Draevyn’s heart leapt to his throat. The wordnowas on the tip of his tongue, but a vicious cackle cut through the air.
“Oh, I’ve met him.” Esmyra’s stare drifted to him, and she flashed a wicked grin. “And I must say, I’m not very impressed.”
“Drae?!” Atlas shouted in shock.
Draevyn, eyes wide with horror, turned toward his brother and mouthed,It’s Esmyra.
Atlas’s mouth fell open, and his attention slowly moved back to her, unease creeping into his stance.
Everyone had abandoned the room, and all who remained were the Rowes and the guards she held in a death grip of power.
“Draevyn. Atlas. Get rid of the bitch!” the king demanded, his plump face red with rage—or perhaps fear. “You’ll face death at the hands of the Rowe brothers. The power of Irah runs through their veins! The power of agod!”
Esmyra’s laugh was low and cruel, somehow echoing from all directions.
“Oh, you sad, putrid little man,” she purred. “Iama god. And you? You were never anything more than a fool sitting on stolen power.”
Confusion crept in on his father’s face as his brows pulled together.
“Now, tell me,” Esmyra began again, taking a single step forwardas those cold, glacial eyes were locked on the king. “How did it feel to slide a blade into Cyrus Blackwood’s heart?”
Bile burned the back of Draevyn’s throat. She knew about his death. But how?
“Tell me how it felt to murder a man in cold blood!” she screamed, the sound ear-shattering. “You went back on your bargain. You killed my captain in the depths of your castle in a silent execution. You murdered myfather!” The words erupted from her, deafening as thunder.
Draevyn’s heart cracked at the desperation in her voice. He glanced at Atlas, whose chest was heaving as shadows swirled around his arms, waiting to strike.
“Ah, the siren returns.” The king’s eyes darkened. “It seems you have a habit of breaking into my kingdom. Now,youtellme… are you prepared to meet the wrath of Irah?”
Her eyes flashed a silvery pulse of power. “Your god didn’t choose you, deeming you as unworthy as any peasant beggar in your kingdom’s streets. You’re nothing but a cruel, weak, spineless coward. That throne should have burned to ash the moment you sat your unworthy hide on it.”
The king fell speechless as she spat their kingdom’s best kept secret: that Irah deemed him unworthy of power, granting it to his sons instead.
Esmyra tilted her head, eyes gleaming like the heart of a storm. “How does it feel knowing the only reason you rule is because no one else has bothered to take it from you? Just as you tookeverythingfrom me.”
Atlas stepped between them, his shadows unfurling in black clouds. “Touch him and I’ll rip you apart. He is theking.”
“Atlas, stop!” Draevyn shouted, flames bursting from his hands.
Not Atlas. She wouldn’t touch his brother.What the fuck am I going to do if they fight?
He could’ve sworn hurt flashed across his brother’s stare as it drifted to the fire inDraevyn’s palms.
Esmyra arched a brow, amusement flickering in her gaze. “Oh, I’m not going totouchhim.”
Crack. Crack. Crack.The sound of necks snapping filled the air as all the guards in her hold went limp and fell to the floor.
Her feline smile sent a violent chill down Draevyn’s spine. “Esmyra, don’t!” he shouted, but it was too late.
With a single look, her magic surged.
It came from nowhere, from everywhere, a ribbon-like wave rising from the very air itself. It snaked around the king, wrapping around his legs, his chest, his arms and slammed him back against his throne.
King Rowe gasped, struggling, as his feet kicked uselessly against the marble dais. His fingers clawed at the watery shackle tightening around his neck. His eyes bulged before rolling to the back of his head, his mouth gaping open in a silent scream. And then the water pushed past his lips, through his nostrils, and down his throat.
Draevyn was screaming. Screaming at her to stop, begging Atlas for mercy, pleading with them both to halt the madness before either of them got hurt.
The room turned dark. Atlas’s power exploded, aiming for Esmyra. His shadows lashed out, but they couldn’t touch her. She merely raised a hand, and a wall of water went up between them. Her power swallowed his shadows whole as he relentlessly sent them after her, but they dissolved like ink in the sea.
