“There is. Right at the edge of Urtavia proper.” Right where the trees ended, and the waterways and shops began.
I leapt over tree trunks, and loose branches and bramble as we raced through the trees, sprinting faster and faster. There was a clearing up ahead, and shouts in the distance. Chanting. Then we stopped, just at the edge of the forest.
The city was full of Lumerians. A mob had formed—not unlike the one I’d seen all those months ago on Auriel’s Feast Day. The day Rhyan had returned to me. The first time I’d seen him in three years.
“ShekarArkasva!” came a shout.
I stilled, my chest tightening. False Arkasva. It was what the Emartis used to say about my father. Before they murdered him.
But the chant continued. “ShekarArkasva!Unseat Arianna!”
“Skin the wolves!”
“Arianna’s a fucking traitor!”
“Kormac’s a tyrant!”
By the Gods. Bamaria hadn’t turned on us. They were seeing the truth.
And then fireworks exploded into the air, taking on the shape of a glittering seraphim. Not a black one. Not the symbol of Arianna and the Emartis, the rebels who murdered my father. But a red seraphim.
Batavia red.
Bamaria was rebelling. Uniting.
But then the wolves came.
Soturi in silver armor were everywhere, swords out, my people screaming and fighting back.
“Lyriana!” Auriel said. “Now! We need to run.”
Because just at that moment, with countless soturi swarming the city, we’d been spotted. And not just by any Kormac wolf. But worse. We’d been seen by Turion Dairen. And he recognized me at once.
His mouth opened, shouting my name at the same instant he started to run, and reached for his pocket. For a Godsdamn vadati stone.
“Fuck!” Auriel snapped. He was already tugging me away, and then without warning, he lifted me into his arms, pushing into the crowd before us, crashing into people, until they finally parted and we made our way to the port. He pushed me into the carriage, and climbed in behind me.
I looked out of the window and saw Turion Dairen not far behind, his vadati glowing blue.
“Fuck. Fuck!” Auriel shouted, then closed all the windows and practically barked at our seraphim. “Gryphon Island!”
The floor tilted, and then we were off, heading back to Auriel’s tomb.
Chapter
Sixteen
LYRIANA
The seraphim barely had time to touch the sand upon landing, before Auriel flung open the carriage door, and leapt onto the beach. Sand sprayed out from the bottom of his boots and our seraphim squawked in annoyance.
I raced behind him, but he was heading to the seraphim’s face, stroking its beak, cooing in High Lumerian to calm it down. He’d yelled at the poor bird the whole flight to keep up a brutal pace. But it was necessary. We were going to be surrounded in minutes. And this seraphim was our only way to escape. We needed her to stay.
“Go! To the tomb!” Auriel yelled, one hand resting between the seraphim’s eyes. She closed them, starting to look more content.
I turned. The Guardian of Bamaria wasn’t far.
The black onyx stone shone in the sunlight. Its head was still missing, probably lost to the ocean by now. I felt guilty about that—especially now that I knew what it was.
