34. Bryony
brYONY
Talking wasn’t the word I’d have chosen for arriving with four armed vampires and a dagger that opened doors.
Adrian remained in the gateway. The others stayed behind him, close enough to enter if he moved aside. None crossed the silver line set into the floor.
That mattered more than his smile.
Stellan stood in front of me with his sword raised. Blood ran from both wrists. Lenora held the service arch on our right, watching Adrian’s guards instead of him.
I kept my palm against the wall. Harrowmere ignored me.
“Put down the dagger and send them away,” I said.
“You’re giving orders to a house that has stopped listening.” Adrian pressed the black blade into the join between the doors. “You need the Crown.”
His voice stayed calm. The vampires behind him watched the blood run between the flagstones.
“You’ve said that several times. It hasn’t become more tempting.”
His gaze moved to Stellan. “The next demonstration may help.”
Red light flared under Stellan’s skin.
His shoulders locked. The sword dipped, although he forced it up again.
I stepped sideways until the throne was behind me. I followed the plan despite wanting to drag Stellan away from Adrian.
“If the doors belong to you now, why are you still standing out there?” I asked.
Adrian’s fingers tightened around the dagger. “I’m offering you one final chance to end this without further bloodshed.”
“Two vampires are dead at your feet.”
“Stellan killed them.”
The lie was so easy for him that anger pushed through my fear.
“You sent them through the gate.” I glanced at the four behind him. “Did he tell you that part before you volunteered?”
One of the vampires looked at the bodies. Adrian didn’t turn around.
“Bring Bryony to me,” he said.
Stellan’s sword struck the floor.
He caught his own wrist against his stomach as red light climbed past his elbows. His fingers opened one at a time, then he turned towards me.
His eyes were still grey. His face told me to run.
“Left door.”
The wall swung across the hall. Stellan threw himself backwards, but the command drove him forwards again. Stone closed between us with a crack that shook dust from the ceiling.
His palms struck the other side. “Good. Stay there.”
The door groaned as Adrian’s control pushed him against it.
“You can’t keep him behind stone forever,” Adrian said.
Lenora drew a short blade from her boot.
I kept my attention on Adrian. “I don’t need forever. I need you to move your hand.”
Lenora threw.
Adrian saw the blade. He lifted the heartblood dagger to block it, and the short blade struck black metal with a hard ring.
The throne-room doors slammed shut.
One of the guards shoved a sword into the narrowing gap. Stone closed over the steel and snapped it near the hilt. The broken length skidded across the floor on our side.
Red light vanished from the closed door beside me.
“Stellan?”
“Open it.”
His voice sounded like his again. I put my hand against the wall and pulled. The door opened fast enough to make me jump back.
Stellan came through with his fangs down and murder in his face. He looked at the sealed gateway, then at me.
“You followed the plan.”
“You sound surprised.”
His gaze passed over me, checking for blood or injuries.
“Relieved.” He picked up his sword. “Surprise can wait.”
A blow hit the main doors. The crack Adrian had made spread another inch.
Lenora retrieved her short blade from the floor. A deep cut marked its edge where it had struck the dagger.
“He’ll open them again,” she said. “That bought us minutes.”
The white line around the doors flickered as Adrian drove the dagger back into the join.
“Then we use them.” Stellan looked at the side door. “Bryony needs to know what Harrowmere will do every time she asks.”
“It did what I wanted when you were about to reach me.”
Stellan wiped his bleeding wrist against his trousers. The cut closed, leaving the red restraint visible under his skin.
“Fear made the order clear. We need clear without waiting for terror.”
I looked at the damaged frame. “Why did Harrowmere ignore me when I told the main doors to close?”
“It didn’t ignore you. Adrian used the dagger to pin that seal open. The side door has its own mark, so it still answered.”
The house felt less unpredictable, but Adrian had another reason to force his way inside.
“Can the dagger open every door?”
Stellan examined the black point cutting into the stone. “Only if he reaches the mark that controls it. Keep him at the threshold and he has one target.”
Lenora shifted her grip on the damaged blade. “And one hand to defend. He can’t hold the dagger against a seal and block both of us.”
“If he gets past it?”
“We shut him into the smallest section available and make him regret entering.”
Stellan would enjoy that plan. I intended to deny him the opportunity.
I disliked how calmly he said it while standing shirtless and bloodied beside two headless vampires.
“What do you want me to do?”
Stellan pointed to the silver line. “Stop me crossing it.”
“You’ve been trying to keep me behind that line for the last ten minutes.”
“Now I’m going to make you work for it.”
There was enough heat in his look to remind me how close I’d come to breaking my own boundary. My body chose an inconvenient time to remember too.
Lenora moved closer to the main doors. “I’ll watch Adrian.”
Stellan set his sword aside. “Use the door first. Don’t watch my hands. Watch the floor around me and decide where you want the stone to move.”
“Are you going to run at me?”
“Yes.”
The blunt answer settled it.
I placed my palm against the wall. Stellan moved.
The side door swung as soon as he crossed the line. I’d ordered it too early. He changed direction, cleared the edge and reached me before I could try again.
One arm closed around my waist. His other hand stopped beside my throat without touching it.
“Dead,” he said.
“That’s encouraging.”
I kept my voice dry even as my pulse jumped against his hand.
“You watched me instead of the floor.” His grip eased, though he didn’t let me go. “An attacker wants your eyes on him. Harrowmere needs you to look at what you’re controlling.”
His bare chest was against my shoulder, and his mouth was close to my ear. Concentrating on the floor required more effort than it should have.
“You’re making a terrible training aid.”
“I’m very motivating.”
The warmth lasted until Adrian struck the doors again. Every trace of humour left Stellan’s face.
He released me and returned to the other side of the line.
“Again.”
This time I watched the thin white marks around his boots. He ran straight at me, then cut left.
I waited until both feet cleared the edge of the hidden door.
“Close.”
The stone swung in front of him. Stellan stopped with one palm against it. He could have struck the door hard enough to break my concentration. He stayed still.
“Better,” he said.
I opened it. “Thorns next?”
His expression tightened. “Only if the doors fail. Harrowmere’s vines don’t know when to stop, and I may not be able to heal while Adrian controls the cuffs.”
It was a real answer, and I didn’t need to argue with it.
Another impact hit the main doors. Black metal appeared through the crack for half a second, then withdrew.
Lenora checked the silver light around the frame. “The right side is failing faster.”
I moved towards it. Stellan caught my hand, stopping me well short of the damaged stone.
“You don’t need to touch that door. Control the side sections and let him enter one space at a time.”
I looked at the red marks around his wrists.
“And when he commands you?”
“You close me away from him again.”
His answer came easily. Mine didn’t.
“I hated doing that.”
Stellan lifted my hand and pressed it against the middle of his chest. His heart beat hard under my palm.
“You kept me from hurting you. Hate it as much as you need to. Do it again.”
I nodded. He bent and kissed me once, quick and firm.
The main doors shuddered.
“Positions,” Lenora said.
Stellan picked up his sword and returned to the silver line. I stayed several steps behind him with the side door on my left. Lenora raised her damaged blade near the service arch.
The throne made a soft scraping noise.
All three of us turned.
The Crown no longer rested on the high back. It sat in the middle of the throne’s empty seat.
“Did either of you see it move?” I asked.
“No,” Lenora said.
Stellan’s red cuffs brightened.
The Crown lifted from the throne and struck the floor at my feet.
Every red mark under Stellan’s skin went dark.
Adrian laughed on the other side of the doors.
“Pick it up, Bryony.”