Page 34 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

Swallowing over the lump in my throat, I shoved that memory into its prison once more and buried it deep inside my soul. Every once in a while, it would slip free for a night of terror, but it hadn’t been this bad since I’d been a teenager.

I knew it was only happening now because of Vail.

One of the few good things about living at House Laurent for the past three years was that I never had to see the Marshal of House Harker. I knew when I returned home that I’d haveto see him sooner or later, but I’d really been hoping for the latter.

I’d thrown myself into perfecting the marriage dissolution these past few days. Alaric and I still traded barbs, but we managed to work surprisingly well together despite our dislike. We both agreed that the dissolution was as good as it could get for the opening volley.

I was a little surprised that neither Demetri nor Marvina had contacted me in an attempt to smooth things over and convince me to come back to at the very least discuss things there.

They had to know that I would return to House Harker where I had a support system. At House Laurent, I’d been isolated, and they would have held more power in any negotiations. I’d expected Demetri to apologize in some shallow or meaningless way and then argue that our marriage could still work since everything was out in the open now. Marvina, I had expected to simply demand my return at once, but there had only been silence from House Laurent.

I’d mentioned my confusion about this to Alaric and that it made me suspicious, and he agreed that it was odd. Then he said something rude as if he couldn’t stand the idea of having a civil conversation with me. Nothing unusual there.

We’d handed over our final draft to Carmilla last night, and she promised to send it first thing in the morning, which meant they’d have it early this afternoon. The strikers were fast fliers, and they’d make the trip to House Laurent in a few hours and then wait for them to send back a response.

I doubted we’d get one today, so I was going to be a nervous wreck for the next twenty-four hours at least. I just wanted this to be done.

Maybe I could do something to break Kieran and get him to beg tonight to distract me. I smirked and stood from my bed.

He’d remained strong since declaring that he’d never begand that I certainly would. I’d come pretty close to getting him to give in yesterday when I’d left the door to my study open and perched on my desk to “ponder how I wanted to decorate my study.”

At least, that was the excuse I’d given to Kieran when he demanded to know what the hell I was doing with my knee bent and leg propped up on the desk, causing most of my thigh to be on display. I’d slowly tapped my fingers against my leg, inching a little higher each time before dropping my hand.

The third time I did it, Kieran let out a groan and started to get up when Alaric had shown up and interrupted.

I’d been disappointed at being denied victory but had been extremely amused at Kieran trying to hide his rock-hard dick from Alaric. Given the annoyed expression on Alaric’s face and the death glare he shot me, I was pretty sure Kieran’s attempt had failed.

Golden sunlight warmed the hardwood floor as I padded over to the washroom. I felt my senses dull a little more with each step as night gave way to day.

Despite being used to it, I still hated feeling that loss every morning. I understood why some of the Moon Blessed chose to stay awake at night and sleep through the day. All sorts of monsters came out to play in the dark, making it far more dangerous than the day, but we were also at our strongest under the moonlight.

Besides, as long as you remained behind the walls and wards, you were safe no matter the time of day. The rangers were the only ones who spent most of their lives outside the protection of our fortifications, and they often traveled at night.

I ran my fingers across a symbol consisting of a triangle overlaid with three wavy lines on the tiled wall before stepping underneath the hot water that fell like rain from the ceiling. The shadow magic of the Furies might be impressive, but nothing beat the blood magic developed by the Moroi to getthe indoor plumbing working again. Access to hot water whenever we wanted was the best magic in the world.

My thoughts drifted back to the rangers as I scrubbed my hair. Vail seemed to prefer the dangerous wilds over the Houses and outposts.

As he climbed the ranks of the rangers, he spent less and less time at House Harker. Since taking over as Marshal, he rarely came back to this House. I knew this because, as much as possible, I tracked his whereabouts. It was important to know where your enemies were, and few people were my enemy more than Vail Ferenc.

A chill ran through me despite the steam rising off my skin, and I shut the water off before wrapping myself in a towel.

Vail might want to kill me, but he was completely loyal to Carmilla and House Harker. He would never act on his desires, but he’d also never save me if I got into trouble. Not again, anyway.

While I was far from excited about Vail being here, I was admittedly interested in what he had to say about the attacks.

I’d glimpsed a map in Alaric’s office and pestered him about it until he finally relented and gave me the barest amount of information to placate me. I’d then gone to Carmilla, and she’d filled me in on what was going on with the promise that I wouldn’t repeat it to anyone else.

I understood why the Sovereign House wanted to keep the escalation of the attacks quiet. Panic wouldn’t help anyone.

Still, I knew what it was like to be out there in the wilds, at the complete mercy of the beasts that prowled the night. The experience of those nights when Vail and I huddled in a cave together, listening to the monsters searching for us outside, had fueled my nightmares for over a decade.

We needed to figure out why the wraith attacks were increasing and also how to better safeguard our outposts. I’d been doing research these past couple of days in addition toworking on my marriage dissolution, as well as catching up on general House Harker politics.

The small amount of sleep I got every night was plagued by nightmares, and today it felt like it had all caught up to me.

My fingers played with the cool, silky fabric of the sapphire blue dress I’d pulled out. With its soft, stretchy fit, it was one of my favorites. While the neckline was modest compared to a lot of my other dresses, it still clung to every rise and dip of my body.

A smirk played across my lips as I imagined Kieran’s expression when I walked into a room wearing it.

---