Page 92 of Lady of the Drowned Empire

I was suddenly back in the Shadow Stronghold, lying on the bed before the examiner, nearly naked, vulnerable, and terrified. I’d been imprisoned for a week, hadn’t seen my sisters or Tristan, and hadn’t known why I was powerless. Two of the nahashim had slipped inside my body, searching me, violating me, slithering and sliding through my every inner wall, bone, and muscle, while the Imperator and Bastardmaker had stood outside, waiting for the results and delighting in my torment.

Rhyan’s father leered at me in the present and made a shushing sound, his hand covering mine in the pouch hanging from his belt. His palm slid down the back of my hand, pushing the nahashim down. He closed the pouch and took my fingers between his, bringing them to his mouth. “There, there, my lady. It’s all over. Hush now.”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I told you. For you to come to me in Glemaria. For you to bring him back.”

“Why?”

A look of pure derision spilled across his features. Instead of answering my question, he twirled me in a circle before pulling me close. His breath was on my ear as he spoke, his tone now jovial and lighthearted. “Have you ever been to Lethea, the place where he should have ended up? I went there, but not to see criminals or watch the strippings. I had a different purpose.”

I didn’t respond. I simply stared ahead, willing my pounding heart to calm.

He continued, “We’re up to our ears in gryphons. I was curious about the breeding and raising of other ancient beasts. Of nahashim. You see, my son has a habit of moving a little too quickly, staying out of my grasp. I doubt that’s news to you. As soon as I learned this, I visited a farm, and I selected two of the snakes to bring back home. One male, one female. Have you ever seen nahashim mate?” He paused expectantly then frowned at my silence. “Oh, come now, my lady. It’s a simple yes-or-no question. You can answer.”

“No.”

“It’s quite violent, actually. At least, that’s how it looked to me. A lot of thrashing. And you’d think they hiss—they hiss during everything else they do. But they don’t hiss while they mate. They scream.” He grinned.

I stared ahead, trying to get Morgana’s or Meera’s attention. Fuck, even Tristan would be able to read my face now.

“Not interested in the mating habits of nahashim?” he asked. “That’s okay. The point is, I’d selected quite a virile male and a rather fertile female.”

“Good for you,” I seethed.

“Yes. Very good. Not good for Rhyan though.”

I pulled back, meeting his gaze. “In what way?”

“Nahashim don’t just find whatever you’re looking for. They retrieve it. And I’m sure you saw the way their bodies expanded and retracted before they entered yours. I heard the ones they used on you were rather small. Necessary for fitting into,” he licked his lips, “tight spaces. Mine, however, they can grow to over ten feet long. We keep our gryphons controlled by confining them. By tying them down with ropes before they know their strength. Letheans control their snakes the same way. They keep them inside little boxes, show them that this is all the space they have to take up. So they do. When my nahashim were born, I took the opposite approach. I gave them all the space they needed to grow and expand. And they did so beautifully. And now, I’ve trained them to find one thing: him. Since he left, every single nahashim has been born and raised to bring him back.”

When Rhyan had revealed his vorakh to me, he’d said his father had beaten him every time he’d traveled—that, somehow, no matter where he’d travelled in the fortress, his father had always known. This was how. He’d trained the snakes to find vorakh, and then he’d beaten Rhyan for using it.

“If you touch him ever again—”

“Oh, I certainly will touch him,” Imperator Hart said. “And there’s nothing you can do to stop me, my lady, especially if you refuse my offer. Now, perhaps, I will have my snakes bring him to me. In which case, you will get nothing. Or,” he pulled my hand back to his belt, this time forcing my fingers over the star embedded in the leather of his hilt.

For a second, my vision went out of focus. A male’s voice sounded in my ear. Ancient, familiar. “Asherah.” He was crying.

And then I was back on the dance floor with Rhyan’s father, my hand pressed against the key.

“You come, too.” He pushed harder, to the point where I knew there’d be a star-shaped mark on my skin. “You come, and you get this.”

A dark shadow fell over us, and Rhyan’s father stiffened. The Ready stood before us, his dark eyes ablaze with fury. “Your highness,” he snarled, “I think you’ve kept the lady long enough. Release her.”

“Release her? She’s no prisoner. We’re simply dancing. I’m getting to know the novice that my former heir has bound himself to,” replied Imperator Hart, unclenching my hand from around his sword. “Your choice for this match I hear?”

“It was my choice, and it’s worked well in the lady’s favor as you well know. Your dance is over,” the Ready said.

“I am free to dance with her as long as I wish. She’s no longer heir. Do you understand how you’re overstepping?” Imperator Hart asked, a challenge in his eyes. Were it to come down to it, I’d put my money on the Ready winning a battle against him. But Imperator Hart far outranked the Arkturion of Bamaria.

Aemon leaned forward. “Heir or not, the lady is still under my care and protection. Hands off my student.”

Rhyan’s father spun me to face Aemon before pulling my back against the black leather covering his chest. “Tell him you’re fine, little slayer,” he whispered into my ear. “Or I tell him you’re in love with my son.”

Black spots clouded my vision before I blinked them away. “I’m fine, Aemon. Thank you for the concern. I was, um—” And then I saw him. Rhyan. He was back, standing in the door to the ballroom, his green eyes wide, his hair dark and wild, his face pale as he took in the sight of me wrapped in his father’s arms. His hands shook visibly, reaching for his sword, while a blazing fury spread across his face. “Aemon,” I said desperately, jerking my chin at the door.

“Fuck,” Aemon mouthed, taking off for the door and intercepting Rhyan before he could charge into the ballroom.