Page 47 of Artemysia

“Her beauty steals my breath away, in a way only violence could do before.” - Riev

M y short boot impatiently taps the polished turquoise tiles while I wait for Delphine.

I’m standing in one of the many palace courtyards, shaded by red maples.

Next to me is an ivory carriage with two black horses.

Why don’t they use elk? I’m dressed in a stiff black evening suit with a silver cravat and cloak, feeling irritable.

I scratch my neck roughly like a dog, moving down across my shoulder.

If a suit is not properly tailored, I can feel the imperfectly aligned seams. I’m itchy and uncomfortable as hell.

You’d think King Foss would employ better tailors, but perhaps they aren’t used to producing human suiting, since they seem to prefer looser-fitting tunics and robes.

I’m more than eager to get to North Kingdom.

We will arrive on the outskirts of the forest in an hour, and at the Prince of the North’s winter stronghold at sunset.

I’ve learned there are four other “magical” gates besides the main split-tree entry.

All shortcuts. The northern gate will spit us out closer to the forest borders of North Kingdom; otherwise, we would spend the entire day traveling.

It’s this kind of thing that makes me wonder if this is all a hallucination.

How can a gate in a tree shorten the distance between places?

It’s unreal. The Syf guard such secrets closely; I haven’t been able to discover the location of their southern gate.

But if I could get the others through it, they would be able to escape to South Kingdom in a lot less time than it took for us to get here.

A shiver runs up the crisscross scars on my back.

I flip up the collar against the autumn winds.

I’m not sure what will come out of my mouth when I see Delphine.

We’re both sick of me asking her to stay out of danger.

So I vow not to start an argument by reprimanding her for sacrificing her safety for me. Not tonight.

Though when we fight, it seems to lead to intense arousal—

My cock jerks awake. A side door of the palace opens, and Delphine steps out into the courtyard.

I’m speechless.

Her beauty steals my breath away, in a way only violence could do before.

She’s wearing a velvet dress of the deepest green that lights up her eyes. It’s fitted to her curves, and her breasts practically spill over indecently. I’ve never been possessive, but my first instinct is to cover her chest so no one else’s filthy eyes wander there.

Her radiant hair runs down her back in generous curling waves. A blinding need to wrap her curls around my fist surges in me, just to pull them back to kiss her neck.

She fiddles with a dark ribbon plaited up her left arm that contrasts with her luminous skin, but when she sees me, she goes stock still. Her honey-brown eyes lock on mine. She has on the lightest bit of makeup, and her lips look bitten.

Lips I want to bite this very instant as she approaches me.

She lowers her lashes and takes the hand I extend to help her step into the carriage.

It’s been over a week, and I’ve missed her.

Her bright face. Her soft skin. The callus on her palm from her blade.

My body shivers at her touch, remembering how she gripped my cock in her hand before guiding me inside her.

“Riev,” Delphine greets me, her voice soft. But what I noticed first is a hesitation, a detachment in her body language. She slides in as far away as possible on her side of the carriage and crosses her legs stiffly, her back straight as a flagpole.

Why is she being cold?

Is she nervous about our assignment? What have they told her?

All I’ve determined is that I need to figure out who is lying: the Syf, South Kingdom, or North Kingdom. Once I find out who is in the wrong, I will cut them down.

Syf or human.

It keeps my plan simple.

I should thank Delphine for coming for me. But I’ve been dying to know all week—

“How in the world did you find me after I was taken?”

“Why? Did you not want me to?” She makes a face, and I think she mumbles, “Dammit. That wasn’t levelheaded at all, Delphine.”

I’m taken aback. “Why would you say that? What’s the matter?”

“You lied.” Her eyes blaze, her accusation biting.

“I promised I wouldn’t lie to you. I haven’t.”

“Ivy said you wanted to escape South Kingdom. That you planned to escape once we were close to North Kingdom.” Something between regret and despair flashes across her face.

“Ivy! Damn it. Listen to me—”

“No. We came to save you, and you were swigging wine on the throne like you’ve belonged there all your life.” Her face reddens, arms folding tightly across her chest.

My eyes accidentally flick toward her pushed-up breasts.

Her nostrils flare. “Don’t look there.” I glance back up. “It didn’t seem like you were hating it. Did you even try to negotiate, to come back to us?” She heaves a breath. “I’m sorry, this isn’t what I meant to discuss. I’m being irrational.”

“No, if something needs to be said, tell me. Don’t shut me out.”

“I shouldn’t have feelings about this,” she says, too calm too quickly.

I close my eyes and press two fingers to my temple. “Okay, I didn’t hate it. But I didn’t know what to believe. Maybe I’m a Syf prince, maybe I’m not. I left so they’d leave you alone. Then they drugged me and didn’t tell me much until you arrived. You heard King Foss.”

“You deceived me. You said you wouldn’t lie but then kept the biggest secret of all. Even when we talked about our dreams, you kept it from me. That you always meant to escape.”

“Not true.” Anger boils because her words hurt. She doesn’t believe I cared, even though I was alarmingly honest and vulnerable with her at Limingfrost—in a way I’ve never been with anyone else before.

“And our mission, helping South Kingdom?”

“I’m not a hero,” I throw back. I stare coldly at her from across the carriage. “Did you read my notebook? The one I handed you?”

“No, we were busy tracking you. We had no need for maps.”

“If you had, you’d know you’re as wrong as hell.”

“Enlighten me.”

“I dreamt of escaping. My whole adult life.”

“Uh-huh.”

Her disdain slices through me.

“Until I met you. Then my only goal was to protect you.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s written down. If I was killed at any point, my only consolation was that at least you’d know the truth. That you saved me from myself by caring for me.”

“You wrote that?” She mouths the words before her brows furrow and her face flashes a lightning strike of anger. “Wait, you’re lying! You don’t know how to write! It’s why you drew symbols for the cave. You said—” She’s livid, her pupils giant pools of ink eclipsing the brown.

“I asked Ivy to write down some words here and there. She thought they were random. I couldn’t exactly ask her to write, Delphine, I need you , could I?

I tried to learn on my own. To leave you a message, in case anything happened to me…

I scrawled the pathetic message while you slept in the caves. ”

“You need me,” she echoes, as if testing the idea aloud. Her arms finally uncross, and her chest heaves unevenly.

Suddenly, I feel vulnerable. It’s an admission from the depths of my hollow soul.

“I hope you know that’s the greatest compliment I could ever give. I’ve never needed anyone before. ”

“Never?” she squeaks, and I wonder what’s the matter with her voice.

I offer what I hope is the kind of smoldering look that answers her question.

“You and I, we risk our lives every day, and in our dangerous world, our short existences could be abruptly cut off. I needed you to know how I felt.”

“And you felt this way at the caves…” Her bottom lip quivers.

I nod, as apologetic as possible. “I’m sorry you thought I’d leave you during our mission. I would crack my chest wide open and rip my own heart out if I never saw you again.”

Delphine gives me a strange look before dropping her gaze. I realize she’s about to cry. Before the tears slip from her eyes, I slide across to her side of the carriage, leaning in until my forehead touches hers.

I clasp a firm hand on the back of her neck. “I promise. I never wanted to escape you. You are where I want to escape to …”

Her chin trembles when she tries to speak, and she bites her bottom lip.

I know she tries her best to avoid heartbreak, so I don’t expect her to say anything—not when she thought I could’ve left at any moment.

It’s important for her to know how I feel. To know I’m not the heartless brute she and everyone else thinks I am.

She’s where I want to be.

So for her, I try my hardest to express everything I need to say. Exposing my deepest emotions makes me feel utterly defenseless, as if I bind my hands behind my back and offer someone a knife to use against me. But for her, I’ll do anything.

“I’d have fought the Syf to the death otherwise. Saving you was the only reason I had to leave. The thought of not having you in the world—of being in a world without Delphine Julian—I can’t breathe, thinking about it.”

Our foreheads are warm where they are pressed together. My hand slides down from the nape of her neck to trail along her throat. I softly sweep back her curls, admiring how the strands shine.

When she inclines into my touch with a soft hum of pleasure and closes her eyes, I think I might completely lose it. The now familiar scent of her—sweet, honeyed summers by the river—forces my pulse into an uncontrolled frenzy.

I want her. She’s mine.

My body and soul yearn to possess her.

But I know she needs to process all I’ve told her.

She shivers at my touch on her bare shoulder.

Her neck flushes a pale pink. I’m trying not to glance down the heart-shaped neckline of her strapless gown again.

But damn. I can see a light freckle or two at the top of her right breast. She angles her cheek onto my palm as my fingers graze across her collarbone. Perhaps she missed my touch too.