Page 124 of Blood Curse

“Good,” Mara said. “Take someone who knows when to stop pulling.”

The exchange loosened the room. People returned to their drinks and conversations. Nobody laughed at the man or treated the broken kettle as proof the returning court couldn’t manage ordinary life. It was a minor problem with a cheap solution.

I moved beside Stellan. His hand settled against my lower back.

The elderly vampire looked at the Crown. “Queen Cecily took breakfast in the smaller hall.”

Silence spread faster than it needed to.

“I’m not Cecily’s successor,” I said. “I’m Bryony. I eat wherever the tea is, and right now I’d rather know who has a dry room and who needs moving.”

The vampire blinked. “You don’t want the queen’s rooms?”

“I have a room. The roof works and Stellan is already in it.”

Mara coughed into one fist.

I ignored her. “Which rooms are leaking?”

The elderly vampire didn’t move on. “Queen wasn’t only a room or a dress. It was the human authority in this court.”

“The Crown is using that authority to steal my voice. I won’t make its claim stronger by accepting an office I don’t want.”

“Then who speaks for the human side?”

“I speak for myself. Lenora speaks for herself. Any human who lives or works here gets the same right.”

His attention shifted to Stellan. “And the court accepts that?”

Stellan’s hand remained warm at my back. “The court doesn’t decide who Bryony is.”

“The old rules did.”

“The old rules put a weapon on Cecily’s head and called it balance,” Stellan said. “We aren’t keeping them because they’re familiar.”

The man considered that, then inclined his head without bowing. “Bryony, then. The west room is dry if someone can open its shutters.”

“Thank you. Rhea?”

The woman near the fireplace lifted her hand. “I’ll look at them.”

Three hands rose.

Stellan looked at them. “The south room, the east corner and the one Nessa told you not to take.”

The woman who had wanted the south room lifted her cup. “I brought a bucket.”

“Then we only need to move two people,” I said.

Names came with the practical work. Nessa took the east passage. Colin had broken the kettle and offered to help shift beds. A woman called Cara knew which shutters stuck. I repeated each name once and attached it to the task in front of me. Nobody received a tragic history or a place in an ancient feud. They were people trying to live in a house that had forgotten how to hold them.

Stellan answered questions without turning them into orders. He showed one vampire where the blood store had moved and told another that the gate would remain open after sunset. People wanted his attention. They trusted his answers. Watching him give both without demanding anything back sent a warm pull through me.

He caught me looking.

“What?”

“You like this.”