Page 57 of Lady of the Drowned Empire

“Again?” Morgana asked.

With a pained sigh, Rhyan nodded in response.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, searching his eyes, which had darkened.

“I’m being called away,” he said, voice low. “They found two more nests. At least two dozen akadim in each, they believe. The Elyrian border.”

“Two dozen?” A month ago, it had been unheard of for akadim to be even a dozen strong in our territory. Forget a dozen working together. These nests were new and frightening enough, but it felt like overnight, that number had doubled. And Elyria was far too close. Gods, how many more akadim could have ransacked Bamaria if we hadn’t stopped the threat?

“The Imperator called a meeting. Just after,” Rhyan eyed our surroundings, looking suspiciously at Morgana before turning back to me, “after you left.”

“Shit.” I wanted to reach forward and take his hand. I wanted to hug him. To hold him. To squeeze him in my arms and never let go. But I couldn’t. Not in public. And not when things felt so unsettled between us. We hadn’t touched each other since his finger had inched toward mine this morning. For the first time, he hadn’t taken me back to my apartment, instead saying goodbye at his door. “When do you have to go?”

“In an hour,” he said. “We’re expected at the Katurium. We’re heading out on seraphim and ashvan.”

“An hour?” I asked, my heart sinking.

“I’m here,” he said. “I’m packed. I’ll research with you until it’s time.”

I was breathing heavily, my stomach roiling at the thought of him out there hunting akadim. It always left me anxious, even if he was one of the most accomplished soturi at killing them. Leander had also been a powerful soturion. There were no guarantees when these demons were involved.

“I’m going to be okay,” he said. “I’ll stay in touch as often as I can.”

My chest felt tight. “You make it sound like you’re going for a long time.”

He shrugged. “The other nests were empty. And there was only one before. The akadim scattered quickly. They’re guessing we’ll be gone longer. And this time, the Imperator wants us to keep hunting. Wants, I guess, some credit for his new task force. We might have to go beyond the Empire. Track them into human lands.”

Zenoya returned with a cart full of scrolls a moment later, her stave out to roll the cart wheels forward. “Sit,” she said, gesturing at an open table. She eyed Rhyan. “Guards are waiting out front. Unless you actually like to read.”

“I do,” Rhyan said coolly. He sat in the first open seat, pushing his bag against the table’s leg. He began sliding scrolls from the cart onto the table, passing them to me and Morgana as we sat across from him. Though he kept a suspicious eye on the half-Afeyan.

“Hmmm.” Zenoya looked him up and down. “I better go keep an eye on the men out front. When they get bored, they start to make messes, and I hate to clean. My librarians are all available to you, my lady.” She bowed to Morgana. “My lady,” she said again, bowing to me. Then she looked to Rhyan, a question in her eyes.

“Not ‘my lady,’” he said. “Also, not ‘my lord.’”

“Soturion, then.” Zenoya turned and strutted back toward Jace who was standing watch before the pyramid’s entry hall.

When we were alone, Morgana leaned forward and asked in a low voice, “When was the last time the Valalumir heated up?”

“Yesterday.” I closed my eyes, remembering. “After we lost the diadems.”

“And not since?” she asked.

I was acutely aware of Rhyan’s worried gaze on me. We’d both thought it’d happen again when Mercurial had come to visit. And Rhyan didn’t know about the moment it had lit up in my sleep, seeming to stir with his touch, but it hadn’t heated, only glowed. “No. Not since.”

“So there was the moment the star entered you. Then during Meera’s vision.” Morgana’s dark eyebrows formed a V, her fingers ticking off each incident. “After Meera’s vision in your bedroom,” she said, voice sly. Rhyan coughed, unraveling a scroll. My cheeks heated, knowing full well where Rhyan’s hands had been when it had happened. “And then after the power transfer at the temple. Do any of those events have anything in common?”

I shrugged. I had been scared for some of them. With Rhyan, I had been turned on. And in the temple, I’d been sad. But I didn’t think my emotional levels were equal or similar to be the common factor.

Morgana watched me carefully, reading my thoughts, and I shook my head. “No. I don’t think any of those have anything in common. Other than that they all took place within the first twenty-four hours.” There wasn’t even a connection between the times—like every four hours or so. I’d tracked Meera’s visions long enough that I’d have seen a pattern if there was one.

“It does look like it’s settled,” Morgana said.

“But we don’t know that,” Rhyan said. “And I want to make sure.”

So the three of us got to reading. The hour passed quickly. Every scroll seemed to say the same thing. The contract was shaped like the Valalumir. It was embedded with a piece of the Afeya’s soul. It marked the person, though often the star was too faint to be seen. Some recorded the star lighting up at first but fading into something unseen unless carefully scrutinized—or unless the person failed to fulfill their end of the bargain.

Some said it hurt when it entered, but others felt nothing.