Page 120 of Blood Curse

“Too late.”

“Yes.”

Bryony didn’t rush to soften it. Her thumb moved across my knuckles, warm and steady.

I looked at the Crown. “It wanted me to see you in her place.”

“I’m not in her place.”

“I know.”

“Do you? Because this can’t become a reason to decide what I do if my heart gets worse.”

“It won’t.”

“You can’t promise the Crown won’t force another choice on us.”

“I can promise I won’t pretend your choice has already been made because Cecily chose differently.”

Bryony studied me, then nodded. “That’s the promise I wanted.”

I climbed onto the bed beside her. She shifted until her head rested against my chest and put my hand over her heart.

One beat reached my palm.

Then another.

Slow. Uneven. Hers.

The Crown gave us nothing.

I looked at its black points.

“You wore Cecily’s voice because you thought grief would keep me obedient,” I said. “It won’t. This court has already begun choosing against you.”

21

BRYONY

I woke with Stellan’s hand over my heart.

His eyes opened the moment I moved.

“How long have you been doing that?”

“Long enough to know you dislike sleeping on your left side.”

“You could’ve slept.”

“I did.”

The Crown sat cold against my head. Pale morning light reached the edges of the curtains, though the King’s rooms remained dim. Harrowmere had gone quiet around us. Most of the vampires had either found beds or withdrawn to the rooms the house remembered as theirs.

My heartbeat moved under Stellan’s palm. Slow, steady and entirely too interesting to both of us.

I covered his hand with mine. “Still here.”

“I know.”