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Her expression softened.

“It didn’t hurt,” I said. “Nothing pressed against me. I could have kept walking.”

“Good.”

“I came back because you were here.”

“Also good.” She held on. “But don’t turn that into proof that you belong to Harrowmere. You belong wherever you choose to stand.”

Her lips were pale, her pulse unreliable and her grip firm.

“Right now,” I said, “I choose this.”

Bryony closed her fingers around mine. “Then come inside with me.”

“Gladly.”

“When the Crown is gone, I’ll take you onto that road.”

“My flat first.”

“Your flat first,” I agreed.

I kissed her forehead, careful of the Crown’s points. “We can discuss Leeds when Elias stops glaring.”

Bryony drew a slow breath and looked towards the lit house. The Crown remained quiet, but its cold weight had settled over her again.

“I’m going back inside,” she said.

I offered her my arm.

She took it.

She stepped away from the gate and started up the drive. I stayed beside her, matching her pace while Mara and Elias followed far enough back to give us room.

The road remained open behind us.

Bryony went back to Harrowmere because she had chosen our next move.

I went with her because I had chosen mine.

25

BRYONY

The walk back to Harrowmere took longer than the walk to the gate.

Stellan kept his arm locked under mine without trying to carry me. Elias followed within reach if my heart did anything dramatic. Mara stayed farther back and prevented the vampires on the drive from turning our slow progress into an audience.

“Keep moving,” she told them. “She’s walking, not leading a parade.”

The woman who had tested the boundary twice took one look at my face and moved.

I managed another six steps.

My hands were freezing. The rest of me wasn’t much better. Rain had soaked my jumper, my boots squelched and the Crown felt like a lump of winter hammered into my skull.

“How steady?” Stellan asked.