Page 107 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

“I’m sorry, my friend.” Carmilla shook her head ruefully. “I’ve always stood by you, but I can’t any longer. You never should have bargained with the wraiths. I cannot abide by that.”

For a moment, Velika stood completely frozen, her mouth parted slightly as she stared at my aunt—her friend. Then she pursed her lips into a hard line. Fury fed by betrayal burned in her eyes as she stalked towards Carmilla. I tugged against thegrip of the guards, but they held me firmly in place so all I could do was watch this unfold.

“You treacherous bitch!” Velika’s eyes sparked with rage as she stopped a foot away from my aunt. “All these fucking years of me helping you, and this is how you repay me?” She scoffed. “It doesn’t matter. All of the Sovereign House is bloodsworn to me. You have no power here,friend.” She bit out the last word.

I tried to catch Vail’s eyes, but he wouldn’t look at me. Instead, his gaze was fixed straight ahead . . . on Lucian.

“No.” Carmilla shook her head slowly. “Everyone in the Sovereign House is loyal to the crown . . . and the head upon which it rests.”

A gurgling sound came from in front of me, and I tore my gaze away from Carmilla to find Velika clutching at the sword protruding through her chest. Blood dribbled out of her lips as she gasped, and Lucian wrapped an arm around her like a lover before twisting the sword more as he yanked her back onto it.

The Moroi Queen’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor as blood pooled around her. I stared in stunned silence as Demetri strolled forward and took the sword from Lucian before swinging it down. The sound of metal slamming against the hard marble floor echoed across the room as Velika’s head rolled away.

Then Lucian knelt down, picked up the crown, and then walked over to Carmilla before kneeling in front of her and offering it up. “Your crown, my love.”

Chapter Thirty

Samara

“Thank you, Lucian.”Carmilla took the crown from him and settled it onto her head, then her dark eyes fell on the guards still holding me. “Release my niece.”

“Yes, my queen,” they both replied and immediately stepped back. I staggered and almost fell without the support. Demetri stepped forward to steady me but halted at the look I gave him.

“Carmilla,” I croaked. “What the fuck is going on?”

“I’m so sorry, Samara. It was too risky to tell you what I had planned considering the company you’ve been keeping lately.” She glanced pointedly at where Draven was chained up before striding towards the dais. Lucian rose and guided her around Velika’s still warm body before standing beside the throne as she took a seat.

Everyone in the room knelt before their new queen, except me and Draven, but he was barely conscious at this point and couldn’t have kneeled anyway with the chains holding him up.

“The crown . . .” I started and then stopped, drawing in a deep breath. She must not know what it was truly capable of,because she never would have placed it on her head otherwise. “You have no idea what it can do. We have to dest?—”

“It’s half of the soul crown.” She smiled at me. “This part binds souls, the other half sees them. Without that second half, it’s quite time-consuming to instill your will on others. A blood exchange is required, and if their will is strong, they can still fight it, but the two halves together will solve that issue.”

Dread filled me. “What are you saying?”

“Don’t give me that look, Samara,” Carmilla chided. “You understand the threat Erendriel and the wraiths pose. We cannot allow infighting amongst the Moon Blessed to weaken us at a time like this.”

“I understand that, but enslaving people against their wills cannot be the answer.” I shook my head. This couldn’t be right. The Moroi leader I’d looked up to for the last decade . . . the person who had raised me after my parents had died . . . she couldn’t possibly be doing this. “Please, Carmilla,” I rasped. “Take the crown off.”

“I was worried you’d react this way.” She sighed and traded glances with Demetri, who stepped closer, causing me to tense. The guards who had released me a minute ago moved to my other side, boxing me in. “I’m sure you’ll come around eventually. You always were a smart and ambitious girl.”

She didn’t have the other half of the crown. I wouldn’t tell her, and despite everything, surely Carmilla wouldn’t resort to torturing Kieran and Alaric to get it out of me? Uncertainty flickered through me. Exactly how much had I gotten wrong about who Carmilla really was?

Draven’s labored breathing drew my attention. His skin was pale and clammy, and an alarming amount of blood soaked his clothes. I needed to get him help and figure out why he wasn’t healing, then I’d try to talk some sense into Carmilla.

This was still fixable. I could fix this. I could?—

“Vail?” Carmilla called as she held her hand out.

“No,” I whispered. Demetri’s hand clamped down on my arm, and I was rooted in place as Vail strode towards the throne, not looking at me once, and withdrew the gold half of the soul crown from beneath his cloak.

The same crown Rynn had been in possession of.

“I’ll go check on her.”

He’d gone after Rynn as soon as she’d been alone and taken the crown from her. She never would have given it to him willingly.

“What did you do, Vail!” I screamed, and he finally looked at me.

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