Her head cocked to the side as she continued to assess him. “My name is Elowynne Everhartt. It’s nice toactuallymeet you, Your Highness.”
There was a bit of a bite in her tone that Draevyn couldn’t place, but when he looked at Atlas, he saw nothing but pride in his brother’s grey eyes as he stared at his betrothed.
Atlas exhaled slowly as he moved toward them. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done, Draevyn? You nearly killed him!” he snapped, stepping forward. “Grabbing the king by the throat. By the gods, do you have a death wish?”
Draevyn didn’t flinch. “As I said before… he deserved worse.”
His brother’s lips pressed into a thin line. “We’re not boys throwing tantrums anymore. You cannot afford to act on your rage.”
Draevyn scoffed, running a hand through his hair. “I should’ve burned him where he stood.”
Atlas made a noise of protest. “And what would that have accomplished?”
Draevyn turned away, fists balling at his sides. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, drowning out reason as his temper still smoldered within. “He killed Blackwood.”
Atlas stepped closer, lowering his voice. “You know as well as I do Father has been waiting for you to make a mistake—to give him a reason to be rid of you. And you were willing to give it to him over the wretched pirate king?!”
“Your outburst has already cost you his favor. You’re lucky he only ordered one night in the dungeons,” Elowynne chimed in, her voice calm but firm.
Draevyn laughed humorlessly as he turned to her. “You think I care about his favor?”
“No,” Atlas said, stepping between the two in her defense. “But you care abouther.”
Elowynne’s head reared back, eyes flaring. “Her? Who’s her?”
Draevyn blew out a breath as he searched for the words. “She’s?—”
“She’s the bitch who kidnapped him and swept him away on her ship that night,” Atlas cut him off.
Draevyn whirled on him, jaw agape. “Are you fucking kidding me? Don’t you ever call her that again.” He tried to hide the embers burning at his fingertips. “Ever.”
“It’s the truth. That’s what she is,” Elowynne defended Atlas.
“It’s so much more than that. And if you wouldn’t mind, this is afamilymatter,” Draevyn growled.
“She’s to be my wife, Drae. Elowynne stays.”
Draevyn lifted his stare over Atlas’s shoulder to meet hers and saw that defiant glare he recognized all too well, so similar to Esmyra’s.
May the gods help them if the two ever met.
He let out a long breath. “She has a name, and it’s Esmyra. I was her captive until I… wasn’t.” He knew the words were barely convincing. “It’s a very long story, but she’s in trouble. We found Maerinys, and she’s still down there. I can’t abandon her. I won’t.”
Draevyn’s eyes burned—not with fire, but with something deeper he couldn’t name.
“Esmyra needs our help,” he continued. “It’s the king’s fault we were down there, I might add. If he hadn’t been a greedy prick, demanding answers about Maerinys, I never would’ve been with her in the first place. And now, he won’t stop until he’s taken everything from her.”
Draevyn pushed down the awful words that kept rising to the surface of his mind:He’s already taken everything from her.
All she had left was her crew, and they would face the noose if Draevyn didn’t find a way to free them.
Elowynne studied him carefully. “You truly care for this woman?”
“I do,” Draevyn admitted without hesitation.
“Does she even feel the same way?” Atlas cut in.
The memory of fury-ridden glacial eyes flashed across his mind as she stared at him from his bedroom door in Maerinys.
