“No, Your Majesty.”
He chuckled again. “Well, this should please you. It was vorakh.”
I frowned at once, my nostrils flaring. “Then he’s a danger to all of us.”
“Except here,” Emperor Avery said. “The Palace is warded against that. Now that I’m above Devon, and Rhyan cannot escape, this is our chance.”
“Bring Rhyan and Lyriana,” I said. “In exchange for Galen.”
“Exactly.”
“Do you mind my asking?” I said quickly. “Why haven’t you sent for them yourself?”
“I can,” he said. “Easily. But when one works for the Emperor, a certain level of trust must be maintained. Let’s call this your initiation.”
Something told me he was lying. That he couldn’t just get them. Devon Hart might be in the Throne Room, but politics didn’t just end overnight with brute force. He knew that. I was still his pawn. But I considered his words as my eyes took in Galen’s bruised and bloodied body.
“Galen will be free. And I’ll have a position in the Palace?”
You’ve birthed evil. You’ll regret it when he grows. When you see inside his soul like I have. When you learn what he is!
“You will. I’ve found your skillset very valuable. We’ll be needing to add to our ranks. I spoke with Lyriana earlier.”
From the corner of my eye, Jules looked back, her body stiff. Then she turned back to Galen.
“Lyriana knows that we’re aware of her forsworn lover’s secret. Go to him first, and bind him. Show her. Tell her my offer stands. If she comes to me willingly, we’ll release Hart back to his father.”
“And if she refuses?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what she agrees to. You will bring them both to me.”
Jules looked back again, her eye catching mine, a small shake of her head. She was asking me not to bring in Lyr.
Emperor Avery growled in his throat, impatient for me to agree.
I placed the golden scroll in my belt.
“Am I to go alone?” I asked casually. “Hart may not be able to travel within the walls, but he remains a formidable soturion. As is Lyriana. Might I bring my own escorts?”
The Emperor scoffed. “My men will back you up.” He pulled a vadati from his robes and ordered three soturi to meet me at the door.
My jaw clenched, but I nodded.
“You have an hour,” he said. “Don’t be late.”
“It will be done,” I said, staring at the vorakh I’d helped capture. I thought of all the times Lyr had lied to me, the hatred I bore for Rhyan fucking Hart. The way I was fucking certain now that they’d betrayed me, humiliated me. And I smiled at the Emperor. “When I return, I’ll have them both.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
LYRIANA
I was fully dressed in my soturion uniform, minus my actual weapons. I had on my Bamarian armor, but I was still missing Asherah’s chest plate. And my stave. Those were all stored with Imperator Hart’s personal items.
I sat on the edge of my bed, my entire body tense. Rhyan lay his hand on my shoulder, squeezing the back of my neck, his thumb and forefinger kneading my muscles. My heart was pounding. I had a strange feeling. Something was wrong.
“I can stay,” Rhyan said, cupping my cheeks. He’d been dressed since the bells rang, ready to return to his room. Only he hadn’t.
I bit my lip. “What if you’re seen?”
