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“Did you follow those orders?”

“Some of them. I released people when she slept and told myself I was limiting the damage.”

I’d called those secret releases a solution. They’d only returned frightened people to their rooms while Cecily kept the power to imprison them again.

Bryony’s expression hardened. “That couldn’t last.”

“It didn’t. The Crown fed on her fear and made each order harsher. If someone resisted, she treated the resistance as proof that they meant to betray her.”

I could still remember the first guard who’d refused her. Tomas had served Harrowmere for sixty years. He’d lowered his sword when Cecily ordered him to arrest a human family for planning to leave the estate.

“She commanded me to kill one of my guards,” I said. “The order took hold. I fought it long enough for him to run, but the gates closed before he reached them.”

Bryony went very still. “Did you kill him?”

“Yes.”

My stomach tightened as I said it. Tomas had deserved to have his name spoken without the lie I’d attached to it.

“I broke his neck,” I continued. “Cecily started crying as soon as it was done. She said the Crown had spoken with her voice and she couldn’t stop it. She begged me to help her remove it without letting the court know.”

“And you agreed.”

“I loved her. She was my closest friend, and I thought I could protect her while we found a way to take it off.”

Love explained the choice. It didn’t excuse it.

“So you hid what happened.”

“I told the court Tomas had attacked the queen. His family believed he’d betrayed us. I let that lie stand for a century.”

Bryony looked towards the dark window. The garden outside had gone quiet, but red light still showed along the wall nearest the throne room.

“How many?” she asked.

“Nine vampires and four humans died during those eight months. Tomas was the only one I killed myself. I helped enforce orders that put the others where the Crown could reach them.”

She pressed her lips together. I wouldn’t let Adrian’s taunt be the only account of the people who’d died.

“Were they all killed in the chapel?”

“Seven died there. The others died during arrests or after Cecily ordered their blood withheld. Every death made her more frightened, and every frightened order gave the Crown more control.”

Bryony stood and walked to the cold fireplace. She stayed there for several seconds, facing the empty grate.

“Edith didn’t know?”

“She knew Cecily had changed. I convinced her that the attack on the estate and lack of sleep were making the queen suspicious. Edith trusted me to tell her if the court was in danger.”

Bryony looked towards the door as if she could see her grandmother in the hall. My confession had put another failure into that grief.

“But you didn’t.”

“No.”

My hands wanted the chair arms. I left them open on my knees.

“I thought exposing Cecily would mean her death,” I said. “A human queen who couldn’t control the Crown would’ve been removed by force. Adrian made certain I saw that as the only alternative. He kept offering small cures and reasons to wait.”