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Bryony checked the gate, the service passage and every chain still holding me. She was frightened, furious and already building a plan.

Adrian was outside.

Bryony was locked inside with me.

Harrowmere had decided which threat it preferred.

8

BRYONY

The silence after the gate closed lasted three seconds.

Then the court began moving around us.

The red seal spread over the bars until they looked welded into the arch. More lamps woke inside the service passage, and water started running somewhere past the open door.

Stellan stayed braced on one hand. The other wrist, both ankles and the chain around his waist remained fixed to the dais. Red marks burned over the iron, but the right cuff still lay open near his knee.

I wanted to check the blood running down his left arm. Walking within reach still wasn’t sensible.

“Can you sit up?”

“In a moment.” He drew a slow breath. “The Claiming tightened the restraints because I used the court against Adrian. It’ll ease once Harrowmere decides I’m not trying to follow him.”

“Are you trying to follow him?”

“Very much. I’m also attached to several tonnes of stone.”

His anger sat hot and sharp inside me. I understood it without needing another explanation of how the connection worked.

I collected the torch and went to the gate. Edith’s old key didn’t fit any part of the new seal. Pulling the bars achieved nothing except making my injured palm throb.

My phone still showed no signal. I stopped the recording, checked that it had saved and turned the phone off to preserve the battery.

I couldn’t send the recording from under Harrowmere, but I kept it. If I reached the house again, Arthur and the police were getting copies before anyone could take the phone from me.

The way upstairs had vanished. Adrian couldn’t reach us, but neither could anyone who might help.

I looked at the service door. “Tell me what’s in there without giving every chair a tragic fucking history.”

Stellan lifted his head. Colour had returned to his face after the flask, although hunger still sharpened his features. “The royal rooms. A bedroom, bathing room, sitting room and a small kitchen. Harrowmere will provide ordinary food, water and heat because the Claiming needs its heir alive. The rooms may change their appearance to suit you, but they aren’t another test.”

“May?”

“The court hasn’t welcomed anyone for more than a century. Its taste could have improved. The furniture may move. The food won’t bite.”

The short exchange helped. I was still trapped underground with a vampire, a magic crown and a man outside who wanted both. At least I knew where the bathroom was.

“Can you reach the passage?”

Stellan tested the chain around his waist. It stopped him a metre short of the door. “Not yet. I can reach the rear of the throne and part of the dais. If the court changes that, I’ll tell you.”

I lifted Edith’s case onto my shoulder. “I’m checking the rooms. You stay here.”

His eyebrows rose. “You know the chains are why that works.”

“I meant I’m not opening anything else while I’m gone.”