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“Easy,” Scarlett heard Sorin murmur so softly it was barely a whisper.

As the panther neared, Scarlett reached out a hand towards it, and the panther’s silver eyes glowed as bright as starlight. She could swear the giant feline was smiling. Shirina stopped before her and bowed her head low. As the panther lifted it once more, Scarlett brought her fingers up, barely brushing its soft fur. Sorin’s breath brushed against her ear again.

“Scarlett,” he whispered. “Look.”

She opened her eyes, and all around her in the cavern, flames glowed. They lined the perimeter, running along the walls. Oranges and golds and reds danced amongst each other in rhythm with her own heartbeat.

She spun around to face Sorin, her eyes wide. Sorin’s eyes were bright with fascination. “I did this?” she whispered in disbelief.

“You did this,” he answered. She could have sworn that was pride lining his features.

“You didn’t help at all?” she asked suspiciously.

“This, Love, was all you,” he replied, his eyes staring into hers.

Then she was kissing him, her lips pressing onto his fiercely, and his hands encompassed her face.His tongue ran along the seam of her lips, and she instantly parted them for him. His tongue swept in, and she felt her knees buckle slightly. His hand was instantly around her waist, pulling her closer to him, steadying her. Her own fingers were woven into his hair, and the bandolier of knives pressed into her chest as she pressed into him. She couldn’t get close enough. Something was drawing her to him, drawing her home.

He pulled back after a minute, breathing just as hard as she was. She could see the desire lining his face, and his gaze dropped to her mouth. Her flames still burned around them, reflecting in his eyes. He grinned at her as the flames winked out, and he whispered, “Do it again.”

“The fire or the kissing?” she breathed.

“Your magic, smart ass, and then maybe I will think about kissing you again,” he said, stepping away from her. She scowled at him. She tried to muster that magic, that flame, even an ember again, but all she could think about now was the feel of his lips on hers and the taste of him on her tongue.

Sorin jumped to the top of a boulder. “Come now, Princess, you must not want to kiss me again that badly,” he crooned, as he jumped to another one. Flames licked down her arms like he was touching her himself, trailing along her body.

She whirled to him. Frustration overcame her, and she clenched her fists at her sides, darkness swirling around them. She had more control over these damn shadows than she did her magic. She gritted her teeth as she turned to watch him casually leap from boulder to boulder, a teasing grin on his face. Without even realizing what she was doing, she threw those shadows at him. He was in mid-leap when they reached him. They twisted around his arms, and she closed her fists. Those shadows gripped his arms as if they were an extension of her own hands. She threw him to the ground and heard him let out a grunt at the impact. She stalked over to him, pinning him to the dirt with that swirling darkness.

His eyes were wide when she came to stop over him, a feline grin on her face. With a finger, she drew a tendril of a shadow up to his face, stroking down his cheek, his jaw. She traced his lips with that shadow.Then she bent down close. His eyes were dancing with delighted amusement mixed with ravenous hunger. She stopped close enough to share breath with him. “You’re right,” she whispered. “I don’t want to kiss you again that badly.”

She stood, pulling her shadows back to her. She leapt onto a relatively flat-topped rock, sitting down and crossing her ankles. Sorin lay on the ground, a slightly shocked look on his face. Scarlett just smirked at him.

“How did you do that?” he asked, slowly getting to his feet.

She shrugged. “No idea, but it was fun.”

“It was…”

“Impressive? Remarkable? Superb?” Scarlett offered, bringing a hand to her chest in mock flattery.

“Unexpected and dramatic,” he said, flicking her nose with his finger as he climbed up the rock and sat beside her. He leaned back on his palms.

She held her hands up and watched the shadows swirl. She opened her palm in front of her and slowly those shadows began to swirl in the center of it. She concentrated, sending every wisp of dark there, and when it was all contained in one spot, she held it. She could feel sweat forming on her brow as she worked to keep them in one spot until she finally had to let them go. They snaked back along her arms and around her torso. She closed her eyes, panting slightly. How did Sorin do it? That much concentration to control so little and his power was so mighty.

“It gets easier,” he said quietly, as if he’d read her thoughts. “With practice, it gets easier to control until it becomes second nature.” She only nodded, leaning back on her own palms now. “Tomorrow is Samhain.” Scarlett stiffened. How had she not realized that? “We do not have a formal masked ball here, but we do have a traditional masked feast with dancing. Much less formal than things were in Windonelle. It’s held in the palace Great Hall. You do not have to attend, but I do. I have been gone for the last three years. My people will expect me to be there knowing I have returned, but you do not need to attend, Scarlett.”

“Callan?” she asked, staring across the courtyard. Her shadows darkened, and she twirled them around her fingers absentmindedly.

“He has been invited along with Finn and Sloan,” Sorin confirmed. “You do not need to attend, Scarlett,” he repeated.

“No, I will,” she said, sending those shadows up her arm. “I do not want to sit up in your chambers all night by myself, especially on the night the dead are free to walk among us.”

“So you believe in Samhain legends but not the gods and Fates?” Sorin asked, raising his brows.

“I do not wish to tempt either right now should they exist.”

“Fair enough.”

Silence ticked by for a few minutes, leaving them each to their own thoughts. Scarlett was too occupied by Samhain, both past and future, to concentrate on her magic any more. It would be good to be around people, even if Callan was going to be there. Maybe it would be good to be in a casual setting with him too, rather than a meeting room where Sorin and Cyrus were constantly serving as a buffer.