Page 49

Esmyra

E smyra gasped at the weapon mere inches from her face. She ripped her hand from the fountain and the once-floating locks of her hair fell past her shoulders. Glancing around, her eyes found Draevyn, bound and gagged, but not of her doing.

They were surrounded by beings who appeared as mortals and something else—beings she had never seen or read of in books.

Their skin tones ranged from the lightest pale to the richest brown, all with an iridescence, resembling a shimmering pearl reflecting beneath the water, with eyes and hair ranging from every color in the sea.

Their sleek bodies bore webbed and elongated fingers, their gills trailing up their necks.

Esmyra’s stare drifted along her assailant’s arm, where fin-like ridges traced the contours of its limbs.

The last thing she took notice of was their ears, pointed and finned, slightly protruding from the sides of their heads.

They seemed foreign, yet so familiar—some of their traits resembling her while in her siren form.

These creatures weren’t anything like the krechuums that attacked them earlier. They were aware, alert, and had forged weapons. Her stare fell to Draevyn once more, whose eyes seemed to plead for her to cooperate.

Why hadn’t he summoned his flames? And why wasn’t he now ?

Suddenly, she felt a faint prick of pain against her sternum, and she slowly turned her head to face her attacker as he lightly pressed his spear to her chest. Esmyra lifted her hands in mock surrender, wiggling her fingers as she allowed her talons to slowly slip out.

The creature pressed the sharpened spear deeper into her chest, this time drawing a small bead of blood. “State your name.”

It was a demand. However, Esmyra never took kindly to those. She watched as her blood dripped down the spearhead’s edge.

“Name. State it,” the creature repeated. Its voice was deep, almost otherworldly.

Her gaze leisurely lifted to his, and a smirk lifted the edge of her lips. “You first.”

Everyone around them stiffened, gripping their weapons tighter.

The one who appeared as their leader kept his eyes on hers as he ordered, “Kill the spare.”

Draevyn flailed in the arms of his captors, bellowing against his gag, but the words were unintelligible.

Her eyes flared. “What? No !” she screamed, but they never halted. “ESMYRA! My name is Esmyra.”

Still, they didn’t yield.

“You speak when spoken to. And you did not,” the male said, making her lip curl back.

A laugh of rage left her before her jaw locked. “I wouldn’t do this if I were you.”

In unison, those who circled Draevyn lifted their spears, preparing to plunge the sharpened blades into his chest—as if her threat meant nothing.

Not a second later, Esmyra’s eyes shifted, and she lifted her hand to summon the water that conjured in the fountain. The movement caught everyone’s attention.

Esmyra closed her eyes for a moment, her breath steadying. She could feel the water, sense its flow and rhythm like a pulse waiting to be commanded. Slowly, she raised her hands, her palms facing the fountain now positioned behind her .

“I warned you,” she whispered, her voice steady despite the spear's proximity.

The creature’s eyes widened, and he glanced back as the water behind her surged, breaking free of the fountain’s confines. It twisted through the air, flowing like a serpentine ribbon as it wrapped around Esmyra’s arms, coiling up her limbs in spiraling bands.

Her eyes snapped open, and a faint smile touched her lips. With a swift motion, she thrust her arms forward. The water reacted instantly, splitting into two distinct streams that shot out, twisting through the air like living entities.

The liquid formed into several glistening, crystalline daggers—their false blades shimmering like glass as they hovered before her.

The leader took a single step back as his eyes widened in awe, but his soldiers were still ready to kill Draevyn, and he was her only bargaining chip to get her father back.

Plus, she owed him—he saved her, too.

Esmyra spun, the water moving as an extension of her will.

She lashed out, the watery blades slicing through the air, and watched as her conjured weapons severed their spears and Draevyn’s gag.

The next moment, the ancient cavern was filled with the sounds of splashing water, gasps of horror, and the clatter of weapons hitting the stone floor.

Draevyn’s wide eyes were fixed on her, jaw hanging open.

The leader stepped up to her once more. “You opened the gate.”

“Gate?” She lifted a brow.

She summoned the water that spilled to the ground to lift, instantly forming a spear that resembled their own.

The leader’s stare traced up and down the spear.

He took a step up to her, but Esmyra didn’t falter, just watched him with wary curiosity as he did her.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that this place, with these people, whatever they may be, was exactly where she was meant to be.

And because of this, she allowed him to move closer.

His webbed hand reached for her own, and her body stiffened at his touch. His flesh felt like rough scales brushing against her skin. “ You come from above?” he asked, though each word came out slowly like he was searching for the correct ones to use.

“Yes,” she breathed, hoping he couldn’t sense her heart racing. She could feel Draevyn’s eyes boring into the side of her face, but refused to remove her stare from the creature.

“Forgive me.” The pad of his thumb stroked the top of her hand, making her eyes flare, but it was too late.

The moment she moved to tear her wrist from his grasp, the cool touch of stone met her flesh a moment later—only it wasn’t binding her wrists, but cutting into them.

Esmyra screamed as she felt her power draining, her heart slamming against her ribs as she watched the native leader take a sharpened piece of velsinyte and slice it through her skin.

Her breath hitched, the pain so sharp it momentarily blinded her. She could feel the velsinyte hooking into the very essence of her being, like talons digging into her soul.

It wasn’t just pain anymore; it was loss . Her knees buckled, and a cry—guttural and wild—tore through her throat.

Multiple males were on her a moment later—wide-eyed with a mixture of confusion and awe spread across their features as they attacked her.

The skin of her wrist burned, as if Draevyn’s flames were melting it to the bone, while they pulled her arms tightly behind her back and cuffed her as the prisoner she now was. The next thing she knew, she was blindfolded.

“Get the fuck away from her!” Draevyn bellowed, fighting to get to her.

Esmyra thrashed, kicked, and screamed, but nothing helped. Nothing stopped the creatures from throwing her over one of their shoulders and walking off with her as if she were nothing but a helpless child.

A defiant child kicking and screaming, just as her father had described her.

Would she ever see him again? Or was this the fate they both deserved after all they had inflicted on others?

She sailed the realm’s seas as if she were a god, not caring for the consequences of her actions or believing there was any creature powerful enough to cause such things in the first place.

And now, that very cockiness had cost her everything.