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

Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Samara

“Sorry, girl.” I patted Zosa’s nose, and the grey mare tossed her head in irritation. “You’ll be safe here, and I’ll be back in a few days.”

“I’ll take good care of her,” the stablehand promised, and I smiled thankfully at the young girl. Her parents were in charge of this outpost, and I knew they were all good people. I hated leaving Zosa behind, but Vail and I agreed that we had to go on foot from here.

The sun was setting, and we were in the last outpost in Moroi territory. We’d traveled straight up the coastline and made it here in less than two days, pushing the horses as hard as we could. The Velesian border was only two miles away and would be the more dangerous part of our trip. It’d be slower on foot, but we were traveling at night, and the horses would have attracted too much attention.

“Thanks, Nisha.” I stroked Zosa’s neck one last time before striding towards the front gates, where Vail was waiting for me. Shortly after we’d arrived, a striker with dark blue scales tinged with purple had landed on his shoulder. It wasn’t one I’d recognized, but we had over a hundred strikers on active duty, so it wasn’t like I knew all of them. It probably belonged to a ranger who was often in the field. Some of them traveled with their strikers, and the flying reptiles only left them to deliver messages.

Vail’s brow had creased as he’d read the message, but when I’d asked about it, he’d just said it was a ranger thing he needed to take care of and instructed me to get the horses sorted and meet him at the gate.

The rangers posted at this outpost were standing next to him with frustrated expressions. They hadn’t been happy to learn that their Marshal would be traveling into Velesian territory at night, and they’d been even more upset when Vail had refused to let any of them come with us.

“Let’s go,” he said as soon as I reached them.

My heart beat a little faster as the rangers opened the gate for us, and I followed Vail out of the relative safety of the outpost and its ward. The wraiths had figured out a way past the outpost wards, which weren’t as strong as those that protected the Houses, but the outposts were still far safer than the wilds.

Especially the thick forests of Velesian territory.

“We’ll stay on the road until we’re closer to the border,” Vail said quietly. “Then we’ll have to move into the forests to avoid the patrols.”

I nodded. Thanks to a glyph that would hide our scent and Rynn detailing where the patrol routes were, the odds were in our favor of slipping past the Velesians. I didn’t love sneaking into their territory like this, especially after my latest encounter with Bastian. If we were caught, he would almost certainly get word about it, and he’d be only too delighted to take advantage of our situation.

But we didn’t have time to get permission to search the area around Lake Malov either. So we’d just have to make sure we didn’t get caught and avoided the Alpha Pack at all costs .

“Okay.” I looked up at the last rays of sunlight streaking across the sky. “How long will it take us to reach the rendezvous spot?”

“Two days, unless we have to veer significantly off course.”

I slid a glance towards Vail. We’d barely spoken since leaving House Harker. Granted, we’d been racing up the coastline so there hadn’t really been any good opportunities to speak, but now we’d be traveling on foot and then hiding out together in what would no doubt be a small space.

As if reading my thoughts, he turned his head to look at me. “We’ll need to be quiet. This isn’t far from where I think the spine-backed boars were driven into the Moroi realm, which means something is creeping around these woods that we really don’t want to mess with. The Velesians patrol this area less than the land west of the lake, so it’ll be easier for us to slip past their patrols but also increases our chances of running into something nasty.”

The fear that had been building inside me since we left the outpost surged forward. The last time I’d been out in the wilds at night, we’d been attacked by küsu and Vail had left me for dead. My gaze fell on the darkening shadows of the woods surrounding us. As bad as the küsu were, there were worse things roaming Lunaria than overgrown insects.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Vail said softly, his eyes on the forest around us. It was probably foolish of me, but I trusted him. When he extended a hand, I slipped mine into his without hesitation before we stepped off the main road into the midst of the trees. “We’ll be at the border in ten minutes. Do not speak unless absolutely necessary. Our scents might be hidden, but the Velesians will easily pick up our voices.”

I squeezed his hand in understanding, and we crept forward at a steady pace. The trees grew taller and wider as we moved until they blocked the sky. Vines writhed as if they were snakes, and some of the flowers bloomed as night fell, releasing sweet scents into the air to lure in unsuspecting prey. I felt the moment the sun fully set, giving way to night.

Strength flooded my limbs, and it was like a damper had been lifted from my senses. I could smell the creatures stalking the trees above us and hear leaves crunching to my left where something was slinking through the forest undergrowth. The night came alive around us, and despite my fear of what we might encounter, I couldn’t help but love it a little.

We were children of the moon, and the night belonged to us as much as to the other monsters.

Knowing I might need every advantage tonight, I allowed my bloodlust to rise as well. Vail looked back at me over his shoulder, my hand still clasped in his, and his silver eyes practically glowed in the darkness. Looked like we were both embracing our inner monsters tonight.

Hours passed as I followed Vail’s footsteps, stepping where he stepped and stopping when he stopped. A few times, he squeezed my hand in warning and would then look pointedly in one direction. I’d focus until I saw whatever it was he was pointing out.

A monstrous-looking flower devouring the canine corpse of a howler, some type of tree-dwelling mammal with four arms and hooked claws, and my personal favorite, a baby küsu. I’d almost screamed when I’d spotted the nearly six-foot-long beast curving its body around the trunk of a tree, its shiny, black scales reflecting the small amount of moonlight that peeked through the tree canopy when the wind caused the branches to sway, and it’s too many legs propelling it forward as it climbed further up the tree.

Thanks for the nightmares, little buddy.

Vail stopped so suddenly, I ran into him, the hand that wasn’t in his instinctively going up to steady myself, feeling the hard muscles of his lower back flexing underneath the leather vest. I immediately started scanning our surroundings while my ears strained to pick something up, but I saw nothing and only heard the insects chirping away in the night.

No. Wait. There. Dark shapes were slinking down the trees around us.

“What are they?” I asked tightly, wanting to know what we were up against. Whatever these creatures were, they clearly knew we were here, so our silence was pointless.

“ Beduv kodgeg .” Vail released my hand to free his sword. “Moon devils.”

Shivers ran down my spine, but I forced myself to remain calm before sliding my throwing daggers out from my thigh sheaths.

The branches above us creaked, and more moonlight danced across the trees, giving me a better look at the creatures. I’d never had the pleasure of seeing moon devils in the flesh before, only sketches from people who had survived encounters with them. They were one of the more reclusive predators in Lunaria, and what they lacked in size, they more than made up for in intelligence.

I had to admit, they had a certain beauty to them. Short black fur coated their sturdy, feline bodies, and silver dapples in the shape of crescent moons decorated their fur. My heart hammered inside my chest when one of them got halfway down a tree and unhinged its jaws to what seemed like an impossible degree, showcasing the six-inch fangs that jutted out on either side of its mouth.

“Do not get bit, Samara,” Vail breathed out. “They will snap through bone like it’s nothing, and if you can’t run, we die.”

We die , because Vail wouldn’t leave me behind this time. He’d die protecting me.

I tightened my grip on the blades. “Plan?”

More devils climbed headfirst down the trees, and some remained crouched on the trunks while others slunk across the ground and began circling us. Low, throaty clicks echoed throughout the night air, and in the dark, several short barks rang in response, the clicking sounds growing more excited.

The panic I’d been feeling increased until my breaths were nothing but quick pants. There were too many. We were going to die here. They’d snap through our bones and tear the flesh from our bodies as they devoured us. There would be nothing left.

I would die here. In this forest. Far from friends and family. Vail would die with me. Part of me felt guilty at being glad I wouldn’t die alone.

But I didn’t want to die. Not here. I didn’t want?—

A steady hand closed around my forearm, cutting off my thoughts. “It’s their magic,” Vail said softly. “They can increase whatever emotion you’re feeling. It’s easier for them to take down panicked prey. We need to run before the rest of their pride gets here.”

I concentrated on Vail’s hand on me, then slowly felt for the foreign magic pushing itself into my mind and shoved it back. The chittering increased, an angrier edge to it now, and several sharp bellows boomed. We were running out of time.

“When I say go, you run towards the tree directly in front of us with the blue vine growing up it. Run past it and don’t stop until you reach a dried-up creek bed, then turn west. There’s a cave we can seek refuge in. I can find it if we make it to that creek bed.” Vail pulled his hand away and shifted lightly on the balls of his feet, holding the sword loosely at his side. “If any of them get in front of us, throw your daggers at them. Don’t worry about fatal wounds. We just need to keep them off us. I’ll guard our backs.”

“How far?” Sweat ran down the sides of my face despite the brisk night air.

“Five miles.”

Fuck. Me .

“Don’t be a whiny little Heir now, Sam.” Vail shoved me forward before yelling, “RUN!”

I took off, darting under a low branch and past the tree Vail had pointed out. Sharp cries echoed around the forest as the devils immediately gave chase. Two shadows peeled off the trees ahead, one darting directly into our path. My daggers were soaring through the air a second later. One sunk into the flank of a devil, and it howled before leaping back into the trees. The other missed by a hair but still caused the feline monster to retreat.

The daggers flew back into my outstretched palms, and I immediately threw them again. More angry screams. The muscles in my thighs burned, but between embracing my bloodlust and it being nighttime, I was nowhere near my limit. Behind me, I heard Vail cut away anything that got too close to us.

For a few minutes, I thought we actually might make it, then my foot caught on a tree root and I stumbled. The moon devils seized the opportunity, and their magic flooded me again.

I stumbled once more and barely managed to right myself as sheer panic gripped me.

“If you can’t run, we die.”

Another raised root snagged my foot, but this time, I didn’t recover fast enough. My shoulder hit the ground first, and I flipped over, barely managing to avoid stabbing myself with my own blades.

“Samara!” Vail bellowed.

The devils were there instantly. One snapped at my leg, and only Vail yanking me back kept me from losing a foot. Then he practically threw me forward, causing me to stagger a few steps before I spun around as he released a pain-filled snarl.

Blood poured from his thigh, but the devil was writhing on the ground where Vail had pinned it with his sword. Another leapt for his back, aiming for his exposed neck, but my dagger sank into its throat instead. The dead weight still carried forward, and Vail grunted when the fifty-pound creature slammed into his back, almost taking him off his feet.

All around us, devils released sharp sounds—an eerie mix between a cough and bark—between those clicking sounds they clearly used to communicate. Blood filled the air, both ours and theirs, and I could feel their magic trying to seep into my mind again.

“FUCK OFF!” I screamed as the dagger slid free from the throat of the one I’d killed and landed back in my hand. We needed to move. Now. “Come on, Vail.” I shoved one dagger back into my thigh sheath and grabbed his hand that wasn’t holding the sword. “Time to go.”

He took a step forward and faltered, blood soaking his entire right leg. I didn’t think they’d broken any bones, but the devil had clearly torn through a lot of flesh. I could feel the excitement of the beasts around us as they slunk through the shadows. They’d temporarily backed off after we’d killed two of their own, but it was only a matter of time before they had another opportunity to strike.

“Go,” Vail ordered, his face pale. “I’ll only slow you down.”

“Who’s being whiny now, Marshal ?” I snarled in his face. “We’re a team, Vail. You go down, I go down.”

Fury lit up his silver eyes, and I let my bloodlust fully off the chain, knowing my eyes were nothing but solid black pools.

“If we die, know that I’m going to beat the shit out of you in whatever afterlife awaits us,” he promised.

“Deal.” I moved to his injured side and gripped his arm. It meant I could only throw with one hand but I couldn’t risk him falling again. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

We ran, not nearly as fast as before, but we kept going. Anytime Vail stumbled, I used every ounce of my strength to keep him on his feet. Between his sword and my dagger, we kept the devils from biting us with their bone-crushing jaws. Unfortunately, they changed tactics and started swiping at our legs with their claws.

Panic and fear still nipped at the edges of my mind. Some of it was definitely mine, but I could feel their influence as well. Up ahead, I could see a break in the trees. Please let that be the dry creek bed, I sent up a prayer to the moon. We just needed to reach the damn cave.

Moon devils raced across the branches, chittering back and forth rapidly. They knew we were close to getting free of the forest, and they didn’t want to lose the advantage of the trees. I swallowed a scream as one of them deeply dug its claws into my calf, yet I somehow managed to stay upright. Vail grunted when I almost went down, more weight going on his injured leg, but I surged up and kept us both running.

The distraction cost me though when two devils flew from the trees on either side of us. My dagger found one while Vail barely managed to knock the other with his sword. Neither of us saw the third one flying directly towards my side, its jaw stretched open wide to sink its fangs into my ribs.

A sound like thunder cracked through the dark forest, and the devil that had been flying through the air at me jerked and veered off course. Another thunderous boom sounded from behind us, and as one, the devils released a high-pitched, undulating wail before falling back. Whether they were converging on whatever was attacking them or just retreating, I didn’t know and didn’t care.

“Vail!” I shouted. “Creek bed! Where do we go?”

We crashed to a halt, both of us breathing hard as Vail whipped his head around, taking in our surroundings. “West. Half mile.” He grimaced and tentatively pulled away from my support, testing his leg. “Let’s go before they come back or something else is attracted to the blood.”

For a moment, I stood there, bathed in moonlight, and looked back into the dark forest where I could hear the devils hunting whatever had saved us.

“Thanks, beastie,” I whispered, “and good hunting.”

Twenty minutes later, Vail and I collapsed onto the floor of a small underground cave. The only reason it’d taken us so long to find it was because the sky had opened up and dumped what felt like a lake’s worth of water on us. Visibility had been so poor that we’d walked past the cave and had to backtrack, the entrance barely noticeable.

I winced as I dipped my fingers into the bleeding wound on my calf before drawing the glyph for seal in the dirt and on each side of the narrow cave mouth. This spell wasn’t particularly powerful—wraiths could have breezed on by it and it would shatter if it was physically hit too many times—but it would prevent anything from hearing or scenting us, and we’d been careful not to let any blood drip from our wounds close to the cave. I waited until I felt the magic lock into place before heading back towards Vail.

“I don’t know how the Velesians deal with these sudden showers all the time.” I shivered and tugged my cold, wet tunic away from my skin with a grimace. “There’s no way these are going to dry in here.”

“The sun will rise in a few hours.” Vail set his sword next to where he was sitting on the floor, examining his leg. He’d pulled a small Fae lantern from his pack along with a canteen of water and some dried meat. “We’ll use that time to heal and rest and then try to cover as much ground as possible during the day, but we’ll likely still need to travel at least a few hours at night if we’re to reach Rynn on time.”

I nodded and sat on the cool, hard floor, trying very hard not to think about the last time I’d been alone with Vail in a cave while I drew healing glyphs around my various wounds. It’d been easy to block that memory before because I’d been so focused on finding safety, but now we were here . . . and exactly like that night, we’d barely survived a monster attack and were covered in blood. At least this time, thanks to the rain, most of the blood had been washed away.

Of course that meant I was freezing, but I was still glad we didn’t have to spend the rest of the night covered in sticky blood with no way of rinsing off. One of these days, when I wasn’t busy just trying to survive or unravel nefarious plots, I’d figure out a glyph that could instantly clean and dry clothes.

Vail passed me a piece of dried meat.

“Thanks,” I murmured before popping it into my mouth. Rabbit. My lips twisted in distaste, but I choked it down.

“Sorry.” The corner of Vail’s eyes crinkled in the barest hint of amusement as he handed me several more pieces. “Tried to find venison, but meat supplies are running low so rabbit was the only option.”

I blinked, a little surprised he remembered my food preferences and my strong dislike for the gaminess of rabbit.

“It’s fine,” I said and scarfed down the rest of the gamey bits while sneaking glances at him, trying to gauge if the memory of that night was haunting him the way it was me.

At least once a month, I still woke up in cold sweats, remembering how terrified I’d been as the wind had howled outside that cave and we’d heard the shrieks of the wraiths as they’d searched the forests for us, not to mention the trauma of seeing my parents cut down before my eyes. As a child, I’d thought they’d been invincible. My mother had been so confident that nothing had ever rattled her, and my father had been a skilled fighter from a family of rangers.

The wraiths had gone for them immediately, bypassing other easier prey. I hadn’t understood it then, but I did now. They’d known my parents had been searching for the other half of the soul crown. I wondered if Queen Velika had ordered the attack or if Erendriel had taken the initiative.

Vail and his parents had simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he was right to hate me a little. My family was the reason his were dead, and I’d stopped him from trying to save them.

“I was wrong.”

“What?” I blinked and raised my gaze from where I’d been staring blankly at the floor to meet Vail’s solemn expression.

“No one knows you better than me,” he said evenly. “Not Kieran. Not Rynn or Cali. Me.” He laid a hand over his chest. “You were my best friend long before you were any of theirs. I know every single one of your tells, and I know you better than I know myself.”

“That was then. This is now.” I shook my head, not knowing how to deal with this conversation. Being trapped with him in a fucking cave again was too much. Especially while hashing out our old pain. “You don’t know me at all anymore.”

“Oh yeah?” he challenged. “Tell me you’re not thinking about the night our parents died. That you’re not thinking your parents are responsible for roping my parents into protecting them? And that you’re not feeling guilty about stopping me from running out of that cave like a fucking fool.” He pulled his hand away from his chest and waved it in my direction, inviting me to argue as he bit out his next words. “Tell me, Samara. I fucking dare you.”

I held his steely gaze, refusing to look away, but what the fuck could I say to that? He was right. It pissed me off that he was able to crack open my mind and see all my thoughts so easily.

He let out a humorless laugh. “Exactly.”

“Your parents were only there that night because they were protecting mine,” I said hotly. “And I did take away your choice, Vail. You were my friend, my only fucking friend, and I didn’t want you to die too, but it wasn’t my fucking choice to make, was it?” I choked off the last word before rubbing my face. If I could avoid caves for a while, that would be great. Clearly nothing good came of them.

“I was wrong,” Vail repeated. “If you hadn’t knocked me out and prevented me from running out of that cave, I would have died that night, and you would have too, because we both know you would have followed me out into the night.”

He was right. I would have followed Vail anywhere back then. Fuck, I would follow him anywhere now, despite all the animosity between us. Apparently I was a fool too.

“You don’t get to rewrite history, Samara.” The kindness in his voice finally made me look at him again. It wasn’t just the echoes of grief I saw reflected in his eyes. There was acceptance too. “My parents loved yours. It wasn’t just a case of the Marshals being devoted to the rulers of a House. They were friends, and they died trying to protect each other, and us. The last thing my father told me to do was protect you.”

“The last thing mine told me to do was protect you,” I whispered and then shot him a contrite smile. “Sorry I had to hit you over the head with a rock to do it.”

He shrugged. “Sorry I almost let a kùsu eat you a few weeks ago.”

I laughed sharply. “That was a real asshole move. I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life about that overgrown centipede chasing me.”

“I really am sorry.” He winced. “I was just so angry at you. For so fucking long. I let it warp everything about us. ”

“Why, Vail?” I searched his face, trying to find the answer I’d been seeking for the last decade. “Why did you hate me so much? We both lost our parents that night, but you turned on me so quickly.” I couldn’t keep the soft desperation out of my voice.

“It’s complicated.” Vail’s mouth hardened into a flat line, and he looked away from me.

Fuck that. He didn’t get to get off this easily.

“You tried to feed me to an overgrown insect.” I narrowed my eyes. “Explain it.”

Vail’s gaze snapped to mine, and I saw a hint of the accusing anger that I was used to in them. “You never mourned them. I was falling apart, and you carried on like nothing had happened.”

“Carmilla told me I had to be strong.” I swallowed, remembering the exact conversation with her and how distraught she’d been. “That I was the Heir of House Harker and that everyone was counting on me. I wasn’t allowed to fall apart.” He frowned like something about that didn’t make sense, but I barreled on. “My entire life ended in one night, Vail, and when I finally snapped and snuck out of my room to find my best friend and tell him I was fucking breaking, he shoved me into the dirt and said he wished I’d died that night too.”

“I’m sorry,” he rasped. “I didn’t know. I thought . . . Fuck, I don’t know what I thought.” Vail’s brows bunched together before he slowly said, “Carmilla said that you got frustrated with her when she grieved about losing her sister around you.”

“What?” I jerked back like I’d been struck. “Carmilla was concerned I was breaking down and that it would harm my future as the Harker Heir. Everything I did was to prove to her—and the House—that I was worthy of my parents’ legacy, but even then, I never said anything cruel about her grieving.”

Vail’s brows bunched together. “It doesn’t make sense,” he murmured more to himself than to me. “Maybe I’m not remembering it right.”

“Damn fucking right, you’re not,” I said through clenched teeth. There was no way Carmilla would have said such a thing. He must have been so caught up in his hatred that he’d seen or heard something that hadn’t been there.

He shook his head as if clearing his thoughts before those grey eyes focused on me. “All I knew was that I was hurting and you seemed . . . fine.”

“Fine?” I repeated, my voice cracking. “I was falling apart and had no one to talk to. There wasn’t anyone our age back then aside from Alaric, and we didn’t exactly get along.”

“You get along now,” Vail muttered, and I didn’t miss the hint of jealousy in his tone, which snapped me out of the heartache I was feeling and sent me straight into pissed-off territory. He was the one who had ended our friendship. He was the fucking one who had been flipping back and forth between hot and cold since I’d returned. One second damning me and the next saving me.

“After you decided I was no longer worthy of your friendship, I had no one, Vail!” My hands slammed against his chest as I gripped the front of his shirt. I didn’t know if I wanted to shove him away from me or pull him closer. “It wasn’t until Kieran came to live at House Harker that I had another friend, and things between us were always complicated. By the time I went to Drudonia and became close friends with Rynn and Cali—” The words got stuck in my throat as I struggled to get my emotions back in check. “The lie became the truth. Everyone believed I was fine, and I’d gotten really good at hiding the pain. Seemed easier to just go on like that.”

Vail placed his large, warm hands over mine, and I stared at them for a long moment before raising my eyes to meet his, which were full of understanding, like he finally saw me, and something inside me settled. Then his lips curled into a lopsided smile. “We’re both equally fucked.”

“I suppose,” I admitted and shivered as the dampness of my clothes sank into my bones.

“Truce?” Vail offered and squeezed my hands.

“You were the only one declaring war,” I felt the need to point out.

“Please,” Vail scoffed. “You used to prance around in those skimpy outfits every time you were back visiting from Drudonia.”

I stared at him wide-eyed. “What are you talking about?”

Vail leaned forward, silver flickering in his eyes. “You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he said in a deep voice that had my toes curling. “Every summer, you would come back for a few weeks, usually dragging Rynn and Cali with you, and the three of you would generate chaos around House Harker as you ran around basically naked.”

“Oh.” I tilted my head and thought about it. We’d started doing that when the three of us were eighteen. Three years before I was supposed to marry Demetri. I’d been going through a bit of a wild phase, and Cali and Rynn had only been too happy to participate. “Honestly, I was just trying to make Kieran jealous. It never worked because usually he had his tongue down the throat of some other girl.”

“It definitely worked.” Vail chuckled, and my heart skipped a beat. “As soon as you left, we’d all have to deal with Kieran’s mood swings for months afterwards. Honestly, I’m surprised Alaric didn’t drown him in the ocean. Or himself. I caught him staring after you more than once.”

My lips curved into a victorious grin. “Good to know.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Vail shook his head, a faint smile on his lips.

“Did you?” I asked .

“Did I what?” He quirked an eyebrow, and I raised mine in return.

“Ever get jealous?”

Vail looked at me for a long moment and then shrugged. “Of course. Rynn is pretty hot.”

“Cade will kick your ass.” I glared at him, ignoring the flare of jealousy I sensed and the fact that I actually had no idea how the leader of the Alpha Pack felt about Rynn.

“Unlikely.” Vail bared his fangs at me even as light danced in his eyes. “I’m faster than that old bear.”

“He’s only a couple of decades older than us.” I laughed.

Vail gave me an unimpressed look before releasing my hands and stretching out on the cave floor. I didn’t think everything was completely fixed between us, but I felt . . . lighter? The painful history was still there, but for the first time, I thought that maybe Vail and I had a chance at something new.

What that new thing was I had no idea. Friends? More than friends?

Before I could ponder that more, an involuntary shiver ran through my limbs. This cave wasn’t exactly warm, and I was standing there in cold, wet clothes that were clinging uncomfortably to my skin.

Sighing quietly, I started pulling them off. There was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep in them.

“What are you doing?” Vail asked in a rough tone as he stared at me with silver winding its way through his eyes.

“I’m not sleeping in wet clothes. At least this way, they’ll hopefully be only damp in the morning.” My fingers felt along the wall until I found some creases that I could tuck the edges of my tunic and pants into so they could hang. I left the thin shirt I wore under my tunic on along with my underwear, but I did turn my back to Vail and reach under my shirt to unlace the band I wore around my breasts .

A moan of relief slipped from my lips before I shoved the band into another crevice.

I heard Vail rise behind me, and when I glanced over my shoulder, my mouth went dry as he pulled off his wet vest and tunic. He had his back to me, and it had never occurred to me until this moment that well-defined back muscles were hot as hell. Even though scars littered his lightly tanned skin, my fingers itched to trail over each one and to feel his corded muscles beneath my touch. The healing glyphs hadn’t been enough to fix the damage he’d taken over the years.

You’re only feeling this way because you almost died an hour ago, I told myself, but when I’d returned to House Harker, I’d embraced a new motto.

Want something? Take something.

Vail could absolutely not be one of those things though… right? Alaric might be complicated, but I had no doubt he desired me. More than that, we had something that could work if we were both willing to try. Despite this heartfelt conversation with Vail, I didn’t entirely know what he wanted, and more importantly, I didn’t think he did either. Until he made that decision clear, I wouldn’t allow him to break my heart more than he already had every time he’d spat on our friendship.

“How’s your leg?”

I frowned as Vail tugged his pants off and then realized that by staring at his thigh, I was dangerously close to staring at something else that was hidden only by the thin fabric of his underwear.

Nope. Not going there. I jerked my gaze away and took a seat on the cavern floor again.

“It will be sore tomorrow, but I should be able to move okay.” Either he hadn’t noticed me almost staring at his dick, or he was choosing not to comment on it. I couldn’t decide if I was disappointed by that .

“Do you . . . ah . . . need to drink?” My gaze hesitantly flicked to his as he took a seat across from me.

We both knew I wasn’t talking about water.

“No,” he said in a guarded tone, but his eyes still darted to my neck as silver flickered in them. “You should save your strength.”

“I fed deeply from Roth and Kieran this morning.” My eyes fell to his exposed thigh. The six-inch wound was mostly healed across the top, but the skin was still red and puffy. “If you’re not at one hundred percent tomorrow, you’ll slow us down,” I pointed out.

Vail’s even stare told me he wasn’t swayed by my logic. I shook my head, but it was his choice, and if he said he was fine, then I’d drop it.

I stretched out across the hard dirt floor of the cave. It was a far cry from my soft bed at House Harker or even the lumpy but relatively comfortable one I’d slept in at the outpost on our way to the Velesian realm. Between our surroundings and Vail though, I couldn’t help thinking again about those nights we’d hidden in the cave after the wraiths had attacked our caravan.

My already cold body shivered at the memory. I was mentally and physically exhausted from the encounter with the devils and our heartfelt conversation, but we had to keep going in a few hours, which meant I needed to rest. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to force my mind to let me sleep.

The dampness of the cave only burrowed further into my skin, and I began to shiver. I turned onto my side, hoping that less contact with the cold earth would help.

It did not. Neither did my long, wet hair.

I sighed, about to give up on getting any sleep, when a large arm wrapped around my waist and tugged me back against a broad chest.

“Your teeth were chattering,” Vail said tightly as every part of me went absolutely still. “It was annoying. Body heat will help.”

“Right,” I half squeaked. Every part of Vail was pressed up against my back. He’d slid his other arm underneath my head and even threw a leg over mine. Body heat. This was just about survival. I was feeling warmer already. My teeth had stopped clacking against each other, and the shivering was mostly gone too.

I snuggled a little further into Vail’s arms, and he seemed to stop breathing for a moment. Then the arm around my waist tightened slightly, and I felt his beard tickle the back of my neck. I tried to remind myself of all the reasons getting involved with Vail was a bad idea, but for every bad memory, there was a good one.

“Why is this so confusing?” I whispered.

“Because I should hate you.” His breath danced across my skin. “But I can’t. And you shouldn’t trust me, but you do.”

His hand slipped underneath my shirt and made lazy circles over my belly. Each circular motion drifted a little higher until his thumb brushed the underside of my breast. I gasped and pressed a little harder into him, his hard length pressing against my ass, only the thin fabric of our remaining clothing separating us.

“You were right earlier,” he said in a soft voice. “I should drink.”

Any attempts at being rational and maybe offering him my wrist instead of my neck fled as his teeth grazed my skin, not breaking it, just waiting for me to say yes.

Fuck it. I’d be rational in the morning.

“Drink,” I commanded, and a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold ran through me when one hand cupped my breast while the other wrapped around my throat and squeezed lightly. “Fuck, Vail,” I groaned and raised my hand so I could bury it in his hair, holding him tighter against me. My thighs clenched together, and an aching need started to build as he roughly rolled a thumb over my pebbled nipple.

The hand on my neck slid up, guiding my face to the side so he could get better access to my throat. Then teeth nipped at me before his beard rubbed roughly against my skin. My breathing quickened as he hungrily kissed my neck, still playing with my nipple, and raised his head enough to whisper in my ear, “Are you wet for me, Heir?”

“Find out for yourself, Marshal,” I said huskily.

“I know you are.” His hand moved to play with my other nipple, rolling it between his fingers and making me squirm against him. “I can smell it. Your cunt was dripping as soon as I touched you.”

“Fuck, why are you all such dirty talkers?” I whimpered.

Vail tore his hand from my breast and shoved it between my legs, pushing my underwear to the side while using his leg to spread mine wider. “Don’t”—he shoved two fingers inside me with zero warning, and I let out a strangled moan as he gripped me to him while harshly pumping his fingers in and out—“talk about the others when I’m inside you.”

“You weren’t,” I panted, “inside me yet.”

The hand around my chin pulled it further to the side before Vail struck, his fangs piercing my neck just as another finger joined the others that were fucking me hard. The sharp pain mixed with the building pleasure was too much, and I came all over his hand.

He pulled it free to flick my overly sensitive clit before rubbing it with two of his fingers that were slick from my arousal. I jerked in his grasp, but his arm tightened around me, keeping me flush against his body.

“Vail,” I half whimpered and half moaned as he continued to tease me. His fangs slid out, and he laughed against my neck before sliding one of his legs between mine to rotate us until he was beneath me, my back still flat against his chest. The leg that was between mine leaned to the outside, making my legs spread even more.

“Next time we do this,” he rumbled into my ear, “it’ll be in front of a mirror. That way, we can watch me fuck you. Watch as my fingers disappear”—he thrust three fingers inside me, stretching me out, and I moaned from the fullness—“into this perfect, tight little pussy of yours.”

Shivers coursed through me as he continued to pump his fingers in and out, his thumb occasionally brushing over the sensitive bundle of nerves, causing my hips to buck. Vail increased his pace until my entire body was trembling.

As if he could sense how close I was, his fangs grazed my neck again before slowly sinking in. He didn’t drink, just bit down hard, as if he was pinning me in place, claiming me.

That was all it took to push me over the edge. My pussy clenched around his fingers as the orgasm rolled through me, and I screamed his name again before sagging against him in a boneless heap.

My eyes had shut at some point, but I heard him licking his fingers after he withdrew them. Then he shifted us until we were both on our sides once more. I could feel his erection pressed against me, but when I reached around to slip my hand into his undershorts, he stopped me and guided it back to rest on my hip.

“You need rest,” he said roughly. “And if my cock gets inside you . . . I won’t be able to stop for hours.”

The reality of what we’d just done crashed into me. I was lying on a cave floor with the man who had once been my dearest friend, then became one of my worst enemies, and now . . . I didn’t know where we stood or how much I could truly trust him.