Page 144 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

“Mm-hmm,” I answered around a mouthful of cheese.

She nodded. “A good fuck and some food will do that for you.”

Alaric choked on the bread he’d just swallowed, and Thessalia chuckled before sipping her ale.

Once I finished eating and had picked up my own glass of ale, I proceeded to tell her everything that had transpired since we’d parted ways. Alaric occasionally added more detail, but twenty minutes later, we had it all out there.

“I’m sorry you had to kill your own family,” Thessalia said solemnly. “That can’t have been easy for you, even knowing that it had to be done, but I do think you handled it tremendously well. We’ll need to keep an eye on the rangers who willingly followed her of course, but I doubt they will make a move against you anytime soon.”

“Thank you.” A flicker of grief at Carmilla’s death hit me. It felt strange to mourn her, considering all she’d done. Perhaps it was more accurate to think I was mourning the idea of who I’d thought she’d been. Either way, it was something I’d have to work through. I wouldn’t be bottling up my grief and negative emotions any longer.

“We’re going to do an assessment of the rangers and advisors of the Sovereign House when we return.” Alaric hesitated for amoment, glancing at me and only continuing when I gave him a nod. “We don’t want people to feel as though they are being punished, because that will only create further friction. After spending many hours discussing this on the journey here, we think it best to keep the ones most likely to stir up animosity at the Sovereign House, where we can monitor them. The rest, we’d like to send to other Houses—Tepes and Salvatore have already agreed to take some. House Harker can take some as well, and we were hoping House Devereux would be amiable to accept some new rangers too.”

Thessalia looked at both of us thoughtfully. “To what purpose?”

Some of the tension that had formed in my shoulders while Alaric had been explaining faded. That wasn’t an outright no.

“When the Moroi Houses originally rose, they were united with one purpose—to protect our people. Over the decades, that mantra changed. It was no longerprotect all Moroibut only those who belonged to one’s House.”

“Perhaps the Houses were all united once, but that time has long since passed.” Thessalia shook her head. “There is no going back.”

“No,” I agreed. “Nor should we try. The past is there for us to learn from it—not repeat it. Part of what allowed Velika and then Carmilla to seize power the way they did is that none of us could trust each other. I want there to be more collaboration between our Houses. I want us to heal what is broken. And that means giving some of the people who willingly followed Velika or my aunt a chance. Some of them might always be thorns in my side, but others could change their tune when they interact with other Houses more—when they start thinking of Moroi as one united front instead of seven fractures.”

I sat back in my chair and waited. If she didn’t agree, I wouldn’t give up. Just rethink my strategy about how to get her onboard.

“I admit that my immediate inclination is to say no.” Thessalia snorted. “But I also acknowledge that I—and my House—are part of the problem here. We’ve isolated ourselves quite thoroughly, and while that has worked quite well for us, some of the younger generation are getting a bit antsy.”

“It’s getting hard to find new bedmates when it feels like you’re related to half the people here.” A blond-haired man with a charming grin and bright green eyes chuckled as he practically sauntered into the room.

“Zander, what have I told you about eavesdropping?” Thessalia scolded the Moroi, who appeared to be about my age, as he dropped into the remaining empty chair.

His eyes widened a little as he gave her an innocent smile. “To not be so obvious about it, but I would never deign to lie to you, my liege.”

She rubbed her forehead. “This pain in the ass is the son of my most trusted advisor.”

“Pleased to meet you.” I grinned at him. “Eavesdropping on a Devereux is a bold move.”

“To be fair, I only do it on Thessalia because she adores me.”

Roth’s aunt snorted again before dropping her hand to her lap. “And because the one time he tried it on Severen, he found himself tied up tighter than a hog over a spit and hanging from a tree.”

“Took me hours to cut myself free.” Zander laughed. “Had to dislocate my shoulder and everything.”

Alaric stared at him for a long moment before turning to me. “Clearly it’s not just the Devereux line that is insane—it’s everyone in this House.”

“I think you just need to spend a little more quality time with them.” I smiled sweetly, and Alaric narrowed his eyes. “How about the three of you discuss this a little further?”

“And where will you be while I’m talking to the heathens?”

“Why do we get the rude one?” Zander muttered. “That blond fella looked much more easygoing.”

I patted Alaric on the cheek. “You’ll be fine. Just flutter those pretty eyelashes at them and—owww!” I yanked my hand back and sucked on my bleeding finger.

Alaric licked the blood off his lips, turquoise flaring in his eyes . . . and staying. “Go do what you need to, but you’re going to get punished for that sass later.”

“Can’t wait.” I winked.

“I can’t believe this is what Astaroth is marrying into.” Zander stared at the two of us wide-eyed before gleefully smiling. “This wedding is going to be amazing.”

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