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)
“Are you all right?” I asked him.
He forced a smile. “Yes, my consort.”
But he wasn’t, and the way he glanced around made me nervous.
“Duro,” Zev greeted him, coming up behind me.
The change in him was immediate. “Zev,” he said breathlessly, stepping forward to offer him his wrist. “It’s true, then. You no longer belong to the king but are my consort’s hendr.”
Zev smiled and clapped Duro on the shoulder. “I am.”
“As Ode is the guest of my consort, will you extend her your protection?”
“Of course.” Zev turned to Ode and placed a hand over his heart. “Lady, while you bide with my consort, I will protect you with my life.”
“Thank you,” she said, clearly dazzled by him, which wasn’t surprising. She offered him her hand, and he took it, covering it with both of his.
“Perhaps while you’re here, you will take a bit of Duro’s blood every day.”
She made a face that told me and everyone else that the suggestion was not appealing. “I don’t really enjoy drinking his blood. I love it when he drinks mine,” she threw in quickly, and Duro groaned. “But I’m not a fan of—”
“And yet,” Zev gently interrupted her, “if you do this, it will help mask your delicious scent. Among so many vampyrs, it would be wise, as many are not as old as all of us here and have not the same control.”
She glanced at Duro, who was nodding.
“Well, I can—”
“Here is my friend,” the queen announced as she descended the stairs with a goblet in her right hand.
We all bowed, and I watched Ode execute a perfect curtsy she must have practiced with how easily she did it.
Once the queen reached us in the grand foyer, she walked right up to Ode and wrapped her in her arms. Ode hugged her back tight, and I saw Zev, Duro, and my guards all smile at the picture the two women made. You didn’t get to see absolute happiness in the palace every day.
When the queen eased back, she offered Ode the goblet.
“My queen?” she asked.
“I know you’re not a fan of drinking blood, but Dae-Jung, Jason’s wonderful companion, has mixed my blood with…pomegranate juice, I think, which should make it more palatable.”
“Zev was saying that if I drank some of Duro’s blood every day, the scent of my blood, of me being human, would be masked.”
“And it would,” she acknowledged, then glanced at Duro. “Forgive me for overstepping and offering your mate my blood, but I think, in this instance, my blood will serve better than yours.”
Duro put his hand over his heart. “My queen, you grace both myself and my mate with your most magnificent gift. I am deeply in your debt.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “Ode is dear to me, as are you, and my blood will alleviate any further need to take more.”
Instant flashing grin from my friend. “If I drink this now, I won’t have to drink any more blood while I’m here?”
“That’s correct,” Isabella told her.
“Oh, fabulous,” Ode said before downing it. “It was cherry juice,” she told Isabella, “which I really like.”
“Excellent.” Isabella offered Ode her arm. “Now, shall I show you the throne room?”
“Oh yes, please,” she said as Emil, the queen’s champion, joined them.
“Jason, come greet me,” Isabella demanded.
I rushed over, kissed her cheek, and she patted mine, her smile luminous before she turned to Ode’s mate. “Duro, leave the luggage there for the servants and join us.”
There were many people in the atrium at the moment, as guests were arriving for the wedding the following day. The king’s guards were there, but Varic’s dreki, led by Merikh, were checking everyone into the palace.
Merikh, Hadrian’s right hand, used to be one of the king’s guards, until Varic moved her into his dreki when Duro left. When I asked Varic why he’d taken Merikh, and why the king had allowed it, he said his father had overlooked her too many times for promotion, and the last time, when Kaan was made kenningar, she understood that because she was a woman, the king did not have the same faith in her. To Varic, who had never differentiated based on gender, it was madness. Merikh, not Kaan, should have been made protector. Almost immediately, Hadrian had named her his second, and she had been overwhelmed with his ability to see her so clearly when the king himself had not. She was infinitely better suited to be in the service of the prince, and I loved hearing that she enjoyed being one of Varic’s dreki.
Duro looked relieved to be invited. He put everything down, gave me a sheepish grin, and bolted after the queen and my best friend.
I went to move one of the suitcases and grunted when I tried to pick it up. “What the hell is in here, rocks?” I yelled after my friend.