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Chapter Eighteen

Samara

The rangers who had burst into the room filed out at some silent command from Aniela.

I settled onto the largest of the settees that almost resembled a crescent moon.

Kieran sat to my left with Draven on his other side.

Alaric narrowly beat Roth to sit next to me and earned himself a sour look that he didn’t seem the least bit concerned about.

That left Vail standing awkwardly by himself, since Aniela and her two Marshals had claimed the other settee.

“Vail, would you mind letting our friend know that we’re alright for now.

” I gave him a pointed look. Cali might have been acting strange, but I had no doubt that she would keep her word and absolutely slaughter her way through House Salvatore if we didn’t let her know we were okay, and it was getting really close to her one-hour mark.

“Brennan, go with him,” Aniela ordered. “Just let Cali in.”

I arched an eyebrow at the Salvatore Heir, and she rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t be worried about a single Moroi breaking into our keep, and it is well-known that you, Cali, and Rynn are a bit of a package deal.”

Something bothered me about that statement, even as I made a noise of agreement. How was she so sure it wasn’t Rynn? Sure, Cali was scarier, but as Aniela had said, Rynn was also a known friend of mine, and Velesians were tricky.

Vail started to stiffly walk towards the door behind where I was seated, and I reached up to grab his arm. He halted as my fingers closed around his forearm, dark grey eyes meeting mine as I felt his fingers graze my arm almost tentatively.

I didn’t know exactly where I stood with Aniela. I was fairly certain she wasn’t under Carmilla’s control, but that didn’t mean we were on the same side, which meant I had to be careful about the information I offered up.

“Go.” I held Vail’s unflinching stare. “Come back quickly.”

Strong, thick fingers tightened around my forearm as he bent down to whisper in my ear, “I’ll set whatever pace I damn well feel like, Heir.”

It was like a dozen emotions collided inside me. Lust. Amusement. Rage. Somehow, I managed to keep all of that off my face as I gave him a brief nod and released my grip.

Vail’s fingers lingered for another second before they dropped away and he strode towards the door. He didn’t look back as he left.

Once again, I found myself confused as fuck about Vail Ferenc.

Argh.

“Tell us where your cousin is, Aniela, and why you reacted to our presence the way you did.” I returned my attention to the Salvatore Heir and shoved my confused feelings about Vail aside. “And I’ll tell you what we know.”

Aniela looked at me for a long moment, and I got the impression she was searching for something in my expression. She didn’t find it.

“Two days ago, Dominique was summoned to the Sovereign House by Carmilla.” Her mouth tightened before she threw the towel she’d been using to clean the blood off herself onto the floor.

If she wanted me to feel bad about that, she’d have to try harder.

My side had mostly healed, but it still smarted from where she’d freaking stabbed me.

“It’s a short flight for our strikers from here to there.

Before the sun set that day, we received a message from my cousin. ”

Petra held a folded letter out to us, and I reached for it, but Alaric grabbed it first. Roth read it over his shoulder, and both of their expressions grew grimmer by the second.

“Dominique has ordered the majority of the Salvatore rangers to set up a perimeter around the edges of House Devereux territory.” Alaric raised a brow. “We’ve also all been declared traitors, and House Salvatore is under orders to capture most of us alive if they see us.”

“ Most ?” I eyed Aniela while my hand slid towards the dagger on my right thigh.

Petra started to go for her weapon but stopped when Aniela held up a hand. “How did she sign the letter, Alaric?” she asked, not taking her eyes off me.

“She just put her name,” Alaric said. “Dominique.”

A smile that didn’t reach her eyes touched Aniela’s heart-shaped mouth. “My cousin might be Dominique to everyone else, but to family, she’s always been Mika.”

“She’s fighting it,” Draven mused.

I leaned forward and twisted slightly to look around Kieran so I could see Draven better, letting my hand drop away from the dagger on my thigh.

“Even with the power boost of the crown being united, it’s still not enough to fully control those of House bloodlines.

” My brows furrowed together. “It’s not happy about how it’s being used, so maybe it’s also leaving loopholes in the minds of those it’s wielded against—and Dominique seized it. ”

“So it’s true then.” Aniela traded a weighted look with Petra. “Velika had a way to control our minds, and now Carmilla has it.”

“You knew about the crown?” I went still as surprise flickered through me. Up until recently, I’d never suspected such a thing existed, let alone that Velika had been wielding it.

“Why do you think we stayed to ourselves so much?” Aniela said dryly. “It was impossible to know who we could trust. Everyone thought it was because Dominique was young and inexperienced—we leaned into that, even if it did make our House appear weaker.”

“How?” Roth narrowed their eyes at Aniela. “How did you find out about the crown?”

“We didn’t actually know it was a crown,” Aniela admitted.

“There were little things that alerted Dominique’s parents to something not quite right.

Sometimes, their minds would feel . . . tired after visiting with Queen Velika.

And there were other things—advisors and courtiers visiting the Sovereign House and coming back slightly different.

Not like major personality changes, but saying things that were out of character. ”

“The soul crown is a Fae artifact,” I explained.

“Velika only had half of it. She was able to bind souls to obey her, but the effects were temporary. My aunt has both pieces. It’s considerably more powerful now.

House bloodlines still have some protection against it—but clearly, they’re not immune, given that Dominique has been compromised. "

“You said they .” Aniela narrowed her eyes. “Are you not including yourself in the House bloodlines?”

I pursed my lips as I thought about what to say. We needed allies to defeat Carmilla, and the more information they had, the better prepared they would be. But I was still coming to terms with the fact that I was half Fae . . . and that the crown was my birthright.

Everything was far more broken between the Houses than I had thought.

They wouldn’t be happy to learn that the crown that could steal their will and control their minds wanted to be united with me.

I had no intention of ruling over everyone, but they would never believe that—I certainly wouldn’t trust any of them with that kind of power.

“Your father had Fae blood, didn’t he?” Petra’s sharp eyes studied my face.

I barely managed to stifle the startled motion at the question. It felt like my heartbeat plunged for a few seconds before beating rapidly.

Petra and her twin sister were the same generation as me but older by several decades. They’d served Dominique’s parents before they’d been killed.

Oh, shit. Did Dominique know her father hadn’t been killed in that attack? That he’d actually been taken prisoner and Velika had experimented on him with the crown? That she’d been trying to figure out how to use it on House bloodlines?

According to Draven, she’d never truly been successful, but she had broken him down enough that he’d turned Strigoi and had been well and truly mad by that point.

Draven had killed him as a mercy.

I decided to not volunteer that information for now. Nothing could change the past, and it was irrelevant to our current situation. Still, I’d have to monitor for any signs that they knew and make sure Draven hadn’t been responsible for the former Salvatore Head’s imprisonment and torture.

It would be unfortunate to have to kill Dominique and Aniela—and probably their Marshals—over a pointless attempt at vengeance, but I’d do it. Nobody fucked with what was mine.

And Draven was absolutely mine .

I tucked away that thought as something to deal with later—or maybe I’d just take the truth of what happened to the grave—and pondered how to answer the question of my lineage.

Maybe it was time for the truth, even if that was an odd sentiment in our culture.

If the Moroi Houses were going to survive long-term, we’d need to start trusting each other a little more. With some things anyway.

“My father was half Fae.” I left out the royalty part because I wasn’t ready to share that just yet; plus, I wanted to have more information. All I had was the claim of a sentient crown. “I only learned this recently.” I narrowed my gaze at Petra. “What made you suspect he had Fae blood?”

The corners of her lips tilted up ever so slightly. It was the closest I’d ever seen her come to a true smile and not just a baring of teeth.

“He saved me once. I was traveling alone and had been injured thanks to a run-in with a large howler pack. My blood drew the attention of some kusu, and I thought I was done for.” She grimaced.

“Damn near lost my leg when one of them got me with their pincers. Before they could finish me off, roots shot out of the ground and tore the kusu apart.”

Note to self, definitely prioritize learning magic. I loved my blood daggers, but being able to summon roots out of the ground to, at the very least, hold monsters at bay would come in handy.

“You never told me that.” Aniela looked at her Marshal. There wasn’t anger or reprisal in her eyes—she looked more curious than anything.