Page 93 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

“How many are there?” Alaric asked, coming to stand beside me. “Does it look like they’re just passing through?”

“Three of them,” she said. “And I think they live here. I kept an eye on them all night. They spent most of it in the front part of the temple, but I couldn’t get close enough to hear them.”

“They were speaking?” Alaric exclaimed, and I shared his surprise. The wraiths didn’t really speak, they only let out strange whispering sounds and occasional shrieks.

Cali nodded. “I couldn’t tell what language, but given that they look Fae, I’m assuming it was Unseelie or Seelie.” Her gaze flicked back and forth between the three of us. “None of you seem that surprised that they’re Fae. I was sure as fuck surprised.”

I looked at the map that we’d hung up and did some mental calculations before clearing my throat and turning my attention to Roth and Alaric. “Fill Cali in on what we found. I’m going to find Vail.”

Alaric’s upper lip curled in distaste. “There’s another horse ride in my future, isn’t there?”

“You can stay here if you want,” I tossed over my shoulder as I headed for the hallway. “But I’m going to that temple and getting some damn answers.”

An hour later,we were riding hard on our way to Cali. She promised to let me know right away if the wraiths went on the move.

The temple wasn’t far from the border between Furie and Moroi territory. Unfortunately, we basically had to ride all the way across our land to get there. We had no idea whether the wraiths truly lived at the temple or if they would be leaving soon, so time was of the essence, which was also why we wouldn’t be stopping except to change horses at some of the outposts.

Zosa hadn’t been happy about me leaving her behind, but I wasn’t going to leave her behind at an outpost, even if I could pick her up on the way back. I also selfishly didn’t want to risk her life.

We’d be traveling through the night, and the horses were primary targets for most of the monsters that prowled the forests.

I squinted against the setting sun that was currently blinding me. There was less than an hour until sunset. It’d be dipping behind the trees soon enough, and then I’d at least be able to see better.

The black gelding I was riding skittered to the side, and Alaric’s grip around my waist tightened.

My brows furrowed. “You okay back there?”

I urged the gelding to move a little faster but didn’t let him break out of the canter he currently maintained. He wouldn’t last long at a full gallop, and we still had a ways to go before we could swap out for fresh horses.

Hopefully, my next one wouldn’t be so skittish, because things were only going to get hairier as night fell.

“I don’t understand why I couldn’t have my own horse,” Alaric griped even as he started to lean to the left and I had to reach back and shove him upright.

“Kieran would be really mad at me if I let you get hurt,” Isaid over my shoulder. “And we both know you would get hurt if you had your own horse. We should rotate riding into our archery practice.”

“Ourarchery practice? You’re the one who crashed my training. You don’t get to dictate what I do.”

I resisted the urge to shove my elbow back and knock him off the horse. He wouldn’t be that seriously injured from falling off, but it would slow us down, and he’d no doubt tell Kieran… who wouldn’t be happy with me.

I silently regretted not convincing Alaric to stay behind and watch over the House while I was gone, but he’d been adamant that he’d taken care of all urgent matters and that everything else could wait until we were back.

If I’d known he was going to be this pissy on the ride, I would have found a way to leave him behind and just deal with his anger when we got back.

Vail pulled his horse back to a trot, and I did the same, maneuvering the gelding until we were riding side by side as Nyx joined us.

“Something wrong?” I asked, keeping my voice low. Not that it really mattered with how loud the horses were.

“No,” Vail said, “but we have another twenty miles to go before we reach the next outpost, which means we’ll be in the dark for the last portion of that. I want to reserve as much of the horses’ energy as possible so that if we have to run later, they won’t falter.”

“Right,” I said, barely managing to keep the tremor out of my voice.

If we rode round the clock with minimal resting, we should be able to reach Cali in three days, but that meant two nights out in the forest. We’d hopefully reach the temple on the afternoon of the third day, so we’d have at least daylight to our advantage then.

“It’ll be fine, Samara,” Nyx reassured me. “Vail and I havespent plenty of time out at night. The horses can outrun almost anything.”

“Almostanything?” Alaric asked.

With his chest plastered against my back, I could practically feel him vibrating with tension. I shot Nyx a look. They damn well knew they could have phrased that better.

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