Page 20 of Blood Ties

“I’d still prefer that. The house has changed the available options.”

She looked from the closing door to me. I felt her fear through the bond, but it didn’t control her. She checked the open gate, measured the length of my chains and chose the side of the room with space, light and a prisoner who couldn’t reach it.

Smart woman.

Bryony slipped through the inner gate and moved straight to the wall. The metal door sealed behind her with a heavy final thud.

For one breath, nothing moved.

Then the gate slammed shut.

Every chain attached to me snapped tight at once. They tore me forwards and drove me onto both knees behind the throne.

Harrowmere had put its heir exactly where it wanted her.

Inside the cage with me.

6

BRYONY

Stellan hit the floor hard enough to crack stone.

I stayed against the wall and kept the torch aimed between us. The gate had sealed behind me, leaving no handle, lock or visible join. My phone still recorded, although the lack of signal made calling anyone impossible.

At least the message I’d sent upstairs had gone through. Arthur knew exactly where I’d disappeared.

The thought was less comforting under several tonnes of stone.

Stellan pushed himself upright on both knees. Chains ran from his wrists to iron rings in opposite walls. More fixed his ankles to the dais and circled his waist before disappearing behind the throne. Blood slid over his hands from skin split by the cuffs.

“Did it break anything?” I asked.

“Only the floor.” His voice came rougher now. “Stay where you are until the chains settle.”

I didn’t need the warning. I finally had enough light to see all of him, and safe wasn’t the first word that came to mind.

Long silver hair fell over one shoulder and partly covered his face. His eyes were grey-blue, pale enough to catch the red light moving through the room. Hunger sharpened his cheekbones and mouth, but captivity hadn’t taken the heavy muscle from his chest or arms.

Black tattoos covered both shoulders. Wings spread across his back, every feather following the shape of the muscle under it. Older scars cut through the ink at his spine and ribs.

The raven on Edith’s key matched the wings on his skin.

I held up the key. “The wings match this. Tell me what that means without giving me a century of court history.”

Stellan glanced at the raven worked into its bow. “It was the mark of the Blood King before anyone built Harrowmere. The court put the same mark into my skin when it accepted me. Edith carried the key because her family held the human side of the court. It opens the places that require both offices, including the way out of this room. The mark doesn’t mean she owned me, and it doesn’t mean you do.”

“Good. I wasn’t planning to add vampire ownership to today’s paperwork.”

“That already makes you better qualified than the last person who wanted the Crown.”

He turned his head, and the torchlight caught his fangs.

I tightened my hold on it.

My body chose that moment to remember the attraction travelling through the bond. Heat collected low in my stomach while I stood in a sealed vampire court with a bleeding man who had admitted he might bite me.

Excellent judgement all round.