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

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Vail

Samara’s eyelids fluttered rapidly. She’d been dreaming for the last hour, and I had yet to figure out if it was a good or bad dream. Her midnight black hair was fanned out across my bed, and she’d been snuggling into my pillows and blankets since I’d laid her here hours ago.

I’d only hesitated for a moment last night before bringing her back to my room. She’d passed out hard, her body shutting down so it could finish healing. The wound on her leg hadn’t smelled right when I’d been examining it. I couldn’t say for sure, but I suspected there’d been some type of toxin in the barbs of that fucking gigantic starfish. Luckily the smaller ones had yet to develop those barbs; otherwise, all three of us would have been in serious trouble. As it was, Samara had taken the worst of it.

An echo of the fear I’d felt when she’d been dangling off that rock ledge raced through me, followed quickly by rage at remembering how she’d refused to let go of that fucking bag. Not for the first time, I wished Samara had never returned to House Harker. It’d been easy to hate her when she’d been gone, playing the dutiful wife at House Laurent, but that piece of shit Demetri just had to fuck things up.

My fingers clenched into fists, and I felt my nails harden enough to bite into my skin. I’d thrown the failed marriage in Samara’s face when she’d come back. It had been an asshole thing to do, even by my standards, but Samara always took my hatred in stride, which only pissed me off more.

No matter what I did, she never broke.

The blanket slipped down as Samara rolled onto her side, burrowing further into the pillow and letting out a breathy sigh. Satisfaction rolled over me at seeing her in one of my shirts but was quickly replaced by frustration… and confusion. Even if I was starting to acknowledge that I didn’t truly hate her, I definitely did not like her. Not like that . It was just an instinctual response I’d have to any beautiful woman in my bed wearing my clothing.

Covered in my scent.

Fuck. My nostrils flared, and I stalked over to the window. Unlike Samara, I didn’t have a large suite. My living quarters only consisted of a bedroom and a small washroom. Carmilla had repeatedly offered me a place in the main tower that had larger and fancier accommodations, but I preferred to be in the barracks with the rest of the rangers.

Samara’s spicy and intoxicating scent intertwined with my own drifted over, and I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t fucking escape her.

Moroi were possessive. We might have lax views when it came to sex, but once we claimed a long-term partner, we were ruthless about it. There were exceptions, but polyamorous relationships were far more common amongst the Velesians. It was why I found Samara’s relationship with Kieran and Roth so confusing. And I’d always known Alaric had a thing for her too despite his attempts to hide it.

More often than not, I found Alaric Lockwood irritating to deal with, but I still had a begrudging respect for him. He was incredibly smart and used his brains to help House Harker instead of the social ladder climbing many of the higher-ranking officials attempted. And now he and I had something in common: we were both struggling to deal with our shifting emotions when it came to Samara.

The anger I felt towards her was still there. Always burning under my skin. The night all our parents had been attacked—the night they’d died—I’d gotten Samara to safety, and when I’d tried to go back and help my parents, Samara had knocked me out. She claimed she’d done it to save my life, but I knew that was bullshit. She just hadn’t wanted to be left alone. It was her life she’d been worried about. No one else’s.

In the months and years after that night, I’d never seen Samara cry once. She acted like the death of her parents didn’t matter and had obsessed over House politics instead. It didn’t take her long to secure an advantageous marriage. She’d gone to Drudonia to study and then flittered off to House Laurent to be yet another pampered Heir.

Carmilla had tried to make excuses for Samara’s behavior to me, but more than once, she’d confessed she wasn’t comfortable grieving her sister around Samara because of how little her niece seemed to care. While Samara had been away, it’d been easy to believe the worst about her.

It was why I’d left her to die when that kùsu had attacked us weeks ago. When the long, insectoid beast had slid between us, its pinchers snapping in excitement at finding its prey, I’d felt a savage relief. Like Samara had been getting what she was owed for costing me everything.

Then I’d seen the flash of betrayal on her face before she turned and raced away from the monster. Away from me. An almost blind panic had overtaken me as I’d chased after her to fix what I had done, to save her, and I had, barely getting there in time but saving her all the same. She knew what I had done though, and now it lay there like an ugly truth between us.

Now I had to live with this simmering hatred and also the memory of how much she’d once meant to me. Samara had been my only real friend growing up. There’d been nothing romantic there, we’d been far too young for that, but the friendship . . . it’d been real.

As soon as we had set foot in that cavern last night, the memories had come flooding back. Us sneaking out under the always watchful eyes of our parents. Laughing as we ran across the beach. Carefully climbing those rocks until we collapsed onto our backs and watched the stars flickering across the sky.

I hadn’t just lost my parents the night the wraiths had attacked our caravan. I’d also lost my best friend.

Now that best friend had grown up into the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen and was sleeping in my bed. In my fucking shirt.

Blood dripped from my knuckles, and I forced myself to take a slow, deep breath while I unclenched my fists. I wanted to leave, go into the wilds for a few months, hunt some monsters, and clear my head. However, now that we knew Prince Draven, and likely the Sovereign House, was involved with the wraiths, I couldn’t leave. Not that I was particularly useful—subterfuge and subtleness were not in my skill set.

The inability to act was killing me, and there were brief moments when I thought about just slitting the prince’s throat and dumping his body in the ocean for the sea monsters to feed on. That wouldn’t solve anything though and would only draw the attention of that Fae we saw in the temple, Erendriel, and, of course, the Moroi Queen herself. I might not be good at playing this bullshit political game, but even I knew that would be foolish.

Adding to my frustrations was the fact that Carmilla was at the Sovereign House and, as far as I was concerned, in the hands of our enemies, even if she didn’t know it. I also selfishly wished she was here so I could talk to her about Samara. Not my attraction to her—that would be awkward—but to maybe clarify some things.

Carmilla had always made it seem like Samara had been quick to move on from her parent’s death and wasn’t supportive of her aunt’s grief over dealing with the death of her sister and sudden rise to the Head of House Harker. But that just didn’t seem right. Samara was deeply loyal to those she cared about. Perhaps Carmilla had simply misinterpreted the actions of her niece back then because she’d been caught up in her own grief.

It had to be something like that. Carmilla had always been a presence in my life growing up, but after my parents had been killed she stepped in to fill the void. She never tried to replace my mother or father—that was impossible. But she became an aunt of sorts. Always there to lend support or just be someone I could talk to. I had risen through the ranks to take on the mantle of Marshal all on my own, but I couldn’t deny that knowing I had Carmilla’s unwavering support had been a boon.

I didn’t have any blood relatives left, so Carmilla was basically my only family. After everything she’d done for me, I couldn’t let anything happen to her.

Samara stirred again on the bed, drawing my attention. I scowled at her before silently walking over to my washroom and rinsing the blood from my hands. The wounds had already healed, but I could feel the undercurrent of exhaustion in my bones.

I needed to consume blood. Soon.

Like most adult Moroi, I associated drinking blood with sex, but since I was the Marshal, I wasn’t comfortable sleeping with any of the other rangers because of the difference in power. More than a few had made passes at me, but I’d always turned them down. Instead, I had some regular partners in various outposts who were more than happy to let me bury my fangs in their flesh while I fucked them senseless. It was a good arrangement that left everyone happy.

Even some of the Velesians I knew were game, although their blood wasn’t as fulfilling as another Moroi’s. We might all be Moon Blessed, but the magic between the three groups was different enough that it didn’t always play nicely together.

Plus I couldn’t leave to visit any of them now. I frowned at my now healed palm. Maybe I could ask Adrienne or Emil, two of my most trusted rangers. Not for the sex part, just a little top up of blood. I couldn’t afford to be slower or weaker right now.

Just as I was about to step back into the bedroom, a low, throaty moan slipped from Samara’s lips. I froze in the doorway. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Was she having a damn dirty dream in my bed? I watched as Samara twisted around in the bed, more of the blankets slipping away. The way she was lying caused my shirt to pull tight around her full breasts, giving me a full view of her erect nipples pushing against the fabric.

Then she let out another breathy noise that went straight to my dick.

I’d faced countless monsters in my life. Wraiths. Howlers. Kùsu. Every single one of those encounters I’d survived because I never hesitated.

Yet I had no fucking clue what to do at this moment.

Should I wake her up? That wouldn’t be awkward at all. Her moaning turned into quickened breaths as one of her hands started to slip beneath the covers.

Oh, fuck me.

I rubbed a hand roughly against my beard. Leave. That was the best option, because if Samara ever learned of this, she wouldn’t be embarrassed. Instead, she’d tease me about it mercilessly, and my feelings for her were complicated enough as it was. I’d just wait outside until she was . . . finished.

Angry banging sounded on the door before I’d made it halfway across the room. Samara bolted upright in bed, her cheeks flushed, and looked around in confusion. Her dark purple eyes landed on me, and her brows furrowed. She glanced down and plucked at the light tan shirt before looking back at me in question.

More banging came from the door.

“Vail!” Kieran yelled. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Samara leapt from the bed and raced to the door while I stood there like an idiot. She flipped the lock and yanked the door open, grabbed Kieran by the front of his tunic, and pulled him inside. He stumbled a few steps before catching himself while she closed the door and crossed her arms.

“Could you be any louder, Kieran? Or did you forget we’re trying not to draw the attention of Draven?”

“I didn’t know where you were!” he said urgently, barely managing to keep his voice down as he glowered at me. If he expected me to tremble before him, he was dumber than I’d thought. I had at least six inches on him and outweighed him by quite a bit. The bright turquoise and gold outfit he was wearing really didn’t help the intimidation factor either.

I gave the pretty peacock a flat stare. Honestly, what does Samara see in him?

“Alaric told me what happened and that you were with Vail. He said you were fine and then passed out on the settee,” Kieran explained as he gave up on staring me down and looked Samara over instead. His eyes widened when he took in what she was wearing. “Why are you in his shirt?” he demanded.

“Oh, this old thing?” she drawled as she twirled the edges of the shirt that dangled by her mid-thigh, and I looked away as it lifted up. “You’d have to ask him. ”

Kieran whirled around to face me, and for a second, I thought he might punch me. “Try it.” I shrugged. “Could use a good laugh.”

He actually took a step forward, but Samara was there in an instant, standing between us with her hands on his chest. “How about we use our words instead of our fists?” Kieran looked like he’d bit into something sour but wrapped his arms around Samara when she twisted so her back was against his chest. I kept my eyes focused on hers, refusing to let them drop to where Kieran’s arms were now resting across her stomach. “Care to fill us in on what happened last night? All I remember is walking back on the beach with you, and then . . . you caught me when I fell.”

“The barbs in those giant tentacles had some type of venom. Probably something to neutralize prey. You passed out, so I carried you back.” I crossed my arms. “It was pretty clear you weren’t making that climb back into your room, so I figured the barracks were the best place for you to sleep it off.”

“So you just stripped her down when she was unconscious?” Kieran looked at me coldly.

“You’re lucky she’s here—otherwise, I’d break your jaw for what you’re implying.” My arms dropped to my sides and my fingers curled as I imagined grabbing him by the neck and slamming his head into the wall. “She was covered in dried blood and her clothes were torn to shreds. As soon as I got her into my room, I retrieved Adrienne. She was the one who cleaned Samara up. We used my shirt because it’s large and baggy and agreed it would be most comfortable for her to sleep in. I slept on the floor.”

Samara’s eyes cut to the small space between the bed and wall. “You didn’t have to do that,” she said softly.

I shifted on my feet. “It’s fine. I’ve slept in worse conditions.” Her eyes lingered on me, and the discomfort I’d been feeling only increased. I could deal with Samara when she was annoyed or frustrated at me. I could even tolerate her when she was being obnoxious and flirty, but when she looked at me like she genuinely cared about my well-being . . .

“I’ve wasted too much time babysitting you,” I growled. “Your pretty boy can fetch you other clothes. Close my door when you leave.”

Before she could argue, I brushed past the two of them and fled into the hallway, and as soon as the door closed behind me, I let out a deep breath.

“Went that well, huh?” a bright, cheery, feminine voice asked.

“Adrienne,” I groaned. “It’s too early for your bullshit.”

The blonde ranger fell into step beside me. She was tall for a woman, only a couple of inches below six feet, but I still towered over her. As the Marshal, I was in charge of all the rangers who belonged to House Harker, but I also had my own unit who traveled with me regularly. Adrienne had been part of that unit since the beginning, so I knew her well. Everything about her reminded me of sunshine. It should have been annoying, but somehow, it just worked for her.

“The sun has been up for hours,” she pointed out. “I got here five minutes ago because I was worried Samara might have murdered you for being a prick.”

“And you were going to avenge me?” I slid a glance at her.

“Fuck no.” She laughed. “Was gonna help her hide the body.”

“Your loyalty could use some work,” I grunted.

Adrienne gave me a wide-eyed look. “She’s the Heir of House Harker. Who else could I possibly be loyal to?” Thick eyelashes blinked rapidly over her bright blue eyes, where only the faintest lines of gold could be seen.

“I’m gonna tell Emil to pummel you in sparring today.”

She grinned wickedly. “Please, I could beat that old man with one arm tied behind my back. ”

We both knew that was bullshit. Emil was older—he was one of the only fourth-generation Moroi who was still an active ranger. Despite being in his late eighties, he still looked and acted like he was in his forties. Even I had a hard time bringing Emil down. As good as Adrienne was, she was still nowhere near Emil’s level.

But he had a soft spot for her, so he always went a little easy on her.

We traded barbs back and forth, and some of the tension eased out of me. A few rangers passed us and waved in greeting, but most were already outside or still sleeping if they’d been on night shift. We reached the stairs at the end of the hall and headed down. The barracks were a long, rectangular building that had four levels above ground and two underneath. We weren’t sure what the Fae had used the building for, but the original rooms had been much larger before it had been repurposed for the rangers. Now the rooms were small but comfortable with a mix of singles and doubles. There were a few large enough for six or more, as visiting rangers from other Houses sometimes preferred to bunk together.

“Anything to report?” I asked as we stepped out into the bright, midmorning sun. Emil might be a better fighter, but Adrienne was more skilled at dealing with people, so she served as my right-hand. If she ever needed advice, she’d go to Emil. The arrangement had worked well for us for years.

“One of the units is back from investigating some type of burrowing creature on the badlands border. I think you’ll be interested in what they have to say.” Something about her tone gave me pause, like she was amused, but if she hadn’t said it outright, then there was no convincing her to say it now. I’d just have to speak to the rangers and see what they had to say. “Also . . . Nyx has decided they’re fully recovered, and they are currently in the sparring ring. ”

“It’s been a week,” I said slowly. “They were healed days ago.”

“That wraith broke over a dozen bones in their body, including some of the vertebrae in their spine.” She clenched her jaw as her cheeriness faded. We were all protective of Nyx because they were like a younger sibling to us, but neither I nor Emil had any actual siblings. Adrienne had a younger brother who had died when they’d been teenagers. I didn’t know the specifics of it, only that it was one of the reasons she’d left her original House and came to Harker. “They should take another week off.”

“Adrienne.” I stopped and waited until she faced me. “Nyx is fine. They’re frustrated that the wraith got the jump on them.” The sound of bones snapping echoed through my mind as I remembered Nyx slamming into that wall at the temple. It was Samara who’d made sure Nyx got out. She’d prioritized the young ranger over her own safety. It was a surprising move for the Heir of a House. Foolish even.

Yet it had thawed a little more of my hatred towards her.

“Emil will make sure Nyx takes it easy.” I rested a hand on Adrienne’s shoulder. “And I’ll make sure they don’t go out on any missions any time soon.”

“No missions without my approval,” Adrienne pushed. “And they have to go with you, me, or Emil.”

“Okay,” I agreed, my lips twitching as I fought back a smile I knew she’d punch me for. “But try to limit your hovering. Nyx’s confidence in their abilities is in the shitter, and you being a mother hen isn’t going to help with that.”

She slapped my hand off her shoulder. “I’m going back to my babysitting duties. Not that Roth ever leaves their room.” Adrienne frowned. “Actually, maybe I’ll stop in the kitchen and grab them something. They didn’t eat any of their dinner last night.” My lips curved upwards. “I’m not a mother hen!” Adrienne yelled before stalking off in the direction of the main tower, and I laughed under my breath at her retreating form.

“She’s a fiery one.”

For the second time this morning, I froze, the prince strolling up to stand beside me. It’d been a long time since someone had been able to sneak up on me. Adrienne and I had stopped in one of the small alleyways that led between the barracks and one of the smaller towers. Sound tended to echo against the stone walls, and yet I hadn’t heard a single footstep.

“Draven.” I didn’t bother making my tone friendly. Adrienne and I had been talking quietly enough before her outburst that I was certain he hadn’t overheard anything. She would have seen him if he’d been behind me, which meant he’d been lurking somewhere nearby and waiting for her to leave. “Something I can help you with?”

“Not going to fawn all over me the way everyone else does?” He smirked.

“No.” For once, I wished Samara were here. She was clever with her words and would have no problem conversing with the traitor. Meanwhile, I was struggling not to bury my dagger in his gut.

“Man of few words.” His blue eyes glinted with amusement. “I find that rather refreshing.”

“I’m happy for you.” I started walking. “You’ll have to find someone else to entertain you though. I’ve got things to do.”

“Is Samara one of them? She stayed in your room last night.” Moonsdamn it. I stopped and slowly turned back around. “Although . . .” He tapped a finger against his chin. “She was with Kieran early on in the night, and she didn’t leave her room through the door. Only other option was the window.” Draven cocked his head and suddenly looked less like the charming, harmless prince and more like a cruel predator. “Does Kieran know she’s going behind his back to fuck you? ”

There was an edge to his voice I didn’t quite understand. It sounded like he was more concerned about Kieran than anyone else. If I denied sleeping with Samara, he might wonder why else she would have snuck out of her room. Fuck.

“Kieran is aware of our relationship,” I ground out. “But given her role as Heir and mine as Marshal, we prefer to keep things quiet.” There. A totally believable lie.

“You might be an impressive ranger, but you’re a terrible liar.” The faint lines of red in Draven’s eyes started to thicken as he looked at me like I was a bug he couldn’t figure out. “She flaunts her relationship with Kieran, who is a courtier and technically below her station. Rumor is she’s involved with some scholar from Drudonia—I’m assuming that’s the person who’s been holed up in that room you have your lovely, fiery ranger guarding. And clearly, there is something between her and Alaric.”

“We’re a complicated lot.” I eyed him warily. There was something . . . not right about him. I was used to being around Moroi who channeled their bloodlust—that was part of it, but not all.

“That is the truth.” He stepped closer to me, more red bleeding into his eyes. “I find it strange that Samara would fall into your bed though. It’s not exactly a secret how much you hate the Harker Heir.”

In a heartbeat, I closed the distance between us until we were almost touching. Draven didn’t back down an inch. We were almost the same height, but he wasn’t built as broadly. “You know nothing about me,” I said coldly. “And you sure as fuck don’t know anything about me and Samara.”

I looked at him through silver eyes, my bloodlust rising to meet his as he let out a dark laugh. “You’d be surprised about the things I know.” The red faded from his eyes until it was barely visible, and the foolishly charming prince persona slid back into place as he gave me a lopsided grin. “Good chat. We should do this again sometime.”

Then he stepped around me and whistled as he walked away, leaving me wondering what the fuck had just happened.