The wind shifted next, whipping across the deck, making the sails groan. Jak’s eyes narrowed, his lips pulling back in something between a grin and a snarl as the air itself bent to his will as he stood at her opposite side.
The first hints of dawn spread across the horizon, pale gold streaking the clouds. But as the sun climbed, something unnatural twisted the sky. The light dimmed and warped, colors bleeding into one another, and Esmyra’s stomach dropped as she realized the cause.
The moon had turned a deep crimson, rising alongside the sun as if the realm itself were caught in a slow, cruel turning. The sky above them flushed a violent red, reflecting across the waters in jagged streaks.
The Moon of Malya. It had risen. The blood moon that held the last thread of power to seal the forbidden bond now rose in the sky.
A pulse of magic thrummed in Esmyra’s veins like a drumbeat of war. Every nerve, every fiber of her being tingled with it, and she could feel her goddess stirring.
“It’s time to take back what’s ours. The sea bows to no one but us.” A chill raced down her spine as Kaelypso’s voice enveloped her mind.
Esmyra’s eyes glazed slightly as the world around her dimmed, her heartbeat syncing to the rhythm of their combined power. Waves slammed against the hull with renewed ferocity, lightning flashed across the blood red sky, and the flames held in Draevyn’s palms seemed to flare in resonance with her pulse. She could feel the weight of the oceans, and the fury of the goddess within, calling for retribution.
She was poised on the cusp of unleashing herself, ready to let her wrath tear their enemy apart.
A harsh voice cut through the air. “You think the sea bends to you, little goddess?”
It was Azarian, his tone mocking. Esmyra blinked, and Kaelypso thrashed within her, trying to claw her way out to destroy the male herself. Her pulse still throbbed, the fire within her simmering with impatience.
The skin of her wrist burned as the bond inside her whispered, reminding Esmyra she could take Syrena’s power and strength, just as her sister planned to do toher.
Her mind flickered to Jenli’s words:The stronger will consume the weaker.
But Esmyra didn’t want her sister’s power. She wouldn’t rest until both Syrena and Naerysa were destroyed.
“One of these days you men will come to recognize that the sea doesn’t bend to my will.” She stepped forward, her fingers stretching outward as a trident of pure, flowing water spiraled into existence like liquid steel. “Iamthe sea.”
I am the storm. I am the depths. And I am the fuckingmonsterwithin.
Azarian smirked at her words, his beady eyes gleaming from across the ships.
Her body shivered as Kaelypso stirred. Muscles elongated, skin shimmered with a faint luminescence, and her eyes flared with a silver light. Her hair lifted as if caught in an unseen tide as it morphed from midnight to silver strands. A subtle hum radiated from her, vibrating through the deck as what was once runes marking her arms pulsated and swirled across her flesh in ribbons of teal.
Esmyra glanced over her shoulder and found her crew had frozen. Their mouths were agape, weapons lowered as disbelief painted their faces. They had never seen her like this. Their captain no longer stood before them as she became something divine, the air itself seeming to bend around her presence.
And then several roars of triumph split the air as her crew offered their allegiance to her in this new form.
Draevyn’s gaze met hers as he nodded, slow and approving. The warmth and strength behind that simple gesture steadied her, grounding her in the rush of power building within.
Across the water, Azarian laughed. It was a dark, cruel sound that echoed over the waves. “Hello, Kae,” he sneered, his eyes glinting with amusement and challenge. “It’s lovely to see you again.”
Her gaze swept across the decks of Maerinys’s ships, a sinking feeling fell in her stomach as she watched the citizens who once cheered for her rebirth turn on her so quickly.
Azarian noticed. “They were all eager to show where their loyalties lie. Once they heard of Kaelypso’s betrayal to Maerinys, they knew they must protect their onetruegoddess of the sea.”
A rush of power flooded her veins at the taunt.
“They have taken everything. Our homes. Our lives. Our loves. Every joy, every treasure, every heartbeat that was ours… they ripped it from us and thought we would kneel.”
Kaelypso’s words burned, wrapping around her soul like living flames. “Let the fury we’ve held merge and become a force that cannot be denied. Let it consume us. Let us take back what is ours. Take back everything they stole, every last shred of what they dared to claim as theirs.”
Their rage was sharpened by injustice, their wrath fed by loss.
It all rose within her, burning hotter than the sun.
“You’ll perish by day’s end,” Azarian roared as he lifted his spear in the air, the moon above casting the ocean in bloody light.
“No fucking mercy, boys.” Esmyra’s words to her crew were a blade, and her power a tidal wave, sweeping across the deck as she released a battle cry of fury.
