Traitor of the Drowned Empire (Drowned Empire #7)
Warrior of the Drowned Empire
PREVIOUSLY …
The new Arkasva Batavia, Lady Arianna, has been consecrated as High Lady of Bamaria.
And Lord Tristan Grey, the Heir Apparent’s new betrothed, is ready for celebrations to die down, and for a chance to stop performing for the crowds.
But mostly, he’s ready to finally grieve his cousin Haleika who was turned forsaken by the soulless akadim, then killed in the arena by his ex-girlfriend Lyriana Batavia, and her suspected lover, the forsworn soturion, Rhyan Hart.
But Tristan can’t do any of these things so long as Imperator Kormac remains in his country.
Not even the shocking death of his nephew, Brockton Kormac, has pulled him home from Bamaria, or away from the villa owned by Tristan’s grandmother.
But the Imperator has a task for Tristan.
As the most celebrated vorakh hunter in the Empire, he is given orders for something else to hunt: Lyriana and Rhyan.
Still in love with Lyr, Tristan agrees, if only to find her and make sure she’s safe.
But Tristan’s whole world is turned upside down when a vorakh hunt later that night reveals his worst fear.
Tristan himself is vorakh and just had his first vision—a new detail about the night his parents were murdered by a mage under the thrall of visions, one with a beauty mark who swore Tristan’s parents would regret his existence when he grew up and they saw what he truly was.
In the caves of Glemaria, Lyr and Rhyan help Meera recover from her akadim kidnapping, while hiding from Morgana and Aemon, as well as Rhyan’s father who has just returned to his Seat.
Rhyan’s memories of his past life as the fallen God Auriel are haunting his dreams. He can’t stop revisiting the death of his past-life love, the Goddess Asherah, Lyriana’s previous incarnation.
But a newly magic-powered Lyr is facing her own demons as she struggles to accept the fact that not only was Brockton telling her the truth: that Jules was alive—but that Jules has been suffering and alone for two years.
Lyr’s anger at the Empire, and at herself, is coming to a head as she is consumed with the need to find Jules, and exact vengeance on those who hurt her.
Morgana’s own memories of her past life as the Goddess Ereshya, Moriel’s consort, are also haunting her dreams to the point they are making it hard for her to remember who she is.
The strength of her dreams can be attributed to the indigo shard that she tricked Lyr into giving to her.
Despite Aemon’s request for the shard to be returned to him, she has refused, and tries to accept her fate as an enemy of her sisters, but not yet a full ally of her lover Aemon, the reincarnation of Moriel.
When Aemon leaves her alone in the Allurian Pass with his servant Parthenay, Morgana must decide her next move, and begins to focus on the shard and her ability to wield it.
But she’s unsettled by the demons around her, including what appears to be a newer breed—akadim that are smaller and more humanlike in their ability to think—but just as vicious as the others.
Knowing a battle is coming soon, Lyr has thrown herself into training, both soturion, and mage, now that she has her magic, and possession of Asherah’s stave.
But her power has come with some strange effects.
When Meera falls into a vision and Lyr rushes to help her, she finds herself trapped in the vision instead.
There she sees the Emperor’s arena and three wolves chasing down a lion.
Lyriana grabs an old shield from the ground to protect herself, and then hears Jules’s voice, realizing Jules is the lion, just as indigo and orange lights appear.
Lyr comes out of the vision and faints, leaving a worried Rhyan and Meera to care for her.
Though initially fearful that Lyriana now has vorakh as well, the three suspect that the Valalumir light in her heart, part of the Red Ray placed there by Mercurial when they made their bargain, is able to heal.
But this comes at a cost to Lyriana—she must take on whatever pain or sickness she touches.
Confident of her new abilities, and the knowledge that Jules is in the capital, Lyriana is ready to make her move.
And she’ll need to be quick. The Emperor has recently called for a Valabellum, a day of deadly games in the arena reenacting the War of Light.
The games will draw everyone from the Empire to the capital, where Jules is.
But with Imperator Hart’s soturi close to finding them, they must first relocate to a new hiding place.
Rhyan travels with Meera to a new location first—since he’s only able to travel with one person at a time.
Lyr waits behind with the gryphon they acquired, but is soon surrounded by nahashim sent by Rhyan’s father.
She escapes on the gryphon, and reunites with Rhyan in their second location.
But they quickly discover the nahashim were a trap, and Rhyan, Lyriana, and Meera are captured and bound by Rhyan’s old friends: Dario, a soturion serving the Imperator, and Aiden, an apprentice to Glemaria’s Master of Spies.
Dario, looking to spread division amongst them, tells Lyr of Rhyan’s past crimes, and secrets he’s been keeping from her.
She learns the soturion he killed in the arena was not only his best friend Garrett, but Aiden’s soulmate.
Aiden breaks Rhyan’s nose in anger, but an akadim attack forces their captors to release their binds and ally together in the fight.
The five barely escape on their gryphon, but the momentary truce ends, and Dario and Aiden bring them to Seathorne to see the Imperator.
Back in Bamaria, trials are held for the Valabellum as Tristan is urged once again to find Lyr and Rhyan for the Imperator.
He knows he must follow orders, despite his fear of his vorakh overwhelming him.
He keeps seeing visions of his parents’ death.
But after the trials, he has a new concern.
Galen, his best friend and Haleika’s lover, has won the trials, and reveals he wants to face the Emperor in retaliation—an act likely to get him killed.
North in the Allurian Pass, Morgana begins to take on the power of the indigo shard, ordering the akadim to serve her, though still grappling morally with her role in all of this, and who she really is: Lady Morgana, Lyr and Meera’s sister, or the Goddess Ereshya, Moriel’s consort, and Asherah’s enemy.
Lyriana, Rhyan, and Meera are brought before Imperator Hart for interrogation.
Lyriana and Rhyan dodge questions about Meera, and what happened to the indigo shard.
They try to hide Lyriana’s abilities from him, knowing any knowledge he has can be used against them.
But when he brings in Arkturion Kane, the brutal warlord he’s marked for marriage to Lyr, another Guardian is revealed.
When Kane touches Lyr’s skin, her heart heats up—a sign of a reborn Guardian.
Kane is revealed as the reincarnation of Shiviel, God of the Yellow Ray, an even more brutal monster than Moriel.
Rhyan is imprisoned, and Meera is sent away. Lyr wakes up in Rhyan’s old bedroom, being looked after by the Imperator’s new wife, and Rhyan’s ex-lover, Lady Kenna. An unlikely alliance forms between Lyr and Kenna, who both agree that they want to protect Rhyan, and free him from the prisons.
Lyriana meets alone with Imperator Hart to negotiate.
He reveals that he knows the truth about Vrukshire, that Lyriana and Rhyan are responsible for Brockton’s murder, a fact that he learned from Imperator Kormac himself.
Kormac has been keeping Lyr’s role in this a secret because he still intends to use her to claim Bamaria.
Imperator Hart promises he can protect Lyr and Bamaria from this fate, if she does the following— marry Arkturion Kane, and attend the Emperor’s Valabellum in order to steal a shield from his Throne Room.
He even offers to rescue Jules for her. Lyr is wary of his bargain, especially because it means Rhyan will be forced back under his father’s rule.
But when the Imperator’s nahashim shows her a vision of the shield she’s meant to steal, she recognizes it from her vision, and realizes what it is—the orange shard, another piece of the Valalumir—and she knows the reason she saw the indigo and orange lights in the arena.
Aemon and Morgana are going after it, too, and if they succeed, they will have two shards of the Valalumir in their possession.
Lyr has no choice but to accept, but only after she negotiates Rhyan’s freedom from prison, and a private meeting with him to explain her decision.
Imperator Hart agrees, and makes Lyr sign a contract with her blood, one that forces her to submit to his every word and command.