Was that what Maerinys was now? Once the only place that felt like home was the rotted, salt-stained deck she currently laid on. But even now, without her crew—without their constant bickering, laughter, and watchful eyes—evenThe Night Wraithfelt empty. And she was entirely alone.
Thoughts of her crew plagued her. The men who had followed her into the depths of that cave in search of Maerinys. She missed Jak,Ren, and Riven and their annoying jokes. The small comments they would throw at her, just to see if she’d take their bait. Gods, she would even give anything to sit through one of Jak’s lectures again.
There once was a time where she thought she preferred solitude, and it took until this moment to realize she was never truly alone. Not fully.
While she’d been alone in her magic and race, she’d been surrounded by love her entire existence. Pirates certainly had an interesting way of showing it, but it took losing her crew to realize that was exactly what they had. A familial love for one another.
They never even had to go to a real war together. Esmyra had always taken care of any threat with the snap of her fingers, and now they had paid the ultimate price for it. She hadn’t even seen them at the palace, or any trace of them for that matter. Perhaps they had never even made it to Lephyrin once they were captured.
She forced down the ache that threatened to rise in her chest.
And then another name entered her mind, unbidden.Elowynne.
Her jaw tightened as she pushed herself to her feet. She still didn’t understand how the elven female had twisted her mind with a single glance, forcing her into a nightmare she hadn’t been able to escape.
Esmyra braced herself against the ship’s railing, staring out over the endless stretch of dark water. The wind tugged at her hair, sending it whipping around her face as she exhaled sharply.
She had never been attacked before from inside her own head.
The worst part about it was she hadn’t even known. Esmyra hadn’t realized that her reality was twisting away into something sheknewwasn’t real but couldn’t fight against. It had stolen her control, her will. And that terrified her.
Was this what it felt like for them?The people she had sung to their deaths, the ones whose minds she had bent to her will with nothing but a single glance. Did they feel this same helplessness as she pulled their strings, weaving their thoughts into something they had no power to resist? Had they known, somewhere deep down, what had been happening but been unable to fight it?
The thought unsettled her in a waynothing else had.
Esmyra let out a huff and turned away from the water. She had never cared before. They were only fools who had fallen prey to her power, and that was the price of crossing her. The cost of beingweak.
But now… now she had fallen victim to it herself.
Did that makeherweak?
No. No. She wasn’t weak. She was a godsdamn goddess.
Syrena would need to know what happened and what Esmyra had learned. The thought of facing her sister sent a knot twisting deep in her stomach.
Esmyra was able to raise their kingdom from the depths with nothing but her own rage and will, and yet, she had failedagain. Not only did she fall into the mental trap of elven magic, but she was shot multiple times. And with velsinyte at that.
How was Lephyrin even in possession of so much of it? Every time she turned, they had forged a new weapon with the stone containing their Divine’s blood. She needed to find the source. If anything, to wipe it out and destroy it before they found a way to destroy her.
The ship rocked beneath her as the distant outline of Maerinys came into view, its towering spires bathed in the ghostly glow of the moon.
A cruel grin crept up Esmyra’s face. One thing was certain, and that was that Lephyrin’s new king had a weakness—his pretty elven wife. And Esmyra had no intention of waiting for Atlas to strike first.
His soon-to-be crowned queen would be the perfect little prize to rip from his grasp.
CHAPTER 14
Draevyn
The night air was suffocating as Draevyn sat alone in his chambers, staring at the fire in the hearth while its flames flickered and surged with his every thought. His hands trembled against his knees, his jaw clenched so tight it ached. He hadn’t slept since the day of the tithe, after he sent Esmyra away, bloodied and wounded.
His mind combed through everything. Every second of that day.
The way her eyes locked on his, full of rage, betrayal, and something else he knew in his soul she tried to bury—pain.
The sound of Atlas’s voice screaming for the shot.
The smell of gunpowder and smoke while the tang of her blood filled the air.
