A Meet of Tribes (A Shade of Vampire #45)(47)

Serena





Vita and I were in the basement, keeping ourselves busy with re-stocking the medicine cabinet. She’d read through some of the books in Draven’s library and had learned to identify the plants and flowers in the greenhouse. Many of them had medicinal properties, and some had been used to treat wounds over the past few days, so the supply in the basement had dwindled. The herbs weren’t something that the ancient wards were tasked with replenishing, from what I could tell.

I’d helped pick them from the greenhouse, and we were filling the carefully labeled jars downstairs when I noticed something slightly different about Vita. Her expression was stuck somewhere between pensive and pleased, a faint smile passing across her face occasionally. For someone who had seen the end of the world yesterday, I found that odd.

“What’s up with you?” I asked, wrapping twine around a handful of twigs that looked a lot like rosemary.

Vita looked at me, her turquoise eyes wide and blinking faster than usual, as if she’d been caught red-handed doing something questionable.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been half-smiling the entire morning. What’s up with that?”

“Oh,” she nodded, while filling a jar with waxy dark blue leaves. “It’s just that I had an interesting dream. I’ve been replaying it in my mind. That’s all.”

She gave me a weak smile and shifted her focus back on the jars, avoiding my gaze as if she didn’t want me to drill any further.

Fair enough. She’d most likely dreamed about the incubus. Given how she felt about him, it wouldn’t have surprised me. If anything, she deserved whatever she wanted—even if that meant Bijarki.

Speaking of whom…

“You know, Bijarki’s going to see the Red Tribe again today,” I told Vita.

She stilled and stared at me for a moment, visibly dismayed.

“What? Why?”

“Draven asked him to speak to Hansa about the Dearghs,” I replied.

“I don’t get why he has to send Bijarki over there. Why can’t Anjani do it?”

She was visibly irritated, and I made a considerable effort to suppress my grin. I’d hit a sensitive spot, but I didn’t regret it. She looked adorable when she was jealous. To be fair, I wouldn’t have been comfortable with the idea of Draven surrounded by succubi either, especially after seeing them in the act of seduction.

I mentally shook the thought off. My stomach churned. I’d stashed him away in a dark place of my mind, and I didn’t like him resurfacing so easily. I was still raw on the inside from his abrupt rejection.

“Anjani represents the Red Tribe in this group,” I said, tying more twigs together before stuffing them into a spare mason jar in the cabinet. “She’s been tasked to watch over the Oracles and, given the latest unexpected development, the Daughter as well. As part of the deal we made with Hansa, Anjani stays with us at all times.”

Vita sighed and placed a jar full of pale green stems on the top shelf. She clearly wasn’t okay with Bijarki on his own with the succubi, and I felt a bit sorry for her. I knew it had taken her a while to admit that she had feelings for the incubus in the first place, so not having him around must have been tough on her.

“He will be using the passage stone, though, so he won’t be gone for long,” I added in an attempt to comfort her. “Besides, I don’t think he likes spending time around the succubi anyway.”

“You think?”

I beamed at her, remembering our night with the tribe when I’d seen him constantly rejecting the succubi’s advances.

“The night we feasted with the succubi and had that spiced rose drink they were all over the men in our group, especially Bijarki. And he kept telling them no, politely rejecting their advances, and keeping mostly to himself,” I said. “I really don’t think he’s interested in them, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Vita blushed and turned away, mumbling something under her breath. I nearly laughed and wanted to ask her to repeat what she’d said, but a series of noises wafting down the basement stairs captured my attention.

In came Anjani with the Daughter, who had her arm around the succubus’s neck and leaned against her with a pained expression. Phoenix came in after them, staggering and then leaning against one of the beds. He’d been hurt. Cold sweat seeped through my skin.

“What happened?!” I burst out and ran over to Phoenix.

He groaned as I helped him lie on his side. His shirt was soaked with blood. I ripped it open and gasped at the sight of three long cuts running diagonally from his right shoulder to his left hip.

“Oh, come on! Not again!” I snapped.

Vita helped Anjani put the Daughter in the bed next to Phoenix. She was in a lot of pain, crying as tears streamed down her cheeks. They put her on her side, and I could see the cuts on her back, through her ripped dress. They were identical to Phoenix’s.

“Phoenix, what happened? Talk to me!” I said again.

Anjani brought over a bowl of water and a couple of towels. I nodded my thanks to her while she got back to treating the Daughter’s wounds. My brother winced as I dabbed a wet towel against one of his cuts.

“She went past the protective shield,” he finally answered, gritting his teeth while I continued to clean his wound.