Page 57 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
My stomach twists.
Is that why my father keeps her?
“The only syrith in his harem, from what I’ve seen, the few times I’ve been to his palace.”
A tense moment passes.
“Let us see where fate leads me.”
The Adam’s apple of Lucen’s throat dips.
His eyes close, accepting death.
And Ifoldaway.
RAIA
How the fuck has Thessaly’s home already been sold? And by whom?My father?The city of Narudi?
Panic throbs in my veins with the sense of urgency for me to leave before one of my father’s minions can find me, but I can’t go to Caerwynath empty-handed, and blessedly, Thessaly’s shop is still cordoned off and relatively intact.
My eyes scan the skies, every lamp post, alcove, roof, and ledge, desperate to find Horus.
Gods, where are you?
My search is fruitless. Ifolddirectly into Thessaly’s office and, immediately, my eyes begin to burn with grief as my gaze passes over the organized-disarray of his so-called filing system.
Papers, notes, books, ledgers, receipts, and nicknacks line every inch of his desk.
You were such a beautiful little disaster.
And you’d still be alive if it weren’t for me.
I swear I can hear Thessaly’s scoff from behind the veil.“Don’t be so dramatic.”
Dragging the desk from against the wall precisely three feet, I stare at a lumpy section of drywall.
Tears streak down my cheeks as the memory invades my mind.
Thessaly and I kneel in front of a misshapen spot of drywall otherwise hidden behind his desk. “Just in case anything ever happens?—”
I roll my eyes at him. “Nothing is going to happen. I forbid it.”
Thessaly’s expression is warm. Adoring. “Darling, as much power as your words hold, your will is not the only one at play here.”
My brows cinch together at the foreboding words. The moment I open my mouth, Thessaly promptly presses one long slender finger to my lips. “And we must be prepared,” he adds firmly. “Understood?”
Shaking my head, I force away the memory before kneeling in front of the wall, knocking six times on the innocuous-looking, deliberately botched masonry, and murmuring the incantation Thessaly taught me.
His personal safe hits the ground in front of me with an abrasive thud, contents chiming from within.
After collectingthe contents of Thessaly’s safe, plus a few of his favorite trinkets and other implements, Ifoldback outside of his shop.Please, please, please be here.
Yet when I look around, Horus is still nowhere to be seen.
The streets are crowded and bustling in the mid-morning light.
I probably look deranged. Blood-splattered, sleep-deprived, and tear-stricken.
