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)
“You grew up under Decimus?” I pressed him.
Quick nod.
“Until you were how old?”
“Seven,” he said, still scowling, like the memories were bad.
“And then the queen visited?”
He took a breath. “She came for my mother and found me herself.”
“What do you mean, she came for your mother?”
“My mother was dear to her, and she had been taken to Decimus’s holding.”
“Against her will?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” I said, then corrected myself. “I don’t mean why. There could be a hundred reasons why. I mean, how—if she was dear to Isabella—was she taken anywhere without the queen’s consent?”
He shook his head. “This is neither the time nor—”
“Why weren’t you with your mother?”
“This is not important.” He clipped his words. “What is of vital concern is how these events have changed your course.”
“I—”
“He’s correct,” Brenna concurred with a glance at Zev.
“I just don’t understand why Decimus is allowed not to follow the king’s orders.”
“Because for Messina to wrest the castle, the land, and the people from Decimus would mean more than the king wants to do.”
“Wrest?”
“Take? Do you know that word?” Zev goaded me.
“I know what wrest means. I simply don’t understand what you’re implying.”
Zev shrugged. “I think you do.”
“You think it would be war?”
“Perhaps,” Eris chimed in, “but this is not the time to—”
I cut her off. “Does Decimus have children Varic is friends with?”
“As far as I know, Decimus’s two sons, Ødger and Balon, have never left the holding.”
“Never?”
He shook his head.
“How do they know anything about the outside world, then?”
“They don’t.”
“That’s a bit terrifying.”
The rise and fall of his brows told me I would get no argument from him.
“So no one knows what’s really happening in the castle.”
“I suspect not.”
“But you lived there, Zev. What was it like?”
“I can’t speak to what I haven’t seen in hundreds of years.”
“But when you were there. You can talk about that.”
“It’s cold,” was all he said.
“I—”
“Perhaps you will soon see for yourself, Jason,” Brenna suggested.
“You’re not back to that,” I told her. “I am going on vacation,” I enunciated.
“Does not a threat to the king’s life supersede your plans?”
Of course it did. “I really need a rest.”
“The frailty of your humanity, of how hard and long you’ve worked, will not change the king’s mind, and you, like all of us, serve at his pleasure.”
“Think of it this way,” Zev began. “Decimus, even as he is living in another time without knowledge of much beyond the walls of his fortress, would still not dare injure you. You are the prince’s consort, and even he would not harm one so sacred.”
“Why are you trying to assure me I won’t get hurt? Should I be afraid of the king’s uncle? Is that what you’re saying?”
“He did send assassins, did he not?” Dae-Jung pointed out.
“Yeah, but in theory, to kill the king, not me.”
“But if you are an agent of the king, does it not follow that he would want to kill you as well?” He glanced around at the others, who all nodded. “Yes, see, I thought as much.”
“That’s why I mentioned that you, more than anyone else, wouldn’t have anything to worry about,” Zev explained.
“The sacred part?”
He huffed out a frustrated breath. “Why must you always be reminded of your place?”
Because I did, apparently. “Explain what you mean by sacred.”
“As in, Tiago, as rajan of the prince, Decimus could sever in two if he did not enjoy being questioned by him.”
I stared at Zev, because imagining that was horrible. “If he killed Tiago, wouldn’t Varic kill him?”
“To kill a member of the royal family over a servant?” Zev said, smirking. “Even our prince would not do that.”
Everything was coming into focus. “But if I go and he kills me, then Varic would be within his rights to kill his uncle.”
“He would never hurt you,” Eris promised. “He’d have to be insane.”
“Yes,” Zev agreed. “Varic has made his heart known on the subject of you to all in the realm. Even Decimus has received some sort of missive regarding his consort. And while Decimus may not fear the wrath of the king, that of the prince is another matter.”
I knew why. Varic was beloved, and would be followed on whatever path he chose. The king would not. In the world of the Noreia, there was no vampyr more powerful than Varic Maedoc.
Quiet for a moment, I turned to Zev. “Do we think the king would send me into the lion’s den to eventually draw Varic there to be rid of his uncle, and his realm, once and for all? Because if Varic ends whatever is happening there, then the king won’t be responsible?”
Zev crossed his arms.
“You really think the king is that devious?”
Zev squinted at me. “Are you kidding? Of course he’s that devious, and now he has the perfect reason for you traveling there that no one, even Varic, could argue with.”