Page 69 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

Then Nyx let out an anguished scream and renewed their attack on Vail.

“Get him the fuck out of here,” Cali grunted as she tried to hold Nyx back. Even with the rain, the scent of Furie blood filled the air as Nyx’s claws tore through her skin.

Samara surged forward and grabbed Vail, pulling him away as Cali finally gave up and shot up into the sky with Nyx clamped against her, flying off into the raging storm.

“What’s going on?” I asked Kieran.

Mournful eyes looked at me, but before he could answer, Vail released a pained sound.

I looked over my shoulder just in time to see the Marshal of House Harker fall to his knees in front of two bloodied bodies. My magic only sensed the living, and I got nothing from the two broken forms in front of Vail.

Any hopes I’d had that Adrienne and Emil had gone scouting ahead were dashed. I hadn’t known them well, but they’d seemed like good people, and they’d come through for Samara when she’d needed them most. For that alone, I would have been loyal to them for the rest of their days.

But it seemed that their days were no more.

“Carmilla found us,” Kieran said quietly. “She used the crown on Emil and Nyx. Ordered them to kill Adrienne. She killed Emil . . . but she couldn’t bring herself to do the same to Nyx.”

My mind flashed back to Selia—the woman who had raised me when my own mother couldn’t be bothered. Velika had ordered her to kill me one day, and in less than a second, the person who I knew for a fact had loved me had attempted to rip out my throat. I knew the power of that fucking crown better than anyone.

But if Nyx had turned Strigoi . . . why hadn’t the others put them down?

I had my answer a moment later when Cali and Nyx joined us again. The latter still had dark blue eyes, but now there were the faintest lines of bright blue running through them.

They’d come back. Shock rolled through me. I’d never heard of a Strigoi regaining their humanity. There was still something not right about Nyx though. Their movements had a predatory quality to them that was unique to Strigoi. Something about it just set my instincts on edge.

But they made no move to attack anyone and seemed to be in control of themself. I still not so subtly maneuvered myself tostand between them and Kieran. Samara was far enough away that I was confident I could stop Nyx if they tried to attack her.

The young ranger only had eyes for Vail though, who finally seemed to sense their attention. He raised his head in a daze to look at the not-quite Strigoi.

“She did this,” Nyx hissed in a low, otherworldly voice. “The woman you so loyally serve. She ordered their deaths.” For a split second, the bright blue vanished from their eyes before appearing again. “I still taste Adrienne’s blood in my mouth. I don’t think I’ll ever stop remembering it.”

Kieran’s fingers tightened around mine, and we all watched as the strong and resilient Marshal of House Harker looked at his two fallen rangers . . . and broke.

Chapter Seventeen

Samara

“How arewe going to handle this?” Alaric’s sharp green eyes looked down at the castle from the ridge we’d stopped to rest on. The storm had finally broken, and the rays of the early morning sun were starting to peek through the clouds.

I studied House Salvatore from where I stood next to Alaric. It was a risk to stop here; they were the closest geographically to the Sovereign House. To my knowledge, Carmilla hadn’t come here since acquiring the crown, and I hadn’t heard of Dominique, the Head of the House, nor her Heir, Aniela, visiting Carmilla. Vail hadn’t either.

It seemed odd that Carmilla wouldn’t have immediately used the crown to secure her control of House Salvatore, given how close they were.

She didn’t need to do anything about House Harker since everyone there would be loyal to her—at least until they learned the truth of what was going on. Some might still follow Carmilla, but I knew many wouldn’t be keen on someone manipulating the minds of other Moroi.

For now, House Harker would be low on her list. She already had plans in place for House Laurent and House Corvinus, and I didn’t think she’d bother trying to use the crown against HouseDevereux. If I were her, I’d gain control of the other Houses and then wipe out Devereux—they were too powerful to be left standing.

That left House Salvatore and House Tepes as the wild cards.

Movement to my left drew my attention. Nyx strode towards the ledge, and my heart thudded, as it seemed like they were just going to keep walking. Before I could move, Cali was there. She didn’t touch Nyx, but they slowed at her presence, and both came to a stop an inch from the edge.

Nyx hadn’t spoken for hours. Not since their outburst at Vail, who had also been quiet after that. I fought the urge to turn and look at the two freshly dug graves behind us. There wasn’t time to bring Adrienne and Emil back to House Harker, so we’d chosen this spot for their final resting place. Draven had used his magic to dig deep into the earth, to ensure no beasts would disturb them, and then coaxed some roots to stretch over the tops of their graves for good measure.

Absently, I rubbed my chest, just over my heart. I grieved the loss of the rangers, but it was nothing to what Vail was feeling right now. His grief was like a poker that had been thrust into flames. I could feel the rage beginning to burn, growing hotter by the hour.

We needed to determine if House Salvatore was compromised and warn them of Carmilla if they weren’t, but Nyx couldn’t set foot inside that castle. We knew they weren’t Strigoi—not completely anyway—but they’d slipped more than once on the way here and tried to attack Vail. If the Salvatore rangers saw Nyx lose it like that, they’d kill the ranger.

Strigoi were always put down.

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