Page 102 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

Samara let out a delicate laugh. “You could say that. The three of us used to dare each other to race up the tree and tap the flower and avoid getting a bunch of thorns in the ass.”

“That doesn’t surprise me in the least.” Alaric snorted. “This also explains why you came home that one time and refused to sit down. Carmilla had put on a welcome home dinner for you, and you stood the whole time.”

“I remember that,” Samara replied with a cringe. “I got cocky and tried to tap two flowers in a row and got an ass full of thorns for my arrogance.”

Nyx cackled and even I couldn’t keep the barest of smiles off my lips. That was the true danger of Samara. In moments like this, I could almost forget how much I hated her.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Samara

I pointedout a few more plants and animals as we made our way towards the mesa where the temple was located. While the badlands weren’t my favorite place, there was something about this place that I loved. In moderation, that is. I loved this place in moderation.

Sweat dripped down the back of my neck, and I swiped some of my hair that was stuck to the side of my face away. The sun here was unrelenting. It didn’t help that Alaric was plastered to my back, so I had his body heat to deal with as well, but if I asked him to move back a little, he would no doubt lose his balance and fall off. Cali swerved a little more to the west, leading us to the side of the mesa.

“Oh,” I breathed out, my eyes widening as I took in the sight. “I’ve never seen one like this before.”

Up close, I could see the veins of amethyst and serpentine running up the side of the mesa walls. The purple and green minerals created mesmerizing patterns against the nearly white stone. I waited for Alaric to dismount and then I did the same before stepping closer to the stone and tracing my fingers along a spiral of eye-catching crystal.

“Maybe this is why they selected this mesa to build a temple,” Alaric mused from next to me.

“Perhaps.” I tilted my head back so that I could see more of the patterns. “I’ve seen some of the other mesas and while they’re pretty and often have minerals running up them, they’re more rugged. This looks too flat and shiny to be totally natural.”

“Wait till you see the temple entrance,” Cali said as she landed quietly behind us. “The Fae must have used a ridiculous amount of magic to build all of this.”

“Why, though?” I asked. “And why here, of all places?”

“Hopefully, we’ll find more answers inside,” Cali said. “The entrance is around the corner.”

We secured our horses using some metal spikes that we shoved into the earth and looped their reins around, and then I fastened the crossbow to the saddle once more. It would be too slow against wraiths, and my aim was just as good if not better with the dagger strapped to my thigh.

Although, if I threw it, I’d be giving up my only weapon.

I frowned. Once we made it back home, I should ask Roth more about the blood magic they used for their ribbons. A dagger that responded to my mental commands could be handy…

“No talking once we’re inside,” Vail said once the horses were secure. It was still hard to look at him without my bloodlust rising.

The fucker had left me for dead, and now he was acting like nothing happened. I schooled my features into a bland expression while he went through some basic hand signals with us. As long as I focused on the task at hand, I could handle being in Vail’s company without attempting to rip his throat out.

Probably. If I stayedveryfocused.

“Remember, our goal is to figure out what the wraiths areup to,” Vail said firmly. “We should avoid confronting them if we can. Even if we outnumber them, wraiths are nasty in a fight.”

“And if they don’t detect us, we can continue to monitor them and gather information,” I added.

Something told me we weren’t going to get lucky and just walk in on the wraiths carefully explaining all the details of their evil plan. The longer we could watch them without detection, the more information we could potentially gather.

Cali took point since she was the best among us at detecting wraiths, and Vail followed after her. Alaric and I were next, with Nyx once again taking up the rear.

I exhaled sharply when we turned the corner and I saw the front of the temple. Cali wasn’t kidding. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. The lower half of the white stone had been cut away, creating an overhang that functioned as a roof for the open space below. A dozen pillars sprung down from the ceiling and spiraled towards the earth.

My fingers quietly ran across one. It was smooth and cool beneath my touch. Lines of jade wound around this one, almost as if they had been coaxed toward the surface. There were no signs of any tools being used to create these, making me wonder if they were all done by magic.

Roth would love this place if I could ever convince them to leave the library and traipse into the badlands.

A few yards behind the columns stood an enormous arched entrance. The sun hung low enough in the sky that it hit the other side of the mesa, leaving this side in shadow.

Trepidation ran through my blood as we took in the darkness that awaited us inside.

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