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Chapter Sixteen

Draven

“These howler nests look like they were abandoned weeks ago.” I toed a pile of branches, leaves, and other debris collected from the forest.

Vail just grunted. That seemed to be his main form of communication since I’d tracked him down half an hour ago.

I sighed. It hadn’t taken me long to find him, but Vail kept coming up with reasons to slow our journey back to the others. “We should keep going. The rest of the group is only a few miles away, and I’d prefer to be at Samara’s side.”

Usually, I loved being out at night. Thanks to my magic, I could sense the nastier of the monsters and avoid them.

There was something thrilling about sharing the forest with them, of being just another monster trying to survive, but that thrill was dimmed tonight because Samara was out here too, and she didn’t have a good enough grasp on her earth magic to wield it like I did—something we’d absolutely be working on once we had time.

“Carmilla is no doubt hunting her down.” I hesitated before adding, “And my father is going to seek retribution for Velika’s death. He might decide to take out his frustration on Samara.”

Moonlit silver eyes finally met mine. “Will he not come after you?”

“Eventually.” I shrugged. “But he’ll want revenge for Velika’s death first. There was no love lost between the two of them, but Velika helped him get access to those obsidian stones by figuring out which outposts were built over the human towns.

She also shared information with him about the other Moroi Houses. ”

Thunder rumbled in the clouds above us.

“You really don’t care that she’s dead, do you?” Vail tilted his head as he studied me.

“Actually, I’m quite upset about it. I was really looking forward to killing her myself.”

A slight tug pulled on the bond, there and gone in an instant. Based on the way Vail stiffened, I suspected he felt it too.

“Let’s go. Samara wants us all together.”

“ She slammed the door in my face. So, clearly, she doesn’t want us all together.” He pushed off the tree he’d been leaning against. “I’ll keep scouting ahead. You go running back to her ,” he tossed over his shoulder as he stalked farther into the woods.

My temper snapped.

Between one blink and the next, I had Vail pinned against a tree while roots shot out of the ground, winding around his waist and legs. My claw-tipped fingers dug into his throat, and his dagger pressed against mine.

I missed my whip. That would be priority number one once we reached House Devereux. No doubt they had a large weapons stash for me to raid and I could find something that would work.

“Get your hands off me, pretty boy,” Vail snarled, “before I cut off your fingers and shove them down your throat.”

“You’re already on Samara’s bad side.” I snorted. “My fingers are her second favorite part of my body.” My brows bunched together. “Maybe her third, I’m not sure where my tongue lies exactly. I’m good, but I have Kier to compete with, and his tongue skills are?—”

Vail shoved me away, his blade drawing a bit of blood in the process, and started slashing at the roots holding his lower body.

I sighed. This wasn’t my problem to fix, and he had betrayed Samara, which was something he hadn’t really accepted yet.

In his mind, he was trying to be loyal to two people at once, but that wasn’t possible when they were so opposed to each other.

I didn’t particularly like Vail, but I understood what it was like to give your loyalty to the wrong person and suffer the cost. Vail was starting to understand, but I needed to give him a nudge to ensure he didn’t betray Samara again.

Try to anyway. I’d kill him before he ever got another chance, which would break Samara’s heart—which was the other reason I was trying to help the stubborn asshole out. I had no doubt that Samara still loved Vail, it was just hidden beneath a mound of hurt and fury.

Half a thought from me had the roots slipping back into the earth. Vail stalked away—in the opposite direction of Samara—so I ripped open the wound in my soul that I’d tried so hard not to think about.

“My father killed my older brother.”

Rain started spattering against the thick forest canopy. I focused on that sound, doing my best to block out the resounding crack that always came to mind when I thought about Kalias.

Vail stopped mid-step, not turning around but clearly listening.

“Kalias was my half brother. I think it was hard for the Fae to procreate, and the Seelie turning themselves into shadow monsters probably didn’t help,” I said evenly, as if I were discussing someone else’s family history.

The branches above me moved closer together to provide me a little bit of shelter from the rain.

They did that sometimes, helped without me having to ask.

I patted the rough bark of the tree in thanks.

“Erendriel was the first of the wraiths to figure out how to get his Fae form back.”

“Who was the mother?” Vail asked, still facing away from me.

“A Velesian.” I swallowed. “She died shortly after Kalias was born. We . . . were never able to find out anything about her. Not even her name.” Or if she’d been willing , I thought darkly.

A twig snapped when Vail finally turned to face me. My magic lashed out, silencing the rest beneath his feet. His gaze dropped to the forest floor and back to me. “That’s how you’re able to move about so quietly—you use your magic to quiet your footsteps.”

I nodded shallowly. “Stumbled across that ability by accident.” The sound of bone snapping echoed across my mind, and I flinched.

“Kalias was five years older than me. I’d met him a few times growing up, but it wasn’t until I was twelve and Erendriel took me to live with him that I really got to spend more time with my brother. ”

“Did he have magic?”

“No.” I closed my eyes briefly. “Pure-blooded Fae come into their magic in their early twenties, but they typically start showing signs of it earlier. Kalias was seventeen when I arrived, and it was becoming clearer with every passing year that he wouldn’t have magic.”

Something our father derided him about every day.

“But you do,” Vail pointed out.

I gave him a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. “Yes.”

“Does your father know?”

The rain started to fall harder, and Vail took a few steps closer so he could hear me. It took me a moment to decide how to answer him. I was already telling him a story I hadn’t told anyone else, so I might as well speak the truth.

“Yes,” I finally answered. “But he doesn’t know how much.”

Something that I couldn’t read flickered in Vail’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything. He was a patient bastard when he wanted to be.

“I started showing signs of having earth magic when I was eleven. Minor things like making flowers bloom early, being able to sense nearby animals. As my powers grew, Velika became more . . . perturbed by me.” I blocked out the painful memories full of blood and screaming.

“But it was the first time Erendriel ever showed an interest.”

Few people truly knew me. I was the charming Moroi Prince to most. To some, I was a villain—but those were mostly people I’d killed or those who had been slaughtered in front of me while I’d been forced to stand by.

Only Samara and Kieran truly knew me, and even still, they’d probably be surprised to know just how gullible I’d been all those years ago.

That I’d seen the hand Erendriel had stretched out to me as salvation when it had really just been damnation wrapped up in pretty words.

Nobody lied better than the Fae. I’d learned that lesson too late.

“I’d spent the first twelve years of my life under the thumb of someone who despised me.

Erendriel treated me like a person, asked my opinions on things, praised me when I did something right.

I’d never experienced such a thing, so I naturally gravitated towards it.

” A bitter smile stretched across my lips.

“I was too young to understand the way he was manipulating me.”

A small crease formed between Vail’s brows, but he didn’t say anything, so I continued.

“Erendriel had no interest in Kalias—he’d already written him off—but I liked having an older brother, and Kalias took me under his wing.

” The bitterness in my smile faded slightly as I thought about Kalias.

Crack . The smile vanished. “He knew our father was disappointed in him for not having magic, so he tried to make himself useful in other ways.”

“Did he betray the Velesians the way you did the Moroi?”

“I was a child manipulated by a centuries-old Fae and then had the pleasure of having my mind shredded by my psychopath of a mother.” I gave him a cold look. “What’s your excuse?”

Vail looked away.

“To answer your question, Kalias had no interaction with the Velesians—bad or good.” I tried not to think about how many times I’d caught him staring at paw prints in the mud belonging to Lycanthropes or other Velesians.

My brother had been caught between two worlds, unable to shift into an animal form but unable to do magic like a Fae.

Erendriel had thought he’d been a failure, but to me he’d just been my brother. We’d both been too caught up in trying to win the praise of our father to realize we hadn’t needed it. We’d been enough.

“What is the point of this story?” Vail asked when I fell silent. He still wasn’t looking at me, but he was idly rubbing his chest in the spot where I guessed he felt the same tug I did.

“During my time living with the wraiths, I was mostly kept away from everything. Erendriel would occasionally ask me to perform small acts of magic, but he dodged any questions I had about him and the Fae. How they’d become wraiths.

What they were trying to do. I never truly learned anything about what was driving Erendriel. ”

Lightning tore across the sky. Crack .