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She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t be fine with that at all.

She did not want him to be her soulmate. She wanted more than just soulmate intimacy. The thought of him with another female made her want to rage and vomit and cry all at the same time.

But he had a twin flame. Somewhere out there. And despite her conversation with Eliza, if she ventured down that road, should his twin flame come along, the urge to kill her on sight would be strong.

“I am closer to you than I am with Cassius,” she said quietly. “You know things I have never told him.”

“What are you to me?” he asked, his eyes studying hers intently.

“A pain in your ass?” She batted her lashes at him as she took a sip of her wine.

He barked a laugh. “That you most certainly are.”

The sun dropped the last beat behind the mountains, and there was a sizzling sound. Scarlett’s eyes widened as she looked frantically around the restaurant.

“The river, Love,” Sorin said calmly. “Look at the river.”

She turned back to the water as flames rushed along the banks on either side, starting at the palace and flowing down the river and out of sight. She had seen the fires in the palace but had thought it was part of the palace magic. She did not realize it spanned the entire length of the river. The flames lit up the banks and the little businesses that dotted its shoreline. She could feel the heat from the blazes and couldn’t help but gape in wonder as small seals jumped as they swam downstream.

Finally she tore her gaze from the water and turned to Sorin, who was staring not at the river, but at her. His eyes were practically glowing. “They are the Twilight Wildfires. They start at the river’s source and go along the entire length to the border until dawn.”

“They are beautiful,” she breathed, turning back to the river.

“That they are,” he replied.

The food arrived, and Scarlett ate some of the most divine seafood she had ever encountered. After finishing off a piece of raspberry glazed cake, they had meandered around the city a little more. The Twilight Wildfires cast a twinkling glow along the streets, illuminating their path, until they came upon the dance club and found Eliza,Rayner, and Cyrus waiting for them outside.

They were handed drinks as they entered. Well, the others were. Apparently everyone here knew exactly what they drank. “Wine,” Eliza said to the hostess over the music, with a nod of her head to Scarlett. A few moments later, she had a glass in her hand and was following them through the crowd to a reserved table. This one, she was fairly certain, was always on reserve for them.

For hours they danced, and she silently cursed them all for taking so long to show her this side of the Fire Court. Cyrus whirled her around the dance floor, expertly guiding her through some popular Fae dances. She drank, Eliza pressing a full glass of wine into her hand whenever hers was empty. Even Rayner took her around the dance floor a few times. She laughed, carefree and joyful, with a family she didn’t know she had been missing.

Cyrus had just finished twirling her around to a particularly fast-paced number. She was breathing hard, laughing as Eliza sauntered over and began dancing between Cyrus and Rayner. Then she spotted Sorin across the room. He was sitting at their table, and his attention was fixed solely on her.

What are you to me?

His words from earlier that evening came floating back. She had deflected and had been grateful for the Twilight Wildfires interrupting that particular conversation because she didn’t know the answer.

But that was a lie.

Cassius had told her once that there was a connection between her and Sorin. Mikale had sneered that everyone could see it. Callan was beyond paranoid about it. She hadn’t believed them.

That wasn’t true either.

If she were honest with herself, she hadn’t allowed herself to believe them. She kept boundaries in place, kept feelings pushed so far down, to keep herself safe. Just as she had screamed at Sorin that day in the mountains. She’d known what he was doing because it was what she did herself. She was used to doing the protecting, constantly guarding those she loved. She had loved Callan once, but even then,she was constantly watching for threats and lived in the shadows.

But the way Sorin was looking at her, as if she were the only person in the room, despite the chaos and revelry going on around him, she allowed herself to peel back the outer most layers of whatever it was they were. She allowed herself to entertain the idea of letting herself love him, the one who always came for her. The one who let her work through things. The one who knew every secret her heart held. The one who did not fear her darkness.

She had meant it when she’d said she hoped he found his twin flame someday, but the deepest parts of her did not want to share him with anyone. A horrible part of her prayed to whatever gods would listen that his twin flame was already long gone from this world, and they wouldn’t find each other until the After. Even then, she didn’t want to share him.

She pushed aside the shame that washed over her at the thought of that for her friend, about what kind of person that made her. She shouted to Cyrus over the crowd and music that she was going to take a break. Cyrus smirked at her, as if he knew something she didn’t. Sorin’s eyes locked onto hers as she made her way towards him, and she held them the whole way there. She slid onto the bench beside him at their table.

“Hello, Prince.” Her voice was low, sensuous.

“Hello, Princess.” Sorin’s voice was thick, and a predatory hunger filled his eyes.

“You are not dancing?”

“Cyrus informed me that I had you all evening and that I could share you for a while,” he answered, sipping from his drink.