24. Bryony
brYONY
The service gate shook again, and a thin split appeared beside the lock.
White light filled the gap. A metal blade pushed through from the other side, withdrew and struck lower. Each blow cut farther into the frame.
Stellan moved between me and the gate. The last chain slid after him until the links nearest his collar began to lift from the path.
“The sword is on the bed,” I said.
“Get it and come straight back. The royal ward is still holding.”
I turned towards the hall, then stopped when the iron at his throat tightened. “Can you reach the gate?”
“I can reach anyone who crosses it.” His attention stayed on the widening split.
“The collar gives me room around the spring, so I’ll draw them there.
If the gate opens while you’re in the suite, stay behind the silver line until you know where I am.
Don’t run into the garden because you hear fighting. ”
“I’m coming back for you and Lenora.”
“Then keep the sword between you and anyone who gets past me. Adrian won’t send a guard under orders to frighten you.”
“I know. I’ll come straight back.”
The order had a purpose, so I ran.
Harrowmere opened the garden door before I reached it. The lower hall remained empty, although a red flash moved across the raven set into the floor. Adrian’s attack had left enough damage for him to push at the court again.
I entered the bedroom, grabbed the short sword from the mattress and returned with the blade already drawn. The gate had gained another split while I was gone. Stellan stood farther back now, pulling his collar chain into the open space around the spring.
“Why are you moving away from it?” I asked.
“The passage is too narrow. I need room to fight, and the collar will stay loose here.”
I reached him as the cutting stopped. Silence filled the garden for a breath, followed by a woman’s scream from the other side.
“Lenora.” I ran towards the gate.
Stellan caught the back of my jumper before I reached the wall. “Wait until you can see her. Adrian may be using her voice.”
“She helped us. I’m not leaving her out there because he might be setting another trap.”
“You won’t. You’ll make certain you pull Lenora through instead of Adrian.”
The damaged gate bent inwards. A black-gloved hand appeared in the opening, followed by Lenora’s shoulder. Blood covered the torn side of her armour. She drove the blade against the metal once more and forced the gap wide enough for her body.
Someone struck her from behind.
Lenora came through the opening and hit the garden path hard. The blade fell from her hand. A boot caught in the damaged gate, and the vampire wearing it shoved at the iron until the gap widened.
“Now,” Stellan said.
I reached Lenora and caught the straps across her shoulders. She was heavier than I expected, and the armour dragged against the stone. I pulled while Stellan kept his body between us and the gate.
Lenora groaned and pushed with one leg. The other left a smear of blood across the path.
“Help me,” I said. “The low wall near the spring is close.”
“Don’t waste strength lifting me. Drag the armour.
” She gripped the front straps and hauled herself backwards.
“Adrian brought the outer guard when the captain’s seal failed.
They refused to attack the recognised heir, so he used his authority as regent and forced the order into them.
They know what they’re doing, but they can’t stop their bodies. ”
The gate opened another inch. A man in black guard armour forced his head and one shoulder into the gap. Red lines covered his throat and continued under his jaw. His eyes found Stellan, although fear tightened his face.
“Is he acting for Adrian?” I asked.
“He can’t refuse him,” Lenora said. “They’ll hear every order we give them and attack anyway. Don’t expect them to hesitate because they recognise Stellan.”
The man shoved harder. Iron tore through the sleeve of his coat, but the injury didn’t slow him.
“Can we break the control?”
“Not while Adrian holds the regent’s authority. Don’t hesitate because they look frightened. He’ll make them use every chance you give them, and he’ll keep pushing until their bodies fail.”
Stellan looked over his shoulder. “Get Lenora behind the spring wall and stay with her. If anyone passes me, take the throat.”
I tightened my grip on the sword. “And if the collar stops you?”
“It won’t stop me here. Keep Lenora alive and watch the gate. I’ll handle anyone who crosses.”
“You know I trust you to handle them,” I said. “What I need is enough warning if that changes.”
Stellan met my eyes. “If the collar tightens, I’ll tell you. Until then, protect her and let me fight.”
He’d chosen his ground and left enough slack behind him. I trusted that he knew what his body could do.
Lenora’s boot caught against the edge of the path. I freed it, pulled her the remaining distance and lowered her behind the dark stone wall. The spring would keep us out of a direct charge, while the open garden gave Stellan room to move.
Her hand closed around my wrist. “The Claiming barrier is still active. Adrian can’t cross while Harrowmere recognises that you reject him as regent.”
“Then why can his guards enter?”
“They’re sworn to the court. The barrier sees their blood and lets them pass, even when he controls what they do once they’re inside.” Lenora dragged a narrow knife from her boot and pressed it into my free hand. “Keep this if the sword gets knocked away.”
I tucked the knife into the waistband of my leggings. “Can you stand?”
“I can kill anything that reaches the wall.”
“Tell me whether you can stand.”
“My left leg won’t hold me.” Lenora shifted until her back rested against the stone. “I’ll stay conscious.”
I believed her and stopped asking.
The first guard tore free of the gate and stumbled into the garden. He carried a curved sword in one hand, and blood ran down the other arm where the iron had cut him. A woman pushed through behind him. More armour moved in the passage beyond her.
Stellan walked backwards until he stood within easy reach of the spring. His collar chain lay loose across the path. He pulled the clean shirt out of his trousers and rolled his shoulders as if Adrian had sent him a mild inconvenience.
The guard raised his sword. “My king, get on your knees.”
Pain crossed his face as soon as the words left him. He hadn’t chosen them.
Stellan’s fangs dropped. “You know I won’t.”
“I have orders to take the heir and hold you for the Crown.” The guard’s hand shook on the hilt. “Please move away from her.”
“I can’t do that either.”
Stellan bent his knees and kept his hands open. “I know you can hear me. Fight the order wherever you can. If you give me an opening, I’ll use it. If you reach Bryony, I’ll kill you before Adrian makes you touch her.”
The guard swallowed against the red lines on his neck. “I understand.”
The woman entered the garden. Red marks covered one side of her neck, and her bare hands had changed into long black claws. She fixed her attention on me while her body angled towards Stellan.
Adrian appeared beyond the broken gate.
He stayed outside the white line, dressed in another dark suit as if he hadn’t spent the evening poisoning the court and cutting open his own guard. Lenora’s blood marked his cuffs. His gaze moved from Stellan to me.
“You’ve made this harder than it needed to be,” he said. “Send Stellan back to the throne and come outside. I’ll release the guards as soon as you accept my protection.”
“You murdered Edith, attacked Lenora and tried to make Stellan strangle me. Your protection sounds fucking exhausting.”
Adrian’s expression remained calm. “Lenora told you the version she needed you to hear. She has always been loyal to the man with the greatest chance of winning.”
Lenora laughed once behind me. The sound held no humour. “Is that why you had to control my body? You’ve spent years calling obedience loyalty because the truth makes you look weak.”
I raised the sword towards the gate. “Harrowmere, Adrian Rook is not my regent. Keep him outside the lower court and reject every command he gives me.”
White light spread across the opening. Adrian stepped back as it struck the toes of his polished shoes.
Adrian looked down at the light. “You’re using authority you claim you don’t want.”
“I’m using my house to keep a murderer out. You don’t need a crown to understand a locked door.”
His attention settled on Stellan. “The guards can still cross. Their oaths belong to Harrowmere, and the court will admit them while they carry out a lawful regent’s command.”
“You just heard the heir reject you,” Stellan said. “You’ve lost the last scrap of lawful authority you had.”
A hard pulse moved through the red lines on the guards’ throats. The guards attacked at the same time.
The man came straight at Stellan with his sword raised. The woman ran around them and headed for me.
I stepped out from the spring wall. Lenora caught the back of my jumper and pulled me sideways as black claws passed through the space where my face had been.
The woman turned quickly. I drove the short sword at her stomach, but she knocked it aside with one hand. The force jarred my arm to the shoulder.
“Take the throat,” Lenora said.
“I’m trying.”
The attacker struck again. I blocked with the flat of the sword and moved around the wall, keeping the stone between us. She followed because Adrian’s command had fixed her attention on me.
Stellan met the male guard beside the spring. Steel cut across his chest, opening the clean shirt and the skin under it. He caught the guard’s wrist before the blade could rise again.
The woman lunged across the wall. Lenora drove her knife through the attacker’s hand and pinned it to the stone.
Lenora sagged back against the wall.
“My arms still work.”
I swung the short sword at the red marks on the woman’s throat. She tore her hand free before the edge reached her and left a strip of flesh under Lenora’s knife.
Blood hit the wall. The scent filled the garden, and every rose opened at once.
The garden answered before I could.
They caught the woman’s injured wrist and pulled her away from us. She slashed at them with her free hand, cutting one thick stem before another wound around her elbow.
“Did you do that?” Lenora asked.
“No.” I looked towards Stellan. “Harrowmere is protecting my blood.”
The male guard drove a knee into Stellan’s stomach. Stellan released his wrist, let the sword come forwards and moved inside its reach. His hand closed around the guard’s throat.
Adrian pressed against the white barrier. “Kill him.”
The guard tried to obey. Stellan turned his wrist until the sword fell, then forced him down across the stone edge of the spring. The impact cracked the wall.
The collar chain slid across the path with plenty of slack remaining.
Stellan held the struggling vampire in place and looked towards the armour crowding the damaged gate. He could see how many Adrian had brought. His face changed as the control he used around me disappeared.
The first guard had reached the chained Blood King.
Stellan bent and tore out his throat with his fangs.