Page 57 of Artemysia

“Who did this to you?” - Delphine

“Y our husband’s been drugged,” a male voice says from somewhere above me.

Is he the prince? I remember barging into what I believed was Prince Toryl’s quarters at the end of the hall on the fourth floor in my search for Delphine, based on what Sylvi said about his bedroom being a grandiose door and the number of guards outside.

Seems like I was right.

“Riev, who did this to you?” Delphine’s sweet, soft words bleed with concern.

Oh fantastic, I found her . I don’t want her to worry, but when I try to speak, nothing comes out.

My eyelids won’t open. They’re heavy and lethargic, and no matter how hard I try, I’m unable to see her.

Perhaps I’m blind. I’m too numb to let fear take over.

“Wake up. Who did this? There’s going to be hell to pay when I find out.” Her voice rises, her fury building.

She presses her lips to my forehead .

“Mhmm,” I murmur low in my throat, thankful I can at least feel her lips on me. A tingle runs down my jaw and throat when she strokes my cheek.

“Riev, is it?” The male voice again.

“Why would anyone drug him?” she asks.

“This is concerning,” he replies.

“Where were you? How much did you drink? Why did you have to knock out those guards?” Her tone has changed, and it’s no longer controlled.

It’s absolutely murderous. My heart burns with a spark of pride. I feel sorry for the fucker she’s angry at. He’s going to get what’s coming.

My mind is still jumbled and foggy from the drugs. It’s so enjoyable to feel the heat of her face near mine, and I try to grin at her, but my mouth twitches instead. I could be drooling.

The somber man’s voice again. “Try this tonic. It should counter the effects of a sedative.”

A hand squeezes my jaw, then a bitter liquid smelling of black mushrooms is poured between my lips.

I still can’t move or see, but Delphine’s fingers softly brush the hair from my face.

The curve of her hips nestles beside me on the bed.

Her rich, honeyed scent warms my blood, though it’s mixed with a different floral soap or shampoo.

Did she bathe here? In another man’s room?

Blinding rage begins to replace the numbness when I suddenly recall finding her naked when I burst in.

Based on the guards I fought outside the door, I was certain it was Prince Toryl’s quarters.

Why was she naked in the prince’s room?

At this thought, her slender fingers part my lips. More mushroom liquid is poured down my throat, tickling it. I sneeze from the awful flavor, but finally regain control of my eyes and flick them open.

The male voice curses rudely. A young man with a crown.

Oh shit . I’ve sneezed the tonic all over the prince.

I blink and re-focus. He looks like a jerk, so I’m not sorry at all.

Delphine leans over me, lifting my lids to check my pupils. “Riev. Do you know where you are?”

“Are you hurt? Did you have sex with him?” My throat is raspy and raw.

Delphine frowns at me, the creases between her brows deepening .

She’s angry.

“He’s fine,” Delphine says wryly to the prince, who is gingerly toweling the tonic off his face and chest.

“Why were you naked—” I start again, the bullheaded ass that I am.

“Riev, I’m going to kill whoever drugged you, but you’d better not say another word about me being naked, or you’ll be next on my list. Are you okay? What happened to you?”

I haul myself up the headboard and slump against it. I’m still spinning. My legs prickle as if jabbed by thorns, the feeling returning to them.

The prince glares at me, stern and cold, his arms folded across his broad chest. He’s so tall. He’s handsome, young, boyish. Did Delphine get information—trade information—for sex?

I’m disgusted at myself for imagining such a thing, but they would look good together. Who can resist a fucking prince like that?

I’m not thinking straight. Fucking get it together, Riev .

Delphine breaks through my rapidly spiraling thoughts before my fists turn into tight balls of violence.

“What do you remember?” she asks.

“Sylvi and Kye,” I grumble, rubbing my temples. Old me would have hunted them down and destroyed them, limb by limb.

New me prioritized finding Delphine first, and acknowledged that she wouldn’t have wanted me to murder the hell out of those two.

“You left the ballroom with two royals,” Delphine prompts.

“They gave me scotch. Drugged. Hoped I was Syf.”

“Effin’ hell.” Delphine’s gasp startles me, and a hand goes to her mouth. She isn’t normally this outwardly reactive in front of strangers. She’s comfortable around him.

I mash down the overwhelming urge to strangle the prince.

The prince curses. “Those two. My cousins are obsessed with Syf. And too damn spoiled. The king never reprimands them.” He paces before us. “You’ve seen the trophy room, then. That’s where my father interrogates lords or barons he believes are lying to him. All the drinks are laced with potions.”

I tip forward but almost topple out of the bed. Delphine steadies my shoulders against the headboard. “I made it downstairs to find you, but was told the prince took you.” I glare up at the prince. “If you even so much as touched her, I swear to the gods—”

“And you thought to rescue her by fighting through my guards, breaking down my door,” the prince says bitterly, tipping a chin at the new guards at the doorway.

They eye me nervously, blades drawn. “Even in your half-witted state. You’re an impressive imbecile.

You didn’t care about the consequences.”

I bristle, the hairs on my neck rising. “For my wife, yes. I’d do anything,” I say firmly, studying Delphine. I need to know she is okay. I need her to understand I had a plan. Infiltrating those closest to the king for information.

The twins left my clothes on after all. When I awoke, my belt was on and the tie of my dress pants was still strung in a knot only I know how to do, for luck. The poison must’ve left me numb and flaccid everywhere . Thank the demons for that. The siblings left me in the study, untouched.

Delphine’s eyes narrow, as if trying to decide if I’m worth the trouble.

The prince paces beside the bed.

“I can’t condone such behavior from a supposed loyal marquis under my rule.”

“Elkshit.” I sit upright, my throbbing head killing me. “You accuse my wife of being a spy, and I find her naked in your room…” I jab a finger at him as the room tilts, and I swallow back the nausea. “Delphine, hand me your dagger, I feel the sudden need to gouge someone’s eyes out.”

The prince towers over me but maintains his distance. “You forget your manners. As well as the laws of the land. I am your crown prince.”

Hard to ignore that Delphine does not disagree with any of this.

“But I’ll offer you a choice, Riev. Imprisonment. For treason and treachery. These actions must not go unpunished.”

“Or?” My hand slides up the bedpost to yank myself up, so I don’t look like a slumping pile of idiot.

“Or you allow me one night with Delphine. Tonight. Until sunrise.”

“What the fuck?!” Fury engulfs my entire body, giving me the strength to push off the bed and rise to my feet. “I’ll go to prison for the rest of my life, you sick bastard. I’ll rot, festering into a stinking mound of shit before you ever—”

“I will choose for us.” Delphine cuts in. “My husband is in no state of mind to make a rational decision.”

“Don’t you dare…” I’m pleading, though it comes out hoarse when my voice breaks from the agony erupting in my chest.

“Riev, stop.” Her eyes blaze. Why is she angry at me ? “I will accompany you for the night, Prince Toryl.”

“No!” I lunge forward to fight this haughty prince, to show him his place in the world.

My world , in which she belongs with me.

But Delphine stands between us and presses a firm hand on my chest. I move to slap it away, but she’s quick and pushes me back onto the bed.

The fucking prince doesn’t smile, even though he’s won.

Instead, his green eyes simmer as he extends his hand toward Delphine, palm up. “Then it’s decided.”

“I’m going to slit your throat the first chance I get and wash myself in your blood—”

“Riev, I think the prince has been generous enough with his time and patience.” Her cheeks are flushed. I can’t tell if she’s embarrassed by me, or even worse, if she actually doesn’t mind spending the night with the prince.

It sickens me, and the need to ram my fist through a wall erupts in my veins.

She offers her hand to him, and he grasps it. My eyes are going to start bleeding if I have to look at Delphine touching him any longer.

“He’s been kind enough to allow you to recover in his bed,” she says serenely.

The bed he wants you in for the rest of the night .

How I am not strangling this fucker to death is beyond me.

I must still be heavily sedated by the drugs.

“Fuck.” This is the worst night of my life. I’m not sure what happened prior to this, but maybe I was too dumb to see that this is what she wants.

No, it can’t be. This isn’t what my Delphine would do.

She’s being coerced .

Except I don’t sense any distress in her. I don’t sense a single hint of anything wrong in her voice when she speaks. She might not know it, but when she’s upset, there’s always a slight wobble in her inflection at the end of a sentence. I hear these things because I cling to her every word.

Her tone stays even when she speaks to the prince.

And if they did hit it off, he has far more to offer her than I ever could.

Perhaps she’s made a sensible choice.

“That’s no way to thank the prince for such a lenient penalty,” she chides. “Go back to our room and rest. Sleep it off. I’ll be in at sunrise.”

She dismisses me and turns to the prince with a curtsy, inclining her silken head of hair to him. “High Lord, the night is yours.”

The words are like a knife in my gut. And I’ve been knifed in the gut before.

This—this feels worse.