Page 86 of Lady of Ashes

“What else could one say?” she asked, sensing the moment Shirina entered this place, wherever she was.

“One could say I have missed seeing you,” he answered.

“That Mark blocked your way to me, too?” she guessed.

“That Mark did many things,” he said. “But, yes, it blocked my ability to communicate with you among them.”

“Am I dreaming?”

“Yes.”

“You can enter my dreams at will.”

“When my power reserves are relatively full, yes.”

Scarlett chewed on her lip for a moment before saying, “You have never been so willing to answer my questions.”

“You have never asked the right ones.”

She tsked in annoyance under her breath, and the man chuckled. She turned her head as Shirina came into view, her silver eyes bright in the dark.

“Your eyes match hers,” she said, glancing at the man.

“So do yours.”

“My eyes are blue.”

“When your power reserves are not full they are, but when you are at your most powerful, they are silver.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, so she didn’t say anything.

The two sat in silence for long moments before she said, “If I am a Lady of Darkness, then what are you?”

“A Lord of Night,” he said without a moment’s hesitation.

“Is it always night here?”

“No, but we cherish the darkness like other places covet the light.”

“Where are we?”

“Home.”

Scarlett only nodded, not that he could see her. A comfortable silence fell between them again.

“It seems rather unfair that you can come to me whenever you please, but I have no way to contact you,” she mused, her ?ngers brushing along Shirina’s coat where she had lain down beside her.

“Allow me to rectify that,” he answered. Scarlett turned her head in time to see him raise a hand. Something she could only describe as night itself seeped from his palm. It was darkest black and seemed to suck any light into itself. It was nothing like her shadows, yet somehow exactly like them, too.

When it receded, a piece of stone sat in the center of his palm. It was just as dark as whatever power had bled from him, and she pushed herself up into a sitting position when he extended it to her.

“What is it?”

“It is nightstone.”

“What am I supposed to do with it?” she asked, turning the thing over in her hand.

“Use it if you need to speak with me,” he said, leaning back on his hands and tilting his face back up to the sky.

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