Page 77

“You need to stop meddling,” Sorin muttered. He heard Rayner’s dark chuckle as he left the library.

He walked back to his chambers, stripping off his tunic while he crossed the sitting room. He bathed quickly, and when he came out of the bathing room, he scented her and followed it until he found her laying on the sofa, a book propped above her.

Leaning over the back of the couch to peer down at her, she didn’t look at him but a small smile graced her lips. She wore fitted, black pants and a red sweater that made her hair shine like starlight.

“Did you not read enough in the library today?” he asked.

She frowned slightly as she met his gaze. “Is there really such a thing as reading too much?”

“For you? No, I do not think there is.”

She closed the book, reaching over her head to place it on the end table. “Are you ready to go then?”

“We still have a little time. Can I take you somewhere first? I have something for you,” he said as she rose from the couch as graceful as a dancer.

“What is it?” She crossed to the door and slid on silver, silk slippers. The portrait of casual ease. A picture of what he’d one day envisioned sharing his life with someone to look like. Simple conversations. Comfortable give and take.

He closed the distance between them, opening the door for her. “Come now, can you not just wait and see?”

“No,” she chirped. “I’m not big on surprises, as you are well aware.” She turned and smirked at him.

He gave a long-suffering sigh. “Cruel thing, there’s that wicked tongue again.” She said nothing, but the smile he had only ever seen her give to him had returned. “How was your day?” he asked as he led her up several flights of stairs to the seventh and top level of the palace.

“It was good,” she answered. “Eliza taught me a new move with twin short swords.”

“A move I have no doubt you have already mastered?” he asked with a raised brow.

“I’m good, but not quite that good,” she laughed, reaching the top landing. He turned left down a hall. “The blades on many of your weapons are so dark. What are they made of?”

“There is a steel mined from the Fiera Mountains. It is the strongest steel on the continent and is said to only be rivaled by steel found in Avonleya,” he answered.

“But they cannot kill a Night Child?”

“No. You still need shirastone for that. Shirastone nullifies magic. That is why it is effective against the Fae.” He stopped in front of a glass door, and she looked at him expectantly. “Have you been here before?”

She shook her head, curiosity all over her face.

He pulled open the door and let her go in first, following behind her. The inside was warm, and plants and flowers grew and bloomed all around them. The walls and ceiling were entirely of glass to allow in maximum sunlight. Scarlett had stilled, her mouth slightly opened in awe. She turned to him. “It’s a glass greenhouse,” she breathed.

“That it is,” he said with a smile. He took her hand and led her along a path that wound through the various trees and vegetation. She stepped closer to him, her eyes wide in wonder as she took everything in.

“It’s like stepping into another world.”

“My mother had it built,” Sorin said, and she turned to face him at that, to give him her full attention. “She loved her people and loved ruling by my father’s side, but she was from a small village near the Xylon Forest in the southern part of our territory and missed the forest terribly.So my father gave her this space to build her own little forest. He called it the Princess’s Garden. It spans half the roof of the palace. The other half of the roof is the private training pits we use.”

Scarlett stopped and stooped down, brushing her fingers over the petals of a vibrant red and orange flower. He crouched beside her and snapped one off, handing it to her. “The fire rose,” he said. “It only blooms in the Fire Court.”

She took it gingerly and tucked it up into her hair near her ear. “What was her name? Your mother?”

Sorin stood, pulling her back up with him. “My mother’s name was Elliya, and my father’s name was Branton.”

He led her farther along the path in silence, letting her take in all the beauty his mother had cultivated here. They came to a small pond in the center that had a bench beside it. He saw her sniff the air then ask, “Is that salt water?”

He smiled. “It is. It didn’t used to be, but I had to make modifications to it.”

“Why?” Her nose was scrunched as she looked at him, confusion in her tone.

“Because I wanted that to be able to survive and thrive here.” He pointed down into the pond at a vibrant multi-colored sea star in the center of the sandy bottom. It had taken him nearly an entire week to figure out the spells to keep this section of the garden in tropical warmth. Briar had come and told him exactly what he’d need to do to keep that sea star alive and had searched the Water Court for this particular one.