Page 107 of Between Soul and Vessel
“Hold that thought,” I said, blowing air through my lips as I returned to the door and cracked it open.
“You would not believe what the asshole said to me,” Artemesia growled, her eyes filled with fire. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah,” I answered, taking a step back so she could enter.
“Von, your brother is a real piece of work,” Artemesia snarled, her mouth snapping shut as she saw Kaleb. “Oh . . . hey, Kaleb.”
He raised a hand, waving at her as he remained laid out on the bed.
“Am I interrupting something?” Artemesia asked.
Kaleb sat up. “No, it’s fine. Everyone else knows, so you might as well know too. Fallon and I were together. Actually, I had planned to propose to her, but she cheated on me with Ryker.”
“Oh shit,” Artemesia said, sitting beside him. “Do you need me to go kick her ass?”
Von cracked a grin. Kaleb did too. Their gazes connected—an unspoken message shared between the two.
“What’sthatabout?” I asked, my finger flicking between them.
Kaleb chuckled. “That’s what Von said you would say when I told you about Fallon and Ryker, so it’s funny that’s what Artemesiasaid. You two are definitely sisters.”
“I mean . . . I will,” Artemesia said with a shrug. “I haven’t known you for a long time, but I can tell you are a good person.ThatFallongirl has no idea what she’s missing out on.”
“Thank you,” Kaleb sighed.
“Of course,” she replied.
“When did this happen?” I asked, sitting on the other side of him.
“Shortly after we arrived here. When we emerged from the river, we were split up from them. They said they ate some berries, and the next thing they knew, it just happened—as if theberrieshad convinced them to do it. Can you believe that?Blaming it on berries?” Kaleb scoffed as he shook his head.
“Actually . . .” Artemesia gave him an apologetic look. “I hate to tell you this, but if they were surrenderberries, which are known to grow at the foot of mountains, then I can believe it.”
“Surrenderberries?” Kaleb asked, curiously tilting his head to the side.
Artemesia nodded. “As the name implies, they weaken inhibitions and make one surrender to their desires. They areso powerful that one alone can do the job. However, the more one eats, the more powerful they become. Castalia, the ancient Goddess of Trickery and one of Empress Avena’s sisters, was said to be the creator of them. As the story goes, Avena went to her sister and asked for her aid in helping her advance her relations with the emperor. And so, Castalia made them and instructed her sister to have the emperor eat them. It wasn’t too long after that their nuptials were announced and she became empress. They say up until the day the emperor died, she always had some put in his wine, unbeknownst to him.”
I thought back to the memory I had recently recovered, of when I’d sat with the emperor and the empress in the great amphitheater, known as the Crest of Salvation. We had drunk wine—wine I had found all too easy to toss into Von’s face. Had he deserved it at the time? Perhaps. Although I didn’t fully understand the context of my actions, I could remember how freely they came to me. How easy it had been to surrender to my wants. It made me wonder . . . had the empress drugged both the emperor and I with her surrenderberry wine?
Granite filled my stomach—she wasn’t the only one who had done that to me.
Aurelius had done the same, but instead of wine, he’d used his ichor.
This is how things will be for you now, Moonbeam, his ghost whispered in my ear. I could taste his ichor on my tongue, feel it pouring down my throat into my belly. The bed dipped under his weight as he crawled over the top ofme.
No!
My body tensed, knowing what was going to happen next.
He’s not here,I reminded myself, chanting the words like a mantra until I broke free from the memory.
I glanced down at my shaking hands. Swiftly, I tucked them beneath my legs. I didn’t dare look at Von, but I couldfeelhis eyes boring into me.
“I haven’t spoken to Fallon since it happened,” Kaleb said with a sigh.
“Perhaps that might be a good place to start,” Artemesia replied, giving him a sympathetic smile.
Kaleb blew out a breath of air, tipping his head from side to side as he weighed her suggestion. Finally, he said, “Yeah, I suppose maybe I should.”
