Page 181 of Blood Curse

“Stellan,” Mara said quietly.

“I see it.”

Bryony crossed the hall.

Nobody blocked her. Vampires spread along the walls and between the fires, leaving the middle clear. They remained standing.

The last person entered. The doors closed behind him.

The locks struck home.

Fists hit the wood from the other side. Lenora shouted Bryony’s name, followed by several human voices from the upper house.

“I’m checking the old service passages,” Lenora shouted. A heavy strike landed beyond the doors. “Can Bryony hear us?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Then keep talking until you do.”

The Crown ignored them.

It walked Bryony to the queen’s chair and turned her body towards us. Her face stayed empty. Her arms lowered to the silver rests.

The pulse in her throat fluttered.

“Bryony,” I said.

Her right hand lay open.

The smallest finger moved.

Once.

Then her fourth finger shifted beside it.

Two fingers.

Still here.

Relief nearly drove me across the hall. I held my place. The Crown wanted me close enough to put the dagger into its reach or desperate enough to tear at Bryony’s body.

Mara saw the signal. “She’s conscious?”

“Yes.”

Elias let out a breath. “Can she move anything else?”

“She’ll show us when she can.”

Bryony’s fingers went still.

I met her green eyes. The Crown had flattened her expression, but it hadn’t emptied her. Fury remained behind the stillness.

“We see you,” I said.

Red light climbed the queen’s chair.

It crossed Bryony’s hands, ran over the silver arms and gathered at her throat.