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The red marks on the floor dimmed at the answer. The court might have accepted the truth. It might simply have been waiting for a more useful moment to hurt me again.

She sat back. “Then I stay away from the Crown, and Adrian stays outside. The immediate problem is keeping you alive without giving the court another way to control either of us.”

It was the correct conclusion. Her attention returned to my mouth.

Heat moved between us. I kept my fangs covered, although hiding them no longer fooled anyone.

“You don’t need to decide tonight,” I said.

“Your hand is cracking the stone.”

I looked down. Fine lines had spread from my fingers across the edge of the dais.

I opened my hand.

The cracks remained.

She reached for the jug beside her chair and poured water into the second cup. The scent of clean skin rose as her sleeve pulled away from her wrist.

I closed my eyes.

“Stellan.”

“Keep the water.”

“I wasn’t offering it as a substitute for blood. I’m asking you to drink because you’re still healing.”

Her correction mattered. The court didn’t react to it, and the iron remained still.

I opened my eyes. “Roll it to my right.”

She sent the cup across the floor. I caught it, drank and set it well away from the loose cuff.

The water cooled my mouth. It did nothing for the need gathering behind my fangs.

Bryony watched me for a moment. “Tell me how feeding works. I’m not promising anything. I want the facts.”

“A bite reduces pain and heightens pleasure, but it can’t make you offer more. Your wrist keeps you farther away and lets you pull back. Your throat would bring you too close for a first feeding.”

Her heartbeat changed at the word throat. Mine answered it.

“How much?”

“A few mouthfuls. My saliva will close the bite, and the chains will hold me if I lose control. Move back if I tighten my grip or stop answering.”

Her gaze moved over every restraint. “Keep your hand flat on the dais.”

“I’ll keep it flat.”

Her wrist would keep her farther away. I could hold it without touching the rest of her and release it the instant she moved back. Her throat would put her body against mine, her hair over my arm and her pulse directly under my mouth.

A century of captivity hadn’t removed desire. It had stripped away every distraction that might have made it easier to ignore.

I looked at the floor until the image passed. When I raised my head, Bryony was watching me with a flush over her chest. She’d felt enough of the thought to understand it.

Neither of us commented.

The Crown scraped against the throne.