Page 39 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

“Emil will make sure Nyx takes it easy.” I rested a hand on Adrienne’s shoulder. “And I’ll make sure they don’t go out on any missions any time soon.”

“No missions without my approval,” Adrienne pushed. “And they have to go with you, me, or Emil.”

“Okay,” I agreed, my lips twitching as I fought back a smile I knew she’d punch me for. “But try to limit your hovering. Nyx’s confidence in their abilities is in the shitter, and you being a mother hen isn’t going to help with that.”

She slapped my hand off her shoulder. “I’m going back to my babysitting duties. Not that Roth ever leaves their room.” Adrienne frowned. “Actually, maybe I’ll stop in the kitchen and grab them something. They didn’t eat any of their dinner last night.” My lips curved upwards. “I’m not a mother hen!”Adrienne yelled before stalking off in the direction of the main tower, and I laughed under my breath at her retreating form.

“She’s a fiery one.”

For the second time this morning, I froze, the prince strolling up to stand beside me. It’d been a long time since someone had been able to sneak up on me. Adrienne and I had stopped in one of the small alleyways that led between the barracks and one of the smaller towers. Sound tended to echo against the stone walls, and yet I hadn’t heard a single footstep.

“Draven.” I didn’t bother making my tone friendly. Adrienne and I had been talking quietly enough before her outburst that I was certain he hadn’t overheard anything. She would have seen him if he’d been behind me, which meant he’d been lurking somewhere nearby and waiting for her to leave. “Something I can help you with?”

“Not going to fawn all over me the way everyone else does?” He smirked.

“No.” For once, I wished Samara were here. She was clever with her words and would have no problem conversing with the traitor. Meanwhile, I was struggling not to bury my dagger in his gut.

“Man of few words.” His blue eyes glinted with amusement. “I find that rather refreshing.”

“I’m happy for you.” I started walking. “You’ll have to find someone else to entertain you though. I’ve got things to do.”

“Is Samara one of them? She stayed in your room last night.” Moonsdamn it. I stopped and slowly turned back around. “Although . . .” He tapped a finger against his chin. “She was with Kieran early on in the night, and she didn’t leave her room through the door. Only other option was the window.” Draven cocked his head and suddenly looked less like the charming, harmless prince and more like a cruel predator. “Does Kieran know she’s going behind his back to fuck you?”

There was an edge to his voice I didn’t quite understand. It sounded like he was more concerned about Kieran than anyone else. If I denied sleeping with Samara, he might wonder why else she would have snuck out of her room. Fuck.

“Kieran is aware of our relationship,” I ground out. “But given her role as Heir and mine as Marshal, we prefer to keep things quiet.” There. A totally believable lie.

“You might be an impressive ranger, but you’re a terrible liar.” The faint lines of red in Draven’s eyes started to thicken as he looked at me like I was a bug he couldn’t figure out. “She flaunts her relationship with Kieran, who is a courtier and technically below her station. Rumor is she’s involved with some scholar from Drudonia—I’m assuming that’s the person who’s been holed up in that room you have your lovely, fiery ranger guarding. And clearly, there is something between her and Alaric.”

“We’re a complicated lot.” I eyed him warily. There was something . . . not right about him. I was used to being around Moroi who channeled their bloodlust—that was part of it, but not all.

“That is the truth.” He stepped closer to me, more red bleeding into his eyes. “I find it strange that Samara would fall into your bed though. It’s not exactly a secret how much you hate the Harker Heir.”

In a heartbeat, I closed the distance between us until we were almost touching. Draven didn’t back down an inch. We were almost the same height, but he wasn’t built as broadly. “You know nothing about me,” I said coldly. “And you sure as fuck don’t know anything about me and Samara.”

I looked at him through silver eyes, my bloodlust rising to meet his as he let out a dark laugh. “You’d be surprised about the things I know.” The red faded from his eyes until it was barely visible, and the foolishly charming prince persona slidback into place as he gave me a lopsided grin. “Good chat. We should do this again sometime.”

Then he stepped around me and whistled as he walked away, leaving me wondering what the fuck had just happened.

Chapter Thirteen

Samara

The hallwayof the barracks was empty when I slipped out of Vail’s room, for which I was thankful. I really didn’t want to explain to anyone what I’d been doing there. Adrienne knew the truth, and I knew she wouldn’t breathe a word of it. Personally, I didn’t really care about who people speculated I was sleeping with, but I knew it would piss off Vail. Despite his opinion of me, I didn’t actually strive to find new ways to make him despise me more. Thank fuck Ary and Aniela had left, because the Heirs would have had a field day with this.

It’d taken some persuasion on my part, but I’d convinced Kieran to go check on Alaric and preferably get him to feed. I knew Alaric wouldn’t listen to me, but maybe he’d listen to his best friend. I also knew Draven would likely be lurking somewhere in the main tower, and I wasn’t ready to face him just yet. My mind was still racing from what we’d discovered last night, and my body was tired from healing. I couldn’t afford to be off in any capacity around Draven.

Although, I could afford to spend an hour throwing some daggers in the rangers’ training area while I thought through some options. Plus, I could check on Nyx, which I hadn’t donesince we’d returned. They’d still been healing from the wraith attack on our trek back from the badlands, but Adrienne had assured me they were doing okay.

Warm and floral spring air greeted me as I exited the barracks. Summer would officially be here in a few weeks, and the days were already getting hot. I pulled my hair up into a bun as I walked and turned to duck through one of the small alleyways that led to the training grounds before pulling up short.

“Vail?” I took a few unsure steps towards him. He was standing in the middle of the alleyway with his back to me, but I knew he must have heard me approach. Stealthy, I was not.

“The prince knows you were in my room,” he said quietly when I reached his side.

“Fuck,” I cursed.

“My thoughts exactly.” He turned his head to gaze down at me, and I saw frustration in them. “He believes we’re sleeping with each other. I didn’t correct him. Figured it was better to have him think that than start asking questions about why else you may have been there.”

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