Page 178 of City of Snakes
On the windowsill sat a full cup of blue tea. I lifted it and smelled—the earthy, sweet scent of garrot root.Fuck.I prayed to any Source Origin listening that she had not drank that tea. Her sword, bow, and quiver lay discarded on the floor. She would be defenseless.
My muscles seized up against my will.
“Hello, nephew. I knew you would come for her.”
A cloaked figure stepped from the shadows of the kitchen with a painful slowness. As Caym’s boots stopped in front of me and I met the eyes of Death, all air left my lungs.
“Stygian,” I hissed.
My ex-Commander stood before me. The man who had betrayed me centuries ago by leading the massacre in Phynx.
“I don’t go by that name any longer.”
“Krait?” Ryn burst through the door of the flat, looking winded. Damn loyal bastard.
“Run!” I shouted to my dearest friend. He needed to get out of here, but instead, he’d drawn his sword, ready to fight for me.
Ryn launched himself at Stygian, the mastermind behind so much destruction. My friend froze next to me mid-charge, sword up, and a wicked smile crept across Caym’s face.
Fuck.
With all of Isolde’s power returned, we were doomed. How does one battle the inevitability of Death? I feared for Sybilla, feared for us all.
“Prince Toth, your sister’s death gave me much power—so very sweet. Yes, she was such a willing servant, albeit only for a short while. I wonder if your Death will taste like hers.” Caym licked his upper teeth.
My jaw clenched. He had no right to mention Freya.
I scanned the flat once more, looking for signs of Sybilla. I would not let him draw me in with lies about my dead wife. I would not let him push me back into that abyss of anger. That was exactly what he wanted.
“Where is she?” I ground out.
Caym lifted a hand toward Ryn. “Don’t be concerned with the young Isleen—she will live on by my side as she was meant to. But my brother’s line ends with you.”
Ryn turned on me, face blank. My boots felt stuck to the floor as he approached me, drawing up his sword. I tried to scream, tried to reach out to him, but not a muscle moved. The whites of Ryn’s eyes went wide as he realized what Caym would compel him to do.
A droplet of sweat ran down my forehead as Ryn approached. Silenced and still, I stood helpless against Death.
Ryn pulled back his sword, ready to cut through the air and slice through my neck. My eyes welled.
Internally, I screamed out to her.
“Sybilla. You are my eternity. You always were.”
Chapter 58
Emmerick
Firose approached my cot silently, but her eyes begged for distraction from our shit predicament. I sat, propped against a stone wall and patted the space next to me.
Instead of sitting, she curled up beside me and placed her head in my lap, facing away from me. I gently rubbed her shoulder, half trying to comfort her and half trying to calm my own anxiety. For Sybilla to have shown mercy, whatever she had seen in Firose’s memories must have been horrific.
Soon I may be cursed to sleep for who knows how long, but Firose…what would they do to her? My heart clenched at the thought. She’d stayed quiet since we’d arrived here, and I’d been too afraid to ask her what was running through her head. This was the first moment of tenderness we’d shared since she had been Ryssa to me.
Since Sybilla had left with Darvanda to the northern region of the Sahlms, it felt like a weight had lifted off me.
I wasn’t too big of a fool not to have realized her feelings for the Sahlmsaran King. My boyish ideals of her had been squashed, but she was still my dearest friend. For that, I would work on removing the view of her I’d crafted in my head as someone to be won.
A sound rang out, loud enough to vibrate the metal bars of the dungeon. The bell tower above began ringing with each second. I squeezed Firose’s shoulder.
