Esmyra scoffed. “Yours and mine both,” she spat, bubbles rushing from her mouth.
But she decided to try and listen.
As Esmyra hovered in the dark expanse of the ocean, she closed her eyes and reached out—not with her hands, but with something ancient. Power gathered within her, rippling outward in an unseen wave that traveled through the water like a racing pulse. It wasn’t like the usual call she made. This was something deeper—something that connected her to the abyss in a way she couldn’t explain. It spread through the sea, slipping between currents, threading through schools of fish, and weaving around coral-laden ruins.
“Now, feel.”
She waited, breath held in her gills, sensing the way the water carried back echoes of life. If her crew were here, if their bodies had sunk to her sea’s floor, she would sense them. The same way she always felt the shifting tides, the pull of the moon, and the creatures lurking in the abyss.
But nothing came. There was no familiar presence nor telltale weight of the drowned. The pulse returned to her empty.
A raw and broken scream ripped from Esmyra’s throat, the sound muffled beneath the weight of the water. It wasn’t just a cry, but a fracture in her very soul. This was yet another failure of hers, andlosing her crew was an added disappointment she just couldn’t bear. The sound that escaped her was far too primal to be human, and Esmyra could’ve sworn the small isle trembled even from a hundred yards away.
Her eyes squeezed shut as her voice went quiet, leaving the surrounding water in utter silence. The absence of sound was suddenly eerily deafening.
Were they simply beyond her reach? Esmyra’s nostrils flared, pushing the rising panic down. If they weren’t here, then they were somewhere. And she would find them.
Her fingers curled into fists as she fought against the surge of emotions threatening to consume her.
Rage. Fear. Desperation.
Esmyra swam back out, hovering above the wreck and staring down at her ruined ship from above. She knew in her very bones that her crew wasn’t dead. But whether they were currently begging for death at the hands of whoever had captured them was another story.
Something bigger was at play here. Someone had taken them, and she would tear the sea apart if she had to in order to get them back.
A slow, burning heat built in her chest, curling outward like tendrils of flame and scattered lightning. The raw power throbbed within her as the ocean waited for her command.
Her arms extended, webbed, taloned fingers trembling as she reached toward the ruin below. The water around her stirred, currents shifting unnaturally as the pull of her magic took hold. A deep, resonant hum filled the sea, vibrating through the very bones of the realm. The veins in her neck tightened as Kaelypso’s magic flooded her like a surging tide.
The Night Wraithgroaned.
The onyx wood cracked, splintering as it peeled free from the ocean floor. Silt erupted in dark clouds, spiraling upward in a haze as the ship’s remains shuddered.
Light shimmered in the water beneath the moonlight, threads of silver and blue weaving around the ship like hands guiding it upward.Her pulse thundered in her ears as the weight of it strained against her will.
Esmyra had risen an entire kingdom; surely she could raise a ship.
An idea struck her then, and she called on something greater.
A shadow coiled in the depths below, forming from the very essence of the sea. It rippled outward, tendrils of water twisting and shaping into the monstrous form of her kraken, its massive body hewn from the liquid itself.
The beast obeyed her unspoken command, just as it always had when bringing down enemy ships as its enormous tentacles unfurled and wrapped around the wreckage. Water surged in response, streams of foam and bubbles cascading as the kraken lifted the ship alongside her magic. The ship groaned in protest, waterlogged wood snapping and grinding as it was pulled from its grave.
Esmyra drifted, floating upward alongsideThe Night Wraithuntil they both breached the surface. Water cascaded from its broken hull, pouring back down into the sea.
She gasped, her chest heaving as Kaelypso’s magic sang in her blood. But as she floated there, staring at the ruined remains now bobbing in the gentle waves, one face came into her mind.
Draevyn had left through the caves. Dried, bloody footprints led to what was left behind by her crew. Esmyra could only assume that meant he was responsible for whatever happened to them as well.
And that, more than anything, made her fury burn all the brighter.
CHAPTER 5
Draevyn
The castle blurred around Draevyn as he stormed through the halls. The torches lining the corridors flickered violently as he passed, their flames bending toward him, feeding off his wrath. His blood burned; fire writhed beneath his skin, aching for release. And there was onlyoneperson he imagined unleashing it upon.
“Wait! Drae, just stop for a second!” Atlas, his brother and heir to the throne, screamed from behind him. He sounded breathless as he hurried to keep up.
