Chapter 39 #2
He gritted his teeth as a spike of pain pierced behind his eyes, a dull throb that bloomed with each heartbeat. He staggered a step back, his shadows reluctantly retreating into his palms as Keryth pushed his magic into Atlas’s mind.
Shadows still flickered faintly around his wrists, responding to his unease.
Atlas lifted his chin, eyes steady. “We need to speak. Alone.”
Keryth arched a brow. “Do we?”
“I came here because of my love for your daughter,” Atlas said. “Elowynne is worth more to me than just an alliance. You’ll have more than a shadow-wielding weapon if you grant me a moment. But not in front of your court.”
A tense silence followed. The king studied him as his hands clasped at his front, and the longer Atlas sat beneath his stare, the more wary he became.
At last, Keryth gave a single nod. “Clear the room.” His eyes traced up and down Atlas’s body. “It appears this is to be a private conversation with my son-in-law. King to king.”
Atlas nearly sighed in relief as the demand left Keryth’s lips, even though the last few words came out in more of a mocking tone than anything else.
“My king,” Varis started. “I must protest leaving you alone with a possible enem—”.
“And I must protest you finishing that sentence,” Atlas cut him off. “We are guests here at the elven court. You will mind your tongue and do as commanded.”
Varis’s lips pressed into a thin line, looking like he was considering protesting once more, but finally, he gave a slight nod.
Boots echoed across the polished floor as robed attendants and armed soldiers of both kingdoms swept out. The heavy doors sealed behind them with an echoing thud.
A single guard from both Lephyrin and Sumnae remained, guarding the door, the tension between them evident in their stances.
Keryth’s eyes met Atlas’s then, his lips pressed into a thin line. “You have my attention.”
Gods, where the fuck do I even start?
He swallowed thickly, a lick of sweat racing down the back of his neck.
“I know how my father was seen in the eyes of the realm, and I assure you, I am in agreement. I want you to know that I’m not Barrett.
I’m not my father, nor do I ever plan to be.
But people I love were taken from me, and I plan to get them back by any means necessary.
This threat isn’t one I can take on alone, as the creature that once roamed the depths under Blackwood’s command isn’t what we’ve thought she was. ”
“What could that possibly mean? Does this have anything to do with the nightmare from your ball?” Keryth said, clasping his hands in front of him as he stared Atlas down.
“Word of what happened obviously made its way to Sumnae and Terrana the moment their ships made port. It seems your king couldn’t even hold a successful execution. ”
“Blackwood had a daughter, and she’s powerful.
More powerful than any being I’ve ever come across before.
” Atlas sucked in a breath through his nostrils as he searched for the words.
“She is the reason the execution was unsuccessful and why the masquerade turned into a bloodbath. Their crew managed to sneak into the castle.”
“And to think you believe yourself to be worthy of my daughter.” A laugh slipped from Keryth. “I called her home, you know. Elowynne refused to return to Sumnae. I demanded she come home, and yet, she chose some slut of a prince over her own kingdom.”
Atlas’s mind emptied at the words.
Elowynne was supposed to go home? She defied her own father for him? Fucking Irah, he loved that female.
“All of that aside,” he growled. “My brother managed to capture Blackwood out at sea, evading the beast of the depths. And after the attack…”
Atlas had to choose his next words carefully. He didn’t want any other kingdom to know that his father had been illegally searching for Maerinys, and he refused to incriminate Draevyn, even still.
“When she couldn’t free Blackwood that night, she stormed our castle weeks later and murdered my father before the eyes of his court.
She humiliated us and declared war. The woman is somehow connected to the kingdom that sank a thousand years ago.
And in her rage, she brought it back to the surface when Blackwood wasn’t returned to her.
Kaelypso is somehow a part of her, and both she and Naerysa have plans for the realm. ”
“What you’re speaking of is impossible!” Keryth boomed, his voice echoing. He lifted a hand and pointed in Atlas's face. “You will return Elowynne to me. You will not be marrying her. She is to remain a princess of Sumnae.”
A blistering silence filled Atlas’s ears, his teeth clenching so tight he thought they would shatter.
“Elowynne isn’t yours to take. She’s a woman of her own, and she can choose where to go once she is returned to us both.
But that’s never going to happen if you don’t fucking listen to me. Her life is at stake.”
Atlas meant every word. If Elowynne no longer wished to remain in Lephyrin, then he would let her go, regardless of the heartache that would surely destroy him. He wouldn’t even be able to blame her if she wished to return here to Sumnae.
Keryth’s eyes softened as they traced up and down Atlas, his once stiff posture relaxing. “So, what exactly are we up against? How is Maerinys raised from the depths? The gods haven’t walked among Rymelle’s soil since—”
“Since the day the kingdom sank,” Atlas finished for him.
He blew out a breath through his nostrils.
“And it was brought to the surface by Blackwood’s daughter, Esmyra.
If what I’ve been told about her is true, then she isn’t just some divine incarnation of Kaelypso.
She’s a monster wrapped in the illusion of a woman.
Now Naerysa hides in her kingdom they raised, and she’s supposedly somehow worse than Kaelypso if reports are to be believed. ”
“Reports from whom?”
Atlas’s mind went blank, his eyes widening slightly as he pushed down his rising panic of not wanting to reveal too much. “My brother. You’re aware he’s led Lephyrin’s armada for quite some time now, and he was the first to discover that Maerinys has risen.”
Okay, not that bad. It was only a half lie. A fib, really.
“The Phoenix?” Keryth asked.
Atlas suppressed his growl. “Yes. Draevyn has already come in contact with them and knows first-hand what they’re capable of.”
He didn’t dare speak a word of what she had done to Draevyn.
The last thing he needed was for the kingdoms, who already feared his brother, to think he’d turned against them.
Because after everything, he still planned to save his brother from any threat that came at them.
Whether that be a god or the realm itself.
“And you want Sumnae’s help to not only retrieve Elowynne, but to rid the world of these so-called goddesses?”
“Kaelypso came from the sea like a storm, hovering above the harbor like judgment itself. And when she came ashore, she killed without hesitation. Guards. Nobles. My father. All to avenge a worthless man.”
Keryth’s eyes flared beneath furrowed brows.
“This is personal for her,” Atlas continued. “She thinks she’s owed the world for what she lost, and she will stop at nothing until it happens.”
“Kaelypso created the depths. Why would she care for a man who took it over when the realm assumed her to be deceased alongside her kingdom?”
Atlas stepped closer, lifting his chin. “Why don’t we ask her ourselves?”
Keryth’s head reared back as Atlas glanced over his shoulder and let out a sharp whistle. The one Lephyrin soldier who remained in the room gave a subtle nod before he slipped out the door.
Atlas turned and took a step back to stand beside Keryth. Moments later, footsteps echoed in the hall, and the grand doors creaked open as Varis and two more soldiers appeared, dragging Esmyra between them.
She was half-limp, half thrashing, her bare feet dragging across the stone floor. Her long hair was tangled and still matted as she remained cuffed and gagged. Her gaze burned with pure hatred as she jerked violently against her captors.
The guards stumbled for a moment as she twisted in their grasp, snarling behind the gag as they yanked her forward.
Keryth didn’t move. He just watched in regal stillness, fingers steepled before his lips as the goddess was forced to her knees in the center of the chamber before not one, but two kings.
“You should’ve started with the fact that you had her in your possession.” A low, wicked chuckle rumbled from Keryth. He cocked his head to the side. “So, you’re the cause of all this mess? You don’t seem very powerful to me.”
Esmyra glared, hair hanging in her glacial eyes like a curtain of fury.
Keryth’s hand reached out, aiming for her gag.
“Careful,” Atlas said calmly. “She bites.”
He then nodded to Varis, and in response, he unsheathed a dagger from his belt and sliced it through the gag, nicking her cheek.
The cloth dropped, and she spat blood at the floor.
Atlas stepped toward her slowly, savoring the moment as he watched a hint of menace light within the elven king’s stare.
Esmyra’s gaze met his—those same eyes that once crackled with divine power were now bloodshot and rimmed with defiance.
Atlas crouched, resting one elbow on his knee. “So,” he started, “now do you plan to tell us where Elowynne is?”
Nothing. Her silence was infuriating, but he refused to show it.
Keryth descended beside him, speaking in that lilting, razor-edged tone of his. “You don’t look like a goddess to me,” he said. “More like a washed-up myth.”
Esmyra’s attention turned toward him, her expression twisted with scorn. “Take these cuffs off, and let’s see if you still feel the same.”
The elven king let out a short, humorless laugh. “You’ve barely enough strength to stand. You want to put on a show?”
Keryth turned to Atlas, and they stood, the guards keeping Esmyra on her knees before them all. “What does she mean?”
Fuck. How am I going to explain velsinyte to him? He opted for the truth.
His jaw clenched, and he sighed before answering. “Those cuffs aren’t ordinary restraints. They’re forged from stone pulled from the gates of Irah’s temple.”
Keryth’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, his smile faltering.
“My father, in his reign, discovered the substance. It has the ability to suppress divine essence,” Atlas continued. “But it’s only ever been used on Lephyrin’s shores until now. Can’t be too careful being the only powerless kingdom and all.”
Keryth opened his mouth to speak, but a cruel cackle cut him off.
Esmyra stared at them grinning, blood staining her teeth. “So, tell him what happens when you take them off, Atlas. Tell him what you witnessed before you managed to chain a storm.” She paused, chest heaving. “Go on, don’t be shy.”
Her gaze cut to the elven king, sly and burning. “Do it. Take them off. Let your court watch as I call the tide to your doors and tear the breath from your fucking lungs.”
Keryth stepped toward her then, meeting her eyes with quiet fury as the guards aggressively pulled her to her feet. “I think you’re a liar,” he said simply.
Atlas noted his words sounded more like a question than a conviction.
She leaned forward as far as her restraints allowed, her cruel grin remaining. “Then unshackle me and pray to whatever god you worship that I am.”
The room fell silent. Even the torches along the pillars seemed to burn quieter, as if listening. And in that stillness, Atlas wondered if they’d made a mistake bringing her here at all.
Keryth’s eyes glinted in challenge, and the surrounding air thickened as he raised a hand directly toward the siren, his shoulders drawing back slightly. “I think you’ll find my god isn’t needed.”
Seconds passed as he remained glaring at her with an outstretched arm, but she didn’t even flinch. Esmyra stood motionless, head tilted slightly. There was no sign that the elven’s power had reached her at all.
A faint line crept across Keryth’s brow, his jaw tightening as his fingers flexed. Atlas could tell he was digging deeper, probing harder to try and break into her mind.
“It’s not working,” Keryth growled. He glanced nervously down at his outstretched hand.
Esmyra’s mocking smile widened.
The elven king stiffened. His lips parted slightly, and Atlas could see the tension behind his calm mask. He was trying again, harder this time. His jaw clenched as the veins along his neck rose.
Still, his power couldn’t touch her.
He whirled on Atlas. “We will speak of this substance later. If it’s what I think it is, it never should’ve been dug up.” He looked him up and down with disgust.
Atlas’s hands curled into fists behind his back, trying to hide his surging shadows at the subtle threat in the male’s words.
Esmyra watched their exchange, seeming to be laughing at them with her eyes.
“You’re going to talk. You’re going to tell us where Elowynne is,” Keryth spat at her. “Whether it’s now, here and in chains, or screaming it from the altar we burn you on.”
She averted her gaze to the floor.
“Lock her up beneath the castle and do with her what you will. Get creative!” Keryth barked.
The guards seized her, but Atlas’s gaze remained fixed on the elven king’s face, watching his careful mask of composure crack further.
That hadn’t been a calculated decision. That had been emotional. Dangerous. It reminded him of when his father would snap in anger, leaving a sour taste in his mouth.
He would let it slide for now, noting that while he’d been dealing with the knowledge of Elowynne’s capture for weeks now, her father hadn’t.
Atlas watched Esmyra be dragged away. Her face was neutral as the guards forced her backward, but when she met his stare, her lips curled up. The smile, however, didn’t reach her eyes.
The look filled him with a cold dread, unsettling Atlas far more than he was willing to admit.