.”

Cassius arched a brow but didn’t say anything. When they were outside the complex, he slid down and took Scarlett while Sorin dismounted. They quickly and quietly made their way up to his apartment where Cassius laid her on the sofa.

“In her cloak there is a hidden pocket with her tonic,” Cassius said, handing the garment to him while he gently shook her shoulders. “Scarlett. Seastar. You need to take this.”

Her eyes opened, and Cassius lurched to his feet. “Sorin,” he said quietly.

Sorin paused his searching and turned to them. Scarlett’s eyes were no longer golden, nor were they icy blue. They were silver and glowing. Something like smoke swirled in them, and tendrils of the same seemed to be slowly coiling around her.

“What is happening to her?” Cassius asked. Scarlett’s head tilted at the sound of his voice,and she looked at him as if she didn’t recognize him.

“I don’t know,” Sorin replied slowly, “but if I had to guess, I would say it is her magic waking up. Find that tonic.” He shoved the cloak into Cassius’s hands and stepped toward Scarlett. That coiling smoke struck out at him, and he threw up a shield of fire around himself. The smoke leapt back from his flame. Not smoke, he realized. Shadows.

That was intriguing.

“Here,” Cassius said from behind him. “Get her to drink it. She’ll fall asleep almost instantly.”

Sorin reached back and felt the vial being pressed into his hand. He stepped towards Scarlett again, and her eyes settled on his. They narrowed as he slowly crouched before her. “Hey, Love,” he said softly. “How are you doing?”

“I told you not to call me that,” she said, her voice hoarse from the screaming and vomiting.

Surprise coursed through him. She remembered that?

“Maybe I like calling you that.”

“I don’t care what you like,” she whispered.

“Liar,” he purred. He slowly brought his hand up and cupped the back of her head. Cassius had uncorked the vial that he held in his other hand. “But we will have to discuss what I like and do not like later. Drink up…Love.”

He brought the vial to her lips as he gently guided her head back, letting it rest in his hand. She swallowed the contents down. Almost instantly, her eyes shifted to icy blue, the smoke and shadows disappearing. She let out an exhausted sigh. “When I wake up, I’m going to kick your ass for calling me that,” she murmured as her eyes closed and sleep dragged her under.

Sorin chuckled under his breath, gently pulling his hand from under her head. Her breathing was already evening out.

Cassius cleared his throat from behind as he said, “She will likely sleep for two days. I need to return the horses and figure out what to tell the manor. I will have Tava get me some extra clothes for her,and I will come by later to check on her and explain what I can.”

“All right,” Sorin replied, standing and handing the empty vial to Cassius.

“I have never seen her eyes like that,” he said quietly. “Is that part of being Fae? Do your eyes do that?”

“No,” Sorin said, his gaze going back to the sleeping female on his couch. “My eyes do not do that. I do not know what that was.”

CHAPTER 24

SORIN

After Cassius had left, Sorin carried Scarlett into his bedroom, laying her amongst the pillows and draping a quilt over her. She was sleeping soundly, color slowly returning to her face. That revealing dress couldn’t possibly be comfortable to sleep in, but given her sleep was induced by a tonic that apparently drugged her, he doubted she cared much at this point. She curled onto her side, her hair falling along her face.

Sorin moved to the chair opposite the bed, igniting flames at his fingertips and then extinguishing them. He did it over and over, gorging himself on the use of his magic while he could. He hadn’t planned on telling Cassius he suspected she was Fae, but he’d pushed him and pushed him. When he’d yelled at him about not caring about her safety, he’d exploded. But gods, that power? The most powerful of his kind didn’t display that kind of power. Talwyn maybe, but no one possessed…shadows. If that’s what they were.

“So tell me, fire prick, did you connect any dots after seeing her tonight?”

Sorin jerked his head to the doorway to find Nuri standing in it, her arms crossed over her chest. Her hood was pulled back and her ashy-blonde hair was unbound.

“You couldn’t have said something sooner?” he ground out in annoyance.

“And have done all the work for you? How would you ever learn?” Nuri said with an exasperated fake sigh.