Examining whatever it was for a moment, Zev then lifted his head to look at Varic. When Varic reached for him with his right hand, Zev lunged at him, arms wrapping so tight, so fast, that it took a moment for Varic to close his arms around my champion.
“Such a tender moment,” Dae-Jung said gently, stepping in beside me. “I do hope that your hendr will heal his heart, because I can imagine many others that would seek to claim such a great prize.”
I did a slow turn to him and saw how warm his eyes were as they remained on Zev after he and Varic parted.
Dae-Jung returned to the house as Varic joined me on the patio, slipping his arm around my shoulders as he looked out to sea.
“Can I guess what was in the bowl?”
He turned and kissed my cheek.
“Gideon’s heart?”
“Yes.”
“And the pendant?”
“The ruby my father gave Gideon to give to his mate. He told me where it was before he died, and I took it before the rest of his treasures were turned over to my father. He’ll be annoyed when he sees that Zev has it, because I believe it originally belonged to my grandfather, but my father has enough jewels, and Zev has only that one.”
I put my coffee cup down on a small table between two chaises, and then turned and wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my body to his, holding on tight.
“You’re so sentimental,” he groused at me, one hand on the small of my back, the other in my hair, holding me to him. “Far too softhearted to be the consort of a prince.”
I noticed he never let me go.
Varic and I returned to the palace, and to the loft, where he showered and changed to go to the throne room. I noted he had his livery collar on, the sign of his office, when he was ready to leave, but I stopped him and held his hand and gazed into his eyes.
“Do you need me beside you?”
“No,” he assured me, kissing me and then leaning back. “If you’re there, I might get angry again, and this isn’t the time.”
I understood.
Going to the safe, I removed Nerilla’s and Cassius’ ashes, and took off my seal and put on hers before I asked Zev to accompany me.
His eyes were suddenly wet with unshed tears. “I would be honored, my consort.”
We went to the king’s grotto, and I showed him the secret passage, and we went back down the way Nerilla and I had climbed up that night, until finally, we reached the bottom of the stairs at the underground lake.
“Oh,” Zev said, smiling, “I see. This was their private place.”
“One of the first places he ever brought her, and because of that, he saved us that night.”
“I understand,” he told me, and I saw that he had a beautiful cuff bracelet with inlaid amethysts in his hand.
“What is that?”
“This was the cuff Nerilla made for Jarah, that showed he was her hendr. It matched the amethyst that Cassius gave her.”
It made sense.
“I know Jarah would want to be where she and Cassius are.”
“She said she was going to find him first, before she went home to her prince.”
“As it should be,” he said, and kissed the bracelet before dropping it in the water. “Be free, my friend.”
Opening the urn, I flung the ashes in a wide arc onto the water. “Now you’ll be together always,” I told Nerilla. “You and Cassius, the prince and his princess.”
Zev took the urn and lid from me and knelt, filling them with water and then letting them go to follow Jarah’s bracelet into the deep.
“This lake was their private place, and it purified the aula, and as you said, because she knew it so well, it saved you both. What a blessing it is.”
We sat together, he and I, and he showed me the forty-carat square-cut ruby that he now wore on a thick gold chain.
“It’s just like Gideon said; he wanted you draped in jewels.”
“And I am,” he said, smiling at me.
“I wish…,” I said, and my voice went out because it was suddenly overwhelming, the loss I felt, the aching sadness. I wished Nerilla was alive, I wished the same for Cassius and Jarah, and the same for Gideon. I wanted all of them back. Nerilla’s loss was a hole in my heart, I knew Zev was grieving Gideon the same way, and I knew Varic still felt his brother’s absence, and losing Jarah was a horrible waste. I wished they could all be with us.
“I know,” Zev whispered, taking my hand in his. “I do too.”
We were quiet after that.
That evening Varic and I joined the king and queen and other nobles in the king’s conservatory, located in another wing of the sprawling palace, through a gilded gate, under a roof painted like sky so it looked like you truly were outside. All the plants and animals were real, and it was the perfect temperature, and I realized that the enormous koi swam underneath the halls on the first floor, to appear in the king’s grotto, and swam back to the garden. It was an amazing feat of engineering, not to mention stunning.
“Jason,” the king said, putting his hand on the back of my neck, “Varic told me that he appointed you cadeyrn, and as such, one of the things you will have to do first is to return the concubines, either to their original homes or to new ones, whichever they choose.”
I turned to him. “Excuse me, Your Majesty?”
“In antiquity, the cadeyrn, or majordomo, would clear all other concerns from before the king but the approaching campaign. In your new capacity, this will be part of your duty, to see that duties that would normally fall to the prince, that require more clout than even the rajan is given, would be accomplished by the cadeyrn, who is now you.”
It made sense. Things that would be suspect if Tiago did them, I could manage easily because I was the prince’s consort. My word, my orders, were not to be questioned.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Also, I want to convert the concubine quarters into an extension of the grand library, and I’m certain it can be done.”
He was telling me for some reason.
“As I have no rajan, I will expect you to coordinate with Tiago, as he now reports to me as well as the prince. I will be expecting the two of you to take on many of the tasks that Gideon would have.”
“Certainly,” I agreed.
“Good boy,” he said, patting my face before walking away.
Tiago was suddenly there beside me. “The king expects much of you, cadeyrn,” he said snidely, grinning at me.
“You mean us.”
Instant scowl. “I am sorry?”
“Apparently when Varic signed me up for my new job, he told the king you’d be his rajan too,” I said, winking at him. “So yeah, welcome aboard.”
His appalled expression made me laugh, and it felt good after being so sad earlier.
“We can rehome the concubines together too.”
He clutched at me, as he was suddenly unsteady on his feet. Hadrian appeared quickly, taking his arm, checking his face.
“Tiago?”
“The king thinks I am his rajan too,” he told Hadrian, the whimper making it hard not to laugh. “The king’s rajan, Hadrian. The king’s. Can you imagine? Me? And the king. He has courtesans and… courtiers and… the king’s rajan!”