Page 63 of His Realm

“Think now,” Isabella cautioned me, her voice sharp so I would listen at once. “There must be a reason you’ve never heard of this man. Yes?”

I was still processing the part where she said Varic was promised in marriage to another.

“Yes,” Dae-Jung answered for me. “Please tell us why that is, my queen.”

She liked him, it was there in her smile and warm regard as she answered him. “Varic’s father and I promised Varic in marriage to Lord Cirillo Ormiston, son of Lord Haakon and Lady Izan Ormiston, back when Varic was first asked if he would have a prince or a princess consort.”

Zev’s laugh calmed me a bit. “I remember that. You asked him, and he looked at me, then at Cassius, and blurted it out to you and his father.”

Her smile made her eyes sparkle. “He was so cute.”

I could have listened to her tell stories about Varic all day.

“I don’t know about that,” Zev muttered. “But Cassius thought it was hysterical.”

She was quiet a moment, and I was sure, thinking of her oldest, whom she always missed. Not a day went by when she was at court that his name didn’t fall from her lips with a memory for others, or something she would say to him out loud, or as she was now, in silent contemplation, remembering him on that day.

I couldn’t imagine what it was like to lose a child, and prayed I would never experience that heartbreak.

She cleared her throat, shook her head slightly, freeing herself from the past, then said, “Because of the contract, Cirillo spent a lot of time here in the palace, and when Cassius, Varic, Zev, and Hadrian all went to war, he went along as well to keep Varic’s spirits up.”

Zev scoffed.

“My wolf,” she scolded him.

He grunted, which told me basically that Cirillo was there, on the battlefield, keeping up more than Varic’s spirits.

“Sadly, Cirillo was lost during a particularly bloody campaign and was feared dead,” Isabella continued on kindly.

“Just like Decimus,” Zev chimed in. “Except not quite. Because Decimus nearly died, but Cirillo ran.”

“No,” Cirillo railed at him. “I had to fight for my⁠—”

“Spare us your lies,” Zev groaned. “You ran. We all knew you did. Hadrian and I assured Varic that if he wanted us to hunt you down, we could.”

Cirillo gasped. “You did?”

“He declined to have us find you,” Zev apprised him snidely. “Keep that in mind.”

Cirillo shook his head. “You cannot think I would deliberately run from⁠—”

“As though that ruse was hard to follow.” Zev scowled. “You thought Varic so close to giving you his seal that you couldn’t bear it and so ran before he could.”

“Well, yes, of— I thought⁠—”

“No, I understand that’s what you thought,” Zev assured him, “and though I’m not privy to most of Varic’s private thoughts, this I know for certain: never, not once in all the times you rolled around with him, did you ever have any claim on his heart.”

Cirillo’s eyes narrowed. “I can promise you that he was going to give me his seal the last night we were together on that frozen frontier.”

“Blasphemy!” Zev shouted, then laughed. “When Hadrian and Tiago come down here, they’ll tell you how far from the mark you were. Why, Cassius himself said it was good you left and that you did Varic a great service, that now he could find another to warm his bed who talked less.”

Isabella stared at Zev, appearing utterly appalled. Sabira had her hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh.

“It’s true,” he told her, shaking his head. “You know as well as I do.”

She was going to say something to him, probably scold him again, but she stopped herself with a sort of strangled sound, closed her mouth, and then turned to Cirillo. “I do believe Varic was quite fond of you,” she said gently. “But…if you have the opportunity to watch him quietly sit with Jason, you will see the true depth of his regard for his consort.”

Cirillo crossed his arms. “Fine. I’ll confess. It doesn’t matter now anyway.”