Page 74 of Lady of the Drowned Empire
“Mess I clean up. Someone take out—leave in office.”
She hadn’t meant for them to be here.
I pressed harder, my hand snaking its way to her throat.
“You not strong enough,” she said.
“No,” I said and touched my armor with my free hand. “But we are. If a god can overpower a full Afeya, what can a reincarnated goddess do to a half one?”
Ramia rolled her eyes. “Numbers mean nothing. Filing numbers.”
“Filing for where?” I demanded.
Ramia’s lips pressed together.
“For where?” I asked again.
“Journal records.”
“Records for who?”
“Nobility,” Ramia spat.
“And whose journal is this?” I asked, clutching it to my chest.
“If they want you to know, they tell you.”
“They did! I received a note with this exact sequence.”
Ramia shook her head. “No. Not possible.”
“Yes, I—” Something in Ramia’s eyes made me pause.
“Not from author,” she said. “I promise. Not unless they send ages ago.”
I’d only had the note for a week. Was it possible it had been written a long time ago and someone else had shared it? What if the note hadn’t even been written to me? It had been addressed to Your Grace, not to Lady Lyriana.
“How do you know?”
Ramia smiled. “Because journal only go into our archive when complete—when no more to write. We only acquire when author dead.”
My throat went dry as I clutched the case to me. “Ramia? Who wrote this journal?”
Lowering her chin, she said at last, “Your mother.”
I released her at once, taking a step back.
“I’m borrowing this,” I said.
“Journals are not for public to borrow.”
“I am not the public. I am Lady Lyriana—”
“Former Heir to the Arkasva.”
My nostrils flared. “And as her daughter and a current lady of Ka Batavia, I am borrowing this.”
Ramia shrugged. “I cannot fight you without losing. Do what you will. But know this. You making big mistake.”
