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Chapter Eleven

Samara

We made it to our destination in just under an hour, and true to their word, Roth’s parents had alternated between plans for how to retrieve the crown, murder Carmilla, and coordinate an epic wedding.

Honestly, it was the wedding part that sounded the most complicated, as both the crown and Carmilla plan were basically “stabby stab.”

Roth’s family was insane. I now understood why they had fled to Drudonia.

I wasn’t entirely on board with killing Carmilla.

She absolutely had to be stopped—of that I agreed wholeheartedly—but my plan was to strip her of power and imprison her somewhere where she couldn’t cause any harm.

Nothing else was going to happen tonight though, so I decided to leave that argument for another time.

Because right now, I was tired. So damn tired. I just wanted to hopefully clean off and crawl into bed . . . with company of course. Suddenly, some of my weariness faded as lust slid into its place.

Yep. Still riding the tail end of the lust haze.

“We’ve found other places like this,” Desmond explained as we all piled into a large, cavernous room.

We were still underground—something I still found amazing—and the Fae had clearly planned on occasionally having to stay here because there were a dozen entryways off this main room.

Several chairs and tables were organized around the room too, with shelves lining the walls.

“All the rooms should have bathing chambers. This is our first time in this particular hideaway, but all the previous ones we found still had working water. No food though.”

He pulled a few small containers from his pack and tossed them onto the table, and not a hint of dust rose. Despite not having been used in probably centuries and surrounded by dirt, the place was spotless.

Would I be able to do things like this once I understood my earth magic better?

We didn’t even understand how the Fae had done half the things they had.

The glyphs to heat the water made sense because they were literally just a combination of the glyphs for fire and water.

But how had they even gotten the water to run into the bathing chambers in the first place?

And the bathing chambers’ setup, much like the Fae lanterns, still worked all these centuries later, even though the Fae hadn’t been here to maintain them.

Occasionally, we had to use our blood to activate glyphs or replace the gems and stones that stored magic, but the actual infrastructure was still working flawlessly.

“There’s a room beneath House Harker that is similar to this.” I looked around curiously. “How many of these places have you found?”

“We’ll tell you”—Desmond grinned at me—“as a wedding present.”

“Even take you on a tour of them,” Taivan offered.

I rolled my eyes.

“Ignore them.” Roth cut their brothers a scathing look before grabbing my hand and pulling me into one of the rooms.

“Get some rest!” Celestina ordered. “We’re going to find the exit from this tunnel system and do some scouting above.”

I was still shaking my head at the ridiculousness of Roth’s family when I came to a sudden halt just inside the room.

“Wow. Not what I was expecting . . .”

The room beneath House Harker had beds, but they were all single beds with one stacked on top of the other. Clearly, the point had been to jam as many Fae as possible into the space, but this room had only one bed—one huge bed—and a settee with several chairs arranged around it to the side.

Interesting. This was clearly a safe place to retreat, but they hadn’t expected to house the masses here. I assumed the other rooms were laid out similarly. Which Fae got to stay here and which were sent to the cramped rooms beneath the Houses?

Kieran and Draven sauntered in, each giving the bed an appreciative smile before disappearing through a door on one side of the room. Probably the washroom Desmond had alluded to. A second later came the sound of running water, confirming my suspicions.

Gods, rinsing all the dirt and grime off would feel amazing right now. Even better if I had Kieran and Draven to help me with that. Heat started to build between my thighs, and Roth’s gaze snapped towards me, the bright orange of their eyes flaring.

I took a step towards them until I realized not everyone had followed us into the room.

Alaric and Vail hovered in the doorway.

Dark grey eyes met mine, and for once, Vail held nothing back. Longing. Guilt. Confusion.

That’d always been Vail’s story, not knowing how to handle his emotions, and somehow, I was always the one who bore the brunt of it.

I was fucking done.

Moving towards the door, I held out a hand to Alaric. Unlike Vail, his expression was unreadable. Something was bothering him, and I was going to get it out of him because Alaric’s days of avoiding talking about things were over. He was mine.

And I’d fucking remind him of that.

A faint smirk played across his lips as if he’d just read my thoughts before he slipped his hand into mine. I tugged him into the room before giving Vail a flat stare . . . and then slammed the door in his face.

Roth let out a deep chuckle. “Good girl.”

“What do you need?” Alaric asked in a light, casual tone.

I narrowed my eyes at him. That was all he had to say? Not I missed you . Or I’m so glad you’re okay . Or even better, I can’t wait to be balls-deep inside you .

Fine. The best way to deal with Alaric when he was in this emotionally distant state was to jar him out of it by being incredibly lewd and demanding—something I just so happened to excel at.

“What I need”—I moved towards him, rolling my hips, and a brief flicker of turquoise flashed across his eyes—“is to get cleaned off and then have all of you compete to see whose name I can scream the loudest.” A smirk stretched across my lips.

“Lately, I’ve got to say, Draven’s been winning.

Just a couple of days ago, he had me pinned against the wall with his cock stretching my puss?—”

Alaric’s mouth crashed against mine. Everything he’d been holding back came pouring out at once. Desperation. Terror. Rage.

Beneath it all was a demanding, possessive love that refused to bend.

There you are . I kissed him back with equal ferocity.

He broke our kiss and stared into my eyes like he was convincing himself I was really here with him. “I missed you so fucking much.”

“Same,” I breathed out.

I felt a tremble run through him before his lips were on mine again. His hands slid under my shirt, going straight for my breasts. I moaned as he pinched both of my nipples, my own hands dropping to undo his pants as the lust I’d been fighting for the past few hours rose like a tidal wave.

Something rough moved around my waist, and I frowned against Alaric’s lips. He pulled back, and we both looked down at the bloodred ropes wrapped around us.

“Wha—” I squealed as I was yanked away from Alaric, who let out his own bark of alarm.

“Shower first,” Roth declared, marching towards the washroom and tugging us with them. Alaric and I stumbled forward towards the steam-filled room.

“Take your foreplay to the bed,” Roth ordered. “We’ll join you in a few.”

I peered around Roth’s lithe form and groaned as I took in the delicious sight before me. Draven was kneeling on the ground, Kieran’s rock-hard cock pressed against his lips. Something told me Kieran’s flush wasn’t just from the hot water rushing down on them.

“You heard them.” Draven licked a broad stroke up the underside of Kieran’s rigid length, causing him to moan, before sucking him all the way into his mouth and then releasing him. “Time to change the scenery.” He winked up at Kieran before rising to his feet.

“Are you sure we can’t just stand here and watch a little more?” I asked breathily, my gaze locked on the two gorgeous Moroi males who were giving themselves one more rinse beneath the steaming water.

“Oh?” Kieran gave me a cheeky grin. “Didn’t know you were a voyeur, Sam. Thought that was Alaric’s kink.”

“I didn’t intentionally walk in on you both,” Alaric said dryly.

“Of course not.” I gave him a patronizing pat on the cheek that had him narrowing his eyes. I’d probably pay for it later . . . but I was very much looking forward to my punishment.

Draven and Kieran stepped out from underneath the water. I belatedly noted that they’d already rinsed their clothes and had them hanging off hooks on the wall.

Both of them sauntered past me, rippling muscles on display, and kissed me on the cheek.

“See you soon, love,” Draven purred in my ear.

Kieran chuckled as they left the room, and I took a step after them without even realizing it. Only Roth’s rope around my waist stopped me from following them into the bedroom.

“Dry yourselves off before getting into bed!” Roth commanded.

The only response was a groan that made me think one of them had just taken the other in his mouth. A pressing heat built between my thighs, and I pulled against Roth’s rope—only to be yanked beneath the warm spray of water.

I sputtered as water doused my face, but the rope held me in place.

“Alaric,” Roth said idly, “I do believe our girl needs some assistance getting out of her clothes—and with a few other things. Help her out, would you?”

The rope around my waist fell away as Alaric joined me under the hot water. Unlike Kieran, he wasn’t sporting any scruff, and he’d clearly shaven his head recently. Alaric was always in control—even when he was losing his mind.

I traced my fingers along his sharp jawline, and he leaned into my touch and closed his eyes, savoring the moment.

Roth cleared their throat, and Alaric’s eyes flew open.

We both grinned and started helping each other get our clothes off, holding them under the hot spray before tossing them onto the floor to hang up later.

Much later.