Page 35 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

Water churned as the tentacled beast thrashed and thetentacle around my ankle slipped away. Vail heaved me up, but I only made it halfway before the tentacle around the bag tightened and pulled me back down.

“Slip the bag off!” Vail commanded.

“No!” I screamed. We needed the information in these journals, and they had belonged to my mother. I couldn’t let this part of her go, not without knowing what it meant.

“Damn it, Sam!” Vail clung to me, desperately trying to pull me up. “It’s not worth your life!”

The strap snapped, and I barely managed to grab hold of the leather bag before it fell into the water. The tentacle around it tightened while another one tried to pry the dagger out of its eye.

“So fucking stubborn.” Silver flashed inches from my face before a blade sunk into the tentacle gripping the bag. The dark, rubbery appendage flinched but didn’t let go. Another dagger. Another twitch. Two more daggers joined the others before the beast finally decided this amount of pain and effort wasn’t worth it. Water thrashed below as the starfish pulled back its tentacle and retreated further into the water.

A deep vibration I felt in my bones erupted throughout the cavern as Vail pulled me up and the smaller starfish slid towards the edge of the rock before falling into the water. The starfish still making a meal out of my bicep was ripped off, but in my pained haze, I barely noticed. Rough hands yanked me forward, dragging me as I clutched the bag and my shredded arm to my chest.

My ankle didn’t feel like it was in much better shape, and by the time we made it to the sandy beach just outside the cave, I was barely capable of limping. I collapsed, my trembling muscles finally giving out, and I pulled aside what was left of my shredded pants to examine the damage . . . and immediately regretted it.

“Fuck,” I hissed as I saw white bone peeking through theripped flesh. I was lucky I hadn’t lost my damn foot, because those barbs ripped entire chunks out. Clenching my jaw, I stretched my hand towards the wound to draw the healing glyph, but large fingers wrapped around mine before pulling them back.

“I’ll do it,” Vail practically growled at me. Apparently, he was still pissed, which was fine. I was used to Vail being pissed at me.

He reached over his shoulder and rubbed his back where the freaky little starfish had fallen on him. His fingers came back bloody. I winced as he drew the healing glyph on a small patch of mostly undamaged skin. The burning, itchy sensation was immediate, and I let out a low hiss, turning my head away from the bloody disaster that was my lower leg.

Alaric gave me a flat look as he knelt beside me. “You should have let go of that fucking bag,” he said coldly. Vail grunted in agreement as he looked over the rest of my leg.

“I—”

“Shut the fuck up, Sam,” Alaric snarled, and I snapped my mouth shut. I didn’t regret what I’d done, so I wasn’t going to argue with him or Vail over it. The two of them could just be pissy together. My leg jerked involuntarily as some of the muscles pieced themselves back together. The healing spell might have been incredibly useful and sometimes lifesaving, but it fucking hurt.

Even worse, as the adrenaline continued to wear off, I could feel the rest of the smaller wounds spread over my body. I held my forearm out in front of me and grimaced at the deep grooves Vail’s claws had left behind while he’d been clinging to me.

With more tenderness than I thought him capable of, Alaric grasped my arm and tugged it towards him, resting the back of my hand in his palm as he drew the healing glyph right below my elbow. Technically, once the healing glyph wasdrawn on a body, it would heal all wounds, but it always started with the closest ones.

My breaths came out in rapid bursts as the two healing glyphs worked in tandem. A distraction. That’s what I needed. Vail was still busy examining me for any other major wounds that needed immediate attention, which I was a little surprised he cared about but was not willing to bring it up and get into it with him. Instead, I focused on Alaric, who had settled back into a crouching position after starting the healing on my arm.

Dozens of wounds covered his arms, ranging from shallow to alarming based on how much blood was still dripping out of them. Chunks of his tunic had been torn away, and I could see more bite wounds on his chest.

“Come here,” I said firmly. Alaric glared at me for a moment before leaning forward again. I brushed my fingers across some wet blood on my arm and pulled his tunic down, revealing more of his chest. He wasn’t nearly as large and muscular as Vail, but Alaric was in excellent shape. Like Kieran, he sparred regularly with the rangers and found it relaxing to go on daily runs.

Personally, I only ran if my life was on the line.

I felt his heavy stare on me as I traced the glyph over his heart. It was the best solution when there were multiple wounds like this and none were life-threatening. Our natural healing was impressive, and we could survive almost any wound as long as our heads remained attached and the blood loss wasn’t too severe, but it was nowhere near as fast as the healing glyph and could only fix wounds inflicted by non-magic means.

Alaric winced before leaning back and closing his eyes as the magic coursed through his body, and I frowned when he looked on the verge of passing out. While he had a lot of wounds, none of them looked particularly serious. Our blood was necessary to initiate the glyph, but the magic behind thehealing spell basically used the magic within our body, just at an accelerated rate. It was why, in life-threatening situations, an injured Moroi was usually given blood to drink as well.

“Here.” I stretched my mostly uninjured arm out to Alaric. Every part of me ached, and I was pretty sure I would pass out any second, but he looked worse than me. “Drink.”

Alaric reeled back like I’d struck him and leapt to his feet, swaying slightly before stiffening his back. “Absolutely not.”

“Don’t be a stubborn ass!” I snapped. “It’s just blood, Alaric. You clearly need it.”

“I’m fine,” he ground out, even as turquoise bled through his green eyes as he stared hungrily at my still extended arm. Realizing what he was doing, he tore his gaze away and spun around, stalking away from me. “Get her back safely, Vail.”

“Alaric!” I called after him, but he ignored me and kept walking. It wasn’t that long of a trip back to House Harker, just down the beach a quarter mile before cutting up a trail. The chances of him running into anything nasty between here and there were slim . . . but I also hadn’t expected to find terrifying, spider-like starfish in that fucking cave.

Arachnistar? Arachstar? Starachi?

As far as I was concerned, since I’d found them, I got to name them. I’d have to think of something good. Hopefully they wouldn’t make that cave their new home. Otherwise, getting back into that room would not be fun. Then again, they would make an excellent deterrent for anyone who tried to explore the cave . . .

Vail stood up, apparently satisfied that I had no other wounds that required immediate attention. I struggled to my feet and sucked in a breath as aching muscles barked at me. The skin on my arm and leg was smooth and unblemished, but it still felt like my body had been through a meat grinder. I pursed my lips as I stared at the long stretch of beach beforeus. This would not be a pleasant walk back. I had no idea how I was going to climb back into my room either.

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