Chapter 32
Esmyra
The air rushed from Esmyra’s lungs as her back slammed against the wall. Pain flared, but it was nothing compared to the cyclone surging inside her.
Draevyn’s body caged her, the warmth of him searing even through the night’s chill.
His arms were braced on either side of her, his muscles taut beneath his skin as he stared down into her eyes, chest heaving.
His scent of cedarwood and leather wrapped around her like a net that she desperately needed to claw her way out of.
Her pulse thundered in her ears. I fucking hate him.
She glared up at him, jaw clenched. “Get the fuck away from me before I carve out your other eye!”
“You want me to get away from you?” He leaned in, his breath brushing her cheek. “Then why haven’t you pushed me away yet?”
Her hands fisted at his chest, her talons slipping free. Their tips poked through his shirt as it bunched between her fingers, shredding the fabric.
She could have shoved him. She needed to shove him. But then the view of Irah and Naerysa replayed in her memory, and she suddenly couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Esmyra had ached for something familiar in this miserable existence she found herself in, journeying to Anchorage Cove in search of that very thing. And, of course, what she found instead was Draevyn fucking Rowe.
She loathed how much she missed this—him. The weight of him, the heat of his fire-fueled touch and the chaos that always lived between them like a second pulse.
But Draevyn was the reason her father was dead. The reason she bled herself raw for revenge. And the reason her life had turned into nothing but a cursed nightmare.
Esmyra had been ready to choose Draevyn over Maerinys and the life that was ripped from her—the truth of her past that she craved more than the air she breathed.
Only, Draevyn hadn’t chosen her in return.
She placed all that trust in him. Trust she didn’t give away to anyone, let alone a man.
And even then, she still hadn’t been enough for him.
Draevyn had held her limp body in that crypt like she was the most precious being in the world, like she was the only thing that mattered to him.
The way he had made love to her… holding her body between his and the door that led out to the rest of the world, threatening the lives of any man or woman who so much as looked at her with a hint of lust.
He had done nothing but whisper lies into her mouth while she poured her soul into him. All for him to shatter that fragile love blooming between them within hours.
And now, there was no trust left. No foundation between them. Just ashes and sharp, jagged edges.
So why did her body lean toward his? Why did his voice and the sound of her name on his lips make something inside her ache? And why did the fire in his eyes threaten to undo her completely?
Because something inside of her still loved him.
No. No the fuck she didn’t. Her fingers twitched. All she’d have to do was push him, slice him with her blade, and run.
But through all of this, her hands stayed pressed against his chest, right over his heart that was pounding as wildly as her own.
“Draevyn is not Irah.” Kaelypso’s voice startled her.
“Don’t make this any more difficult than it already is,” Esmyra snapped back at her. “To me, they are one in the same.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Draevyn said, bringing her attention back to him. It was more of a vow than a threat as his stare locked on her, eyes molten.
The words hit her like a noose tightening around her throat.
It was too much. All of this was just too fucking much.
Esmyra’s magic flared instinctively, wild and cold like a crashing tide. With a sharp twist of her body, she slipped from his grasp in a blur.
Draevyn cursed and reached for her, catching Esmyra’s wrist. Without hesitation, he spun her, slamming her against the wall again, its weathered wood scraping against her skin. His hands pinned her arms high above her head as he leaned into her, the heat radiating from him making her dizzy.
Their breaths came in short bursts, mingling with one another.
“You don’t get to trap me, Phoenix.”
“Then stop running!”
Would he ever realize she was running to avoid this? To avoid having to face him for all she’d done?
She slid to the right, trying to pull herself from his grip, but his hold never loosened as they stood chest-to-chest, nose-to-nose, pressure building between them like a dam about to break.
Her blood turned to ice.
Esmyra’s eyes narrowed on him. “I. Am. Not. Yours!”
Magic surged at her call, moisture in the air condensing into a burst of mist around her. She kneed him in the stomach, and he hunched forward with a grunt. Lightning erupted from her fingertips, scattering across the building at his back, cracking the glass windows in a blaze of sparks.
“Don’t make me kill you, Draevyn. I was willing to look the other way after you saved me in Lephyrin, but you’re pushing your luck.”
“Ah, so all that killing talk was just that. Talk.” His grin was infuriating.
The edges of her vision blurred, her lip curling in anger.
He turned, flames licking up his arms now as he watched her beneath furrowed brows.
“You want to have a little more fun then? Fine,” Draevyn growled as he cracked his neck to the side. “It seems you still need to let off a little steam. And, while I prefer another way to make that happen, who am I to deny a goddess what she wants?”
A shiver crawled down Esmyra’s spine as his gaze lingered on her, a strange mixture of warmth and unease washing over her as he uttered the word goddess.
Even Kaelypso seemed to purr in response.
“Don’t do that! We hate him,” Esmyra yelled into her mind.
But then he lunged.
Their powers collided in a violent blast of flame and sea.
Steam exploded between them as fire met water, and the cobblestones beneath their feet cracked from the pressure.
Draevyn reached for her again, but she jolted him with a sharp pulse of lightning that skittered through his flames in warning.
His strength met her fury, and they slammed into the building together again.
“You’re a fucking traitor!” she hissed, bearing her teeth as her lips almost brushed his. “You betrayed me.”
Draevyn’s entire body tensed. His hands fell to her waist, his fingertips digging into her hipbones almost painfully. For a moment, he didn’t say anything. Just stared at her like she’d stabbed him clean through the ribs.
Esmyra pretended the devastating look he wore didn’t affect her, keeping the mask on her face as she glared up at him.
“I never betrayed you,” he said, his voice low, almost pained. “Since the moment I laid eyes on you, all I’ve ever done is protect you.”
She blinked, her magic faltering.
“Everything I did was to keep them from destroying you,” he continued. “But it happened anyway.”
The way he said the words. The way his voice cracked on the last few… she couldn’t let it get to her.
This was what she expected down in Maerinys after she found him with Syrena. The groveling and begging for forgiveness. The lies and sweet words. But instead, he left her to spiral in her own thoughts, and this was what it morphed her into.
A nightmarish woman. A goddess. A fucking monster.
“You’re lying,” she hissed.
His fire dimmed to embers around his shoulders. “I would’ve burned the world to keep you safe. I still would. And I almost did.”
Esmyra tried to take a step away from him, but her back was against the wall. Her stare met his, a roaring blaze thrashing within them as he gazed down at her.
“Then why didn’t you?” Each word felt like swallowing a shard of glass, the pain searing her throat. She wasn’t even sure she wanted the real answer.
Draevyn’s jaw ticked, the skin around his eyes tightening. “It’s a bit difficult to do so when under compulsion.”
Esmyra’s mind emptied, her eyes flaring as her lips parted in horror.
Together. Him and I. Syrena’s words from Maerinys echoed from every direction in her mind.
Was what she feared true?
Naerysa had compelled Irah into believing she was Kaelypso. His hands had been tracing her curves, his lips tasting hers, his eyes wild with lust. All just as Draevyn had been with Syrena that day in the chamber.
It felt as if the floor dropped out from beneath her.
Esmyra’s eyes shifted repeatedly, talons extending and retracting as the sudden surge of endless emotions seared through her soul.
She couldn’t see, couldn’t even breathe as memories of her days in Maerinys replayed in her head like some tortuous vision she couldn’t escape.
Lies. All anyone ever told her was fucking lies.
Her father.
Draevyn.
And now Syrena.
The bitter taste of betrayal lingered on her tongue as Esmyra, the woman who swore to never be another man’s pawn, found herself manipulated by her own sister. She had been nothing but a means to an end, a mere piece in her calculated game of chess.
Esmyra’s power was all Syrena was after. She was nothing but a disposable asset. The tattoo marking her wrist burned with that eerie, icy heat as if in confirmation.
Red clouded her vision. “LIARS!” she screamed.
The energy between them detonated, and with a furious cry, she finally shoved him away. Her palms slammed into Draevyn’s chest with every ounce of rage she’d been choking on for months. Lightning erupted in the sky the moment her skin met his.
Snarling, she grabbed him by the throat and threw her entire weight into him. Her body was a weapon of divine wrath as she sent him staggering back into the other building they stood between.
Only he took her with him, wrapping his arm around her waist.
The wood cracked behind Draevyn, the wall splintering like a hull meeting jagged rocks. A bone-deep crack echoed through the alleyway. Dust exploded around them as the boards snapped and gave way beneath their bodies.
For a moment, she felt nothing but air, but then her stomach lurched.