Page 32 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

“Whatever,” he said flippantly. “Just don’t start shoving your tongue down her throat in front of me. I don’t need more nightmare fuel.”

“I’ll be sure to protect your delicate sensibilities,” I retorted in an equally flippant tone.

Although, with the challenge that Sam had laid down, it would probably be a while before my tongue was anywhere near her. Despite my raging hard-on earlier, I wouldn’t be begging for shit. Sam wasn’t the only one who loved a challenge.

“Thanks,” he said dryly. When he rubbed his face again, Inoticed that his expression hadn’t loosened. Faint dark circles were present under his eyes too.

Something was deeply troubling him.

“Has there been another attack?” I asked quietly, all thoughts about my new game with Sam forgotten.

Alaric’s eyes flashed to the open door, and I got up to close it. It seemed unlikely that anyone would be eavesdropping on us from this floor, but Alaric was clearly worried about this, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

Once the door was shut and I was settled back in my chair, Alaric reached behind him and brushed his fingers against a dark red symbol that had been painted against the wall. All Moroi could perform blood magic, and a silencing spell was one of the first we learned, right after healing.

“Three more outposts have been hit,” he admitted. “Two in Velesian territory, but one of them was ours.”

I swallowed. “Survivors?”

He shook his head.

“That brings us to eight attacks in the last year.” Only a few of them were public knowledge. The outposts that had been small and remote had been kept secret.

Technically, each House was supposed to be responsible for patrolling a section of the Moroi realm. In reality, the Sovereign House and House Harker oversaw everything. The Sovereigns commanded more rangers, but we had Vail. He was cunning and knew the wilds better than anyone. It was the reason he was put in charge of investigating the attacks.

Unfortunately for everyone, despite his skills, we were no closer to knowing what the hell was going on or how we could protect our outposts against future attacks.

Each of the Houses had taken over a Fae fortress to serve as their stronghold. The abandoned fortifications were perfect at first because they could easily house a thousand or more Moroi. The walls were not only thick but seeped with magicthat we still didn’t fully understand. We only knew that it kept monsters out.

On top of that, we’d added our blood wards to protect us from the wraiths. But even the largest of the fortresses had run out of space decades ago.

The Velesians were in the same situation. The Furies didn’t have that problem, but nobody wanted to live with them because most of us still viewed them as potential threats. True, it had been a while since a Furie had lost control, but the last incident had resulted in over a hundred Moroi and Velesian deaths. It had taken half a dozen Furies to bring the culprit down, and only three of them had walked away from that fight.

When Furies lost themselves, they went mad… and that madness leaked to everyone around them until everyone was swimming in a sea of blood and violence.

There was a reason some within the Houses and Velesian Packs called for the extermination of all Furies. They were a brutal weapon to be wielded against the beasts that prowled the night. But that weapon could just as easily be turned on us.

Even if some were willing to take that risk and live closer to them, the Furie realm lacked the resources to support large populations because most of their territory consisted of the badlands.

The solution had been to build outposts throughout the Moroi and Velesian realms to protect trade routes, add more farmlands, and provide housing.

We’d done the best we could to make them secure, but clearly, it wasn’t enough. If word spread about how fast the outposts were falling, people would panic, and we couldn’t house and feed everyone within the strongholds, not indefinitely.

It was cruel, and I knew it deeply bothered Alaric. The two of us only lived in House strongholds because we were borninto noble families, but the Sovereigns had decreed to keep it quiet, and the leadership of the Velesians and Furies agreed. Well, the Furies did. I’d heard that the Velesians were less than pleased about the decision but were going along with it for now.

“Is this the reason why there have been so many closed-door meetings in Carmilla’s study?” I asked.

Alaric nodded and unrolled a map across his desk. I rose from the chair and leaned over the desk, watching as he crossed out each of the outposts that had been attacked recently.

“If there is a pattern, I don’t see it,” I admitted. Not that this was in any way my area of expertise.

As a courtesan, I hosted visiting nobles and representatives from other Houses when they came here. Frequently, I traveled to other Houses to help support our alliances with them… or gossip and collect valuable information for Carmilla.

During those visits, I’d stop at outposts along the way, so I was familiar with all the ones on the main routes. But seeing patterns or weaknesses in defenses was far outside my skillset.

“I haven’t been able to find one either.” Alaric ran a hand over his closely shorn hair before planting both hands back on the desk and staring at the map like he could force it to give him answers. “But we have to figure out something, and soon. The wraiths have found a way to slip through our wards. We’re quietly trying out new ones, but there is no way to know if they will work or not.”

I swallowed past the icy dread taking root inside me. The wards around the Houses were considerably more powerful than the ones around the outposts thanks to the leftover Fae magic, so we were likely safe for now. But I had friends who lived in outposts, and all their lives were at risk. Plus, I spent a considerable amount of time traveling outside the safety ofHouse Harker walls and had always considered the outposts secure. That was clearly no longer the case.

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