Chapter 31
Vail
Hours before the sun rose, I found myself walking silently down to the prison buried beneath the Sovereign House. For a moment during my trek down the winding stairwell, I stopped at a solid wood door and rested my hand against it.
On the other side was a room that contained three large cells. They were nicer ones than the levels below, but a gilded cage was still a cage.
I could feel the lone prisoner stewing in rage over the betrayal she hadn’t seen coming.
It had never been my intention for things to play out this way. I’d thought I could obey Carmilla while protecting Samara from herself. She needed to understand just how much of a danger Draven was to her despite the sweet lies he whispered in the dark.
Yet you were fine with fucking her while he watched , a dark voice whispered in my mind. And watching him slide his cock into the pussy that was still dripping with your seed.
I’d fucked up. Badly. I let my fingers glide across the rough wood, wondering how much of her rage was directed at Carmilla and how much at me. Just like I wondered if she could feel this pull between us. I’d noticed it a couple of days ago. It had been so faint, I’d thought I’d been imagining it.
Now it felt like a burning chain around my soul.
My fingers curled against the door, and for a second, I almost opened it, but based on how much anger I could feel through this strange magic that bound us, I suspected she’d only spit in my face if I went to her now.
I forced myself to take a step back and then continued on my way to the lowest part of the prison. A few screams and pleas sounded from the other levels I passed. We’d rounded up anyone who had served Velika and contained them for now. Carmilla promised most of them would be released once we figured out who could be trusted.
It bothered me a little. The rangers, I understood. Many of them had chosen to follow the now dead queen even before she had found the crown and bound them with its magic, but most of those contained in the cells were advisors and courtiers . . . and their families. Surely they weren’t such an active threat that they needed to be locked up?
I’d speak to Carmilla about it tomorrow. She had a lot to handle in this tumultuous period of taking over the rule of the Sovereign House. Maybe I could offer to do an initial screening of those imprisoned and promise to assign rangers to keep an eye on those who were released?
An iron door awaited me when I finally reached the bottom. The walls contained large amounts of iron too, enough to make even my skin crawl a little bit. Something about our Moroi blood didn’t like iron, but not nearly to the same extent as the Fae.
I pushed the door open, and it swung silently inward. There was only one prisoner on this level. Brushing my fingers against a glyph on the inside wall, I activated the Fae lanterns, and the flames flickered to life, bathing the small room and the cells that lined the walls in a warm glow.
“Come to finish me off?” Draven drawled from where he was stretched out on the ground of the cell at the end of the room. He leapt to his feet with a grace I hadn’t thought he was capable of in his current state and stood with his hands clasped behind his back. “You’re welcome to open these doors and try it.” Solid red eyes that promised death locked onto me. “I dare you.”
I kept the surprise off my face as I slowly walked over to his cell. Draven was a predator, and it was never wise to let a predator know they unnerved you.
“You’re looking better. Last time I saw you, I was pretty sure we’d be digging your grave within the hour, or you know, chucking your Fae corpse off a cliff.”
Casually, I let my eyes drift over him. He hadn’t been given a change of clothing, so he was still coated in dried blood, but I could see patches of smooth skin beneath the tattered fabric. Even if he had used healing glyphs on himself, he should have been exhausted from the effort without someone to drink from.
Had someone snuck down here and fed him? No. There were guards loyal to Carmilla posted at the entry door to the stairwell, and that was the only way in here.
“Half Fae,” Draven corrected. “But it does come with its benefits.”
I tapped the iron bars of his cell. “I bet.”
Despite his healthier-looking appearance, he was standing in the center of the cell, as far away from the walls and doors as he could get. Clearly the iron bothered him, but it hadn’t blocked his ability to heal. Maybe because he was half Moroi, he wasn’t as sensitive to it as most Fae? I’d have to tell Carmilla. We might want to have guards posted in this room as well .
“So”—he cocked his head—“if you’re not here to attempt to kill me, why did you bother coming down here? Too scared to chat with the dark-haired beauty who you so thoroughly betrayed?”
I winced before I could kill the movement, and Draven laughed.
“Samara will understand,” I snapped. “She just needs to calm down for a few days, and then I’ll tell her everything. Carmilla has the best interests of the Moroi at heart.”
Draven shook his head. “Oh? Is that why she imprisoned children? I can hear their cries even down here.”
“It’s temporary,” I ground out.
“Ah. So cruelty is fine so long as it’s only for a short amount of time. Such a wonderful leader to follow.”
“She’s a vast improvement over your mother.” My fingers curled into fists at my sides. “We dumped her body outside, by the way. Figured the monsters could use a snack.”
If my words caused him any pain, Draven hid it well. He raised one of his hands in front of him and studied his nails as he let them shift to claws. “Trust me when I say that nobody was happier than me to see my mother’s headless body on the floor.” He frowned. “Actually, I wish I had been more with it so I could have truly appreciated the moment.”
“And your father?” I closely watched Draven’s face, looking for any reaction. “How will you feel when it’s his corpse in a pool of blood?”
Draven let out a chilling laugh and sank back to the ground in a cross-legged position. Then he let his hands sink into the floor on either side of him, and I noticed some of the stones had been broken up enough that it was more dirt than anything at this point. His posture relaxed, and some of the red receded in his eyes.
“If I were you, I’d walk back up those stairs to where Samara is locked up and plead for mercy. She loves you and, despite everything, would at least grant you a swift death.” My heart clenched at the admission that he knew Samara loved me.
“She’ll forgive me.” Even I could hear the uncertainty in my words though.
Draven just smiled. “She won’t. If you had only betrayed her, perhaps over time she would have, because again, my fierce love is kindhearted, but your actions have put Kieran, Alaric, and Roth in danger. Carmilla isn’t a fool. She knows the way to controlling her niece is through those she loves. And that”—he leaned forward slightly—“is not something Samara will forgive.”
I looked away from the fallen prince, because he was right. Samara would never forgive me if something happened to those she loved because of all this. It had never occurred to me that Carmilla would use Kieran or Alaric like that. Maybe Roth because Carmilla wasn’t as close to them as the other two, but even then, Roth was clearly an asset.
I also hadn’t thought Carmilla would imprison children, so maybe my judgment of character wasn’t as good as I’d previously believed.
“None of it really matters though,” Draven continued, drawing me out of my dark contemplations. “Because Erendriel will come, and then all of you will wish you’d had the foresight to just slit your own throats rather than deal with his wrath.”
“I thought you said your father didn’t care about you?” I sneered. Of course he’d been fucking lying.
“Oh, he doesn’t.” Draven shrugged. “I mean, he probably wants to carve me apart himself, given that I killed several of his best soldiers, but Velika was important to his plans, and her death will set him back. He has a bit of a temper when it comes to that kind of thing.”
“We can handle him.” I crossed my arms. If anything, it might be easier if he came to us. We could get this over and done with once and for all. “I’ve fought wraiths before, and Erendriel is just one Fae.”
Draven chuckled darkly, and the hairs rose on the back of my neck. “He’s not though. Erendriel is the Seelie King.
* * *
The story continues in A Throne of Blood and Vengeance
One queen has fallen. Another will rise.
Vail told me I shouldn’t trust him. I should have listened. Now both Draven and I are imprisoned. My aunt has seized power with a wicked crown on her head. And I don’t know where everyone else is or if they’re safe.
But nothing will keep me from them. If I have to cut through my enemies—all the better.
I am Samara Harker. And I will not kneel.
A Throne of Blood and Vengeance comes out July 15th, 2025.