Page 37 of Blood Curse

8

STELLAN

The silence spread from the doorway to the far end of the Night Hall.

More than forty vampires watched me.

Some looked as I remembered them. Others were strangers. Mud marked boots and hems, and bags sat beside chairs. Harrowmere had lit every lamp, but none of us looked prepared.

I wasn’t prepared either.

Bryony came to stand at my right. Copper-red hair fell over one shoulder, bright against her white blouse. The black points of the Crown rose from it like thorns. Her green eyes moved across the room without dropping from anyone’s stare.

Mara and Elias stayed near the doors.

Someone at the back whispered, “It really is him.”

“Disappointing, isn’t it?” I said.

A startled laugh broke the silence. Another followed. Several people smiled.

Good. Fear loved ceremony. I had given it enough ceremonies to feed on.

“Stellan.” A woman near the front spoke my name carefully. I remembered her as a palace guard with a talent for winning at cards. Time had put silver in her dark hair. “Are you king again?”

“I never stopped being king. I was merely unavailable.”

“For a hundred years,” Mara said.

“I said unavailable, not punctual.”

The laughter came more easily that time. Bryony looked up at me, the curve of her mouth holding a private promise for later.

I faced the court.

“Adrian is dead.”

The laughter ended.

“The Crown killed Adrian using Bryony’s body. Before he died, he forced it onto her. It is fused to her body, and it can take her voice and movement. It has already used both.”

Several gazes shifted to her. She didn’t move closer to me.

“Is she the queen?” a man asked.

“Yes,” I said.

Bryony lifted an eyebrow. “We should probably discuss how quickly you answer that.”

“Would you prefer a longer speech?”

“I’d prefer a throne that isn’t trying to eat me.”

“I shall add it to the list.”

The room relaxed by a fraction. Bryony knew what I was doing and helped me do it. She wasn’t pretending the danger had passed. She was showing them the woman the Crown had failed to erase.

I wanted to kiss her for it.