It was pure, unguarded shock.
Draevyn blinked. Snapping out of his haze, he forced air into his lungs and stepped further into the room, each step loud in the echoing silence.
“I came as soon as I could,” he finally said, voice steady despite the roar in his head. “The ships at the docks are secured and set. Everything’s in place, my king.”
Atlas just stared at him. Confusion twisted across his features, quickly followed by the telltale tightening of his jaw, and the flicker of the Rowe anger behind his eyes.
“I wasn’t sure you’d be able to make it here in time,” Atlas said slowly. “Certainly not this soon.”
He’s playing along. Thank the g— ...actually no. Fuck the gods.
Draevyn offered a short nod. “I figured you’d want me here. Given the circumstances.”
His brother didn’t answer right away. Instead, his gaze flicked briefly toward the archway—the same one she’d been pulled through—and then narrowed back on him.
The tension in the room thickened like smoke. Every guard was watching their exchange, and each breath felt like it might betray him.
Draevyn tilted his head slightly, keeping his tone neutral. “And where is our prisoner being taken?”
The question hung heavy in the air, and the veins in his neck strained.
Atlas’s brow twitched. “Wherever she can be properly contained during questioning.”
A shadow rippled across the floor, coming through the high, arched ceiling. The faint silhouette of wings passed over the moonlight, spilling through the glass above as an owl swept overhead, its form briefly eclipsing the silver glow.
Jak. How could he signal to him? It was clear they weren’t able to find a way into the castle if he was flying overhead. Draevyndidn’t care how they got in anymore, he just needed them here. Finding her as he distracted the two kings.
His eyes drifted right back to the smeared blood on the floor, and rage burned in his veins like acid at the sight.
Esmyra had been harmed in one way or another, so all bets were fuckingoff.
Draevyn’s fingers moved, dipping into his coat pocket. He pulled out a shiny coin and rolled it across his knuckles casually. Each flick of his wrist had the gold catching the moonlight, sending brief flashes upward toward the windows.
A signal.
Still twirling the coin, Draevyn smirked, turning his attention back to his brother. “I can only hope you’re able to get more information out of her than we were able to.” His tone was sharp beneath the casual words.
A screech sounded overhead, and then Jak flew out of sight. But Draevyn just kept rolling the coin, letting it catch the moonlight one last time before slipping it back into his pocket.
CHAPTER 41
Esmyra
Esmyra stumbled as the guards dragged her through the castle halls, her bare feet slipping against the polished stone. Her wrists ached beneath the cuffs, still humming faintly with the power that strangled her own.
The elven king’s polished cruelty was veiled in fine silks as he looked at her like she was something to be mounted on a wall. Meanwhile, Atlas had watched her like he wasn’t quite sure if he’d made the right decision. But the hate remained in his eyes all the same.
Esmyra had taunted them, daring them to take the cuffs off. Mocked their ignorance of what she really was, of the power she could summon if given just a breath of freedom.
And then, as the guards pulled her away, Draevyn appeared.
Esmyra caught only a flicker of his silhouette at the edge of the chamber as he stepped into the throne room. Her breath had seized in her chest at the sight of him. Even from a distance, she knew it was him before they locked eyes.
He came for me.
For a moment—just a single second—the world had narrowed to that one truth. That no matter what trap she’d walked into, no matter how vicious she’d been… He came for her.
But was it even real? Had she imagined him? A desperate projection of her mind, conjured from the remnants of delusional hope.
