Page 64

A cruel grin formed on Azarian’s face as he lowered his spear. “As I stated, Sir Draevyn…our queens’ whereabouts are not your concern.”

It was then Draevyn realized he meant plural. They considered Esmyra a lost queen.

“Fucking Irah.” The curse left him in a growl.

“You will not speak that name here!” Azarian snapped, an odd aura seeming to exude from him that had Draevyn’s brows creasing. “Now you can accompany us back to your chambers, or it’s back to the dungeons you go. Especially after that little incident.” He pointed to the other male’s sizzling flesh.

Draevyn could tell Azarian was practically begging for him to slip up again, wanting nothing more than to throw his ass back behind bars, but he refused to give the male that satisfaction. No matter how badly his fingers ached to set him on fire and watch him burn.

Draevyn gestured down the hall. “After you.” Forcing a false smile on his face, he allowed himself to be led, but his mind was turning over every word the guards had said.

They were hiding something— all of them—and it seemed that the tremors were only the beginning.

Hours later, Draevyn’s mind was churning over everything he’d seen and heard.

Syrena’s motives, the guards’ lies, the tremors—he knew there was more to this place than the glimmering facade they’d been shown in the last two days.

He also didn’t know if he should tell Esmyra about burning the male’s arm.

They didn’t throw him back in the dungeons, seeming to still believe he didn’t possess magic.

Surely something would’ve happened by now if they knew he was lying.

Suddenly, his door burst open with a crash. Draevyn’s heart leapt in his throat as he saw Esmyra standing there, breathless and wide-eyed. Her hair was a mess of midnight waves, face flushed as if she’d run the entire way there.

Every muscle in Draevyn’s body tensed. “What’s happening? Is everything alright?!”

Ignoring his words, she shut the door behind her, a swirling storm in her eyes. “We need to talk. You won’t believe what just happened, or where I’ve been.”

He studied her, trying to read the emotion flickering in her gaze. “Well, spit it out, Blackwood,” he said, carefully neutral, though a knot formed in his gut.

She lifted a brow at the use of her last name as she stormed toward him, her gown flowing behind her. “Did you feel it?! I don’t know how you couldn’t have.”

“The tremors?”

“Yes!” she nearly gasped, an odd look of excitement on her face he had never seen. She no longer appeared the guarded, tense woman he had come to know, but now as someone else entirely—someone lighter.

“We did it,” she said, voice almost reverent, as if she didn’t believe her own words. “Those tremors—that power —it was us. Syrena and myself.”

Draevyn watched her intently. “As in, a combined power?”

“Yes!” she said on a breath as she walked around him and fell back onto his bed, her hair sprawled out in all directions.

He warily approached her. “Where were you? What happened?”

If she was this excited, he didn’t know if it would be wise to tell her of what happened in the library or not.

“Syrena and I…we’re going to bring Maerinys back to the surface. I th ink—no, I know we can do it.”

“Wait, what the fuck are you talking about?” His jaw fell open, brows furrowed in utter confusion. “What do you mean raise Maerinys? That’s impossible.”

Esmyra sat up quickly. The scorned look that typically graced her face returning. “They’re starving down here, Draevyn.”

“What exactly did she tell you?”

Esmyra stood and began to pace, her hands moving animatedly as she spoke.

“Syrena brought me to this tower. It must’ve been the tallest spire of the castle…

” She began rambling, and Draevyn’s head turned with every movement she made, trying to follow her story.

“The energy was everywhere, like nothing I’ve felt before.

She said if we could unlock our power’s full potential together, Maerinys would rise again. ”

He struggled to ignore the thrill in her voice, the excitement that seemed to bubble over in every gesture.

She looked at him, waiting for some reaction, but his thoughts were racing in the opposite direction.

Esmyra was convinced, maybe even enchanted by Syrena’s words regarding this kingdom and the history of the gods, but every instinct he had screamed that something was wrong.

Draevyn took a step up to her, his eyes never leaving hers. “You think she’s telling you everything?” he asked quietly. “That this isn’t just a ploy?”

Esmyra stopped pacing, her brows knitting together.

“A ploy for what? She’s the queen of a lost people, and they won’t survive down here much longer.

They’re suffocating—starving! She needs my help.

” She pointed to her chest on the last few words, eyes pleading.

“This is my chance to prove I’m not the monster everyone believes me to be.

This is my chance to do something good.”

Something good. He knew the need for that all too well.

Draevyn ran a hand over his jaw, shaking his head. “Do you really believe that?”

“I do,” she answered without hesitation. “If she could do it on her own, then why wait for me? Knowing there was a possibility I could never find my way back home.”

“Home,” he echoed in a whisper, ignoring the bitter taste the word brought to his tongue. It was then he knew that Syrena had already sunk her talons deep into Esmyra. All it took was a false show of familial love and an understanding of who she was.

What Draevyn hadn’t told her was that, with each passing moment, he understood who she was.

“Yes,” she said, a snarl working its way across her lips. “Maerinys was always supposed to be my home.”

“Esmyra, this place, these people—they’re hiding something from us. Haven’t you noticed how the guards are watching us, how no one seems willing to let us out of their sight? Even when they state we’re alone…we aren’t.”

He purposefully used Azarian’s words.

Esmyra took a step toward him, folding her arms stubbornly. “Aye. A bit paranoid, aren’t we, Draevyn Rowe? I understand you’re used to being the one in charge, since you’re of royal lineage, and if that makes you uneasy?—”

“Uneasy?” he interrupted, his voice sharper than intended. “This has nothing to do with that, and if it hasn’t been made clear to you before, let it be laid before us here and now. I am not royalty in the eyes of Lephyrin’s crown.”

Her head reared back. Understanding flashed across her face, but it was there and gone in only a moment.

“This place is flooded with secrets they won’t share, no matter how much she plays the devoted sister,” he began again. “How can you trust her so easily? It’s barely been two fucking days!”

Esmyra bit her bottom lip, averting her gaze from his. The veins in her neck strained, and he was thankful it seemed he had reached some part of her. Though seeing the light in her eyes dim once more caused a sharp ache in his chest he couldn’t ignore.

“Syrena understands me,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t expect you to know what it feels like to be so isolated…so…”

“Alone,” he finished for her. Another feeling he knew all too well.

It was at that moment that he realized Esmyra wasn’t the one lying—it was all Syrena. Esmyra didn’t understand her powers, and regardless of the fact there was somehow a portrait of her in the castle, he believed her—her desperation to learn everything of her past.

Her chest rose and fell in quick breaths as she watched him curiously. “Syrena possesses the same powers as me, and if she knows a way to understand it further, then I have to trust it.”

Draevyn stepped into her, lifting his hand to brush his knuckles across her cheek. The gesture was intimate, and he didn’t know what possessed him to do it. Her lips parted at his touch, and to his surprise, she didn’t scoff or pull away from him.

“If what she’s said so far is the truth, it took gods to sink Maerinys,” he started. She opened her mouth to speak, but he pressed on. “You don’t know what you’re agreeing to.” His voice softened.

The spark of defiance in her eyes faded slightly, replaced by a flicker of uncertainty, but it didn’t last long.

She lifted her chin. “I know what I felt and the potential of what we can do. And if you’re too afraid to believe that, then stay here.

But I’ve made my choice. She will teach me to further understand my powers and what we can do together, and if you can’t accept that, then you are once again in my way. ”

A thought crossed his mind then. He didn’t know how long they would be trapped in Maerinys, but what he was certain of was the more time Esmyra spent with her sister, the further she would be pulled away from him. He also knew the more he pressed her now, the less he would likely ever know.

Their relationship was fragile—too fragile for him to risk pushing her to the edge.

She spun on her heel, already heading for the door, but he reached out and caught her wrist. “If you train with her, then also train with me,” he breathed, his eyes searching hers as she turned to face him. “You may think you’re making a choice, but this place…it’s choosing for you. Don’t let it.”

Esmyra ripped her wrist from his grasp and took a threatening step toward him. “What do you mean, train with you? Our magic is polar opposites, and you can’t use yours down here. They believe you to be mortal, remember? ”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Who said anything about magic? We wouldn’t be training with that at all.

As time has shown, you rely on yours far too much.

They have velsinyte down here, which we still don’t understand how or why.

If you wish to roam about with a long-lost sister, I would feel better if you knew how to defend yourself. ”

“I wasn’t aware my well-being was any concern of yours.”

The sass in her tone had him grinning. There’s that wildfire .

“It would help if my one ally in this place were useful in times of danger.” He winked.

For a moment, they held each other’s gaze, unspoken words hanging between them.

Esmyra’s spine straightened. “Well, it appears everyone around here wishes to exhaust me in any way they can.”

Draevyn could certainly find ways to exhaust her further, but he wouldn’t dare voice those thoughts. Heat rushed to his cheeks, his cock hardening as it pressed against his pants.

He cleared his throat. “When do you plan to train with her again?”

She shrugged. “Daily, perhaps? I would assume sometime after breakfast, just as we had today.”

“Then we start tomorrow at dawn,” he announced. “Meet me in that pretty little courtyard we walked through our first day.”

Esmyra rolled her eyes in response.

“Unless you’re afraid,” he added.

A wicked giggle slipped from her. “Oh, I fear nothing.” She turned on her heel and slipped out the door, poking her head in one last time before saying, “I’ll see you at dawn, Draevyn Rowe.”