Page 131 of Daughter of the Drowned Empire

A wicked smile spread across his lips. “Did you truly believe that mere nahashim could scent what you truly are? Could find the well of your power? No. For they’ve never encountered your kind before.”

My heart pounded, but I kept my lips closed, fearful I’d ask a question, fearful I’d give myself away. What did that mean? What couldn’t the nahashim see? What was I?

“Wait and see.” Mercurial watched me like a cat. “Wait and see.”

He vanished again, reappearing in the stands. The diamonds on his arms and legs, centered in gold and silver whorls, caught the light and sparkled.

By now, the arena’s field was filling with soturi, including Haleika and Galen, who fussed over me, wanting to make sure I was still recovering and would take it easy.

I joined Rhyan, dropping into a lunge beside him, my fingers digging into the dirt, my breathing even. He didn’t look at me, only continued with his sequence of stretches.

At last, he turned to me, his gaze blazing as he met mine. “Did you think about it?” he asked, voice low.

I nodded. “Yes. And yes. I want to train with you. I want to learn what you know.”

His eyes moved back and forth slowly, taking me in. There was something unspoken there—an agreement, and acknowledgment of our other arrangement. That if we did this, if we trained in secret—that would be all it was. Nothing more. We could be friends. We could only ever be friends. Both of our lives depended on it.

I tilted my head, and he visibly relaxed.

“Not this week,” he said. “Let your back heal first.” The clouds in the sky began to shift, a breeze pushing them out, revealing the morning sun. “At the week’s end. We begin.”

“At the week’s end.”

The bells rang, the hour was called, and I took off, feeling stronger than I had in a long time. I was surrounded by my enemies, by silver wolves, black seraphim, and blue Afeya.

Mercurial’s words replayed in my head. He wanted something from me, saw something inside of me—some potential I wasn’t aware existed. I didn’t know if I believed him, that I was something else, something more than those snakes could see. But even if he was lying…he wanted something from me.

I pumped my arms at my sides, the knowledge that there may be power inside of me spurring me on. And for the first time ever, I passed a soturion on the track. I pumped my arms even harder, thinking of Valyati, the coming winter holiday, and the Emperor’s visit and my test.

I would train. I would be ready. And I would survive whatever he threw at me.

I imagined a rope in my mind, and as my feet hit the ground and I rounded a curve in the track I saw in my mind’s eye my hands gripping the rope, tearing in half.

I was going to find my own strength. I was going to put a stop to the Emartis, to the occupation of Ka Kormac in Bamaria.

I was going to reclaim my power.

I shifted in my lane, getting ready to pass another soturion.

I will come to claim a favor that only you in all your power can grant.Mercurial’s voice echoed in my mind. He appeared, running beside me, his lean blue limbs quickly gaining speed. The diamonds on his bared arms and legs blinding me with their light. And then he vanished.

Rhyan’s form replaced him on the track. Our eyes met, and for a moment, the coolness of his aura calmed me, his energy wiping out the unsettling feeling of Mercurial’s presence.

But a dark laugh still echoed in my mind.

You’re the fire.