Page 42 of Artemysia

“Why’s it brighter and warmer here?” - Ivy

K ing Foss doesn’t flinch at Ivy’s coarse tone as it bounces high up the white and gold walls, the stone so smooth, it’s almost reflective.

Like the hallway, pretty much every damn thing in here is embedded with jewels.

They’re the biggest fucking gems I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been in King Galke’s treasury at Stargazer.

Hell, he sometimes paid me in jewelry. But the Artemysian gemstones are the size and color of ripe summer fruit.

If I had any one of them, I’d be as rich as a baron of the mountain mines in the south.

The largest emerald, centered at the top of my stupid, uncomfortable chair, might even be difficult for Throg to palm in one hand.

I can’t pry my eyes off Delphine, though. Why is she here? How in the world did she find me? I don’t even really know how I got here . They drugged me, and I woke up here about an hour ago. I can’t be sure how long I was unconscious.

While I was out, someone bathed me and dressed me in a high-collared green silk tunic, white pants, and suede boots.

I’d feel violated, except it feels so good to be clean.

I really can’t complain. Their facilities are spotless.

Not a speck of dirt or dust anywhere, and I don’t hate it.

For a brief horrifying moment, I wonder if my need to be tidy is a Syf characteristic.

Maybe I actually have a Syf side. I’m still in denial, but I’m okay with that for now.

Here’s the kicker, though. I thought they brought me here to punish me.

Instead, they cleaned me up, handed me a goblet of wine, and plopped a crown of rare opals on my head. If I ran away with this bejeweled monstrosity on my forehead, I’d be set for life.

Next thing I knew, I was escorted here and shown a seat next to King Foss, and he started lecturing me about the history of Artemysia from two thousand years ago. The wine is strong—likely drugged—but if I am to die, I may as well be drunk. My attention lapsed until Delphine showed up.

This must be some sort of mind game, or how they trick prisoners into talking. Am I still under the influence of whatever I inhaled earlier?

I don’t know if I am in a dream or a nightmare.

Under one king’s thumb to another, to be used however he sees fit. It’s my damn fate in life.

But Delphine is here, looking as determined as ever. And highly irritated. This is real. I never thought I’d see her again. She risks her life over and over, for me. I’m a liability to her, even though I believed I saved her by leaving.

“Riev, what are you doing? Are you okay?” Delphine’s quiet concern twists my heart.

She needs to be worried for herself. I don’t know what they do to humans here.

They haven’t answered any of my questions; King Foss had just started talking about my father again when the messenger interrupted us.

He’d whispered in the king’s ear so I couldn’t hear.

I nod at Delphine. I’m not sure my voice will sound okay if I say anything, and I don’t want her to worry.

“How did you track us?” the king asks her.

“What deception did you use to open the Gateway?” Several translucent fronds of his rose-gold wings unfurl to expand sideways—his mighty wingspan is one of the larger ones I’ve seen.

When at ease, Syf wings drape arm-length down the backs of the smaller females, but on the bigger males like Foss, they drop all the way to their ankles.

Delphine refuses to be intimidated. “The hollow in the tree opened when I reached my hands in,” she replies, effortlessly calm.

“Only by the will of the king or his heir can the tree be opened, we were told,” Throg chimes in defensively. “So you must have allowed it.”

The Syf king’s cold blue eyes shift left, to me. “I did not. You must have willed it, Riev? You wanted them to find us.”

I shrug as apathetically as possible. “Hell if I know how this place works.” I don’t trust King Foss, and I resent being taken under threat of death of my companions.

Delphine and Throg exchange astonished glances.

Only then does the meaning of his words hit me. The King or his heir . Me? Impossible.

“The heir? Riev?” Ivy spits out, apparently the only one not too stunned to speak.

“As I was attempting to explain to Riev, I am his uncle, and he is the sole heir to Artemysia. I am to train him to take over the crown when I retire.”

Choking, I spit out my wine.

Everyone is silent, staring at me. I wipe my mouth with the back of my palm and fall into what I hope is a blank, expressionless look. I still don’t know what to believe.

I’m no prince. I’m not true Syf. I can’t be.

“Is this place another world? Is it real?” Ivy claps her palms together. “Riev, you’re the prince of a magic realm! In a fairy tale castle?” Only she could find mockery in this situation.

The Syf king folds his wings flat behind him and leans back.

“The forest is enchanted. Humans only see the trees and are bespelled to steer away from our lands. But the gateway tree allows you to enter our kingdom, Artemysia. We share the same earth, drink from the same rivers, live under the same sky.”

“Why’s it brighter and warmer here?” Ivy asks.

“Our Syf magic harmonizes with the land. The gemstones grow with our energies, warming and lighting our kingdom.”

“Then why do the Syf leave to attack our villages? Your guard said you preserve human life, not kill,” Delphine says.

Preserve human life? How did she already get information out of a guard? No one answered a single question of mine. When I asked, I got a bag over my head.

I’m impressed. Mildly amused, because it’s very Delphine of her. She gains trust easily, but she deserves it.

King Foss’ brows gather as he clears his throat.

My spine goes taut, and I sit up taller, because he seems troubled by her question, and she’s right. I haven’t seen a single Syf with fangs and claws like the ones who attack us.

“It’s true that we preserve human life. We, the Syf of Artemysia, gave humankind technology.

Gas-powered lighting. Antibiotics. Advanced medical care.

You still live in thatched cottages. You wouldn’t have survived this long on your own.

Even hot water plumbing was our invention that we chose to share for the sake of your health and comfort.

So you have my assurances that we do not want to kill you unnecessarily. ”

Foss raises a palm, and a guard shuts the throne room doors.

“Not many here are aware of this, because most of my people do not leave Artemysia. But I have patrols who check on your human population, and in the last twenty years, more and more of my subjects have been struck by a disease. They become rabid, change in body and mind, and kill indiscriminately. This bloodlust is a mystery we cannot solve. And it happens only to those who travel to the human civilization in the north. North Kingdom, as you know it.”

I’m stunned. He mentioned North Kingdom in the forest with Delphine, but I couldn’t tell if he was bluffing to get Delphine to turn back.

There is a second human civilization that I could have escaped to. My plan was sound.

Delphine presses on. “Do the people in the north contract the disease? Do they get sick too? If it’s a disease, are you working on a cure?”

Her questions are brilliant. Focused and incisive.

My heart swells, but unfortunately, so does my cock. Damned inappropriate, but it’s just what this woman does to me.

“No. Only our Syf spies become sick, rabid. We have tried to determine what is happening there, if it’s being done on purpose, and how. We suspect they are using us to attack South Kingdom.”

I speak up, my emotions raw. “This is a trick. You can become beasts anytime you want. Your civil behavior is a lie. It seems you want to pit human civilizations against each other.”

“Riev, you’re too clever and jaded to take anything I say as truth. You will see for yourself. I have an assignment for you and your commander.” He angles his head at Delphine, and I’m instantly worried.

Why does everything have to involve her?

“We are unable to infiltrate the royal circle of North Kingdom as deeply as we want. Our wings and tails are difficult to disguise, not to mention our ears.”

“And your stiff way of speaking,” Ivy coughs out.

“The King of the North is holding a coronation gala for his son, Prince Toryl, who has come of age at twenty-two,” King Foss continues patiently, perhaps accepting Ivy’s casual interruptions as a human trait.

“The entire court and the leaders of the country will be at the prince’s winter manor near our northern borders.

We had spies ready to go, but since we have you now… ” He pauses and turns to me.

“Riev, you and your commander, since you refuse to follow my command, will attend the two-day gala. Gather as much information as possible on their intentions and ambitions, and determine if they are infecting the Syf on purpose.”

“Commander,” he addresses Delphine with an extended palm, “I am sure you see how this benefits your kingdom as much as mine, so there should be no protest.”

The king casts a furtive sideways glance at me. “And Riev, for all the Syf lives you have stolen, this task is but a small part of your trial and penance.”

A muscle in his jaw jumps when I emit a low growl of frustration.

“I’m in,” Delphine says immediately.

Dammit. Of course she is.

Brave, change-the-world Delphine. She’s always all in.

I heave a deep exhale.

Then…so am I.