Page 43 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

“Oh.” Nyx rounded the corner and halted when they saw me. “Sorry, Samara. I’m not used to anyone else being here.”

My brows rose. I’d observed Nyx around all the other rangers since I’d moved back to House Harker. Everyone liked them, and they seemed to enjoy the company of others. It was surprising to me that they’d seek out a quiet place like this.

“It’s been a little challenging for me to find solitude the past few days.” I patted the ground next to me. “Come join me. I wouldn’t mind getting out of my own head for a bit.”

Nyx grinned and sauntered over towards me. I’d been worried about them since we’d returned, but with everything going on, I hadn’t been able to check on them myself. Nyx was a few years younger than me, and I’d known them briefly at Drudonia before they’d disappeared and become a ranger instead of pursuing the scholarly path. I hadn’t seen them again until they’d shown up on Vail’s personal squad of rangers.

It’d been a little awkward at first because we’d been sort of friends before they’d vanished. Everyone knew things between me and Vail were a little tense, so I hadn’t blamed them for being unsure of how to act around me while also remaining loyal to Vail, but it hadn’t taken us long to fall back into a friendship of sorts.

My eyes traveled over every inch of their body as they walked across the garden, looking for any hints of lingering damage from the fight at the temple. They’d clearly been working out before heading over here because their light brown shirt was soaked in sweat and loose-fitting black pants were covered in dirt. To my relief, they appeared completely fine now.

“You and Adrienne are ridiculous.” Nyx rolled their eyes before dropping down next to me. Then they stretched their long legs out and leaned back on their hands. “Usually I’d be very excited about having the attention of two beautiful women on me. Except I know for a fact neither of you look at me that way and you’re just convinced I’m going to collapse at any moment. As if my ego didn’t take a big enough hit being sidelined so quickly by those fucking wraiths.”

“Sorry.” I winced. “To be fair, this is the first time I’ve seen you in person since we got back. Everyone told me you were fine, but I just needed to see it for myself.”

“I promise I’m okay.” They shot me an easy grin. “Only thing that’s still bruised is my pride.”

“None of us did particularly well in that fight.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been working hard to prove myself to Vail.” Nyx let their head fall back, and their eyes stared up at the sky that reflected back the exact same shade of blue. “He took a chance on not only letting me join the rangers but also taking me on to serve in his own unit.”

I picked up a broken twig and started twirling it betweenmy fingers. “Why did you?” I asked. “Leave House Corvinus to join House Harker? As a ranger no less?”

Nyx’s older sister, Tamsen, was the Heir to House Corvinus. She was the reason Nyx had been at Drudonia in the first place. They’d been training to be an advisor to support her and House Corvinus as a whole. I’d always wondered why they’d left. When I’d inquired about their disappearance to House Corvinus, I’d received a letter from Tamsen herself telling me to leave it be and that Nyx was happy.

When Nyx didn’t answer right away, I worried I’d stepped too far. Normally, I would have had more tact in asking such questions, but the journals sitting between me and Nyx were messing with my head and making me sloppy. I’d need to get it together before I conversed with Draven again.

“You don’t have to answer.” I dropped the twig and glanced at Nyx, who was still staring at the sky. “Carmilla approved of you joining our House, and Vail obviously accepted you into the rangers. I meant no offense by the question, I was just . . . curious.”

“It’s fine.” They sighed. “I kind of owe you anyway for how I handled leaving Drudonia and ignoring all your attempts to contact me afterwards.”

“That was kind of an asshole move,” I agreed.

Nyx laughed and shifted until they were lying down and then let their head flop to the side to face me. “I’m guessing you went through the standard training all Heirs and other high-ranking Moroi go through when arranged marriages are in their future?”

“Yep. Although starting my sex education at twenty was a little late,” I said wryly. “Pretty sure I showed the instructors some things that made them blush.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

I did some quick calculations in my head. Nyx was several years younger than me, twenty to my twenty-four. They’darrived at Drudonia a little over midway through my time there, so I’d been, what? Eighteen?

Only the Moroi engaged in this practice of “marriage training,” and it was only for high-ranking arranged marriages, typically those of House bloodlines. The tradition had started with the fourth generation and continued as our inner House politics only grew more complicated. Some of the early arranged marriages had failed, and this had been the solution for correcting that.

The training wasn’tjustabout sex and making your future spouse happy in the bedroom. More tailored instruction was created for each person based on the potential Houses they might be married into and the customs within them, but the sex aspect of it was what most people got hung up on. Cali and Rynn had been horrified when I’d first told them about it, but when I’d made it clear I was fine with it, we’d used it as a source of entertainment. Every time I came back from a session, they’d ask for all the details and how many times I’d embarrassed my instructor.

Well, Cali did. Rynn was mostly still mortified by the whole thing but couldn’t stop asking follow-up questions.

“How old were you when the training started?” I asked carefully, dreading their answer. As far as I knew, most Moroi didn’t start the sexual aspects of the training until they were at least eighteen. I’d been on the later side at twenty, but that wasn’t uncommon.

“Seventeen.” When Nyx saw my dark expression, they gave me a close-lipped smile. “Tamsen fought with our parents about it—they wanted me to start at sixteen. Seventeen was the compromise.”

“You should have told us.” I scowled. Rynn and Cali had taken Nyx under their wings too and wouldn’t have been happy about this.

“So the three of you could cause a political nightmare bygoing up against my parents?” Nyx shook their head ruefully. “The only thing that would have accomplished was further fracturing the alliances between the Moroi Houses and making things even more tense between the Moon Blessed.”

“We would have figured something out,” I said tightly. Since I was an Heir, it was my business to know the history, strengths, and weaknesses of all the other Houses. Kieran was also from House Corvinus, and while he rarely spoke about what it was like growing up there, I knew it hadn’t been enjoyable. They were a smaller House that was obsessed with moving up the ranks, and they viewed their children as pawns.

To some extent, all of the Houses were like this, but I’d had a choice in my future. Carmilla never would have forced me to marry Demetri or any of the other Heirs. If I’d told her I didn’t want to go through the standard training prior to a marriage, she would have accepted that. I’d assumed other Houses were the same. Clearly, House Corvinus was not.

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