Page 36

Chapter 35

Sorin

"M ake sure you are all touching when you come back,” Cethin said, pressing a vial into Scarlett’s hand. A vial that contained his blood to make sure they could get backinside the Wards when this was done. He tossed another vialof the same to Razik.

“Will the Wards stop my Travel attempts?” she asked, tucking the vial into an inside pocket of the Witchsuit she was wearing. “Do I need to be prepared for suddenly ?nding us all suspended above the water?”

“Yes,” Cethin answered. “If possible, let Razik Travel you back. We have locations along the Wards set up for this purpose. We set them up when we learned of you.”

“Maybe you should have mentioned those earlier instead of right before we are ready to leave?” Eliza said, tightening buckles on her leathers.

“Don’t worry, General ,” Razik drawled from where he stood near Cassius. “I’ll make sure we all get back safe and sound.”

“You have learned enough to be able to defend against Alaric for at least a few seconds. Enough time to get away. Try not to ?ght him if you can avoid it,” Cethin said, ignoring the bickering now happening between Razik and Eliza.

The others were going in under the cover of night again, which meant it was late afternoon in Avonleya. They were all gathered outside Tybalt’s Estate. Briar and Luan were going, along with his Fire Court, Cassius, and Razik. Briar would be guarding Hale, Luan with Callan, and Eliza and Cyrus would be with Drake, while Cassius and Razik were with Scarlett. It was part of the negotiating he’d done in agreeing to stay behind, even though every part of his being was screaming at how wrong this was.

Rayner would be moving among them all, his power ?nally re?lled enough to be able to do so. They would be Traveling in right outside the Eternal Necropolis. From there, Rayner would scout ahead as much as possible before they went in. Callan would have to lead the way again. Sorin knew this plan inside and out. When they’d made it, he’d assumed he’d be with them. Instead, Razik was in his place, and he was standing here waiting to send them off to ?ght while he stayed behind.

Scarlett looked up at him, and he could see the question in her eyes. Would he still willingly stay behind, or would he suddenly ?ght her on this? He’d be lying if he said the thought hadn’t crossed his mind, but it was a ?ght he would lose. After he ?lled her power, he wouldn’t even be a challenge for Cethin.

They’d planned with the others the rest of the day yesterday, but today they’d spent holed up in their suite until two hours ago, when it was time for Scarlett to start getting ready. They were waiting until now to re?ll her power wells to make sure they were as full as possible, and he drew a dagger from his side. Neither of them spoke as he sliced his forearm and then her palm. He felt the familiar rush of power the moment their blood mixed, ?re and shadows, ashes and star?re. He tugged her into him, her brow falling to his chest, his chin resting atop her head.

I will come back , she whispered down the bond.

I will hunt you down if you do not.

She looked up at him, swallowing thickly. His lips met hers in a slow kiss that he dragged out, memorizing the feel of her. He’d kissed her more times than he could count, but it would never be enough if this was the last time he did it.

Her hand slipped from his arm, but she held his gaze as she backed away from him, her palm already beginning to heal over. She held out her hands at her sides, waiting for the others to take them, never looking away from him as ?ngers slid into her palms.

I love you, Sorin.

All the way through the darkness.

And they were gone, disappearing into the air.

“She will come back,” Cethin said. “They will all come back.”

Sorin couldn’t tell if he was trying to reassure him or reassure himself.

Probably both.

“Do you want company for the evening?” Cethin asked, his hands clasped behind his back.

“Not particularly,” Sorin answered, still staring at the spot she had disappeared from. He could feel their bond, stretching taut with her so far away. He couldn’t feel her though. A feeling he should probably start getting used to, but one he couldn’t fathom.

“Sorin, she was born for this,” Cethin said. “It is her destiny.”

“She creates her own destiny,” he said simply, ?nally tearing his gaze away to look at him.

“That she does,” he replied. “I do need to tend to a few things. Would you like me to Travel you anywhere before I go since you do not want company?”

“No,” he answered. “Send someone for me when she returns.”

“If you need anything, send a ?re message.” Cethin’s eyes swept over him, and Sorin knew he was gauging his power levels. It shouldn’t be that hard. Scarlett had just drawn from him. They were nearing empty and were a fraction of what they used to be.

The look that crossed Cethin’s face told Sorin he’d gathered as much.

The Avonleyan King nodded once more before disappearing the way the others had, and Sorin found himself alone. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was what his future would hold. Being left behind to be kept safe while they all went to ?ght the battles. He could suddenly appreciate Callan’s anger at constantly being forced to stay out of the ?ghting.

This would be different though. Callan wasn’t trained to ?ght. Sorin was. He’d trained for centuries. He wouldn’t be pushed to the sidelines. Not completely.

That’s what he kept telling himself as he wandered past the gates of the estate and onto the main road that would lead into Aimonway. Scarlett created her own destiny, but maybe this had always been his. To find her. Bring her to the Fire Court. Help her find herself, her power. Love her through the darkness so she could become the queen she was always meant to be.

But where did that leave him?

The most powerful rules the Fire Court. That wasn’t him anymore.

That would be... Eliza.

Eliza would be the rightful ruler of the Fire Court. She would never challenge him for it. No, the only way she would ?ght for the throne was if someone else challenged him and won. Which wouldn’t be a dif?cult task at this point.

Maybe that would be for the best anyway? He was the Fire Prince, but he was also the King of the Western Courts. Maybe it would be better to not have his focus split between the two. He could be Scarlett’s Second, advise her and rule at her side as her consort. That would be a ful?lling life, even if he couldn’t properly protect her anymore. She’d have Cassius and Cyrus. Rayner and Eliza. Briar. They would give their lives for her, defend her, keep her safe when he no longer could. They’d proved as much when he’d been halfway across the Veil. Somehow, they had kept her from coming for him in other ways.

Then again, maybe they hadn’t. Cethin said he had come for him, risked the wrath of Arius, bartered with Sera?na. Without that...

Well, without that, he’d be across the Veil, and he had no doubt Scarlett would be ripping it apart to ?nd him.

The cry of a gull pulled him from his thoughts, and he found himself standing in front of the statue of Sidora that Cethin had brought them to the night they’d learned of Scarlett’s true heritage. He slid his hands into his pocket, reading the inscription below the statue again. There was little doubt it was about Scarlett, whether she wanted to admit it or not. She would eventually. After she’d processed everything in her own time, just like always.

But while it may be clear that she was referenced in the prophecy, that still left room for interpretation of other parts of it.

“Did you know she has a temple here, Prince?”

Sorin turned to the voice to ?nd Beatrix sitting on one of the benches around the small courtyard that housed the statue.

“I did not,” he answered.

“Not here exactly,” she said. “Outside of the city. A two days’ ride from here. Three if you prefer a slower pace as I do.”

“Is that where you have been?” he asked, making his way over to her. He bent and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek before taking a seat beside her.

“It is,” she answered, patting his hand a few times before settling back against the bench. “I have not been there in centuries.”

He twisted, taking in her features. The greying hair, violet eyes, the aging skin. She’d been in service to the Fire Court for ages, serving his father and grandfather before him, but it had never occurred to him that she had been alive for the Great War. It should have, he supposed. The Alpha and Beta were children when the war was ending, a few decades old. If they had been alive for it, it wasn’t hard to see Beatrix being alive for it as well. She’d just never spoken of it.

“You have been to Avonleya before?” he asked, wondering what other secrets she held.

“When I was very young, still a Witchling,” she answered, her gaze going back to Sidora. “My mother was a member of Sidora’s coven and came with Saylah to this world.”

“You know Saylah?” he asked sharply.

Beatrix shook her head. “I was born here, but we were sent across the Edria when I was ?ve. I never saw Saylah. We lived outside of Sidora’s Temple while we were here. Saylah left this world at one time. I did not know she had returned. Not until we arrived here.”

Sorin turned back to the statue, trying to process what she was saying. “You did not know that Queen Selinya was Saylah? Like the rest of Avonleya?”

Beatrix nodded. “That knowledge was known to a select few. The only three on our continent who knew no longer walk this side of the Veil. Even the High Witch only knew her as Selinya, nothing more.”

“But why?” Sorin asked.

“That is something only the goddess herself can answer. Her secrets died with those who held them.”

Silence fell between them, Sorin trying to sort through that information and ?gure out what to ask her next, but she spoke again. “There is a sister temple on our continent. For the Oracle.”

“Juliette has a temple?”

Beatrix smiled warmly. “She does. Do you know the reason so few male Witches exist?”

Sorin blinked at her. “Because the Witches despise males, including their own.”

“But have you considered why that is the case?”

He hadn’t. Not really. It had simply always been that way. “To understand, I must tell you the story of two sisters.”

Sorin nodded at her to go on, the nostalgia of her “lessons” settling over him. He’d welcome any distraction at this point.

“There are more gods than just the ones known to this world,” Beatrix said. “There are two Lesser Goddesses. Sister goddesses, in fact. Taika and Zinta, goddesses of magic and sorcery. Two were created with a purpose. One to serve Beginnings, and one to serve Endings.”

“One is loyal to Achaz, the other to Arius,” Sorin said.

Beatrix nodded. “Taika serves Arius. Zinta serves Achaz. When Achaz learned of Saylah and Temural’s existence, he took it as yet another slight against him. The feud between him and Arius was already growing, and Achaz wanted a child with both his gifts and the gifts of magic. Both Zinta and Taika refused him, so Achaz punished them both. Any union between a female and male Witch would produce twins. Always sisters, and they would always find themselves pitted against each other. One would be drawn to the light and beginnings, one to the dark and endings. They dismissed the curse, but history proved it to be a curse indeed. When sister Witches are born, they disrupt history in more ways than one. The Oracle across the sea is only one example.”

“Juliette does not have a sister,” Sorin argued.

“No, but her mother does.”

Sorin sat up straighter. “Hazel. The High Witch and Juliette’s mother are sisters. I did not realize they were twins.”

“It is not a well-known fact.”

“But wouldn’t that also mean their father was a Witch?”

“It would,” Beatrix agreed. “It is part of the reason they are so powerful. Hazel is older, so she became High Witch when their mother Faded.”

“And their father?”

“Was killed in the Great War.”

Sorin nodded. “But those are not the sisters I need to tell you about. However, know that if Hazel is loyal to Scarlett, a descendant of Arius...”

“Sybil is loyal to Achaz and, thus, Alaric.” Beatrix nodded.

That would explain a lot. Eliné had worked closely with Sybil in the Healer’s Compound in the Black Syndicate. If she didn’t know this history, even if she had somehow known this history, she likely did not know Hazel and Sybil were twins. How much had Alaric learned simply because Sybil was watching Eliné? Had Sybil served Deimas before that?

“In other worlds, Taika is referred to as the Enchantress, and Zinta is referred to as the Sorceress,” Beatrix said, interrupting his thoughts.

Sorin started. “The Sorceress?”

A humorless laugh came from the Witch, a sound he’d never heard from her before. “The one locked away beneath the Black Halls is not Zinta. Those cells could not hold a goddess, and certainly not a goddess of sorcery and master of blood magic. Her daughter, however...”

“Are you telling me the daughter of a goddess is imprisoned beneath the Black Halls and no one knew?”

“The ones who put her there knew,” Beatrix replied, patting his hand again. “Eliné and Henna knew.”

“How could they have imprisoned the daughter of a goddess? They were powerful, but not that powerful,” Sorin argued.

“You are correct. They are not the ones who imprisoned her. My mother did. The cost to do so was her life,” she replied. “It took a descendant of Zinta to imprison one of the same.”

“Your mother was— You are a descendant of Zinta? Are you an Avonleyan?”

“No, Sorin. My mother was already carrying me when she came here. While I am a descendant of Zinta, my mother was her daughter. Taika and Zinta each had one set of twins before they realized the curse from Achaz was real. My mother was the Sorceress’s sister,” Beatrix said calmly.

“Why would you keep all this from us? From me?” Sorin asked quietly.

He couldn’t help but feel bitter and slighted.

“A Mark of loyalty to the Fire Court is not the only Mark I bear, young prince,” she answered. “You once told me I answered to your father.”

“And your reply was ‘Do I?’” Sorin said.

Beatrix nodded. “I was sent to serve the Fire Court by Sidora. Well, my mother was. She served Arius. She joined Sidora’s coven, one of the daughters of Taika herself. I traveled with her and took over when she gave her life to imprison the Sorceress. Without that sacri?ce, this world would look very different.”

“Did you know the Maraans were already here?”

“No. Despite what you are likely thinking, I do not have all the answers or some vast knowledge to help you, Sorin. I was, however, given a task that I have waited centuries to complete,” she said.

Sorin was at a loss for words, so he just sat back and waited for her to continue.

“You know the rest of the story of two sisters,” she said. “My mother helped trap and imprison the Sorceress. By the time she was imprisoned, the Wards were already up around Avonleya. My mother stripped her of her gifts, creating the Witches and Shifters in this world to aid the Fae. How or when the Sorceress found her way to this world, I do not know. What other havoc she created in other realms, I do not know. She became one of Achaz’s favorites.”

So much time had passed since Sorin had found himself in this small courtyard, the sun was beginning to set, casting the space in soft oranges and pinks.

“Why now?” he asked. “Why are you telling me all of this now?” “Because knowledge is power, young prince,” Beatrix answered. “I am considered a Sage among the Witches, a keeper of knowledge.” She pulled back the sleeve of her robe, revealing a gold Mark on her arm. This was not a Fae Marking in black nor an Avonleyan Marking in silver. This was something different all together. “-Certain knowledge I was bound to keep until the day I crossed the Veil.”

His eyes ?ew to hers. “What are you talking about?”

Her smile was the one she always gave him. Warm and patient.

“Death comes for us all in one way or another, Sorin. I have long known that when I returned to these lands, my days would reach their end.” She gestured at the statue before them. “It was foretold by Sidora herself.”

“You can’t... I cannot do this without you,” he said, ?ghting the emotion swarming up his throat.

This female had been there for him through everything. He had known her his entire life. She taught him, guided him. She had been there when he’d watched his parents be killed by Esmeray. She had been there when he’d been at his lowest, had told him to trust the Fates when he wanted to give up on everything. She had cried tears of happiness when he and Scarlett had asked her to perform a marriage ceremony. She had Anointed their twin ?ame bond. She was family. The only constant in his life. And now she was telling him she was going to be leaving him? In the middle of losing his gifts, his twin ?ame bond, he was going to lose her too?

He swallowed back his emotion. “When?”

“Tonight,” she answered. “When the sun sets, I will Fade.”

“Tonight?” he balked. “I... Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

She reached up and cupped his cheek. “You have enough weight to bear these days, Fire Prince. This was knowledge you did not need to carry.”

“I am not ready for this,” he said, not caring that two tears slipped free. She had seen him cry more than most.

“We have had centuries together, Sorin,” she replied, her hand falling from his face.

“You cannot leave me when I am about to lose everything. My power. My bond. There has to be something—”

“Sorin Aditya,” she said sternly, taking his hands in hers. “I lived a long and good life. And you? You are not left defenseless. She will not leave you simply because you no longer carry ?re in your veins or because your bond will look different.”

“Our bond will be nonexistent,” he argued, pushing down the hysteria of facing this on top of everything else.

Her brow arched. “You are beginning to sound like that young child who climbed up to my worktable and groused about this orthat.”

“I am not grousing,” he grumbled.

“Only a young child would complain about having found a love worth dying for.”

“I am not complaining about that.”

“Your bond is what you make it, young prince,” she replied, squeezing his ?ngers in her small hands.

“I will not be...” He swallowed again, not wanting to say this out loud because it would make it real. But the sun was setting quickly, and the female before him, who had always been there to listen and give sage advice, would no longer be here to do so in a matter of minutes. “I will have nothing to offer her anymore. I will not be able to protect her. I will not be able to give her my power to fuel her own. I cannot ?ght by her side.”

“You are not de?ned by your power, Sorin. And I may not be a Seer, but I can see the love you share is not of this world, or any other realm for that matter.”

She let go of his hands and stood, crossing to the statue. She ran a ?nger along the inscription etched below it. She must have known how to read the language because she stopped on the second to last line.

“I think you will ?nd that when a Prince falls, a King rises,” she mused. She looked over her shoulder, violet eyes meeting his.

“A powerless king,” Sorin muttered.

She tutted under her breath, folding her hands inside her robes. “If you remember none of my teachings after this day, Sorin Aditya, remember that knowledge is power. You can ?nd the answer to anything if you know where to look and who to ask. You have more power than just ?re. Do not forget that.”

Her eyes darted to the darkening sky before landing back on his once more, full of a tender warmth. “It is almost time.”

He stood and crossed to her in a few long strides. She looked tiny and frail in these last minutes of her life in this world, despite being one of the strongest people he knew. He bent down, pulling her into a tight embrace, tears falling freely now.

She pulled back, her hands gripping his shoulders. “When I visited the Oracle on our continent, Sidora met me in the temple there. It was when she told me of this day. She also told me that the day of my Fading, I would need to pass along the name I have been keeping.” She held up a hand. “Before you ask, I do not know the meaning of the name or what value it holds. Only that it will be needed at some point after my passing. I can think of no one else I trust enough to keep this information safe until it is needed.”

“But how will I know?” Sorin asked.

“Knowledge is power, young prince. Always remember that.” She cupped his cheek once more. “I am so very proud of you, Sorin. It has been one of my greatest honors to watch you grow into the Prince you are and to serve in your Court. Thank you for plucking petals for me for so many years.”

Sorin huffed a laugh through his tears as Beatrix pulled him into a tight hug once more. The sun dipped below the horizon, and she whispered a ?nal word to him as she Faded from his arms.

He was left holding air, a name in his ear, and an ache in his chest.