Page 58 of Artemysia

“Swoop in silently and stay above the fray.” - Delphine

T oryl still grasps my hand.

Riev doesn’t turn back to look at me. Not once. The guards seize him and escort him away. I don’t think I could take another second of the look on his face. He’s beyond gutted, because of me. I hope he doesn’t try to fight his way back out.

I’m livid, and fully aware that Riev’s violent tendencies may have rubbed off on me when the growing need to smash something creeps into my fist. I will destroy whoever tried to take advantage of Riev.

And I’m furious at the sheer nerve of this prince. I still can’t read Toryl.

People aren’t all good or all evil, but I have yet to figure out what Prince Toryl’s motivations are, and what he wants from me in particular.

All I know is if he tries anything, I’ll be able to take care of myself .

I’m not trapped.

I’ll fight my way out.

Before I resort to any extremes, though, I’ll see if he’s open to reasoning. If not, a broken nose or arm should bring out his rational side. I’m not afraid, because I’m strong, and I can best the prince. I’ll get past the guards, find Riev, and escape.

But the defeat in Riev’s eyes hurts me deeply, more than any physical pain. First, when he burst in and saw me naked, and again when he was led out. How he blanched when I said I’d stay. It pains me that he can’t see the end game—that he’d think I would actually go through with it.

There was never a time to explain everything I’d discovered. Not when the prince wouldn’t leave our sides. Toryl scrutinized me the entire time I took care of Riev, as if he didn’t understand why I’d do such a thing.

As if he didn’t understand love. Has he never cared for anyone?

The audacity of trading Riev’s freedom for a night with me only suggests the prince is testing us. Testing the feelings Riev and I have for each other, like some sort of experiment.

Or he’s testing me .

Once the door closes behind Riev, I retract my hand from the prince’s grasp.

We’re alone in his bedroom. My breath remains steady, but I don’t know what to expect and my heart races.

My injured arm bleeds through the bandages. Without a word, I sweep past him toward the bathroom to apply more medicine.

“Where do you think you’re going? Another bath?” he asks dryly.

“If I get a Syf disease and lose my arm after this weekend, I’ll be sure to return with my good arm and lop off your head,” I threaten.

“You would return, at least? Don’t worry. The Syf don’t have diseases.”

I whirl around at this new information. “How do you know that?”

He cocks his head, looking overly pleased to have my full attention. “We’ve tried to infect them with disease, to weaken them, but it only makes them…more aggressive…rabid.”

“And that’s how you control them?”

“No, they become uncontrollable. But we’re trying to find an antidote, so we can harness the monster, unleash it when needed, and then turn it off. Only a handful of people know this.”

Why is he telling me, then?

I shake off the disbelief. “And you just set them loose, to raid and kill villagers?”

“No. We believe the run-off from our experiments into the river is toxic to Syf. They drink the water and become rabid. It doesn’t seem to affect man or animal or crops, though the river flowers along the East River banks no longer bloom. The main laboratory is here.”

“Toxic? The flowers don’t bloom anymore?” I echo. My thoughts spiral. The river runs south. If we can stop the runoff, we can stop the Syf from turning, which means…

The fighting and death can end.

He studies my reaction before continuing. “The palace started the rumor that my father is able to control Syf, to keep the lords in line. But someone set that Syf loose at the ball tonight. There are those who work against me, perhaps even our own nobility here.”

“But Syf don’t normally attack the palace?”

“Not usually. The affected Syf usually head south, away from North Kingdom. We think, even in their crazed state, they are trying to return to Artemysia, or even the main Syf lands past the mountains of South Kingdom.”

“You don’t care if the Syf attack South Kingdom? You poison the river, and then it’s not your problem?”

“I have no way of knowing what’s going on in South Kingdom. But if we don’t learn how to control or fight the Syf, all of humankind is doomed.”

My cheeks burn with fury, and I must have the willpower of a mountain demon when I don’t kick the prince’s ass right then and there.

North Kingdom’s experiments are why Syf suffer, and why South Kingdom has been continuously assaulted for the past two decades.

With all the self-control I have, I set aside my anger. Compartmentalize. I need to know. “Why are you telling me all this? The secrets of your kingdom?”

“Because I want your help tonight. Your fighting skills, your strategic thought. My kingdom’s combat skills are weak and our weapons inferior compared to Syf. Perhaps even compared to South Kingdom.”

I feel one eyebrow shoot up. Always the left one when I’m surprised. “You didn’t want me to sleep with you for one night? You led Riev to believe—”

“Sorry to disappoint you, Delphine, but I have enough women to fill all hours of the evening.”

I snort loudly. “I’m only disappointed that I don’t get to beat a snooty prince into a bloody pulp and make an exhilarating escape.” Riev would be proud of me for such a statement.

One corner of Toryl’s mouth turns up tensely. I sense he’s not used to smiling often.

I glare sternly, disapproving that he finds this amusing. “Why did you have to torture my husband like that, then? Just to see him squirm?”

“He needed to be put in his place. Especially in front of the guards. My father says to maintain power, you must constantly show power. But you can drop the facade.” Prince Toryl finally grins. “Riev is not your husband.”

I fake a smile to hide the lie. “You wish he weren’t.”

But the prince is sharp, I give him that. He has learned to read people, perhaps an indication of the two-faced nature of those around him, as poor Gregory the guard had warned me.

“There’s an intensity between the two of you. I’ve never experienced such deep feelings for anyone, and I rarely see it among nobility. Not when most marry for status or inheritance. There’s no loyalty. No attachment. No passion.”

My breath snags. He’s perceptive. I’m thrown at first, but ultimately, I’m impressed, so I give in to him a little rather than insisting on a lie.

“You’re not wrong.”

“Why aren’t the two of you married? Or together? With all that exists between you?”

“It’s more complicated than that,” I confess.

“I have a feeling it’s you who’s complicated.”

Again, spot on. I won’t admit out loud that he’s right, but I’m curious how he judges loyalty. “How can I be loyal if I agreed to spend the night with you?”

“You were willing to risk it all to save him. To do it all yourself. I just saw you take down a rabid Syf. You didn’t let go when he bit you. I’m sure you could throw me out of this tower window before my pants came off, if it came to that.”

“Before you could unhook that ridiculously fancy buckle at your waist.”

His grin widens and reaches his eyes this time, replacing the coldness he usually displays by default. “It’s part of the royal heirlooms. We don’t have the gold and silver that South Kingdom has in their mountain border. What we do have, we melt into stupidly heavy trinkets. Like this buckle.”

“Heavy trinkets should not be mistaken for strength. Though your legs must work hard to carry such a thing around the manor.”

“You’re right on both points,” he agrees. He swings open his office door. “So you’ll help me?”

“I’m going to need a lot more information.”

“There’s proof of everything on my desk.”

He ushers me into his office, which resembles more of a library, with books lining the high walls from floor to ceiling.

A ladder slides along rails, offering access to the highest shelves.

Strange mechanical gadgets and contraptions tick away discordantly around the room, some disassembled as if tinkered with.

“Have a seat.” He pulls out a chair from behind a massive desk.

As I settle in, the prince creaks open a heavy chest next to me, revealing scrolls of maps and old documents. Unraveling one of the larger scrolls across the desk, he weighs down the corners with books before pulling over a wooden stool to sit beside me.

“Most of your subjects don’t know that the rest of the world is Syf?” I ask, absently poking at a half-assembled pendulum clock.

“Of course not. You can imagine the disbelief and ensuing hysterics.”

Still skeptical, I ask, “How long have you known this?”

“Twenty-five years ago, my father caught a Syf spy in his court, collecting old maps and books. Forgotten world history that Syf had been stealing for centuries. We caught him with this, the last of it. It turns out all these records showed what was beyond our peninsula.”

Toryl taps on a landmass shaped like a fish jumping out of water on the map. North Kingdom is the fish’s head, while South Kingdom is the narrow valley near the tail end. Artemysia runs between the two kingdoms, across the widest section between the two human kingdoms.

He goes on. “No ship we’ve ever built has overcome the tides and storms that push us back to shore. South Kingdom is bordered by impassable mountains to the south. How did we end up trapped here?”

He swipes at the peninsula’s fishtail, the mountainous region.

“What is on the mainland? Syf magic must prevent us from going where they don’t want us.

Even crossing the forest has been impossible for centuries.

” He taps the belly of the fish, indicating Artemysia, across the middle of the peninsula.