Page 78 of Lady of the Drowned Empire
And it’s in Glemaria.
I could barely breathe. I sat back in my chair, rereading her words.
Aniam aviska sol lyrotz, ka, e clavix. Shukroya mishverach, o tha trium.
I translated it easily, and instantly, sweat beaded at the nape of my neck despite the growing chill in the air as the night rolled on.
We unlock for blood, soul, and key. Power is restored, with these three.
Blood. Soul. Key. If my mother was right, then the red shard was in Glemaria inside their seraphim statue. To open the statue, I needed three ingredients. My blood, Asherah’s blood. Something of my soul…was it the light that Mercurial had put inside me, a fraction of the original Valalumir that Auriel stored inside Asherah’s heart?
That was two. I was sure of it. And with the third, according to the inscription, I’d have my power. Accessing the red shard. Asherah’s shard.
The only problem—Rhyan’s father possessed the key.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I paced my apartment, unsure what to do. My entire body was shaking with everything I had learned.
It was dark outside, the moon faint. I’d been reading the whole day, the whole night, obsessed, and now with all I’d learned, I couldn’t stop moving, couldn’t stop thinking. I felt like I was leaving my body, my soul hovering above me.
I shut myself in my bedroom, trying to calm down. There was a path to my power. One I could take without Mercurial. One that put me and Rhyan directly in danger of his father.
He held the key. Of course, he did. One of the lost shards of the Valalumir was right under his very nose. How he must have hated that he couldn’t get to it himself. Not without me.
He sure fucking tried though. First with my mother when I was barely crawling. And then again with my father, when I had no idea what was happening.
Who else had known about this? Who had taken the journals out? Eathan? No, why wouldn’t he just tell me? But someone did—someone who wanted me to have my power. Someone who supported me ruling in Bamaria. And it wasn’t Mercurial.
Lying down in my bed, I took out the vadati. Only one person would calm me now, would understand. Could offer advice on what to do.
“Rhyan?” I spoke into the stone. “Rhyan?” I said again when nothing happened. The stone was cold and clear. Another minute passed. It had been a full day since we’d spoken. I was about to give up when Rhyan’s voice came through, the vadati glowing with his words.
“Lyr, you okay?” he asked.
“Yes. But I—”
“I’m sorry,” he cut me off. “I can’t talk. I’m on patrol.”
“Oh,” I said. “Okay.”
The stone cleared. My throat tightened. Right. Of course. He was busy.
I stared at the stone, debating whether or not to call Meera and Morgana. Meera had had the same vision as our mother, and Morgana had experienced it alongside her. Morgana had already confirmed that the picture of Gryphon’s Mount was identical to Meera’s vision. But with everything I’d just learned, I was too tired to tell them now. The enormity of what I’d just read seemed to crash down on me, and I slipped out of my clothes and pulled on Rhyan’s pants and shirt as I’d done every night since he’d been gone. I closed my eyes, thinking through what my mother had written.
The red shard was the answer to my power.
And Rhyan’s father, that fucking bastard, he was the key.
We unlock for blood, soul, and key. Power is restored, with these three.
I repeated the phrase again and again until I lost consciousness.
“Lyr? Are you asleep? Partner?”
Haleika was screaming. She was burning alive. But she was human. I’d stabbed her with a wooden stake. Set her on fire. No. No. No.
Then Rhyan was there. A sword came for him, for his neck.
