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Chapter Thirty-Two

Samara

I stared at the heart in my grasp. It beat a few more times before going still. Carmilla’s blood was warm on my hand, and I was trying not to dwell on that. The time to process would come later—there was still a Seelie King to betray.

Through the mate bonds, I conveyed that I needed some assistance.

In an instant, Vail and Draven were there, helping me to my feet.

Roth knelt in front of me, and I felt them draw a healing glyph over my thigh and then over my ribs while Alaric offered me his wrist. My fangs sank into his flesh, and I drank deeply as my body burned with healing magic.

Once I was confident that I could stand without my leg collapsing under me, I walked towards the pedestal, my mates falling into step behind me. There was one last thing to do before enacting the final part of the plan. Making good on the promise I’d made to Vail.

I briefly made eye contact with Erendriel and he gave me a shallow nod. Through some wordless command, the wraiths pulled back until they were flat against the walls, coating the white marble in shadows.

“Rangers of the Sovereign House, your new queen requests that you wait outside while I finish my business here.” I casually tossed my aunt’s heart onto the floor like it was nothing as I summoned my earth magic and pulled the doors of the temple open just enough for them to slip out and only allowing only a sliver of sunlight in.

For a few tense seconds, none of them moved. Then a tall ranger with ashen blond hair made eye contact with me for a long moment before giving me a shallow bow. “You heard our queen. Move out!”

Relief flickered through me. If they hadn’t listened, I would’ve had to ask Erendriel to use his wraiths to force them out, and that would have increased the chance of some of the rangers being hurt or killed.

I moved to stand behind the pedestal, the bowl resting right in front of me.

Silently, my lovers moved to join me until we created a half circle around it.

Ary, Aniela, and Rynn didn’t move from their spot behind us.

When the last of the rangers walked out, I closed the doors, and the wraiths flowed down from the walls to gather around Erendriel.

“Well . . .” Erendriel kicked my aunt’s heart across the floor, and I tried not to wince at the wet, plopping sound it made when it landed. “Your aunt is dead. You have your crown. It’s time to honor what you promised, young queen.”

This time, I did allow myself to roll my eyes.

“About that . . .” I drawled, letting my fingers slip into the bowl of blood.

Behind me, I knew Aniela and Ary were now kneeling, activating the glyphs we’d painstakingly carved around the perimeter of the room.

Most of them were hidden, thanks to Draven and me using our earth magic to bury them slightly beneath the surface, but they were all connected.

“A Fae bargain cannot be broken without dire consequences.” Erendriel continued strolling towards us.

The wraiths fell in behind him. Some took Fae forms, others chose the shapes of monsters.

“You can act like a Moroi all you want, but enough Fae blood is running through your veins that the magic will tear you apart.”

“Oh I know.” I grinned wickedly. “We found quite a few books on bargains that were most helpful. One thing they pointed out over and over again was how carefully words had to be chosen—to prevent loopholes.”

“There are no loopholes in our bargain,” Erendriel growled. “I am six hundred years old. You’ve barely seen two decades. Did you seriously think you could outsmart me?”

“You think of me as a Fae tainted with Moroi blood.” I raised my chin a little higher. “But you have it backwards. I am a Moroi . . . tainted with Fae blood.” My grin widened. “And you are nothing but an arrogant old king who should have remained in the shadows.”

“Enough of this.” Erendriel snapped as he strode closer to where we were gathered at the pedestal—only to slam into an invisible wall.

“Oops,” Kieran deadpanned.

Draven chuckled. “What’s the matter, Father? Feeling a little trapped?”

Erendriel’s eyes widened as he looked down at his feet. The stone floor split apart, revealing a thin channel of blood flowing beneath it.

“It flows around the entire room,” I told him. “We had a run-in with some trapper spiders recently, and it got me thinking about all the dangerous things that can lurk right under our feet without us even knowing.”

“And you walked straight into our trap.” Draven strolled up to the barrier so he could look his father directly in the eyes.

“Kalias and I used to think you were untouchable. That there was no one stronger or smarter.” My vicious prince grinned.

“But from where I’m standing, you seem rather disappointing . ”

“I’m going to break every bone in your body and then give you to Serril to play with.” Erendriel’s cruel gaze slid to me. “After you watch that whore die a slow, agonizing death as the magic tears her apart for breaking the fucking bargain.”

“I haven’t broken a thing.” I shrugged. To my left, Roth, Vail, and Alaric slid their hands into the bowl. Kieran and Draven returned to stand to my right and did the same.

“You were very thorough in your wording for the bargain, and as someone who has reviewed a lot of contracts, I respect that. But I thought the Fae were known for being clever with their words—that’s what all the books say.

And you, my friend”—I let my voice drip with condescension—“were far from clever.”

“Don’t be too harsh on him, Sam,” Alaric drawled. “You heard him. He’s seen six centuries come and go. Maybe he’s just not as sharp as he used to be.”

Roth smirked. “That would explain why he never once caught on to the fact that you very specifically referred to the Fae artifact as the crown —and only the crown—in the bargain.”

“I did, didn’t I?” I chuckled. “Look at that . . . a loophole.”

Erendriel slammed a fist against the barrier, and the boom echoed across the room, but it held fast. The wraiths scattered in streaks of darkness as they tried to find a way out.

My fingers moved through the cold blood until they touched something solid and considerably smaller than a crown. I felt the ripples in the liquid as my mates continued their own searching.

Erendriel glared at me furiously from the other side of the invisible barrier—the one we’d created based on the spell that had been used here and in the secret room beneath the Alpha House.

It hadn’t been hard to figure out how it worked .

. . and then to adjust it so it could keep something in instead of out .

“No more queens. No more kings.” My voice boomed across the temple, and I slipped the band onto my finger. “No more crowns.”

Magic sparked within the bowl, and I felt the echo of it through the mating bond. As one, we all raised our left hands, blood dripping to reveal the rings we all wore on our index fingers—the one that had a direct line to our hearts.

Each ring was made of three woven bands. Gold, silver, and a deep ruby red.

Home . Talis hummed happily.

I bared my fangs at the Seelie King. “Welcome to the dawn of the Blood Sovereign.”

“When do you think he’ll stop ranting?” Aniela stared up at the ceiling from where we were all gathered on the first hidden level.

“Probably not for at least a few more hours.” Draven snorted.

“A silencing spell might be necessary.” I wrinkled my nose, drawing a chuckle out of Kieran.

Vail and Ary were outside, speaking with the rangers.

Thanks to Erendriel and the wraiths being trapped in the front room, the only way in or out was to climb out of the hole in the ceiling in the large room directly above us.

Neither Draven nor I were confident enough in our earth magic to attempt to make a hole in the wall and risk structural damage to the temple.

I had no idea what would happen to our spell if the temple collapsed around it.

Sooner or later, Erendriel would find a way out.

We’d been confident—mostly—that the barrier spell would work, but there were definitely nuances to it that we hadn’t had time to fully grasp.

I had no doubt Erendriel, or maybe Serril, would find a way to exploit those and get out.

And then I’d have a very pissed-off and powerful Fae coming after me. My eyes flicked to the table full of weapons. How fortunate that we found ourselves in possession of weapons that could harm them. Maybe even kill them.

“So, what’s the plan now?” Aniela asked. “Now that you all have those fancy rings?”

I am quite fancy, Talis said excitedly.

Roth frowned. “This is going to take some getting used to.”

“What is?” Aniela glanced at them in confusion.

“Talis—that’s the name of the crown—now the rings,” I corrected myself, “can speak in our heads.”

Aniela’s green eyes darted between our bands. “While I’m envious of being able to see people’s true intentions, not sure I’d be willing to sign up for an ancient Fae artifact to live in my head. No offense, Talis.”

Tell her none taken. Not everyone can handle how amazing I am.

Kieran laughed. Something told me he and Talis were going to get along very well.

“They’re not offended,” I assured Aniela. “And Talis has been through a lot. It’s the least we could do.”

In truth, we’d discussed it for quite some time.

What it would mean for our lives to be forever bound to the rings.

Talis had sacrificed the part of their magic that allowed them to control the will of others, but they could still read a soul and reveal the truth of a person.

In exchange for their cooperation, they’d asked to never be alone again.

Vail and Alaric hadn’t been thrilled about it. I’d been surprised Roth was fine with it, but then I’d realized it was because they now had an ancient artifact they could constantly ask questions. Talis might have been locked away for a long time, but there was still so much they could tell us.

“We need to go to House Devereux first. We won’t stay there long, but I need to check on Tamsen . . . and Nyx. Then we’ll travel to the Sovereign House to assess things there.”

I tried not to look at the silver box that held Carmilla’s heart.

When Erendriel had kicked it, the organ had landed on the other side of the barrier.

I didn’t know exactly what had possessed me to pick it up and put it into the box.

Nobody had said anything while I’d done it, and it’d been sitting on the table since we’d come down here.

I directed my attention to Aniela. “You should go to the Sovereign House ahead of us to meet Dominique. According to Talis, all the bindings ended during the transformation spell, so her mind is her own once more.”

“Alright.” Aniela nodded. “When you get to House Devereux, please let my people know they can return home.” She swiveled from where she was sitting on the table to fully face Roth, who was seated at the end. “And thank you, Roth—and your family—for taking them in. We are in your debt.”

“What kind of debt exactl—” Roth winced, and I got the distinct impression that Alaric had just kicked them under the table. They gave Aniela a curt nod before grumbling, “There is no debt between us. Happy to help and all that.”

The discussion moved to what we would do about House Harker—something I didn’t have an answer for yet and wasn’t in the mood to discuss with my aunt’s corpse still lying above us.

I left them to discuss the options for that while I went in search of Rynn.

I let my feet carry me to where I suspected she’d gone—down the stairs to the bottom level. Sure enough, when I walked into the cavern of hot springs, Rynn sat on the ledge of one of the pools, her back to me, legs dangling in the water.

“There isn’t anything like this near the Alpha House,” she said. “Nothing I’ve found anyway. Just lakes of ice-cold water.”

“Might be nice in the summer.” I sat down next to her, hiking my dress up to my thighs so I could slip my legs into the warm water too. “You hate the heat.”

We sat there for a few minutes while sadness rolled off Rynn. It was a quiet, defeated kind that made me furious.

“Tell me you don’t want to go back,” I said when I couldn’t take it anymore. “Just say the fucking word, Rynn.”

She leaned her head on my shoulder. “I love you, Sam. That’s why I’m going back.

You would go to war for me—you are absolutely that crazy—and Cali would too.

But we have all of our people to think about.

You need to get the Moroi Houses in order, and I need to accept my fate with the Alpha Pack.

Cade is tolerable most of the time. I can do some good there, I know it.

I just need to not let the others get under my skin. ”

I thought about it. “What if we just kill one or two of them? Maybe the mouthy wolf and Warrick? Have I told you how much I don’t like him?”

“You might have mentioned it a few times,” she said wryly. “No killing anyone . . . for now. Just sit with me for a bit longer?”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “As long as you want.”