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Scarlett dropped to her knees beside the pond. Her hands were clutched to her chest as she watched it move along the sandy bottom, fish darting to and fro around it. He slowly lowered himself down beside her, and when she met his gaze, silver pooled in her eyes. “I don’t know what to say, Sorin,” she whispered. “It’s beautiful.” She looked back at the sea star, reaching out and skimming her fingers over the top of the water. Rings rippled out under her touch and seemed to shimmer. “Thank you for bringing me here. And for…” she trailed off as she stared at the sea star.

She faced him once more. “For everything, Sorin. Thank you for all of it.”

He cupped her cheek, his thumb wiping away the stray tear that had slipped free. “It is my pleasure, Scarlett.”

She leaned against his shoulder, and he tucked her in tighter. Quiet fell around them while they watched the small pond life. After several moments she said quietly, “I wish I could have met your parents.”

The statement startled him a little, and his chest tightened at the thought of his lovely mother who had walked these very gardens with him so often when he was a child. At the thought of his father who had made time to personally train him a few hours every week, not just in weaponry, but in running a Court. He swallowed thickly. “Me too, Love. Me too,” he said, pressing a featherlight kiss to her cheek, but he stilled when she brought her fingers to his own cheek.

Holding his gaze the entire time, she brought her lips to his, and he couldn’t suppress the slight shiver it sent through his body. It was a short grazing of lips on lips. She pulled back just far enough that he could feel her breath on his lips as she spoke. “They would be so proud of you, Sorin.”

He didn’t know what he’d been expecting her to say, but it wasn’t that. The emotion that flooded through him at the words had tears burning at the back of his eyes. His hand slipped into her hair, and he pulled her lips back to his. She immediately opened for him, and his tongue swept in, tangling with hers. Her hand was still on his cheek, and the other came up and gripped his side, fingers digging in slightly.

“Dinner,” he murmured when they both came up for air. “We need to go to dinner.”

“Dinner is highly overrated,” she hummed back onto his lips.

He smiled against the kisses she was gently gracing one corner of his mouth with and then the other. “Overrated, but essential,” he replied, disentangling himself from her. “Especially with the magic you have been practicing every day.” He stood and extended a hand down to her, wiggling his fingers. “Besides, I can hear your stomach, Princess.”

“You cannot,” she snipped, slipping her hand into his. He interlaced their fingers as he led her from the garden and back to the stairs. He could have portaled them down to the den, he supposed, rather than taking the seven flights of stairs, but he didn’t think she’d keep her hand in his once they were with the others.

And he was right. When he pushed open the den door and the others all turned to them, she dropped his hand and strode for her seat, throwing a flirty grin at Cyrus. Rayner, however, gave Sorin a pointed look over his glass while he sipped at some liquor.

“Drink, Love?” he called to her, ignoring his Third.

“Wine, please.”

He set her glass down before her and slipped into his usual seat to her right. The food appeared before them, and they all scooped noodles and sauce and salad onto their plates.

They’d only taken a few bites when Cyrus sighed slightly. “Talwyn sent a message right before dinner, Sorin.”

“Did she now?” He glanced at Scarlett out of the corner of his eye. She was spinning noodles on her fork, acting uninterested, but he knew better.

“She summoned the Royals for a meeting in two weeks,” Cyrus continued.

“For?” Eliza demanded.

“She’s not really known for sharing things in advance, is she?” Cyrus replied bitterly.

“She is not, but it usually has to do with something Ashtine has picked up on her walkings,” Rayner cut in.

Sorin sighed. “No use in worrying about it tonight.”

Scarlett had set down her fork and picked up a piece of bread. As she took a bite, her right hand came up and brushed down his forearm, giving it a quick squeeze before she reached for her wine glass.

Conversation ebbed and flowed some more until Eliza said, “Did you hear that Lord Winston’s son is trying to regain their lost seat?”

“Lord Winston? Isn’t he the Lord that was killed a few years ago in Rydeon?” Cyrus asked, dessert appearing before them. From the variety of fruit tarts,Sorin searched for two pear ones and scooped them onto Scarlett’s plate. She gave him a little smile, picking up her fork.

Rayner huffed softly. “For good reason. He was selling women and children out of his estate for horrific purposes. The Rydeon king stripped the family of their council seat after it was all revealed.”

“That man actually deserved to have the Wraiths of Death sent after him,” Cyrus commented.

“Do we know it was the Wraiths?” Eliza mused. “Was that ever confirmed?”

“From the rumors of how he was carved up and clearly alive for all of it, there is no way it couldn’t have been them,” Cyrus answered, leaning back and sipping at his liquor. “You said you have friends in the Black Syndicate,” he said, eyes sliding to Scarlett. “Did you ever hear of the missions the Wraiths of Death were sent to carry out?”

Scarlett had been silently eating her pear tarts. She brought another bite to her mouth as she said, “I’d hear of them here and there.”