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I couldn’t bend to reach it. The marked woman’s sword descended towards my neck.

Bryony slapped her palm against the throne.

The floor rose under the woman and threw her sideways. Her blade missed my throat and struck the dais. The command around my arms weakened as Adrian lost his grip on Bryony.

She had let him drag her close enough to touch the throne. The bond carried her relief as I understood the move.

“Hold him,” Adrian shouted.

The swordsman caught my ankle from the floor. The woman grabbed my arm while Harrowmere tried to throw her away from the throne. Their marks burned through the white ward light.

I tore free and dived for the seal blade.

My fingers closed around the hilt.

Adrian shoved Bryony against the throne and raised the heartblood dagger. “Stop or I put this through her heart.”

I stopped with the black blade against the mark over the woman’s chest.

Bryony’s back pressed to the carved wood. The Crown hovered above her, close enough for its black points to brush her hair. She kept her hands flat against the throne instead of reaching up.

“He needs you alive,” I said. “He won’t kill you before you take it.”

Adrian turned the dagger and laid the edge across her throat.

“Would you like to test that?”

“No,” Bryony said. “I’d like both of you to stop discussing my murder as if I’m not here.”

Her voice stayed level. She looked at the dagger, then at the red line running from it into my restraints. Her attention moved to the seal blade in my hand.

She wanted the marks cut and Adrian weakened while the Crown remained our last choice.

The marked woman tightened her grip on my arm. Her fingers shook with the effort of resisting.

I drove the seal blade through the red light over her heart.

The mark burst under the seal blade. She collapsed against me as the order released her body.

I held her upright until her legs steadied. Blood ran through the cut in her armour, carrying the last of Adrian’s red light onto the floor.

“Don’t let him mark me again,” she said through her teeth.

“Get to Lenora. She’ll keep you behind the guard seal.”

The woman pushed away from me and ran for the service passage. Adrian watched her go without concern. He still had the dagger, the Crown and Bryony within reach.

Adrian drew the dagger across Bryony’s throat.

The cut was thin. Blood welled under the black edge.

I moved before he could deepen it.

The swordsman grabbed my injured side. His fingers entered the open wound and tore it wider. Pain dropped me to one hand.

Adrian pushed Bryony onto the throne and came for me.

I ripped the swordsman’s hand from my body and drove the seal blade into his mark. Red light exploded across the floor. He rolled away with a shout as the command broke.