Page 83 of Slaying the Vampire Conqueror

I slipped my hand from his shirt and extracted myself from his lap as gracefully as I could manage. I was determined not to show that I was shaken. Yet I was so aware of the way his throat bobbed when his gaze ran up my body, and the way he tensed when I stepped away from him.

Not tonight.I wasn’t sure what that meant. Did that mean,Another night?

I had taken a chastity vow. Yes, I had seduced men—and women—many times in the course of my missions. It never made it as far as sex. But for some Sisters, I knew it had. Everyone knew. Even the Sightmother. Even, of course, Acaeja. We accepted it as a sacrifice for the greater good and looked the other way.

I couldn’t think about that.

I gave him a smile that tried to be charming, but probably looked weaker than I intended. “You’re right,” I said. “It’s gotten late?—”

I started to turn away, but Atrius caught my wrist.

A long moment of silence stretched out between us. He stared at me with those eyes that seemed to skewer right through me.

And just when I thought he didn’t have anything to say at all, he spoke. Four words in Obitraen.

“What did that mean?” I asked.

He just shook his head and let me go. “Take care of your brother,” he murmured, and turned to the fire.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Naro did not improve over the next several days. Instead, his condition deteriorated. This went far beyond injuries from the battle. Pythoraseed addiction was a greedy beast. Withdrawal set in fast, and once it had you, it would keep devouring until there was nothing left but a shell. It was almost always deadly.

Soon, Naro was delirious. He was rarely awake. When he was, he was unaware of the world, spitting out slurred collections of words that didn’t qualify as sentences. I remained by his side, and no one bothered me, even though there was plenty of work to be done before the army moved north again.

I knew that Atrius had ordered that I was not to be disturbed. But I tried not to think too much about Atrius—about the kiss—when I was at Naro’s side.

I had hoped that Naro might be one of the lucky ones who would be able to get through withdrawal. I didn’t know why I bothered dreaming of this. I wasn’t one to let myself drown in silly, baseless hopes. And itwassilly—even those early in their addiction usually died in withdrawal, and I had no reason to think that Naro, someone who had apparently been at the Thorn King’s side for a decade now, had any chance at all.

Before long, Naro was never conscious and struggled to breathe, constantly drenched in sweat, his skin clammy and gray-tinged. Hisfingertips had grown dark, mottled red. His body no longer knew how to function without Pythoraseed.

I hated myself for the decision I made then. In the middle of the day—one of our last days in Vasai—I rose from Naro’s bedside and wandered through the palace halls. The place had been gutted, Atrius’s men having spent the last weeks rummaging through all the rooms, stripping them of supplies and weapons stores.

Tarkan had controlled his entire army through Pythoraseed. I knew there had to be some here. Probably a lot. Yet as I raided room after room, my frustration grew. Threads were superior to eyesight in almost every way—but in this situation, my lack of eyesight didn’t help me. Drugs had no soul. No threads. The only way I could find them would be by searching like anyone else. And so I searched, and searched, and searched. Hours passed. I found nothing. When I reached the final door on the second floor and opened it to an empty room, I let out a frustrated sigh that ended in a sob.

Naro was going to die. He was going to die, and I couldn’t help him.

I felt Atrius’s presence behind me before I saw him. And yet, despite feeling him so acutely, he still was better at sneaking up on me than anyone.

I froze. He stared. Neither of us said anything for too long.

I had finally started to gain Atrius’s trust. Maybe more than that. And then I had pulled away. That had jeopardized everything I was here to do.

I started, “I was just?—”

Atrius held out his hand. A small velvet pouch sat in his palm.

My mouth closed. I didn’t need to open it to know exactly what this was.

“Take it,” he said. “This is what you’re looking for.”

It was pointedly not a question. He knew exactly what I was doing, and the depths of my shame swallowed me up.

But I wasn’t so ashamed that I didn’t take it.

I closed my hand around the pouch. In turn, Atrius’s closed around mine, stopping me from pulling away.

“I’m destroying most of it,” he said. “All but thesmallest amounts we can keep on hand for the people who will die without it. But even they likely won’t live long.”

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