Chapter 58 #2
Her retort died on her lips as she caught the flare in his eyes, the way his gaze darted over her shoulder. Instinctively, she ducked just as his sword arced through the air, cutting down an oncoming attacker before they could reach them.
Esmyra spun to face the crumpled figure sprawled beneath them, his spear knocked aside as lifeless eyes stared blankly up at them.
She inhaled sharply, taking in the dark stains of blood spreading across the deck, the scattered weapons, and the wind tugging at sails and hair alike.
Esmyra and Jak both leapt into action, slicing through enemies. Blood and seawater swirled around her like a storm incarnate. Her power was a promise, a shield, and a warning to any who dared to get too close.
But then her vision wavered, the world around her rippling. The deck beneath her feet, the crashing waves, the shouts of her crew all became hazy and distant, as if she were peering through a veil of mist.
And then the blur sharpened, but it wasn’t the chaos of battle that appeared.
Stone walls slick with crystalized salt were illuminated by flickering merlights. A figure sat hunched against the dungeon wall, her arms chained above her head.
Elowynne.
Esmyra’s breath hitched, confusion clawing at her mind.
And then realization slammed into her: the bond.
This vision, this perspective, was Syrena’s. She was seeing through her sister’s eyes as the power of the blood moon cloaked their world.
“Thanks to you, I’ll have both Lephyrin and Sumnae in my pocket,” Syrena said to Elowynne.
Esmyra’s stomach twisted, fury and fear knotting together. The bond was a window into her enemy’s mind. The grip on her powers faltered and she inhaled sharply, trying to ground herself back to her own reality.
The battle raged on in her periphery as the weight of her sister’s magic pressed into her, malicious and controlling.
A cold pull tugged at her essence, leaving her breathless. Her sister’s presence wasn’t just in her vision anymore; it was inside her mind, drawing from her energy. The pull was so strong she could nearly visualize her magic rushing out from her body.
Their worries had quickly become reality, and this was the unmistakable siphoning of power.
A shiver ran down Esmyra’s spine as her energy dimmed slightly, panic flaring in her chest.
For a fleeting moment, doubt whispered that she wouldn’t be able to resist, that her sister would claim what was hers.
“No matter how ruthless the world is, remember who you are, Esmi. You are a Blackwood. And Blackwoods survive.” Words her father had spoken to her when she was young echoed in her memory, and she pictured him there.
Pictured what he would think, how he would feel if he ever witnessed her falter or yield.
Blackwoods survive. And that was exactly what she intended to do.
Drawing a deep, grounding breath, Esmyra focused, letting Kaelypso’s power pulse through her. She gritted her teeth and heaved the stolen strength back into herself.
Her nails dug into the railing until splinters bit her palms, anchoring herself.
Reaching inward to somewhere deep in her core, she found the place her sister’s pull had sunk its claws, where the song of her siren soul thrummed.
And instead of letting it drain her, she seized it.
She grabbed the tether like a rope being yanked from her chest and heaved.
It felt like fire meeting ice. A scream tore through her mind as Syrena resisted, trying to rip her open further. Esmyra snarled, forcing the tide to turn. The cold ache in her veins warmed as power flooded back into her in a dizzying torrent, filling the hollow spaces until she gasped aloud.
Picture your mind as a fortress of impenetrable walls. Build it brick by brick until it’s sealed off.
She didn’t have time to wonder if the method would work on the bond before imagining it form around her consciousness, shoving Syrena out.
When the tether to her sister snapped shut, Esmyra staggered back, her chest heaving. She could still feel the echo of her Syrena’s fury clawing against the walls of her mind, but it was muffled now, caged on the other side.
Her body jolted as if ripped from a dream, and the world around her slammed back into place. The roar of waves, the clash of steel, and the screams of dying men all flooded her senses at once.
The deck shuddered beneath her as cannon fire ripped through the air.
Syrena knows. Her sister now knew Esmyra had figured everything out.
Before she could steady herself, a figure barreled toward her. Draevyn’s hand clamped around her arm, his blade flashing in his other hand as he cut down a soldier who had been moments from attacking her.
“Silly me for thinking there was nothing here for you to touch that would take you from me, Wildfire.” He pulled her half behind him, shielding her as he fought. “Stay with me,” he ordered.
Draevyn of all people knew she had been somewhere else entirely, having been there each time her conscience left her in Maerinys.
But this had been different. So very different from any time before.
He spun, parrying another strike, forcing her back into the rhythm of the battle.
Then his head jerked toward the horizon, and his expression hardened. “We’ve got company.”
She whirled in the direction and her stomach dropped.
Beyond the wreckage of Maerinys’s ships, dark shapes were cutting through the waves. Sails rose like specters from the sea, heading straight for them.
Azarian wasn’t the only one who had caught up to them.
Atlas had found them too.