Page 33 of His Realm

“Can I ask you something?”

“Always.”

“How come you couldn’t say no to the king when he commanded you to hunt down Alrek, but you can say no now when he’s directed me to go to Decimus’s court?”

“Because you belong to me. You’re mine. Just as all who are yours—like Zev, and Dae-Jung, and your guards—are mine. He can task me to do something, or Hadrian, or Tiago, as we are his domain. But you are only mine.”

“Like the queen is only his.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

I cleared my throat. “I do want to go, though.”

“To Decimus’s court?”

“Yes. I need to see what’s going on with his people.”

“Why is that?”

“Did you know that your father has a deal with Decimus—an agreement your grandfather put into place and the king has honored—that allows Decimus to rule his holding any way he sees fit?”

“Well, of course, every royal has their own⁠—”

“No, no. Not like your mother’s island, but a place where, according to the non-assassin we have locked up in the dungeon, the iceni class there are bred like cattle.”

“I don’t under—start at the beginning.”

Lying in our bed, I told Varic everything I’d learned from Sorin and Zev. When I was done, silence greeted me on the other end.

“Varic?”

“I wanted us to go away after the wedding, only for a couple of weeks, to Capri or Monaco, or even to our beach house, but now we’ll be off to Ophir instead.”

I was so happy, and even more so, proud. As soon as I told Varic that something was wrong, he was ready to go and inspect his grand-uncle’s holding.

“And of course,” Varic added, “this man who swore he would only talk to me spoke to you.”

“Well, that part turned out to be sort of a lie. I’m sure if you were here, he would have talked to you in a heartbeat, but he also knew that you and I were to be mated, so he came, specifically, to talk to me.”

“How did he know we were going to be and were not already?”

“Well, once I got your seal, I think everyone knew it was a done deal. The only one who doesn’t get it is Kaan.”

“Kaan?”

“Ask Hadrian. So because they realized in Ophir that, wedding or not, I was your consort, Sorin, who is the only one living of the six who came, told me all about his home.”

“You sounded sad when you said he’s the only one living.”

“I am. I feel terrible.”

“And what would you have done differently? No one believed you when you said the king’s life was in danger.”

“But it wasn’t. All they wanted⁠—”

“How were you to know that?”

He was right. “The way they were at the ball…how could I have known?”