The Night Wraith’sshadow loomed over the water, surrounded by fog. The ship didn’t dock, nor did it release its anchor. It simply waited, floating just beyond the harbor.
A feline smile pulled at her lips as the water began to stir.
Esmyra pulled herself onto the rail, balancing on her heel before taking a step over its ledge. She didn’t fall or plummet down to the sea but instead was gracefully lowered with the assistance of her magic.
Once she reached the water’s edge, the mist parted, revealing the still, dark surface of the sea. The reflection staring back at her was both foreign and familiar, something that would normally send her heart into a flutter of nerves, but she welcomed the change.
Blue-rooted silver hair cascaded past her shoulders, shimmering like liquid moonlight, moving as though it had a life of its own. It framed her sharp features, her skin kissed with a faint iridescence, as if she had been sculpted from the very essence of the ocean itself. Her tattoos swirled in the same silvery-blues, coiling around her arms.
And she knew that beneath those eyes—those serpentine, glacial eyes—Kaelypso was the one staring back at her through their reflection.
The dress she wore was a transparent onyx that revealed glimpses of skin before wrapping around her natural curves as her legs peeked out from the double slits.
Thanks to Kaelypso’s newfound power flowing through her,clothing would never be an issue again. Not only could shebecomeanyone she desired, but she could cloak herself in whatever her mind conjured as well.
Esmyra bent down and skimmed her webbed fingers over the water, sending out ripples that distorted her reflection.
She had once been a pawn to men and their kingdoms. A feared monster of the depths. But now? Now, Esmyra was something else entirely—something so much worse.
Shouts rang out from the docks as guards rushed down the planks, finally noticing her presence. The fear in their voices sent a sharp satisfaction brewing through her chest.
Esmyra hovered just above the surface, her bare feet barely touching the waves. And as she willed it, the sea movedwithher, lifting beneath her heels in a silent current. Tiny sparks of lightning leapt from her taloned fingertips, and she sent her power skittering across the water.
Screams tore through the port as she fully came into view.
Oh, they’re making this too easy.The cackle that erupted from her echoed, sounding as if it came from every direction as it carried out on the waves.
The air thickened with mist, tendrils of sea fog creeping over the docks, curling around the wooden beams and stone streets, reaching for anything it could hold in its grasp. Some people gathered and gawked at the sight while others screamed and fled.
Esmyra let them look at her. Let themseewhat had been reborn in the deepest depths of their world.
A gunshot cracked through the air, followed by several more, but she didn’t even flinch.
“Nothing can touch us here,” Kaelypso reminded her, and a vicious smirk formed. “The sea will always work to protect us, even if there is a time we cannot protect ourselves.”
Muskets flared in quick succession as the guards along the dock unleashed their volley. The bullets whistled toward her, but to Esmyra’s surprise, as they struck her skin, theyflattened, falling uselessly into the sea below with a subtle splash.
Huh. That’s interesting.
She tilted her head, moonlit hair flowing around her shoulders before she lifted her stare back to the men, regarding them with something between amusement and disdain. It would take more than a few bullets to take down a god.
The guards hesitated. The ones who had fired first reloaded with shaking hands. Others gripped their swords tighter, their knuckles white as they lifted the blades above their heads. Their fear, however, was as thick as the salt in the air, stinging her nose.
“Now, now, boys…” Her voice echoed across the water. “Is that any way to welcome a guest?”
Esmyra lifted her taloned hand toward them all, and with a flick of her wrist, the sea obeyed.
Water surged upward like living serpents, twisting through the air before lashing out. The tendrils struck fast, wrapping around the throats of three of the men at the edge of the dock. They barely had time to scream before the ocean yanked them toward her, dragging them beneath the waves.
She felt them drown, felt as their struggle lessened with each second passed, until their lungs were filled with nothing but sea and salt.
Lifting her stare back to the docks, a silver glow cast from her eyes as she grinned. “Boo,” she whispered with a wink, and the remaining guards broke out in a frantic run.
Weapons clattered against the dock as they turned, shoving past one another in their desperate scramble to flee. Some tripped over crates and piles of coiled rope, others stumbled onto their hands and knees once they reached the sand. Their panicked cries and the ringing of warning bells erupted through the air as word spread through the harbor.
Esmyra didn’t stop them. She wouldn’t harm the innocents of their kingdom—only the man who sat upon the throne and those who served him.
And Draevyn fucking Rowe.
