Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
I nodded. “Got it.”
“It’s his right,” Sabira cautioned. “One must never question him.”
“No,” I agreed, “of course not.”
FIVE
When Isabella and Messina finally emerged, he looked better, more like himself, and excused everyone else and asked me to attend him.
Once we were alone, he started pacing again, wringing his hands.
“Your Majesty?”
He inhaled through his nose. “I want to tell you what Varic and I discussed.”
“Of course,” I said quickly, watching him move back and forth in front of me.
“You will accompany Varic to Decimus’s holding, with his guard, and yours, Hadrian and Tiago too, and of course your hendr, as well as the prisoner.”
I nodded.
“Once there, Varic will question my uncle, and will then investigate the holding and all that is occurring there.”
“Good,” was all I could think of to say.
“Varic has asked that I send no message ahead of your arrival.”
Normally, I would never ask him questions, but he suddenly looked so overwrought. “Would you prefer to tell your uncle we were coming, Your Majesty?”
“I wish none of this was necessary at all,” he retorted, and I heard the edge in his voice, the anger, but more than that, so much sadness.
“Can you tell me why you’re so—”
“Jason,” he said, taking hold of my bicep and walking me out to the patio. “I have to tell you something that only Gideon knew.”
“Is this something you should wait and share with Varic as well?” I asked him.
“No. He won’t understand.”
Varic wouldn’t understand? “Pardon me for contradicting you, Your Majesty, but there’s not much Varic can’t grasp.”
He shook his head. “I—”
“You’re botching it,” someone said behind me.
Turning, I saw a man. He was about my height but slighter, with tight, lean muscles, the sculpted abdomen I did not possess but could see under a nearly sheer T-shirt, and a long, beautiful gray mane. The contrast with his dark, tan skin and his pale, nearly opaque blue eyes made him absolutely striking. The fact that he was covered from head to toe in black leather was also doing wonders for his overall presentation. The concern was that he hadn’t announced himself.
“Who are you, sir?” I asked him.
Quick flashing smile. “I’m Cirillo, Varic’s first love that you’ve no doubt heard of, and I’m going to marry the prince.”
I took several steps back, and he closed on me quickly. Not as fast as Dae-Jung could have, but it was close.
“You misunderstand,” he rushed out. “I don’t want to. It’s why I orchestrated the ruse to begin with, where I was supposedly lost on the battlefield, but there was no…way…why do you look confused?”
“Because I am,” I confessed. And since the look on his face seemed just as lost as I felt, I was no longer afraid of who or what he was anymore.
He huffed out a breath, seeming put out. “You have no idea who I am, do you?”
“No, sir, I do not.”
“Varic’s never spoken of me?”
“Nope. Not once.”
He threw up his hands and whirled around to face Messina. “The prince’s consort has no earthly idea who I am. Do explain to him, please.”
But he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, and instead waved a hand. Men clad all in black came into the room, looking like the ninjas from every movie I’d ever seen, some coming up and over the balcony, two from the other end where heavy curtains were bunched, and another three from the king’s bedroom.
In movies, on TV, people always spent precious seconds trying to figure out what was happening instead of paying immediate heed to their flight reflex. That had never been an issue for me. When there was no way to win a fight, I ran, and so I turned and beat it out of there.
Once I was outside of the king’s quarters, in the wide hallway, I had a moment to think: should I leave the palace or run for the wing I shared with Varic? From a practical standpoint, there was no real choice. If I ran outside, I could be murdered and no one would ever know. I had to get to my guards. And Zev.
Pleased that I was wearing my sneakers, which gave me better traction on the polished marble floors, I ran up the stairs in front of me fast and then bolted down the hall.
“Where are you running to, my consort?”
Cirillo was on my right. “Don’t touch me!” I roared at him in warning.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he answered, easily keeping pace with me. “But I ask again. You’re a human trying to outrun vampyrs the king has set against you, who himself, I’m certain, has raised the alarm and marked you as a traitor and assassin.”
Which made sense if you thought that the whole plot had been mine and I had lulled the king into trusting me, and then, in a private audience with him, had exposed my true murderous intent because of…? God. It could be anything. Perhaps I wanted Varic on the throne now, my own quest for power far more important than the love for my mate. I had to hope no one would believe that, but I was only a human, after all. Perhaps Varic being away had truly driven me mad.