Page 106 of Lady of the Drowned Empire

The akadim bells.

I jumped from my seat, my heart racing, searching for Rhyan in the chaos of the field.

I needed to get to Cresthaven. To Meera and Morgana. To see them, protect them. Know they were safe. The same horror I’d felt before was surging through me, overwhelming me, overpowering me.

All at once, I was back in the Temple of Dawn, panicking, scared, barely escaping with Rhyan from the akadim that had attacked me, that had killed Leander, killed Haleika.

Time seemed to slow.

I felt the akadim wrap its claws around me, hoist me into the air, felt its hunger for me, for my soul.

“Soturion Lyriana!” Imperator Kormac yelled. His voice was amplified and rose above the screaming of the clock towers. A dozen wolves followed behind him.

My stomach hollowed. I found Rhyan fighting his way across the field toward me. Aemon was behind the magically bound ropes of the habibellum, screaming at the Katurium mage to release the soturi, his gaze tracking me in the stands.

The Imperator yelled my name again, louder this time. Soturi were getting up from their seats, scrambling to leave the arena.

My heart hammered as the bells rang louder, and I found Galen. He frowned, standing up, horror and pain in his eyes, before brandishing his dagger in his hand, his body angling protectively in front of me.

“I’ll get you to Hart,” he said quietly.

“MOVE!” the Imperator yelled from down the stands. “Make a path to her.”

Galen glared at the Imperator and back to me, his face full of confusion.

Akadim were attacking. Akadim had breached Bamaria again the day after the Imperator’s fucking task force had returned. He was supposed to be taking his soturi to fight them and calling the task force back into action. Protocol demanded I go to Cresthaven to be with my family.

But, of course, he wasn’t doing any of that. He wasn’t doing one fucking thing he should have.

Why was he coming for me?

Soturi were now scrambling in every direction, climbing to higher seats or jumping to the emptied rows below. The Imperator approached with the Bastardmaker at his side, his red cloak swinging at his back as he pushed any soturion who didn’t move away quickly enough.

Viktor returned to my side, his lips curled into a sneer as he grabbed my arms, pulling them behind my back.

“Hands off her, Kormac,” Galen shouted.

In the distance, Rhyan was breaking free of the bindings on the field, calling my name.

“No,” Viktor yelled. His fist swung, and Galen barely dodged the hit. “She’s ours now.”

“Back the fuck off, Kormac. There’s a protocol.”

“I know,” Viktor said, tightening his grip on me.

“Lyr!” A yell sounded from down the field. Rhyan was racing toward the stadium’s wall. He picked up speed and leapt, landing just beyond the first row of raised seats. He gripped the banister, pulling himself up.

Rhyan climbed up the wall, threw himself over it, and raced up the rows of the stands, punching out anyone who got in his way. Aemon climbed up next, taking off behind him, both of them shouting my name.

Imperator Kormac had reached my row.

“Let her go!” Rhyan yelled, rushing for Viktor.

I shook my head. No, no. He couldn’t get in trouble—not with Imperator Kormac, not with his father watching nearby. Missing a few hours of a shift and having Sean cover was one thing, but this could get him thrown out of Bamaria and right back inside his father’s prison.

“Galen!” I yelled, jerking my chin at Rhyan.

He nodded once and took off, intercepting Rhyan just in time.