Page 142

A fire dragon.

A godsdamn dragon of pure fire was sweeping past, and Sorin was throwing a rope of blue wildfire around its neck before he leapt atop the thing and took off into the sky after Tybalt.

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Rayner!” she screamed again, and the Ash Rider was there, crouching before her. “Get it off! Get it off!” Scarlett cried, thrusting her arm at him.

His eyes went wide at the band, and he uttered a vicious curse as he tore the deathstone from her wrist. She was already running, ignoring the agony in her ankle. Her shadows shuddered as they broke free, and she immediately had them forming into her shadow dragon beneath her. It cried a roar of its own as it took flight, racing for Sorin, who was gaining on Tybalt with every flap of flaming wings.

Sorin!she screamed down their bond.Sorin! Stop!

She had seen him like this only one other time, and she barely recalled it. From what Eliza had told her, Scarlett hadn’t seen the worst of that time when Talwyn had surprised them in the Fire Court courtyards. Scarlett had broken her arm and acquired cracked ribs, and while Beatrix had healed her just fine, Sorin had been blinded by primal rage at his twin flame being injured. They’d only drawn him out of that state when Briar had put her in his path of destruction as he’d sparred with Eliza on the front grounds.

His power had been grand then. Now? It would be catastrophic.

Faster,she urged her magic, but she wasn’t going to make it. She was close, but not close enough. She wasn’t fast enough to avoid the blast of the impact when dragon fire and Sorin’s upgraded flames collided again in the air.

Scarlett was thrown from her shadow dragon, and she hissed a curse, grasping for her magic as she free-fell through the air. But Cassius was there, scooping her out of the sky, and she clung to his neck as he shot to the ground, holding her close. His grip was still tight as he set her on the ground, and she gave a cry as her ankle barked in pain again.

But Sorin had seen her falling, and he’d immediately come after her too. His fire dragon disappeared at the same moment Sorin’s feet hit the ground, and he was tugging her from Cassius’s grip.

“Are you all right?” he demanded. His voice was a guttural snarl, and his eyes were still flames.

She reached up, cupping his cheek. “I am fine, Sorin. I’m sorry. I am fine.”

“You are not fine,” he snapped, dropping to a knee to examine her ankle.

“It will heal before we go.”

“Their Healer can manage it faster,” he said sharply, pushing back to his feet and pulling her into him once again. His heart was beating rapidly beneath her ear, but he was eerily calm as he held her to him.

“Sorin,” she whispered tentatively.

“Don’t, Scarlett. Not right now.”

“We needed to know.Youneeded to know.”

“We could have found another way,” he retorted.

She didn’t move, didn’t try to push back from him knowing he needed to feel her against him, but she said, “We don’t have time for you to experiment, Sorin. We leave in two days. We will face seraphs and Maraans and who knows what else in the Southern Islands. Better to know now then to be surprised by a godsdamn fire dragon inside the cliffs.”

“She has a point,” Cassius said.

Scarlett had forgotten he was there. She’d forgotten entirely that they were standing in the middle of a training arena surrounded by others.

“You were all in on this?” Sorin demanded. Scarlett lifted her head to find the flames in his eyes had banked some. Now they just glowed like hot coals.

“Like she said, you needed to know,” Cyrus said, coming up beside Cassius. “If this had been someone else, you’d have done the same thing, and you know it.”

“Not like this,” he snarled, his grip on her tightening involuntarily. “Not with her in the mix.”

“It was the only way to draw it out,” Cethin said.

Her brother’s voice reminded her—

“What the fuck was that?” Scarlett spat, spinning to face Kailia.