29. Stellan
STELLAN
The empty dagger case told me Adrian had planned further ahead than I wanted to admit.
Bryony stood beside me with her gaze fixed on the dark velvet. Her hand found mine and closed around it.
“Tell me exactly what that blade can do.”
I looked at the outline left by the weapon. “It was made for a Blood King. The point can enter my heart without killing me at once. If I’m held still, it draws the blood carrying Harrowmere’s authority.”
Her grip tightened until her nails pressed into my hand. “Held still by me.”
“By the crowned heir’s command.”
She faced me with anger in her eyes. Fear tightened my chest, and I kept my voice steady.
“Adrian can’t complete the rite without your willing coronation,” I said. “Harrowmere rejected force when he tried to use your blood at the throne. He needs you to lift the Crown yourself.”
“He thinks threatening you will make me do it.”
“It might have worked if you still believed the Crown was the only means of freeing me.”
Bryony glanced at the red band around my wrist. “I know better now. Wearing it would hand him the one command he needs.”
The direct answer eased the pressure in my chest. She understood the danger without treating herself as helpless or promising anything impossible.
I closed the glass lid over the empty case. “The witness seal has blocked him from using the restraints. We keep you away from the Crown and keep him outside the lower court. That’s the entire plan.”
“A plan I can remember without a family tree or a diagram.”
“I thought you’d appreciate that.”
“I appreciate plans that don’t require me to bleed into antique furniture.”
The vault lamps brightened along the passage. Harrowmere had heard enough and wanted us upstairs.
We left the case behind. The staircase opened when Bryony put her palm against the vault door, then sealed after we climbed into the witness room.
Lenora remained at the outer ledge. The guards had moved the dead vampire away from the dividing line and covered him properly. White light held their memories across the wall.
“Any sign of Adrian?” I asked.
“He hasn’t opened the formal court,” Lenora said. “Vampires from the outer houses are arriving at the main gate. His guards are trying to keep them in the entrance hall, but the witness call reached them. They know a charge has been accepted.”
Bryony looked at the sealed outer door. “Can they see the memory from there?”
“The room will show it to anyone who answers the call. Adrian can delay them. He can’t erase what Harrowmere holds.”
The swordsman rested against the ledge with one arm pressed to his ribs. “He can still kill us if that door opens.”
“Then it stays closed,” Bryony said. “Lenora, bring the witnesses into the inner court if the seal weakens. Harrowmere will let them cross under my protection.”
Lenora studied the white line. “They attacked you here.”
“Adrian forced them. I’m not leaving them outside so he can do it again.”
The raven under Bryony’s feet lit in answer. A narrow break appeared in the line, wide enough for a vampire to pass if the room allowed it.
Lenora nodded once and rested her hand on her sword. “We’ll hold this side until we need it.”
Bryony turned towards me. “Where’s the safest place for us?”
“The throne room gives Harrowmere the strongest defence.” I watched the red seal on the wall. “It also keeps you close to the Crown.”
“Then we use the rooms beside it and leave the dramatic headwear alone.”
Harrowmere opened the inner door as if it approved.
We crossed the garden and entered the Blood King’s rooms. Another door had appeared beside the fireplace. Pale wood replaced the dark panels around it, and a silver raven sat in the middle.
Bryony reached for the handle. “Was that here earlier?”
“The heir’s rooms have always connected to mine. Harrowmere kept the door hidden while it considered you an intruder.”
“And now?”
“Now it watched you refuse my oath and protect vampires who tried to kill you. The court has apparently decided you can have a bedroom.”
She opened the door. A wide room waited on the other side, filled with soft lamplight. A second bed stood against the far wall with black roses carved into its headboard.
Bryony looked between the beds. “Harrowmere thinks we need separate rooms after giving you a bed large enough to invade a country.”
“It values tradition.”
“It watched us ignore tradition all over your mattress.”
Heat stirred in my blood. “The mattress survived.”
Her gaze flicked to the section Adrian’s command had broken. “Most of it.” Her smile made it clear she intended a less respectable explanation.
“You’re blaming that on me?”
“I’m allowing the house to draw its own conclusions.”
A wardrobe opened to reveal clothes in her size. She laughed. “It has opinions about my clothes and sleeping arrangements. I’m starting to understand why Edith stayed away.”
“You’ve been here long enough to argue with the building. Harrowmere may consider that a formal claim.”
Bryony kicked off her shoes beside the bed. “There. Claimed.”
“Most people give Harrowmere blood.”
“It already took some. It can have my shoes.”
I caught her around the waist when she came back through the connecting door. She settled against me with a quiet breath, and I rested my forehead against hers.
The danger outside hadn’t changed. Adrian still had the dagger, and the main gate remained under his control. For a short stretch, I let myself hold her without solving either problem.
Her fingers moved along my jaw. “You keep checking your fangs.”
“I’m hungry. Fighting the restraints burned through most of the stored blood.”
Her body stilled. “You used your fangs on me earlier.”
“I didn’t break your skin.”
Her thumb brushed my lower lip. “Can I touch one?”
Desire went through me. I kept my hands at her waist and let my fangs lower fully. Then I took her hand and guided the side of her thumb from the gum down the outside edge, keeping her clear of the point.
Every nerve in my mouth reacted. A rough sound left me, and her gaze lifted to mine as interest replaced her caution. She traced the fang again, slower, while my hands tightened at her hips.
“You failed to mention that,” she said.
“You were occupied.”
She touched the second fang. Her breathing changed when my lips closed around the side of her thumb and held her skin against my tongue.
Her pulse jumped where my fingers rested at her wrist. Hunger pulled hard enough to make my stomach clench, followed by the need to put her back on the bed.
I released her thumb and lifted my head. “That’s enough while I’m hungry.”
She didn’t step away. “Because you’ll bite me?”
“Because I want to, and you deserve more than a rushed lesson while Adrian waits outside with a knife.”
Bryony slid her arms around my neck. “When this is over, you’re teaching me the rest.”
“Gladly.”
I kissed her until the tension left her shoulders. She met me with the same heat, then smiled when one fang caught lightly on her lower lip.
“Still dangerous,” I murmured.
“I never asked you to be safe.”
“Danger and dishonesty aren’t the same thing.”
“I know. I’m done confusing them.”
She studied my face long enough to make certain I meant it, kissed the corner of my mouth and stepped back. “Good. Drink from a bottle before your fangs distract me into a poor decision. Your confidence has recovered enough to cope.”
“Your decisions involving my fangs have been excellent, and my confidence was never injured.”
The old blood store opened when we entered the passage. I chose a sealed bottle and drank while Bryony examined the red restraints at my wrist.
The stored blood cooled the hunger. My body still wanted the living pulse beside me, but the need no longer strained my control.
Bryony tapped the glass. “Does that taste awful?”
“It tastes dead, but it keeps me fed without taking from someone who hasn’t offered.” I set the empty bottle on the shelf.
Her teasing faded. “And if someone does offer?”
“Feeding can hurt if a vampire rushes or takes too much. It can also feel good. The venom closes the bite and softens pain. It can’t create desire.”
“Can you lose control?”
“Any vampire can lose control. I know when to stop, and I won’t feed from you until we choose the moment with Adrian nowhere near us.”
She touched a closed bite on her throat. “You’re assuming I’ll offer.”
“I’m hoping.”
Her smile returned as she stepped closer. “That sounded almost modest.”
“The dead blood has weakened me.”
She took my hand. “Come on, weakened vampire. We need to see what Harrowmere is doing about the murderous bastard outside.”
The throne room doors opened when we approached. White light ran around the frame, stronger than it had been after the attack in the garden.
Bryony stopped at the edge of the dais. The Crown remained hidden, although a thin red glow marked the seat where its power waited.
I moved between her and the throne. “Stay off the raven seal.”
“I wasn’t planning to sit down.”
A hard strike shook the outer wall.
Dust fell from the stone above the sealed gate. Bryony reached for my hand as another impact travelled across the floor.
“Adrian?” she asked.
“He’s testing the barrier.”
The garden answered by driving black thorns across the gate. Harrowmere could reinforce the lower court while Bryony remained recognised, but the old wards were already damaged from Adrian’s earlier attack.
A sharp crack split the stone near the floor.
I pulled Bryony behind the throne as red light entered the narrow break. The line climbed, cutting past the carved raven and reaching the seal under the throne.
Harrowmere pushed back with a burst of white light. It struck the crack and slowed it, but the opening continued across the wall until a section of stone turned clear.
Adrian stood on the other side.
Guards filled the passage behind him. He rested one hand against the damaged barrier and held the heartblood dagger in the other.
His gaze found Bryony over my shoulder.
Then his mouth curved into a satisfied smile. “There you are.”