Page 17 of Blood Curse

The red line vanished.

Harrowmere accepted her with a low shiver through the stone. The sound travelled into the walls and came back from the empty galleries, as if the house had taken a breath after holding it for far too long. Mara heard it too. Her hard expression cracked for an instant, revealing the woman who had once known every guard post, loose stair and badly placed wine cupboard in this place.

Mara crossed the threshold, caught me by both shoulders, then drove her fist into my stomach.

Pain tore through my healing side. I folded with a curse.

Bryony stepped forward. Mara pulled me upright and wrapped both arms around me before Bryony could decide whether to break her nose.

“A century,” Mara said against my shoulder. “You absolute bastard.”

I held her for one hard breath. “Good to see you too.”

She released me just as quickly and scrubbed the back of her hand over her eyes.

Bryony looked between us. “Is punching the king part of court etiquette?”

“It used to be discouraged,” I said.

“Then your court lacked honesty,” Mara said.

“It lacked several things. Restraint wasn’t one of them.”

Her attention dropped to the blood at my side. “What did that?”

“Adrian.”

Her face emptied. “Where is he?”

“Dead.”

She glanced at Bryony, then at the dark metal tangled through her red hair. Understanding came fast. Mara had always been good at surviving the truth.

“Did you kill him?” she asked me.

“The Crown used Bryony to do it.”

Mara’s gaze returned to Bryony. There was caution in it, but not accusation.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Bryony’s shoulders eased a fraction. “I’m not sorry he’s dead. I’m furious he used my body to make it happen.”

“That sounds like Adrian.” Mara’s voice turned flat. “He never minded who paid for his choices.”

The Crown stayed quiet. I could feel its attention pressing at the back of my skull, but it didn’t demand anything.

“Tell me how you found us,” I said.

Mara looked past me into the entrance hall. Lamps had lit all the way to the throne room. Harrowmere had spent a century hiding in darkness. Now it seemed determined to announce itself to the county.

“Your blood called,” she said. “Every oath I ever gave you woke at once. Then Harrowmere appeared where it should have been all along.”

“Appeared?” Bryony asked.

“Adrian hid it from us.” Mara touched the old scar along her jaw. “After Cecily died, he scattered anyone who might have stayed loyal to Stellan. Some he threatened. Some he paid. The stubborn ones woke in ditches on the far side of the country.”

“You were one of the stubborn ones,” Bryony said.