His men followed him, vaulting the rails and dropping onto the deck with steel flashing as they helped cut down their enemies in waves.
What the fuck is happening?
From the flanking ships, volleys rained down into the sea, bullets hissing as they struck water. The surface boiled with shrieks as sirens broke from the depths, their once haunting songs turning into screams. One after another fell silent, their blood churning red swirls through the waves.
Draevyn caught Esmyra’s wide-eyed gaze as they were thrown back into the fight.
“Kae has an idea!” she shouted before blasting her opponent back with a jet of water so strong it impaled him.
He gave her a short, grim nod. “Be careful.”
Her lips curved into that reckless smile he both dreaded and adored. “When am I ever not?”
Fucking always.
Before he could fire back, she was already sprinting toward the railing. Without hesitation, she vaulted onto the rail and dove, her body shifting into her siren form before cutting clean into the sea below. The water swallowed her whole in a silver spray, and for a heartbeat all Draevyn could do was stare after her.
His knuckles whitened around the hilt of his blade as he spun, intent on carving a path through what remained of their enemy’s fleet, only to catch sight of his brother instead.
Atlas wasn’t looking at the battle, nor was he looking at Draevyn.
He had been watchingEsmyra, eyes following her as she vanished beneath the waves.
A hot, wild rage ripped through Draevyn’s chest. It was raw,blindingeven.
The man who had driven the cursed shard into her spine, who had left her writhing in pain and nearly broken beyond saving, had the gall to stare after her as if he could catch her again.
Something inside Draevyn snapped.
Flames ripped from his back like molten, searing chains uncoiling, until wings burst forth in a blinding eruption of fire. They arched wide beyond his shoulders, each feather a roaring blade of flame. The air shimmered around him, warping like glass about to shatter from the heat.
Draevyn was wrath incarnate—he wasthe Phoenix.
Across the deck, Atlas faltered, his expression dissolving into horror. Others around them dropped their weapons, shielding their faces from the inferno erupting from his back, while others stumbled, tripping over one another in a desperate bid to escape. The wings beat once, sending a rush of embers through the air.
Atlas’s eyes flared as he lifted his blade in response. “Wait. Drae, wait!”
He would do no such thing.
Draevyn launched himself forward, teeth bared, blade singing as it arced through the air. The battle around them dulled into background noise, the roar of cannons muffled by the blood pounding in his ears.
His strike aimed was fueled by the memory of Esmyra’s pained screams, by the fact that the person he had once trusted most in this world dared to set eyes on harming the woman who’d become his everything.
“Stay the fuck away from her!” Draevyn’s voice ripped from his throat, hoarse with fury, as their blades met.
The ring of their weapons cut sharper than the surrounding screams and gunfire. To Draevyn, the battle had already shrunk to only the two of them. Nothing else mattered.
Every strike was rage made flesh. Every parry was fueled by the love for his Wildfire and his vow to protect her.
“Draevyn, listen to me!” Atlas begged, blocking a slash that would’ve cleaved his shoulder. “You don’t under?—”
“Shut the fuck up!” Draevyn barked, driving him back step by step. His blade tore against his brother’s, teeth gritted so hard his jaw ached.
He would hear no excuses. There would be no reasoning.
The fight dragged them across the blood-slicked deck, weaving through pirates and soldiers who leapt aside as the brothers tore into each other. Their blades locked, their eyes only inches apart.
Then the groan of timber split the air.
