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Adrian drew a narrow black blade from his sleeve. “Fuck.” I released the raven and snatched up the sword. The badge fell towards Lenora. Adrian caught her hand, cut her palm and slammed it over the silver bird before it could drop.
Red light burst across the gate. Lenora cried out as her blood filled the carved wings. Adrian pressed his hand over hers. The red under his skin poured into the seal and forced a thin line through the opening.
“Run!” Lenora shouted. The white gap snapped shut, cutting off her voice. The ravens locked together again, but Adrian’s red line had already reached my side.
It raced under my boots and spread along the lower court. Doors slammed in order, starting at the gate and moving towards the royal suite. The floor twisted hard enough to throw me against the wall. I shoved myself upright and ran. The sword struck my leg with every step. Behind me, black spikes broke through the stone where I’d fallen.
“Stellan!” The door to Cecily’s room vanished into a solid wall. So did the entrance to the royal suite. The lower court narrowed around me, forcing me towards the only arch left open.
I crossed it and stumbled into the throne room. The arch sealed behind me. Every lamp turned red, and the chains fixed to the dais lifted from the floor.
Harrowmere had stopped protecting me. The first chain came straight for my throat.
21
STELLAN
The waist chain snapped tight before Bryony’s second blow struck the other side of the stone. It dragged me back hard enough to tear the half-healed skin around my ribs. I caught the iron in both hands before it pulled me off my feet.
“Bryony!”
Metal struck stone again. Her pulse was silent to me, but I heard her boots scrape across the throne room and the sharp ring of her sword meeting a chain.
The court had closed Cecily’s room. No door remained, and the wall ignored my hand when I pressed it to the place where Bryony had vanished.
“Open,” I ordered.
Red light spread over the stone.
Adrian’s voice came from the wall. “You don’t command Harrowmere any longer. Break Cecily’s room if you like. Every inch you take from your chain will close again once the Crown has her.”
“Come inside and say that.”
His laugh was quiet. “I don’t need to.”
Another chain whipped across the throne room. Bryony swore, then her short sword struck the floor.
I grabbed the length at my waist. Bryony’s blood had loosened it a little at a time. I had spent hours measuring the new reach and testing how much force the damaged ring could take. Another few inches might have let me reach the old release cut in the wall. I wrapped every inch of that hard-won slack around my forearm.
The chain ran through the stone and back to its anchor at the dais. Harrowmere could hide the passage, but it couldn’t change where the iron went.
Adrian understood a second too late. “Pull that iron through the wall and every inch she gave you is gone. Your prison will close tighter than it was when she arrived.”
I braced the chain against my forearm. “I know.”
I planted both feet and pulled.
The links bit into my arm. The collar at my throat tightened, joining the waist chain in fighting me. I pulled again, harder. Stone cracked somewhere in front of me.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Adrian demanded.
“Coming for you.”
“I’m not in the throne room,” Adrian said.
I tightened my grip on the links. “Then you’re safer than the court.”
I hauled the chain sideways. The wall split along the hidden line, and black dust burst into the room. Pain ripped across my stomach as the iron cut through the healing wound. The slack disappeared link by link. All the progress Bryony’s blood had bought me went with it.
