Page 6 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

“And if it cannot be fixed, I do not care, Scarlett. This—a you and me—this is all I need. I will be content. We will figure the rest out as we go.” He brushed his lips against hers once more before he stood, tugging her up with him. “Come. Eat and tell me what you learned.”

What she’d learned.

She’d learned so much and not nearly enough. She also knew Saylah still hadn’t told her everything, especially when it came to Cethin and how exactly he’d become bound to the Wards.

Sorin tossed her a pear, and she took a bite as he began preparing a plate for her. “I am listening,” he prompted, selecting some cheese cubes and placing them on the plate.

“I don’t know where to start,” she said around her mouthful of fruit.

Sorin nodded in understanding of what she was asking of him. Give her somewhere to start. “Why is Paja here?”

“Did you know him?”

“Yes. He was bonded to Eliné. But like I said, I have not seen him since before Henna was killed. That is not to say he did not come to Eliné during that time, but …” He trailed off as he held a plate out to her.

She took it from him, moving to sit at the table in their suite’s dining room while he began fixing his own plate of food. “Paja is here because I asked him to come here.”

Sorin glanced up briefly from the roast meat sandwich he was preparing. “Are you bonded to him?”

“No?”

He stilled, setting down the utensils in his hands and planting his palms on the tabletop. “This is something you would know, Scarlett.”

She sighed, throwing herself back in her chair, and Sorin arched a brow at the action.

“I sort of control the spirit animals now.” Sorin blinked slowly.

When he didn’t speak, she added, “I told Saylah if she was going to keep hiding in Shira Forest instead of coming to our aid, the least she could do would be to give me control over the spirit animals.”

“You said that. To a goddess.”

She debated internally for a moment before saying, “Among other things.”

“What of those bonded to them?”

“I do not control them like that ,” she said, picking up her sandwich. “I guess it is more so that instead of residing with Saylah when they are not needed, they reside with me.”

“Then where are the rest of them now? Cethin said they have been resting,” Sorin said, resuming preparing his own plate.

“Some are still in Shira Forest. Cethin was right. They were resting, but beyond that, I do not know. I learned much, but Saylah still has her secrets,” she said bitterly.

“And she let you take control of the spirit animals?”

Scarlett scoffed. Let her . But she said, “More or less.”

“Scarlett …” he said, dragging out her name in a way that said he knew there was more to this.

She tossed her sandwich back onto her plate. “This was not some joyous reunion, Sorin,” she said, her irritation rising.

He had moved to the space beside her, and he reached over, gripping her fingers in his hand. “I am not implying that it was, Love.” He jerked his chin at her food. “Eat. You are cranky.”

She made a face. “I am not.”

“You are,” he said, sitting back and picking up his own sandwich. “Rightfully so with no sleep and so much to tend to,” he added. “But cranky nevertheless.”

“I’ll show you cranky,” she muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” he asked, arching a brow again.

“Nothing,” she mumbled, shoving a piece of cheese into her mouth.

They ate in silence for the next several minutes before Sorin said carefully, “Am I safe to speak again?”

“Yes,” she sighed, admittedly feeling slightly better with some food in her belly.

“Are you still bonded to Shirina? In the way that I was bonded to Amaré?”

“You are still bonded to Amaré, Sorin,” she answered, reaching for her water glass.

“I should not be.”

“Why?”

“Because the spirit animals bond to the most powerful. I am no longer that.”

“You are still technically the Fire Prince,” Scarlett countered, taking a drink.

“I am not.”

“Oh? Did you abdicate the position in the hours I was gone?”

“No, but—”

“Was there a challenge for the position that I am unaware of?”

“Stop being a smartass.”

Scarlett smirked at him. “Then, from my understanding of Fae politics, you are still the Fire Prince, and you will remain so, Sorin. Saylah will figure out a way to restore your magic.”

“And if she cannot?”

“She does not have that option.”

Sorin sat back, wiping his mouth with his napkin, before he turned his full attention on her. “What did you do, Scarlett?”

“I already told you. I gave her an ultimatum.”

“You will give her to Alaric.”

“Mhmm,” she hummed, spearing a piece of melon on her fork.

“To what end, Scarlett? You will truly give him the thing this entire war has been about?”

“This war has not been about Saylah,” Scarlett said. “Why do you think that?”

“Because everything we have learned says they want what was being guarded in Shira Forest. What the spirit animals were guarding.”

“They were not guarding Saylah,” she answered, taking another drink of water.

“Then what were they guarding, Scarlett?” He sighed, clearly growing impatient.

“A mirror gate.”

“A mirror gate?” he repeated. “Why? When there are at least two on our own continent?”

“Because the one in Shira Forest is not just a mirror gate. It is the mirror gate. A doorway between the stars to other worlds,” she said. “And the lock? It is not the lock to the Wards as we have been told. It is the lock to the gateway into this realm.”