Page 23 of His Realm

“But I did. I⁠—”

“How were you supposed to know when they gave you no insight into their plans? Are you psychic?”

“That’s not the⁠—”

“The others gave their lives for this cause,” he soothed me. “Even if Sorin had died, there would still have been questions because of how they looked, where it appeared they came from. You or Tiago would have been made to go and question Decimus either…way,” he whispered and turned to Sorin, like something had occurred to him.

“Zev?”

“You lied,” he husked at Sorin.

Eyes that had been so many things in the last hour—sad, scared, angry, defiant—were now suddenly warm as he gazed at me and Zev.

“You knew Varic was gone. You knew the king would never listen to you.”

Sorin nodded.

“You knew everything, and most of all, you were certain the king would send the prince’s consort to Ophir, and you knew, because of that, that His Highness would follow.”

“Yes,” Sorin admitted.

“You never thought to hold the king hostage and demand for ransom that Varic parley with you. Your sole purpose was for Jason to know about Ophir.”

“That is true,” he confessed.

“You knew the prince planned to marry.”

“Everyone knows. Even in Ophir, we have received the prince’s announcement.”

Zev nodded. “I knew it. I did. And now you’ve had a private audience with the one person you wanted to see more than any other—the prince’s consort.”

“Yes,” Sorin declared, then looked at me. “Please, my consort, forgive my deception. Don’t take out your ire on me by not seeing Ophir for yourself.”

“Oh, I’m going to see Ophir,” I promised him, and his smile was huge.

I turned to Zev. “Why in the world would the king allow something so disgusting as the exploitation of the iceni to continue? What reason could he possibly have?”

“I doubt the king knows. You must be invited to Ophir, and no one ever is.”

“The king should be able to go anywhere at any time. He should never be barred from entering any vampyr’s home in his realm.”

“And let’s be honest, Decimus would probably open the door for him.”

“Why didn’t you tell me everything that goes on there?” I asked Zev.

“First, I am powerless to make change there. And second, when was this ever anything we discussed before this night?”

Both statements were true. “And Isabella? She must have seen what was⁠—”

“She was there mere hours, Jason. She went for my mother, had leave only to enter and find her.”

“What about you?”

“That was luck and nothing more.”

“You believe that?”

He was quiet a moment. “I think perhaps she caught my scent when she entered the fortress, as it was so different from others, and she was curious about who I was. I think she might have found me anyway, but luck was definitely on my side.”