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Scarlett merely blinked, and her shadows had him bound and gagged and kneeling on the floor.

“Scarlett?” Sorin said her name in shock, his eyes wide with terror. He made to come to her but was stopped by Talwyn.

“Stay where you are, Prince,” Talwyn said. Her voice was even and calm,like this happened every day. Thick vines appeared, ensnaring Sorin to his chair.

Scarlett smirked at her. With half a thought, she had those vines frozen and shattering, just as she had done to those tree branches all those months ago in the clearing in Baylorin. The Court Royals and their Seconds were all shielding as the frozen shards sprayed around the room. Then she leveled a deadly glare at Talwyn. The male who had been advancing on them raged around his bindings as Scarlett took a step towards his sovereign.

“Dismiss them,” Scarlett ordered, her voice lethal.

“Leave us,” Talwyn said, her voice cool, commanding. With a wave of her hand, every single other person in the room was gone except for Sorin and his Inner Court. “You have something to say?” she purred at Scarlett, but Scarlett’s attention had turned to Sorin, whose golden skin was so, so pale. She couldfeelhim. Everything. The fracture not only to his power but to his soul. The breaking of taking a twin flame Mark without having it returned. She ignored Talwyn completely, taking a step towards him. The Mark on her hand tingled, as if it anticipated what was about to happen.

“You told me to figure out what I was.”

She took another step towards him and lifted a hand. In it, flames of purest white hovered.

“You told me to figure out what I was to the realms.”

Another step had her lifting her other hand where water and ice swirled in an orb.

“You told me to figure out what I was to you.”

Sorin was so still, as if she had frozen him when she’d frozen those vines. When she took the last few steps to close the space between them, he stood. She took in those golden eyes, his dark hair. She noticed his crown of flame still glowing atop his head, and with a smirk, she lifted her palms. The flames and water and ice jumped above her head, weaving amongst themselves to form a crown of ice and water, the flames creating a burning jewel in the center.

He gaped as the crown settled down onto her silver hair. She sent tendrils of her shadows snaking up the crown, winding their way around the ice and sparkling like black diamonds. And then,just because she could, she sent shadows dancing among the flames of his own crown.

He stared at her, and she could see the question in his eyes. “I have so many treats to give you should you speak the question on your tongue,” she said, her voice low and full of promise.

Sorin swallowed. “What are you to me?” His own voice was hoarse, hardly more than a whisper.

“You came for me, and I have come for you.” Sorin’s eyes widened as she held up her left hand. Then she spoke words she had said before, but not in the Old Language. They were words her soul had known before she had. “I am yours, and you are mine. I choose you, above all others. Always.” Scarlett gasped slightly at the burning that seared through her hand as the Mark flared gold then stood black as night against her skin. “You are my home, Sorin Aditya. I want no one else. I want it to always be you.”

Sorin took her face in his hands and kissed her. Deeply. Thoroughly. A claiming. Caring as much as she did that they had an audience, which was not at all. She pulled back and brought a hand to cup his cheek.

I am yours and you are mine.She heard him echo the words into her own mind as he gazed into her eyes. She watched as his own eyes flicked up to her crown of starfire, and he crooned,Princess of Fire.

About that…

Sorin’s brows rose in question, and she turned to face Talwyn.

The queen’s long mahogany hair flowed around her on that phantom wind that seemed to always accompany her. She still sat in her chair at the head of the table, her face unreadable. She propped her head on her hand as if bored when Scarlett said to her, “I am also the daughter of Eliné Semiria, and I am her heir. I am a queen in this land, and I lay claim to the Fire and Water Courts that are rightfully mine.”

Talwyn’s jade green eyes were fixed on hers, and a knowing smile spread across her face. “Of course you are a queen, Cousin.”

Scarlett stilled, not sure of what to say. Was Talwyn being sincere, or was it some kind of trick? She glanced at Sorin, who was also staring at Talwyn.

“You willingly acknowledge that she has a right to rule beside you?” he asked. His skin already had its color back. His crown was glowing brightly atop his head.

“Of course I acknowledge it. I sent you to find her,” Talwyn answered snidely, rising from her chair. She waved a hand, and the table before them disappeared in a swirl of sand. She strode for them, and Scarlett felt the entire Inner Court fall into line behind her and Sorin.

“You sent me to find a weapon,” Sorin countered, a shield coming up around them all.

“I told you that you weregoingto find a weapon. I sent you to find your twin flame,”Talwyn corrected. “I had assumed you had found her when you sent Amaré to Briar asking about the Semiria rings all those months ago, but when she returned with you without her Mark, I did not know if it was her. And then there was the matter of the mortal prince that is squatting in your palace. I thought he was brought with because he was her husband. I needed to know, so I came to him to try and learn the truth.”

“You kidnapped him!” Scarlett growled, orange flames appearing at her fingertips.

Talwyn sneered at her and a gust of wind had her flames extinguishing.

Scarlett felt her mouth twist up in a fiendish grin as she sent her shadows slithering across the floor to her cousin. Then she shaped those shadows into actual snakes. With tongues of fire. And scales of razor sharp ice.