Page 102 of Lady of the Drowned Empire

Jace and Akillus were both racing for the monsters with swords in their right hands and daggers in their left. Meera pulled her stave from her belt.

“What do we do?” she asked, her chest heaving.

“We stay back here. Let the soturi fight them.”

The first akadim swiped its claws at Akillus, slicing him across the face. With a cry, Meera’s escort fell to his knees, blood gushing from his cheek.

Come on! I pleaded, stepping back into the ocean, pulling Meera with me. Come on! Jace, Akillus, you’ve got this! You’ve got this!

They were seasoned soturi, picked to be our guards for a reason. They had been trained to stop Akadim. Lyr had done it. Rhyan had done it. If they could do it, our guards could, too. It was going to be fine. We were going to be okay.

But even I knew we needed backup.

Akadim! I thought desperately. He could help, too. He would know what to do. HELP! Akadim in Cresthaven!

There was no response from him. Only silence. Fuck.

“Where’s your vadati?” I asked Meera, grabbing the collar of her dress and searching for a necklace.

I don’t have it, it’s in my room. Her eyes filled with tears. I’m sorry.

The second akadim, with red hair hanging in long tufts from its head, picked up Jace by his shoulders. It whirled around, its huge feet slamming into the sand, and sent Jace flying. He crashed face first into Akillus’s golden armor. There was a loud, unnatural-sounding crack—like bone splintering. Both men collapsed in a bloody heap, their limbs tangled. They each had at least one broken arm and leg. If they woke up, they weren’t going to be much help.

Shit. Shit. Shit!

How could they get in? Meera thought desperately. How could they get this far? When did they learn to ride seraphim?

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. But we need to find a way to kill them.”

Meera held out her stave, glowing with blue light. I felt mine warm in my hand, the heat spreading to my wrist just as the red eyes of an akadim turned on us. It was the first one—slightly taller, with long, stringy black hair.

“Stand back!” I screamed.

“By the Gods,” Meera yelled. “We became akadim in my vision.” She was starting to panic.

“No!” I screamed. “Not all of your visions come true!” Someone had to be coming, had to hear us, help us. We were on the grounds of Cresthaven, our own fortress—the one place we were supposed to be safe, that was crawling with soturi trained to protect us.

But thanks to me, our soturi had no idea we were on the beach.

I screamed, and so did Meera, but the akadim was advancing on us while its partner lifted Jace into its arms.

Jace groaned, his body hanging limply, his leg twisted at the knee, as the red-haired beast used its claws to slice off the hooks of Jace’s armor. His golden seraphim shoulders fell to the ground unceremoniously, and the armor protecting his torso followed with a thud.

The akadim licked its lips and threw Jace face down at its feet. Jace’s moan of pain was muffled by the sand as the monster bent over and ripped off Jace’s pants.

“JACE!” I screamed.

My hands were shaking, my feet were going numb. The water was freezing, rising past the tops of my boots and knees. My dress was soaking and heavy, an endless weight, threatening to pull me down into the depths of the icy waters.

I couldn’t faint. I couldn’t faint. But the akadim was leaning over Jace, and it was about…about to—

“NO!” roared the dark-haired akadim, its voice gravelly. It turned its head just enough to see the red-haired akadim gripping Jace’s hips, pulling his ass toward it. “No time.” The sound of its words was grating on my ears, and I winced, seeing Meera screw up her face in pain.

“Glemata!” Meera yelled. Blue sparks flew from her stave in a freezing spell—one she’d mastered. It would have been the perfect spell to stop the akadim, but it bounced off the beast. Akadim were impervious to magic.

Both of our attackers moved faster, long arms swinging at their sides. They grunted as they approached while our feet slipped and slid on the uneven terrain of the water, more of our dresses being pulled into the tide. Water and sand filled my boots.

Jace groaned in the distance. One eye opened, and he watched us in horror, unable to move, unable to cover himself or help us. “Morgana!” he mouthed desperately. Blood dripped from his forehead.