Page 45 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

“Sure.” I eyed the leather satchel. “I have some reading I was going to do.”

“Perfect.”

I waited until Nyx’s breathing evened out, and then I pulled out my mother’s most recent journal. With trembling fingers, I cracked the spine open and started reading the secrets of the dead.

We’re close.I feel it with every fiber of my being.

Kasem is worried, and I don’t blame him. The last two sites we searched were completely empty, yet it felt like we were being watched the entire time. Lunaria has never been safe, but the wraiths are acting strangely now. They’re less feral than they were before. That should be a good thing, except I can feel them lurking in the shadows, waiting. For what, I don’t know, but every time we leave the safe walls of House Harker, I feel death following in our wake.

But we can’t stop now. We must find it before Velika does. Otherwise, our fates will be far worse than a grisly death.

I wish we had allies, but I don’t know who we can trust aside from Inés and Edric. It feels wrong to lie to Carmilla. Despite all our disagreements, she’s my sister and I love her, but our mother entrusted me with this legacy. I’d always intended to tell Carmilla eventually. About the journals. The crown. All of it. But then she became friends with Velika. I can’t risk it. No matter how much it pains me, our people must come first.

We’re leaving to visit one of the Velesian packs tomorrow. I didn’t want to stop our search, but Kasem insisted, saying it’s been too long since we’ve visited any of the Velesians, and he’s concerned about the rising tensions between our people and theirs. I only agreed to his request because the next site I want to explore is somewhere around Lake Molov, and we’ll need permission from the Narchis Order to go there.

Samara is coming with us, as is Inés and Edric’s son, Vail. Part of me wants to keep Samara forever tucked away in House Harker behind the wards, but Kasem is right. She’s the Harker Heir and needs to see more of Lunaria. I’m sure it’ll be fine. We’re taking a main road, and Inés and Edric are the fiercest warriors I’ve ever met—aside from Kasem of course. It’ll be fine. Plus, it will give me some time to spend with Sam. My daughter is a wonder, and she’s going to change the world one day. I just know it.

I’m going to try to sneak back into bed without waking Kasem. It never works, but it’s fun trying, and I enjoy what he does when he catches me. Maybe when all this is over, we can give Samara a younger sibling. Because we will survive this. I won’t accept anything else.

Heat pooled behind my eyes,and I slammed the book shut. She hadn’t survived. This was the last entry of the journal. Three days after this, she’d been killed by wraiths along with my father and Vail’s parents. Nyx’s light snores filled the air, and I concentrated on their rhythmic breathing as I bottled up everything I was feeling and shoved it down.

I couldn’t afford to lose it now. The wraiths were the lost Fae, the Sovereigns were betraying all of the Moroi and working with them, and there was a wicked prince in my home, courting me for marriage. I didn’t have the luxury of losing my shit right now.

After a few minutes of steady breathing, I reviewed the facts. My parents had known Velika had been plotting something, though nothing indicated they’d known she was working with the wraiths. Carmilla didn’t know about the journals or what my parents had been searching for because my mother had been concerned about how close Carmilla was with Velika.

And finally . . . they’d never made it to Lake Molov.

I’d already been planning on going there. I just needed totalk to Vail and Rynn about it to get them on board. What I hadn’t been sure of was if I should prioritize it or not. I had my answer now. Whatever my parents had been searching for had to have been important, and Velika had wanted it too. I needed to go to Lake Molov. Perhaps, Velika had already gone there . . . but maybe she hadn’t. Or maybe she’d gone but hadn’t been able to find what was hidden there. In either case, I felt I owed it to my parents to finish what they’d started.

The small journal felt heavy in my hands. I’d deliberately started with the last entry because the more recent ones were more likely to have information relevant to our current situation. Maybe some of the earlier entries would mention what exactly my mother had been hunting for.

Fortifying my nerves, I opened the book again and started scanning the pages. I didn’t let myself linger on any of the sweet moments she mentioned between herself and my father, and I entirely skipped over the one where she talked about my eighth birthday and how she’d worked with Leora all morning to make me the perfect cake because she wanted to have a hand in it too instead of just passing it off to someone else.

Most of the entries covered their failed search attempts and some mentions of increased wraith or other monster activity. Then I found it, and it was like a snake had reared from the page and sunk its fangs into me.

I hadan odd encounter with Velika today. Something about her has always bothered me—I have never been able to describe what it is, and the few times I’ve mentioned it to Carmilla, she’s waved me off as being paranoid, which, to be fair, I am. There is a sickness running through the Moroi. Everyone judges the Furies, but it’s not like they choose to lose their minds and slaughter all around them. The Moroi are consciously choosing to harm each other in nefarious ways.

The Moroi Queen is one of those nefarious souls.

She hides it well—the rest of the Moroi practically worship her like she’s one of the old gods the Fae prayed to—but this time when we met, she wore a crown. Velika’s so vain, it was perfectly within character for her. Especially since she’s determined to bring back the old ways of how we believe Fae courts worked. It’s foolish. We’re barely surviving in this fucked-up land and she wants to hold balls and wear fancy dresses.

But when Velika wears jewelry, it is always dripping in gems. This crown had been so simple. Just a simple silver band with delicate carvings. Parts of it had even appeared broken. Still, something about it had bothered me. I could feel the magic in it, which was odd because I saw no glyphs and it held no gems that would have stored magic.

I couldn’t resist asking Velika about it, but I stumbled over the words. Carmilla is so much better at wordplay than me. I’m sure I tipped my hand about my suspicions. Velika just laughed it off as something she had made recently and acted like she didn’t particularly care for it, but I didn’t miss the way her fingers caressed the silver.

The Moroi Queen has a Fae artifact. I am sure of it.

There must be more out there, and we need to find them before she does.

“Fuck,”I breathed out. What if Velika had collected more Fae artifacts since my parents had died? Or maybe she was still searching for them and that was why she had allied with the wraiths? Were they helping her find them in exchange for Velika assisting them in reclaiming their true Fae forms? Once again, I felt like the few answers I got only led to more questions.

I glanced down at a still sleeping Nyx. My parents had given their lives to stop Velika’s mad quest for power.

My daughter is a wonder, and she’s going to change the world one day.

I would not let them down.

Chapter Fifteen

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