Page 159 of Artemysia
His chin is stubbly as I shut his lips after retracting the dropper. I graze my knuckles against the coarse hairs of his jawline.
Hold on. His hair hasgrown? I pry open his mouth, trying to keep my hands from shaking. My heart rattles in my chest. His fangs are smaller than yesterday. They are still sharp, but not as long.
I lift out his hand from under the blankets, feeling for his fingertips.
The claws are gone.
A quick wrench of Riev’s wrist in Foss’ direction captures his full attention.
His pale eyes flick from Riev’s clawless hand to me. He bows inward, examining the transformation.
While I don’t allow myself hope yet, I press my ear against Riev’s chest.
I almost shout out. No, Idoshout out. “Heartbeat! King Foss, his heart…”
The slowest, faintest of a pulse barely exists—but a weak heartbeat moves through him, nevertheless.
King Foss, efficient as ever, rushes out, ordering his entire team of healers to attend to Riev.
“A truth that comes only from the most harrowing pain.” - Delphine
Another week passes, but Riev doesn’t wake. He mutters my name once in a while, but his eyes remain shut, his heartbeat weak. Doubt creeps in. I don’t know what kills me more on a daily basis—that he’s saying my name, or that he’s not healing.
At least now I know he’s in a dormant state, not dead, and yet there’s no other sign of improvement.
He could be like this forever, the Syf healers warn me.
Throg and I must return to Stargazer, duty-bound to report back on our mission. South Kingdom is the last to know, but they need to understand the world we live in now—to prepare for North Kingdom’s ambitions, wherever they may lead. My mind shifts to Prince Toryl. Will he follow his father’s ways or forge his own path?
On my last evening in Artemysia before Throg and I return to Stargazer, Ivy sits with us in our living quarters.
Unusually quiet and subdued, she watches Throgand I pack, even as Throg reminds her that she promised to have dinner with his family in a week to meet his brothers.
I warn her that they are all like him, and she finally smiles and says something characteristically indecent about the Throgmorton brothers.
“Also, remember to tell Galke I died or deserted or whatever you want,” she adds. “I don’t have good memories of Stargazer, or South Kingdom in general, except for when I worked alongside Riev.”
Eira pokes her head into our living room, her tapered ears quivering. I’ve learned that on her, this signifies excitement with a tinge of uncertainty. “Ivy, there’s someone who wants to meet you,” she says cautiously.
One of the double doors swings open all the way, and Eira walks in holding the hand of a small Syf child in a grass-green dress. She looks to be five or six years of age if she were human, with only one blueish-gold wing on her right dragging behind her; the left wing is missing. Her face is scarred with pink jagged lines, and while one ear is still pointed, the other looks torn, but her raven hair is braided in an attempt to cover that side.
“This is Yris. Her parents were Syf spies who succumbed to the effects of the river water and went missing, and she wandered out of Artemysia to look for them. Ivy, Yris was captured by your commander. Yris says you helped her escape. She made it back to Artemysia.”
Yris drops Eira’s hand and waves shyly, her pale gold eyes unblinking as she stares at Ivy.
Ivy waves back, and Yris reaches for her furred tail, dark like her hair, wringing it nervously.
“Yris,” Ivy says gently, as she drops to her knees to be at eye level with the child. “I think of you often, you know. I’m happy you made it home.”
Without a word, Yris releases her tail from her anxious fingers and rushes into Ivy’s arms, clinging to her shoulders with both hands. Ivy looks surprised, glancing at me briefly as if for guidance, but instinctively scoops her up so Yris’s little face is buried in her neck.
“You helped me,” Yris’s small voice finally says. “When I was so scared and hurt.”
“I know what it’s like to be very scared and hurt,” Ivy sayssomberly, and I know right away what she must be remembering from her past life. “You’ll always be safe with me. Okay?”
My soul hurts for both of them. Back in the caves, Riev said that deep down, Ivy sought safety, so her promise to little Yris is anchored in a truth that comes only from the most harrowing pain.
Tears spill down Ivy’s rosy cheeks as she clasps Yris in her arms, and no one in the room can contain themselves. Throg is sobbing openly, even as he smiles at them. Eira says Syf adults don’t need to show emotions, but she’s weeping into her hands and collapses her forehead on my shoulder for support.
