Warrior of the Drowned Empire (Drowned Empire #6)

CHAPTER FORTY

MORGANA

The sound of the bells ringing was like music to my ears. The bells announcing the Emperor’s death. His fucking Majesty, Emperor Godsdamned Theotis was dead. Jules’s kidnapper. Her rapist. The monster who enslaved my people. Who terrorized my country. My family. My Ka. Finally. Dead. Gone. Rotting in hell. The sound of those bells would now be my favorite tune.

Gods, I could fucking dance. The sun would rise in a few hours, making the Palace shimmer and sparkle as the waves crashed in the distance. I was never one for sunrise, or sunset. Never one to take a deep breath in the morning, or night. Or ever.

But this morning, this morning I could. This morning, I looked forward to it.

“I told you,” Andromeny said. “I told you he’d die tonight. That there’d be no Valabellum.”

My throat tightened. Joyous as I was to see the Emperor’s fall, Andromeny still left me uneasy.

“You were right,” I conceded. “And Ereshya’s shard lies within.”

Don’t you feel it? Aemon asked, his voice like a caress in my mind. Feel your power growing just being near it?

I closed my eyes. And I did. I felt its call, its spell. It had a unique signature that I could feel even from here, and a flash of memory returned to me. A large bronze shield. The orange shard embedded inside its center, the rest of the crystal concealed by the metal around it. I’d made it myself after the Drowning. And it had kept me safe through many battles.

Until it hadn’t.

Are you ready? Aemon asked. I stood and turned to face him. He was dressed in his Arkturion armor, golden seraphim wings at his shoulders, a red cloak flowing behind his back. Behind him, hiding in the shadows, were his most trusted akadim.

How do I know she’s not lying? I asked.

Kitten, is this not proof enough of her visions? You’ve seen the possibilities. Seen the potential outcomes. Your sister remains in grave danger. She plans to take the shard for herself. When she combines that with the light already inside her, the light she can’t control, it will be too much. You’ve seen it. Seen her fall. If you do not claim the shard yourself, she will die.

Andromeny is sure she plans to use it? I thought.

Why ask me questions you already know the answer to. You’ve seen in her mind. Lyr will go after it, and use it for herself. And it will kill her.

And Jules and Meera? I asked.

We can make them safe. But we need to work together.

I turned around, staring back at the Palace, rubbing my hands up and down my arms.

The visions Andromeny had replayed in my mind. The outcomes, the potential threads of fate. There were some still uncertain. But she’d never doubted this, even though I had. How could the God Moriel kill the Emperor? How was it possible, when Moriel didn’t exist in his original form anymore? When his current incarnation had been nowhere near the Palace?

And yet, the Emperor was dead, by Moriel’s hand. Even if it was merely someone dressed up as Moriel.

My heart pounded, and I looked at the sleeping gryphon off to the side, his body nestled between the trees. My private carriage was attached to his back. And inside was the indigo shard, glowing even more powerfully than before.

If Jules is freed from the Palace, and Meera escapes from Imperator Hart , I thought, if those are guaranteed, we can work together.

You won’t bargain for Lyr? Aemon asked. He sounded amused.

But I remembered what Andromeny had shown me. The danger she faced. And the threat she posed. Not just to herself. But to all of us.

I took a deep breath, and headed for my gryphon. I was growing tired after flying all night. And being back in the world, beyond the caves, the voices were returning, my vorakh reactivated, even with the power of the shard at my side. I wanted to sleep for a few more hours, to cultivate my strength. Lissa gestured to me that my bed was ready.

Lyr sealed her own fate , I thought. And I won’t follow.