I reached over my shoulder, touching the blade of the red shard. The cure.
Auriel tracked my movement and my meaning. His mouth tightened and he shook his head. “Not yet. Wait.”
The three drew closer. One stopped to draw out a soturion who’d tried to hide behind a bench. He had blond hair that fell to his shoulders, and the kind of muscles that suggested he had been a soturion when he was alive. Maybe even a member of Ka Kormac. One of the demons behind him was full of muscle, and dark curly hair.
I clutched at my chest. I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready to see Rhyan like this. Or to fight him. Or cure him.
How was I going to be ready to stab him through the heart? I knew it was the only way, that it would bring him back—but the idea of doing that to him, of hurting him—even in this form—made me sick to my stomach.
The soldiers who’d crowded the bar just seconds ago were rushing out into the square, while the patrons at the other tables were attempting to barricade themselves in the bathroom, or trample over the bartender in their attempt to hide in the kitchens.
Every instinct inside of me was screaming for me to get up. Yelling at me to run. To hide. And to fight. All at once. My body knew I was in danger.
But I had to know. I had to know before I got out there if I was going to be killing an akadim—or doing something I never imagined I would. Protecting it. Because it was Rhyan.
My breath came short from just the thought. It was starting to feel too real.
By the Gods. By the fucking Gods.
The long-haired demon was deep in battle with the soldier he’d picked up. But now there were more soturi surrounding them, trying to free the man. Another group of soturi were actively trying to attack from behind.
The other beasts continued on through the square, unbothered by the resistance forming around them. They weren’t interested in fighting, or killing. I had a bad feeling— like they could sense more meals up ahead. Us. Everyone in the pub.
And suddenly I had a clear memory of Rhyan explaining how akadim chose their victims.
“I take your pomegranate seeds. What do you do? Fight me for it? Or go for easier pickings, reach for more, just as ripe and sweet, from the bowl in front of you?”
I sighed. This had to be a trick question. “I’d reach for the bowl.”
Rhyan’s good eyebrow lifted. “Exactly. That’s what an akadim would do, too. Reach for more, reach for whatever’s easiest.’’
And right now, anyone trapped in the pub, anyone hiding in here—they were the easy pickings. Including me and Auriel.
My throat was dry as all three were finally close enough for me to scan their faces, taking in their features. They were distorted from what they must have looked like when living, but enough that I was sure I’d know Rhyan if I saw him. I’d only ever seen one akadim that I’d known alive. Haleika. And she’d transformed in front of me. But I was sure I’d have recognized her if I’d seen her in the wild. And with this new breed of akadim that could walk in the day, that looked just a little more human than the others, I’d know. I’d know him. He didn’t have his soul, but I had his features memorized—every little detail. I’d know Rhyan, I’d recognize him in any form.
And I emitted something between a sigh and a sob as I realized that none of the three akadim approaching were him.
Auriel seemed to realize the same thing and turned back to me—his hand on my shoulder. “We need to get out of here,” he said. “Get away from this town before anyone looks too closely at us.”
“What about the akadim?” I hissed.
Auriel shook his head. “We can’t,Meka.I disagreed with Queen Ma’Nia on many things. But she was right about this—we were losing the war, prioritizing the cure over stopping the threat. In the end, neither decision will feel right for you. Or for me. No matter what we choose—it means death for someone. That’s the thing about war. There are almost no good answers once you’re in it. You want to save everyone.” He reached across the table, his fingers grazing my chin. “Especially someone likeyou.” He sighed. “But you can’t. In the end, you have to choose. You always have to choose.”
I looked out the window again. All three akadim were in battle, surrounded now by soturi. Already two had fallen. One was lying on the ground, his head turned at an angle that told me he was dead. The other was trying to staunch a bleeding wound.
A wound I could heal. A wound that might have never happened if I’d been out there. If Auriel and I had already joined the fight.
My heart hurt. I certainly had no warm feelings towards anyone born to Ka Kormac. As far as I was concerned, they could all go to hell. But becoming an akadim—that was a fate worse than death. No one deserved that. And I couldn’t stand by and just let them be killed so violently, and in such a brutal manner. Couldn’t allow the akadim to just make more of them.
My fingers tightened around the hilt of my sword.
“Lyriana, look at me,” Auriel said. “Look. I don’t like it either. I don’t like it one bit. But if we charge out there now— we risk everything. You are in just as much danger from the soturi as you are from the akadim. And you haven’t even practiced using the sword, aiming for the heart.” He shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed. “It’s not Rhyan out there. It’s not him. I can feel it. We’re closer than ever—but not close enough—not to him. And any moment now one of those groups will win this fight. And it won’t matter which side is the victor. Because you know damned well that we can’t afford to have either group finding us here.”
The twisting in my stomach continued, tightening painfully. “I know,” I said, my voice small.
“Then follow me. I’m getting us out of here.”
“Okay, fine,” I said.
