A Court of Bones & Sorrow (Lunaria Realms #2)

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Samara

“Your mother?” Alaric leaned closer to look at the book I held open with trembling hands. “What language is that?”

“Ours.” Heat built behind my eyes, and I blinked several times to clear away the gathering tears. “My mother liked to use it for personal things she didn’t want anyone else reading. She taught it to me.”

Alaric glanced between my book and his. “The handwriting in this one is different. Look.” He held the book out to me, and I compared the writing to my mother’s. He was right. It was written in the same language, I recognized that, but the handwriting was completely different, and the pages looked older.

I carefully set my mother’s book back onto the shelf and took the book from Alaric, flipping to the front. “Rosalyn Harker,” I read the name out loud. “This is the journal of my ancestor. Rosalyn and her daughter were part of the original ritual that changed us from human to Moroi.”

The Velesians and Furies had been born from the same ritual. We still didn’t understand exactly how they’d done it or why there were three distinct branches of magic. All we knew was that the ritual had been connected to the moon, and that was why we considered ourselves Moon Blessed. Aside from that, we’d only been able to find part of the wording for the ritual.

“We will give our lives for the blood.”

“We will yield our fates in the wild.”

“We will lose our souls to the fury.”

I hadn’t realized Rosalyn had clawed back enough of her humanity to be able to write. Most of that first generation had been completely lost to their bloodlust. They had basically been Strigoi.

The small amount of writings we’d found from that time period suggested the House bloodlines had been the first to come back to themselves, but I didn’t think it’d been to this extent. There were at least three dozen journals here. Did they belong to all the Harkers who had come before me? Why hadn’t my mother ever told me about this place?

Metal groaned, and I winced when a particularly high-pitched sound echoed across the chamber.

“Sorry,” Vail grunted from where he stood before a dark hallway. “This must be the tunnel that connects this room to the one you found earlier.” He disappeared into the darkness, and I set the journal down on the shelf before wandering over to inspect the tunnel myself.

I had to step back when Vail appeared again, almost bumping into me. “It’s completely caved in.” He shook his head. “Unclear if it was an intentional cave-in or if it just happened on its own, but there’s no getting through it now.”

“Do you think it’s worth clearing out?” I looked around him into the inky darkness. “It would give us an escape tunnel if we ever needed it, but it also means someone would have a way to sneak into House Harker.”

“I’ll think about it.” Vail’s stormy grey eyes once again fell to my neck, and I suddenly became aware of just how close I was standing to him. I took a small step back, and the silver bled through his eyes until they were like bright moons.

“You good?” I asked warily. Usually, the rangers were pretty good about wielding their bloodlust as a tool. It was rare for any of them to turn Strigoi, but that didn’t mean they didn’t occasionally lose control for small amounts of time, like Vail had in the temple. My fingers slid down to rest on the handle of the dagger at my thigh.

Vail’s gaze dipped down to the blade, and his lips curled in distaste. “Like I would ever want the taste of your blood in my mouth again.” He stalked forward, forcing me to jump out of his way, even as a dull ache rose inside my chest. Apparently, being back in this cave didn’t bring back fond memories of our friendship for him the way it did for me.

I tucked away the pain of Vail’s words—I really should have been used to it by now—and walked over to where Alaric was studying something on the wall. Vail stopped to stand at Alaric’s right, so I stood by his left, needing some space between me and the Marshal.

“Map of Lunaria,” I murmured. Though calling it a map was a bit of an exaggeration. Someone had scraped landmarks into the stone wall. I recognized Drudonia at the center and some other landmarks, but it was rudimentary at best. We had far better maps than this.

Vail stepped forward and brushed two fingers against a marking that looked like an X . Now that I’d noticed that one, more jumped out at me.

“Someone was looking for something, and they didn’t want anyone to know about it.” I glanced over my shoulder at the shelves where the journals rested. “I don’t think it was the Fae.”

“Where is this?” Alaric pointed to what looked like a lake with a circle around it.

The three of us leaned in closer to examine the markings. “ If that’s Drudonia”—Vail pointed to the blocky buildings that looked like a fortress—“then the only large body of water there is Lake Malov.”

I chewed on my bottom lip. “What if there is another secret room like this one around there? Maybe that’s what whoever made this map was searching for?” I suspected it had been my mother, but what I didn’t understand was why she had been keeping it a secret, and did Carmilla know about this?

“Do we care?” Alaric stepped back and crossed his arms. “While I acknowledge that all of this is fascinating, we have some more pressing concerns.”

“Agreed,” Vail said. “This feels like a waste of time.”

“We don’t know that,” I argued. “Generations of Harkers kept this place a secret. They wouldn’t have done that for nothing.” My mother wouldn’t have done that for nothing. My throat seized as I thought about her sneaking down here and writing in that journal. Had she been planning on telling me eventually? Maybe this would have been something she passed down to me? Part of the Harker legacy. Unfortunately, death claimed her first. “Let me read through some of the journals. Maybe there is something in them that explains this.” I waved at the wall.

“However you want to waste your time isn’t my problem.” Vail shrugged.

“Helpful as always,” I snapped. “Where’s the bag you brought?”

He flicked his fingers towards the entryway we’d passed through from the cave, which was once again solid. I stalked over to the leather bag lying on the ground. It wouldn’t fit all the journals, but I could bring at least half a dozen back with me. Alaric joined me as I debated which ones to grab.

My mother’s were definitely the most recent and the likeliest to have relevant information. My heart clenched at the idea of reading her words and getting a glimpse into what she’d been feeling. I checked through the bottom shelf and figured out where her journals started. There were five of them, which I carefully stuffed into the sack before eying the shelf.

It was unlikely Rosalyn had written anything that would help us, but I couldn’t resist knowing. I grabbed the first journal on the shelf and placed it with the others before adjusting the strap of the bag on my shoulder.

“Do you think we should come back later for the rest?” I asked no one in particular.

“They’re probably safer here than anywhere else,” Alaric said. “No one knows about this place, and if Draven goes back to that room the two of you found and tries to use the passage, he’ll find it blocked.”

I couldn’t argue with that logic, even if I didn’t love the idea of leaving the rest of the journals here, but if I asked Vail to have some of his rangers guard this place, that would only draw attention to it. The journals had been here for multiple generations, so unless I came up with a better solution, I’d just have to trust that they’d continue to be safe in this room.

“Let’s head back.” I gave one last reluctant look at the rest of the journals before activating the glyph on the wall again and slipping back into the cave. Now that I knew where the glyph on this side was located, I felt like it would be obvious to anyone.

As if reading my mind, Vail rapped his knuckles against the damp rock. “This type of algae grows fast. That glyph will be covered again in less than a day.”

I nodded. Vail might be an asshole to me, but he knew what he was talking about. The only one who had a reason to visit this cave was Draven, and that was only if he tried to map out where the escape tunnel might lead to. Yet another reason for us to keep an extra close eye on him. I couldn’t let him find those journals. It was unlikely he’d be able to understand the language, but he’d almost certainly remove them.

A warning whispered across my skin, my instincts picking up on something while I’d been lost in thought, and I halted halfway to the path that led out of the cave. Vail instantly went still beside me, but Alaric continued walking, oblivious to the danger that had crept in while we’d been examining the hidden room.

“Alaric,” I said in a low but commanding tone. He froze where he’d been about to jump across to the rocky path before slowly taking a few steps back.

Clouds must have rolled in recently, because the previously moonlit cave was now shadowed in darkness. Only the flat rock we stood on was still mostly lit up, and even that light was filtering in and out.

Something was moving in the shadows. A lot of somethings.

“Vail?” My fingers wrapped around the dagger as I slid it free. It was the only weapon I had with me. Swords had never been my strong suit—I was much better with ranged weapons but hadn’t bothered bringing a crossbow because it wouldn’t have been that useful here. Now I was kind of wishing I had. If I threw my dagger, I’d have nothing.

“Not sure,” Vail murmured, his silver eyes tracking the movement across the walls. “I think whatever they are, they came from the sea. They’re moving . . . strangely.”

Great. We’d managed to find a monster even Vail hadn’t come across. Alaric made his way back to my side, a wicked, cruel dagger in his hand. Of the three of us, he was the most disadvantaged, because he suppressed his bloodlust so ruthlessly. Aside from our fangs and claws only making an appearance when we let our bloodlust rise, we were also stronger and faster when we leaned into it.

Frustration warred with concern inside me. If Alaric got himself hurt because of his stubbornness, I’d beat the shit out of him later.

The hair rose on the back of my neck, and I sidestepped so my back was to Vail and looked at the wall behind us. “Fuck. It. All.” My heart raced as I watched dozens of creatures silently crawl down the rocky surface from where they’d been traveling across the ceiling. They vaguely resembled the occasional starfish I’d find while walking along the shore, which would be fine . . . except for the six eyes arranged in a perfect circle and the eight serpentine tentacles that stretched out.

“Can someone explain why the fucking starfish look like spiders?” Alaric cursed.

“Because Lunaria, that’s why. Of course we’d have fucked-up arachnid starfish.” I glanced up at the ceiling, which was teeming with hundreds of them. “If these things fall on us, I’m going to scream.”

I wasn’t kidding. There were a lot of things I could deal with. Spiders were not one of them.

“We make our way to the same path as before,” Vail said calmly. “Samara, take the lead. Alaric in the middle. I’ll cover you both.”

“I should go first.” Alaric glared at Vail. “Samara is the Heir of House Harker.”

“Samara can handle herself just fine,” Vail growled.

“Or maybe you’re thinking third time’s the charm in getting her killed?” Alaric narrowed his eyes at Vail, who was looking at the leaner-built Moroi like he was debating chucking him into the water as bait while we got away.

“It’s fine, Alaric.” I placed a hand on his forearm, and he glanced at where we were touching before meeting my gaze, a sharp, close-lipped smile stretching across my face. “I’d rather have you at my back anyway.”

Vail stiffened, but before he could say anything, I stepped towards the path, my gaze bouncing between the wall writhing with monsters and the slippery rocks. Now was really not the time to fall.

I slid to the side just as the air shifted, and a creature slammed into the rock where I’d been standing a second ago. It landed on its back, giving me a view of the center of its underbelly, where five triangular teeth mashed together in its circular mouth. I barely managed to bite back my shriek. Its nearly two-foot-long tentacles slid across the ground, and it started to flip itself over. As soon as its back was to me and the tentacles were pointed in the opposite direction, I kicked out as hard as I could.

A loud splash sounded from where it had landed, but I could hardly make out the rocks two feet in front of me. The rest of the cavern was nothing but inky blackness. Sure would be nice for the moon to come back right about now.

The sound of hundreds of tentacles sliding across the algae-covered wall echoed around us, and I stepped closer to the edge of the rock. Slender tentacles stretched out from the wall towards me, and three more fell from the ceiling around us. I raised the strap of the bag over my head so that it rested diagonally across my chest before tucking the dagger back into the holster on my thigh.

More monsters fell from the ceiling, and one of them hit my shoulder and bounced off, its tentacles grazing my skin. Alaric hissed behind me as several of the starfish critters began to fall on the other side. I’d be jumping straight into them, but right now, there were only half a dozen on the ground. We needed to go before all of them fell off the ceiling.

I backed up a few steps, bumping into Alaric, then ran towards the edge and leapt across, but something wrapped around my ankle just before my feet hit the other side and yanked me back. My scream was cut off as my upper body slammed into the rocky ledge before I was dragged backwards. Tentacles grabbed me from all sides as I desperately dug in with my clawed fingers, trying to find purchase, but the rock was too hard and slick.

“Vail!” I cried as I went over the edge. Water splashed below as several starfish lost their grip on me and fell. Every muscle in my body screamed as my fingers gripped the edge of the rock. Whatever was wrapped around my ankle pulled harder, and pain raced down my arm as one of the smaller monsters wrapped all of its tentacles around me and flattened its circular mouth full of sharp teeth against my bicep.

My fingers started to slip when another tentacle wrapped around my waist, and I felt something pull on the bag. “VAIL!”

Two sets of hands gripped my arms, Alaric grunting where he was flat on his stomach above me, hands wrapped around my left forearm while Vail held my right arm, bright silver eyes shining with determination. “Don’t look down.”

A low, trembling, keening sound came from beneath me, and I couldn’t help but look. Never in my life had I ever so immensely regretted disobeying a command. A shriek tore from my lungs. “Pull me up! Pull me up!”

“We’re trying!” Vail ground out.

The enormous, spidery starfish beneath me pulled harder. It had to be at least twenty feet wide, and its eyes glowed a sickly yellow. I could feel something cutting into my skin where its tentacles had wrapped around me, and pained whimpers slipped from my throat. The rock to my right shook as it slammed another tentacle there, and I saw the flash of small, curved barbs on the underside.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, the starfish clinging to the ceiling started to drop even more. Alaric’s and Vail’s grips slipped, and I dropped another inch. “I don’t want to get eaten by a fucking starfish!”

“Don’t let go!” Alaric ordered. Several starfish chose that exact moment to fall on his back, and he bellowed, fingers digging into me as he tried to hold on. Vail hissed when one fell on his shoulder and latched onto his flesh.

“I’ve got her,” Vail growled. “Keep these fucking things off us. Otherwise, we’re all going to die here!”

“Fuck!” Alaric bellowed, tearing himself away to deal with the monsters ripping into him and Vail. The loss of his grip on my arm sent me swinging, and Vail’s claws dug into my arm, skin tearing as I was wrenched into an awkward angle. The tentacle around my right ankle was pulling me to the side, while the one around the bag was pulling straight down.

My body pivoted until I was looking down at the beast once more. Terror drenched me at the small bulges moving across its body, unfurling their tentacles before gliding off into the water. That must have been how they’d all gotten here. This was their mother, and she’d carried them on her back.

Blood ran down my arm from where Vail held onto me. Despite his efforts, his grip had slipped to my wrist, and I knew he couldn’t hold on much longer. I gritted my teeth and swung my free hand towards the dagger on my thigh, agony shooting through my back. It felt like I was being torn in two, but I freed the blade from its sheath.

I had one chance. If I missed, I would fall. To fall was to die.

Vail grunted as the creature pulled harder on my ankle. I used the momentum of being twisted to the side to my advantage and focused on the closest of the large, yellow eyes. The weak point. No matter the beast, eyes were something to be protected.

“Get ready, Vail.” I panted before flipping the dagger in my hand and hurling it a second later. It whistled through the air, the spinning blade catching the small patches of moonlight and reflecting them back before sinking home, straight into the starfish’s eye.

Water churned as the tentacled beast thrashed and the tentacle around my ankle slipped away. Vail heaved me up, but I only made it halfway before the tentacle around the bag tightened and pulled me back down.

“Slip the bag off!” Vail commanded.

“No!” I screamed. We needed the information in these journals, and they had belonged to my mother. I couldn’t let this part of her go, not without knowing what it meant.

“Damn it, Sam!” Vail clung to me, desperately trying to pull me up. “It’s not worth your life!”

The strap snapped, and I barely managed to grab hold of the leather bag before it fell into the water. The tentacle around it tightened while another one tried to pry the dagger out of its eye.

“So fucking stubborn.” Silver flashed inches from my face before a blade sunk into the tentacle gripping the bag. The dark, rubbery appendage flinched but didn’t let go. Another dagger. Another twitch. Two more daggers joined the others before the beast finally decided this amount of pain and effort wasn’t worth it. Water thrashed below as the starfish pulled back its tentacle and retreated further into the water.

A deep vibration I felt in my bones erupted throughout the cavern as Vail pulled me up and the smaller starfish slid towards the edge of the rock before falling into the water. The starfish still making a meal out of my bicep was ripped off, but in my pained haze, I barely noticed. Rough hands yanked me forward, dragging me as I clutched the bag and my shredded arm to my chest.

My ankle didn’t feel like it was in much better shape, and by the time we made it to the sandy beach just outside the cave, I was barely capable of limping. I collapsed, my trembling muscles finally giving out, and I pulled aside what was left of my shredded pants to examine the damage . . . and immediately regretted it.

“Fuck,” I hissed as I saw white bone peeking through the ripped flesh. I was lucky I hadn’t lost my damn foot, because those barbs ripped entire chunks out. Clenching my jaw, I stretched my hand towards the wound to draw the healing glyph, but large fingers wrapped around mine before pulling them back.

“I’ll do it,” Vail practically growled at me. Apparently, he was still pissed, which was fine. I was used to Vail being pissed at me.

He reached over his shoulder and rubbed his back where the freaky little starfish had fallen on him. His fingers came back bloody. I winced as he drew the healing glyph on a small patch of mostly undamaged skin. The burning, itchy sensation was immediate, and I let out a low hiss, turning my head away from the bloody disaster that was my lower leg.

Alaric gave me a flat look as he knelt beside me. “You should have let go of that fucking bag,” he said coldly. Vail grunted in agreement as he looked over the rest of my leg.

“I—”

“Shut the fuck up, Sam,” Alaric snarled, and I snapped my mouth shut. I didn’t regret what I’d done, so I wasn’t going to argue with him or Vail over it. The two of them could just be pissy together. My leg jerked involuntarily as some of the muscles pieced themselves back together. The healing spell might have been incredibly useful and sometimes lifesaving, but it fucking hurt.

Even worse, as the adrenaline continued to wear off, I could feel the rest of the smaller wounds spread over my body. I held my forearm out in front of me and grimaced at the deep grooves Vail’s claws had left behind while he’d been clinging to me.

With more tenderness than I thought him capable of, Alaric grasped my arm and tugged it towards him, resting the back of my hand in his palm as he drew the healing glyph right below my elbow. Technically, once the healing glyph was drawn on a body, it would heal all wounds, but it always started with the closest ones.

My breaths came out in rapid bursts as the two healing glyphs worked in tandem. A distraction. That’s what I needed. Vail was still busy examining me for any other major wounds that needed immediate attention, which I was a little surprised he cared about but was not willing to bring it up and get into it with him. Instead, I focused on Alaric, who had settled back into a crouching position after starting the healing on my arm.

Dozens of wounds covered his arms, ranging from shallow to alarming based on how much blood was still dripping out of them. Chunks of his tunic had been torn away, and I could see more bite wounds on his chest.

“Come here,” I said firmly. Alaric glared at me for a moment before leaning forward again. I brushed my fingers across some wet blood on my arm and pulled his tunic down, revealing more of his chest. He wasn’t nearly as large and muscular as Vail, but Alaric was in excellent shape. Like Kieran, he sparred regularly with the rangers and found it relaxing to go on daily runs.

Personally, I only ran if my life was on the line.

I felt his heavy stare on me as I traced the glyph over his heart. It was the best solution when there were multiple wounds like this and none were life-threatening. Our natural healing was impressive, and we could survive almost any wound as long as our heads remained attached and the blood loss wasn’t too severe, but it was nowhere near as fast as the healing glyph and could only fix wounds inflicted by non-magic means.

Alaric winced before leaning back and closing his eyes as the magic coursed through his body, and I frowned when he looked on the verge of passing out. While he had a lot of wounds, none of them looked particularly serious. Our blood was necessary to initiate the glyph, but the magic behind the healing spell basically used the magic within our body, just at an accelerated rate. It was why, in life-threatening situations, an injured Moroi was usually given blood to drink as well.

“Here.” I stretched my mostly uninjured arm out to Alaric. Every part of me ached, and I was pretty sure I would pass out any second, but he looked worse than me. “Drink.”

Alaric reeled back like I’d struck him and leapt to his feet, swaying slightly before stiffening his back. “Absolutely not.”

“Don’t be a stubborn ass!” I snapped. “It’s just blood, Alaric. You clearly need it.”

“I’m fine,” he ground out, even as turquoise bled through his green eyes as he stared hungrily at my still extended arm. Realizing what he was doing, he tore his gaze away and spun around, stalking away from me. “Get her back safely, Vail.”

“Alaric!” I called after him, but he ignored me and kept walking. It wasn’t that long of a trip back to House Harker, just down the beach a quarter mile before cutting up a trail. The chances of him running into anything nasty between here and there were slim . . . but I also hadn’t expected to find terrifying, spider-like starfish in that fucking cave.

Arachnistar? Arachstar? Starachi?

As far as I was concerned, since I’d found them, I got to name them. I’d have to think of something good. Hopefully they wouldn’t make that cave their new home. Otherwise, getting back into that room would not be fun. Then again, they would make an excellent deterrent for anyone who tried to explore the cave . . .

Vail stood up, apparently satisfied that I had no other wounds that required immediate attention. I struggled to my feet and sucked in a breath as aching muscles barked at me. The skin on my arm and leg was smooth and unblemished, but it still felt like my body had been through a meat grinder. I pursed my lips as I stared at the long stretch of beach before us. This would not be a pleasant walk back. I had no idea how I was going to climb back into my room either.

That was a problem for future Samara. For now, I set out at a slow but steady pace. Vail trailed silently behind me, and it set my teeth on edge not being able to see him but knowing he was there all the same. I made it two minutes before I snapped.

“Can you please just walk beside me?”

He sighed and moved to my side, and I started walking again, fighting the blackness that was starting to encroach on my vision. Just ten more minutes on this beach, another ten-minute hike up a fairly steep hill, then all I had to do was scale up the tower wall that led to my bedroom.

Piece of cake.

“Should have just slept in that room,” I muttered, and Vail laughed under his breath. It had a deep, raspy quality to it. He might be a Moroi, but Vail’s voice had always reminded me of a wolf shifter with its gravelly edge. “I’m glad we didn’t run into those things as kids,” I said lightly, checking his expression from the corner of my eye.

Vail liked to pretend our childhood friendship hadn’t existed, but for once, he didn’t bite my head off. Instead, a rueful smile played across his lips. “That definitely would have put a damper on our stargazing. Plus, your screaming was a lot higher-pitched back then. Would have blown out my eardrums.”

“Ass.” I shoved his shoulder, but the movement proved too much for my body when everything went dark for a second. The world tilted, and suddenly, my head was leaning against something warm and hard. I blinked several times, trying to bring the world back into focus, but ended up peering into Vail’s face.

“Rest, Samara.” His gaze flickered down to mine before quickly pulling away. “I’ve got you.”

“Please don’t feed me to the monsters,” I mumbled before burrowing further against his chest. “You’ve had three chances to kill me now and failed each time. Is this your way of saying you like me again?”

“Sam?”

“Yes?” I answered sleepily.

“Shut up.”

The world went black.