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 chose underwear and sweats, a T-shirt and a sweater. Brenna did have to help me with the socks when I returned to the bedroom.
“I want my guards back,” I told Isabella.
“Of course,” she agreed quickly. “That day was, as you know, an absolute horror. Everyone was in shock and Varic…was a bit…overwrought.”
I would imagine he had been.
“When he arrived at our side with Decimus there, he was not himself in that moment, nor for many weeks afterward. He vented his anger on those both deserving and undeserving. With your waking, I expect I will have my son returned to me as well.”
“He was probably scared.”
“It was far worse than scared,” she said flatly.
I felt bad, like I should have apologized, but that was ridiculous.
“Varic placed the blame for your grievous injuries on everyone’s shoulders, and most heavily on his own. But your guards are yours, just as mine are mine. Neither the king nor the prince has any say in who their consorts keep in their service, be that guard or courtier.”
I nodded, then glanced at Brenna. “I want to see you and Kamari here when the prince returns and we’ll get this all settled. In the meantime, have Zev come see me.”
“Yes, my consort,” she barely got out, and I saw her bottom lip trembling before she turned to go.
She passed Dae-Jung on her way out, who was carrying a tray of food for me.
“That looks so artful,” Isabella commented, and Dae-Jung glowed with pride over her compliment before turning to me.
“Eat slowly, and do not overdo it, as this is the first solid food you have had in weeks.”
“Yessir,” I agreed, grinning at him.
“I’m going to get some apple juice, and I’m going to mix it with a hydrator, as you need more water.”
“Okay.”
“And drink the water in your tumbler so I can refill it.”
“Right on top of that,” I agreed, starting in on the ham-and-cheese omelet, which was easily the best thing I’d ever had in my entire life. I looked over at Isabella then, who looked a bit ashen. “What’s wrong?”
“You have risen, I kept vigil and…” She took a shaky breath. “Decimus…he used his knife to—there was nothing I could do because one of the bolts came through your shoulder and weakened me so terribly.”
“Why are you surprised? It was from a crossbow.”
“You have to understand, I’ve been far more severely wounded and struck with much bigger arrows.”
“You have?”
She shot me a look. “I fought Romans, my dear, did you forget that?”
I had. For a just moment, I had.
“Imagine my surprise when I suddenly felt so very drained after being struck.”
“What was it?”
“At the time I didn’t understand. Only later did we find out that the bolts had been dipped in the tainted blood of the nobles of Ophir.”
“You mean the blood from those with the wasting disease like Balon and Ødger?”
“Yes. Apparently, it can be used as a lethal poison against healthy vampyrs if introduced directly into tissue, muscle, or the blood stream.”
Dear God. I’d known Decimus was a madman, but to weaponize the blood of his own subjects was an unimaginable crime. “That’s obscene.”
“Most of us cannot even fathom such an abomination.”
My brain immediately went to the worst-case scenario. “I wonder if he planned to shoot Varic or Hadrian as well?”
“Who’s to say what his plans were after killing you and I? Had Varic not stopped him, he might have been able to kill all of us. One bolt debilitated me enough that even someone as feeble as Balon could hold me down. If I had been hit with as many as you, I strongly suspect we would not be talking right now.”
“I remember Balon pinning you to the floor, but I assumed he was physically stronger.”
Quick sound of derision from her. “Darling, he wouldn’t have been able to put a hand on me if I was at normal strength.”
I should have known better. She was the queen after all.
“The problem is the contaminated blood is so powerful because when shot into a healthy system, like mine for instance, it immediately starts rotting you from the inside out.”
“If the blood was that dangerous, how am I alive?”
“Because you’re human, my love. The diseased blood didn’t affect you. What did nearly kill you, was having your throat cut open and being shot by a crossbow.”
“So being merely human finally came in handy,” I teased her.
She scowled at me. “Yes, and of course the healing power Varic has given you through his blood so many, many times.”
“He saved me.” I sighed.
“Yes. Yes, he did,” she said, studying my face. “Being his font sustained you until the king’s physician arrived a day later.”
“What happened then?”
“Well, once the bolts were removed from your body, we were vigilant with listening to your heart, making certain that if it slowed, you received transfusions of Varic’s blood.”