Page 82 of Blood Curse

She squeezed my hand. “You don’t have to prove you fought hard enough. It took your body. That’s the problem.”

Lenora stayed by the door. “One of you should sleep elsewhere.”

Her torn pocket hung open at her hip.

“Which one?” Bryony asked.

“Stellan. Until we know whether the Crown can command while you’re unconscious again.”

I expected the suggestion to bring relief. Distance meant I couldn’t place another weapon in Bryony’s hand.

It also meant the next order might send me through half the house before anyone heard it.

“I’ll go,” I said.

Bryony tightened her hand around mine. “I don’t want that.”

“It may be safer.”

“It gives the Crown a longer walk and more locked doors. We just proved those aren’t enough.”

Lenora’s expression remained practical. “Then I can stay in the room.”

“Watching me sleep?” Bryony asked.

“Listening for your voice.”

“For how long?”

Lenora didn’t answer.

Bryony shook her head. “We’re not turning this room into a guard post. If the Crown speaks again, Stellan wakes me. If it stops him from waking me, the person outside the door comes in when he leaves.”

“You want a guard outside?” I asked.

“I want one simple alarm. The door stays open. Anyone in the corridor calls Lenora if you walk out while I’m asleep.”

Lenora folded her arms. “Someone outside the door is still watching.”

“They’re watching the door,” Bryony said. “They aren’t standing over the bed waiting for my mouth to move.”

“A narrow distinction.”

“An important one.”

Lenora considered it. “That will slow him.”

“That’s all locks can do. We’ll use the delay.”

“And the dagger?” I asked.

Lenora lifted the bundle. “Moves now.”

Bryony looked at me. “Do you want to leave?”

The question mattered more than the plan.

“No.”