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Bryony’s head snapped towards it.

The dark points had moved several centimetres down the carved back, closer to the seat. No hands touched it. The court was placing its easier answer where she couldn’t ignore it.

She stood, picked up the chair and carried it farther from the throne.

“I said no,” she told the room.

The Crown stopped moving.

Pride warmed me. This time I kept it to myself.

The loose cuff on the dais shifted instead. It scraped across the stone and stopped beside my free hand, open and waiting. Harrowmere wanted Bryony to remember that she’d already released one restraint without blood.

I pushed the iron away. “The key won’t open another one. Edith made certain of that.”

“I know.”

The court was trying to make every choice feel like hers.

She looked at the Crown, then pushed the cuff farther away with her boot.

The loose cuff remained where she’d pushed it.

Bryony sat again and tucked one foot under the chair. “If freely offered blood weakens the chains, why did the old court build them at all?”

“To stop either ruler holding all the power. A human heir could bind a dangerous king, but she couldn’t keep him imprisoned if she still trusted him enough to feed him willingly. The king could protect the heir, but he couldn’t take her blood by force without making the Crown stronger. The system was meant to require choice from both people.”

“Until Adrian changed it.”

“He fed the court forced blood for years and taught it to reward obedience. He didn’t create the Crown’s hunger for control. He made it worse.”

“Can we undo that without me wearing it?”

“We can free me and stop Adrian. The Crown itself is a problem for later.”

The simple answer seemed to ease her. One enemy outside, one dangerous object in the room and one vampire she hadn’t decided whether to trust. That was enough for any first night.

I didn’t tell her that freedom had been my first thought when her blood opened the lower door. At the time, I’d known nothing about her except her name and the fact that Edith had hidden her. I’d imagined charm, willing blood and an open chain. Seducing an heir had seemed cleaner than threatening one.

Then Bryony had stepped into the room with a torch raised and questioned every answer I gave her. She’d fed me Edith’s stored blood, opened one cuff and still kept enough sense to remain out of reach.

The old plan had survived meeting her. It had only become harder to pretend it was clean.

I still wanted freedom. I also wanted her choices to feel like her own, which was a convenient standard while I controlled which facts she had.

Another pull tightened the chain around my waist.

Pain cut across my ribs. My vision went red at the edges, and Bryony’s pulse became the loudest thing in the room.

I forced my hand flat against the stone.

“Go,” I said.

She rose at once but didn’t retreat into the suite. “Can you hear me?”

I lifted my head. Her red hair caught the light from the service passage. Her green eyes stayed on mine even after she saw the red filling them.

“Yes.”