Page 29 of His Realm

“No.”

“And can I tell you that this explanation you just gave me, for everything I’ve been going through, has helped me so much. I’ve been feeling so weak and not at all like myself, and I thought, how useless I’ve become. I’m letting down everyone around me because I need a fuckin’ vacation? I mean, Varic, you’ve tilted my world back into alignment. There’s a real, tangible reason for why I’ve been feeling like I have no energy, like my brain is in a fog, like I’m not the man I thought I was.”

“Oh God, I should have⁠—”

“Yes, you should have. Or you should have come home and, I dunno, recharged my battery or whatever, which sounds a bit pervy,” I said with a chuckle, “but it’s okay now. Knowing the reason makes every fuckin’ thing better. Thank you so much.”

“Truly?”

“Yes, truly. I mean, fuck, I can stop drinking ginseng every morning and gallons of green tea and—I think Dae-Jung thought I was dying.”

“Did he. Funny. That’s so funny.”

But it didn’t sound like it was. “Honey? Are you all right?”

“No. No, I’m not all right at all.”

“Where are you?”

“Where am I? Well, I’m on my private jet, with Alrek, Tiago, Hadrian, and all the rest of my guard, on the way home.”

“You could have started with that,” I told him, unable to stop smiling. My heart felt like it was growing in my chest.

“I could have,” he concurred.

“Oh,” I said, my voice cracking, thinking I would have to keep missing him for a bit longer. “I wonder if I can ask the king to let me wait and see you before⁠—”

“Of course you’re going to wait,” he snarled. “I forbid you to go anywhere without me, and why the king believes he can send my consort—mine—down the street without your guards is beyond all—” He stopped talking, and I could hear his roar—again, nowhere near my ear, but loud enough that, since he was on a plane, it had to be uncomfortable for the others.

“No!” I heard Hadrian yell. “My prince, you cannot shift here on the plane. You will kill us all!”

“Jason,” Tiago rasped, “speak to him. Do it now.”

“He’s not going to shift because he’s mad,” I promised him and everyone else, knowing I was on speaker.

“His eyes are⁠—”

“His eyes may flicker gold for a moment, but he’s fine,” I assured Tiago. “He needs only to breathe. He’s not a slave to his beast. He has complete control.”

“No, you are⁠—”

“I’m right,” I declared. “I know. Just stop and take a second.”

“Jason, he is pacing and⁠—”

“In and out,” I said, doing it with him. “Breathe in for a count of four, hold it for the same, then breathe out to four.”

It was quiet but for the sound of a lot of people doing my combat breathing.

“Hey,” I called out.

“Again,” Tiago directed everyone, and I was the proudest of him for calming because normally, he panicked.

“Varic. Love.”

Low, guttural grunt that I knew and loved the sound of.

“I have a question.”