Page 9 of Blood Ties

Someone crossed the boundary, and Harrowmere tried to pull my arms off.

The chains snapped tight. Iron cut into my wrists and drove my shoulders against the wall. The matching restraints around my ankles followed a second later, although they had nowhere left to drag me.

I swore and waited for the stone to stop shaking.

Dust fell from the arch above my cell. The lamps in the passage flared one after another, pushing weak light through the iron gate. Harrowmere had been quiet for so long that the sudden movement felt almost violent.

I knew what it meant.

The house had recognised a new heir.

It wouldn’t have done that while Edith lived. Her claim had ended, and someone carrying her blood had crossed the outer boundary to take her place.

Edith was dead.

I sat back as far as the chain allowed. The news deserved more than the few seconds I could spare it. Edith had never been my friend, but she’d been the only Ellison in decades willing to come below and look me in the eye. She had also kept the Crown away from Adrian. That counted for a great deal.

The new heir was moving closer.

Harrowmere passed each change through the iron. I couldn’t tell whether she was walking or travelling in a car. I only knew the direction of the pull and the warmth of living blood behind it.

My hunger noticed that warmth immediately.

I closed my hands around the chains until the links pressed into my palms. Adrian had left me enough blood to keep my body strong because he needed it that way. My long silver hair hung tangled over one shoulder, and the black tattoos along my arms disappeared under the manacles. The years below had left me ravenous, but I could still tear through either guard if the gate opened.

Footsteps sounded beyond the passage door.

Adrian had felt Harrowmere wake as well.

Two guards entered first. One carried a stun baton. The other held a metal flask by its narrow neck and kept his attention fixed on the floor. Neither came close enough for me to reach through the bars.

They had learned something during their time below.

Adrian Rook walked between them in a charcoal suit and polished black shoes. His dark hair was swept back from his face, and he wore the calm expression he used whenever he wanted humans to mistake him for reasonable.

His gaze moved to the chains at my wrists. “You felt the estate accept her. Edith spent years keeping the succession dormant, but Harrowmere has chosen its next living heir.”

“I felt the estate object to my continued possession of both arms.” I tested the right chain. It gave me exactly as much freedom as before. “Edith’s dead, then. Tell me who crossed the boundary, what she knows and why you look so pleased about it.”

“Bryony Ellison. Edith’s granddaughter and sole direct heir. She has lived apart from this court all her life, exactly as Edith intended. That makes her uninformed, although I doubt it makes her easy to manage.”

The name meant nothing to me. Harrowmere reacted to it anyway. A faint pulse travelled through the floor and settled under my skin.

“How much does Bryony know?”

Adrian stopped outside the carved line that kept him several feet from the gate. “She knows she has inherited the house. Edith spent years convincing her it had been sold, so the bequest came as a surprise. Bryony also has instructions to retrieve something from under Harrowmere. She will come looking for it because Edith made that the quickest way to settle the estate.”

The answer was too careful, and he knew it. He smiled slightly.

I waited. Adrian liked silence when he controlled it. He liked mine considerably less.

The guard with the flask shifted his weight. Blood moved inside the metal container with a soft splash, and my fangs pressed against my lower lip. The ration was cold. It was also the only blood Adrian had allowed near me since the previous night.

He watched my mouth before continuing. “Bryony doesn’t know about this court, the Crown or you. Edith kept her entirely human. She has a profession, a flat and a life that contains nothing she would call supernatural. That protection ended when she inherited Harrowmere. The house has recognised her, and she cannot return to ignorance now.”

“Protection usually works better when it lasts until the danger has passed.”

“Edith delayed the inevitable. Bryony’s blood has already woken the house. Once she comes below, Harrowmere will keep her here until the succession is settled.”