Page 126
He gave me a dry look. “I didn’t say easy.”
A heavy impact shook the room.
Stellan was on his feet before the vibration left the floor.
I stood with him. “Was that the throne-room wall?”
“Farther away.” He turned towards the door. “The main gate.”
A second blow travelled through Harrowmere. Stone cracked somewhere beyond the lower court.
White light flashed under our door and went out.
We ran. Stellan pulled a short sword from the wall rack as we reached the lower hall.
The third strike split the main gate.
33
STELLAN
The crack in the main gate ran through the floor under my bare feet.
Bryony kept pace beside me across the lower hall. I had a sword and no armour. Adrian had never cared whether his opponents were prepared.
Another strike hit the gate. White light flashed across the walls, then broke into thin lines that crawled towards the throne room.
“Stay behind me.”
“I can’t work the house from behind you if you keep moving.”
Even frightened, she could make an order sound stupid when it was.
“Then stay behind the silver line.” I pointed to the narrow strip set across the floor ahead. “If anyone gets over it, you run.”
“If anyone gets over it, I close a door on them.”
There wasn’t time to argue. Harrowmere answered her, not me.
Lenora waited at the arch to the lower court with a long blade in her hand. Her dark hair had come loose over one shoulder. A dead vampire lay near the wall, his neck opened to the spine.
Bryony stopped hard. “He got inside?”
“Only him,” Lenora said. “The service passage is still sealed. The main gate won’t hold another strike.”
The broken gate hadn’t made the clean wound in his neck.
“Was that Adrian’s dagger?” I asked.
“Yes.”
A point of black metal punched through the split in the gate. The white ward around it hissed and shrank away.
I looked at Lenora. “Take the service passage. Don’t leave it unless you hear Bryony call.”
Lenora glanced at Bryony, received a nod and ran.
The dagger withdrew. A hand replaced it, pale fingers curling around one side of the crack. The vampire outside pulled. Iron screamed against stone as the gap widened.
