Artemis and Caspian: The Spy

Chapter Thirty Four

Caspian bit down on his lip as he pulled gauze tightly across a duke's arm.

"Ow!"

"Sorry," he said, only half meaning it. The duke shot him an indignant glare loaded with pent-up disgust.

"Not so tight."

When the duke turned his head, Caspian made a face, silently mouthing the rude words mockingly under his breath. It was people like this that made his day job that much more annoying, but the warlock shrugged. It wasn't that he minded the work, he didn't and he enjoyed the sense of elation he felt when he watched patients leave with their days brighter. He was beginning to see why Artemis disliked Deacon but the man did have sense. The warlock was doing valuable work here in Meridan. Seeing patients took his mind off the war, off the casualties, off Artemis, and he did constantly think about Artemis.

When he let his mind wander over to her he tried his best to think of the good times. Her smile, her laugh, the way dark hair framed the beautiful perimeter of her face. Sometimes it was all too painful to think about. Even though she seemed to be coming out of her dark, creepy, reclusive phase, Caspian couldn't help worrying. He knew her too well. A moment of normalcy was easily replaced by several days of paranoia, but how could he blame her? If he had the power to kill hundreds with nothing but a sideways glance, he'd be a little stressed out too. But perhaps it was his turn to be paranoid. The warlock couldn't get the images of those poisons out of his mind. What by all the gods did she need with those? The impatient duke broke him out of his thoughts by groaning, loudly. Caspian let go of his arm quickly like it was hot to the touch.

"Your arm is completely healed. Keep it wrapped for a little until you get feeling back. Shouldn't take more than five minutes."

Without another word, the duke stood up and huffed out of the room muttering critical remarks within earshot. When he was out of sight, Caspian stood up and rolled his eyes, marching over to the door. Peeking out into the hallway, he sighed a breath of relief, it was empty. Quickly collecting his things, he hastily made his way out, thankful to have a moment's peace. He made it a ways before realizing how fast he was walking. Still, his mind swirled with thoughts of her. He needed to see her. To anyone, he looked like a man excited to see the woman he loved, which was the motive he decided to go with, but behind the excitement was fear. His subconscious mind needed to know what she was doing with those poisons. When he eventually reached her door, she was buried in her work. Artemis ran from one side of her room to another, holding up vials of poison close to the window against the sunlight, squinting to get a better look at the murky contents inside. She would tap a bottle a few times then race back to the other side of the room, furiously scribbling notes on an off-hand, scattered piece of paper. Caspian frowned as he knocked on her door frame.

"Hello?"

She turned and gave him a brilliant smile, waving him into her room.

"Hi, hey, come in, come in!" She skittered across the room to give the warlock a quick kiss.

"What are we doing?" he asked nervously, hoping it would show as playful skepticism.

"Come here." Artemis grabbed Cas by the hand and practically dragged him to her desk, triumphantly pointing to an open page in a book.

"What's this?"

Artemis pulled out a wooden chair and plopped down in it, barely taking a second to breathe as she looked at Caspian with eyes filled with something he hadn't seen in a long time. Hope.

"I found a spell that could be what I'm looking for. It looks like I can use it to kill a hundred people at once. It just needs to be translated. I've looked at some old Celestian books down in the castle library and I think I'm onto something."