“I’m sure that’s not what she meant—” Samara started.
“Oh, shut it!” Rynn and Cali both snarled at her.
Roth and Alaric snickered as Samara sulked and crossed her arms. It was really strange how well the two of them were getting on, but I guess it made sense, since they were both grumpy assholes most of the time. I was glad Alaric’s friend circle was expanding. He’d always be my best friend; I wasn’t the least bit threatened there. Mostly because I knew Roth’s ability to socialize had limits, and they were more than happy to disappear for days at a time in the library.
“Are they always like this?” Petra asked Vail.
“Unfortunately.” He sighed.
Suddenly, his hand snapped up, and he caught a dagger an inch before it sunk into his face.
“Seriously?” He glared at Samara, who just turned the hand that had thrown the dagger palm up.
“I’ll take that back now.”
Vail slid the dagger into an empty sheath on his belt and fastened a leather strap over it so Samara couldn’t summon it back. “Finders keepers. You’re welcome to try to take it.”
I didn’t miss the flash of desire cross Samara’s face before it was replaced with a rage that rivaled a Furie’s. Yeah . . . I wasn’t going to touch that mess of a situation. The four of us—Draven, Roth, Alaric, and I—had already agreed to let Samara figure out what to do with Vail, but if he gave even the slightest sign of betraying or hurting her again, we’d kill him.
Or tell Cali, and she’d kill him for us. Dead was dead after all, and my facewastoo pretty to get smashed in by Vail’s meaty fists.
Draven seemed confident that Vail wouldn’t betray Samara again. I’d been doubtful . . . until his rangers had been killed. Now, there was no chance of him going back to Carmilla. That didn’t mean he couldn’t still hurt Samara though. She was in love with him—had been for a long time—but I knew her. She was a spiteful thing.
I just didn’t want her to hurt herself more in an attempt to punish Vail.
“Why do you think we should go back to the room, Rynn?” Samara asked, dragging her gaze away from Vail. “It’s not that I don’t want to see it, but maybe it shouldn’t be a priority? Unless you think there is something in there that can nullify the crown’s magic?”
“I’m not sure,” Rynn said slowly, her argument with Cali already forgotten. “But I think there is a better chance of finding it there than anywhere else—except maybe the room under Lake Malov. I don’t know how to or even if we can change where the mirrors lead, and some of us definitely don’t want to cross into Velesian territory right now.” She cut a glance towards Vail.
He winced before killing the motion. Vail had always been on friendly terms with the Velesians, but I suspected that had come to an end. Even if Rynn hadn’t told them what Vail had done, they had likely been the ones to find her, and they would have smelled Vail on her. Between that and the missing crown, it would have been obvious what had happened.
Vail’s days of running with any of the Velesian Packs were over.
“Three days,” Draven murmured before looking at Rynn. “You’re positive the wraiths couldn’t get into the room?”
She nodded. “Absolutely. It sounded like they tore down half the bloody temple in a fit of rage over not being able to get to me.”
I caught on to what Draven was driving at and locked stares with Samara. “It doesn’t matter if that room has the answers we need for the crown or not. Serill told you he’d be back in three days—that’s tonight. We need to get you behind a ward that even the wraiths can’t break through.”
Because I sure as hell wasn’t going to lose her again.
Chapter Twenty
Samara
It wasn’tthat I’d forgotten about Serril’s promise to return, but on my list of problems to solve, I’d been placing the wraiths below Carmilla. The wraiths had always plagued our lands. Sure, now we knew more about them, but they were still an old threat in my mind—one that was escalating but seemed less urgent than my aunt.
The longer we let Carmilla go unchecked, the more she would use the crown on the Moroi Houses. She was clearly targeting House Salvatore, Corvinus, and Laurent. All she had to do was get the key players, and those Houses would be under her thumb. Then she could concentrate on wiping House Devereux out and likely Tepes as well.
As much as I wanted to go back and secure House Harker, there were plenty of people there who loved Carmilla. It was unlikely that they’d believe me if I told them she was now our enemy. Even if they did accept that she had a crown capable of subverting someone’s will, they’d probably still defend Carmilla. Claim she wouldn’t abuse her power. I wasn’t so naive to think there weren’t people within House Harker who wouldn’t mind if our House became synonymous with the Sovereign House—as the true rulers of the Moroi realm.
There was a very real possibility that Carmilla would have complete control over all the Moroi Houses within months. After that, she’d likely turn her attention to the Velesians. The Packs were in a worse state than the Moroi Houses; it was doubtful they’d be able to mount a unified defense. Plus, Carmilla could use the crown on key players to further sow dissension in the ranks.
The Furies were the wild card, as they’d pulled back so much over the last few decades. Cali was the first and last Furie to ever attend Drudonia for more than a year, and she’d done that in defiance of the elders. Most of the Furies rarely left the badlands.
On the plus side, that hopefully meant they wouldn’t help Carmilla with her quest to rule over the Moroi and the Velesians. If it came to it, I’d beg the Furie Elders for support, but I knew it was unlikely they’d agree to get involved. It didn’t help that the Fury Elders didn’t like me because of my close friendship with Cali. I knew they’d ordered Cali to stay away from me and Rynn after we’d left Drudonia, but she’d refused.
For all their power, the Elders couldn’t completely control Cali—and they held me at least partially to blame for that. I couldn’t depend on any other Furies coming to our aid, and as powerful as my friend was, she was still only one person.
