Page 103 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

For all of his confident swagger, Kieran eyed that gulf between our stations. I was a prince, twice over. Sure, mommy dearest was dead and Erendriel was a usurper, but even a fallen prince was still a prince.

Samara was the Harker Heir and likely soon to be Head of House Harker—maybe more, depending on what happened with the Sovereign House after Carmilla’s inevitable demise. Plus the whole minor detail of her being the granddaughter of the former Seelie King.

In Kieran’s eyes, he was less than us. Something that prick Demetri had only made worse. Samara had shared some of the hateful things Demetri had said during their final encounter, such as the reason he’d been so obsessed with forcing Samara to marry him again. How—in his words—he’d had no choice.

Samara had practically trembled with fury when she’d repeated what he’d said about Kieran. Demetri had wanted to save face because of the stupid gossip in his court about her falling in love with a courtier. His ego had been bruised, and he’d wanted to punish Samara for it.

It was a shame that Samara had killed him because I would have loved to cut out Demetri’s hateful tongue and make him choke on it.

“I know the others are excited about the treasures upstairs, but honestly, these clothes are amazing,” Kieran drawled as he explored the armoire against the wall of the room we’d ducked into. He held up a deep blue tunic embroidered with gold stitching. “Whatever Fae built this place had amazing taste. Hopefully they don’t ever return to look for their stuff because I’m absolutely stealing all this and taking it back to House Harker.”

“No doubt it will look better on you than any Fae.” I grinned at him.

Kieran smiled back, but it faltered as he carefully folded the tunic and put it back onto the shelf. “I suppose maybe you and Samara won’t be returning to House Harker though.” He turned away from me and closed the doors to the armoire. “Everything is so fucked in Lunaria right now. You two might have to stayat the Sovereign House while it all gets fixed. Alaric will be useful in negotiating with the Houses, and Roth has a good mind for determining strategies for harvests and trades. Probably not much use for a courtier though.” He snorted. “I don’t think lavish balls and lazy mornings trading gossip are going to be in our future any time soon.”

“Most likely not,” I agreed and closed the distance between us. Kieran went still as I wrapped my arms around him, tugging his back to my chest. “But you know what is in my future?”

“What?” he asked tightly.

“You.” I kissed his neck. “Always you, Kier.”

Some of the tension eased from him, but not enough, so I spun him around until his back was against the armoire and I leaned my body against his. Kieran was only an inch shorter than me, but he was built a lot leaner.

“So this is why you chose a room so far from the others . . .” His brown eyes lit up, and a playful grin stretched across his mouth while he toyed with the ends of my hair.

It was a lie.

Kieran had as many masks as he did clothes—and he changed them far easier. Before everything had fallen apart between us, I’d adored watching him flit about the stupid parties Velika had been obsessed with throwing to boost her ego.

Between one breath and the next, Kieran would change from a sultry lover to an empathetic shoulder to cry on to a charming and self-deprecating friend.

I loved watching him work a crowd, seeing how he could get so many people to eat out of his hand and spill their secrets without even realizing what they were doing.

I didnotlove when he used one of those masks on me.

“Kier,” I purred and ran a hand through his tousled blond hair before letting it trail down the side of his face. “What did I tell you about wearing those false smiles around me?”

Those beautiful brown eyes blinked, and then Kieran gasped when my hand dropped to his throat and tightened. “Drav,” he rasped.

My mouth crashed against his, hungry and possessive, then I broke off the kiss almost as quickly as I’d started it, leaving Kieran breathless.

“Let me make this perfectly clear.” I loosened my hold on his throat but didn’t remove my hand. “I have done terrible things in my life. Things that will haunt my dreams until I take my last breath.”

“You didn’t have a choi?—”

“Sometimes I did,” I cut him off. “Most of the time, it’s true that either Erendriel or Velika forced me to do things.” A lump formed in my throat as I thought of the outposts Erendriel had been able to break into because of me. I hadn’t been willing, but it’d been my blood all the same that had allowed all those Moroi to be slaughtered while they slept. Their screams still echoed in my mind. I swallowed as I pushed out the other truth. “But, sometimes, I just wanted to avoid more pain . . . and I did as I was commanded.”

“What happened?” Kieran asked softly, no judgment in his eyes.

Fuck. I didn’t deserve him.

“Erendriel spends most of his time in the mountains above the Velesian realm, but the wraiths have different strongholds throughout Lunaria, including this temple for a while. More than one ranger has stumbled across them and seen too much.” I dropped my gaze to Kieran’s throat, where I had absently started running my thumb over his pulse. That constant reminder that he was alive. I focused on that while I continued, “When Erendriel was gone—which was often—he left Serril in charge. That prick reveled in making me choose between beingsubjected to whatever fun torture he had recently thought up . . . or ending the life of the ranger.”

My spine itched where Serril had broken it in multiple places. For all his pretty words and calm demeanor, there was something seriously fucked up about Serril. I didn’t know if he’d always been that way or if centuries of living as a wraith had twisted him. My father was a cruel bastard, but at least he didn’t take pleasure in it the way Serril did.

Although he had to have known what his right-hand was like and still left him in charge. I shook my head to clear the dark memories.

Then I lifted my eyes to meet Kier’s once more, expecting to see at least a hint of disgust, but there was none.

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