Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
I told Cirillo how proud of him I was, and he said he had made Vidar, the father of little Hilda, whom we’d saved, one of his new council members. Vidar had been thrilled to find out Cirillo was newly in charge, and thus honored to take a place on his committee. It was a very good thing, in my opinion.
Keres arrived, and we hugged and laughed, and then I proposed that she carry the prince’s child, if she agreed.
“Oh, my consort, no. It would be a scandal to have one such as I—”
“We’re not doing that,” I told her. “You’re a citizen of the realm, of Varic’s realm, and as such we choose you, if you would do us this great honor.”
The tears came fast, and she shook her head.
“Yes,” Varic told her. “You would honor me, us, but only if you want to. No one in my realm will ever be made to do anything they don’t want to do ever again. That is my promise as king. It will take time and the right people to see it all done, to put everyone in place, but that is my goal as sovereign.”
She stood up, staggered over to me, and fell into my lap. “I would be honored to be your surrogate and wet nurse, and to help watch over your children when I am at court.”
“When you’re at court?” Varic asked her.
“Yes, my prince. I plan to travel. The queen has invited me to join her and the king on their adventure around the world. I will come home to deliver and nurse children, and then be off again to see the lights of Paris, the ruins of Machu Picchu, and the great city of Kyoto. The queen and I are both interested in seeing what Stonehenge looks like after all this time as well. We both wonder who moved it to its current site.”
“Okay,” Varic said, looking at me like what the hell.
I was so happy.
Carice came with her son, and I was pleased to see them. Varic hugged both, which he normally didn’t do. Chryos, yes, but never Carice.
“Jason likes you, lady,” Varic stated, eyes narrowed as he looked at her.
“We have an understanding between us,” she said, studying his face.
“As long as you sit in the glow of his friendship, you also sit in mine.”
She nodded and smiled at me. “Keres told me she was to be your surrogate. I cannot think of a kinder, fiercer, better choice than her.”
I bowed to her, and she returned the motion. We weren’t friends, but we weren’t enemies either. In time, we’d see.
The next day, Varic and I were walking the main thoroughfare in Ophir together. We had checked in earlier at the castle, and Carice was doing well with the renovations. Between walls coming down, paint going up, new fixtures and furnishings, and her directing the people there with respect and them clearly adoring her and her communication style, everything seemed to be going well. Chryos had brought a friend of his, another of Varic’s half sisters, Tamara, to do the running of the school while he concentrated on curriculum. She bowed low to Varic and thanked him for the chance to serve the realm. He took her hand, told her never to bow again, and how much he appreciated her service. She nearly swooned with happiness.
“I never knew they could feel the call to service as well,” he told me.
“Everyone needs a purpose.”
“As you always remind me,” he said, kissing my cheek before tugging me after him. Walking on, Varic asked, “Are you tired?”
“We can head back in a bit. I would like to ride you, and then I might like a nap.”
He immediately reversed course toward the sexton’s house.
I was laughing at him when he turned and looked at me, his face serious.
“Listen, I will speak to Ode about changing her blood. I don’t think she’d be comfortable with my father doing it, but I think she would allow me. It will give her a lifetime with Duro and her children. I know she’ll be sad when her mother and sister pass, but that is human life. She was able, and I’m not sure how, to bond with a member of the dreki. That’s unheard of for a human, so there may be something in her family tree as well. But regardless, because of her mate and because she’s with child, I can alter her heart and blood.”
“She won’t even consider it if it will endanger her child.”
Varic looked back at Brenna, who, along with Kamari, had been restored on my order, no other needed.
“He doesn’t mean to insult you, my prince,” she told him. “He simply didn’t think before he spoke. Because of course you would never attempt something that could hurt her child.”