Page 75 of Blood Ties

She stopped at the threshold but didn’t turn. “I’m not feeding you tonight. I’m not touching you either.”

“I understand.” Her hand settled on the stone doorframe.

“And if you follow me, I’ll test how far I can throw one of those chairs.”

“I’ll stay here.”

Bryony walked into the hall. The court opened each door ahead of her and closed it once she passed. I listened until her footsteps faded near the royal suite. I had wanted honesty to leave pain I could endure. It didn’t. It took her warmth from the room and left me with the full cost of the choices I’d made.

Then her presence disappeared from my senses. The connection between us had gone completely quiet.

20

BRYONY

The bedroom door closed behind me. The sudden silence stopped me with my hand on the latch.

I’d wanted room to think without feeling his hunger or knowing when my anger hurt him. Harrowmere had given it to me completely, and every detail followed me into the quiet.

“Bloody house,” I muttered.

The lamp beside the bed brightened, which I took as a lack of remorse.

I sat on the edge of the mattress and pressed my palms to my thighs. Stellan had planned to seduce me, use my blood and leave me with a man who might kill me during the succession rite. He’d known exactly what I was risking while I worked it out in pieces.

Then I’d refused the Crown when it offered me control of him, and his plan had changed. He’d stayed when the first manacle opened. He’d protected me from the Crown. He’d stopped feeding when he could have taken more and given me pleasure without using magic to shape it.

Both versions of him were real. Adrian being worse didn’t make Stellan innocent, and his later choices didn’t excuse the earlier ones.

My body wasn’t interested in helping. The bite on my throat still felt sensitive under my fingertips. I remembered his mouth on my skin and the weight of him under me, followed by his face when I asked whether he loved me.

He’d answered honestly after waiting far too long.

I pulled my hand away from the bite. “Still furious.”

The bed gave a small creak under me.

“Keep your opinions to yourself.”

A hard metallic knock travelled along the wall.

I stood. The sound came again, followed by three slower knocks. It wasn’t Stellan. He was behind two internal doors, and the noise had come from the far end of the lower court.

The silver line outside the suite lit without turning white. Stellan had said white meant another vampire had entered. Whoever was knocking remained outside the wards.

I took a short sword from the nearest guard room. The weapon was lighter than it looked, and the leather grip fitted my hand. I didn’t know how to use it, but carrying steel was more sensible than answering a mysterious knock with a bedside lamp.

The lower court stayed empty as I followed the sound. Every door remained closed except the one behind me. I passed Cecily’s sitting room and heard the quiet scrape of Stellan’s chain inside. He didn’t call my name or come out. He was keeping his promise to give me distance.

That didn’t make the confession hurt less. It kept me walking instead of turning towards him.

The next knock came from a black gate at the end of the hall. Silver ravens covered its middle, their wings locked together across the join. A narrow line of white light cut between them.

I stopped several metres away. “Who is it?”

“Lenora Cade.” Her voice came through the gate, low and urgent. “Don’t open it. Adrian can’t cross while it stays sealed.”

I kept the sword down at my side and moved close enough to see through the line. “Give me a reason to believe it’s you.”