Page 99 of Lady of the Drowned Empire

“The contract is ready. She will not like it,” Arianna said. She’ll throw a fit, she thought without voicing that concern to the Imperator. And I’ll have to pretend to care.

I leaned forward, turning my head just so in order to listen more closely.

“What she does and does not like has never been my concern. Nor should it be yours, your grace. Securing Bamaria and her safety is what matters. That’s all.”

“Securing her safety.” Arianna rolled her eyes. “Believe what you will. You always have.”

He sneered, curling his lips, leaning even closer to sniff her. “I do. And I’m relieved to hear the ink is now dry. Especially as I hear it, Imperators are in the market for former heirs.”

I pulled Meera toward my seat. “Have you heard of any contract negotiations between us and Ka Kormac? Anything in Council meetings?” I asked under my breath.

Meera shook her head, pushing herself back from me. She smiled at another noble then exhaled, her shoulders slumping as if the small gesture had been too much for her. “I was not invited today.”

The hell was going on?

Several more soturi walked in, all bearing the armor of Ka Kormac, silver and full of wolf pelts and images of howling wolves. Most of them were brainless oafs not worth a second of thought.

As if to prove me right, two of their minds were open to me, their thoughts nearly identical.

Tits.

Look at her tits.

They were going to make me puke.

Then a girl I’d never seen before walked in. She was frail looking and thin—the kind of thin that appeared unnatural, like she was meant to have far more meat on her. Her pale blue eyes were wide and sunken, yet she carried herself with the confidence of a noble. She wore a long gray dress with a silver wolf threaded into the bodice. In the faint light of the room’s torches, I could make out the golden Valalumir tattooed across her cheek—the sigil of the Emperor.

Her sunken eyes reached right for me, her aura striking out. There was something familiar yet sickening in her energy. It was invasive, knowing, and powerful—much too powerful for her own good.

She walked across the room with her head held high, the heels of her boots clacking against the floor. Pausing before the head table, she curtseyed for Arianna and the Imperator, then took a seat behind him like a servant. Strange. The Imperator rarely employed women.

The sigil gave her away. This was one of the Emperor’s servants, like Namtaya had been, though this one was far higher in rank. She had to have been valuable to the Emperor if she carried his mark. So why wasn’t she being fed properly?

I can hear you. The thought jumped into my mind, clear and loud as my own.

Vorakh. My heart hammered against my chest, as a small smile played across her lips.

She was a chayatim. One of the secret servants of the Emperor, like Jules. I’d never seen one before. I didn’t think they were allowed to leave the capitol.

I couldn’t let this one know what I knew; I couldn’t let her into my mind. She most likely was a victim herself, had been stolen from her own country, family, and Ka on account of her magic being illegal. Her abilities had likely been villainized then used against her for profit.

But she bore the Emperor’s golden mark. She could not be trusted. I could not afford for her to know anything about me or Meera.

I could only hope she lived by the same unspoken code as all vorakh did. We didn’t acknowledge each other when discovered.

With the exception of him.

I stood and conjured his body—not his face, never his face—in my mind, filling my thoughts with him to hide my secrets. I pulled on a recent memory of sinking to my knees and taking him deep into my mouth. I felt heat pool between my legs. I pictured myself licking him up and down before he grabbed my head and thrusted into me, reaching the back of my throat. I remembered the taste of him with every step I took toward my aunt.

“Your grace,” I curtsied before Arianna, knowing I needed her permission to leave, still thinking of the silk of his skin in my hands as I ran them up and down his length while my head bobbed. I brought my gaze to the Imperator. “Your highness.”

He was instantly alert, his nostrils widening as if to sniff me out. Disgusting pig.

I returned to my memory. I thought of myself gripping his ass, feeling him twitch and moan before he pulled out of me, lifted me up, shoved me against the wall, and slid back into me.

“You look beautiful tonight, Morgana,” Arianna said.

Gods, I hated her. Fucking bitch—whom I loved because she was my aunt.