Naerysa’s betrayal. Her father’s face. The trap set by the gods. And her own fate, bound and sealed in blood.
When she reached within herself for Kaelypso, all she felt was that same, unrelenting shock.
“Maerinys is no longer safe for us,” the goddess realized.
“I don’t think it ever was,” Esmyra answered aloud, staring at their reflection.
She once believed nothing could be more horrifying than witnessing her own death, but watching the betrayal take shape, piece by calculated piece, was worse. There was something far more agonizing about seeing the trap laid, knowing the hands that set it were the same ones she once trusted.
CHAPTER 28
Esmyra
The tide whispered at Esmyra’s heels, drawing lacey foam around her ankles as she walked the shoreline of Maerinys. Moonlight bathed the sea in a silver sheen, the wet sand cool beneath her feet. The stars above stretched infinitely across the midnight sky, and she had never felt smaller.
The vision of Naerysa’s betrayal, and of the gods demanding her father trap Kaelypso and Naerysa for them haunted her.Thatwas why he was in the tower when Maerinys fell and how he was able to escape with her.
Did he purposefully only save Kaelypso? Did he know Naerysa was a jealous, hateful traitor?
“And a spiteful cunt,” Kaelypso added. “Don’t forget that one.”
“Aye, and that.”
Her teeth clenched as her thoughts spiraled. Kaelypso was still a separate soul from herself, but her wills were now Esmyra’s. She felt everything the goddess did. Her rage, inner turmoil… herpain. She felt their shared heart shatter at the sight of Naerysa and Irah together.
But if Esmyra could feel all that Kaelypso had, then the same must be said for Syrena and Naerysa…
Did Syrena know that Naerysa wanted Kaelypso’s lover? Wanted herpower?
She bit the inside of her cheek until blood crept down her throat, her eyes widening as sickly horror crept in.
The subtle burning on her wrist was now a constant reminder of the time she was running out of. She held her arm out as two small merlights lit just above it. The teal light illuminated the tattoo, turning the silver of her serpent the same color. She wrapped her fingers around the mark, her talons digging in as if she could scrape the bond away.
Even weeks after the ritual, its magic still writhed beneath her skin. She could feel it surging in her blood, in the marrow of her bones. It had settled inside her like saltwater in wounds.
My soul is bound to the one person who’s been trying to destroy me.Well, the one person who might actually succeed in it, anyway. Esmyra was starting to believe that her sister may have been her greatest threat the entire time.
Had she told the truth about Draevyn? Had he truly run from her and escaped through the caves that day, or was more at play?
“Gods, I’m such a fucking idiot,” she whispered to herself.
Even if Draevyn had been right about Syrena all along, there was nothing she could do to fix what she’d done. There would be no undoing it. She had stolen the queen of his kingdom, and she was now an enemy of the crown.
The realm would never forgive her or pardon her actions, and she didn’t blame them. Esmyra wasn’t even sure shewantedtheir forgiveness. She felt justified in the moment, and she would likely even do it again.
What she truly wanted was the truth, so she could put an end to this bullshit once and for all.
She closed her eyes and breathed in the night air, desperate to steady herself and stop the chaos inside her mind.
Esmyra felt their presence before she saw them.
The sea roared at her back, wind threading salt through her hair, but it was the stillness on one of the dunes that caught her attention. Two silhouettes watched her, waiting.
“Spies,” Kaelypso hissed.
Tits. She should’ve known this was coming.
Esmyra’s brows furrowed, her lip curling in irritation. “It appears Syrena already has eyes on us.”
