Page 119 of His Realm

“I’m so thankful I was there with you.”

“I am thankful as well, but my life is not worth yours, my darling.”

I squinted at her.

“Jason!”

“I feel the same way Zev does,” I said flatly. “You’re the only mother we have, so it was worth it to me. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

She turned away.

“You don’t have to hide from me. I love you with or without puffy red eyes.”

“Stop making the queen cry and eat your food,” Dae-Jung directed me as he walked back in the room. He took my temperature with one of those gun thermometers, then asked me to lean forward so he could check my back.

“Check it for what?”

“Reddening of your scars,” he informed me. “We had a scare a couple weeks ago where everything looked good, and then suddenly there was an infection that compromised your entire immune system. We were terrified.”

I moved so he could check.

“Oh yes, no mark yet remains. Look what the king’s blood has done.”

I jolted. “The king?”

“Yes. The king was here, for you, and when he left, he promised to make all the changes you saw fit before Varic’s return and coronation.”

I turned to Isabella, who was back to looking at me and not crying, though she did, in fact, have big red puffy eyes.

“You have questions, I can tell.” She was sniffling.

“Varic’s coronation?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice cutting out on her for a moment before it got stronger. “An interesting development has occurred in light of Decimus nearly killing me—Messina has transferred all courtiers and courtesans to Varic.”

“Which means what?”

“Which means he no longer has any. They are allowed to remain in the palace with the council overseeing them until Varic returns, or, if they choose, the council will help them with making their exit from the palace and starting a new life somewhere else.”

I was having trouble grasping what she was telling me.

“Oh, I know. I was as surprised as you are. Messina is also stepping down as king, and will become Varic’s adviser if he can find the time.”

“Find the time to advise Varic?”

“Yes.”

“What… I mean, what else does he plan on doing?”

Her smile made her face glow. I could tell how truly happy she was. “He wants the two of us to travel the world together.”

“Travel?”

She nodded. “And he wants us to do it as humans would…to a degree.”

I laughed, and it hurt. “God, why can’t I laugh?”

“Ribs were broken, bones were fractured, organs were compromised, your insides… Between the bolts, the massive blood loss and the infection, you should be dead. I can’t⁠—”