Page 36 of Artemysia

“I don’t watch her sleep. Only psychopaths do that.” - Riev

I pull out of Delphine with a slow pop of the still-bulging ridge at the base of my shaft.

She gasps at the sensation. With her panting breaths still replaying in my head, I shut my eyes, if only in an attempt to freeze this moment in time.

Utter bliss. My mind has bled out of my ears and seeped into the glowing purple pools of water around us.

Holy shit. Why did I wait so long for this? No. This is exactly why I waited.

For the right soul, the right person. And she’s here, under me.

I can’t erase this damn idiotic grin from my face. My cock is still wet. With her.

I slowly sneak open one eye, and she looks as blissed-out as I feel. I’m probably crushing her, so I roll her to one side and snake an arm around her so her head isn’t on the hard rock.

This could be the best night I’ll ever have. I…have fallen for this woman. It’s a completely new feeling. She cares for who I am, and who I am is not a psychotic killer after all. I didn’t lose control, didn’t become overwhelmed by any beastly animal instinct. I’m probably not Syf, then.

Oddly, though, the scars on my back burned while I was inside her.

The scars have never burned.

But nothing happened. I didn’t lose restraint like I do when I’m fighting. Instead of fear, I felt the most incredible happiness. Connection. Affection. Rocked the most explosive orgasm of my life. I almost lost it right away. I mean, holy damn, it’s nothing like when I grip myself in my fist.

I cringe at what a disaster it would’ve been if I hadn’t lasted more than a minute inside her. If that was what she remembered forever as our first time. I thank whatever demons below and gods above there are for helping me last as long as I did.

Then I congratulate myself for being awesome.

Stop smiling like a moron, Riev.

Stop thinking the word more , Riev. That word doesn’t exist in a time and place like this.

Not for us.

The more I care, the higher the stakes are for me. I don’t care about saving the world. I care about keeping Delphine safe. We’re barely into this mission and we’ve both been injured.

I’m hit by the sudden realization that I still haven’t released her from my tight embrace, so I ease off.

The rocks on my back are warm but hard; I roll to my side and sit up.

She’s asleep on her side, breathing out of her slightly open mouth. Damn adorable. I tuck her under the thin towel I carried with us, pull on my underwear and pants, and check on our fire of burning shimmery rocks.

Barefoot, I pace the ground between the pools, searching for more of the silver-specked rocks that burn like coal.

If this mineral is unknown to the Academy, then its potential as an explosive weapon has yet to be harnessed.

Could I sell it to them? Buy my way out of being under the control of Galke?

Better yet, lay claim to this resource in the forest ?

Why don’t we know more about the forest?

Before I can mull over this mystery and the potential card I hold, a low rumbling quakes our cavern. I rush to Delphine, who stirs and sits up. I hand over her clothes and quickly throw on my shirt to strap on my knives.

“Earthquake?” she asks.

“We should head back to the entrance. Wouldn’t want to get caught in a cave-in.”

She nods, lighting our torch before stamping out our dying fire.

My heart is racing. Of course there would be seismic activity near geothermal springs. Something has to be warming the waters, which means this area isn’t stable. A volcanic lava tube underneath us could collapse and burn us up instantly.

“Left,” I shout as we reach the tunnel leading away from the pools.

The rumble, which starts to sound more like a roar, comes from our right—deeper in the cave system.

Delphine hears it too.

“No, we are not going to see what it is,” I declare, reading her mind.

“I don’t think it’s an earthquake.”

She turns right, her face as determined as ever.

Dammit. I have no choice but to follow as she leads the way lit by our makeshift torch.

Fifty steps deeper, the path funnels us into another dark cavern. We peer in without entering.

Dark stalactites and stalagmites cast long, jagged shadows on the glittering rocks, same as in most other caverns here.

Another low rumble, and a threatening growl.

Definitely a growl. Something enormous.

“There.” Delphine points to a nebulous corner of the cavern where no shimmer exists, and as my eyes adjust, I realize the glittery rocks are blocked by an enormous black-scaled serpent coiled in the corner. Its body is thicker than the barrel of my elk.

Oh, hell.

Two golden eyes with black vertical slits blink once.

“Elkshit on a stick. A Lindwyrm.” For a brief moment, I believe I must be in a deep slumber experiencing an outlandish postcoital dream. But no such luck. I grip Delphine’s arm to pull her back. I don’t like the overeager look on her face.

“The mythical creature in fairy tales?” she whispers, craning forward.

“Why, what do you see, a fuzzy winter bunny?”

“How can we not know something like a Lindwyrm actually exists?” Delphine asks.

“Makes me wonder what else we don’t know about our world.” The combustible rocks, the Syf and our stolen books, even the other side of the woods—are they all connected? Are we onto something? We have so little knowledge of anything outside South Kingdom.

Why is that?

Delphine grasps my arm, slicing through my thoughts.

“Look, its wing is trapped under a fallen stalactite. It must have entered from the other side of the cavern.” She lifts a finger toward the larger opening.

“Lucky us. Let’s make a run for it before it escapes.”

“We need to free it. I can’t roll that stalactite away by myself. I need your help.”

“No. We aren’t doing this. If the myths are correct, it has a poisoned stinger on its tail. Let’s go.”

“It could be the last of its kind. Maybe it will understand that we are helping it,” she says solemnly.

“Stubborn woman. This is how we die,” I mutter under my breath. “I’m glad I finally had sex before I died.”

Her sigh could not sound more exasperated. “Riev, focus. We’ll be okay.”

“By ‘okay,’ you clearly mean ‘dead as fuck.’”

She ignores my excellent wit. “We’ll approach it from the side.

Animals are less likely to spook if you don’t face them directly.

If we roll the stalactite toward its stinger, it might help block it, and we’ll run back here once it’s free.

It can’t fit through this entrance. I’ll go first. You’re too threatening.

” She eyes my drawn sword, which I refuse to lower.

“If this goes sideways, I’m chopping off its head.”

“If you have a Syf side, this would be a good time to use any skill you possess in controlling animals.”

“Why would you bring up my Syf side at a time like this? You know I’m sensitive about that,” I say, half joking.

“Owlfred let you feed him without biting you. That means something,” she says, propping our torch on a rock outside the entryway.

I rearrange the grip of my blade with extra flair, spinning it. “I’ll control things my way.”

She refrains from the eye-roll I know she wants to do and begins a side-shuffle toward the winged serpent.

It flashes its golden eyes and raises its head, swaying hypnotically, exactly as a cobra would do before striking. I send it telepathic thoughts, ordering it not to bite us. I feel stupid, because I have no idea how Syf influence wildlife.

Delphine starts to talk to it in a soothing voice. She’s good. It almost soothes me .

Who is this woman beside me? She’s the first to wade into a dangerous situation if she thinks she can help. Damn her great big heart.

The black serpent stares wide-eyed, unblinking, as its tongue flicks out to test the air.

Fuck. Hello, agonizing death.

Miraculously, it allows us to approach the fallen rock, though I’m betting it’s only waiting for us to get closer before impaling us with its stinger.

We roll the rock toward its tail end.

Once the Lindwyrm is free, a great roar escapes its mouth, rather than the hiss I expected. It bares its blade-sharp fangs.

“Run! This fucker’s going to attack!” I holler, pulling Delphine back by her wrist.

Delphine shrieks and sprints away as the serpent spreads its wings.

It jabs at us with a golden stinger that emerges from its tail. I knock away its tail end with the flat of my blade and yank Delphine into a dive through the cavern entrance.

The Lindwyrm emits a high-pitched scream as its wings beat, stirring up the smaller rocks around us.

We don’t look back as we race back down the tunnel.

Delphine has the wits to scoop up the torch, and neither of us stops running as I call out which way to turn.

Thank fuck for my impressive memory and chalk marks.

We sprint all the way back to our campsite.

Due to its size, the Lindwyrm can’t pursue us through the narrower spaces, but the adrenaline from encountering a supposedly mythical creature keeps us moving our legs as fast as we can.

When we finally reach our camp, Ivy’s snores are vibrating the tent she shares with Throg.

Delphine stumbles to the rock wall and braces herself against it while she catches her breath.

Folded over with my hands on my knees, I’m just as breathless.

Anger wells in my chest, replacing the heady adrenaline.

I lose my temper.

“For all your efforts—wow—it was just so grateful to be saved,” I heave.

“It not only tried to sting me to death, but also practically bashed you into the rocks. You don’t always get back the goodwill you give, you know.

” Annoyed that she keeps endangering herself for others, I default to petty sarcasm. Why can’t she get this into her head?

She’s too winded to answer.

Unable to catch her gaze, I drop back onto a rock and try to look as menacing as possible to drive my point home. “What did we just say about you needing to stop saving everyone but yourself?”

“We agreed my way was best, and you admitted you were the a-hole,” she pants, straightening up but looking pale.

“You tricked me with your sweet lips on my cock.”

She lunges over in two swift strides and jabs me in the gut.

This is what makes her terrific, because it’s exactly what I need right now. My vile mood vanishes as I wheeze a chuckle.

This woman accepts my flaws and quirks, but never lets me get away with nonsense. Blood flows to my cock, even as I’m doubled over.

She fixes me with her own look of death. “Don’t be vulgar. You would leave it there to suffer and die?”

“Better it than us.” I toss an exceptionally silver rock I’d collected at the pools into the woodfire Ivy made, and the flames erupt to chest-height. The ivory sparks glitter as they whirl high into the upper corners of the cave ceiling before dropping back down.

“Pfft. ”

“Maybe not everyone is worth saving, Delphine.”

Her eyes round. Formidable brown eyes that defy me. “You can’t possibly believe that.”

“I’m a vile creature. Heart of a Syf, probably.”

“Now that I don’t believe.” She peels off her outer layers and crawls into the tent. When she turns around on her hands and knees and peers out the flap, her lopsided smile catches on my soul. She sits back on her heels to untie and shake out her long braid. “I need to sleep. Come keep me warm.”

And with those last four words, I eagerly leap to my feet and obey without a single protest.

This woman destroys me the way the silver-veined rocks explode in the flames.

An absolute and ruinous kind of destruction that burns to the very core of me, so that all my sins are turned to ash.

She is my ruination.

And yet…she is my salvation.

I lie awake, tangled around Delphine, who sleeps soundly in my arms. Her brown lashes contrast with her pale hair.

I worry over her words. How can we not know something like a Lindwyrm exists?

Why don’t we know more about Artemysia, why we lost communication with the other side and stopped trade with the Syf? All we know about the Syf is how to kill them.

Why did they become murderous after centuries of peace?

Someone somewhere has to know more. Perhaps they hide this knowledge. When I asked the king and the colonels for old maps of Artemysia and the surrounding areas from the days of trade, they couldn’t produce them.

Or wouldn’t? Lost, they said. Records were poor, they said.

This mission was never about following the colonels’ orders or even helping the king. Not for me, anyway. All I wanted was to escape to a new life. If I’m able to know more than they do, I could best them at their own game and leave behind a life I never wanted .

My instincts tell me there are dark secrets to be discovered and used to my advantage, and I vow to find them.

If not for myself, then perhaps for the world Delphine imagines. Perhaps it makes a difference in the world she wishes for in her dreams.

Her breathing deepens, and I draw her in close to keep her warm.

I don’t watch her sleep. Only psychopaths do that, I remind myself, because I’m dying to stare at her. I suppose that’s my answer—I’m fucking insane.

Instead, I watch the shadows on the cave wall through the tent door and wonder if the reason I feel like the world is always closing in on me is because I never had someone to push back against it for me, the way she does.

The dream of escape—of running away—was the only solution I had to keep me going.

Until now.