Page 61 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

Solving problems was my thing. I enjoyed it and was good at it, but usually the problems I was trying to solve were things I could look at from an abstract viewpoint. If I couldn’t solve them, I would be annoyed, but I’d just move on to something else and forget about them in a few days.

It was harder to do that though when my lover, who was a fucking Heir, was counting on me. I didn’t want to let her down.

I glanced around the suite and the absolute chaos it contained. For someone who always appeared so well put together, Samara’s rooms were a bit of a shock. I’d only been here a handful of times because she almost always came to my room. I had a tendency to lose track of time, and Samara often felt compelled to hunt me down and make sure I was eating and sleeping enough.

At first, it had annoyed me, but after ensuring I ate or drank something, Samara would flop onto my bed and pick upa book. No other demands. No questions. She’d simply wanted to make sure I was okay and, once she’d done that, purely enjoy my company.

Nobody in my life had ever given a shit about me this way, and I didn’t exactly know what to do about that, or the fact that I’d been at House Harker for such a short time and already couldn’t imagine my life anywhere else with anyone else.

I scowled at the book in my hand for daring to not have the answers before tossing it onto the table in front of me. When it slid across the surface and stopped just before some books that Samara had placed haphazardly into a tall, teetering stack, I winced. I didn’t quite understand how it hadn’t fallen over yet, but I was worried that if I so much as breathed in its direction, it would collapse. So I’d left it alone and hoped it continued to defy its destiny.

I’d barely gotten into a book again when the door opened and Samara strolled in looking a little . . . disheveled.

The scent of blood, sweat, and lingering lust filled the air.

“You and Alaric are still working things out, I see.” I raised an eyebrow at her, and Samara just smirked before heading towards the washroom, stripping as she went.

“I think we’ve worked past all the hard bits.”

“I bet,” I said dryly, lips curling up slightly. It was good to see Samara happy, given everything that was going on.

She paused halfway across the room and whirled around in nothing but her panties, giving me a concerned look. “Are you . . . okay about me being with Alaric? I know you’re fine with Kieran, but I just realized I never specifically talked to you about Alaric.” The smile that had been plastered across her face fell, and her brows bunched in concern. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Roth. Things kind of happened fast between me and Alaric. I wasn’t expecting it to be honest, but that’s no excuse. I should have talked to you about this sooner and?—”

“Samara,” I cut her off, a bemused look on my face. It wasn’t often that I saw the supremely confident Heir of House Harker looking unsure about anything. “As long as he treats you well and makes you happy, I have no problem with any of it.”

“Okay.” She chewed her bottom lip. “You’re absolutely sure?”

I rolled my eyes before standing from the settee and walking over to her to kiss her lightly on the lips. “Babe.” I kissed her again. “It’s fine. I appreciate you taking my feelings into account.” Another kiss. “But it is impossible for me to take you and this conversation seriously when you’re standing there basically naked and chewing on your lip like that.”

“Oh!” Samara looked down at herself like she’d just remembered she was in nothing but panties. Then she gave me a sheepish grin as color darkened her cheeks. “I . . . ummm . . . usually start stripping as soon as I’m back in my rooms. Given the option, I prefer to just lounge around naked or maybe in an oversized shirt if it’s cold.”

“I’m going to be in your rooms a lot more now.” The left corner of my mouth tilted up. I’d never just . . . hung out with Samara in her rooms before. Usually we were tearing each other’s clothes off or I was tying her down with my ribbons. This was new territory for me, and I fought to keep from running my hand through my hair as I tried to figure out what I was supposed to do.

“Okay,” she said again, this time, a little mischievous spark lighting up her dark purple eyes. “You called mebabe.”

Some of the tension bled out of me. She was so adorable sometimes.

“Sure did. Now go rinse off.” Then I leaned forward to whisper into her ear, “Babe.”

She grinned and sauntered off to the washroom, swinging her hips with a ridiculous exaggeration. I watched every secondof it before retreating to the settee and diving into the books once more. A stupid smile stretched across my face, but I didn’t care because there wasn’t anyone here to see it.

Ten minutes later, a thoroughly clean Samara sat down next to me, towel drying her wet hair as she scanned the books I’d brought with me. Despite the messy state of her room, I had no doubt Samara knew exactly where everything was and easily identified my items.

Her eyes lingered on the neat stack of clothing sitting on one of the chairs. I’d brought not only clothes for tonight, but extra clothes to keep here for whenever I stayed over. She didn’t comment on the clothing, but I didn’t miss the pleased expression that flashed across her face.

Samara liked me being in her rooms. This wasn’t a passing fancy for her, and it sure as shit wasn’t for me. She had brought up Alaric and apologized for that misstep, even though I truly didn’t care since it had been clear to anyone with eyes that those two were headed in that direction, so it was time for me to come clean too.

“I got kicked out of Drudonia,” I blurted out.Smooth, Roth. Couldn’t have come up with a better way to phrase that?

Once again, the happy expression vanished from her face, and I squeezed my eyes shut with a wince. Why was I so terrible at talking like a normal person?

Oh, right, because I’d barely spoken to anyone for the first ten years of my life.

“What I meant to say—” The words died on my lips when I opened my eyes and met Samara’s solid black ones.

A tightly contained fury rolled off her in waves, and she flexed her now claw-tipped fingers. “Was this your House’s doing? Their way of forcing you to go back to them?”

“What?” I asked in shock. “No, they don’t care?—”

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