Page 147 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

Everything had been mostly nonstop for the past few months. I’d spent most of my time at the Sovereign House, although I had made a quick trip to House Harker just to make sure everything had been in order there. To my delight,our advisors had stepped up and kept everything going without a hitch. They’d quietly admitted to me that they had been uncomfortable with the path Carmilla had chosen.

Nobody was rejoicing in her death; it was more of a bitter acceptance that I’d done what had been necessary and that they were grateful for it. Long-term, I still didn’t know what would become of House Harker, but it wasn’t something I had to solve right this second.

Which was good because we had a long list of other problems.

Both the Head and Heir of House Laurent were dead, and no suitable candidates had risen to take over yet. With no other choice, Alaric had reluctantly volunteered to step in as a temporary leader—something he absolutely loathed because he had to talk to people on a regular basis. It also meant he had to spend time away from me, but things at House Laurent were improving, and he was confident he’d be able to leave things in the hands of the advisors soon—those we’d borrowed from House Harker and House Salvatore, because I knew all of the Laurent advisors and didn’t trust a single one of them. Something Talis backed me up on. They weren’t outright evil, so I wanted to give them a chance, but I wouldn’t be heartbroken if Vail or Draven made good on their threats involving the advisors having an accident while traveling between Houses.

If the advisors were too stupid to realize insulting me in front of my protective mates wasn’t good for their long-term health prospects, then they probably weren’t cut out for being a House advisor in the first place.

As much as I wanted all the Houses to play nice with each other, there was no magic fix for that. We were going through a lot of growing pains, but I was hopeful.

Roth had been coordinating with the scholars at Drudonia in cataloging and documenting all the information containedin the secret rooms beneath the temple. We’d discovered that, much like the room beneath Lake Malov, nothing there could be removed, so the scholars had to travel to the temple.

It wasn’t that far of a journey, but the problem was we still had a very pissed off Seelie King and almost a hundred wraiths trapped in the temple. Rangers were always posted there, all carrying the weapons we’d discovered that worked against wraiths. We’d also set up more barrier wards to create more safe zones within the temple. I knew it was only a matter of time before Erendriel and his wraiths got free; the wards we’d put in place were merely to ensure our rangers weren’t killed when it happened.

I had contingency plans for my contingency plans. The only time I’d stopped working was when my menstrual cycle had come last month.

All of my mates had dropped what they’d been doing to make sure I’d been as comfortable as I could have been. We’d all done the same for Roth weeks prior when they’d had their cycle.

I’d allowed Roth to keep working in bed, but they’d flat out refused to let me so much asreadcorrespondence. I found it extremely unfair, but everyone had sided with Roth and outvoted me.

My anger had lasted all the way until my heat had kicked in. Then I hadn’t left my bed for five days . . . but for much more fun reasons.

I’d cut back on my work a little bit after that. Nothing terrible had happened during those eight days, so it was clear I could give myself a little more time off. I had five mates to enjoy, after all.

My brows furrowed. Had I sent that letter to Tamsen replying to some of her ideas for improving travel between the outposts? She’d raised some really good points, and I wanted to implement some of them soon. We co?—

“Stop thinking about work, Sam,” Nyx growled before stepping back and returning to their spot on the wall.

“Damn,” I admired myself in the mirror. “You do good work, Nyx.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw them shrug. “I used to always do Tamsen’s when we were growing up. She’s even worse at doing hair than Rynn.”

“Hey!” Rynn crossed her arms. “I’m not that bad.”

“Yes, you are,” Cali and I said at the same time.

Nyx had braided the top half of my hair into multiple braids that twisted into a bun with several loops draping down. The rest of my hair was pinned back away from my face before it fell in a dark wave down my back.

“Thank you.” I turned in my chair to beam at them. “It’s perfect.”

Their expression softened for a moment. “You’re welcome, Sam.”

“We better get going.” Cali hopped off the box. “Celestina was very specific about where we had to stand and when.” She grinned at me. “Your future mother-in-law is terrifying in the best kind of way.”

“I know,” I gave her a dreamy smile.

Rynn laughed, jumping to her feet and walking out the door. Cali followed her, only to pause and glance at Nyx. They caught her look and shook their head. “It’s probably best I stay here.” The blue lines running through their black eyes flashed in and out of existence. “The hunger . . . it becomes more difficult to control around a lot of people.”

“It’s fine, Nyx,” I told them softly. “I appreciate you coming at all.”

Cali stomped forward and grabbed Nyx’s arm, ignoring their hiss, and dragged them towards the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you in line.”

“Cali,” I warned as fear raked its claws across my heart. Cali liked to push things—and Nyx wouldn’t respond well to that.

“It’s been months, Sam,” she called over her shoulder. “Quit babying them. I mean, who hasn’t lost their mind here or there?” A deranged laugh spilt from her lips.

When Nyx glanced back at me before Cali pulled them through the door, I gave them an encouraging look, and they just rolled their eyes. That little hint of the old Nyx settled my concerns. Cali and Rynn would be with them, and I had no doubt Celestina had thought of Nyx’s well-being for this. She’d probably set them up with a good view but slightly apart from the rest of the guests.

---