Warrior of the Drowned Empire (Drowned Empire #6)
Lady of the Drowned Empire
Previously . . .
Lyriana is still reeling from the trauma of the events of Valyati: being forced to watch her friend Haleika transform into an akadim, before slaying her in the arena, and then witnessing the Emartis murder her father. And now, Mercurial, the immortal Afeya, finally has the leverage he needed to force Lyr into a bargain after she broke her oath with her apprentice, bodyguard, and love, Rhyan. To complicate matters further, Lyr must hide the fact that she’s discovered Aunt Arianna’s true identity: she is the black seraphim, the leader of the Emartis, and the one responsible for her father’s murder.
With the Imperator rushing to consecrate Arianna as Arkasva and High Lady of Bamaria, Lyr watches helplessly as her country is taken over by the leader of the rebels, all while she tries to deal with the side effects of her deal with Mercurial. A piece of his soul, and a sliver of the light of the Valalumir are now inside her heart, linking her to him until she does his will.
But before the night is over, Lyr’s most dangerous secret is revealed to her sisters and Rhyan—Lyr’s the reincarnation of the Guardian of the Red Ray, the Goddess Asherah. Rhyan realizes Lyr’s true identity puts her in even greater danger, depending on who in the Empire knows of her celestial origins. Comments from his father, the Imperator of the North, years earlier makes him suspect that he’s aware of Lyr’s past life, and has been plotting to control her.
Meanwhile, Morgana meets with her secret lover, another mind-reading vorakh who helped her to better understand her forbidden magic. She’s distraught that she missed Arianna’s treachery, but learns that Arianna was able to keep her thoughts hidden through the Empire’s most vile and precious secret. Instead of being taken to Lethea to be stripped, mind readers are brought to the Emperor to have their powers siphoned and sold off to the wealthy nobility as a way to guard their thoughts, and spy. Morgana never revealed this knowledge to Lyr and Meera because she has long suspected that something similar happened to their cousin Jules, a vorakh with visions. Morgana believes that Jules is alive and being kept as a slave like the other vorakh in the capital, and she’s determined to find her.
Once the transfer of power to Arianna is complete, Lyr loses her title of Heir as well as the formal address of “Your Grace” but not before learning her longtime boyfriend Tristan is now betrothed to her cousin, Naria. Without her status and Tristan’s political protection, Lyr is exceptionally vulnerable, especially as the Imperator of the South hints that many across the Empire seek her hand in marriage.
Since Mercurial put a piece of the Valalumir in her heart, Lyr’s chest has been heating up in random moments, causing unbearable pain. Unsure if this is normal, she heads to the library with Morgana and Rhyan to research Afeyan deals. Amongst the scrolls, they discover an image of a snowy mountaintop, Gryphon’s Mount in Glemaria, the place Morgana saw in Meera’s most recent vision confirming that Lyr is Asherah’s reincarnation. They believe this place may be crucial to claiming Lyr’s power and fulfilling her deal with Mercurial. Rhyan knows it as the spot where a white moonstone seraphim resides.
Soon after, plagued with guilt over the fates of Haleika and Leander, Rhyan leaves for Elyria to hunt akadim, and Lyr faces Tristan to say goodbye. Meanwhile Morgana seduces a servant from the capital named Namtaya. She sees Jules in Namtaya’s mind—finally gaining confirmation—Jules is alive and being held captive by the Emperor.
When Morgana can no longer read Lyr’s mind, Lyr returns to the library, believing this to be a side effect of her bargain. But the half-Afeyan librarian, Ramia, informs Lyr that Mercurial is missing, and anything that can endanger an Afeyan is something to fear. Lyr still needs answers but finds her mother’s journal which reveals she had a recurring dream about Asherah at Gryphon’s Mount. Her mother seemed to know she’d given birth to the Goddess and visited Rhyan’s father for answers. In Glemaria, she discovered the moonstone seraphim had a lock on it, one that could only be opened by blood, soul, and key. Lyr realizes she has two out of three of those: she has the soul of Asherah, Asherah’s blood thanks to the kashonim connection formed through her armor—Asherah’s chest plate. All that’s missing is the key—something Rhyan’s father possesses. With all three, she will claim what her mother suspected was inside—the red shard, the remains of the Red Ray of Light guarded by Asherah, and her power.
Lyr meets with Rhyan’s father, the Imperator of the North the next night, and finds the key embedded in the hilt of his sword. He offers it to her in exchange for bringing Rhyan back under his control. But when Rhyan returns from hunting he goes into a rage seeing his abusive father with Lyriana. Lyr leaves with Rhyan and helps him calm down before filling him in on all she’s learned.
The following night, a strange girl from the capital appears in Cresthaven. She seems to work for the southern Imperator who has just negotiated a marriage contract between his son Viktor and Lyriana. Morgana realizes the strange girl is a vorakh invading her mind. She rushes outside with Meera, terrified of what secrets the vorakh might uncover, but they are ambushed by akadim, brutally attacked and kidnapped.
With her sisters’ abduction putting the whole country on alert, Lyr is imprisoned by the Imperator for her safety inside the Shadow Stronghold. There she receives a ransom note. In exchange for Meera and Morgana, she must bring the object inside the Gryphon’s Mount seraphim to the kidnapper—the red shard. But the key is still in Imperator Hart’s possession. Lyr plans to negotiate, but Rhyan battles his father for her, stealing the key. Using his vorakh of traveling, he breaks Lyr out of prison, and they escape Bamaria to rescue her sisters.
Lyr and Rhyan head north for Glemaria, evading the soturi sent to find them. But they are caught by nine giant-sized nahashim, sent by Rhyan’s father. Rhyan uses his vorakh to save Lyr from the snakes, jumping the two of them to multiple locations until he is drained of energy and susceptible to capture. Realizing the danger he’s in, Lyr releases Rhyan’s hand on his final jump, causing Rhyan to vanish without her.
Alone with the nahashim, she calls on her kashonim with Asherah, and defeats the snakes. But not before one gets its venom into her, causing temporary paralysis. Losing consciousness in Korteria, Imperator Kormac’s country, Lyr communicates to Rhyan through the vadati stone that the soturi of Ka Kormac have found her.
Lyriana wakes up hours later, tied up and bound by Brockton Kormac in Vrukshire, Korteria’s fortress. Brockton is the cousin of Viktor, the noble she’s now betrothed to, and he is the son of the Bastardmaker, Korteria’s warlord. Brockton interrogates Lyr, trying to get her to admit that not only have she and Rhyan broken their oaths to be together, but that Rhyan has a vorakh.
Lyr denies everything, but Brockton and three of his men threaten her with sexual assault. Brockton strips Lyr of her clothing, only to discover that not only does she have a vadati stone, but it’s full of blue light. Rhyan has been listening in the entire time. Brockton threatens to rape Lyr if Rhyan doesn’t come. Seconds later, the windows smash. Rhyan bursts into the bedroom and kills the first three soturi he encounters. He frees Lyr who demands a sword, wanting her own revenge after Brockton touched her. But before she can strike, Brockton reveals that Jules is alive and will be endangered if anything happens to him. Lyr kills him anyway, and escapes the fortress with Rhyan. They seek shelter in Cretanya at an inn. Rhyan tries to comfort a traumatized Lyr, washing and bandaging her. He admits he’d been molested as a child by a Senator from Hartavia, and promises she’ll get through this. But the idea that Jules is alive weighs heavily on them as they continue north.
Morgana and Meera attempt to escape their cruel akadim captors in a cave. They fail, but discover their blood hurts the monsters, something that will at least save them from assault.
Reaching the northern caves, Rhyan uncovers wall paintings depicting the seven Guardians. Auriel is pictured with Rhyan’s eyes. The paintings reveal the significance of the seraphim in Glemaria—it’s Asherah’s tomb. Additional artwork reveals a message honoring Moriel as king. They’ve entered an akadim nest and are attacked. Lyr fights beside Rhyan, but discovers that her chest plate no longer hurts them as it once did. Even stranger, these akadim wear silver collars, while proclaiming their loyalty to Moriel as Lyr and Rhyan escape to a mountain cliff but Lyr is thrown onto a frozen lake. The ice breaks and she drowns.
Lyr wakes in a warm cave to find Rhyan desperately trying to revive her. Since they nearly froze to death, he removes their clothing. Lyr is apprehensive, still traumatized from Brockton and Vrukshire, but Rhyan soothes her, and she recovers her body heat with him in the springs. Warm and drying off by the fires, Lyr is finally sure of how deeply she loves and trusts Rhyan. They have sex for the first time. As their bodies join, the Valalumir in Lyr’s chest lights up, and Rhyan has a memory of his past life. He’s the reincarnation of Auriel, Asherah’s lover, and Lyr’s soulmate. Strengthened by this knowledge, they cross the borders to Glemaria and Asherah’s tomb.
Morgana wakes in a new cave just as Meera has been taken to a spring for a bath. The demons try to get Morgana to bathe, too, insisting King Moriel is coming. But Morgana refuses, insisting that Moriel, the God is dead, and whoever did this to her should see the damage he caused, and bathe her himself. Moriel emerges. It’s Morgana’s secret lover. He reveals that he’s her kidnapper and the reincarnation of the God. He also knows that Lyriana isn’t the only Goddess to return—Morgana is the reincarnation of the Guardian of the Orange Ray, the Goddess Ereshya. Her lover plans to destroy the Empire beside her. But Morgana won’t hear it. She’s worried for Lyr, and realizes the vorakh she’d seen before her kidnapping, a mage named Parthenay, wasn’t working for the Imperator, but was her lover’s servant the entire time. And now she’s on her way to bring Lyr and Rhyan to Moriel.
Morgana discovers the Afeya Mercurial has been imprisoned by Moriel. He warns that once Lyr arrives with the ransom, the shard of the Valalumir, he’ll be able to draw on its strength to escape. He urges Morgana to break free, too, explaining that Moriel has linked his blood to the akadim, forming a kashonim that enhances his power, and breaks the small protection she, Meera, and Lyr had from the beasts.
Lyr and Rhyan fight the soturi guarding Gryphon’s Mount—including Rhyan’s ex-best friend, Dario. With all the pieces in place, Lyr attempts to unlock the tomb and fails. As Rhyan touches it, he falls into another memory of Auriel. He remembers carrying Asherah’s lifeless body up the mountain, and using his magic to create her tomb. The only way to open it was with blood, soul, and the key. But not with Asherah’s blood—with Auriel’s. And because Lyr has Asherah’s chest plate, and Asherah was kashonim with Auriel, they have Auriel’s blood, along with the key, and Auriel’s soul in Rhyan. The tomb opens, and Lyr retrieves the shard inside, as well as a stave that now has her name on it. She finally claims her magic power, and with the possession of the stave, is granted the magic of a mage, as well as a soturion. But before they can escape, Parthenay captures and delivers them to the Allurian Pass where Moriel, Morgana, and Meera await.
Moriel comes, revealing his current incarnation: Aemon, the Ready, Bamaria’s Arkturion who she trusted. And what’s more, it wasn’t the red shard inside the tomb, but the indigo—Moriel’s shard. He demands it in exchange for her sisters’ lives. Due to Auriel’s spells, the shard cannot be taken, it must be willingly handed over. Lyr has no choice if she wants to save her sisters—but then Mercurial breaks free of his prison, temporarily weakening Aemon, and creating a window of escape.
Rhyan helps an unconscious Meera escape the cave first. When he returns for Lyr, she’s having trouble holding onto both the indigo shard and to him, necessary for a jump. Morgana tells Lyr to hand her the shard. The moment it’s in her hands she uses her magic to create a protective shield so Lyr cannot touch her or the shard. Morgana reveals what she knows about the elixirs taken from vorakh by the Emperor, and that Jules is alive.
With their window to escape closing, Rhyan grabs Lyr and they travel without Morgana, or the shard before Aemon can reach them. They fly away on a gryphon, and Mercurial finally appears. Lyr believes she’s fulfilled her end of the bargain by claiming her magic power. But according to Mercurial, Lyr isn’t done—she has to claim her Goddess power, something she can only do with the red shard. He then reveals the reason her chest sometimes burned with heat since the contract was placed inside her heart was because the Valalumir inside her was recognizing other Guardians. It only burned when she’d been touched by Rhyan, Morgana, and Aemon. And Meera who is revealed to be a reincarnation, too.
Mercurial lets them know they still need to fulfill their bargain by claiming the red shard, and that it will be the only way to fight Aemon, especially when Morgana hands him the indigo shard and unlocks his God power. He then offers one final warning to Morgana, the reincarnation of Ereshya. She will end up giving him the shard in the end, no matter how hard she fights back. And when she does, they are all in danger.