Page 189 of Blood Curse

Her pulse changed again. Faster, but steady.

I tested the chain around my right wrist with a slow turn rather than a pull. The link followed the movement. It owned my position on the floor, not the angle of my hand.

My fingers reached the edge of my coat.

The wrapped dagger rested inside it.

The Crown noticed.

Bryony’s head turned towards my hand. The movement was too smooth to be hers. Red light gathered around the points buried in her hair and ran down her throat.

“Mara Voss will take the heartblood dagger from Stellan and bring it to me.”

The command landed.

The pale band around Mara vanished from her waist and reformed across her chest. Her body turned before the last word finished.

She tried to lock her knees.

The command didn’t care whether she stood or crawled. It owned the named result.

Her first step cracked the stone.

“Mara,” I said.

“I fucking heard it.”

Her second step was slower. She twisted one shoulder back, forcing the command to drag the rest of her forwards.

That resistance cost the Crown. Bryony’s right hand jerked towards the edge of the silver arm.

The grey-braided woman rose behind Mara. Elias got one foot flat but remained on his other knee. Two more vampires lifted their heads.

Mara reached me.

Her hand closed around the front of my coat.

“Sorry,” she ground out.

“Make it inconvenient.”

Her mouth pulled into something savage. “Gladly.”

She reached inside my coat.

The Crown could have ordered me to give her the blade. It wanted the court to watch one of its strongest members take it from a kneeling king. The performance mattered as much as the blood.

That vanity gave us time.

It also gave me the Crown’s plan.

The broken dagger could slow my healing long enough for heartblood to reach the spring. It couldn’t create a willing offering. The Crown knew that. It was trying to build the appearance of choice from enough forced pieces: Mara took the blade, Elias restrained me and Bryony’s stolen hand drove the metal home.

Then it would call the result mine because my blood left my body.

The spring wouldn’t.

That should make the blade useless to the Crown. It didn’t make the wound harmless. A broken dagger beside my heart would still put me on the floor while Bryony’s pulse was failing and the court remained trapped under command.