Page 10 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

“Surely, you’re not planning on going out on your own?” one of the other girls blurted. When I looked at her, she paled and shook her head violently. “Apologies, my lady! I didn’t mean to question you! I just—I wasn’t—”

She looked at Rose for help as she started to hyperventilate.

“Don’t worry yourself, Catrina,” I said gently. She blinked at hearing her name come from my lips.

Rose was the one who waited on me the most, but I’d been working on learning the names of all the staff members while I’d been here. Some of them I rarely interacted with though, such as the girl sitting with Rose and Catrina. She might be new, or she worked somewhere in the large fortress I didn’t frequent often.

I calmly explained, “The road to House Harker runs along the coast, and there are rarely attacks there. Besides, I’ll arrive well before dark.”

If it’d been even a couple of hours later, I wouldn’t have considered making this ride today despite how desperately I wanted to get out of this House. The world outside the thick walls of our fortresses was a dangerous one during daylight hours, but the dark belonged to the wraiths and other monsters.

I shivered at the thought of being out at night. I’d only experienced it a couple of times in my life, but the memories were forever etched into my mind.

Rose bit her bottom lip as she looked at me, clearly not liking this plan, but also knowing she couldn’t stop me.

“Here, take these too.” She quickly packed together somedried meat and more fruit, which she handed to me, and I tucked them away in my bag. When she passed me a couple squares of chocolate, my eyebrows crept up in surprise.

It was a delicacy and usually saved for special occasions. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d had some. Maybe my birthday two years ago?

When she noticed my expression, she gave me a sheepish shrug. “Lady Marvina requested some for a meeting last week, but they barely ate half of it, so we stashed it in here.”

I smiled as I pulled one square out and placed it in my pack with the rest of the food. “The three of you should enjoy it.” Rose tried to refuse, but I grabbed her hand and somewhat forcibly placed the chocolate in her palm. “You deserve it far more than me, and chocolate is one of those things that should be enjoyed whenever you have the chance.”

Catrina and the other servant girl shyly smiled at me before breaking off a piece and popping it into their mouths. Then they both let out twin moans of pleasure before staring at each other and bursting into giggles. I huffed a laugh at their antics before I shifted the pack further onto my shoulder.

“I need to get going,” I said. “I suspect my dear husband is crying in his mother’s lap right now, and I don’t want to be around for any further drama.”

Rose barked out a laugh, and the other two girls covered their mouths while they tried to hold in their chuckles.

I winked at Rose. “If you ever need help, don’t hesitate to reach out. I mean it, Rose.”

“Do you think you’ll be coming back?” I felt a little guilty at the sadness that touched her eyes, but I didn’t want to lie.

“I can’t say for sure, but I’d say it’s unlikely.”

She nodded in understanding. “Safe travels, Lady Samara.”

With that, I took my leave and headed towards the stables. I hoped that Rose would reach out to me if she or any of the other staff needed help, but I wasn’t holding my breath. If Iended up truly never returning here, I’d have to figure out a way to check in on them.

Thankfully, I didn’t encounter anyone else on the way to the stables. I was a little surprised to find them empty but decided to count my blessings. I was perfectly capable of saddling my own horse.

“Hello, my love,” I crooned at the dapple grey mare who stuck her head out at my arrival.

Most of the horses were used by the rangers to patrol the surrounding area, but one of my only requests upon arriving at House Laurent was a horse of my own.

Zosa had been a wedding gift to me from Demetri. At the time, I thought it was very sweet, and I gave him a very enthusiastic thank you that night, but now I knew that he’d likely had nothing to do with choosing Zosa. He’d just put in the request to someone else, and they’d done it.

I set my bag by her stall and quickly went about collecting her tack and readying her for the journey. She snorted and nudged me in the shoulder as I led her out of the stall.

“We’ll be out of here soon, sweetheart,” I murmured.

I tied my bag to the back of the saddle and did a final check to make sure everything was secure.

Zosa thought it was fun to hold her breath and puff up her belly so that the saddle came loose after someone climbed onto her, but I’d grown up riding far trickier mounts, so none of her shenanigans got by me.

The sun shone brightly above us as I led her out of the stables. It was nearing noon, which meant I now had less than seven hours to make it to House Harker. The single guard on duty at the gate leading out of House Laurent spotted me from his perch, and his eyes widened. I chuckled under my breath as he desperately swung his head back and forth, probably looking for someone of higher rank than him to deal with this.

Usually, when I went out for rides, I had at least two rangers with me, but there was currently not a ranger in sight.

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