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Esmyra

T he gleaming carvings on the passage walls stretched into the dark, seemingly endless as they walked. The runes were a mystery that gnawed at Esmyra, leaving her desperate to know why they matched the markings she was born with.

Her father had kept her from Maerinys for a reason, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that this may have been why.

Esmyra never had answers for her runes or the magic behind how or why they glowed.

She had scoured countless libraries and ancient scrolls, searching every kingdom for a clue to the marks her body bore, but nothing of use ever revealed itself.

There were no other creatures known to have them—it was just another thing she was utterly alone in.

Draevyn walked beside her. They’d been silent since entering the tunnel, mostly because she wasn’t quite sure what to say.

Everything inside me is screaming to turn back , Jak’s last words echoed in her mind.

Had Jak, Ren, and Riven perished in the tumbling rocks? Were their bodies splattered across the cave floor miles above them? Nausea twisted in her gut as that image appeared in her mind. She would never forgive herself if that were the case.

First, her father was captured due to her absence, and now this.

If only she had turned back, found another way into Maerinys—even if she once again had to face the wretched beast hidden within the trench beyond the isle.

But no, her recklessness had cost her, and this time, it was the only family she had left.

The three idiots she did nothing but scold or scoff at—the people she held closest to her immortal, rotten heart, aside from her father.

It was too much for her to bear, feeling as if she was on the point of breaking—no, erupting —into something she didn’t know she would be able to pull herself out of.

Esmyra always felt like there was something else inside her, sleeping as if it were dormant, waiting to awaken.

It was what she considered the siren within, but since being in this gods-forsaken place, she felt it all the more.

No longer in a heavy slumber, but now watching and waiting for the opportune moment to claw itself out.

The stone had reacted to her touch. Not once, but twice—both times revealing something hidden. The wall’s markings matched her own, no longer glowing solely beneath the tides, but as they neared Maerinys as well, serving as a map and guiding her.

Esmyra was certain it wasn’t a coincidence, and she couldn’t shake the thought of why her father forbade her from these waters or Maerinys.

And Draevyn—the dreaded, violent Phoenix—had saved her once again. And then she’d saved him in return.

She glanced up at Draevyn, whose eyes remained forward, lulling with each step.

How long had they even been in the cave? Hours? A full day?

“Are you tired, Draevyn Rowe?” she asked.

He sighed, as if hearing her voice exhausted him further.

“We’ve been walking for hours, have fallen over cliffs, fought off creatures trying to drown us, and have discovered that you seem to be some kind of key to this eerie place.

And this is all after I was kidnapped as your prisoner, sleeping on a dirt-covered floor.

” He glanced at her, but there was a subtle amusement in his whiskey eyes.

“No, I have all the energy in the world, Esmyra…” He dragged out her name.

She lifted a brow .

He continued. “Do you have a family name? You repeatedly speak mine, which is irritating, by the way. So I would love to return the favor.”

“That is?—”

“None of my business?” He cut her off. “How predictable.”

She grimaced. “You’re an incredibly annoying captive. I should’ve brought a muzzle with me. Perhaps I’ll slice a piece off your shirt and stuff it down your throat.”

“Or perhaps you could just take off your own and use that. I wouldn’t fight that as hard.” Esmyra nearly lost her footing as he said the words with a wink. He walked past her, not sparing her a second glance.

Heat rushed to her cheeks as her heart skipped with a weird fluttering sensation. She loathed the effects he and his words had on her body.

“ Alive , Esmi. You need him alive,” she whispered to herself as she stared at his back.

They walked in silence for several minutes when a fork appeared in their path—the runes halting, not lighting either way.

“Shit.” She blew out a breath.

“Which way, Captain?” he asked mockingly.

She slowly pivoted to face him, popping her hip out. “I’m thinking .” A roll of her eyes had him grinning.

“Why don’t we just rest here for the night,” he offered when she wouldn’t take his bait. “If it even is night.”

Her shoulders slumped. She was hoping to be out of this cave by now, on her way back to Lephyrin with some shred of evidence for King Rowe. Now, here she was, stuck miles beneath the surface with his annoying son, with no way to reach any of the others.

“We don’t have time to rest,” she said, voice stern. “Every moment down here is another moment Cyrus suffers.”

“Esmyra, stopping to rest our bodies will probably be more beneficial than anything.”

She needed him to stop talking reason and to just listen to her. The last thing she wanted to listen to was the logic of a man .

Her jaw locked when her eyes met his. “Feeling mortal, are we?” She gestured to the cuffs.

“Only thanks to you,” he grumbled.

“Gods know how long we’ve been down here. Not to mention, I’m starving.” She tried to peer down each path, but each plunged into nothing but darkness. Esmyra huffed. “Fine, we’ll rest here for a few hours and decide which path to take when we’re ready.”

She waltzed up to one of the walls, placed her back against it, and slid down until she reached the ground. Leaning her back against the cool stone, she sighed as he watched her. “Well, are you going to waste all your time of demanded rest standing?”

Draevyn moved then and did the same as her, sliding down the wall across from where she sat. The two of them stared at each other silently beneath the dim, teal light.

Her jaw tightened the longer she watched him. She could tell he believed it was only a matter of time until he found a way out of this, until he was back within the comfort of his father’s grand castle that loomed over their starving kingdom.

“Is there a particular reason you’re glaring at me, Esmyra? Or am I just that difficult to look at?” He smirked.

Esmyra knew why all the women in Lephyrin gawked over the Rowe brothers. It was also why the females of other kingdoms came for Atlas’s hand the night she kidnapped Draevyn. Not only were they princes, but they were undeniably handsome.

She took in his dark, reddish-brown hair and the sun-kissed skin of his forearms peeking out from his rolled-up sleeves, a golden bronze from his time at sea.

The intensity of his fiery, whiskey-colored eyes made her feel as though she could be consumed by his flames, even with his magic locked away.

No, Draevyn Rowe wasn’t difficult to look at. If anything, she found it difficult to look away.

“Yes, you’re quite vile, if you would like honesty,” she lied.

The smirk he wore morphed into a full, feral grin. “Apologies, Esmyra. Hopefully, you won’t need to bear the sight of me much longer. ”

“Unfortunately, I don’t believe I’m that lucky.

” She tried to suppress her smirk, but it formed without her permission as she moved to lay on the stone floor, and he did the same.

“Any trickery from you while I sleep, and you’ll find your bloodstream full of venom,” she threatened, though she knew her tone wasn’t nearly as terrifying as she intended.

A soft chuckle escaped him. “Wildfire, indeed.”

His voice was barely audible, but Esmyra heard the words perfectly, and her brows furrowed. She wasn’t sure what he meant, but perhaps between exhaustion and starvation, he was already losing his mind.