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She was still in the same position when she woke the next morning, Sorin’s arm wrapped tightly around her. She soaked him in. All of him. Her soul feeling lighter, so much lighter than it had yesterday. She lifted her head to find him watching her, that same look on his face from the night before.

“Good morning,” he said softly, brushing stray hair back from her face.

“Morning.”

His fingers lingered in her hair, and he said, “Today will be a better day.”

She felt her cheeks flush slightly, but she held his stare, whispering, “Today I’m going to do more than just survive.” The arm wrapped around her squeezed gently. “But on the hard days, promise me that you’ll pull me from the river.”

“Always, Love,” he answered. “I promise I will always pull you from the river and help you find the stars.”

She pushed herself up to him and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, but he turned as she pulled away. His hand coming to her nape and holding her in place, his eyes locked on hers. “You, Scarlett Monrhoe, will never stop being a necessity in my life.” His lips met hers in a gentle kiss. Short and sweet. He pulled back just far enough to look into her eyes. “Are you up for training today, or would you like me to tell Eliza you won’t be there?”

“No, I want to train today,” she said, shaking her head. “I feel…better today.”

He brushed one more kiss to her cheek. “Go get ready then. She will be an ass if you are late.”

CHAPTER 23

SORIN

“When are you going to tell her?” Rayner asked, his voice as smoky as the ashes that obeyed him.

They were on the upper decks of the library, and from where they stood, Sorin could see Scarlett sitting with the mortal prince a few levels below. Hidden by shelves and alcoves, the two had no idea they were there. He’d had to check on her, though. He’d just spent two hours of magic training with her, but he had still found himself needing to lay eyes on her. After the words she’d said a few days ago, after it had taken him all damn day to reach her wherever she’d retreated to inside her soul, he found himself needing to check on her and reassure himself she was all right.

Scarlett was bent over a book, a finger absent-mindedly twirling her hair that was unbound since bathing after their training session. She chewed on her bottom lip as she read. What she found so fascinating, what she was researching, he didn’t know. Across from her, Callan was bent over a book as well, but Sorin saw the glances he’d make at her every now and then.

“I don’t know,” Sorin finally answered his Third. “She is trying to figure out who she is. She is facing traumas she has repressed. She is working through truths hidden from her.I would be a prick to lay this in front of her now as well. To add one more thing to what she is already processing.”

“Is this not another truth being hidden from her? Isn’t the fact that you kept so many truths from her to begin with the reason there are trust issues now?” Rayner asked from where he stood at his side.

“There are not trust issues now,” Sorin snarled.

Rayner arched a brow at him.

Sorin turned back to watching the princess and the human prince. He wasn’t lying to himself. She did trust him. Had she been furious when she’d woken? Yes. Had she put walls back up? Yes. But she’d also taken them back down. Each day she was here, she let more and more of herself out. Let him see more and more of her. He woke up next to her each morning and found himself counting down the hours until their magic training when it was just the two of them up in the Courtyards. He loved having her beside him at dinners amongst his family and delighted in how she’d fit right now, just like he’d known she would.

“She will not reject it, Sorin. You have to know that,” Rayner supplied after another bout of silence.

He knew that, too. Deep down in his gut, he knew how she felt about him. Despite her threat to break him. No, he knew she wouldn’t reject it. But would she view it as another cage? She was so adamant about not being chained to a throne. Would coming to his side not be just that, even if she chose to renounce her own birthright?

Callan said something he couldn’t hear, but it had her looking up over her book and giving him a cautious smile. She didn’t say anything in response, just slid her eyes back to her book.

“If you know she will not reject the twin flame bond, if you know she will choose you, then why not tell her?” Rayner pressed quietly.

Sorin sighed. “Do I deserve her, Rayner? Do I deserve to call her such a thing? After how I failed Eliné? After how I failedher?”

Rayner leaned on his arms on the railing overlooking the balcony of their level. “Eliné was not your fault, Sorin.”

“She says the same.”

“Accepting forgiveness offered when it is not requested is often harder than asking for it. Or do you not want to accept it as a way to continue punishing yourself?”

Rayner, his quiet, observant, peace-keeping Third, could be more of a busybody than Cyrus.

“We should go. I want to bathe before dinner,” Sorin said, pushing off the railing.

Rayner didn’t move to follow, his eyes still fixed on Scarlett below. “You need to tell her, Sorin.”