Page 18 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

I didn’t allow myself any hesitation as I strode into the room, feeling three sets of eyes landing on me.

“To what does House Harker owe the pleasure of not one but three Heirs visiting?” I smiled sharply. “Unannounced as it may be.”

Ary scoffed, his back to the painting he’d been pretending to admire. The Tepes Heir was a little unkempt from his likely fast ride here. House Tepes was in the northern part of the Moroi realm. His midnight black hair that was shaved on both sides was pulled back into a messy bun, and he was sportingsome stubble on his usually clean-shaven face. It was a two-day ride if you hauled ass and rode through the night directly through the wilds instead of sticking to the safer roads. Ary was definitely crazy enough to do that, which meant he’d somehow caught wind of where Draven was heading before the Moroi Prince had arrived.

The same basically applied to the other Heirs. Salvatore was also a two-day ride, although there was a road that went directly from our House to theirs, so it was less treacherous. Laurent was fairly close to us, the ride easily done in a day. If I had to guess, I’d say Demetri had been waiting nearby for the other two Heirs to arrive. He’d probably suspected I would have thrown him out if he’d arrived on his own.

He wasn’t wrong.

“Don’t be coy, Samara,” Ary said in a deep, decadent voice. His light violet eyes shone brightly against his rich brown skin. The Tepes bloodline was the only one that shared purple eyes with the Harkers. Although ours were so dark, they looked almost black in dim lighting. Ary’s were light and reminded me of lavender blossoms.

The rough-natured Heir would have probably found the comparison amusing. I’d always thought he was more suited to be a ranger than an Heir with his wild personality. He was built more like Alaric, tall and lean rather than broad and bulky like Vail. When we’d been growing up, his relatively small frame had led other Moroi to underestimate the Tepes Heir and challenge him to fights.

Ary had walked away unscathed from every one. Usually while whistling a jaunty tune. If there were anyone better than me with knives, it was Ary. He was fast and lethal in a fight—and loved every second of it. Despite his ruthless nature, he had a sharp mind, and I couldn’t afford to forget that.

“Okay.” I bared my fangs at him. “What the fuck are you all doing here?”

“There she is.” Aniela laughed.

Out of everyone here, the beautiful, red-haired Salvatore Heir was the one I was most wary of. I was fairly confident House Salvatore was not allied with Queen Velika and the wraiths, but I knew almost nothing about Aniela. While I’d been growing up, Selene—Aniela’s cousin and Dominique’s sister—had been the Heir, then Dominique’s parents and sister had died, and she’d risen to be the ruler of House Salvatore. She didn’t have any children of her own yet, so she’d named her cousin, Aniela, as Heir.

“I’ve got a lot on my mind right now, Aniela.” I walked to the center of the room and took a seat in one of the high-backed chairs. “So how about we cut the bullshit and you all tell me why you’re here? Then I can tell you that you wasted your time so you can leave and I can get on with my day.”

It wasn’t Aniela who answered. Instead, it was the Heir I’d been avoiding looking at since I’d entered the room.

“We’re here because Prince Draven is,” Demetri said smoothly, taking a seat directly across from me. He looked good, much to my annoyance, the sunlight beaming into the room lighting up the golden highlights of his chestnut brown hair. My former husband had always had a sensual elegance about him. It had appealed to me, but now, I just found it rather tedious.

“I admit,” he continued, “that when I heard the news, I thought the prince was coming to court you, and yet here you sit”—his hazel eyes traveled possessively down my body—“reeking of two other males. Rather interesting, considering how harshly you judged me, wife.”

“Not your wife anymore, Demetri,” I said in a bored tone while I held his accusing stare. “And the difference is that I’m not being unfaithful to anyone. I do this thing called beinghonest.” Aniela snorted, and I amended. “In my personalrelationships anyway. I think I’ve had my fill of marriage for a while.”

“So you deny it then?” Demetri’s reproachful, hazel eyes remained focused on me. “That the prince is here to ask for your hand?”

“Oh, I’m definitely here to marry Samara.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to ten in my head, hoping it would help.

It did not.

Draven strolled the rest of the way into the room and perched on the arm of my chair, leaning possessively into me. I glared up at him, but he just shot me a flirty grin.

“Prince Draven,” Aniela purred, leaning forward enough to put her ample chest on display. “I had no idea you were interested in marriage.”

“I’m interested in Samara,” Draven said evenly.

Silence reigned while I fumed. Both because Draven just had to open his big mouth . . . and because I was pissed off at myself for the flash of jealousy I’d felt at Aniela flirting with him.

Aniela immediately turned her attention to me, not the least bit concerned about Draven’s mild rebuff of her, which told me she had no real interest in him that way. Now she and Ary were both staring at me like I was a juicy piece of meat. Meanwhile, Demetri was staring daggers at Draven.

This was exactly what I didn’t want. I’d been hoping to make it clear to all of them that there was nothing between me and Draven, and whatever they’d thought they’d come here for had been pointless. Now it’d be harder for me to get them to leave. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t just kick them out. Being blunt or rude was fine, all of the Heirs played our games with each other, but actually throwing them out would have political consequences. Every House controlled unique resources, and I couldn’t afford to alienate any of them.

Plus some of them could be potential allies against the Sovereign House, assuming they weren’t allied with them already.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, and we all turned towards the doorway to watch Kieran and Alaric burst into the room.

“Greetings, everyone!” Kieran cheered, holding up a bottle of wine. “What did we miss?”

Chapter Seven

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