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She absorbed the answer without looking away. “One problem at a time. We take the dagger, then we deal with the cuffs.”

Lenora checked the split in the doors. “He keeps the blade close to his body. Our best chance is when he uses it on a seal.”

“Then we make the next door difficult enough to need his full attention,” Bryony said.

I looked at the side sections she’d just controlled. “You give him one route. Lenora and I take opposite sides. He can block one of us.”

“And the house closes the door behind his arm,” she said.

The plan was brutal, direct and likely to work. I loved her a little more for suggesting it.

Bryony kept her gaze on the sealed doors. “If you kill Adrian, what happens to the cuffs?”

“He can’t give them another order. The commands already cut into me will remain until we remove them.”

She considered that for a moment. “So killing him still improves the situation.”

“Considerably.”

Lenora checked the edge of her sword. “His guards may keep fighting after he dies.”

“Then they’ll be choosing it,” Bryony said. “I can live with that.”

I touched her shoulder. “You won’t have to fight them.”

She faced me. “I’m not planning to wave a sword around. I’ll close the doors and let the two vampires handle the biting.”

“A sensible division of labour.”

“I have my moments.”

A dull strike hit the other side. The doors held.

Bryony retrieved the broken sword and pushed the Crown farther under the throne. She didn’t touch the metal.

“Was it really freeing you?” she asked.

“It was silencing Adrian while it thought you might accept its offer. The second you refused, it gave him control again.”

Bryony nudged the broken blade between herself and the Crown.

“So it helped him punish me for saying no.”

“Yes. It wanted the punishment to make its offer look safer.”

Her eyes stayed on the black metal. “If I’d waited to refuse, would it have kept your cuffs dark?”

“For a few more seconds, perhaps.”

“Long enough for you to take the dagger?”

I understood why she needed the answer. “Possibly. It also might have moved into your hand while I was fighting Adrian.”

She used the broken sword to hold the Crown in place. “Can it force my fingers around it?”

“No. It can move close enough for you to catch it without thinking. The court may treat that as acceptance.”

“So I don’t catch the evil Crown.”