Page 104 of Blood Curse

The Crown forced me over.

I caught the tabletop with both hands. Wood split under my fingers, but the obstruction stole a second. I bent my elbows, pretending I meant to climb, then drove my weight straight down.

The table legs cracked.

“That won’t hold him,” someone said.

“It isn’t supposed to,” Mara called. “It’s supposed to slow him.”

Hands gripped the far side. The court pushed together. Nobody tried to overpower me alone. They gave me weight, distance and a barrier I could fight without tearing into a living body.

My feet slid backwards.

Then the command found my balance and drove me forwards again.

“Stellan.” Bryony’s voice barely reached me.

I looked at her.

Her body remained still beside the long table. The Crown shone red in her hair. Tears ran down her face, but her green eyes were hers.

Her little finger tapped against her skirt.

“I see you.”

She forced her lips apart. “I…”

The Crown closed her jaw.

“Don’t chase the whole sentence,” I said. “Take one word at a time.”

The table gave another inch.

Someone caught my coat and pulled. My left arm reacted before I could stop it. I drove my elbow back.

The guard shouted a warning.

The vampire behind me ducked. My elbow passed over her head.

“I’m clear,” she said.

“Stay low.”

“Planning to.”

She wrapped both arms around my waist. Two others joined her. Their combined weight slowed me, but the Crown turned my strength against them.

I stepped forwards with three vampires hanging from me.

The table shifted.

Mara’s throat appeared above its broken edge.

Hunger blurred the room.

I hadn’t fed since before the spring. The Crown took that ordinary need and sharpened it until Mara’s pulse sounded louder than every voice around us.

She saw the change in my face.