Page 60 of The Scarlet Star

At the bottom of the staircase was a modest arch, and through the arch…

Ryn gasped at the sight of an enormous tree, laden with pears of gold and rich green leaves. She wandered into the room ahead of Xerxes, marvelling at the prettiest fruit tree she’d ever laid eyes upon. Above the tree, a tunnel channelled far up into the palace toward a crystal window that let the moonlight in, making the tree glow.

She reached for the nearest pear, wondering what a fruit of such colour might taste like.

Xerxes grabbed her hand, his fingers wrapping tight around hers. “Don’t touch it,” he warned. He pulled off his hood, letting the moon light his face.

Ryn dropped her hand and studied the pears. “Are they poisoned?” she guessed.

“No. They’re medicine.” He glanced at them too, but not in a grateful, admiring way like Ryn. “Medicine forme.” His throat bobbed when he swallowed. “Even being near them makes me want to…”

“To what?” Ryn realized his hands were balled into fists, his flesh tight.

“To…” He looked at her strangely now. Fearfully. Ravenously.

Ryn took a slow step away from the tree, away from him, and Xerxes slammed his eyes shut.

“Can’t you hear them?” he asked. “Can’t you hear how the voices go wild when I’m here?”

Ryn looked between him and the pear tree. “I told you I’m not a witch,” she said. “I can’t just…” But as she looked between the crooked branches, she wondered why she couldn’t? She stared at the glistening bark, the shapely leaves, the plump pears…

She saw shadows.

Ryn nearly stumbled backward into the wall at how many there were, at how encompassing the blackness around the tree was; limbs woven through the branches, strangling the trunk, misting from every fruit. And, Divinities, the voices…

“Kill her!”they shouted.

“Kill the maiden!”

“Kill her before it’s too late!”

Ryn dragged her gaze over to Xerxes standing in the same place with his eyes pinched shut. Before, when she’d heard his torment, she hadn’t been able to make out clear words. She hadn’t realized the anger, and hatred, the fear channelling through his mind. She hadn’t realized just how convincing the voices could be.

“Are your voices telling you to kill me?” she rasped, her hand finding the wall at her back.

“Yes,” Xerxes admitted. “Always.”

When his eyes peeled open, they were bloodshot.

“Are you thinking about doing it?” Ryn’s mouth was dry. She wished she’d left the palace. Forget what Kai wanted, forget what Geovani wanted, forget what El was hoping for from her. The King was being tempted to do something terrible to her.Always.

“I don’t want to,” Xerxes promised. “I want the voices to leave. I want to be a king with a sound mind. And I want to save my kingdom from being destroyed by my enemies.” He paused, and he glanced at the pears with resentment. “I want back the yearsI lost while relying on this wretched tree.” His gaze cut to Ryn. “You can cure me, right?”

Ryn wasn’t sure anymore. A sharp, metallic sound came off the tree, twirling in her ears and growing louder by the second. “Where did this tree come from?” she asked. If Xerxes was consuming fruit that looked like this, wrapped in spirits and false gods, no wonder he was losing his mind.

“The Intelligentsia. The Celestial Divinities had mercy on me for my illness and gifted it to me through them. When I eat its fruit, I’m cured for a little while. Most of the time,” he said, looking off.

Ryn released a breath. “So, they gave you the illness, then they gave you the medicine,” she remarked, and something in Xerxes’s eyes changed.

“What?” he demanded.

Ryn shook her head. “I don’t know how to fix you, King,” she admitted. “But I made a deal to figure it out. So, I will.” Her body buzzed with the desperate urge to leave this basement, to escape these painful noises and the ice-cold air. She frowned at the tree once more. “El,” she whispered, calling on the most powerful name she knew. “El Tsebaoth… is coming for you,” she warned the gods.

“Ryn!” Xerxes shouted.

A thousand chilling voices screamed. Xerxes grabbed her wrist and tore her toward the staircase. He glared at her as they jogged up. “Why would you do that? Why would you irritate them?” he asked.

“Kill her!”

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