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Chapter Thirty-Three

Samara

“Welcome back, child,” the Head of House Devereux greeted Roth before nodding to the rest of us as we strode through the main gate of Roth’s birth House three days later.

Thessalia’s long, deep red hair had been pulled back into a tight bun, and her shirt clung to her sweat-soaked skin.

The guard who had escorted us inside took the sword from her when she held it out to him, and she murmured her thanks.

Gods, had she been voluntarily sparring in this weather?

I was wearing one of Vail’s shirts over a pair of pants that were also too big for me.

Both were soaked from my own sweat because the sun was doing its best to burn everything out of existence today and we’d been walking all morning.

On the surface, Thessalia might appear as fierce as the rest of the Devereax clan but clearly she was just as unhinged about training as the rest of them.

The only thing that could make me run in heat like this was a swarm of trappers. And I had no plans of repeating that experience. Ever.

Fuck. Spiders.

“I’m twenty-two years old,” Roth grumbled as their aunt messed with their short hair that was the same shade of red.

“You can be a hundred and twenty-two, my dear.” Thessalia smiled as she dropped her hand. “You’ll still be that scrawny whelp hiding under my desk to avoid practicing your sword skills with your brothers.”

“Speaking of . . .” Roth glanced around the small entry courtyard. “Where are the banes of my existence?”

“You can admit that you missed them, you know,” their aunt said wryly.

Roth scowled.

Thessalia’s bright hazel eyes danced with amusement.

“Your parents are currently in the back courtyard, planning your wedding. I believe your brothers are being their helpful selves and encouraging them to make it a big one. Probably in hopes that it will further take off the pressure of them settling down with someone”—she looked at me and then all my mates—“or several someones.”

A torrent of curse words in multiple languages flowed from Roth’s lips before they gave me a hasty kiss on the cheek. “I need to go wrangle my parents and probably choke my brothers.” Their ropes started to unwind from their forearms. “You going to be okay, babe?”

“Yes.” I laughed. “Go.”

Roth practically sprinted out of the courtyard. They must have been seriously freaked out if they voluntarily ran without something chasing them. It made me wonder if I should be more concerned about what exactly a Devereux-style wedding entailed . . .

“I’m gonna see how Rothie Bear’s parents feel about doing a double celebration.” Kieran planted a kiss on my cheek before chasing after Roth.

My wicked prince chuckled as he watched his mate—and my soon-to-be mate—go and stepped closer to me.

“Drav . . .” I rose onto my tiptoes so I could kiss him on the cheek. “Please go and make sure Kier doesn’t get carried away and that Roth doesn’t have a heart attack.”

“I will do my best, my love.” His dark brows furrowed. “But honestly, Roth’s parents frighten me, so if they push for something, I’m not inclined to push back.”

“Wise boy.” Thessalia nodded.

Draven smiled at her before dipping his head in a respectful nod and casually strolling down the path Roth and Kieran had taken. Alaric sidled up to my left and Vail to my right.

Roth’s aunt stared after Draven in bemusement. “It’s good that he didn’t take after either of his parents. Would have been a shame to kill one that pretty.”

“I mean?—”

Alaric grunted when I elbowed him in the gut and gave him a warning stare.

Be nice , I mouthed. He rolled his eyes.

“Why don’t the rest of you come inside so we can discuss the future of things?” Thessalia offered. “You’re welcome to get cleaned up first while I have some refreshments brought to my study.”

“That is honestly the best thing I’ve heard all day.” I picked at my sweat-soaked shirt in distaste. “I desperately need to get out of these clothes.”

Alaric and Vail both cleared their throats.

“And into fresh ones,” I amended. “Work first. Play later.”

“We’ve prepared a guest suite for you in the same wing as Roth’s room—not that they’ve used it in years. Your suite has an attached washroom.” Thessalia’s gaze slid to Alaric and then Vail. “And a silencing glyph for your . . . playtime.”

“We thank House Devereux for its hospitality.” I grinned. “I’ll have to spread the word about how accommodating you are.”

“Please don’t.” Thessalia laughed. “Come on, I’ll show you the way.”

“If you don’t need me, I’d like to go check in with the rangers here,” Vail said. “I’ll catch up later.”

“That’s fine.”

Vail gave me a quick kiss before striding off down a different path from the one the other three had taken.

I glanced at Alaric. “Looks like it’s just you and me then.”

His lips quirked up into a small smile. “I do so enjoy when I get you all to myself.”

An hour later, some servants kindly directed us to Thessalia’s study.

Alaric had been very . . . attentive about helping me get clean in the washroom.

Then he’d undone all his hard work by shoving me to my knees when I’d sassed him and fucking my mouth roughly until he’d come all over my face and chest.

He hadn’t even let me rinse off. Just carried me to bed and devoured my pussy until I’d begged him to fuck me, which he had.

After cleaning up for the third time, we’d successfully made it out of the room.

“Ah, there you are. I was beginning to worry you’d gotten lost.” Thessalia’s eyes twinkled, and she rose from her desk to take a seat at one of the four chairs casually set up to face each other in the corner of her study.

The room was large, and weapons adorned most of the wall space.

I suspected the enormous window behind her desk overlooked the sparring courtyard, based on the faint sounds of yelling and metal striking metal.

On the table between all the chairs was an assortment of bread, cheese, and fruit, along with several glasses of water and ale.

“Alaric was very dirty,” I said with a completely straight face, even as I tried not to drool over the cheese. “It took a lot of work to get him all squeaky clean again.”

“I’m sure.” Thessalia grinned.

Alaric sighed and moved towards one of the chairs, pinching my side as he went.

I laughed under my breath and followed. We both chose a chair opposite Thessalia, and she watched as we tore into the food for a few minutes.

“Better?” She arched an eyebrow.

“Mm-hmm,” I answered around a mouthful of cheese.

She nodded. “A good fuck and some food will do that for you.”

Alaric choked on the bread he’d just swallowed, and Thessalia chuckled before sipping her ale.

Once I finished eating and had picked up my own glass of ale, I proceeded to tell her everything that had transpired since we’d parted ways. Alaric occasionally added more detail, but twenty minutes later, we had it all out there.

“I’m sorry you had to kill your own family,” Thessalia said solemnly.

“That can’t have been easy for you, even knowing that it had to be done, but I do think you handled it tremendously well.

We’ll need to keep an eye on the rangers who willingly followed her of course, but I doubt they will make a move against you anytime soon. ”

“Thank you.” A flicker of grief at Carmilla’s death hit me.

It felt strange to mourn her, considering all she’d done.

Perhaps it was more accurate to think I was mourning the idea of who I’d thought she’d been.

Either way, it was something I’d have to work through.

I wouldn’t be bottling up my grief and negative emotions any longer.

“We’re going to do an assessment of the rangers and advisors of the Sovereign House when we return.

” Alaric hesitated for a moment, glancing at me and only continuing when I gave him a nod.

“We don’t want people to feel as though they are being punished, because that will only create further friction.

After spending many hours discussing this on the journey here, we think it best to keep the ones most likely to stir up animosity at the Sovereign House, where we can monitor them.

The rest, we’d like to send to other Houses—Tepes and Salvatore have already agreed to take some.

House Harker can take some as well, and we were hoping House Devereux would be amiable to accept some new rangers too. ”

Thessalia looked at both of us thoughtfully. “To what purpose?”

Some of the tension that had formed in my shoulders while Alaric had been explaining faded. That wasn’t an outright no.

“When the Moroi Houses originally rose, they were united with one purpose—to protect our people. Over the decades, that mantra changed. It was no longer protect all Moroi but only those who belonged to one’s House.”

“Perhaps the Houses were all united once, but that time has long since passed.” Thessalia shook her head. “There is no going back.”

“No,” I agreed. “Nor should we try. The past is there for us to learn from it—not repeat it. Part of what allowed Velika and then Carmilla to seize power the way they did is that none of us could trust each other. I want there to be more collaboration between our Houses. I want us to heal what is broken. And that means giving some of the people who willingly followed Velika or my aunt a chance. Some of them might always be thorns in my side, but others could change their tune when they interact with other Houses more—when they start thinking of Moroi as one united front instead of seven fractures.”

I sat back in my chair and waited. If she didn’t agree, I wouldn’t give up. Just rethink my strategy about how to get her onboard.

“I admit that my immediate inclination is to say no.” Thessalia snorted. “But I also acknowledge that I—and my House—are part of the problem here. We’ve isolated ourselves quite thoroughly, and while that has worked quite well for us, some of the younger generation are getting a bit antsy.”