Page 159 of Blood Curse

“You’ve thought about those words.”

“For most of the day.”

“They almost sound casual.”

“I practised.”

She pressed her uninjured hand to my chest. “You’re still listening to my heart.”

“Always.”

“The whole room will start doing it if I stay.”

I could already feel the court trying not to watch her. Every vampire had noticed the bandage, her pulse and the Crown. Their concern was real. It could still become another cage.

“Then don’t stay,” I said.

Bryony’s gaze sharpened. “You want me upstairs?”

“I want you wherever you choose to be. This room is starting to arrange itself around your heartbeat again, and you noticed first.”

She looked over my shoulder. Three court members immediately found reasons to study a door hinge.

“They aren’t subtle.”

“They’re worried.”

“Lying isn’t one of their gifts.” She rose onto her toes and kissed me. The contact was brief, warm and deliberate. “I’m going upstairs before concern turns into another cage.”

“I’ll come up when this is done.”

She pinched my side and walked away. The court returned to work with exaggerated concentration.

Elias carried the last crate into the hall. “Bryony was right to leave.”

“I know. The room was making her the focus again.”

“You noticed.”

“She did first.”

Elias set the crate down. “That may be why she left before either of you made it an argument.”

Mara picked up another chair, and the work resumed around us.

The preparations ended without ceremony. Humans moved to the upper floors. Elias checked the blood. Mara tested every door and swore at the west hinge until it surrendered. The court spread through the lower rooms instead of crowding the Night Hall before the gathering began.

I stood inside the open doors and felt Harrowmere around me. Vampires talked in the cellar, on the stairs and along the lower passage. Nobody knelt. Nobody offered the Crown anything.

The dagger pressed against my ribs.

I kept it there.

The room should have felt exposed with every exit open. Instead, the draught carried voices between the lower passages and kept the blood scent from settling too heavily. Court members came and went without asking permission. For the first time since the summons, Harrowmere sounded occupied rather than besieged.

I let myself believe we had bought them one ordinary evening.

The Crown had been quiet too long for that belief to survive.