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“To the catacombs beneath your palace.”

“The what?” His brows arched higher in surprise as he stood.

Scarlett looped her arm through his. “Really, I do not know how you lot survived without me.”

Sorin reached over and flicked her nose, and she batted his hand away as she led him out the door and to the stairs. “But really, as your queen, wife, and twin flame…how old are you?”

Sorin tilted his head back and laughed. “Three hundred sixty-three years old.”

Scarlett gaped. She knew he was immortal, but to hear an actual number put on it…

“You are as speechless as you were when I first met you and I told you I wanted your tongue to be my concern,” Sorin mused as they descended the stairs. Scarlett muttered a vulgar name under her breath, to which Sorin only replied, “That list just keeps growing.”

He pulled open the library door for her, letting her walk through first. She had never been down the secret passageway during the day. It had only been late in the night after dinner with Callan or when she snuck from their rooms, which, astonishingly, Sorin had not yet become suspicious about.

As they made their way down the dark forgotten halls, Sorin asked, “How much do I need to be preparing myself?”

Scarlett gave him a sympathetic smile. “I suppose it is a good thing we delayed our travels. It will give you time to rage over all my plans, try to talk me out of them, and then eventually accept them before we actually enact them.”

“When were you planning to tell me about these plans?” he asked when they came to a stop before the ancient bookcase.

Scarlett pursed her lips, debating. “Honestly? Not until I was forced to.”

“Scarlett, did we not specifically say no more secrets just last night?” he asked, rubbing his fingers across his brow.

“In all fairness, I did say no more secretsaftertoday when we made that deal,” she said, crouching before the bookcase. She pulled the trigger book and stood as the bookcase slid into the wall. She stepped onto the passage landing and turned to Sorin. “Shall we?”

He stood completely still, staring at her and the open passageway.

“Sorin?” she asked tentatively.

Without a word, he stepped to her side. She reached behind her to the lever that closed the passage entrance, sealing them in. When the bookcase was back in place, she shaped her flames into a small bird that flew before them, casting a soft glow on their path.

She had gone a few steps when she heard Sorin begin to follow. He spoke quietly, clearly dreading her answer. “When did you find this place, Scarlett?”

“The night you found me sleeping before the bookcase. I didn’t come down here that night. I only had a dagger and a small torch…” she trailed off, continuing down the stairs.

Sorin was silent behind her. She summoned her shadow panther and took the book it still held in its massive maw, then sent it ahead of them, feeling for any threats. She flipped the book open, skimming pages as she went. Waiting. He had always waited for her, had always let her sort her thoughts out before speaking. She could do the same for him.

“If you did not come down here that night, then when?” he finally asked.

“The first time was the following week. After I had dinner with Callan and the others,” she offered quietly.

“You came down here by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“And you have been down here more than once?”

“I’ve come down here every night after dinner with them, but it wasn’t enough,so…” She huffed a sigh. “I’ve been sneaking from our rooms a few nights a week.”

“How?” he ground out through gritted teeth.

She continued to flip through the book as she spoke, unable to look at him. “The nights I come after dinner with Callan, I have clothes stored in a forgotten storage closet. The nights I slip from our room…” She shrugged.

“How have none of my guards seen you?”

“I watched them and studied them, along with the help. I know when the shift changes are. I know which guards are easier to traverse, which routes the help take. I am a Wraith of Death, Sorin. I know how to move about unseen and unheard,” she replied.