Jak didn’t know if Esmyra felt the same way, but he doubted the man would still be alive if she didn’t. Esmi always said she didn’t know how to love and didn’t want to waste her time entertaining any man or woman in her bed for centuries.
But Draevyn? The realm’s monster of the land while she was that of the seas? A man who was used as his father’s weapon and tool for power, just as she had been? He was her equal. Her mirror, even. And Jak knew his girl well enough to know that even her beautiful black heart wouldn’t be able to resist falling for a man like that. And he couldn’t blame her.
Wasn’t that all that any of them wanted? To be seen and loved.
It wouldn’t only be that someone saw her, but that they loved her anyway, knowing the weight and burden of all she’d been dealt. Someone who wouldn’t make her feel so godsdamn alone.
They had to find her and bring her to safety. All he wanted was for her to be happy, and the world had taken away every sliver of joy she’d ever felt over these last few weeks.
Jak needed to get his captain back. He needed to bring her to her family and to the fire-wielder who committed treason in her honor, knowing his neck was now just as much in the noose as theirs.
In his owl form, his vision was sharp, catching every flash of movementand face below. He’d been searching for her, keeping to the skies to cover more ground at once. He knew in every bit of his soul that she would never stay hidden in a building.
She was likely out fighting for their home port—and with magic at that. It shouldn’t take long for him to spot her from above.
Shouting caught his attention down the beach.
The mist rolled thick along the shoreline as Jak flew lower, his wings slicing through the fog as he tried to make sense of the shapes beneath him. It was a line of dark figures trudging across the sand, their armored boots sinking with each step. But no one else was near. Were they patrolling the beaches to be sure no one tried to escape into the sea?
The lower he hovered, the more confused he became. It looked like the soldiers were coming back from a fishing haul, and something heavy was caught tangled in their nets. But as the net moved beneath the moonlight, its silver veins cast a ghostly shimmer.
That’s no ordinary fishing net. And it certainly wasn’t any kind of fish being dragged away by them either, bumping and catching on rocks protruding from the sand.
But then a break came in the fog, and the light hit it just right.
His heart seized.
No, no. Fuck. It can’t be?—
He angled downward, squinting through the gloom. The net possessed a faint glow, the metallic threads glinting with that unnatural, vile shimmer he’d become all too familiar with in Lephyrin’s dungeons. Velsinyte swallowed and absorbed magic, and whoever was inside the net, falling victim to the substance, was nothing but dead weight.
Pearlescent skin. Blood-matted midnight hair. Rune-marked limbs.
Esmyra.
She was unconscious, bound, and being dragged like an animal across the sand.
Jak’s wings faltered mid-beat, his body nearly dropping from the sky and crashing down to where they were.
They caught her. They fucking had her in a net as if she was any other sea creature that got too close to their ship.
He could hardly breathe, the air rushing out of his lungs as the guards hauled her farther down the beach toward a shadowed longboat. Their voices were low, making it difficult for him to hear even in his woodland form.
The net snagged on a rock, and one of the guardskickedEsmyra in the stomach while trying to get it to move again.
Blinding rage had Jak diving without a second thought.
Faster than an arrow loosed from a bow, he tucked his wings and plummeted straight down at the heads of the nearest guards. His form rippled midair, feathers twisting into flesh, talons receding and becoming booted feet. His hands shot out before him, summoning wind to slow his fall as he let out a battle cry that resembled a furious bellow entangled with an owl’s screech.
As they gazed up, he crashed down into them, bringing them to the sand.
One of the soldiers cried out in alarm, but Jak didn’t give them time to recover as his hand shot to his boot and withdrew a curved dagger.They all swarmed him then. Steel met flesh as he slashed the man across the thigh, elbowed another in the throat, and drove his shoulder into a third, sending him sprawling into the surf.
The net jolted and twisted as Esmyra stirred weakly while a low groan escaped her lips.Their attention immediately returned to her, one of them taking a step closer to her limp body.
“Get the fuck away from her!” Jak roared, eyes blazing with magic and bloodlust.
One of them turned to him and raised his musket. The soldier never had time to pull the trigger as Jak hurled his knife toward him, the blade twirling and gleaming in the dim light right before its blade embedded itself in the man’s throat.
