Magic surged at her call, moisture in the air condensing into a burst of mist around her. She kneed him in the stomach, and he hunched forward with a grunt. Lightning erupted from her fingertips, scattering across the building at his back, cracking the glass windows in a blaze of sparks.
“Don’t make me kill you, Draevyn. I was willing to look the other way after you saved me in Lephyrin, but you’re pushing your luck.”
“Ah, so all that killing talk was just that.Talk.” His grin was infuriating.
The edges of her vision blurred, her lip curling in anger.
He turned, flames licking up his arms now as he watched her beneath furrowed brows.
“You want to have a little more fun then? Fine,” Draevyn growled as he cracked his neck to the side. “It seems you still need to let off a little steam. And, while I prefer another way to make that happen, who am I to deny a goddess what she wants?”
A shiver crawled down Esmyra’s spine as his gaze lingered on her, a strange mixture of warmth and unease washing over her as he uttered the wordgoddess.
Even Kaelypso seemed to purr in response.
“Don’t do that! We hate him,” Esmyra yelled into her mind.
But then he lunged.
Their powers collided in a violent blast of flame and sea. Steam exploded between them as fire met water, and the cobblestones beneath their feet cracked from the pressure. Draevyn reached for her again, but she jolted him with a sharp pulse of lightning that skittered through his flames in warning.
His strength met her fury, and they slammed into the building together again.
“You’re a fucking traitor!” she hissed, bearing her teeth as her lips almost brushed his. “You betrayedme.”
Draevyn’s entire body tensed. His hands fell to her waist, his fingertips digging into her hipbones almost painfully. For a moment, he didn’t say anything. Just stared at her like she’d stabbed him clean through the ribs.
Esmyra pretended the devastating look he wore didn’t affect her, keeping the mask on her face as she glared up at him.
“I never betrayed you,” he said, his voice low, almost pained. “Since the moment I laid eyes on you, all I’ve ever done isprotectyou.”
She blinked, her magic faltering.
“Everything I did was to keep them from destroying you,” he continued. “But it happened anyway.”
The way he said the words. The way his voice cracked on the last few… she couldn’t let it get to her.
Thiswas what she expected down in Maerinys after she found himwith Syrena. The groveling and begging for forgiveness. The lies and sweet words. But instead, he left her to spiral in her own thoughts, andthiswas what it morphed her into.
A nightmarish woman. A goddess. A fuckingmonster.
“You’re lying,” she hissed.
His fire dimmed to embers around his shoulders. “I would’ve burned the world to keep you safe. Istillwould. And I almost did.”
Esmyra tried to take a step away from him, but her back was against the wall. Her stare met his, a roaring blaze thrashing within them as he gazed down at her.
“Then why didn’t you?” Each word felt like swallowing a shard of glass, the pain searing her throat. She wasn’t even sure she wanted the real answer.
Draevyn’s jaw ticked, the skin around his eyes tightening. “It’s a bit difficult to do so when under compulsion.”
Esmyra’s mind emptied, her eyes flaring as her lips parted in horror.
Together. Him and I.Syrena’s words from Maerinys echoed from every direction in her mind.
Was what she feared true?
Naerysa had compelled Irah into believing she was Kaelypso. His hands had been tracing her curves, his lips tasting hers, his eyes wild with lust. All just as Draevyn had been with Syrena that day in the chamber.
