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“I heard reports of a gunshot ringing out from the dungeons before they brought your father up to me. What’s wrong, Esmyra ?

Couldn’t free daddy as easily as you believed?

” His smile grew cruel, and he turned to walk back to the table to pour himself more wine, as if turning his back to her wasn’t a fatal mistake.

“You know, we knew Blackwood didn’t possess magic, but have heard the legends of his possible immortality, so we imprisoned him behind velsinyte to be safe,” he continued. “Can never be too careful, being the only kingdom of ordinary men and all.”

Panic was nearly suffocating her—a feeling she was clueless about how to overcome. She tried to calm her racing heart, but it was no use.

Could she get close enough to somehow remove the ring from his finger? She wasn’t above biting it off.

“You’re right, I won’t call for my guards. No true threat stands before me. Though, you aren’t hard on the eyes. I may just change my mind regarding the invitation to my bed.”

Bile crept up her throat.

“Release my father,” she demanded, her voice smooth as silk despite the tension that coiled in her chest. “And I will return your son to Lephyrin.”

“The question there would be if he returns in one piece.”

“And that entirely falls on you and how long you risk testing my patience. Which is wearing thin, if you would like honesty.”

The king’s lips curved into a thin, cruel grin. “Considering the only son worth saving was with me only moments before I arrived in my chambers to find the likes of you, I’m assuming you’re the reason no one can seem to find Draevyn.”

Did the king not care for his second heir? Her eyes darted back and forth as her mind raced. He watched her as he took a slow, deliberate sip of his drink.

“Do you take me for a fool, siren?” King Rowe’s voice was sharp, his tone laced with a hint of amusement. “You think you can bargain with me when I hold your father’s life in my hands?”

“Just as I hold your son’s ,” she hissed, lip curling back.

Esmyra took her first step to circle him, and when he took one to match, they began a dance.

“My father is immortal. Cursed centuries ago to feel as if he is suffocating if he steps on land. Holding him here does nothing but prolong his anguish.” She paused. “And my annoyance.”

“Ah, so the legends hold truth then.” He shrugged. “Then it appears he’ll remain a tortured prisoner.”

“Do you not have a single desire to see your son again? Your greatest weapon?” As soon as Esmyra spoke the words, something in her softened. She realized then that she and Draevyn had something in common. They were just weapons to their fathers.

“Perhaps he’s just waiting for the opportune moment to roast you all alive before he comes crawling back here with his tail between his legs.”

A click of her tongue echoed in the chamber. “Ah, so the king of Lephyrin believes to be the only one in possession of velsinyte.”

The amusement dropped from his face. “You don’t hold such a weapon,” he spat. “It’s impossible.”

The cruel smile he wore only a moment ago now adorned Esmyra’s lips.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Aren’t you at all curious about how I was able to entrap your Phoenix?

Of course, I could hold him beneath my song, but I stand before you here and now.

He’s aboard The Night Wraith . And I promise you, any attempt to retrieve him, and I will have your men dragged to the depths faster than you can say oops . ”

A moment of silence stretched between them. Esmyra’s heart continued to race, though she refused to let it show. This was no ordinary negotiation—if anything, it was her first worthy opponent.

The king’s beady, age-lined eyes roamed over her. “You can shift into a full siren form, no? That’s how you drag ships beneath the tides?”

“You think I’ll bare all my secrets to you, King ?” she hissed.

“If you wish to have your father returned to you,” he countered. “I’ll make sure every guard and soldier’s finger in Lephyrin wears a velsinyte ring by morning. Your magic will have no bearing on my kingdom.”

“Not your sons, though?” she mocked. “They’re beings of magic.

Of your doing, I might add, if rumors are to be believed.

” She took a step towards him, but he didn’t match it back.

“It would snuff out their power too, and well…you can’t afford that, now can you?

So, who’s to say I won’t waltz into Atlas’s room and enchant him next?

” She cocked her head to the side, flashing her teeth.

“Your heir has quite a reputation for being easily seduced.”

“I should gut you like the fish you are,” he threatened, a growl radiating in it.

“You’d have to catch me first.” Esmyra winked before striding to the fireplace.

His nostrils flared as he watched her lift a trinket from the fireplace and twirl it around in her hand carelessly, staring him down. “Answer the question. Can you shift and breathe beneath the waves?”

“Aye,” she answered carelessly, before tossing the trinket into the flames, sending embers flying.

“Then perhaps we may be able to strike a bargain.”

“I was willing to make a trade, not strike a bargain.” Esmyra took a step closer to him. “You stole something from me, and I’m here to take it back by any means necessary. If anyone in Lephyrin wishes to leave by ship, the sea will claim their life. That I can assure you.”

His stare was calculating as he watched her, leisurely looking her up and down.

“It must be lonely, no? Being the only one of your kind left.” Esmyra flinched at the words, and she hated that he witnessed it.

“Now, we can do this tiring little dance of yours, or we can barter. The choice is yours, really.”

Her nostrils flared, teeth clenching so hard she thought they might shatter before she said, “I’m listening.”

“I’m sure you’re familiar with the sunken Kingdom of Maerinys...”

Esmyra’s jaw locked, knowing exactly where he was headed with this. “Aye,” she answered.

“An abundance of treasure sank to the depths alongside the kingdom hundreds of years ago. Retrieve it for me, and your father will be returned to you.”

“Interesting that you have more interest in gold than your son’s well-being,” she challenged.

The king said nothing, his gaze cold and unyielding.

She huffed out a breath before continuing. “Why do you seek this gold? Surely it makes no difference to a king .” Her voice was a near growl.

Greed crept into his gaze as it grew distant. “It’s not the gold I seek, but what it represents. To restore balance in the realm. When not only you lack magic but also your people, you must compensate in other ways to gain respect.”

“You compensate with cruelty.”

The king clenched his fists. “And what of my sailors? If you wish to speak of cruelty, how many have I lost due to them voyaging across the sea and coming to meet the likes of you? Is that not cold nor cruel? You’re no better than me, siren .”

“That doesn’t concern me, King Rowe. The sea claims who it will.”

He swirled around what remained in his glass, watching as he created a whirlpool of red. “My terms are quite clear, Ms. Blackwood. Your father will remain locked behind bars of velsinyte until you bring me proof of this sunken kingdom holding what I seek,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed beneath furrowed brows. “You don’t care about your son at all, do you? You only want?—”

“My son understands the risks of his position,” he cut her off. “But I will make it known to you here and now that Draevyn is not my priority, nor is he even my heir. You were foolish to use him as a bartering tool.”

“And if I refuse?” She cocked her head to the side in mockery, trying to reel in her temper, though her talons extending gave her away.

“Try all you might to retrieve him. I can only hope to have you behind those very bars one day.” King Rowe took a step up to her and lifted his hand to brush his knuckles against her cheek. “A gilded cage for such a pretty prize.”

Her lip curled in a snarl. “You are foul.”

A laugh left him as he took a small step back. “Not as foul as those I could sell you to.”

Her eyes flared, lips parting in horror.

Esmyra would kill this king one day. Once her father was freed, she would inject her venom into his body and watch him squirm beneath her. And only once death was sure and near would she flay the skin from King Rowe’s bones and end his reign.

“So what will it be? Take to the depths and retrieve what I seek? Or end up just as your father did?”

A hiss slipped from her, animalistic and as cruel as the words he spat at her, but all it earned her was a mocking laugh. Esmyra’s eyes landed on the door, where she knew several guards waited on its other side, and she took her first step toward it.

“You forget what lies beyond our small barrier, seawitch,” he called, his tone full of amusement.

Once she reached the door, she placed her hand on the intricate golden handle and glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, I’ve forgotten nothing.”

A hymn left her lips, then—a haunting, otherworldly melody of seduction that wrapped around her and glided through the room in only seconds.

As she peeked through the doors, she found all five guards stood at attention, held beneath her song.

A vicious smirk spread across her face at the sight of them.

Esmyra pushed the double doors of the chamber open wide, each of them slamming into the walls on either side as she tauntingly looked each guard in the eye before turning around to face the mortal king—his guards stood at her back, their gazes fixated on their monarch.

It was the first time King Rowe showed the slightest hint of fear—the scent of it stuffed itself in her nostrils, and she reveled in it.

The siren within her purred as she imagined herself covered in his blood once she skinned him alive for the pain he inflicted on her father. But the matter of those pesky shadows swirling the lock came to mind, and she knew she couldn’t risk Cyrus’s escape on such a gamble.

“I don’t take kindly to being threatened, Your Majesty. You will do well to remember that when you look back on this night and feel nothing but regret.”

King Rowe’s lips trembled as she mentally commanded each of the guards to pull a dagger from their sides and slit their own throats while under her spell.

The king’s eyes flared as crimson poured down the fronts of his men, each dropping to the tile floor at Esmyra’s feet, armor clanging as blood pooled around their bodies.

He lifted his stare back to her, and her lips tilted into a sharp smirk, but she knew there was nothing but the promise of vengeance in her eyes.

Sucking on his teeth, a rough chuckle slipped from him. “Well played, Esmyra Blackwood.” The words were a whisper on his lips as he brought the bottle to them before emptying what remained.

Esmyra turned from him, her scarlet gown billowing around her as she stormed down the corridor. Satisfaction rolled through her, and she became eager to return to The Night Wraith , where Draevyn Rowe was secured in her crew’s grasp.