Page 84 of His Realm

“A servant. She welcomed me, was very worried about you, that you weren’t up, left you a pitcher of water and some kind of fruit, which I don’t understand, but clearly, they know you’re a human.”

I shook my head. “No. The iceni who live here, they eat food, so they probably think both of us do as well.”

He had to process what I said. “I’m sorry? Did you say eat?”

I nodded, and as soon as I did, he started to pace.

“I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m freezing and we need to get out of here.” He sounded a moment away from hyperventilating.

“I agree. Sitting here, waiting for them to make the next move, sets a bad precedent. We need to act. If nothing else, we need to be moving. I don’t see us leaving Ophir itself, as my understanding is that this castle is built at one end of a valley and there is nothing else around us but tundra and ice.”

Wrapping his arms around himself, he shivered.

“Put the coat on, and please, if you would, pass the other one to me.”

They seemed to be one size fits all, or they got us two of the same size, but with my body, my wide shoulders and broad chest, the jacket didn’t make me look like a five-year-old with the coat falling to my knees. Cirillo, on the other hand…

“This is not flattering,” he deadpanned, flapping the sleeves at me, which were covering his hands.

“No, but it has a hood and it’s warm.”

“I have portraits of me done during the Renaissance by several masters, including Michelangelo, that would make you weep to see.”

“I’m certain they would,” I agreed quickly, because first, I didn’t want to have a debate with him, and second, I really wanted out of the room. “I’m having the weirdest feeling that this is some kind of test and we have to go or we fail.”

“No one would have painted me in this,” he continued, still stuck on that.

I shrugged. “Has anyone ever told you that you remind them a bit of Tiago?”

He gasped. “That’s the most horrible thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Really?” I said, moving to the door and checking to see if it would open. “The absolute worst? I find that hard to believe.”

“You think many people have been allowed to insult me over my long years?”

He was getting worked up, which again, reminded me of Tiago. “No, of course not,” I placated him, noting that with only a bit of pulling, I got the four-inch-thick reinforced-steel door open, which was cause for concern.

“You didn’t try this?”

“I couldn’t leave you here alone,” he snapped at me. “Why would I even try to open the door when I refuse to abandon you?”

“I still would have tried the door. But thank you. Can we walk out now?”

“Should you drink some water first?”

That was a good idea. Going back to the table, I ignored the goblet and gulped down the water directly from the glass pitcher. “I’m sorry you can’t have any blood.”

He scowled at me. “I won’t need any blood for weeks,” he assured me. “Don’t get me wrong, I would like some, but the woman who dropped off the food for you appeared to be human, so I’m not exactly sure what’s happening here.”

I turned to him. “Did she smell human?”

“Yes.”

“Listen to me,” I began, hitting the high points for him of my conversation with Sorin. Once I was done, he looked stunned. “Say something.”

“I thought you were speaking metaphorically earlier.”

“What?”