Page 37 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

Then I’d seen the flash of betrayal on her face before she turned and raced away from the monster. Away from me. An almost blind panic had overtaken me as I’d chased after her to fix what I had done, to save her, and I had, barely getting therein time but saving her all the same. She knew what I had done though, and now it lay there like an ugly truth between us.

Now I had to live with this simmering hatred and also the memory of how much she’d once meant to me. Samara had been my only real friend growing up. There’d been nothing romantic there, we’d been far too young for that, but the friendship . . . it’d been real.

As soon as we had set foot in that cavern last night, the memories had come flooding back. Us sneaking out under the always watchful eyes of our parents. Laughing as we ran across the beach. Carefully climbing those rocks until we collapsed onto our backs and watched the stars flickering across the sky.

I hadn’t just lost my parents the night the wraiths had attacked our caravan. I’d also lost my best friend.

Now that best friend had grown up into the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen and was sleeping in my bed.In my fucking shirt.

Blood dripped from my knuckles, and I forced myself to take a slow, deep breath while I unclenched my fists. I wanted to leave, go into the wilds for a few months, hunt some monsters, and clear my head. However, now that we knew Prince Draven, and likely the Sovereign House, was involved with the wraiths, I couldn’t leave. Not that I was particularly useful—subterfuge and subtleness were not in my skill set.

The inability to act was killing me, and there were brief moments when I thought about just slitting the prince’s throat and dumping his body in the ocean for the sea monsters to feed on. That wouldn’t solve anything though and would only draw the attention of that Fae we saw in the temple, Erendriel, and, of course, the Moroi Queen herself. I might not be good at playing this bullshit political game, but even I knew that would be foolish.

Adding to my frustrations was the fact that Carmilla was at the Sovereign House and, as far as I was concerned, in thehands of our enemies, even if she didn’t know it. I also selfishly wished she was here so I could talk to her about Samara. Not my attraction to her—that would be awkward—but to maybe clarify some things.

Carmilla had always made it seem like Samara had been quick to move on from her parent’s death and wasn’t supportive of her aunt’s grief over dealing with the death of her sister and sudden rise to the Head of House Harker. But that just didn’t seem right. Samara was deeply loyal to those she cared about. Perhaps Carmilla had simply misinterpreted the actions of her niece back then because she’d been caught up in her own grief.

It had to be something like that. Carmilla had always been a presence in my life growing up, but after my parents had been killed she stepped in to fill the void. She never tried to replace my mother or father—that was impossible. But she became an aunt of sorts. Always there to lend support or just be someone I could talk to. I had risen through the ranks to take on the mantle of Marshal all on my own, but I couldn’t deny that knowing I had Carmilla’s unwavering support had been a boon.

I didn’t have any blood relatives left, so Carmilla was basically my only family. After everything she’d done for me, I couldn’t let anything happen to her.

Samara stirred again on the bed, drawing my attention. I scowled at her before silently walking over to my washroom and rinsing the blood from my hands. The wounds had already healed, but I could feel the undercurrent of exhaustion in my bones.

I needed to consume blood. Soon.

Like most adult Moroi, I associated drinking blood with sex, but since I was the Marshal, I wasn’t comfortable sleeping with any of the other rangers because of the difference in power. More than a few had made passes at me, but I’d alwaysturned them down. Instead, I had some regular partners in various outposts who were more than happy to let me bury my fangs in their flesh while I fucked them senseless. It was a good arrangement that left everyone happy.

Even some of the Velesians I knew were game, although their blood wasn’t as fulfilling as another Moroi’s. We might all be Moon Blessed, but the magic between the three groups was different enough that it didn’t always play nicely together.

Plus I couldn’t leave to visit any of them now. I frowned at my now healed palm. Maybe I could ask Adrienne or Emil, two of my most trusted rangers. Not for the sex part, just a little top up of blood. I couldn’t afford to be slower or weaker right now.

Just as I was about to step back into the bedroom, a low, throaty moan slipped from Samara’s lips. I froze in the doorway.You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.Was she having a damn dirty dream in my bed? I watched as Samara twisted around in the bed, more of the blankets slipping away. The way she was lying caused my shirt to pull tight around her full breasts, giving me a full view of her erect nipples pushing against the fabric.

Then she let out another breathy noise that went straight to my dick.

I’d faced countless monsters in my life. Wraiths. Howlers. Kùsu. Every single one of those encounters I’d survived because I never hesitated.

Yet I had no fucking clue what to do at this moment.

Should I wake her up? That wouldn’t be awkward at all. Her moaning turned into quickened breaths as one of her hands started to slip beneath the covers.

Oh, fuck me.

I rubbed a hand roughly against my beard. Leave. That was the best option, because if Samara ever learned of this, she wouldn’t be embarrassed. Instead, she’d tease me about itmercilessly, and my feelings for her were complicated enough as it was. I’d just wait outside until she was . . . finished.

Angry banging sounded on the door before I’d made it halfway across the room. Samara bolted upright in bed, her cheeks flushed, and looked around in confusion. Her dark purple eyes landed on me, and her brows furrowed. She glanced down and plucked at the light tan shirt before looking back at me in question.

More banging came from the door.

“Vail!” Kieran yelled. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Samara leapt from the bed and raced to the door while I stood there like an idiot. She flipped the lock and yanked the door open, grabbed Kieran by the front of his tunic, and pulled him inside. He stumbled a few steps before catching himself while she closed the door and crossed her arms.

“Could you be any louder, Kieran? Or did you forget we’re tryingnotto draw the attention of Draven?”

“I didn’t know where you were!” he said urgently, barely managing to keep his voice down as he glowered at me. If he expected me to tremble before him, he was dumber than I’d thought. I had at least six inches on him and outweighed him by quite a bit. The bright turquoise and gold outfit he was wearing really didn’t help the intimidation factor either.

I gave the pretty peacock a flat stare.Honestly, what does Samara see in him?

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