Page 15 of A Wraith Beneath the Tides (Beyond the Tides #1)

Esmyra

B eneath the turbulent surface, Esmyra watched as the ship succumbed to her fury. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sinking vessel as it fought against her summoned monster—the true monster of the sea that all sailors feared, conjured by her powers.

The ship was fully submerged, and she searched through the swirling debris, watching for the panicked, flailing movements of the drowning crew.

Among the sinking wreckage, a lone figure caught her eye—a single man thrashing in the water as he fought against the merciless current, being dragged down by the weight of his coat.

Her glowing eyes flared as she realized it was the prince .

Esmyra had called upon the creature conjured of waves, drawing it to the ship that held her as its prisoner. Yet now, as she watched the single drowning man, a flicker of remorse tugged at her black, immortal heart.

Her fingers twitched. Some part of her, something buried deep in her soul, itched to move—itched to save him.

The thought startled her, the siren within thrashing to react for reasons she couldn’t comprehend.

She curled her webbed fingers into fists, forcing herself to stay in place .

Esmyra glanced to the east, where the underside of several lifeboats cast shadows on the surface. While what remained of his crew was safe, Draevyn’s descent to the depths was swift and unforgiving.

I showed you kindness when no one else would . His words from hours prior filtered through her mind. But then the bastard locked her in a cage , trapping her behind bars with velsinyte cuffs bound to her wrists.

Nothing was worse to her than a cage—she was to be as untamed and relentless as the sea.

Esmyra floated there as she watched his body go still, sinking further. Her eyes then drifted down to the hand clutching the velsinyte cuffs she’d stolen.

For a brief moment, she hesitated, torn between her instinctive desire to let the sea claim what it was due. But that impulse to intervene continued to weave its way into her.

Ugh. With a forceful flick of her tail, she swiftly propelled through the water toward Draevyn, her movements agile and serpentine.

Once Esmyra reached him, she wrapped her arms beneath his and drew him close.

The stupid princeling was significantly heavier than he appeared.

The weight of his coat had his body sinking as if he were made of stone.

Esmyra floated around him, being sure to keep one arm beneath his to avoid them sinking further, and then one of her talons sliced up the back of the fabric, severing it in two before shoving it down his arms. The remnants of his jacket fluttered down to the depths as she gripped him once more and rushed them both toward the surface.

As they emerged from the water, she cradled the unconscious man in her arms, his limp form draped against her own, and her eyes softened, emotions swirling through her she barely understood.

The sun began its ascent on the horizon, casting the settling waves in vibrant, warm hues as she called off her beast. The conjured kraken burst into nothing but violent bubbles that rose to the sea’s surface as the ocean swallowed what remained of The Odyssey .

She glanced over her shoulder to where the pinnaces floated nearly a mile away to the east, and then to where The Night Wraith floated in the west.

Esmyra swam his body to a large piece of floating debris and laid him across the splintered surface. Heaving herself up next to him, she swept his dark hair out of his face, the markings on her arms returning to their usual crimson hue as the seawater rolled off her skin.

Exhaling heavily, she moved her gaze to the man notorious for his violent, blazing ruthlessness—yet he had displayed only the opposite in the single day she’d spent with him.

Lowering her head, she placed her ear atop his chest. It remained still, refusing to rise and fall with his breaths, his heartbeat fading with each passing second.

“Don’t die on me after all that, you stupid princeling,” she hissed as that odd feeling within her continued to stir.

Her hand reached out and gripped his cheeks, tilting his head toward the sky before she carefully pried his jaw open.

Extending a talon towards his chest, she directed the seawater within his lungs to expel itself.

Slowly, the water emerged from between his lips in thin streams, snaking through the air while levitating above his unconscious body.

But he still wasn’t breathing.

“Hmm,” she huffed out. Esmyra stared at the dying man, wondering if she should even bother trying to save him from what she’d caused. She had one last idea, and if it didn’t work, she would accept his fate and swim back to The Night Wraith .

For if Draevyn were alive, he would never be able to resist a siren’s song—it would pull him from this sleep of death, force him to open his eyes, and listen to her so she could compel him if desired.

Esmyra began to hum, her voice a soothing call on the sea wind. She hovered over his body as the tune fell from her lips, her tail swaying back and forth behind her while the sun lifted into the sky in unison with her words.

Her long, midnight hair fell around her shoulders like a dark, wet veil, allowing water droplets to fall silently on his skin. As Esmyra hummed, the surrounding water stirred, swirling lazily around them .

Draevyn’s eyelids fluttered, his lips parting as he drew in a shaky breath before he started choking, gasping for air as his hands flew to clutch his neck.

Esmyra tilted her head, her humming fading into silence as her lips curved into a small grin. She swiftly reached for the velsinyte cuffs and dove back beneath the waves, leaving Lephyrin’s prince behind without a backward glance.