“Please,” he gasped, voice breaking into a pitiful whimper.
Her head tilted, expression cold. “Did I say you’re allowed to speak?”
The venom hissed as it spread, eating through skin and muscle. His words died in his throat, tears gathering at the edges of his eyes as he shook his head, forced to obey beneath her compulsion.
Draevyn stepped behind the man, drawing a dagger from his belt with a slow, deliberate scrape of steel against leather. The sound alone made his prisoner flinch.
He crouched down, close enough that his breath ghosted against Varis’s ear. “Do you remember what you did to her? How youbrutalizedher spine.” His tone dripped with malice. “I think it’s only fair if you carry the same mark.”
Without warning, the dagger’s edge pressed against the man’s back and then sank in. The blade dragged downward in one, merciless stroke, carving along his spine and scraping into the bones. Flesh split, blood spilling hot and fast as the man let out a ragged scream that echoed off the stone walls.
Draevyn’s grip was steady as he carved the same line that scarred Esmyra, every inch of the blade paying back the torment she’d endured. Varis’s cries grew higher, cracking, breaking into wet sobs.
Atlas stuck his pinky in his ear and twisted. “That is a bit of a pathetic sound, don’t you think?”
When the dagger reached the base of his back, Draevyn pulled it free and leaned close. “Don’t worry. We’re only getting started.”
The prisoner dragged in ragged breaths through clenched teeth, spit slipping past his lips as his face blazed red.
Esmyra took her taloned finger below his chin and tilted it upward, forcing him to meet her stare. “Why did you do it, Varis?”
“Do what?” he snapped.
Her eyes narrowed, her features tightening. “You had me in the cuffs. Why did youviolatemy fucking body as I was unconscious?”
Draevyn’s hand trembled from a rage so deep it felt like his bones themselves were burning.
The man snarled. “Wanted to see if you truly were immune to its instant death.” He swallowed. “It appears you were.”
“You knew it could’ve killed her?!” Atlas barked, but Draevyn barely heard the words.
Immune. Esmyra had been in a way, but she wasn’t entirely. And the only reason was because of Kaelypso.
Visions of those days where her future was unknown swarmed his vision. Her breathless voice telling him how unbearable the pain was, describing how it felt to be powerless with Kaelypso severed from her reach. And how she trembled in his arms the first time he touched the scar, feeling the shard beneath.
Without another thought, Draevyn plunged his hand straight into Varis’s open wound he’d carved. Hot blood poured, gushing out and coating his forearm.
The man let out a bellowing sound of pure anguish, body writhing as Draevyn’s fingers dug deeper, searching until they wrapped around the hard ridge of vertebrae. He remained perfectly still, holding the bastard’s spine in his hand as his eyes lifted to meet hers.
The screams that tore from Varis’s throat were raw agony echoing through the ship. His body convulsed, jerking against Draevyn’s hold as his eyes rolled white.
But then Esmyra stepped forward, her eyes glowing with that subtle silvery teal, shifting once more. Her voice dripped like honey as she ordered, “Not. A. Sound.”
The command sank into Varis like chains, and he fell silent. His jaw clamped shut with a sickening crack as he tried to fight her magic. His body trembled, veins bulging in his neck as the agony ripped through him.
Draevyn’s nostrils flared, baring his teeth in a savage grin as he pulled the man closer to him. “That’s better.”
Atlas let out a low whistle as he watched, beginning a slow clap. “Much more theatrical than I imagined. Well done, Drae.”
Draevyn met his brother’s gaze, his head cocking to the side. “Oh, I’m not done yet.”
Summoning his power, flame licked up his arm, and into his palm still gripping the spine. The heat built, hotter and brighter, until it engulfed Varis’s torso in a sudden, brutal surge.
The prisoner’s body convulsed violently as fire erupted from within him. Flesh bubbled, blackened, and split open as flames consumed muscle and marrow alike. His chest glowed like a torch from the inside, ribs searing through skin.
Esmyra stood only a few feet away, watching Varis burn with an otherworldly stillness. Her face was unreadable, hard as stone, and her eyes glowed faintly in the flickering firelight.
There was no anger, no joy, or pity.
