Atlas took a step toward Draevyn, his voice barely above a whisper now. “If you want to live long enough to do something about it, then for the love of Irah, Drae, shut the fuck up while you still have your tongue.”
The words cooled some of Draevyn’s rage, if only because he knew there was truth in them. His jaw clenched as he forced himself to step back, letting the fire simmer instead of unleashing it.
The look in their father’s eyes, however, made him question whether it was worth the risk.
King Rowe let out an impatient sigh and leaned forward on his throne. “Are you all godsdamn deaf now? I saidnext!”
Shifting armor sounded, and the guards brought an old woman forward, her thin frame trembling beneath a heavy, tattered cloak. She moved slowly, her gnarled hands gripping the folds of the fabric. The murmurs in the hall quieted as the courtiers leaned in, intrigued by the frail figure now standing before the dais.
Draevyn’s eyes narrowed on the woman, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end the closer she stepped toward them.
“Well? Speak, crone,” the king demanded. “What have you brought for your tithe?”
The woman raised her head, and beneath the shadows of her hood, her eyes gleamed. A slow, eerie cackle rattled from her, and everyone in the room exchanged wary glances, as if they too felt what Draevyn did.
Power. It exuded from her in pulsating waves.
The woman stepped out of the guard’s hold, her eyes locked onthe king. “What I bring is not gold nor trinket. Not pearl nor coin,” she rasped, her voice crackling like a dying fire. “I bring no tribute to a throne built ongluttony.”
The king scowled. “Enough of your nonsense!”
Draevyn’s attention was locked on the woman, unease threatening to suffocate him.
She went on as if the king hadn’t spoken, her voice rising and weaving through the air like a chant. “The sea remembers, and the tide has turned. And now the damned will drown as the rightful rise.”
A lump formed in Draevyn’s throat, his pulse hammering in his ears.
Sea. Tide. Drown. Rise.
The guards shifted uneasily, and the wary glances in the room turned into nervous whispers.
She lifted a gnarled hand and pointed a crooked finger at the king. “You steal from your people, feasting on what isn’t yours. Taking lives you were never owed.” The entire room seemed to pause at her words. “You sit on a throne of stolen bones, and the sea has sent its reaper!”
Oh, shit.
“You just earned yourself a one-way trip to the gallows, you beggar bitch,” the king snarled. “Guards, remove this?—”
The woman threw her head back andlaughed, the sound twisting into something otherworldly as its echo bounced off the walls. Everyone in the room took a hesitant step backward, and a chill slithered along Draevyn’s spine.
With a violent motion, she ripped off the hood of her cloak. A mist erupted, enveloping her entirely as small sparks of something resembling lightning skittered through its haze.
Then the first man screamed.
Several more rang out a second after, and the line in the room scattered. People tripped over one another, shoving past the guards and out through the doors as fast as they could as that power grew.
And when the mist finally cleared, Draevyn thought his heart stopped in his chest.
In place of the frail older woman now stood afigure of lethal, absolutely terrifying beauty. The silver of her blue-rooted hair shimmered like a blade catching the moonlight, and the swirling tattoos along her arms pulsed with an eerie luminescence. She wore a dark, sheer dress that barely left anything to the imagination. It cascaded down from two shell-shaped silver clasps resting on her shoulders and spilled onto the floor, the double slits revealing sleek legs. The dress cinched at her waist, showing glimpses of her skin, as chains studded with jewels draped down from her hips.
Glacial eyes locked on Draevyn, and his jaw fell open.
“Hello,Drae.” Her voice was a honeyed venom.
He could barely breathe.
It wasEsmyra. Or at least, he thought it was her.
The woman in front of him resembled nothing of the woman he’d fallen in love with, until he noticed her eyes. Draevyn would recognize those blue irises anywhere. They were his first and last thoughts every day since he’d met her.
