Chapter 27 #2
Naerysa slowly approached the bed and crouched beside it, studying his face as she tilted her head. “Hello lover,” she whispered.
Then she let her robe slip down her shoulders, revealing the tops of her bare breasts. She climbed onto the bed with feline grace, placing a knee on either side of him, hovering just above him like a wraith ready to consume his soul.
“Irah, wake up,” Esmyra whispered in shock, but it was useless. Her gut sank. There was nothing she could do to warn him or change the past.
What the fuck is she doing?
Naerysa’s hand reached out to stroke his cheek, and her voice spilled from her lips in a seductive purr. “She doesn’t deserve you, you know. Not like I do.”
A sudden, vicious growl erupted from Esmyra on behalf of her goddess.
Naerysa’s talons trailed along the plane of Irah’s chest. At first it was featherlight, but then, without warning, she dragged them down, shredding his flesh. Four sharp lines split open across his skin, and crimson welled up instantly.
Esmyra let out a gasp.
It all happened so fast.
Irah instantly bolted upright. His hand shot out to catch her, but she caught both of his wrists as she remained straddling him, her thighs clamping tightly around his hips.
“Easy,” Naerysa cooed, her talons now digging into the skin of his wrists, drawing blood.
Irah’s eyes met hers, and for a heartbeat, confusion flickered in his stare. His body went relaxed beneath hers, even though her grip remained lethally tight as his blood dripped down his arms.
Something was off. Something was so very, very fucking wrong.
Esmyra rushed to the side of the bed, her lips parted in horror as she watched. If Kaelypso could’ve clawed her way out of their shared body, Esmyra was convinced she would’ve done so right then and there.
Naerysa’s gaze deepened, twin whirlpools of golden light boring into his soul.
Esmyra’s jaw fell, her heart stopping in her chest.
She’s fucking compelling him.
He gasped, mouth parting, but the words caught in his throat, smothered by the compulsion as it took root.
“Look at me,” Naerysa whispered, voice laced with her magic. “You know who I am. Say my name.”
“You’re…” His brow furrowed.
“Snap out of it!” Esmyra screamed, her voice echoing as if bellowed in tandem with the goddess within her.
“Kae. My Kaelypso,” he finished.
“Fuck.” Esmyra had no idea what to do.
What could she do? This was a godsdamn memory.
A vicious smile crept up Naerysa’s lips. “That’s right. The twin you love.”
The fight drained from his limbs, and she leisurely released her hold on his wrists. His hands instantly fell to her hips, now holding her in place on top of him.
Naerysa leaned down and pressed her lips to his, slow and possessive.
And he didn’t fight it. He welcomed it, groaning into her mouth.
Bile climbed Esmyra’s throat. The vision of Draevyn’s lips on Syrena, of him holding her possessively the way he had with her the night before everything went to shit.
Oh gods, what if…
No. No, Syrena wouldn’t do that.
But Naerysa had…
Doubt quickly crept in as Esmyra watched.
That day in Lephyrin, Draevyn said he wanted her to know the truth. Could the truth be what she was thinking now? That he had kissed Syrena at no will of his own?
She couldn’t let her mind wander down that path.
Inside of her, Kaelypso screamed in heartbreaking agony as she was forced to watch Irah and Naerysa ravage each other through Esmyra’s eyes.
Thunder boomed from beyond the open windows, lightning erupting across the sky in arching, violent strikes as if answering to Kaelypso’s fury. Everyone leapt, startled at the sudden noise.
Irah jerked back like he’d been struck by the lightning. Naerysa sat up on him, but horror worked its way across Esmyra’s features as he looked up at her. No longer compelled.
One breath he was pliant, dazed beneath her, and the next he was fire barely caged.
“What the fuck is this?” he roared, his voice cutting through the room like a blade.
Esmyra saw the way he staggered, shoving The Goddess of the Surface onto the floor, before his shadows surged upward, curling like a protective smoke.
Naerysa yelped as she slammed into the marble, her golden hair sprawled out in all directions. She slowly pushed herself up and stood, somehow remaining calm as her illusion fell to pieces.
Esmyra’s pulse quickened.
“Rysa, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Irah looked down at his hands, curling them into fists over and over again as his jaw hung open. He looked up at her again, brows creasing as undeniable rage contorted his face.
Naerysa swallowed. “You were never supposed to know. Not until I—”
He leapt off the bed and towered over her, his voice booming in her face as he screamed, “Not supposed to know?!” His voice was like a snarl. “How long have you been doing this?”
Naerysa smirked, and it was like watching a dagger smile.
“Has it ever occurred to you that I’m the one you should be with? I am the sun and you are its rays. It was always us that were meant to be.”
Esmyra winced, her talons digging into her palms.
Irah’s body trembled. Shame warred across his features, his fists clenched so tight the skin of his knuckles went pale. The shadows writhed around him as flames lit across his shoulders.
“Just because you had something in your mind doesn’t make it the truth!” he boomed. “I’ve never felt anything for you. You’re not Kae.”
Naerysa jolted back as if she’d been shot, and Esmyra wished she had been.
With a fucking velsinyte bullet. Straight through the heart. She was no longer convinced that the rage roiling through her was Kaelypso’s alone.
“You’re not her,” Irah growled, his jaw ticking. “You never were, and you never will be. And I hope that kills you inside.”
Naerysa stepped forward again, still smiling as if this entire twisted show amused her.
“And yet,” she whispered, “your cock doesn’t seem to know the difference.” A click of her tongue sounded as she winked.
There was silence for a heartbeat.
And then Irah exploded.
“You’re a monster.” Shadows lashed behind him like wild whips. “I’ll burn every fucking lie from your lips before I let you use me again.”
Irah reached out and grabbed Naerysa by the throat, slamming her into the wall and lifting her from the floor. “Where. Is. She,” he demanded. “Where is Kaelypso?”
A wicked giggle slipped from Naerysa as she tried to take in air. “You think she’ll believe you over me? Please.”
His arm shook as he lifted her higher, looking as if he was crushing her windpipe. “I would never do that to her. She knows that.”
The goddess within Esmyra purred at his words.
Naerysa’s eyes narrowed on him, a sly grin climbing her face. It was the look of a predator. Cornered but calculating as she watched him come undone.
“You know, I’ve been doing some thinking,” she mused, the words barely audible as she tried to take in air. “Vydenne was right. There never should’ve been two gods of the sea. It’s just simply not fair.”
Irah’s eyes flashed with fury, his chest heaving as he shoved her away from him.
“Perhaps Asyris was onto something with how he rid the world of Malya.” Naerysa’s voice was silk-wrapped venom once she found her footing, something wicked blooming behind her amber eyes.
“You don’t get it, do you?” she whispered. “I don’t want to be her. I want what she has. I want her power.”
He stiffened, his neck visibly tightening. She stepped into him, her talons grazing his jaw with deceptive softness.
“Just as the God of Life devoured the Goddess of Death to make this world their own, I’ll take what’s mine. Her magic. Her soul. And then”—she leaned in, voice dropping to a hiss—“I’ll be the one true Goddess of the Sea.”
Irah stumbled back a step, his chest heaving. “Asyris killed Malya because she was dangerous. A threat!” he finally said, eyes wide, voice shaking. “Kaelypso is no threat!”
Her laugh was low and knowing. “No threat? She’s the most powerful of us all.” She crossed her arms. “I would argue even more powerful than you, pretty boy.”
He shook his head, disbelief evident in his stare. “She’s your sister. Your fucking twin.”
“Like I give a damn.” The words cracked like ice.
His shadows surged again, a visible tremble in his arms. “I won’t let you do this.”
Naerysa tilted her head, gaze burning with cruelty. “What makes you think you can even stop me? Once a soulbond is complete, there will be no stopping it.”
Esmyra’s eyes flared in horror, and she lifted a shaking wrist to her face. Her stare fell to the soulbond tattoo that now permanently marked her flesh—of the two sea serpents coiling around one another with a paired sun and crescent moon.
“I give my strength. I give my skin. To the sea and to who drinks the blood of my blood. If Kaelypso falls, may Naerysa rise.”
Esmyra’s heart leapt in her throat and she stumbled backward, gasping for air as that fractured memory pieced itself together. There were glimpses of flickering moonlight, a talon slicing through flesh as blood welled, and warm amber eyes right before their irises morphed into serpentine slits.
“All fucking gods,” Esmyra whispered in shock.
Kaelypso thrashed within her as they both realized what Syrena and Naerysa had done and what the Goddess of the Surface had been planning for centuries.
Syrena had bonded their souls and bodies together so she could somehow absorb Kaelypso’s magic. Her sister had compelled her.
Esmyra was right. She knew something was off that day, and Syrena lied to her face repeatedly. It was never necessary to save her. Syrena and Naerysa took her choice away. They robbed her of her life, tethering both sets of twins together forever.
A jolt surged through Esmyra, and her vision began to blur and fray as the memory she was plunged into began rapidly slipping away. Her breath caught as her world wrenched sideways. Everything stretched before once again shattering into shards of color and sound.