Page 108 of Daughter of the Drowned Empire

“Cresthaven!” I screamed at the seraphim.

I sat on the edge of my seat, knuckles turning white from clutching it while Morgana crouched in the corner, hands rubbing at her temples in pain.

“She’s still in the vision,” she said darkly as the carriage landed. The whole trip had taken over a quarter of an hour.

I squeezed my eyes shut and inhaled. I had to stay calm, I had to pull Meera back. But I’d never let her be in a vision this long. Never. I didn’t know what it would do to her.

The carriage floor stilled, and I jumped up, leaping from the carriage before the seraphim fully lay down. I slid, landing awkwardly on my foot. “Fuck!” I yelled, but I kept running, ignoring the pinch forming in my ankle.

“Open the doors!” I screamed at Euston. He was alone in his post and looked startled to see me flying down the waterway. “Now!”

Euston obeyed, and the doors flung open just as I reached the promenade. I could feel the watching eyes of our sentries, hiding in their camouflaged cloaks. It didn’t matter.

I entered Cresthaven and rushed up the stairs, racing two at a time, until I could fly down the hall into Meera’s room.

Blood. That was the first thing I saw. Blood dripping down her face where she’d scratched her cheeks and at her wrists where she’d strained against the black bindings. They’d been spelled to tie her arms over her head. Identical bindings held her feet down.

Morgana had said she’d tied her to the bed, but those weren’t ties. Those were bindings. The kind Tristan had used. The kind meant to cut you off from your power. Morgana had done a shitty job of it, only managing to tie down Meera’s body and cause minor burns and cuts. It hadn’t stopped Meera’s vision, only slowed it down, prolonged it.

MORGANA!She had to get up here now and remove the bindings before they caused any more harm than they already had.

I threw myself on the bed, attempting to untie them, but they were so hot, I could barely hold onto them. If I held her down, would I hurt her more?

I straddled her hips, forcing her bowed body back against the bed, and grabbed hold of her face.

“MEERA!” I pushed her ashen hair behind her ears, across her temples, trying to find the face of my sister, the true face of Lady Meera Batavia. But all I saw was a monster. Her hazel eyes had rolled back, and all that remained was empty white.

She roared at me, her teeth gnashing and her hands straining to claw at me. Every move she made put her in contact with the bindings, and she hissed, screeching in fear and pain.

MORGANA!

“Shhh, Meera, it’s all right. Stop struggling. Meera, please. It’s me. Don’t hurt yourself.”

My words only made her double down on her fight; she perceived my presence as another threat.

I pressed my forehead against hers. I called her name. I cried out to her. It had always worked before. She came back when she heard my voice, when she saw my face. But she was screeching so loudly she couldn’t hear a word I was saying, and I wasn’t sure she could see anything.

“Meera! Meera, it’s me! It’s Lyr. Please! Please come back to me.”

She stopped struggling. Her body went rigid, and her eyes rolled back down their sockets.

Relief began to tear through me, but it came too soon. Before me appeared not hazel eyes, but black ones. They were eyes I’d never seen before. They slowly slithered from side to side, observing and assessing the room before stopping and focusing right up at me.

A salacious grin spread across Meera’s mouth, and blood dripped down her nose.

“Asherah,” she said. It wasn’t her voice. It was a sound I’d never heard come from her mouth before. Dark and gravelly, it was like ten voices, both male and female, had been fused into one. “ASHERAH! We will have you yet!”

Fear gripped me, and I lost my hold on Meera. She bucked hard enough to throw me off her body, off the bed. My back smacked against the floor.

Morgana burst into the room, one hand over her face, her fingers clawing at her hair in agony. She moaned and held up her stave, aiming wildly at Meera and the bed while I rolled away on the floor.

Blue light exploded, lighting up the room, and smoke rose from Meera’s wrists and ankles. The bindings were gone.

But the vision hadn’t ended yet.

Meera screamed and flew off the bed. She landed on top of me, and a swift punch to my face blinded my vision. I saw only white, glowing white light, twinkling like stars. Then the pain caught up with me, and tears formed.

Meera went rigid again as she was flung off my body. Morgana gave me a small nod before her own eyes rolled back, and she collapsed, her hand no longer holding onto her stave. It rolled out of her palm across the floor, just like Jules’s stave had.