Page 129 of Daughter of the Drowned Empire
I could feel Rhyan’s lips against mine, feel the fire coursing through my veins, the way even the memory of that barest, and lightest of touches had consumed me.
“I assume you’re bored enough with your life to make up stories about me.”
“You were always arrogant. But not for much longer. You lost three months of your precious deal with the Imperator for being late…you had your back splayed open for being a terrible soldier. What will the Imperator do when I report to him that you cheated in the arena? That there’s more to your relationship with Lord Rhyan than just apprentice and novice?”
“He will do nothing, because there’s no truth to your words. I’m going to marry Lord Tristan, and what you saw in the arena was a month’s worth of training.”
One moment she was several feet in front of me, and the next her face was inches from mine, her fist in my belly.
I flew backwards, my back slamming into a wall.
The pain that erupted on contact tore through me. But unlike the pain I’d always felt before—the kind that could break me or slow me down—this one left a fire raging inside of me. It was not a fire that would consume me, but one that was lighting me up from the inside.
I was on my feet in seconds, my thumb in position, my fist ready as I charged and paid Tani the same courtesy she’d afforded me.
Upon contact, her eyes widened, and she wheezed, doubling over. I kicked and pushed and slapped and knocked her down to her knees.
“Am I using kashonim now? Am I!”
She retreated from my attack, but I was faster, punching her shoulder into the wall.
“I will report you,” I said. “And I’ll find the others, too.”
A drop of blood pooled in the corner of her mouth and ran down her chin. Her eyes widened in delight, and a smile spread across her face. She laughed, joyful glee ringing with every sound she made. “Report me?” she asked, laughing harder. “Report me? Do you know how powerful the Emartis are? How high up they go? How much protection we have? How much support?” She spit at me, the spittle coated in blood.
I stepped back, unsure if I believed her but terrified that I did.
It wasn’t so much her words that had me on edge, but the brazenness, the absolutely fearless way she resumed her attack, kicking me and knocking me off my feet.
I was fair game to attack in a clinic or habibellum or even in between training and classes in the Katurium. But here, in my apartment building, when I was Lady Lyriana, she’d gone too far.
I outranked her in every way. My word would always be upheld against hers.
And yet, she was fighting back, claiming she had support, confirming that others were suspicious of what lay between me and Rhyan, that others might have seen the change in my strength, the lack of his, and suspected the exchange of power between us. No one had ever dared attack me so outright. No one but Naria, Pavi, and Viktor, the most powerful, noble soturi-in-training in Bamaria besides me.
That fact scared me more than anything. I’d guessed that the Emartis had support in high places. I’d guessed the Imperator was behind them. But hearing Tani confirm my suspicions, seeing her bold action back up her claims…it began to make my theory about the Imperator all too real.
Tani wasn’t the Emartis, but she was as close to them as I was getting, and I was going to make them pay. Starting with her.
My strength surged, that moment of calm clarity settling like mist over me as I rolled on top of her, pinning her arms down, and punching her in the jaw. Rhyan was right—I had grown stronger in the past month, I’d just refused to see it. I’d been so hellbent on comparing myself to others, I hadn’t compared myself to who I used to be.
I grabbed the neck of Tani’s tunic and pulled. She bucked away from me, stumbling backward. Her bag fell over, the Emartis mask slipping out. I pulled my arm back.
“Lyr!” Aunt Arianna stood before us. “Lyr, what are you…?”
I immediately released my hold, rising to meet Arianna. She pulled me into a hug, then leaned back, examining my face. “Gods,” she said. “Are you all right?”
Tani laughed behind me. “Oh, you have no idea what you’re doing, your grace!” She laughed louder, facing Arianna. “Just a little in-between class session.”
She was unhinged; she was farther than Lethea.
My aunt was on her in seconds. “And this symbol you carry? You get yourself up to your apartment right now and wait for me there. I know the rules of conduct for students better than anyone—I wrote several myself. And you are in gross violation.”
Tani bowed her head, still allowing the blood to drip freely down her chin, grabbed her bag holding the Emartis mask, and headed for the stairs.
“Arianna, she—”
“I know,” she said. “I know what she is, and trust me—she will not get away with this.”
