Page 78

Esmyra

T he moment they were a few feet beyond the arch, total darkness enveloped them.

“What in all gods is this magic?” Draevyn growled.

They both turned to face the path they came from, finding the merlights indicating day still shone brightly behind them.

“It’s definitely odd,” she whispered, brows furrowing. Esmyra blinked, her eyes illuminating where they stood. Craning her head, she looked in all directions. “Perhaps this is what’s keeping everyone in Maerinys trapped down here.”

Draevyn turned to her, only his face visible in her dim light. “Then how would they have come to grab us in the cave to begin with when we arrived?”

Esmyra blew out a breath and shrugged. “We should keep moving.”

She took a few steps down the set of stairs before she halted abruptly, and Draevyn accidentally slammed into her back. His arms wrapped around her waist to steady her, making her eyes flare. Remaining in his grip, she pivoted to face him, his hand resting on the small of her back.

“Is there a reason you stopped?” he asked.

A smirk crept up her face. “I was going to suggest you light the way for us.” She walked her fingers teasingly over the velsinyte bracelet encircling his wrist.

He glared at her, though there was a hint of amusement in his voice when he said, “Very funny.” Draevyn released her, and with a wave of her hand, she conjured several floating orbs of merlights.

“Show off,” Draevyn huffed with a soft chuckle, earning a grin from her.

They moved cautiously down the stairs, their footsteps muffled by the damp ground beneath them. Her pulse raced, the silence pressing in more intensely the deeper they wandered.

“Maybe this isn’t the right tunnel. There seemed to be several markings on the map. Should we turn back and search elsewhere?” Draevyn asked.

Her jaw locked, knowing they didn’t have much time. Only suddenly, the tunnel widened, and she felt a slight shift in the darkness.

“No,” she whispered, turning to gaze up at him. “We’re exactly where we need to be.”

Esmyra could feel the pull again. The pull that had guided her here to her home and people. It was radiating in her very bones—only, not to the kingdom at their backs…but forward .

Her steps quickened, and his matched. It didn’t take long before they stepped into an open cavern and her jaw fell open the moment she took in the sight.

The crystallized walls that mimicked scales.

The ancient pillars encrusted with barnacles jutting from the ground.

The giant, empty temple-like space they had entered after defeating the monsters guarding Maerinys.

And finally…her eyes fell to the small basin—the one that had shown her the kingdom’s demise when she pressed her hand to the rune in its center.

“Oh, my gods,” she whispered as she took off into a run, her merlights floating alongside her.

“Esmyra, wait!” Draevyn yelled, but she refused to halt.

The basin once again called to her, and she finally realized why the one in Syrena’s tower seemed so familiar .

She stopped before it, running her fingers along its edge. What shocked her next was that the bowl wasn’t empty and dry as it had been when they first arrived—it was full, its water completely still, reflecting as a mirror.

Esmyra gazed into her reflection, hoping to see something more, just as she had the last time…only all she was met with was her own haunting stare. A moment later, Draevyn’s reflection appeared directly beside her.

He placed his hands atop her fingers as she gripped the bowl’s edge, carefully prying them from the stone. “Now, what did I say about touching things, Wildfire?” His voice was soft, gentle, even. But all she could do was continue to stare into their reflections.

After a few moments of silence, her stare met his in the pool. “I never told you what this showed me that day, did I?”

His brows furrowed, and he shook his head. “What do you mean?”

Esmyra swallowed. “It showed me everything. The fall of Maerinys.”

Draevyn’s eyes slowly widened as she turned to face him. His hands fell to the stone, caging her between himself and the fountain-like structure. “You saw it?”

She sucked in a long breath. “It was as if I were there. Standing in the middle of it all. I felt everything, heard everything . The panic. The screams. The children crying for their mothers.” She paused for a moment, and when she spoke again, her voice was a whisper.

“The roar of the waves as they swallowed the streets.”

Draevyn placed his hand gently on her shoulder. “This wasn’t your fault. You can’t bear the weight of what happened. You were an infant. You had no control over what Cyrus did that day.”

Pain stung the back of her eyes, and a tear slid from her lower lashes. A sinking feeling fell in her gut as she was overcome with endless emotions—heartache, regret, fury, a deep sadness she never knew was possible.

Esmyra turned her attention to the still water. “I know my father is a terrible man.” She swallowed. “He molded me into who I am now, and it’s equally horrifying. A greater monster than he ever was…”

“Esmyra,” Draevyn started, his gaze piercing through her reflection. “You’re not a monster.”

She whirled on him, nostrils flaring as she tried to choke back the emotions threatening to suffocate her. “You don’t know me, Draevyn Rowe.”

His stare never faltered, never left hers while she raised her voice.

“You can keep telling yourself that, Wildfire. But you know it’s not the truth.”

Esmyra’s heart nearly broke open and poured itself onto the floor at his feet, knowing in her soul he was right.

The longing looks he had snuck since the moment they met at the tavern, the kindness he had repeatedly shown since that day, even when she didn’t deserve it.

Draevyn was the only one who tried to save her as they entered the cave, dooming himself with her as they tumbled over the cliff’s edge while the cave collapsed around them.

And every moment since, all he ever seemed concerned about… was her .

But she couldn’t admit she recognized this. Esmyra was barely ready to admit it to herself, never mind say it aloud. She had a kingdom to raise and a father to save from a cursed damnation.

Draevyn, though her only anchor to her sanity, had become a distraction from all that mattered. A distraction she couldn’t afford, no matter how intensely she craved it.

“Aye, well…” Esmyra began. “Cyrus is a terrible man. Truthfully, he is many things. As we all are, I suppose. Was he a good father? No.” She let out a chuckle that had Draevyn lifting a brow, but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.

“But, to his core, he was a leader. And while he did terrible things, he always took care of those he cared for. His crew and me.” She let out a shuddering breath. “He does know love. He just doesn’t know how to show it.”

Draevyn lifted a hand and wiped away her tears with the edge of his thumb. “Are you sure we’re speaking of your father, Wildfire? ”

Esmyra’s lips parted. “I am my father’s daughter, I suppose.”

He let out a huff of a laugh through his nostrils, but let her continue.

“What I’m trying to say is…if taking me is what caused the kingdom to sink…

I don’t think he knew that would be the consequence.

Perhaps it really was because he knew I would be powerful and wanted the magic for himself.

After all, he’s a pirate, and the best of them.

And maybe I’ll never know the truth of it, but?—”

“But you still love him,” Draevyn finished for her. “He’s your father. Has been for centuries, and regardless of how he raised you, he’s shown you love.”

Her lips parted at how easily he knew the words she was trying to say, knowing they felt wrong to even be thought. “And do you think you’ll ever have it in you to find love for your father?”

If Esmyra loved her father, who shaped her into a weapon, perhaps he felt the same way for his own.

Draevyn’s gaze darkened. “I wish I could say I felt the same way you do. His priority has been, and always will be, power. He proved that the day he offered our souls to Irah as infants. Atlas, his heir, is second to that.”

The king offered his sons’ souls in exchange for power? She wanted to ask more, to find the truth within the legends of Lephyrin’s heirs and how they received their powers, but the pain in his voice had her halting.

“I understand that Atlas is his heir, but you’re his son too,” she said, anger flooding her veins to think of the man disposing of one of his own children because he was the second-born.

Draevyn let out a lifeless laugh as he scratched the back of his neck.

“It’s complicated.” He was silent for a long moment, his expression unreadable.

But then his voice hardened. “Some fathers don’t care about the cost of their cruelty—only about the end result.

Mine wouldn’t so much as blink if my power consumed me and I turned myself to ash.

The only part he would mourn is losing Lephyrin’s feared Phoenix. ”

Esmyra averted her gaze from his, empathy twisting her stomach.

She wanted to reach out, to find some words that might ease the pain behind his hardened stare, but nothing seemed enough.

All this time, she assumed she knew how he felt, how it was likely only a minor hatred or defiance against his father, but this was something more.

While Cyrus had been brutal, she knew at the end of every day that he cared about her and her well-being. The last time she had seen him aboard The Night Wraith , they were arguing about just that.

Draevyn’s father sent him out to sea, never caring if he would return. Even though she knew she was missing significant details regarding their relationship, she now understood why it was so easy for King Rowe to give up his son when she kidnapped him.

He truly never gave a damn about Draevyn. And Esmyra imagined setting the king on fire herself, reveling in watching him burn.