My heart thundered, and warmed. My entire body heated. But it was comfortable. Like I could finally take the heat. Like I was always meant to be this way. I held the sword up higher over my head. It was heavy, but I had the muscle to withstand its weight. Then with the fires still burning up and down, I thrust the sword forward, swiping it left and right, testing it out.
“How does it feel?” Auriel asked, pride in his eyes.
“Fine,” I said, surprised, and frowned. It was strange. When the red light entered me, it was blindingly painful. Being in the mere presence of the orange shard had made me faint. And now, I just felt … normal. Like me. Because this shard, this light, it was part of me. It always was. The fire could no longer burn me. I was the fire now. I was complete.
The flames vanished from sight and High Lumerian writing script appeared down the length of the shard as fresh energy moved through my limbs.
My name was written into the crystal and steel. Lyriana Batavia. A match for my dagger. And my stave.
“You look just like Goddess Asherah,” Ramia said. “Fierce and powerful. Mighty soturion.”
It was what she’d said to me months ago on my birthday, when I’d first tried on Asherah’s chest plate.
“Thank you,” I said, with a laugh—knowing she’d done so on purpose. She’d known all along we’d get here. My eyes narrowed then, something niggling in the back of my mind. “You also told me I looked like an Heir Apparent.”
Ramia scoffed, her eyes sparkling. “No. You look like queen.”
Suddenly, Mercurial’s cryptic words, uttered months ago, right after he’d placed the light inside my heart, ran through my mind.
When the time is right, you will strike and have your revenge. And then you will retake the throne of Bamaria.
We don’t have thrones here,I’d told him.
The ghost of a feline grin appeared within the vault. Glittering Valalumir stars lit the ceiling—always a sign of his presence. I shivered.
“You will,” he hissed into my mind. The very same words he’d said that night.
My chest heaved, the weight of it all pressing down on me.
But as I looked at Ramia, I realized that Mercurial had only made himself known to me. The words we’d exchanged remained between us.
The stars vanished, and I turned to Auriel. He’d pressed his lips together, like he was trying to keep his emotions at bay. His eyes had reddened, watching me, Asherah reborn, her golden armor across my chest, her stave in my belt, and now the red shard, in the sword she’d forged. The sword she’d used in battle. The sword I’d use to heal. He sniffled, his jaw tensing, and then he laughed.
“Come on,” he said, wiping his eyes. Then he reached for the hilt of his sword. “Let’s get Rhyan back.”
Chapter
Twenty-Two
JULIANNA
The black eyes of the nahashim blinked slowly at me, its tongue poking out pathetically as I held its tiny body in my hands.
“You’re not hungry,” I said firmly.
The snake hissed, baring blunt fangs that couldn’t hurt me—no matter how hard she tried. And she had.
I sighed. “You literally just ate dinner.” The snake hissed again.
“Fine,” I groaned, and placed her back into the box that had become her bed.
“You want me to do it?” Dario asked. “Julianna,” he added at the last second.
I hadn’t even noticed him come into the room. I stood up and wiped my hands on my dress, already looking away. “If you don’t mind.”
“Mind? Me?” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “No. I love serving crushed bugs to baby nahashim.”
“How nice for you.” I strode out toward the balcony. I still gagged just a little every time I had to hear the snake eat. And swallow.
