Page 183 of Lady of the Drowned Empire

“Who’s coming?”

“Maraak,” it said, its voice lowered in reverence. “He wants you both bathed for the meeting.”

“Maraak?” I asked, my mind flitting through High Lumerian for the translation. Fuck, Lyr would know. Then I remembered. It meant king. I narrowed my eyes at the akadim. “Who is your Maraak?”

“Moriel,” it said.

Moriel was a god. Moriel was gone. Moriel hadn’t walked this earth in centuries.

But neither had Asherah.

“No,” I yelled. “I will not bathe for him. I do not take orders from dead gods.”

“BATHE,” the akadim roared, now coming for me, its claws out. I was going to be stripped, too, my dress torn to pieces.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Meera being herded into the water, her body vanishing beneath the clear blue. Her akadim kneeled at the edge, grabbing her hair and pulling her back, forcing her head under water.

“STOP!” I screamed.

But then it pulled Meera back up and removed a bottle of shampoo from a basket I hadn’t noticed. It was actually bathing her.

I’m okay, Meera thought, trying to add a note of bravery to her thoughts. It’s strange. But I’m okay. I think it’s safe to get in.

A part of me wanted to. I desperately wanted a bath. A hot one. And soap. I wanted rooms full of soap to rub against my body. In every scent that ever existed. I wanted to bathe for a week. I’d never felt this disgusting in my life.

But I’d be damned before I let one of these monsters force me into the water, bathe me against my will like a child, touch me with their undead hands.

“I will not,” I roared. “If your Godsdamned King Moriel wants me bathed, then he can clean me himself. Until then,” I gestured at my soiled dress and hair, “he caused this mess. He did this to me. If he really is here, if he really has deigned to walk the earth again, and he really wants to meet me, then the least he can do is smell the stench of what he caused.”

The room suddenly darkened, not from lack of torchlight, but an aura. One that was familiar. One I’d felt thunder through Bamaria more times than I could count. It was shadowy, deep, dark, and full of death and rage.

I could feel something ancient, too. Something unleashed that hadn’t been there before. Something that had been hidden, tempered for years, and was now free.

The akadim fell to their knees, prostrate and whimpering.

Boots echoed down the hall.

You were saying? The thought entered my mind, sharp as a knife, clear as it had been the first time he’d spoken to me this way.

My hands were shaking. My knees were buckling.

This couldn’t be. He couldn’t be—

He stepped into the cavern. If you want me to give you a bath, kitten, you know I’d be more than willing. But you should also know that after I scrub the dirt and grime from your body, I’ll be feasting on it. Exactly the way you like it.

“No,” I cried. “No. No.” He couldn’t be. He couldn’t have done this. “I trusted you!”

Men lie, he thought. You knew that well. But here’s what you didn’t know, Morgana. Gods also lie.

You fucking bastard!

My head was swimming. His thoughts like dark shadows beating against every corner of my mind. And somewhere in the back of it, I could hear Meera. Hear her shock. Her disgust. Her betrayal as she recognized his face.

His eyes darkened as he walked toward me, the akadim still bowed, cowering in fear.

“You!” Meera yelled.

But he only shook his head. “Later.”