He blinked, seeming to be caught off guard. “Why what?”
“Why did you come after me?” she whispered, the words almost torn from her. “After everything I’ve done, everything I’ve—” She shook her head, unable to meet his gaze. “You should’ve let me go, Draevyn.”
There was a beat of silence, filled only by the sound of the waves slapping against the hull beyond the windows. She felt him looking at her, searching the side of her face.
“I couldn’t,” he said simply, but the weight in his voice was enough to crack her open. “Iwon’t. I refuse to give up on you. Not until you tell me to. Not until you say it in a way where evenIbelieve you.”
Esmyra dared to glance at him then, and what she saw in his whiskey gaze was almost enough to make her believe she wasn’t the monster she knew she’d finally become.
“Draevyn, I?—”
He stepped in front of her, closing the distance she was desperateto keep between them. She took a few steps back as he advanced, his presence overwhelming, until the edge of the captain’s desk dug into her hips. Her breath caught, heart pounding, but before she could react, his hands were at her waist.
With effortless strength, he lifted her and set her on the desk, the wood cool beneath her palms as she gripped the edge for balance. Draevyn stepped in close, standing between her legs as his gaze burned into hers.
The ship swayed with the waves, but all she could feel washim. The heat of him being so close, the intensity radiating from him, and the sheer refusal to let her slip away.
Draevyn placed his hands on the edge of the desk, his knuckles turning white as if holding himself back. “You think I didn’t know what you were going to do the moment you set foot in Lephyrin? You think I didn’twantyou to?”
Tears stung at the back of her eyes, but she blinked them away, clenching her jaw.
His tone softened, though the fire in his gaze never dimmed. “And yes, you murdered a king, destroying my relationship with my brother. There’s no denying that…” He blew out a breath. “But do you know what I felt watching you do it?”
Esmyra’s lip trembled, the veins in her neck tightening to the point of pain as she tried to keep her emotions in.
“Pride,” he finally said. “Because for once, they didn’t win.Youdid. The wicked men of this world who sit on these polished thrones think they can take and take and take, and you took it back like the fucking goddess you are.”
Her chest ached, torn between wanting to collapse into him and flee as far as the sea would carry her.
“And still, I’m convinced you only took back a sliver of what you’re owed,” he said. “And I would lose everything a thousand times over if it meant seeing you claim it.”
The room spun, her turmoil raging like a storming sea. Esmyra wanted to tell him he was wrong, that she was unworthy of that kindof devotion. But when she opened her mouth, the words tangled in her throat, swallowed by the look in his eyes.
It was a look no one had ever given her. Not truly. Not in a way she ever believed it.
Worlds will burn before he lets anything happen to you again.Jak’s words from earlier echoed in her mind.
“I freed your crew, burning my own men in the process. In Anchorage Cove, I had us follow whispers and shadows,anythingthat might lead me back to you.”
“Butwhy?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
His hand reached out, almost hesitant, before brushing the back of his fingers along her cheek. “Because, if nothing else, I had to give you the truth. The truth of what Syrena had done. Of why I wasn’t there after, and of what happened to your father.”
“When you returned to your kingdom…” Esmyra’s gaze went distant. “Did your king believe you? About there being no treasure in Maerinys?”
Draevyn’s eyes slowly roamed over her. “Not all treasure is made of gold.”
Her lips parted at the words.
“I had no interest in dragging you back, Wildfire. I would never chain you to me or to the past. I only wanted to give back what was stolen from you.” He took a deep breath. “And if you listened to it andstillwanted nothing to do with me… only then would I let you go. If you heard what I had to say and hated me for it, or even wanted me dead… I would understand. I would fuckingwelcomeit. Because at least then my conscience would be clear.”
His closeness was dizzying, and the raw honesty in his words was almost too much to bear.
“The only thing that matters now is that you finally know.” Draevyn searched her face. “Everything is in your hands now, Esmyra. My fate. Your future, or ours together… It’syoursto decide.”
His words settled deep inside her, heavy and impossible to ignore, twisting something in her chest she didn’t even have a name for.
Esmyra was caged between his arms as the candlelightflickered, painting gold along the edges of his face and the soft curve of his mouth. Every inch of her screamed to lean into him, to close the space he left agonizingly open.
