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“Where are Kailia and Razik?”

“Razik is with Eliza, and Kailia has her own matters to tend to,” Cethin answered, his voice strained with an emotion Sorin wasn’t quite sure what to do with. He was used to Scarlett’s antics. Her brother clearly was not.

He tensed a little at the mention of Razik being with Eliza. He still hadn’t decided how he felt about Eliza being Razik’s Source. Not that there was anything he could do about it now. Once that Mark was given, there was no undoing it. What that meant for her and Razik, he didn’t know. They could never be separated. Not if Razik wanted to be able to refill his magic reserves faster than letting them refill naturally. But he was Cethin’s Hand-to-the-King, not to mention his Guardian, and Eliza was now the most powerful Fire Fae. If she wanted, she could claim the royal seat of the Fire Court and rule. She wouldn’t, of course. The general had no desire to rule, but if someone else tried to take it and her hand was forced…

Sorin sighed again, stepping aside to let Cethin in. He had a thousand things to be worrying about. The situation between Eliza and Razik was just one of them. He was used to juggling multiple responsibilities, solving problems, and taking care of those entrusted to him. The stress of doing so was nothing new to him, but he had never been good about dealing with his own issues. There was a reason he would find himself in the chateau every once in a while to get away from it all and have a good night with a bottle of liquor.

He hadn’t needed to do that since Scarlett though.

Sorin moved back in front of the hearth, getting as close to the heat as he dared. Cethin was standing near the sofa. He seemed to be debating whether or not he should sit. The king ultimately decided against it, instead getting into a stance that made him look like he was preparing for a fight. His feet were planted a little apart, his shoulders thrown back and arms loose at his sides.

“I assure you, I know her better than you do, Cethin,” Sorin finally said, folding his arms across his chest. “Whatever you are about to tell me will not surprise me. She is known to be rather dramatic at times.”

Cethin pushed out a harsh breath, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. “She sent me a message in the night. To meet her in one of the dens. She was there. Playing the piano.”

Sorin nodded slowly. “She does that when she is processing emotions. Last night was difficult for us.”

“She told me. That she had taken the last of your power from you. That the cost of bringing you back from the After had been completed,” Cethin went on. His hands raked through his hair again. “Then she told me she refused to accept this fate.”

“If anyone will find a way to defy the Fates, it will be her,” Sorin replied, a slight smile tugging at his lips. “Is she in the library? Searching through ancient tombs? Did she find old forgotten catacombs she has fallen asleep in?”

Cethin blinked at him, slowly shaking his head. “I do not know where she is. Kailia has been searching during her hunts, but she has seen no sign of her.”

Sorin’s arms dropped to his sides. “What exactly are you saying, Cethin? That you let my wife disappear?”

“She… Fuck. I do not know how she did it. She created a Mark and stepped into a pool of darkness. She hasn’t come back yet. We cannot create Marks, Sorin. Not blood Marks like that. She should not have been able to do that.”

“And you do not know where she went?” Sorin repeated, memories of the last time she had disappeared flooding up. When Alaric had been holding her prisoner in Baylorin. When it had taken them weeks to get to her.

When she hadn’t been the same as when she’d left.

“Kailia has been searching—”

“You said that already.”

Cethin tried to hide his grimace. He brought a hand up as if to rake it through his hair again before he rubbed the back of his neck instead. “I have…an idea of where she likely went.”

“Spit it out, Sutara,” Sorin snapped, any measure of respect and decorum between the two kings gone. This was not two rulers discussing policy. This was brother-in-laws discussing where the fuck his wife and Cethin’s sister had gone to.

“She went to Saylah.”

Sorin lurched forward a step. “Why do you think that?”

“She kept saying that she makes her own fate,” Cethin said, his gaze fixing on the flickering hearth. “I begged her not to go. I begged her to wait until I could come and get you, but she…” Cethin sank down onto the sofa. “I have seen her broken, Sorin. I have seen her hopeless and broken in her dreams. I have seen her angry with you. With me. With the world. I have never seen her like that.”

“You do not know her, Cethin,” Sorin retorted. “I know you wish you did, but you do not know her. You lured her here, threw a bunch of family history at her, placed demands upon her, and then expected what? That she would fall in line and follow the plans you have? Plans that you have not entirely shared with us, I might add.”

Cethin was quiet for a long moment, hands clasped loosely in front of him. There was a thread of defeat in his tone when he said, “I thought she would burn the world down when you nearly died, and maybe she would have, but this was not that. She was in all black. She was eerily calm. She did not even sound like herself. Her shadows… My darkness is different. It writhes and kills and strains against my control at all times.” His eyes slid to Sorin. Silver irises that matched Scarlett’s. “My darkness does not sing to me like hers does.”

“Her darkness loves her, and she has learned to love it in return.”

“She will not burn the world to nothing, Sorin. The way she moved? How she spoke? What Ifeltemanating from her? She will bring the beings who seek to use her to their knees, and then she will take whatever she wants.”

But Sorin got caught on the words ‘seek to use her.’

“Who?” he demanded, his tone going as cold as he felt. “Who wants to use her? And for what purpose?”

“We cannot go to the Shira Forest of our own volition, but she did,” Cethin replied as if the statement answered the question. “Saylah will not like this.”