Page 17 of His Realm

He chuckled. “Don’t be absurd. Your guard willingly assumed an oath to protect you, and that promise was made in blood with the prince. It’s pure madness to think something of such weight could be changed merely because you were concerned they would be bored.”

“That makes sense.”

“I’m so glad,” he quipped.

“The king was very clear,” I reminded him.

“As was the prince,” he replied. “I suspect that the king has, for a moment, taken leave of his senses and forgotten you are the prince’s consort, remembering only that you are his cadeyrn.”

“I agree,” Kamari chimed in. “When the prince hears of⁠—”

“But that’s the problem, right? How will Varic find out if no one can get him on the phone?”

“When was the last time you called?” Sibel, oldest of my guards, asked me.

“A little while ago when I got out of the shower,” I answered, thinking that as weird as all this was, Zev, Dae-Jung, and I would be halfway to our icy destination before Varic even knew what was happening.

As we walked back to my chambers, I asked Zev if he would take me to see the prisoner.

“Why would you want to do that?”

“To let him know I’m going to the court where he came from and see what he says to that.” I shrugged. “Maybe he’ll talk to me.”

“I don’t think we want you in the prison.”

“Why? Just on general principle?”

“No, because I don’t think the prince would like it.”

“Well, since he’s not here and hasn’t been, I think we should stop worrying about what Varic wants.”

“It seems the king has,” Eris threw out.

I gestured at her. “See?”

“It’s late already,” Zev muttered. “Perhaps in the morning.”

“I’ll be on a plane in the morning,” I reminded him. “I want to go now.”

I had been to the dungeon once before, to see Gideon the day before he was executed. Zev had gone with me, and so the fact that the walk was the same, as well as the company, did nothing for my nerves.

“Tell me something else about where Decimus lives,” I asked Zev.

“It’s cold inside the mountain. Very cold.”

“You know, the more I think about it, the more I think you shouldn’t go back. I feel like it’s not safe for you there.”

“I’m as safe there as anywhere,” he countered. “And I’m not a defenseless child anymore. Now I bite.”

Words like that were designed to make me crazy. What had it been like for him before? What had been done to him? And how could the trip not be triggering for him? How would taking him with me be anything but a mistake?

The flip side of the argument was that he was my champion, and the only vampyrs stronger than Zev, that I knew of, were Varic and Hadrian. It made sense that Zev, who was a man now, no longer the boy he had been, would be safe accompanying me. Plus, he knew where he was going, as he’d been inside the fortress before.

The dungeon guards were surprised to see me. They all snapped to attention quickly, and Zev told them we wanted to speak to Sorin.

All six men appeared confused.

“The prisoner from the court of the elder boar is called Sorin,” Zev explained.