I shook my head, completely unsettled. “You know what it is?”
His face was nothing but pure derision. “If you were paying attention, you’d remember I told you about it years ago. She can call on it—I’ve seen her do so myself. Luckily for me and for you, she’s too weak to use it properly. Because when she does muster her full strength, she will do so with such destructive consequences, you won’t wish to be alive.”
I shivered. “What about her? Can it hurt her?”
“What do you think? She’s in more danger from that than from anyone else in this world.” His eyes twinkled. “I’m almost tempted to see what she can do.”
My gut roiled. “Is that why you let me do my research?” I asked. I knew I’d been taking a risk with the scrolls. I was aware he knew I’d been reading unsanctioned scrolls, aware he could shut down the operation at any moment, and that he’d find a way to punish me when he did so. And yet, for weeks he hadn’t.
“The only thing that has ever moved you,” he said, “the only thing that ever unleashed an ounce of submission, or duty, or intelligence into your Godsdamned mind, is the idea of her in danger. Yes, I let you do your little research, expecting you to come to the correct conclusion. She cannot be allowed to use that power.”
In the distance I saw a gryphon approaching, a carriage on his back—the one I knew my father would ride on to Numeria.
“Now,” he said, “you know what to do today when we arrive—when we appear before the Emperor and his sniveling nephew. You do your Godsdamned duty. Convincingly.”
I didn’t see the dagger until the hilt punched me in the stomach. Right where I’d been stabbed. I sank to my knees, coughing, and gasping for air.
“I might not hand over the power of a God to my enemies,” he snarled, forcing my head up. “But there are ways to weaken you still. To be done with you without giving up my advantage.” Then he shoved me down, my face hitting the mud. I watched as my father and his men retreated, leaving me alone in the rain.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
LYRIANA
We weren’t leaving for another hour to begin our journey to Numeria, but I was too anxious to sit idly and wait. By the late afternoon we’d be in the capital, in the Emperor’s Palace. I’d be in the same place as Jules.
I paced back and forth across the room, letting the remaining embers in the fireplace die out. Rain pattered against the windows. Outside, a gryphon roared in agitation. There was a sudden, sharp knock on the door.
“Come in,” I called, not bothering to ask who it was. Dario was almost always the one at my door, standing guard, or announcing guests.
My lock unclicked, and the door creaked open. A few seconds passed, filled with silence. I stepped forward, expecting to see the soturion’s figure come into view, but the doorway remained eerily empty.
“Dario?”
The door slammed shut, and my skin turned ice cold.
The fire burned out as every light in my room and outside vanished, leaving me shrouded in complete darkness. A single golden Valalumir star floated above me, spinning in a slow circle. Then there were two, then three, until the entire ceiling filled with stars.
“Mercurial,” I breathed. I took a step back, turning in a circle. “Mercurial, show yourself.”
His bell-like laugh cut through the darkness until the stars blew out, one by one, each vanishing with a pop. “So very demanding, my remembered Goddess,” he purred.
“Demanding?” I seethed. “I am demanding? How about the demands you’ve made of me? Or the fact that you’ve vanished for a month, offering no guidance on how to move forward.”
“No guidance?” he asked. “No guidance!” The fireplace filled with crackling flames, and Mercurial’s body appeared, lounging on the chaise, his long blue legs crossed at the ankle. His feet were clad in golden sandals that laced to his knees, and the dark whorls across his skin shimmered around the diamond in each center. “I spoke to your remade lord. I told him to leave. But he didn’t listen now, did he?” He inspected his fingernails, and blew across them. Suddenly, they were painted with a gleaming metallic blue, one several shades darker than his current skin color.
“An order to leave here isn’t guidance. And you didn’t speak to me. The one you made a deal with! The one with a Godsdamned light in her heart!” I pressed my hand to my chest.
The Afeya sat up, his eyebrows narrowed. “Yes, well you’ve been a little difficult to get into contact with lately.”
“I thought Afeya could do anything.”
He tapped his feet against the carpet beneath him and leaned forward, gesturing around the room. “Believe it or not, I couldn’t do this. So, I did the next best thing. I talked to the previously not-Lord. And I warned him. Much good as it did.”
“But you’re here now?” I shook my head.
“Yes, well I could get here now. The nearness of the big event means Imperator Hart has the potential to make mistakes. He’s already made one. Your wards are down.”
“Wards can keep an Afeya out?” I said in disbelief. I’d had wards placed on my soturion apartment that he always walked through. But I quietly pocketed that one detail. That Imperator Hart was making mistakes. That meant he was nervous. It also meant he was more dangerous.
