Page 225 of Blood Curse

It didn’t tempt me tonight either.

Bryony was behind the gate because she chose to wait there. She could have demanded a promise before I left. She could have made my return proof of love and turned freedom into another obligation. Instead, she let me walk out carrying the possibility that I might keep going.

The trust in that hurt more than a demand would have.

I thought of the Night Hall covered in dust sheets and repair lists. People were choosing rooms, work and the families they wanted to contact. Some would leave Harrowmere. Others would stay. By tomorrow, both choices would have altered the court.

I wanted to see what it became.

I wanted Bryony in my bed when my chest had healed, furious at the delay and entirely herself. I wanted to see the flat she had refused to surrender for a room in my house. I wanted roads, cities and the ability to return home without the word home becoming another name for a prison.

Freedom wasn’t the distance I could put between myself and the house. It was being able to decide what that distance meant.

I turned around.

The return walk was easier. My body had stopped expecting punishment, though the wound still protested each rise in the lane. When the pillars appeared between the trees, nobody rushed forwards.

Lenora had already gone back towards the house. Two members of the court were examining the cracked stone while Mara pointed at the temporary brace. Elias leaned against the wall with his bag at his feet.

Bryony sat on the low bank beside the drive.

She wasn’t standing at the threshold counting the minutes. She didn’t send anyone after me. She had one hand tucked into her coat pocket and a streak of mud across one knee.

Her gaze found mine.

She rose.

I crossed the boundary again.

The wards brushed over me and released me. Harrowmere accepted my return without trapping me inside it. The open gate stayed still.

Mara’s shoulders lowered. Elias picked up his bag but didn’t open it. The two people beside the wall returned to their discussion about stone. Nobody applauded. Nobody bowed. A fact settled among us instead: I could leave, and I could come back.

Bryony met me three steps onto the estate.

I took her hand.

Relief warmed her fingers, but she left the explanation for later. She lifted her face, and I kissed her.

She met the kiss. My free hand closed around her waist, drawing her against the uninjured side of my body. Heat moved through me, immediate and clean. The lane, the court and the damp evening fell away for one breath.

Then my chest pulled.

Bryony eased back, keeping her hand in mine. “Worth it?”

“Yes.”

The answer covered the walk and the kiss.

Elias frowned at me. “You are pale.”

“I have always been pale.”

“You are paler. Return to the house before I carry you.”

I didn’t argue. Being free included accepting good advice without mistaking it for an order.

Mara tested the open gate, pushing it until the hinge gave another long groan.