Page 190 of Lady of the Drowned Empire
“You think I’d tell you? A forsworn of Glemaria? How about you drop your weapons?”
Rhyan’s face fell. “I’m so fucking sorry.” Then he was gone. Dario yelled as Rhyan wrenched him off of me, kicking away the blade as he subdued him to the ground. With a grunt, Rhyan tightened his hold. Dario kicked, struggling to free himself, but Rhyan was too strong, and at last, his eyes closed.
“Fuck!” Rhyan gritted through his teeth, pushing his fingers through his hair, staring in horror at his old best friend. “Fuck!”
I took his hand. “Rhyan—”
His chest rose and fell with rapid breathes. “I should have expected this. Come on. They won’t sleep for long.” He was already running away from me. “The seraphim’s over here.”
I ran to catch up to him, as Rhyan pointed ahead.
I squinted, seeing nothing but piles of snow.
“Right there,” he said, taking another step forward. He took my hand, pointing my own finger at what seemed to be a build-up of ice until a blue flash caught my eye. Moonstone.
I ran ahead, finding the seraphim’s head. She was positioned much like the Guardian of Bamaria—lying on her belly with the front of her body propped up by wings as she stared out toward the Lumerian Ocean.
I started pushing off the snow that covered her body, in some places shoving off heaping slabs of snow that had frozen solid.
I touched a smooth white wing, now free, and glided my hand over her back. There was a sudden jolt of energy, like a spark had burst from the statue, that exploded into my arm. I sucked in a breath as the energy raced through my body.
Heat rose in my chest. A faint golden light peaked out from my armor and tunic.
“It’s lighting up.” I clutched at the armor on my chest in alarm, groaning in pain. “And it’s burning this time.” Sweat broke out behind my neck, as my knees buckled. This felt different from the other times though. The sensation was denser somehow, and I felt nauseous on top of everything else.
Rhyan rushed to my side, catching me. Gasping, I pulled my hand from the stone, and the flames inside my heart cooled.
Rhyan reached out his palm, touching the seraphim’s back right at the spot I’d touched. His face paled.
“I feel it,” he said, his eyes far greener than I’d ever seen. “This surge of power.” He pulled back, flexing his fingers before his face. Then his nostrils flared, as determination blazed in his aura. “Let’s find the opening.”
I placed my hand back on the seraphim, feeling the magic again, my arm shaking with it. Sliding my fingers over the smooth stone, I searched for the words my mother had found or any sign of an engraving.
Rhyan found it first.
“Ha zan aviskan me shyatim, cain ani chaya tha o ha yara,” he read the High Lumerian inscription. I rushed to his side to peer at the words. At first, I couldn’t see them, then as I moved my head, changing the angle of my line of vision, there was a flash of blue, the moonlight illuminating the words.
The sun revealed my secrets, so I hid them with the moon.
There, right below the engraving so faint, I could barely believe my mother had seen it on her own, was the seven-pointed star, its rays curved like the sun. Exactly like her rendering. Exactly like the key Rhyan had stolen from his father’s sword.
“Let’s see if this works,” Rhyan said.
I sucked in a breath as he fished through his pouch, producing the ruby red star. He held it out to me.
I was suddenly terrified. What if it didn’t work? What if this had all been for nothing?
And then…my other fear. What if it did?
Either way, we didn’t have long. One of the fallen soturi was already stirring.
I held the key in my hand, finding the inscription on the stone’s star.
Aniam aviska sol lyrotz, ka, e clavix. Shukroya mishverach, o tha trium.
We unlock for blood, soul, and key. Power is restored, with these three.
Asherah’s soul had reincarnated into my body. Her blood was my blood. And I held the key in my hand.
