Chapter 36
Draevyn
With every step, the scent of saltwater grew stronger, and the crashing of waves roared in his ears, yet Draevyn’s heart beat louder than the sea itself as he ran.
He crested the final rise of the dunes and froze.
The harbor was empty, and the docks were broken and splintered, rope ends fluttering in the breeze.
Beyond the horizon, dark silhouettes of towering sails disappeared into the early dawn mist. Lephyrin’s fleet was already making for open water, their hulls carving paths of white through the sea.
And Esmyra was on one of them.
“No.” The word left him in a whisper as panic seized him. His chest was heaving, the wind tearing at his coat and hair as the endless sea stretched out before him.
The sails were slipping farther and farther away.
A deep sound tore from the depths of his chest. It was raw, too wounded and wild to be considered anything human.
He bellowed into the sky, a guttural, aching cry that cracked in his throat.
The air around him shimmered in heat, and his hands clenched as flames burst from his skin, searing across the sand in violent spirals.
Draevyn fell to his knees, slamming his fists into the ground. Fire flared along his knuckles, turning the grains of sand beneath him to glass.
Esmyra was gone, in the hands of his own brother who wanted nothing more than to watch her suffer and burn. When would the ceaseless desire for vengeance finally break the cycle?
Atlas was his brother, and the only flesh and blood he had left. And Esmyra was… everything else. His heart, the wild flames to his raging soul, the woman of his dreams. His goddess. And now the only two people he loved in the world were about to destroy one another.
The sand surrounding him began to bubble and melt.
Their crew caught up, panting and wordless as they watched him unravel. Draevyn didn’t care that his magic was flaring out of control, that the beach smoked and hissed beneath him.
Because Esmyra was gone, but this time not of her own free will.
He had reached her. He had gotten her to listen and believe him, and she’d been ripped away from him in an instant.
By his own fucking brother.
A sharp grunt erupted from behind him. He pushed himself to his feet and turned to find their prisoner writhing in Riven’s grasp, wrists bound behind him with coarse rope. His lip was bleeding now, eyes already swelling shut from a blow one of the pirates had delivered.
Draevyn finally recognized the man as one of his own.
Collin was a man who’d sailed under his command for several years before everything changed.
A line had been drawn, and it was clear now that the man’s loyalty was only to Lephyrin and not the captain he once took orders from.
It stung more than Draevyn was willing to admit.
Collin tried to kick up between the elven’s legs, and in return, Ren sent his boot straight into the center of his chest. The man coughed and folded forward with a curse.
“Cut the shit!” Ren snarled as they shoved the man to his knees.
“Enough,” Draevyn barked, his voice like a clap of thunder.
The crew stepped back, eyeing him warily.
Draevyn strode toward the prisoner, tiny flames licking up his wrists in slow coils.
He crouched down, firelight reflecting in his eyes like twin coals as he ripped the man’s gag off. “Where are they taking her?” he demanded, voice deadly.
Collin spat blood into the sand, glaring at him.
Draevyn leaned in, close enough for the man’s flesh to start to sizzle and bubble from the heat rippling from him. “Tell me before I burn you from the inside out.” A breathy laugh left him. “I’ll do it slowly too. I’ll make you fucking suffer, just as she’s had to.”
The prisoner shifted, swallowing thickly, and Draevyn witnessed the moment his bravado cracked. “Where are they taking her?” he asked again. “What port? What ship? Fucking tell me.”
Still, silence.
He extended his hand, and the flames flared just enough to singe the man’s collar.
Collin jerked, eyes flaring. No longer was he dealing with Draevyn Rowe, the Prince of Lephyrin and the captain of its seas. He now knelt beneath the Phoenix the realm feared.
Finally, he rasped, “Sumnae.”
Draevyn’s jaw fell, and his stare shot to Jak and the rest of the crew. They all went wide-eyed and pale. Confusion rapidly took hold of him. “Atlas is bringing her to the elven kingdom? Why?”
“The marriage alliance. She took our queen, and in turn, their princess.”
Draevyn stood, flames winking out as his rage morphed into pure fear for his Wildfire. She had kidnapped and done only the gods knew what to Elowynne.
He turned to the others, all watching him as they held their breath, waiting for orders.
“We need to leave. We sail after them, and if we can’t intercept them at sea, we’ll storm Sumnae.” He gestured to the prisoner with his chin. “Throw him in the brig.”
A rasping laugh slipped from the man, whose eyes were so black and blue now that they were nearly swollen shut. “You betrayed your own crown. The kingdoms don’t know what you’ve done yet, but the world will know soon enough. And to think King Atlas still believes in you.”
“You will shut the fuck up before I cut out your tongue,” Jak snapped, pointing his dagger’s blade in his face.
“And all for the likes of some murderous sea cunt,” Collin continued, his swollen eyes never leaving Draevyn’s. “The king hopes you’ll return to Lephyrin once she’s dealt with and you’re free of her spell. After all, she’s nothing but a witch wrapped in scales and tits.”
The air around them stilled.
There was no wind, no sounds of crashing waves. There was only silence. The kind of silence that came before a deadly storm.
His crew stiffened, some shifting uncomfortably as the pirates went rigid.
Draevyn didn’t move. There was nothing but a blistering fury surging through his soul, burning what was left of his self-control to ash.
Not a single word was spoken as the prisoner ignited in an inferno.
A red-hot flame erupted from Collin’s chest, climbing up his body, consuming it in an insatiable hunger.
A scream tore from his throat, his voice cracking and turning to a gargling sound as Draevyn’s power robbed the air from his lungs.
The rope bindings burned instantly, and Ren and Riven took several steps back as the man’s flesh melted and smoked.
He thrashed and howled and rolled, but the blaze continued to burn.
Draevyn stood there, watching his own sailor be consumed by his power, reveling in it.
The scent of burnt flesh and scorched cloth stuffed itself in his nostrils.
The flames reflected in his eyes, his jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached while he remained entirely still, his blaze devouring the man.
None of the crew moved, and no one stopped him.
When at last the prisoner collapsed into a pile of charred bone, Draevyn finally let the flame recede back into his palms, smoke trailing from his fingertips.
With that, he turned to his men. They all looked mortified, eyes wide with gaping jaws.
“Get to the ship,” Draevyn commanded.
Not a soul argued as they immediately followed orders.
Draevyn faced the sea, staring out at the horizon, toward the ships that now sailed for Sumnae. He knew there would be no coming back from what he just did.
If they wanted to label Esmyra a monster, then they may as well place the title next to Draevyn’s name alongside hers. For the Phoenix had been reborn from the ashes they made.
And he was coming for every single fucking one of them.