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 was surprised when I woke up and there was no medical equipment but I’m guessing there was actually quite a bit.”
“No. There was a line from you to Varic but all the monitoring was done by listening, holding your hand, and watching your face. Other than the catheter, there was nothing else needed to take care of you.”
“Because vampyrs are magic,” I told her, smiling.
“Just the power of the blood,” she insisted.
“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—”
“Never mind. I wanna hear more about these cruises you and the king will take.”
“Cruises?”
I started laughing again. “Ow, ow, ow, goddamn, that’s sore, but the look on your face is priceless, and I have this vision in my mind… Jesus, I need some Tylenol or something.”
“My darling, what is so funny?”
Just imagining Isabella and Messina on a cruise ship, dressed like tourists, him in a Panama hat and sandals, her in white shorts and a flower-print blouse and matching scarf, was making me laugh like an idiot.
“I bet there’s a royal yacht, isn’t there?”
“Of course there’s a royal yacht,” she said indignantly.
“C’mere and gimme a hug,” I said, gesturing for her.
She took me gently into her arms. Traveling like very rich humans, maybe, I thought to myself, chuckling into her hair.
“I have no idea what you find so amusing.”
I knew she didn’t, but that was all right.
She ordered me to lie down then and rest a bit. Dae-Jung brought me something not for pain, but for sore muscles and inflammation, and I lay there and listened to her tell me about the king’s epiphany.
“I had no idea, after all this time, that his love still ran so deep.”
“He realized he could have lost you forever.”
“Yes. And that’s why he insisted on giving you his blood,” she explained, clearly overwhelmed. “Jason, he held you in his arms as the transfusion was made. I have not seen him care for anyone like that since Varic was a child.”
“Thank him when you see him,” I muttered.
“You will thank him yourself when you and Varic return home for your wedding.”
When I glanced at the door, she saw me.
“I know you wonder what’s keeping Varic, but it’s doubtful Kamari has even reached Hadrian yet. Everyone has been so spread out, working to make Ophir function as it should but I know as soon as Hadrian delivers the news, Varic will rush here.”