Page 68

Esmyra

B ack in the tower, the morning merlights filtered through the tall arched windows. The room felt charged, like the sea air before a deadly storm. Syrena stood beside Esmyra, next to the Veil of Visions, while the water swirled and shimmered, but she refused to look her in the eye.

Esmyra cleared her throat. “Is something wrong, Syrena?”

Her sister lifted her stare then. “Have you lied to me, sister? I ask of you nothing but the truth.”

Esmyra’s eyes flared as she bit the sides of her cheeks, trying to keep her face as neutral as possible, but she knew it was useless. Her throat tightened, her palms instantly slick with sweat, because…what hadn’t she and Draevyn lied about?

“What do you mean?” was all she could manage to ask.

Syrena pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing. “You told me your companion doesn’t possess magic.”

Esmyra was certain her heart stopped. Had Draevyn fucked up? Why wouldn’t he tell her? And why was he using magic in the godsdamn first place?

“I—” she cut herself off, her eyes darting back and forth.

“Esmyra, do you even know why I asked this of you?”

She swallowed. “To keep your people safe. ”

“To. Keep. Our . People. Safe,” Syrena echoed, tone borderline furious. The way she corrected Esmyra made her spine straighten. “Now, please, answer this question truthfully. Does Draevyn possess magic?”

“Yes,” Esmyra answered. “He does.”

“And where does he hail from?”

“Lephyrin.”

Syrena’s brows creased. “Mere mortals don’t possess magic. So are you lying to me again, sister?”

“I am not.” Esmyra worked to keep her tone as even as possible, desperately trying not to let her own aggravation surge. “Draevyn was gifted magic by Irah himself.”

Syrena’s head drew back quickly, eyes flaring at the mention of Irah. “That makes little sense.”

“I don’t know the full story,” Esmyra admitted. “But he wields the power of flame.”

Syrena’s lips parted. “So it must be true. Fire-wielders didn’t exist a thousand years ago. They would be too destructive. Only Irah held flame in his blood.”

“Aye,” Esmyra answered, holding her stare. “I’m unsure of the details, but the god placed a piece of his magic into Draevyn.”

Syrena crossed her arms, hurt flashing across her features. “So not only did you lie about his possession of magic, but of how destructive he is. Why?”

Esmyra’s chest ached, feeling nothing but guilt. She licked her lips. “I don’t know. We know you possess velsinyte. It was a way to…protect ourselves in a strange world.” She paused. “For what it’s worth… I’m so sorry.”

Syrena’s eyes drifted over her, and she had never felt more bare. “I understand why you did it. But as the protector of Maerinys, something will need to be done.”

Esmyra moved to step around the fountain, shaking her head in denial. “Draevyn won’t hurt anyone.”

Syrena straightened her gown. “He already has. ”

Esmyra stopped in her tracks, her eyes going wide as they darted back and forth, refusing to land on anything. “What? Who?!”

“One of my guards was left with burns.”

That fucking bastard. May the gods help him if he didn’t have a justified reason for this.

Her lips parted. “Syrena, I’m so sorry.”

Syrena held up a hand. “What’s done is done. He won’t be thrown into the dungeons, but I would like to meet with both of you after this.”

Esmyra averted her gaze to the floor. “Aye.”

She was horrified. Absolutely mortified that Draevyn had attacked someone but never told her. What else was he hiding? Her talons slipped from the edges of her fingers, imagining sinking their venom into his flesh for lying to her.

“But enough of that,” Syrena started, clasping her hands before her. “Now, explain to me what you’re able to do with your power.”

The sudden change of subject was a bit alarming, but Esmyra was also grateful for it. “I can manipulate water any way I desire, so long as it’s there,” she started.

Syrena’s brows knitted, and she cocked her head to the side. “Meaning what, exactly?”

“I can bend the water to any shape, mimicking any form. Even a monster of the deep.” She thought of her kraken she used to bring down enemy ships within minutes.

“So you cannot conjure water from thin air, is what you’re saying?”

Esmyra hated the way her sister was looking at her—almost judgingly. “Aye,” she answered, a bit of a sharpness in her tone. “If there’s moisture in the air, I can. But otherwise no.”

Syrena sucked on her tongue and took a step toward her. “Close your eyes,” she instructed, her voice steady, coaxing. “Feel the pull of the sea that surrounds our kingdom. You see, Esmyra, the water isn’t something you control; it’s something you tune into. Let it speak to you. Let it guide you.”

Esmyra thought it was a waste of time, but decided to play along anyway. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, imagining herself, not in this dome, but floating below the surface.

Her skin prickled with energy—the same electric sensation she’d felt yesterday when they’d combined their powers—only now she was reaching for it internally.

A tingling spread through her fingers as she focused.

Her talons extended without summoning them, while imagining her hands as extensions of the water’s current, moving and merging with it.

“Good,” her sister murmured, her voice softer now. “Now call it to you. Gently, as if drawing it out from within you.”

Esmyra exhaled, lifting her hands and feeling the water respond as it was summoned, a delicate current weaving around and between her fingers.

It was exhilarating, feeling it answer her, as if an ancient part of herself was finally being awakened.

She opened her eyes just a sliver and saw the water hovering in silent command just above her outstretched palm.

The siren within hummed in approval.

Syrena mirrored her movements, bringing her hand alongside Esmyra’s until they intertwined in midair, both streams of water twisting and turning in intricate spirals between them.

“There,” Syrena whispered, smiling as she watched the water rise and fall, weaving between their hands like living threads. “Can you feel the connection? The balance?”

She nodded, feeling a rush of pride mixed with wonder. The water seemed to hum, alive with a power that coursed between them. But something gnawed at her—a small kernel of doubt lingering in her chest, seeded by her and Draevyn’s conversation that morning.

Is this truly my power? Or was she just a conduit for something much older, something that could just as easily consume her?

“What’s wrong?” Syrena’s gaze sharpened as she observed the shift in her.

“It’s just…” Esmyra hesitated, glancing at the swirling water. “I’ve never been able to summon water on my own. I’ve tried for centuries, but to no avail. How can I conjure it so easily once I’m here?”

Syrena’s doe eyes softened. “That’s why we’re here. Together, we can awaken our full strength. But it requires surrender to the magic that lingers within us.”

Hearing those words, she tried to shake off the lingering doubt.

The tendrils of water answered her unspoken commands, bending and moving in sync with her sister’s. For a moment, she lost herself in the feeling, letting go of the nerves that seemed to grip her every so often since she arrived there, and focusing only on the energy thrumming between them.

“Together, we’re stronger than any force in this world,” Syrena continued. “And when we raise Maerinys, it won’t just be one of the four great kingdoms—it will be the greatest. And it will be ours , bound to our very souls and essence.”

The water pulsed faster, responding to her sister’s words, shimmering like liquid silver in the merlight. The ancient magic beckoned to Esmyra, its alluring promise of power impossible to resist.

“And nobody will be able to take you away from it this time,” Syrena added.

Esmyra wanted to trust it, to trust Syrena , and with each passing moment, she found herself doing just that even more effortlessly.

This was where she was meant to be. Who she was meant to be.

But her father had taken her away, and the man wasn’t even her true sire.

He had stolen her.

Stolen this from her.

With one last gesture, she lowered her hands, guiding the water to fall gently into the fountain. Syrena’s eyes beamed with pride as she did the same.

“This may be possible sooner than expected,” her sister said, wrapping her arms around Esmyra in an embrace that caught her off guard. Her body stiffened on instinct.

She pulled away from Syrena. “Our first night here, at dinner with your council, you said my father was a liar.” If the queen was shocked at the sudden change of subject, her face never showed it. “All I said to you was that he found me. Saved me. Yet you said this isn’t necessarily the truth. ”

Syrena’s gaze darkened, shadows passing over her eyes. “He was never your father,” she replied, her voice steady but cold. “The man stole you from us—from me, from your family and kingdom. He was no savior; he was a thief .”

A chill traced along Esmyra’s spine, and she took an unsteady breath. “A thief to his core, that man.” Her stare lifted to Syrena’s. “I recently became aware that the false narrative I was told all my life wasn’t necessarily the truth.”

“He likely twisted the truth to make you feel safe with him,” Syrena snarled. “He wasn’t protecting you; he was hiding you from your birthright.”

Esmyra shook her head. The weight of her memories with him pressed against her like a storm, memories now fractured and tainted by the lies he told. “Why would he steal me? How was the man anywhere near a royal heir? None of this makes sense.”

“Power, I would assume. Has he not harnessed your magic? Controlled it, and you, to make it his own?” Syrena’s words cut through the fog in her mind, sharp and relentless.

The reminder was like a dagger to the heart.

“Aye.” Esmyra’s nostrils flared as she let out a hate-filled, breathy laugh. “That’s exactly what he’s done.”

“As a result of the gods’ actions, and Maerinys’ heir lost, our home sank into the sea.”

A hollow feeling spread in Esmyra’s chest, sinking to the depths of her stomach. “All of this,” she gestured to their surroundings, “was caused by the hands of my father?”

Syrena gave a stiff nod, her expression solemn.

“We still stood a chance when the gods betrayed us, but when you were ripped away, he doomed us all.” Syrena reached out and gently tucked a stray lock of Esmyra’s midnight hair behind her ear.

“I’m willing to bet that’s all he ever saw you as.

Not a daughter. A vessel for unmatched power. ”

The weight of the truth pressed down on Esmyra, her breaths shallow as she processed the betrayal, the lies that had bound her whole life.

She knew Cyrus was a liar, but to hear it confirmed by the very person she was stolen from felt like an entirely new betrayal. A betrayal of her trust and unrelenting love. Esmyra would have given her father the world if he demanded it of her. She had already given him the seas.

Finally, Esmyra looked at her sister, the anger smoldering in her chest. “I want to learn everything. Everything I lost, everything I am. I want to know the truth—my real truth.”

Syrena took her hand, a fire flickering in her golden-brown eyes as ribbons of conjured water appeared, coiling around their wrists like serpents. “And learn you shall.”