Page 107 of Severed Heir

“I found the egg,” I said. “I kept it. When it hatched, it chose me.”

Cully set down his teacup, smacked his lips, then blinked. “Interesting… vermison usually tastes salty. But the lemon masked it well.” His head snapped up. “Severyn—”

“What’s vermison?” I asked, a slow chill crawling over my skin.

His voice dropped. “A truth elixir. He drugged us.”

I stared at Lasar. “You poisoned us?”

He leaned back, running a hand over the pelt draped across the couch. “A rebel journalist and a disgraced heir wander onto my land. Forgive the precaution. Now… tell me again about the lindworm.”

The burn hit my throat like molten iron. I tried to fight it, but the truth surged up anyway. “I found the egg my first day. In a cave. I kept it hidden. When it hatched… it attacked me.”

Lasar’s eyes gleamed. “Then Archer Lynch is innocent. The creature found you.”

Cully’s tone flattened, edged with disbelief. “Some might say you just violated us. Truth elixirs are banned in most realms, you know.”

Lasar didn’t flinch. “We have no allegiance. You wandered onto my land, I needed to protect myself.”

Cully’s jaw flexed, but Lasar’s voice pressed on, calm and unnervingly composed. “If you’re headed to the prison, you’ll need more than hope to get in. I saw your truth. That makes me a witness.”

I glared at him, the burn still lingering in my throat. “You forced the truth from us.”

He gave a dismissive wave. “The effects will wear off by dawn.” Then he leaned forward, the warm light catching in his pale eyes. “But tell me—how do you plan to breach the prison? The moment you cross the ward line, a poison far crueler than vermison will lace your blood.”

“I… hadn’t thought that far.”

Cully blinked. “What?”

I winced. “I didn’t know.”

He stared at me like I’d grown a second head. “You dragged me out of bed, in my gods-damned sleepwear without a plan?”

“You were the plan,” I muttered. “I thought journalists had access. I didn’t even know for sure if you were still at Malvoria, I just… took a chance.”

Lasar’s lips curved faintly. “Then allow me to offer a solution. Gryshion berries. They dull the reaction of ward triggers for a short time. They grow wild on my land, and I’ve cultivated them properly.” He paused, then added, “Two berries, in exchange for an alliance with Demetria.”

Cully scoffed. “What is it with you and drugs?”

“Herbs,” Lasar corrected coolly.

My pulse quickened. “So that’s what this is? You lure me here with tea and sympathy, pretend you cared back at the academy, all for a gods-damned barter?”

His voice dropped. “And what I seek isn’t power. It’s starlight. Gift me stars, and you’ll have your way into the prison.”

“Starlight?” I echoed, unsettled. “What does that even mean?”

Lasar didn’t answer at first. Instead, he lifted his chin, and for a moment, I swore there was sorrow in his eyes. “There are things this land has never known. It has never seen stars. My wife… she painted constellations on the ceiling before she passed.”

Beside me, Cully’s grip tightened on my sleeve. “We’ll find another way,” he said. “One that doesn’t involve ingesting illegal herbs.”

“There is no other way,” I said softly.

Cully groaned. “At the very least, I’d like time to research the effects of mixing vermison with gryshion berries. Preferably on the digestive track.”

“We don’t have time to read a book on organs and herbs, Cully.”

“They’re harmless,” Lasar said.

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