Page 80 of Lady of the Drowned Empire

“I have to. I’m traveling with the task force. They’d notice.”

“So not until tomorrow evening?”

“Most likely. I’ll come to you first. The moment I’m back. Wherever you are, I’ll find you.”

“Good.”

“Be careful until then, partner.”

“I will.”

“Swear,” he demanded.

“I swear.”

“Okay.” He paused. “It’s almost morning. I, um, I should—”

“Wait,” I said. “Don’t go yet. I’m awake, and I don’t want to stop talking to you.”

There was a sigh of relief on his end. The vadati swelled with blue light as if it were his breath. “Good. I needed to hear your voice.”

“You could have, you know?” I said. “All week.”

“I know. Sorry. How are you feeling?”

I shook my head. “About the same. Sad. This…this hurts less at some point, right?”

“At some point,” he said softly. “Have you made any progress on the contract?”

“The only thing that makes sense right now because of my being Asherah is that Mercurial really did put some of the original light into me. But otherwise, no. And I haven’t seen him. But I saw Ramia today in the library. I think she was away until now.”

“She’s the one who gave you the necklace—I mean, the armor?”

“Yes. And she said something strange about Mercurial.” I pulled my knees to my chest, hearing the bells in the distance. The faint light of the ashvan on patrol flew past my window.

“Strange how?” Rhyan asked.

“She said he was missing.”

“Missing? An Afeya?” Rhyan grunted. “They vanish all the time. We just saw him last week. I wish he was actually missing, finally leaving you alone.”

“No, she really seemed genuinely concerned. I’ve never seen her show emotion before. I don’t know, I believe her. And when he left your place, it seemed like something had gone wrong.”

“Maybe. But I wouldn’t be worried about the bastard. He’d be protected under Afeyan law from any misconduct as a First Messenger. Unless his Royal Highness, Queen Ishtara, decided to take him out, my guess is he’s off tormenting someone else in between visits to you.”

“Ramia had a different theory of what might have happened to him.” I bit my lip. “You said that Lumerian power doesn’t come close to an Afeya’s. And Mercurial wants mine. What could he need it for? What if he needs me to fight someone more powerful?”

“Like who?”

“Like a god.”

There was a long pause on Rhyan’s end before he said, “Lyr, I don’t like this.”

“Me neither.”

I ran my hand through my hair, knowing I needed to tell him all of what I’d learned about the shard and Asherah in my mother’s journal. He’d want to know. He needed to. But it involved his father, and I wasn’t sure if now was the time to bring that up. He was already upset, and it was the middle of the night. He’d just calmed down after losing it for a week. He’d faced an akadim and nearly died, just a week after having to fight for his life and mine.

I couldn’t tell him now that his father was involved more than he’d already suspected. I’d tell him as soon as he was back. For now, it was enough to know he was safe—bruised, lonely, but safe. And it was enough to know he was coming home and to hear his northern lilt again.