Page 4 of His Realm

“Did you want him dead?” he asked me in that way he had that was really infuriating. It was sarcastic and indulgent and made me feel like an idiot every single time. I really should have rethought picking him to be my champion, but at the same time, in easily one arc of movement, he’d caught the assassin and saved me from breaking one or both or my arms and possibly all the bones in my face. I certainly would have broken my jaw, and I’d done it once before and did not have fond memories.

I’d seen Zev fight, and it was fluid and graceful, and though I’d never witnessed the blur of speed Hadrian vouched for, I understood there had been instances, at the end of a day of fighting back in medieval times, that the two of them were so soaked in blood that their armor appeared crimson. And while I was glad to have never seen that kind of carnage, I knew Zev was capable of great slaughter. The power in him, in the vampyr he was, both ghastly and beautiful, was surpassed by only a handful of others, and yet, at the moment, he was trying to rub a cramp out of my leg.

“I don’t want him dead,” I stated as Dae-Jung did a weird thing, alternating between pressing and rubbing the divot under my nose. “I—what’re you doing?”

“Just breathe, in and out. Try not to talk until the cramp goes away.”

When Dae-Jung had first come into my service, he had asked permission for practically everything. He didn’t do anything without first finding out if it was all right.

Now, a little over a year later, he disregarded half of what I said on a daily basis, squinted a lot over things I did, grimaced more than any person should, and ordered me around most notably as it pertained to eating, chewing my food, not inhaling it, drinking more water, and breathing. I heard breathe quite a bit.

“I need to know where that guy is from and why he tried to kill the king.”

“I know where he’s from,” Zev assured me as two members of my personal guard, Eris and Brenna, joined us. Kamari and Sibel, the other two, stood with some of the king’s guard, twenty yards back, at the spot where the white marble gave way to black. Normally, if Varic were here, some of his dreki, his elite guard, would be present as well, but they were in Istanbul with Varic, protecting him as was their sworn duty. Before I had taken up residence in the palace, the king’s guards were allowed to cross into Varic’s area. But once I began living here with my prince, new rules were enacted. What used to be a place Varic didn’t care much about had become his sanctuary when I joined him. My safety was paramount to him, and no one but his guards and mine were allowed in his wing.

“You know where he’s from?” I asked, my voice going out on me for a moment with the bite of the cramp.

“Yes,” Zev replied drolly. “From the looks of the scarification and the brands, he’s from the court of the elder boar, the ellstr collach.”

“What?”

“He’s from the court of the king’s uncle, Decimus.”

“I’ve never heard of him.”

“I’m not surprised. I’ve never known him to leave his castle fortress in Greenland.”

“You’re certain that assassin isn’t from Gaius?”

That would have made more sense. Because Gideon, the king’s now dead second-in-command, his rajan, had placed false blame on the king’s brother that he wanted the throne for himself. And though the claims had been bogus, Gaius was the name Gideon had made known.

“I’m sure,” Zev grumbled, probably because I was doubting him.

“That can’t be right,” I croaked out, the pain making me catch my breath.

“Why is that?”

“It must be Gaius.”

“Because you know so much more than I,” Zev stated flatly.

There was no response to that. Clearly, he knew more than I did about all the royals.

He tipped his head at the assassin. “You see the scarification on his face?”

I did, and the symbols were heavy.

“Decimus marks all his guards with the sun cross or wheel cross on both sides of their faces. It means: they move as one.”

“You’re certain it’s not Gaius.”

“Why are you stuck on the king’s brother?”

There was only one reason I could think of. “Probably because Gideon said it, and he was very easy to believe.”

“He was a snake and a traitor, and yes, his tongue was golden, but always remember, he wanted you dead.”

There was that.