Page 65 of Artemysia

“I’m not leaving you no matter what.” - Riev

F eet thunder on the staircase below, alerting us that the guards have been summoned to the bedroom Riev and I left behind.

I fumble Toryl’s key in my shaking hands and find the keyhole behind the prince’s portrait.

The prince is complicated, but so am I, and ultimately, he’s still learning and wants to do what is right.

There’s hope for North Kingdom.

Even more important, there’s now hope for South Kingdom if we can make it back to Artemysia and alert the Syf to the poisoned river.

The passageway leads to a winding staircase that spits us out into an underground tunnel, with roots tickling my head and the loamy scent of earth filling my lungs as Riev and I run. We dart down the straight channel, ducking our heads until the path ends at a door above us.

I push the trapdoor open, and loose hay and dried elk droppings fall on us. I’m greeted with the low grunts and bellows of surprised elk as Riev gives me a leg up .

We must be in an auxiliary stable outside of the estate grounds. There’s no time to tack up—we’ll have to ride bareback. We choose elk based on those excited by our presence, but without signs of nervousness. The sleepy ones will need convincing to run, and the frightened ones will throw us off.

“We’ll ride south, but away from the East River, or we might run into rabid Syf,” I inform Riev. “If we get separated, don’t stop. Keep heading to Artemysia.”

“I’m not leaving you no matter what,” he replies in his usual gruff way. He’s completely unruffled, and it calms me that he isn’t panicking.

“I thought you’d say that, but if we lure them into the forest and separate them, we might have a better chance at escaping.”

Riev lifts me onto a Starry Elk, chosen for speed, and swings himself onto a Rock Elk before drawing his sword.

Once we’re mounted, the exit to the barn swings open. Two slender figures stand in our way, blocking our escape.

A young lady holds a crossbow unsteadily. The young man beside her raises a syringe.

“We thought you might sneak out this way,” the girl says, her periwinkle eyes darting from Riev to me.

“Sylvi,” Riev calls out, his voice tight. He shifts his elk forward, placing himself in the line of fire. “Don’t shoot. What are you doing here?”

“Stop moving. You’re a Syf spy after all.” Sylvi points her crossbow at us, then shifts her aim toward Riev.

“Kye, don’t let your sister do this,” Riev implores.

Kye doesn’t answer but grips the syringe, straight-faced.

Sylvi. Kye . The twins who drugged Riev, to take advantage of him.

Riev, who held back when it came to sex. Who wanted his first time to be with someone who meant something to him. He waited to be with someone he cared for, someone who cared for him in return.

They were going to force themselves on him.

Rage explodes in me, but I generously allow them one chance.

“You don’t know what you’re doing. This is your first and only warning. Get out of our way,” I grit out between clenched jaws.

Sylvi switches her stance, stepping sideways around Riev, and aims the crossbow at my chest.

“No, Sylvi,” Riev says forcefully. “Take me.”

She nods. “We only want you. Delphine can go.”

“Fuck that.” I use Riev’s vulgar words, and the boldness of it calms me. And like him, I move with speed and precision.

Throg and I used to throw knives in games as teenagers. I know I’m good.

I keep my elk steady with my legs, and while Sylvi’s attention is on Riev, I launch a knife at Kye.

It spins in the air and pierces through his hand, and he drops the syringe.

He’ll never have full function of his hand again.

I rely on his screams to distract Sylvi, while I unsheathe a second knife from my baldric.

I aim for her arm that supports the weight of the bow and throw my knife with enough force to slice through muscle and tendon, pinning her upper arm to her ribs.

This should cause her to turn away from both me and Riev. She’ll lower the crossbow, releasing the bow to the ground.

Sylvi screams and lowers her bow.

She acts as if she believes the crossbow fired into her, and in shock and confusion, hurls the entire thing up into the air.

This is unexpected. The bolt releases and rebounds off a stall door, hitting my hip.

I fold over my elk’s neck with a yelp.

Oh effin’ hell, that hurts.

“Delphine!” Riev moves to dismount to help me, but I refuse to stop.

“No, let’s get out of here while we can.” I brace myself and yank out the bolt. It wasn’t lodged deep, but the puncture bleeds through my tan breeches.

“I hear guards coming. Follow me.” I turn to look back at Riev, and he nods. I urge my elk out of the stables. Kye curses as he drags a still-screaming Sylvi out of our path to avoid being run over. Unfortunately, their shouts and cries draw the attention of the guards.

The king has summoned a large contingent of men—what looks to be about five hundred red-and-white-uniformed soldiers, assembled at the hedge borders of the manor. In Stargazer, this would be considered a sizeable army to amass. The men stand in formation, led by the king and Prince Toryl.

Toryl’s eyes glint briefly in the sun. His brows are pinched, and a deep frown is etched on his face.

Perhaps there’s a tinge of regret that they have caught up with us.

Before I turn to gallop away on my elk, he nods at me once with a quirk of his lips, then returns his expression to the mask he wears as a ruler. I don’t blame him.

The soldiers on elk lead the charge. How they assembled so quickly is beyond me, but the king and the prince stay back.

“I don’t think we should kill anyone, so don’t get too enthusiastic,” I tell Riev.

He offers a noncommittal grunt, but makes no promises.

We gallop at full speed, hooves thundering the ground. Our elk are fast. We’re light, without saddles or gear. We might make it far enough ahead.

Except ahead of us to our right, another battalion of riders appears. They mean to drive us toward the river on our left, trapping us.

To outrun them and get to the forest, we must head toward them and fight our way through. Riev knows this too, and he hangs back and tracks right, defending my flank as the riders behind us gain ground.

He knocks off the first guard to reach us, causing the guard’s elk to spin with a buck, kicking the rider next to him. The rider’s leg snaps.

When the clang of blades rings out, another soldier is thrown off his elk.

Riev uses the flat of his sword, obeying my command not to kill anyone, but the next two men wield lances.

I’m forced to hurl a knife before a lance knocks me off, and I hit the guard in the shoulder.

Cursing, he slows, pulling back on his elk.

Heck, I survived a dagger to the shoulder. He can too.

The other rider receives a knife in the thigh, thanks to Riev.

“Hey, you stabbed one,” he says unapologetically.

We’re pulling ahead.

However, I have good reason to believe that we won’t make it to the forest on the horizon.

“Riev, I think the bolt was poisoned. My legs are going numb.” Painful pricks stab at my feet, and my thighs weaken.

I can still steer my elk by shifting my weight and using my seat. As a last resort, I grip the fur at its neck—but at a gallop, I’m not sure if I can hold on much longer .

My elk veers away from the oncoming army, heading toward the East River.

Riev rides behind me, shielding me from any soldiers who catch up.

He stretches out a hand. “Get on my elk. Grab on to me—I’ll get us to the forest.”

“It’ll be too heavy and slow. Two people on one steed makes no sense. We won’t stand a chance. I’m going to keep going.”

The soldiers drive us closer and closer to the river.

After another long stretch of river, we’re as good as trapped prey cornered by bloodthirsty hunting hounds.

Riev fends off the onslaught of soldiers, but my elk slows down, sensing my loss of control. The poor creature loses focus and startles when the next soldier charges us from the side, his elk lowering his antlers as if about to headbutt mine.

My elk dodges sideways and kicks out, and I’m thrown off. Dammit.

It’s not the elk’s fault, but I roll and fall into the river. The numbness in my lower body prevents me from kicking, and I use my arms to keep my head above water.

“Don’t get in the water!” I shout up at Riev. I know what it means if he comes into contact with the East River and ingests any of the water.

His Syf half will become rabid.

“Hold on, Elphie. I’m coming to get you. I just need this guy to get out of my way.” His sword clangs as he disarms another guard, who tumbles to the ground as I continue down the river. “There.”

“No! Don’t risk it.” I choke and spit as water rushes into my mouth, the rapids carrying me as fast as Riev is riding.

“I can hold my breath for a long time, remember?” He continues to drive away soldier after soldier, his blade carving the air around him.

The numbness spreads, and my arms grow weak. The poison creeps up my torso. No matter what I do, I can’t keep my head above water.

I can’t see Riev anymore.

I’m submerged. I hold my breath and hope I can float.

But the rapids are fierce and toss my body into sharp rocks.

I sink into a watery grave, the rippling light above me darkening as my body is dragged into the depths of the riverbed—to my drowning death.

While I attempt to writhe upward, my limbs sway like seaweed, useless and limp, and I can’t hold my breath any longer. My head lolls to the side.

Even worse, a large river crocodile swims past below me. I think. It’s hard to see through my terror. Perhaps I’m hallucinating. It could be a log.

My mind splinters, and in my panic, I sputter and choke on the ice-cold water.