Samara’s smile was the thing of nightmares as her eyes flashed black. “Just say the word and I’ll get you out.”
In that moment, she wasn’t just my quippy best friend, she was the ruling member of the Blood Sovereign who had fought her way to the top with tooth and claw.
“You might have to fight Cali for that opportunity,” I said ruefully.
We both looked at the empty chair at the end of the table, where our hotheaded friend usually sat. We’d only seen her a handful of times over the past ten months, and every time, she seemed worse. Furies were notorious for going insane. For losing themselves to that everburning flame within their souls. We’d always believed that Cali, despite her fiery temper and penchant for violence, would be okay.
For the first time in our nearly decade-long friendship, I had doubts.
Samara steadfastly refused to believe Cali could be slipping and came up with other reasons our friend was struggling. The main reason came in the form of a six-and-a-half-foot-tall Furie named Malachi. He and Cali had been involved until he’d broken it off. Since then, he’d been a regular thorn in her side.
Shaking my head, I twisted and reached across the table piled high with books, scrolls, and other random Fae shit and grabbed a book. I wasn’t good at sitting still for long unless I was hunting. The rest of the time, I tended to pace or perch against things. It drove most people crazy, but Samara was used to my fidgetiness.
We were in our usual meeting spot, the underground level beneath temple ruins in the Furie realm. Thanks to ever-increasing tensions between the Moroi and the Velesians, Cade had decreed I wasn’t allowed to meet with Samara in public.
After calling him every foul name under the moon and then threatening to shove a book sideways up his ass, I’d agreed, because he was right. Things were too volatile right now and I was a member of the Alpha pack, so it was important we looked united.
“Any sign of Lucian?” I asked while idly flipping through the book’s pages. This one seemed to be about local fauna. Might be useful.
“No,” Samara admitted.
Lucian had been the consort of Velika, the queen Samara’s aunt had slaughtered in her quest for power. He’d actually been working with Carmilla all along, but after her death, the cunning bastard had vanished. Rumors were circling in the Velesian realm that cast the Moroi—and Samara in particular—in a bad light. We were almost positive Lucian was the source because there were kernels of truth in all of them.
Twisted truth, but truth all the same.
Every time a new one surfaced, it made the already tense relations between the Moroi and Velesians worse.
“Vail and Draven were hunting for him but they found no trace of him in our realm or in the Furie realm.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “And it’s not like they’re welcome in the Velesian realm to continue their search.”
One of the first rumors to spread was that Draven was the son of the Seelie King. He hadn’t exactly been liked before, but now he was despised.
That particular rumor was unfortunately true, but all the context had been conveniently left out. Like how Draven hadn’t been given a choice in serving his father. Or that there was likely nobody else in all of Lunaria who wanted Erendriel to suffer a painful death more than his own son.
Unlike Draven, Vail had been liked by most Velesians; he and his rangers had regularly been invited onto our land to hunt down monsters, often alongside packs. But the Alphas had forbidden him from stepping foot in the Velesian realm after he’d made the incredibly foolish decision to knock me out and steal something from me for Samara’s aunt, who he’d thought was doing the right thing at the time.
Vail could be really stupid sometimes.
I’d forgiven him, but the Alphas hadn’t, not because they specifically cared about me, but Vail had directly attacked one of their people. Between that and his mating bond to Samara, Vail was no longer welcome in the Velesian realm either.
“I haven’t heard anything that would suggest he’s in the Velesian realm, but I can dig into it more,” I offered. “Both Cade and Bastian have been traveling a lot lately, so maybe they’ve heard something.”
“Maybe,” she replied but didn’t seem all that convinced. “For now, Vail and Draven are working on other matters. Nyx has picked up the hunt. Or at least they were supposed to. They seem to have vanished from our realm.”
Shit. I looked up from my book. “Do you think they went into the Velesian realm? If Nyx gets caught?—”
“I know,” Samara cut me off. “It’ll be bad. Really fucking bad.” Hesitation flashed across her face.
Great. More bad news.
“Out with it,” I demanded.
Samara let out a harsh exhale. “Cali was visiting the day Nyx went missing. According to the rangers who keep an eye on Nyx’s home, she went there after parting ways with me. The rangers didn’t see either of them leave, but when they checked the cottage later, it was empty.”
“So . . .” I let the book drop to my side with one hand and rubbed my forehead with the other. “We suspect that our best friend, the most powerful Furie in existence, who isn’t exactly known for her emotional stability, and a young Moroi ranger, who is constantly on the verge of losing their humanity and turning Strigoi, are hunting together in a place neither are technically allowed to be?”
“Yup,” Samara said with a pop.
“Fantastic.” I let my head fall back and stared up at the ceiling. “Anything else you want to throw at me?”
