“Alright, you lot! Listen up,” she bellowed.
Tits, that felt good.
“Valorwon’t go any further,” Draevyn cut in. “The shallows herewill rip her apart before we even touch the shore. We take the pinnaces the rest of the way.”
Jak stepped forward slightly. “Keep your weapons close. This place may look empty, but you’d be fools to think it is. You’ve all heard the stories about Terrana and what lurks between the trees. Believe them.” He shrugged. “If something feels wrong, it probably is.”
Riven and Alec exchanged uneasy glances as Ren nodded along with Jak’s words, being a fellow woodland.
Esmyra crossed her arms, searching each face. “No heroics,” she shot a glare at Draevyn, “and no wandering. We land together, we leave together. Aye?”
“Aye, Captain!” rippled through the crew, and she couldn’t help her grin.
I’m fucking back.Poison in her veins or not, she was back here with her family, doing what they did best.
Draevyn took a step closer, his voice dropping just enough to carry a dangerous edge. “No causing trouble, Wildfire.”
“You know that’s half the fun.”
“Gods, you two,” Jak said, shaking his head with a small laugh before turning back to the crew. “Load the pinnaces. Light packs, only what you can carry. Weapons ready!”
Esmyra looked back at Draevyn. There was a glint in his eyes as he gazed down at her, but that tiny lilt lifting his lips slowly faded.
A small gasp slipped from her lips as she followed his stare, finding that her hands were paling and turning ashen, seeming to wither. Before her eyes, the flesh thinned, curling inward, until the sharp outline of bone began to emerge where muscle had once been.
Draevyn’s eyes widened in horror, and he went unnaturally still.
“I—”
“No.” His voice was sharp, almost desperate as he cut her off. He removed his cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders.Coveringher.
“They can’t see me like this,” she whispered as she nodded toward their crew. Her men didn’t even know the real reason for why they were there, thinking they just needed to find a hidden place to form aplan.
“I know, baby.” Draevyn reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “We have to hurry.”
She had never heard him sound so scared.
Before Esmyra could argue, his hand was firm at her back, guiding her toward the pinnaces. The glimpse she just had of her playful, teasing man was already gone, replaced by someone locked in the grip of dread.
She moved down the rope ladder and Draevyn fell in line behind her. When her feet hit the pinnace, he was already there, climbing in after her. He didn’t speak, didn’t even look at her right away. He just sat beside her, his hand gently gripping her knee.
The crew paddled in silence, the sound of oars cutting through the swamp water the only rhythm.
Esmyra stole a glance at him, at the way his eyes stayed fixed on the looming tree line ahead, his expression carved from stone. The emotions simmering in him were palpable, and though he didn’t say a word, his silence spoke louder than anything else.
Draevyn was terrified.
It didn’t matter how positive she pretended to be, how she forced herself to stand tall and wear that mask of strength. And it didn’t matter how many times she smiled through the ache, or how often she bit back the wince when her back throbbed from the curse beneath her flesh.
Because Draevyn saw straight through it, just as he always had. There was no fooling him when it came to her. And now, despite her efforts, the truth was starting to bleed through the cracks she couldn’t hold together.
“What are we going to do if this doesn’t work, Kae?”
No answer came.
Esmyra gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stare straight ahead as the hull cut through the swampy shallows.
The sea itself shifted from deep blue to an inky green-black, so dark it swallowed the reflections of the trees. The mist rolled low, curling around the boat as if welcoming them. Or perhaps evenwarningthem.
