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

Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Samara

“Thank you, Lucian.” Carmilla took the crown from him and settled it onto her head, then her dark eyes fell on the guards still holding me. “Release my niece.”

“Yes, my queen,” they both replied and immediately stepped back. I staggered and almost fell without the support. Demetri stepped forward to steady me but halted at the look I gave him.

“Carmilla,” I croaked. “What the fuck is going on?”

“I’m so sorry, Samara. It was too risky to tell you what I had planned considering the company you’ve been keeping lately.” She glanced pointedly at where Draven was chained up before striding towards the dais. Lucian rose and guided her around Velika’s still warm body before standing beside the throne as she took a seat.

Everyone in the room knelt before their new queen, except me and Draven, but he was barely conscious at this point and couldn’t have kneeled anyway with the chains holding him up.

“The crown . . .” I started and then stopped, drawing in a deep breath. She must not know what it was truly capable of, because she never would have placed it on her head otherwise. “You have no idea what it can do. We have to dest?—”

“It’s half of the soul crown.” She smiled at me. “This part binds souls, the other half sees them. Without that second half, it’s quite time-consuming to instill your will on others. A blood exchange is required, and if their will is strong, they can still fight it, but the two halves together will solve that issue.”

Dread filled me. “What are you saying?”

“Don’t give me that look, Samara,” Carmilla chided. “You understand the threat Erendriel and the wraiths pose. We cannot allow infighting amongst the Moon Blessed to weaken us at a time like this.”

“I understand that, but enslaving people against their wills cannot be the answer.” I shook my head. This couldn’t be right. The Moroi leader I’d looked up to for the last decade . . . the person who had raised me after my parents had died . . . she couldn’t possibly be doing this. “Please, Carmilla,” I rasped. “Take the crown off.”

“I was worried you’d react this way.” She sighed and traded glances with Demetri, who stepped closer, causing me to tense. The guards who had released me a minute ago moved to my other side, boxing me in. “I’m sure you’ll come around eventually. You always were a smart and ambitious girl.”

She didn’t have the other half of the crown. I wouldn’t tell her, and despite everything, surely Carmilla wouldn’t resort to torturing Kieran and Alaric to get it out of me? Uncertainty flickered through me. Exactly how much had I gotten wrong about who Carmilla really was?

Draven’s labored breathing drew my attention. His skin was pale and clammy, and an alarming amount of blood soaked his clothes. I needed to get him help and figure out why he wasn’t healing, then I’d try to talk some sense into Carmilla.

This was still fixable. I could fix this. I could?—

“Vail?” Carmilla called as she held her hand out .

“No,” I whispered. Demetri’s hand clamped down on my arm, and I was rooted in place as Vail strode towards the throne, not looking at me once, and withdrew the gold half of the soul crown from beneath his cloak.

The same crown Rynn had been in possession of.

“I’ll go check on her.”

He’d gone after Rynn as soon as she’d been alone and taken the crown from her. She never would have given it to him willingly.

“What did you do, Vail!” I screamed, and he finally looked at me.

“I did as my queen ordered,” he said calmly, even as I saw the regret in his eyes.

“Rynn . . . Is she—” My voice broke as tears streamed down my face, and I couldn’t bring myself to finish the question.

“She’s fine,” he assured me. “I just knocked her out and then placed a keep-away spell around her so Cade and the others wouldn’t find her right away.”

“‘Just knocked her out?’” I stared at him. “She was your friend. She trusted you. I trusted you.”

“What did you expect?” Demetri drawled. “He had to choose one of you. His queen or his latest fuck. Who did you think he would pick?”

“Demetri,” Carmilla snapped. “Watch how you speak about my niece or I’ll change my mind about our arrangement.”

I couldn’t even bring myself to care about what that meant. All I could do was stare at the gleaming gold crown in Vail’s hand. “Don’t,” I begged him.

Vail swallowed . . . and then passed the crown to Carmilla.

Something inside me shattered into a thousand pieces, and I couldn’t stop the pained sound from slipping from my lips. Demetri’s grip on me tightened, and I yelped .

“Don’t fucking touch her,” Vail growled, and Demetri had enough sense to look a little worried before loosening his hold, but he didn’t completely let me go.

“Oh, that’s rich.” Lucian laughed. “You can stop pretending now, Vail. I mean, honestly, I didn’t think you had it in you, but good on you for mixing work and pleasure.”

“Fuck you, Lucian,” Vail snapped before sending me a pleading look. “It wasn’t like that, I swear. What happened in the cave, in the cabin, all of it. It wasn’t . . . I wasn’t . . .” He struggled to explain, but I just turned away, not able to look at him anymore.

I was such a fucking fool. This whole time, I’d been worried about Draven stabbing me in the back when I should have been looking at the male who’d already betrayed me numerous times and had told me to my face more than once that he hated me.

“Sam, I—” Vail tried again, but I cut him off.

My head snapped back to glare at him, hoping he saw every wrathful promise about how much I would make him pay. “You don’t get to call me that.” Vail’s face fell, but he could go fuck himself.

Then I looked at Demetri’s fingers still wrapped around my wrist and raised my gaze to meet my ex-husband’s light brown eyes. He stroked his thumb across my skin, and I wanted to hurl. “I told you when you left House Laurent that we could come to an understanding about our marriage, but you didn’t listen.”

“And I told you,” I purred and leaned into him, and Demetri’s eyes darkened before his gaze snagged on my lips, “that the only understanding I was capable of coming to was one that involved your cock flopping around on the floor and you bleeding out at my feet.”

His eyes widened, and he screamed as I dug my claws into his crotch. I was pretty sure I’d missed and mostly gotten thigh, unfortunately. Then I was slammed into the floor as he flung me away from him. Vail was there in an instant to help me up, but I snarled in his face before rising on my own.

“You fucking whore!” Demetri screamed as he cradled his wounded dick. Apparently I had gotten him after all.

Vail growled, and Carmilla let out a long-suffering sigh like we were children fighting over sweets. A pained laugh rang through the air, and I whirled to Draven. He was conscious again and standing but still looked like shit.

“I hope she tore it off.” His laugh turned into a cough, and the chains clinked together as he struggled to breathe.

“We need to get those chains off him.” I stepped forward, but Vail wrapped his arms around me, pinning mine to my sides. Unlike Demetri, Vail knew I was perfectly capable of violence and made sure I was completely immobilized. “He had no choice in obeying her!” I struggled in Vail’s hold even though I knew it was pointless. “Draven is not our enemy!”

Carmilla rose from the throne, taking Lucian’s hand as he guided her down the dais. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Carmilla was involved with Lucian. Based on how he was looking at my aunt like she was one of the ancient gods reborn, this was more than just a political arrangement. He was in love with her. Had he always been? Or was this something new?

Exactly how much had Carmilla been hiding from me? Another stabbing pain shot through my chest. Her betrayal hurt just as much as Vail’s. I loved her. She was my only family left. I didn’t know if she had suggested Vail get close to me or if it had been his idea, but either way, two people I cared for deeply had conspired against me.

Some dark part of me wondered if Alaric was in on it too. I would bet every piece of the shattered remains of my heart that Kieran and Roth had no idea this was going on. Kieran would never have lied to me, and Roth would have told them to go fuck themselves.

“There is so much you don’t understand,” Carmilla said sadly as she stopped in front of me. Then she raised her hand to tuck my hair behind my ear like she’d done my entire life, but I jerked my head away from her as much as I could, which wasn’t much thanks to Vail’s iron grip. Though it was enough to make her lower her hand and take a step back.

“Vail informed me of what you all saw in the temple.”

“Of course he did,” I ground out, and Vail stiffened behind me. “But Draven had no choice! He had to serve Velika because of that fucking crown!” My eyes flicked up to the united gold and silver crown that now rested atop Carmilla’s dark hair. “The one that you’re planning on using to enslave our people.”

“You’re being a bit dramatic, dear.” She gave me a small, placating smile. “This crown was made for the Fae and it responds to our magic . . . oddly. I’m not going to just walk around Lunaria and make everyone kneel to me. Logistically, that doesn’t make sense, and I have no desire to do so anyway. I will only use it in situations where I have no choice.”

“Forgive me for not believing you, Aunt,” I said evenly. “It seems I’ve chosen poorly about who to trust these days.”

“Draven is Erendriel’s son,” she said without any preamble. “He is half Fae.”

For a brief moment, shock cut through the rage I was feeling. Draven was half Fae. Erendriel’s son . . .

Fuck it. I didn’t care. Draven was mine .

“If you think . . . I’m loyal”—Draven coughed harder and sucked in a breath. I could hear his lungs rattling from here—“to my piece of shit father, you’re even crazier than my mother.” He rushed out the last words before doubling over and vomiting blood .

I frantically pulled against Vail. “Let me help him, damn you!”

“It’s the iron,” Carmilla explained. “The Fae can’t stand it. Velika used to cut him up with it, and I’m pretty sure there are still some pieces buried in his chest. She really did hate him,” my aunt mused. “I never did understand why.”

“Please,” I begged. “Just let me help him before it’s too late.”

“He’s not dying,” Lucian said dismissively. “Trust me—he’s looked way worse than this. Haven’t you, boy?”

Speaking seemed to be beyond Draven now, because all he could do was glare at Lucian.

“I understand you care for him,” Carmilla said softly, “but we don’t know how much control his father has over him. He cannot be trusted, and it’s a risk to let him live.”

“Please,” I pleaded. I couldn’t lose Draven. Not only because I’d promised to keep him safe, but because I was pretty sure I was falling in love with him. Something in his soul called to mine, and I couldn’t let that go. Plus, he loved Kieran, and my sweet Kier loved him in return. “I’ll work with you. Help you. Just please don’t kill him.”

“Seriously?” Demetri sneered at me. “Fuck this.” He stalked towards Draven, who pulled against the chains but had nowhere to go.

“Stop!” I screamed, and for a second, I thought Vail would let me go, but then he tightened his grip again.

“Demetri!” Carmilla barked.

But the House Laurent Heir didn’t hesitate as he grabbed a sword from one of the nearby guards and shoved it through Draven’s gut.

“He’s alive,” Carmilla said from where she stood on the other side of the bars. After Demetri had stabbed Draven, I’d absolutely lost it.

I was still a little murky about what had happened. The ground had trembled, I remembered that much. Maybe Draven had tried to rally his Fae magic? At some point, Vail had either let me go or I’d slipped free from his grasp to dash towards Draven.

I brushed my fingers together and looked down at the cold and sticky blood on them. Draven’s blood. I had reached him. Freed him. I remembered a spark of magic and then the chains disintegrating like they’d never been there.

But that couldn’t have been right . . . I must have somehow unlatched them.

Everything had been so chaotic. Draven had sagged against me, the building had shaken, and then . . . darkness.

I’d woken up in a cell, presumably in the dungeon of the Sovereign House.

“It’s admirable that you think I’d take your word about anything at this point,” I rasped and moved to a sitting position against the wall. My throat felt like it was on fire.

She tossed a leather waterskin through the bars, and I snatched it up. I sniffed it but didn’t detect anything obvious in it. Carmilla let out an annoyed sound when I hesitated for another second before guzzling the water down. It’s not like I could refuse to eat and drink forever.

Besides, she had a crown capable of binding souls. Poisoned or spelled water was the least of my worries.

I wondered if my bloodline would protect me against the crown. It hadn’t protected Draven, at least not entirely. Would Carmilla use it against me?

Had she used it against Vail? Or was I just desperate to believe he hadn’t had a choice in betraying me?

Carmilla laughed under her breath. “I can practically feel you thinking from here, trying to puzzle out what has happened and planning for possible contingencies.” Her dark purple eyes, which were identical to my own, danced with amusement in the dim lighting. “You make me proud.”

“Funny.” I wiped the back of my hand against my mouth. “Your decisions lately have made me sick.”

The corners of her mouth tightened. “You’re young. It’s easy to be idealistic when you haven’t been dealing with everyone’s bullshit and ridiculous demands for almost a century.”

I stared at the roughed-up stone floor of my cell. Moroi politics were frustrating because every House was out for themselves. We were desperately fighting for survival, but instead of cooperating, everyone was plotting how to spin the deal in their favor. It hadn’t always been like this. I had no actual proof of that, but I had to believe it because there was no way we would have survived as long as we had if we hadn’t worked together before.

The Moroi hadn’t always looked down on the Velesians or feared the Furies, the Velesians hadn’t always been so distrustful, and the Furies hadn’t always been so isolated. The Moon Blessed were falling apart.

I refused to believe that using magic to control them against their wills was the answer though, because what was the fucking point of that? There were monsters . . . and then there were fucking monsters . I had to make my aunt see that.

“Perhaps, you’re right,” I said, making sure to add a clear reluctance to my tone. “But surely you see things from my point of view? I mean, you had the Marshal of our House spy on me, betray me, and you commanded him to use our relationship to—” I inhaled sharply. The pain I felt with each breath wasn’t an act.

“I didn’t tell him to do that,” Carmilla said quickly. “In fact, I specifically warned him off that path. Given your future with Demetri, that didn’t seem wise. ”

“What future?” I asked, ignoring the fear igniting in my gut. “Our marriage is over. You fucking agreed to it!” I slapped my palms against the cell floor.

As the leader of House Harker, her signature had been required on the dissolution paperwork, and she’d signed it without hesitation.

“This isn’t an agreement with House Laurent,” Carmilla said carefully. “Marvina is . . . a problem, but the Laurent bloodline is important, and Demetri and I have come to an understanding.”

“What did you promise him?” I asked sharply.

“Not what you’re thinking,” Carmilla hissed. “If you truly don’t want him, then we’ll figure something out, but you have to at least give him a chance?—”

“I was married to him for three fucking years!” I shot to my feet and slammed my hands against the bars. Carmilla jerked back. “I only did that because I wanted to make you fucking proud of me!”

“Samara.” She gave me a chiding look. “Be reasonab?—”

“Fuck you!” I screamed. “I’ve done everything you’ve ever asked of me, including marrying that asshole! You don’t get to tell me who to love anymore!”

“You’re a Harker.” Carmilla drew herself up and gave me a steady look. “Love is irrelevant. You had to have known your future didn’t involve marrying courtiers or advisors.”

I was acutely aware of every beat my heart took, and I felt my bloodlust rising in a protective wave around me as my eyes bled black and my nails hardened into claws.

“My future is my own.” I bared my fangs at her, and I could have sworn I felt the cell bars trembling beneath my grip. “And I fucking dare you to try to take that from me.”

Carmilla touched the crown on her head. “We’ll see.”