Page 47 of Blood Curse

He hesitated, then nodded.

I stopped several feet away. His heartbeat sped up, but he didn’t move towards me. Relief softened his face when he realised it.

“I’m sorry,” he said to Mara.

“You already apologised.”

“I know.”

She sighed. “My arm will heal before your guilt does if you keep feeding it. Go and find a bed.”

He looked at me. “Are we safe here?”

The Crown waited for my answer.

“We’re safer because we know what it can do,” I said. “If you want to leave, Stellan will help you. If you stay, neither of us will pretend this was harmless.”

He nodded once. “I’m staying.”

He left with the others.

The Night Hall settled into ordinary noise. Footsteps moved away. Someone complained about the stairs. A door slammed, followed by a voice insisting it had happened by accident.

Nobody was watching me.

The pleasure drained out of the Crown.

I stayed where I was for another minute.

The hall looked different without every face turned towards me. It was a room again. Chairs sat crooked from the panic. A travel bag had spilled open near the door, leaving shirts and one bright red sock across the floor. Someone had abandoned a half-full cup on the edge of the fireplace.

Power had made all of that disappear. The Crown had reduced forty people to an audience and tried to make me enjoy the view.

I picked up the red sock and pushed it back into the open bag.

Nothing inside me rewarded the act. That made it feel more valuable.

“Now,” I said.

I walked from the hall under my own strength. Stellan came beside me. He didn’t offer to carry me or ask whether I could manage the stairs. His hand stayed close to mine until I took it.

Harrowmere opened the first door as we approached. I stopped.

“Did you ask it?” I said.

“I didn’t.”

The house held the door wide. Warm light waited beyond it, as inviting as a servant eager to please.

I reached around the edge and pulled it shut.

“We can use the other passage,” I said.

“It’s longer.”

“Good.”

Stellan changed direction with me. He didn’t point out that walking farther while my legs shook was ridiculous. He shortened his stride and let me set the pace.