Page 124

“Eathan….” I swallowed, feeling my throat go dry. “What happened? Aren’t all the akadim dead?”

He looked away, his jaw tensing.

“Eathan?” I turned to Rhyan, who stood a few feet behind me, a respectable distance, the distance one might expect between a novice and apprentice or a bodyguard and his charge. “Aemon reported all the akadim were dead.”

Eathan cleared his throat. “The three akadim who entered Bamaria have all been killed.” He spoke slowly, his words so obviously chosen with care that I knew he was hiding something from me.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

In the corner, I caught Lady Romula. She leaned against Lord Trajan, her shoulders shaking. Beside them was Tristan. His face was red, his eyes puffy. When he saw me, he turned away, putting a hand on his grandmother’s arm, reassuring her.

My stomach sank. “Eathan, what’s going on?”

“Come,” he said at last. “Not out here.”

I narrowed my gaze but did as I was told, following Eathan to my father’s Seating Room. It had been vacated recently—possibly after Eathan had announced whatever he was about to tell me. He held the door open for Rhyan, assuming I was not to be separated from my guard, and locked the door behind him.

“You should take a seat,” Eathan said, his voice hoarse, and I saw then his eyes were red, his face drawn.

I looked to Rhyan and then back at Eathan, my heart starting to race. Had something else happened? To Meera? To Morgana?

Gods, my father wasn’t here. What if…?

“Eathan, are my sisters here?” I asked.

“Of course.”

“Safe? Unharmed?”

“They’re safe upstairs. And your father is safe, too, as is Arianna and Naria.” He coughed.

I nodded slowly, my stomach turning. “Okay,” I said, uncertainty and fear washing through me.

Eathan’s nostrils flared as he continued, “Three akadim entered Bamaria tonight,” he said. “They managed to remain unseen, breaching not only the border but Urtavia. One of the demons even entered the temple tonight. That akadim was killed by the Blade. There were no casualties inside.”

I nodded, waiting for the knot in my stomach to loosen. Thank the Gods no one in the temple was killed. But…outside the temple….

Eathan offered a small smile. “I hear, Soturion Rhyan, that Bamaria is indebted to you once again for slaying an akadim. You were responsible for the second and in doing so saved the lives of many of our soturi.”

“Hector?” I asked. “Caius?”

“Injured,” he said. “But all of the soturi stationed outside the temple are expected to make a full recovery.”

“And the third akadim?” I asked.

My heart hammered. This was the one that had grabbed me, that I’d stabbed, that had almost killed me, that would have killed me if Rhyan hadn’t been there—hadn’t traveled.

Eathan’s eyes moved between me and Rhyan, like he was trying to delay his next words. “The final akadim was killed by Soturion Leander Abden of Damara.”

Haleika’s apprentice. I sucked in a breath.

Eathan’s gray eyes were on me, watching me carefully, assessing me. “Soturion Leander made the killing blow, but he did not survive.”

My mouth fell open. Leander…Leander was dead?

“Gods,” Rhyan said.

“He was….” Eathan trailed off. “He was defending his novice.”