Page 18 of Daughter of the Drowned Empire
The litter turned a sharp corner, and he fell forward, pressing me into the bench.
“Sorry,” he said, pulling away from me, sweating, face red.
He gave me a small smile then helped me back onto the bench, sitting beside me. “I’m starving,” he said, readjusting his belt. “Want to find a restaurant and grab a late lunch?”
“Famished,” I said, fixing my hair and cloak. I was beyond grateful for the shift in both conversation and activity.
Tristan stuck his head through the curtains, ordering the mages to carry us toward a place we frequented.
I closed my eyes as he did so, exhaling slowly.
After lunch, we met up with Haleika and Galen, who were, as predicted, flirting and teasing each other so badly I was ready to shout,Just kiss already!Seeing them had been nice, until Tristan began recounting to them the story of the dancer he’d arrested. Every word out of his mouth—the venom he had for her, the way he described the madness he claimed was in her eyes—made me feel sicker and sicker.
I quickly made an excuse about needing to shop so we could leave them just to get Tristan to be quiet. We headed back into the pop-up bazaars.
We’d only been back in the litter for a few minutes when we came to another abrupt stop. Tristan looked out to investigate, and my stomach lurched.Please don’t tell me there is another innocent person with a vorakh he’ll have to bind and arrest.
“We’re looking for a way to maneuver around the crowd,” the lead escort called.
I drew back my curtains. Hundreds of Lumerians were pressing against each other, pushing and pulling, all trying to reach the center of a circle that had formed within.
Shouts and curses vibrated through the yells and screams as sparks of magic exploded from drawn staves. Five Ka Kormac soturi in silver armor had dragged a young soturion into the center, drawing him into a fight.
He wasn’t much older than me, perhaps Tristan’s age. His armor was simple, black leather over metal, and his green soturion cloak was ragged, full of rips and stains. Not from any of the Kavim in Bamaria. Not Korteria either.
“Where’s our guard? Why aren’t the soturi stopping this?” A growl rose in my throat.
“The soturi aredoingthis,” Tristan said.
“They can’t. Fighting is banned in the streets.”
“Tell them that.” Tristan’s voice was filled with sarcasm.
“Themselves to Moriel,” I cursed. Ka Kormac’s soturi were on duty, but the brutes weren’t doing their job—as usual they were the very ones creating chaos.
You must control what they see.We were strong, and we had to appear so to remind everyone of the power of Ka Batavia.
Fire was burning inside of me, a raging desire to set things right. I couldn’t help Jules. I couldn’t help that girl, not without risking everything. But this? This I could do something about.
I pulled back the curtain. “Down.”
Tristan’s eyes widened. “What! No, Lyr, I was kidding. You can’t go out there! Are you farther than Lethea?”
“I’m not crazy. I need to do this. We can’t have fighting like this. Not today.”
“But how are you going to stop it?” He grasped his bench as the litter tilted and we touched the ground. “Lyr, think! There’s a mob and no soturion from Ka Batavia in sight.”
“There’s me,” I yelled as the shouts grew louder.
Tristan shook his head, hand already around the hilt of his stave. “I can’t protect you against this many people.”
“I can protect myself.”
“Lyr, you’re not a soturion.”
“I am the daughter of two arkasvim, the High Lord and High Lady of Bamaria.”
“And people aren’t happy with their High Lord, which makes them unhappy with you. Lyr, stop. You’ve proven your point.” His face was filled with anguish. “I won’t let you go.”
