Page 62 of Between Soul and Vessel
My eyebrows furrowed. “Why did he do that?” I asked. “Why break the old realm apart and create hundreds of others?”
“He discovered what the empress had planned, that she was going to strip all rights from males and force them into a life of slavery. He didn’t want that for his creations, and so, in a last attempt to protect what he had made, he broke the realm apart and sent them away so they could be free of her.”
I sat with that for a bit, my gaze flicking back and forth on some random spot on the table. There was still so much I didn’t understand, and in truth, knowing that the realms had been cast far into the universe made me feel . . . lonely.
Because it meant Von was way outthere, and I was here.
I reminded myself of his promise, held tight to it.
Looking up at Artemesia, I asked, “Do you know if there is any way to travel between the realms?”
“The empress can send souls to different realms, but there is no way to travel between them.”
“Ah,” I said, dragging my hand over my face.
“You look tired,” she noted.
“I am,” I answered honestly.
“Perhaps we should pause this conversation for now. I’m sure this is a lot to process,” she said, standing up from herchair.
Following her lead, I stood too, and stretched out my neck.
“Do you need anything else for the night?” she asked.
I glanced around the tent. It was a far cry from the cell I had been locked inside. “I think I’ll be fine.”
She wrapped her arms around me. “Alright. If you do need anything, you know where to find me.”
“Thank you, Artemesia. For everything.” I hugged her back.
She responded warmly, “What are sisters for?”
After she left, I peeled the clothes from my body and crawled under the soft sheets. I knew I was filthy and I should probably wash the grime from my skin, but I was too tired.
The doors to the armoire were still open. The black leather jacket very muchthere.
“I miss you,” I whispered to the darkness, longing to hear his voice.
But all that replied was lonely silence. And it was deafening.
A tear slipped down my cheek, landing on the pillowcase.Plip. Then another. And another. Until I was shaking and sobbing. Until I cried myself to sleep. But, as I would soon find out, nothing but horror awaited me there.
Sage
“Come along, girl, and be quick about it,” the empress called out after me as she thundered down the long corridor—one of hundreds inside her and her husband’s illustrious castle, forged from opal stone. My head whipped this way and that as I took it all in, my eyes bathed in splendor and riches, unlike anything I had ever seen before. The guards followed us as we began to walk down a set of winding stairs, leading into the bowels of the castle. When we reached the bottom, we walked a bit further, until we came up to a door, clad with strips of heavy iron. The guard opened it, and the empress gestured for me to go inside. “Go on.”
Hesitantly, I stepped into the room.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood.
The windows were covered with a thick, dark cloth, blocking out any natural light. In its place, wrought-ironcandelabras burned with an eerie blue flame. The room smelled of copper and honey, and . . . a sinister, tainted magic. In the middle was a horizontal slab of stone, large enough I could lay on it.
Lead filled my belly. I took a step back, colliding into something hard.
The empress’s hands landed softly on my shoulders. “All is well, my child. You have nothing to fear.”
Said the spider to the fly, my inner voice commented.
