Chapter 28 #2
“Been looking for you,” my captor crooned, shaking his head.
He pressed the blade harder, and I sucked in a breath, feeling the pressure intensify.
But I remembered his knife was dull—and I’d left it behind.
Had it been sharpened, he would have sliced me open with the way he was pressing it into me.
But even so, he could still do unthinkable damage.
And the position I was in meant I couldn’t reach for any of my weapons—not if I didn’t want to get hurt.
Auriel’s sword met the other soturion’s. It wouldn’t take him long to win the fight. But then my captor yelled out again.
“Submit. Or I cut her throat.”
Auriel froze, eyeing us carefully, his neck turning red. Nostrils flaring, he dropped his blade, his hands up in surrender.
“Don’t hurt her,” he said, just as the other soturion picked it up and grabbed hold of him, forcing his head back. The soturion’s lips curled as he drew Auriel’s blade along his collarbone.
I tried to calm my breathing. The soturi weren’t a true threat to us.
We could get out of this—even if we got injured—we’d survive.
But our ability to keep our identities secret could be compromised.
How much fucking danger were we in? It was bad enough being in Korteria—but with all these rumors about New Korteria, and my aunt’s further betrayal, I had a bad feeling.
Auriel’s chest heaved, and he scowled, trying to keep his eyes on me. I could see it in his expression. He wasn’t going to play their game much longer.
“You idiots. You should have flown,” my soturion said proudly. “All we had to do was track the hoof prints. And what did we find? Our stupid ashvan, all wandering and lost in the woodland. And then, coming right back to us, our new little toy.” He jerked his hips from behind me.
Auriel growled. But all I could see was red. If Auriel’s patience was lost, mine had combusted.
“Let her go,” Auriel shouted. “There’s no fucking time for this. Akadim are attacking your men in the square.”
“Our men? Not yours?” his soturion asked.
Auriel gritted his teeth. “They’re being attacked right now!”
“Is that so? And you two were what?” his soturion asked. “Running away from your duties? Fleeing? Never faced one before now, have you?”
“We’ve killed plenty,” I gritted. “Now let us go!” Both soturi burst into laughter.
“You? You killed one?” My captor laughed harder, tightening his grip on me.
His hand snaked toward my waist, and pulled out the sword I’d stolen.
He thrust it back into his scabbard, then did the same with his dagger.
Then he opened my belt pouch, his fingers curling around the money inside.
He was sloppy when he pulled it out, dropping some of the coins, and letting his hand graze against my hip too long.
“Bad girl,” he crooned. “Taking what’s mine. ”
The soturion holding Auriel was emptying his pouch, too. And I prayed that that was all this was. They just wanted their things back, wanted to save face after we beat and robbed them. Then they could let us go. Not ask questions. Not cause a scene. Join their comrades in the square and fight.
But any hope of that was dashed when Auriel’s captor stilled, his eyes widening. He lifted a hand, and pointed, looking right at me. Like he was just seeing me for the first time. “What the fuck!” he yelled.
Alarmed, I looked behind me. Nothing. My stomach sank, and I looked down. The silver of my armor was fading back to gold. The hair over my shoulder was dark brown, with just a hint of red in the setting sun. Auriel’s glamour vanished, and so did any hope of concealing my identity.
“Doesn’t Lyriana’s hair change color?” my soturion asked.
Auriel’s jaw clenched, his hands fisting. He was ready to explode, to kill these soturi.
“Ain’t it supposed to turn red?” his friend asked.
My captor spun me around so we were face-to-face. His beady eyes looked over me, slowly raking over my features, like he was hoping my name would appear across my face. Then his eyes dipped below my neck, settling on the shoulders of my armor. Two seraphim wings.
“She’s fucking Bamarian.” His eyebrows narrowed. “I don’t know what color your hair is supposed to be, but I know it ain’t blonde. You’re her, aren’t you?”
I pressed my lips together, my pulse racing.
“Are you her? Are you fucking Lyriana?” he asked again, shaking me. “Are you?”
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next. Lie, or break out of his measly fucking hold and finally kill him for his silence. Because if he knew who I was, our entire mission was compromised. My pulse raced, beating like a drum in my ears. But a second later, any choice I might have made was gone.
Because a growl sounded from behind us, and a pair of red glowing eyes stalked forward.
My stomach hollowed in fear, my heart leaping into my throat.
It didn’t matter how many times I saw them.
The horror was always the same. And now it was worse.
Because every time I faced one, I was looking for him. For his face. For Rhyan’s.
The akadim bared his teeth, quickening his pace.
“LYRIANA!” Auriel screamed, breaking free of his captor. He knocked the soldier out, not wasting any time before tearing down the hill to me.
I broke free of the world, and jumped back, my stomach twisting with a vice-like pain.
Shadows moved in the distance, moving quickly, stalking toward us. Three more akadim.
They were different from the ones in the square. Which meant we were near a Godsdamned nest. Rhyan could be near. Or …
Panicking, I quickly looked them up and down—I hadn’t seen his face, but I had to double-check.
Not Rhyan. Not Rhyan.
I didn’t recognize any features. But one thing stood out. All three wore silver collars around their necks. The akadim in the square had been wearing them as well, but I’d been so preoccupied with the dual threat of them and the soturi, I’d barely noticed.
These three were also on the small side. Like the ones serving Morgana.
Maraaka Ereshya.
That’s what they called her. Queen Ereshya.
By the Gods. If these were hers …
She’d been there that night. The night Rhyan turned. Was it possible?
I brandished my sword, reaching on instinct for the blade at my hip.
The akadim who approached me growled, his red eyes glowing as his claws extended.
He swiped at my arm, trying to knock out my sword.
I dodged, just barely missing his attack, and turned on my heels, reaching for my dagger and rushing to his side.
Pulling my elbow back, I launched the blade at his face.
Teeth gnashing, he deflected with a snap of his arm, sending it hurtling back. I ducked. But there was a scream of pain behind me.
The returned dagger had sliced through the soturion’s arm. Though from what I could see, it was just a clipping— no major artery.
He’d live.
“Don’t lose that,” I hissed at him.
I widened my stance, my knees bent, distantly aware of Auriel and the other soturion. He must have regained consciousness because now they were both fighting against two akadim.
Mine started toward me. I dodged, barely missing his claws.
Fuck. I wasn’t used to fighting them like this.
The bigger ones I was used to, the more giant—oddly enough—felt easier to battle.
When I didn’t come face-to-face with them, they were easier to strike since their bodies were larger.
And it took them longer sometimes to reach me since their arms had to go a greater distance.
If this was any other akadim, I would have jumped on his back by now.
I would have raced past him and sliced his thigh open.
But this one was more like battling a soturion, we were face-to-face. He was quick. And it was clear from his movements that he’d had training. He seemed to sense all of my moves before I made them, and was able to block thrust after thrust and hit after hit of my blade.
I leapt back, just barely avoiding another swipe of his claws. He’d nearly gotten me.
“You serve Morgana?” I asked, hoping to distract him— but also needing answers.
The akadim’s eyes glowed and he tilted his head in curiosity, before running forward, both hands outstretched. I attacked his side, blocking his hit, and forced him into retreat. Grunting, I pushed my blade forward, further pushing him back.
“Do you serve Morgana?” I asked again, my voice hard.
“Morgana?” he asked, his voice low. He bent his knees, shifting his weight side to side. He squinted in confusion, then bared his fangs, seeing an opening to attack.
I dodged, spun on my heels, and whirled my blade forward. “Queen Ereshya,” I said.
“Maraaka,” he confirmed.
“She put the collar on you?” I asked, the blunt side of my sword meeting his arm. He used the impact to push me back and steered me around, herding me toward the woodland. Auriel was fighting behind me. And so was the other soturion, who was surprisingly holding his own.
But the one who’d tried to capture me just now was slowly getting up, and inching away.
Coward. And he was holding my dagger in his hand.
My dagger from the oath ceremony. With my Godsdamned name burned into the metal.
Fuck! The dagger meant something to me—we’d been through so much.
But more importantly, with my name burned into the steel, it was Godsdamned proof I was here.
It was one thing for this idiot to know my name, to claim that he’d seen me—to say he saw a girl with Bamarian armor. But it was a whole other thing to have actual evidence to show. To have my official blade in his hands.
“Drop my dagger!” I roared, barely blocking another blow from the akadim.
But the soturion only laughed, his eyes flashing on the steel before sliding across, and reading. “Soturion Lyriana. I fucking knew it.”
“You know shit!” I yelled.
But he continued to stalk away, abandoning both the fight and his friend. My blade clutched to his chest.