Page 139 of Blood Curse

“Do you want company for the first mile?” he asked.

“Not yet.”

I could walk until Harrowmere disappeared and return tomorrow, next year or never. Bryony stood inside the gate, rain caught in her red hair. I wanted to take her with me.

Her fingers dropped.

The Crown flashed red.

Bryony jerked against Mara’s hold. Elias reached her as her knees gave way.

“Bryony.”

She tried to answer. Only a thin breath left her.

Fuck.

I was moving before Elias found her pulse.

Nothing pulled me across the boundary. Bryony was falling, and I chose her.

I crossed the groove and caught her shoulders before her head struck the drive.

Her skin had gone cold.

“Pulse?” I asked.

Elias kept his fingers against her neck. “Too slow. Give me room.”

I could hear the spaces between the beats. Her human heart gave one weak thud, paused long enough to make every vampire at the gate fall silent, then stumbled into another. My own body didn’t need that fragile rhythm. Hers did, and the Crown was crushing it to make a point.

I held Bryony against my chest. Mara blocked the rain with her coat while Lenora ran from the gatehouse carrying a blanket.

Bryony’s eyes opened.

“Stellan.”

Her voice was weak but hers.

“I’m here.”

The Crown tightened. Pain crossed her face, followed by a terrible stillness.

Elias swore. “Bryony, stay with me.”

Her heart missed another beat under my palm.

The Crown couldn’t drag me back, so it squeezed her human heart instead.

I bent close to her ear. “It brought me back by hurting you.”

Bryony’s mouth moved. “No.”

“Save your breath.”

“You came back.” Her fingers caught the front of my coat. “It didn’t make you.”

“It used you to make the choice hurt.”