Page 227 of Blood Curse

“Then the court has been underpaying you for a very long time.”

Mara looked at the lists instead of arguing.

Lenora continued. “A room and access to blood aren’t payment. They’re part of keeping this place safe enough to live in. Anyone cleaning, repairing, guarding, driving or managing the house gets a wage.”

“Including you,” I said.

Her gaze met mine. “Especially me. I want a contract, a salary and hours that end.”

Stellan leaned forwards. “You’ll have them.”

“Emergencies will need a definition.”

“Write one that doesn’t include every inconvenience in Harrowmere.”

Lenora made a note. Her mouth stayed firm, but satisfaction warmed her eyes.

Stellan looked along the table. “The accounts belonged to the Crown. They’ll now support the court and the people who keep Harrowmere running. The legal structure can be changed once we have advice. Until then, every payment is recorded and open to anyone who lives here.”

“Who owns the house?” someone asked.

Stellan took a moment before answering. “The deeds name me. That gives me a legal duty, not the right to use Harrowmere or its money as a weapon. We’ll place the property in a structure that protects the court’s home beyond one king’s choices.”

“A trust,” Lenora said. “Once a solicitor has found a way to explain the beneficiaries without mentioning vampires.”

“They’re paid to solve difficult wording,” I said.

The small ripple of laughter faded quickly, but the tension around the question went with it.

Stellan kept his attention on the court. “I’ll live here. I won’t reclaim ownership of the people inside it. Those things aren’t the same.”

He didn’t claim the money. He didn’t claim the house.

Harrowmere might carry his name on papers, but he talked about it as a responsibility rather than an extension of his body. The difference mattered.

Elias put his own page on the table. “The blood store is secure. We have enough for the current court and regular deliveries can resume this week. Access won’t depend on rank, service or obedience.”

The last word passed through the hall without tightening anyone’s spine.

“And feeding from people?” Nessa asked.

“By invitation,” Elias said. “Stored blood remains available, so hunger can never be used as an excuse to corner a human. Anyone struggling comes to me before it becomes dangerous.”

“What if someone can’t afford the stored blood?”

“The court pays.” Stellan’s answer was immediate. “Safety isn’t a luxury.”

Elias nodded and sat back.

Mara moved to the doors. A shallow mark had been cut into the stone beside them, older than the Crown’s silver and dark with age.

“The protective wards survived,” she said. “Stellan and I checked the boundary after his walk.”

The woman with the new key closed her fingers around it. “Can the wards shut us in?”

“They can’t enter a living body,” Stellan said. “They hold doors against an attack, warn us when hostile magic crosses the land and strengthen the outer walls. They have no path into blood, bone or voice.”

“And the gate?”