Page 64 of His Realm

“No, it really doesn’t,” Zev patronized him.

“That’s what I just said!”

“Go on,” I prodded him.

“I did run, but the reason is simple.” He glared at Zev. “I didn’t want to be the prince’s consort.”

Zev blew out a loud breath. “Courtesan, maybe. Consort?” He laughed, and it was mean.

“My wolf,” Isabella reproached him. “What has come over you?”

“I don’t want my consort to ever confuse my prince’s feelings for him with that of meaningless encounters from his youth.”

I smiled at him.

“Oh no,” he said, standing up.

“You really like me,” I teased him.

Isabella laughed, and Zev gestured at me, which only made her clap her hands together.

“I don’t understand this ease at all,” Cirillo directed his words to Dae-Jung, sounding both irritated and amazed. “How is a hendr allowed to speak to the queen while guards listen in, and you spoke earlier as though you—who are you again?”

“I’m Jason’s personal chef. He’s human, you know, so he has to have snacks prepared.”

Poor Cirillo. He appeared a bit overwhelmed.

SIX

Varic appeared about twenty minutes later, rushing into the loft and directly over to his mother. I watched as he reached her, dropped to a knee in front of her, and looked up at her with swimming eyes. I understood. Sometimes, when you were overwhelmed with anger and relief at the same time, it became a bit too much. Throw in the fact that he was looking at one of the few people he loved, and there was no way around the tears. What made my own heart clutch in my chest was the fact that he didn’t see tears as a sign of weakness. One of the many reasons I loved him.

“I know,” she murmured, her hands on his face, wiping away the tears. “But I would have never allowed Jason to be taken from you.”

His brows were furrowed. “I’m sorry about Leda. I didn’t know.”

“Of course not,” she whispered, then nodded.

He sat down beside her, easing her into his arms and hugging her tight. “I love you very much.”

That was it. She started crying, and instead of watching them, my guards bowed, hands, not fists, pressed over their hearts, and Brenna, who always spoke for them, said they would walk the perimeter of our wing.

“Thank you for protecting me earlier,” I told Brenna, then looked at them all.

“It is our sacred trust with you,” Kamari replied with a surprising smile, as they normally did not. Kamari was very serious at all times. “My consort.”

I bowed; they all mirrored me and then left.

“Your guards simply leave?” Cirillo asked me. “What if I tried to kill you?”

Zev scoffed. Loudly.

Cirillo stood up and rushed over in front of Zev just as Hadrian and Tiago walked into the loft. “You need to learn your place, hendr. You’re in the presence of a lord!”

Tiago scoffed loudly as he reached me. “Lord of what? Fucking?” he said with a sneer of contempt.

Cirillo gasped. “How dare you⁠—”

The noise Tiago made was all his own, revulsion and disdain combined with a quick retching cough that, like always, made me wince. Something about the higher octave of his voice to begin with made the sound that much worse. But it also, always, had the opposite effect on Hadrian.