Page 137 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

Few attempted it, because if they failed, not only would they die but their entire line would be wiped out by the House theychallenged. And once a Claiming was invoked, it had to be answered.

Of course, usually it was invoked in a public manner so that if the challenged House didn’t answer, they would look weak to the other Houses. One never wanted to be perceived asweakin Lunaria.

Carmilla studied the bowl for a long moment before shrugging. “Cute attempt, niece, but I have no interest in fighting you.”

“Scared?” I bared my fangs at her.

She laughed. “We both know hand-to-hand combat was never one of your strengths, and the Claiming is just that. Tooth and claw only.” A smile stretched across her lips, one that didn’t meet her eyes. “I regularly trained with your mother when she was still alive . . . and bested her on more than one occasion, I might add. You cannot beat me, and I’d prefer to take you alive.”

“You cannot reject the Claiming once it’s been extended,” Draven drawled.

Carmilla’s temper snapped. “I can do whatever I damn well please, and I think our first order of business when we return to the Sovereign House will be to hold a public execution for the bastard prince.” Then her dark gaze slid to Vail. “And for the traitor.”

“How fortunate for us,” I echoed her previous words, “that you won’t be leaving this temple alive.”

Her eyes flicked back to me before she waved a hand towards us. “Bind them, then search the rest of this place for anyone else.” My aunt stared at me for a long moment. “If the wolf is here, kill it. My niece could use a reminder on obedience.”

As one, the rangers stepped forward from the walls, splitting into groups, with some angling towards me and others towards Vail and Draven.

“Last chance,” I warned, even as I started to summon my earth magic. “Honor the Claiming, Carmilla Harker.”

At the temple entrance, the two large, flat stones on either side of it started to silently move inward.

“It’s an outdated ritual,” my aunt hissed.

I pushed, and the stone pieces clicked together, cutting off the only way in or out of the temple—and the sunlight that had been beaming in.

Darkness fell, only for the Fae lanterns to flicker to life, their soft blue flames casting an eerie light across the room.

“On that, we agree.” Erendriel strolled past Vail and Draven to stand at my side. “A fight to the death without weapons or magic?” He shook his head in disgust. “Honestly, I don’t know how you all have survived this long.”

Carmilla stared at the Seelie King in horror before glaring at me. “What have you done?”

“What I had to,” I said calmly.

Before my aunt could open her mouth again, wraiths streamed into the room, and the rangers immediately backed up. True to Erendriel’s word, the wraiths didn’t attack. Instead of taking a specific shape, they all joined together until a ring of writhing shadows wrapped around the space with the rangers on the outside and the five of us on the inside.

The only break was in front of the pedestal, allowing a path to it. Now that this part of the plan had been enacted, the others joined us. Kieran, Roth, and Alaric walked up to stand behind the pedestal while Rynn, Ary, and Aniela stood behind them and a little off to the right.

A few rangers tried to step forward, only for the wraiths to turn solid for just long enough to shove them back. One overzealous ranger tried to run through, only to be flung into the wall—hard. A crack formed as he slid down, but he was stillmoving, and a fellow ranger was already drawing a healing glyph on him.

“So, now what? You’re just going to have the Seelie King do your bidding?” Carmilla sneered. “The Moroi willneverfollow you.”

“To be fair, they’re not exactly willingly following you either.” My eyes flicked pointedly to the crown. “The wraiths are only here to ensure you play fair.” I looked away from my aunt to address the rangers standing on the outskirts of the room. “You will not be harmed. You are only here to bear witness to the Claiming.”

“We’ll never follow Fae trash,” a ranger called out. “You’re not even a true Moroi.”

“Technically, we all have Fae blood running in our veins.” I smiled in the direction of the ranger who’d spoken. “Surprise. It’s true that I have a little more than most, but make no mistake, we’re all part Fae. Also”—I pointed at my aunt—“she’s wearing a Fae crown, and you seem inclined to follow her. Assuming you’re not one of the ones who had their will stripped away.”

Several faces tightened at that before wincing in pain.

Roughly half of the rangers here were under the crown’s compulsion, but the others had voluntarily come. If I truly wanted to unite all the Moroi, I needed them to respect me.

If I couldn’t have their respect, I would take their fear. Despite what Erendriel thought of me, I wasn’t some naive upstart. My goal was to be a good leader for all of the Moroi, but that didn’t mean I’d allow people to walk over me.

The Claiming was my way of proving myself worthy . . . and performing a little trickery. It was Carmilla who had constantly lectured me to work smarter, not harder. That the best strategy was one which could accomplish multiple goals at once. I needed a demonstration, and we needed to buy time for the transformation spell to work its literal magic.

My aunt hadn’t been lying about being my mother’s regular sparring partner. Carmilla might have spent most of her time behind a desk these days, but that didn’t change the fact that she was a lethal fighter. This was going to hurt.

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