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Esmyra

E smyra crawled onto the rocky surface of the small, mountainous isle in the middle of the sea. No sand met her bare feet, only cold, slippery stone.

Not far from where she heaved herself up, a cluster of jagged rocks appeared at the top of a small hill, and it didn’t take long for her to realize this was all the isle bore. She was thankful it seemed uninhabited, considering she stood there entirely bare.

Something caught her eye, and she glanced down at her arms, where her still glowing markings remained, radiating their vibrant teal as seawater beaded down her skin.

They had never glowed above the surface, only ever in the sea.

She lifted one of her arms to her face, rotating it curiously with a raised brow.

That’s interesting.

When her focus returned to the isle, she noticed a dark, narrow entrance within the rock formations.

It seemed to beckon her, shrouded in shadows and overgrown with seaweed.

The lapping of the waves on the rocks echoed softly as she walked through the gap, entering a spacious cavern.

Its entrance was illuminated by beams of sunlight filtering through crevices in the rocks above.

This was what she was looking for—it had to have been .

As she moved farther into the cave, a chill ran down her spine while she climbed over the slippery rocks. Inside, the air was cold and damp, carrying an earthy, metallic scent that tasted like blood on her tongue.

Stalactites hung from the ceiling like menacing teeth as she ventured deeper.

The darkness of the cave seemed to swallow her, and she willed her eyes to shift.

She couldn’t explain it even if she wanted to, she just knew she was exactly where she needed to be—as if her soul was humming in response to where she now stood.

Her thoughts were a tangled mess of what this could all mean.

What in all gods could be in here? Her pulse quickened with every step.

Her eyes squinted as she approached one of the far walls, noticing strange, weathered symbols carved into the stone.

The tunnel was beginning to narrow, and just as she considered turning back, her gaze fell on a passageway partially obscured by moss draping the cave’s walls.

The tunnel seemed to lead even deeper into the heart of the cave.

She squeezed her way into the tight space, the jagged edges of the cave's wall scraping against her bare skin.

The ceiling grew lower, forcing her to stoop to avoid hitting her head. After what felt like an eternity, the passage widened, opening into a hidden chamber.

“This is it. This must be the secret entrance to Maerinys,” she whispered to herself.

Grinning, she turned around, her long strides carrying her quickly out of the cavern, through the tunnels, and back to the sea.

She’d found it, what the humans were searching for—what was forbidden by the gods themselves.

Knowing the sunken kingdom could be reached, she had to get her crew there before King Rowe’s men discovered it. Everything would be theirs for the taking—she even hoped to find answers regarding who or what she was.

The sea breeze blew her midnight hair around her face as she reveled in the warmth the sun brought her skin. With a hesitant glance towards where the monster waited in its trench, she dove back into the sea, shifting midair before crashing into the water and soaring north just below the surface.

Back to The Night Wraith .

Back to her father.

And, hopefully, back to the answers she longed for.

It had taken her days to find the hidden cavern in the sea, and nearly just as many to make her way back. She first swam to Anchorage Cove, where the crew frequently made port, and when she didn’t see The Night Wraith floating in its harbor, she continued her way north, closer to Lephyrin.

Her frustration grew with each passing hour as she swam beneath the waves and still couldn’t find her ship. She wondered if her father was trying to punish her, knowing just how furious he would be upon her return for disobeying his orders.

Again.

Esmyra sent out a pulse of power, and the water rippled around her from its force. She was met with resistance in all directions from objects and creatures within several miles of her, but one reverberation slammed back more intensely than any of the others, and she knew it must have been a ship.

After swimming for several miles, Esmyra came to a sudden halt as the underbelly of The Night Wraith came into view. Her brows lifted in confusion when she noticed it was anchored in the middle of the sea—something the crew had rarely ever done, if at all.

As she neared her anchored ship, a sense of unease washed over her. The vessel was eerily silent, even from where she hovered in the water, and no lantern lights flickered on its deck. A tightness caught in her throat as dread slithered through her veins.

Esmyra’s head breached the surface, her eyes locking on the onyx ship as the moon hung low in the sky, casting a glow over the calm, dark sea. “Gods-dammit,” she muttered, and with a final, powerful thrust of her tail, she reached the ship’s side and shifted to her human form.

Grasping the rope ladder, she climbed up and heaved her legs over the rail. Once her feet touched down, seawater rolled down her skin and puddled on the wood.

Where was everyone? Moving cautiously across the deck, she tried to cover her naked body with her arms as her senses were on high alert.

The scent of iron filled the air, mixing with the salty tang of the sea. Reaching the mainmast, a horrific sight stopped her in her tracks—bodies lay strewn across the deck, lifeless and marked by brutal wounds and burns. Crimson puddles stained the wooden planks, pooling around the fallen.

Esmyra’s breath caught in her throat right before she took off into a sprint and knelt beside the piled bodies of her crew. “No. No. No. No!” she screeched over and over again, refusing to believe the sight.

Blood rushed to her ears, her vision turning blurry as she knelt there, unknowing of what to do.

Esmyra turned every body, and each male’s burnt, crisped skin was more unrecognizable than the last. She noted it was a fraction of the crew, and the rest remained unseen. Searching every face that lay intact, relief eased into her as she realized her father wasn’t among them—nor was Jak.

She clenched her fists, fury and sorrow welling up within her as she pushed herself to her feet. Whoever had done this would pay. They would pay for it with their lives. The lives of their loved ones and anyone they held dear.

Esmyra forced her way across the ship, being careful to step over the bodies littering the floor.

She stormed across the deck and found that her father’s office was also empty.

Eyeing his coat hanging next to the door, she took it and wrapped it around her bare body before leaving the darkened room.

Her gaze drifted to the stairs that led below deck, and Esmyra’s talons extended as she grabbed a pistol from a fallen sailor’s belt. Silently moving towards the hatch, she descended the steps, each creak of the wood under her feet echoing in the stillness .

In the dim light of the galley, she noticed the signs of a struggle—overturned tables, broken crates, and more blood seeping into the wooden planks of the floor.

Who the fuck could have done this?

When she found that this section of the ship was empty too, she had no leads on where the rest of her crew could have gone.

Were they thrown overboard? There weren’t any bodies floating in the sea when she arrived. Her father’s curse prevented him from dying, but what if he’d been taken? The fearsome Captain Blackwood was left defenseless by his greatest weapon, and he may now be in the hands of the enemy.

And when the enemy was all of Rymelle, whose inhabitants they had taunted for centuries, it was anyone’s guess on who could have done this. The prize on her father’s head or capture was one of the most hefty in all the realm.

But they were burned, she thought. No— no , she couldn’t think that way.

Lephyrin’s mortals would never be brave enough to attack The Night Wraith .

Jogging up the stairs, she nearly gasped at the sight of Jak as he stood above the bloodied bodies—the one male left living.

Her eyes fixated on him, shifting as her thoughts spiraled. What if it hadn’t been an attack at all? What if this was a mutiny?

Esmyra hardly recognized his expression and stormed toward him, her lip curling back as she lifted the gun and shot three times.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The sound echoed across the water and filled the midnight air, but Jak just barely dodged the bullets. When the pistol emptied, she tossed it carelessly to the side as she continued to advance on him.

Jak locked eyes with her. “Esmi, wait!”

“No,” she bellowed, blinded by a haze of fury.

Her taloned hand wrapped around his throat as she slammed his back into the mainmast. Jak’s gold eyes were bulging from his head as he desperately tried to get air into his lungs .

“If you try to shift to get out of this, I will slice your wings from your fucking body,” she snarled.

“Please listen to me!” The words were barely understandable as they left him, his lungs straining for air beneath her hold. “Esmyra!” he gasped.

Her grip tightened, hand trembling slightly before letting him go, shoving his body away from her. Jak whimpered as he stumbled off to the side, nearly losing his footing.

“What in all gods was that for?!” The look on his face showed pure horror.

She stepped up to him as twin daggers conjured of water levitated on each side of her head, their blades aimed directly for Jak’s eyes. Her stare began to glow, illuminating his body as he trembled in fear.

The siren beneath Esmyra’s flesh no longer saw a friend standing before her, but a threat. Her captain and half her crew had disappeared as the other half laid slain beneath her feet. Someone was responsible, and ironically enough, only one person was alive to speak of it.