Page 104 of Daughter of the Drowned Empire
“Well, I was with you when the attack happened.”
I shook my head. “Right, but you…you don’t have to be here now. You’ve barely said a word to me in the last month, which I get after what I said to you, but…with all my escorts at the door…why wasn’t I handed off to them?”
Rhyan cleared his throat. “I….”
“You just…you look like you want to go. So…”
He glanced away and sucked in a breath. “There’s something you should know. I wasn’t simply allowed to be here because I slayed an akadim. I know you’ve heard the rumors, the reasons why I’m forsworn. And one akadim kill in my belt wasn’t enough to absolve me, even with my Uncle Sean vouching for me. Especially since I declined to swear my loyalty to the Arkasva. In exchange for sanctuary here, I had to agree to additional services on your father’s behalf.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What additional services?”
“Protecting you. It wasn’t an accident when we were bound together as apprentice and novice.” He shook his head. “I knew it was coming the moment you told me you were going to be a soturion. Because I swore to your father that I would protect you with my life. The reason I didn’t hand you off to your escorts is because you were never not in their hands. I’ve been part of your personal detail team since I stepped foot inside Bamaria.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“YOU…WHAT!YOU’REpartofmy escort, and you never told me? You’ve been spying on me!” How many secret escorts did I have?
“No, Lyr. Not spying. Just…keeping an extra eye on you. I don’t follow you. I don’t report on anything you do. It’s nothing like that. I just…I’m required to take a few shifts each week in the evening. Mostly, I’ve been circling the perimeter of your apartment building. I’ve trailed you in the city a handful of times.”
“Did you trail me on my birthday? When I found you in the streets?”
He bit his lip, nodding.
I couldn’t believe this! So this was why he sometimes acted so protective of me. This was why he’d sworn I’d be safe that night in the Shadow Stronghold. Not because…because of any connection between us, but because…because he’d been ordered to.
“So that’s the real reason you were mad I lied about clinic before. Were you supposed to be trailing me? Did my going off course get you in trouble?”
“No. I wasn’t mad. I…I was worried about you.”
I put my glass of water on the small table beside my couch. “Just…don’t talk to me anymore. Luckily, you’ve already gotten that part down.”
“Lyr, I….” He groaned. “I’ve had my own reasons for how I’ve acted.”
Before I could reply, my gaze moved from the glass of water to another item on the table—one that hadn’t been there when I’d left the apartment earlier.
A small scroll lay on the table, identical to the ones that had just been falling from the sky.
“What is that?” Rhyan asked, his voice immediately going cautious. His eyes were alert, now scanning the room for any threats or signs of entry. He moved his body closer to mine, immediately going into protective mode.
Just like he had been trained. Just like Markan would have.
I took the scroll in my hands, gently breaking the seal—the sigil of Ka Batavia, seraphim wings beneath a full moon. But the wings weren’t gold, and the moon wasn’t silver. The seal had been forged in black glittering wax.
Dearest False Heir,
You do not need to go looking for us. We have decided to come to you. Know this is for the highest good of the country you insist you love. Your father is false. He lets in a forsworn soturion, he allows akadim to swarm our lands, and he gives away the protection of our borders to a foreign ruler. Soon he will give up his Laurel and his Seat as well.
A coward he is. Like you. Like your sisters. Remember Ka Azria… It won’t be long now.
Me Arkasva, Me Emar.
The Emartis will prevail.
Soon.
I tossed the scroll onto the table with a yelp, like it had burned me.
“It’s from them?” Rhyan asked. He reached for the scroll on the table. “May I?”
