Page 121 of Blood Curse

He said it while allowing the fear to show.

A knock sounded at the outer door.

Stellan’s fangs dropped.

“That seems excessive,” I said.

“It interrupted my pulse count.”

“Come in,” I called.

Lenora opened the door, pushed my small overnight bag inside and stopped well short of the bed. “I took this from your car. Your phone and charger are inside. Elias wants you to eat. Mara wants Stellan in the Night Hall because three people are arguing over one room.”

“They can share,” Stellan said.

“Go and explain that.”

“If your heart does anything strange, shout. Elias is two doors away.”

Lenora left before either of us could accuse her of hovering.

I sat up carefully. The room stayed still. My pulse didn’t stumble.

Stellan watched me reach for the bag. “Elias said you needed rest.”

“I slept. Now I need a shower, my own clothes and twenty minutes with my phone.”

“In that order?”

“Unless you want to explain to my colleague why I’ve ignored four days of messages.”

His smile faded. “Answering messages won’t prove you still have a human life.”

“I’m not proving it. I want to know the life is still there. Work, my flat, people who think four days is a long time to disappear.”

“Are you going back to Leeds today?”

“I want the choice. Today, I want to stay here and stop the Crown using my body. That doesn’t mean Harrowmere gets everything after we’ve done it.”

Stellan studied me. “Good.”

“You expected a different answer?”

“I expected the court to make leaving harder. People want pieces of a king. They may decide they want pieces of you too.”

“They can want them. I don’t have to hand them over.”

“That was the answer I hoped for.”

He leaned in and kissed me. His mouth stayed gentle, but his fingers tightened at my waist and heat rolled lower. He remembered exactly what else we could do in this bed.

I kissed him again, then pulled back. “Go and settle the roof dispute.”

“You’re dismissing your king.”

“I’m asking the man blocking my bag to move.”

His smile arrived slowly. “Much better.”