Page 68 of Blood Curse

I put my coat around her shoulders. It was already damp from holding her, but it gave her something between her wet blouse and the wind.

“Can you walk?” I asked.

“Can you?”

“My pride suffered most.”

“It had too much blood in it anyway.”

Mara’s expression eased. Elias didn’t bother hiding his relief.

We started towards the covered walk. Bryony kept hold of my hand, her bandaged palm turned away from mine. The Crown’s pressure followed us, hot and awake again.

At the gate, she stopped.

The humour left her face.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s speaking.”

“An order?”

“A promise.” She looked past Mara and Elias towards the lights coming on inside Harrowmere. More vampires had arrived while we were in the garden. I could hear unfamiliar steps in the distant halls.

Bryony’s grip tightened.

“It says we had our chance to choose.”

The Crown gleamed in her wet hair.

“Now it will make the court choose for us.”

13

BRYONY

The Crown waited until we passed the iron gate.

Then everything flooded me in a single rush.

Hunger cramped my stomach. Heat rolled through my body and settled between my thighs. Stellan’s hand around mine became the only thing I could think about.

I stopped under the covered walk.

He stopped with me. “What changed?”

“I’m hungry.”

Elias looked at my face. “For blood?”

“Yes. And food. And Stellan.”

Mara picked up the crowbar with her good hand. “I’ll give you two privacy.”

“Stay where you are,” I said. “I don’t trust the Crown with privacy.”

She put the bar down again. “Sensible.”