Page 11 of His Realm

“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.”