Page 57 of Blood Curse

“Cold. Possibly pain. Cecily said the pressure around her scalp released at once.”

“Did she lose consciousness?”

“Not when I witnessed it.”

“That’s an unsettling answer.”

“It’s an honest one. Keep speaking if you can. Stellan will hear your pulse even if you can’t.”

Stellan rested one hand on the rim. “If your heart stops or the Crown moves your body, I pull you away.”

“Agreed. If I simply go quiet, you count to ten.”

“I remember.”

I sat on the rim and removed my shoes. Stellan watched me peel off my socks.

“If you say I warned you about the shoes, I’ll push you in first.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“Liar.”

The exchange settled my breathing. It also made the Crown furious. Heat flared along the band in my hair and spread down my neck.

I lowered one foot into the spring.

Cold bit straight through me.

“Bloody hell.”

“Cecily used stronger language,” Stellan said.

“I respect her judgement.”

I put my other foot in and slid from the rim. The water reached my waist. My blouse floated around me before the fabric soaked and clung to my skin.

Stellan looked down at the carving with admirable concentration.

“You can look,” I said.

His gaze lifted. Heat entered his pale eyes.

“I was trying to behave.”

“Why start now?”

I turned my back to the basin wall before the Crown could turn the moment into something else. The silver leaves felt smooth under my fingertips. I lowered myself until the water reached my shoulders.

“The Crown has to touch the carving,” Stellan said.

“I remember.”

“I’m reminding myself.”

The honesty made me look at him.

He was frightened. He hadn’t used fear to choose for me, but it was there in the set of his mouth and his hand gripped the basin.