Page 118 of His Realm

“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.”

“I was surprised when I woke up and there was no medical equipment but I’m guessing there was actually quite a bit.”

“No. There was a line from you to Varic but all the monitoring was done by listening, holding your hand, and watching your face. Other than the catheter, there was nothing else needed to take care of you.”

“Because vampyrs are magic,” I told her, smiling.

“Just the power of the blood,” she insisted.