It came as a crushing force that cracked the stone beneath them, a surge of divine energy that slammed into their chests and hurled them all back against the walls.
They all crashed down to the ground. Shadows writhed and struggled to form, only embers sparked at fingertips, and limbs stretched for out-of-reach blades.
Syrena raised her hands, and the very air seemed to pulse as water materialized and rose from the floor instantly. Streams wrapped around the intruders, thousands of pounds of liquid constricting and writhing as each drop obeyed her command.
She smiled, savoring the panic in their eyes. The water lifted them from the stone floor, spinning them upward, twisting their limbs and restricting them. Every time they struggled against her hold, it only fed her exhilaration, and she pressed into them further.
“Fight all you want,” she said, “but you’re mine now.”
The waves tightened, biting at their armor, drenching them, pulling at their bodies as if they were nothing more than toys in her grasp.
Flames continuously tried to erupt from Draevyn, instantly extinguishing and turning to nothing but steam beneath her magic’s hold. Shadows tried to jet through Atlas’s, stabbing the whirling tides repeatedly, unable to break through.
Syrena held them suspended in the air, their eyes wide with fear, their screams muffled by the rushing waters climbing over their lips.
She could feel every heartbeat, every pulse of terror, and she drankit in like the sweetest wine. The sheer, overwhelming control over them made her feel invincible.
“Welcome to your reckoning. Did you truly think you could kill agod?!” she taunted.
“They can’t…” A voice boomed through the room.
Syrena’s triumphant smile froze the instant the air shifted. A pulse of raw energy tore through the room, the force of it so commanding that the water in her grasp quivered.
Her eyes snapped to the entrance just as Esmyra crashed through, a torrent of power radiating from her like a storm.
Syrena’s control slipped, the tight vortexes around Draevyn, Atlas, and the crew wobbling, some spilling partially back to the floor.
An unbearable pressure suddenly built all around her, and then she was violently thrown through the air. The world around her spun, until finally, her body slammed against the far wall, the impact reverberating through her chest.
Syrena fell to the floor, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Lifting her stare to meet her twin’s, she let out a snarl.
A vicious smile curved Esmyra’s lips as she twirled a velsinyte-tipped spear in her hand.
“ButIcan,” she finished. “Welcome toyourreckoning, Sister.”
CHAPTER 68
Esmyra
Esmyra’s gaze locked on Syrena as she pushed herself to her feet, her face twisted with fury. The sight of her twin sent Kaelypso thrashing within her, burning like acid in her chest as the memories of each betrayal came rushing to the surface.
But then Esmyra’s eyes swept the chamber, her heart coming to a painful halt.
Suspended in coils of water, like prey wrapped in a spider’s web, hung Draevyn, Jak, Atlas, and the others. Their bodies levitated helplessly, as vortexes of water spun in slow, suffocating spirals around them.
Whiskey eyes met hers, and she shoved down the bile climbing her throat.
Draevyn fought for breath, his body jerking against the crushing tide as water hovered just over his lips. His soaked, dark hair was plastered to his face, his chest straining, his cheeks already pale from lack of air. But it was his eyes—those wide, desperate, searching eyes—that ripped Esmyra apart as his life drained from him.
Something primal ignited within her.
Blistering fury surged, roaring through her veins. The power erupted through her with a savage purpose.
No onetakes him from me.
“Kill her,” Kaelypso roared. “Kill them both.”
“We’ll kill them together,” Esmyra whispered back as her fists clenched, lightning sparking and snapping across her skin.
