Now, Lephyrin’s castle loomed against the night sky, bathed in the soft, flickering light of a thousand torches. Laughter and music floatedin the air. It was a sickening contrast to the icy rage that burned through Esmyra’s veins as she watched the lords and ladies leave the festivities and enter their horse drawn carriages.
Her bare feet barely made a sound against the ground as she slipped from shadow to shadow. Her silver hair was braided tightly down her back, her swirling tattoos hidden beneath her cloak that blended into the stone of the castle’s outdoor walls.
A drunken lord stumbled out of line. “Long live King Atlas Rowe!” he chanted, and a few others joined him in celebration.
Esmyra’s lips curved in a grim smile. All she needed to do now was find Elowynne and dangle her life in front of their newly crowned king.
A pair of guards stood posted at the side entrance she chose, their muskets gleaming. Her stare lowered to their hands, where she caught the faint glint of silver bands.
Velsinyte.
She grimaced. It seemed Atlas wasted no time after she fled and had been smart enough to equip his men against her influence. A growl brewed in her chest at the memory of his father threatening to do that the night she captured Draevyn.
Unless she found a way to remove those rings, there would be no compelling them.
“What if we bite them off?” Kaelypso suggested as she crouched low behind a wall.
Esmyra’s lips pursed together as she tilted her head, considering. Honestly, she wasn’t above it. But perhaps she should be more civilized and slice them off instead.
Oh. Yes, actually, she liked that idea quite a bit.
Esmyra pressed her palm against the stone wall, feeling the steady pulse of moisture in the air. She couldn’t raise a wave in front of the palace doors without drawing attention… but a thin mist, something to cloud their vision just long enough for her to sneak up on them.Thatshe could manage.
Lifting a taloned hand, she summoned a ghostly fog.
One of the guards coughed and shifted uneasily. “Do you see that?”
The other shook his head, lifting his musket higher. “Stay alert.”
The mist thickened as she watched from around the bend. It slowly lifted, now hovering around them well above their heads, engulfing the men within.
“This is bloody unnatural. Do you not feel that?” one of them asked, unsheathing his sword. He turned to his counterpart. “Go get the Phoenix.”
That was all Esmyra needed to hear to strike, and under the cover of the fog, she swiftly darted forward. The cold, damp air clung to her skin, wrapping around her like a second cloak.
The mist became her veil. Her ally and weapon.
The guards shifted nervously in their stances, their weapons trembling slightly in their hands.
“Who’s there?” one of them called out.
She didn’t answer. The only response the man received was the low hiss of the mist slithering across the courtyard stones.
And then Esmyra emerged, gliding on a phantom wind.
The mist peeled away from her, revealing the silver-haired goddess, Kaelypso, as if summoned from a nightmare. Beads of water clung to her skin like glass, her tattoos glowing faintly with an eerie blue light, her pale eyes shimmering with unnatural luminescence. Her lips twisted into something between a smirk and a snarl.
“You!” one shouted as they both raised their muskets. Muskets sheknewheld those pesky velsinyte bullets.
Esmyra raised her hands in mock surrender. “You caught me.”
The crack of a shot rang through the air, the flash bright against the fog. She dropped to the ground in a crouch, the bullet barely whistling past her cheek.
Her stare lifted to meet theirs, and the guards froze, fear evident in their wide eyes.
“Well,thatwas fucking rude.” As she moved to stand again, shimmering blades of liquid formed above each of her shoulders. Herpower churned within her chest, her vision sharpening as her eyes shifted and exuded a silver glow. “Is that any way to treat a guest?”
One heartbeat passed.
