Page 105 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

“It’s alright.” I slid between Vail and the guards, placing my hands on his chest. He tore his gaze away from the guards to look at me, his eyes dark grey storm clouds with silver dancing amongst them. I stood up on my tiptoes and brushed my lips against his. “I’ll be okay.”

We may not have had a choice in coming here, but we hadn’t been dragged here in chains either. That could mean any number of things. Velika could still be feeling us out to find out exactly how much we knew. In that case, she might pretend like nothing was wrong at all and come up with some cover story for why she’d wanted us brought here so urgently. Ormaybe she’d just wanted to rattle me, having me brought to the Sovereign House like this, and now wanted to separate me from Vail while she questioned me about the crown.

As much as I wanted Vail by my side so I could draw strength from his presence, he was absolutely terrible at hiding what he was feeling. She’d see every emotion written on his face, not to mention, he might let something slip in anger if he spoke. Between the two of us, I had a better chance of playing this game with the Moroi Queen.

Assuming she didn’t just kill me as soon as I walked in. That would be unfortunate.

Vail’s expression softened, and he cupped my face with his left hand. “I’ll be right here. Just yell if you need anything. These guards won’t stop me from getting to you.”

The guards in question shuffled nervously before opening the door for me.

I kissed Vail one more time and then took a deep breath before turning and striding into the throne room with my chin held high. The door clanged shut behind me, and I let my gaze skim over the dozens of courtiers and advisors standing around, talking softly.

The throne room was not particularly large, but it made up for that in opulence. The walls and ceiling were made of white marble with silver running through it all, creating elegant patterns. A deep blue stone made up the floor—so shiny, you could almost see your reflection in it.

What truly made it extraordinary was that everything appeared to be one piece. There were no visible seams anywhere. No imperfections. We struggled to keep the wards operational while the Fae had probably created this gorgeous room in an afternoon with barely a thought. I wondered what they would think of this beautiful space they’d created being used by the descendants of humans. Maybe I could ask Erendriel someday.

The exhaustion and stress must have finally gotten to me because I laughed at the thought.

“Something funny?” a light, breathy voice asked.

A tall, slender, fair-haired Moroi female strode into the room, her light blonde hair falling down her back in a wave of curls and her blue gown flowing around her with each step. She took a seat on the throne made of the same blue stone as the floor that rested on top of a dais. The Moroi Queen always did love to make an entrance.

My breath caught in my throat when I spotted the silver crown that rested on her head.

She can’t use it on you,I reminded myself. Without the other half, anyone who belonged to one of the House bloodlines couldn’t be controlled by its magic. We could be driven insane until we became Strigoi, but that took time. So that was a tomorrow problem. Right now, I just needed to survive this encounter.

“It’s nothing, my queen,” I said lightly. “Just silly musings about the Fae. I find myself rather exhausted from the ride here, as you can probably tell from my appearance.”

She smiled at me, but it didn’t reach her golden brown eyes. I saw very little of Draven echoed in her.

“Youarelooking rather ragged,” Lucian said in a bored tone.

I glanced at the consort standing at the bottom of the dais. Despite being with Velika for almost three decades, she had never married him or allowed him to stand by her side. I’d never liked Lucian. He represented the worst side of the courtiers. Someone who thought their elevated status made them better than everyone beneath them . . . and enjoyed reminding them of that.

There were whispers of cruelty that had befallen the staff and lower-ranking courtiers, but I’d never been able to confirm anything for sure. Despite keeping Lucian in his place, Velikaclearly favored him, and no one wanted to go against the queen.

Instead of responding to Lucian’s comment, I ignored him, and his mouth tightened at the dismissal. Velika’s lips twitched in amusement, and tension roiled in my gut. Considering how little I knew about this situation, I had no idea how to play this other than to continue pretending everything was normal. Or as normal as it could be when one was summoned to the Sovereign House by twenty armed guards.

“Why were you in the Velesian realm?” Velika asked. “Seems odd for you to leave your House unattended since Carmilla is here with me.”

The reminder that she had my aunt sent a chill down my spine. I’d been subtly looking around the room but hadn’t seen Carmilla’s face amongst those gathered.

“I’m working on arranging a larger trade of malachite with them, my queen,” I answered smoothly. “Several of our outposts have been dealing with increased attacks, and we may need to expand the wards that protect them.”

“Interesting.” She hummed. “That’s not what I heard.”

I sunk every ounce of will I had into forcing my heartbeat to remain steady as she raised her hand and flicked her fingers forward. Then my resolve broke when the guards dragged a bloody and beaten Draven into the room.

“No!” I cried and stepped forward, only for strong arms to yank me back against a hard chest.

“Don’t make a spectacle of yourself, Samara,” Demetri purred into my ear, and I went absolutely still. “Good girl.”

Then I twisted free and slashed my claws across his face before he could react.

“Fuck!” he screamed as blood streamed between the fingers he’d pressed against his cheek. Damn it. I’d been hoping to scratch his eyes out. I lunged towards Draven, but two guardsrushed in and restrained me. No matter how much I struggled in their grasp, I couldn’t break free.

Demetri straightened, his hand falling away from his face to reveal three deep gouges. The bleeding had already slowed when he stalked towards me, eyes burning with fury. My head snapped to the side as he backhanded me hard, and I saw stars for a few seconds.

---