Page 166 of Blood Curse

Nobody knelt. Nobody called him king. They simply waited to see what he chose.

Stellan looked at me.

I didn’t nod. I didn’t tell him to go. His place in this court belonged to him, just as my voice belonged to me.

He pressed one kiss to my forehead, careful of the Crown.

Then he turned and walked towards the dais.

30

STELLAN

The three steps to the dais felt longer than the road beyond Harrowmere’s gates.

I climbed them anyway.

The high-backed chair waited at the top. It wasn’t the throne from the eastern hall. That one was stone, blood magic and old cruelty. This was dark wood worn smooth by generations of kings who had sat through long gatherings and pretended they weren’t tired.

I had used it before the night Cecily died.

I had avoided it since the court returned.

Behind me, nobody moved.

The heartblood dagger rested against my ribs. Bryony stood at the bottom of the steps with blood at the corner of her mouth and the Crown fused in her red hair. Mara and Elias remained beside the two vampires who had been compelled to drink.

The rest of the court waited on its feet.

Good.

I turned and sat.

The chair creaked.

Mara looked up at me. “You finally sat.”

“For tonight.”

A few people smiled. The tension loosened without disappearing.

I rested my hands on the carved arms. “Stay on your feet. I released your oaths already. I’m not taking them back because I climbed three steps and sat in an old chair.”

The Crown flashed red.

Nobody bent.

“You know what I won’t take from you,” I continued. “I won’t give that speech twice. Tonight, I’m telling you what I will carry.”

Bryony’s green eyes held mine. Her heartbeat was still too fast from the fight, but it settled as she listened.

“Harrowmere needs blood, paid staff, open gates and rooms that don’t try to kill their occupants. This court needs someone to answer when those things fail. I’ll answer.”

The man in the torn brown coat folded his arms. “Does that make you our king?”

“For tonight.”

His eyebrows rose.