“How,” Draevyn demanded.
Bull-fucking-shit they healed her.
“They told me the only way to cure the velsinyte curse once it enters the blood is by removal of the curse itself or the blood of another god.”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Jenli chimed in.
Esmyra swallowed, refusing to look Draevyn or Jak in the eye, and it was driving him mad. “Well, supposedly they tried all of that. But they said the wounds had festered by the time I arrived in Maerinys and had been infected for too long.”
“Wildfire…” Draevyn’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Esmyra lifted her wrist again, displaying the twin serpents as the sun and crescent moon reflected in the candlelight. “Azarian bound Kaelypso’s soul to Naerysa’s to pull us back.”
A blistering silence filled Draevyn’s mind, the edges of his vision turning black as if his brother’s shadows had crept in unseen. A fury unlike any he’d ever known began rapidly consuming him.
Jenli’s expression hardened. “Soul-binding?” she echoed before letting out a low whistle. “I hate to be the bearer of more shitty news, but your sister lied to you.”
“I’ve been beginning to realize that,” Esmyra admitted. “But I wasn’t sure how much of a part this played in bringing me back.”
“And you said you weren’t a willing participant?” Jenli added. “Souls cannot be bound without consent. Otherwise, you may only give a piece of yourself away to another or surrender your magic. Are you sure she didn’t do one of those? Regardless, the god’s blood should’ve been enough.”
Esmyra’s brows furrowed, her lips parting as her stare fell back to the twisting serpents. “I certainly didn’t agree to this, but her words were clear. The goddesses’ souls are bound.”
“Syrena saidthatspecifically? That it was thegoddesses’souls, not yours?” Draevyn asked.
She nodded in answer. “When it happened, I assumed it meant all four of our souls were bound, but the more time I’ve spent withKaelypso, the more I’ve realized how separated we really are. Maybe it was on purpose that she only bound them.”
And once the kingdom is restored above, I’ll have no use for Esmyra. With her powers under my command, the seas will bend to my will, and Kaelypso will be nothing but a memory.Draevyn’s fire-fueled blood ran cold as the last words Syrena spoke to him came rushing back.
“Esmyra, why did you run from Maerinys?” Draevyn asked, his eyes still distant as he combed through their time in the sunken kingdom.
She swallowed. “I ran from Syrena.”
“Why?”
She glanced between the three of them as they all stared at her, wide-eyed. “It’s a very long story, but to put it short, I asked the Veil of Visions why Cyrus was in the tower that day. And it showed meeverything. What really happened and why we were killed. From what I’ve gathered, Naerysa wanted to kill Kaelypso and take her power.”
Her eyes slowly drifted back down to the mark. “And I think I know how they planned to do it. Me coming back wounded offered her the chance.” She bowed her head as if ashamed. “I think she managed to compel me into agreeing to the soul bond.”
Draevyn rushed up to her, pulling her into his chest. “This isn’t your fault.”
She leaned into him. “Well, it isn’t yours either. We were all played a fool by her. I just can’t even believe this is our reality.”
“Right now, we need to focus on the issue of not having a way to extract the curse,” Jak finally said, and everyone’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I suppose you don’t happen to have another god’s blood handy?” Jenli asked.
The room collectively groaned.
“Are you serious?” Jak snapped.
“What?”
“What kind of question even is that, Jenli?!”
“Well, you never know what people keep in their pockets, Jak!”
Esmyra let out a bitter laugh and slowly sank to thefloor. She folded her knees up to her chest, resting her chin against them as her arms wrapped around her shins. “We’re fucked,” she muttered, blowing a strand of hair from her face. “Absolutely fucked.”
