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Scarlett ignored the comment as she walked to the bookcase and began running her fingers along the spines.

“Who the hell was that man?” Talwyn seethed, her voice low and dangerous.

“I don’t know.”

“Seemed like you two knew each other pretty fucking well,” Talwyn countered.

Scarlett was about to explain she’d only ever seen him in her dreams when there was a pounding on the door. “Scarlett? Are you in there?”

The door handle rattled, and Sorin banged on the door again.

“I told you. Her wards are up. You will not get in,” came Azrael’s growl.

“She is fine, Prince,” Talwyn called, annoyance ringing in her tone. Turning back to Scarlett, she hissed, “Who is he?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only seen him in my dreams, and he only recently started talking to me. I—”

More banging on the door interrupted her.

“I am fine, Sorin,” she called to him.

“I will not believe it until I lay eyes on you,” he shot back through the door.

Oh, he was furious all right.

“I think we should focus on what he actually showed us there,” Scarlett said, returning her attention to Talwyn. “That glimmer or rip or whatever it was.”

“It definitely looked like a rip. Like a Traveling tear but much more powerful,” Talwyn confirmed.

“What could tear a plane apart like that?” Scarlett asked as she went back to scanning the bookshelf

“I do not know,” Talwyn replied grimly. “And it begs the questions of whether or not there are more of them, and how we are to close them.” Scarlett was silent, listening to Talwyn ponder and muse. She was only half-listening at this point until Talwyn said, “You cannot go to the mortal lands, Scarlett.”

Scarlett’s blood was instantly boiling, rage flashing in her eyes. “This has already been decided, and last I checked, you still do not give me orders,” she said, her own tone venomous and low.

“We need to figure out what that rip is and how to close it,” Talwyn argued, her tone just as lethal.

“Scarlett…” Sorin’s tense voice came from the other side of the door. He must have felt her rush of fury.

“Maybe you can figure that out while I am gone,” Scarlett snapped back to Talwyn, ignoring Sorin.

“Your place is here,” Talwyn snarled. “Not traipsing around the mortal lands looking for human friends.”

Flames of pure white appeared around Scarlett’s wrists, and the temperature in the room plummeted. “I did not get the luxury of growing up in these halls, Talwyn,” Scarlett said, her voice deathly quiet. “Igrew up in the shadows and darkness with my sisters.” Her shadows seeped into her flames, casting the room into a shadowy glow.

Talwyn’s eyes glittered with challenge as her bracelet unfurled and winds blew papers from her desk. “No,” she spat back, her tone sharp as a dagger’s edge. “You got to run around the human territories without a care for the rest of the world while I was shoved onto a throne to manage a war I knew nothing about.”

“Talwyn, take the wards down.” This time the voice was Azrael’s.

“You are blamingmefor not being in a land I didn’t know I was meant to be a part of? And what war? The war has been over for centuries,” Scarlett cried, frost spiderwebbing up the windows. “Do you know what I endured in Baylorin?”

“No, cousin, nor do I really care,” Talwyn replied with a sneer. “You apparently have mortal friends worth risking everything to go back for.Iwas completely alone. Your twin flame saw to that.”

“Talwyn!” Azrael shouted from the other side of the door. There was a note of panic that Scarlett was surprised to hear from the Earth Prince.

“Oh yes, you were so alone here in these halls,” Scarlett retorted bitterly, pulling the Spirit Sword from her back. Flames of white wreathed the blade,and Talwyn raised her whip while pulling a dagger from her side. “You were so alone with a mother and then an aunt while you grew up. With Sorin here and your own twin flame and Azrael. You were all alone, weren’t you?”

“Talwyn!” Azrael and Sorin cried together from the other side of the door.