Page 121 of Lady of Ashes

“Regarding?”

He slowly brought his eyes to hers. “Isn’t this an interesting turn of events?Youasking whatIam researching for a change,” he teased.

“You’re such an ass,” she retorted, rolling her eyes and reaching to smack his shoulder, but he caught her wrist.

“I still have that list of names you call me, you know,” he said, before tugging on her arm and hauling her over the back of the sofa. She fell onto the cushions beside him, laughter tumbling from her lips. She pushed herself up to sit beside him, reaching for the book in his lap.

“This is written in the Avonleyan language,” she said, running her ?ngers along a page.

“I am aware,” he replied, turning into her when she pulled the book into her own lap.

“How can you read it?”

“I can’t. Not well anyway.” He nodded towards the side table where a small stack of papers sat. “That is why I have your translation notes.”

“You took them when we were in Solembra yesterday?”

“Mhmm,” he hummed as she skimmed the page.

“Why?”

“A few reasons, but the main one is to help you ?gure out this Source issue,” he answered.

“I’ve been looking through these books for months, Sorin. I don’t remember ever coming across the mention of a Source.”

“I had to start somewhere,” he said with a shrug. “If anything, it will allow me to learn the language a little more to help narrow down books in the future.”

She turned the page of the ancient text. This was a book about Avonleyan history and politics. Things she didn’t understand, involving people and places she couldn’t properly translate.

“What other books did you bring?”

“Hmm?” Sorin asked, and sounded so distracted that Scarlett brought her eyes back to his once more.

“What other books did you bring?” she repeated.

“Books?” She stared at him, part in confusion and part in concern, as he slowly leaned forward to speak into her ear. “Sorry, Love, but you are aware you are not wearing pants, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “I thought we were going to bed, not researching things in ancient books.”

Sorin sat back a bit, arching a brow. A half smile was playing on the corner of his mouth. “So to clarify, you were coming to bed without pants?”

She reached for the pillow beside her and smacked him in the face with it again. “For the record, the nightclothes I usually wear to bed do not include pants, and they tend to leave far more on show than your shirt.”

He sighed dramatically, his ?ngers beginning to draw small circles on her bare knee. “That is a valid point, I suppose. I have missed those nightclothes.”

“Funny,” she quipped, her eyes going back to the text. “You’d become so quick to remove them, I assumed they no longer held your interest.”

A pinch to her inner thigh had her hissing as he muttered, “There’s that tongue again.”

His ?ngers continued painting idle circles on her knee as he peered over her shoulder. These pages were all discussing the various cities in Avonleya and the responsibilities of the Lords and Ladies who presided over them. She had yet to come across a map of the kingdom, though. In her months of research and countless books, even the descriptions of the lands were vague.

“What does this part say?” Sorin asked, pointing to a spot in the middle of the opposite page. “I recognize a few words— king, power, Mark.”

She skimmed the section quickly. “It is speaking of taking a Mark of loyalty to the king, of pledging one’s power to him. I would assume like Alaric wanted me to do.”

Sorin’s ?ngers paused on her skin for just a moment at the mention of Alaric. “Did the Avonleyan Kings require such a thing?”

Scarlett turned the page as she skimmed the text a little more. “I can’t say for sure,” she murmured. She pointed at a word. “This means willingly, but this word here means drawing from or forcefully taken. But it doesn’t appear to say anything about if the ruling parties required it or from whom.”

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