Chapter 68
Esmyra
Esmyra’s gaze locked on Syrena as she pushed herself to her feet, her face twisted with fury. The sight of her twin sent Kaelypso thrashing within her, burning like acid in her chest as the memories of each betrayal came rushing to the surface.
But then Esmyra’s eyes swept the chamber, her heart coming to a painful halt.
Suspended in coils of water, like prey wrapped in a spider’s web, hung Draevyn, Jak, Atlas, and the others. Their bodies levitated helplessly, as vortexes of water spun in slow, suffocating spirals around them.
Whiskey eyes met hers, and she shoved down the bile climbing her throat.
Draevyn fought for breath, his body jerking against the crushing tide as water hovered just over his lips.
His soaked, dark hair was plastered to his face, his chest straining, his cheeks already pale from lack of air.
But it was his eyes—those wide, desperate, searching eyes—that ripped Esmyra apart as his life drained from him.
Something primal ignited within her.
Blistering fury surged, roaring through her veins. The power erupted through her with a savage purpose.
No one takes him from me.
“Kill her,” Kaelypso roared. “Kill them both.”
“We’ll kill them together,” Esmyra whispered back as her fists clenched, lightning sparking and snapping across her skin.
Kaelypso had always been an ancient presence lingering within her, the echo of a storm across still waters.
And now she stirred with violent hunger.
For so long, Esmyra had fought to keep that voice buried, to pretend she was still wholly herself, keeping them as two separate entities in the same vessel.
But in this moment, with the Blood Moon’s power threatening to rip everything away, her denial shattered like glass.
Reclaiming her divinity that day in the crypt wasn’t all that occurred within those stone walls. Esmyra and Kaelypso had merged—their powers, will, and rage. Every emotion one felt, the other echoed. Every pain that seared her heart or skin, Kaelypso felt alongside her, and vice versa.
“We’re not separate,” she breathed.
“We never were,” Kaelypso answered, her voice absolute.
The goddess’s fury pulsed with her own, a twin rhythm pounding through her blood.
They had walked different lives and worlds, but they weren’t two beings forced into unity.
Kaelypso had chosen her one thousand years ago.
They were a single thread woven together, bound so tightly they could never be told apart.
Two souls, yes, but they were one heart.
A shiver wracked Esmyra’s body, but it wasn’t from fear or rage.
It was release. Acceptance.
The truth settled in her chest, realizing she couldn’t imagine life without Kaelypso. Dormant or awake within her, Kae was Esmyra’s—just as she was hers.
This vengeance belonged to them both.
Their power answered, not in words but in fire and tide, in an explosive tremor that seized her veins.
“Our bond is stronger than any built by magic. I told you before, Esmyra. I will surrender all my power and all that I am to you to ensure you never fall,” Kaelypso said. “And I intend to keep that promise here and now.”
Her body arched and then lifted, a low cry ripping from her throat as magic surged. The vortexes holding her friends wavered, shuddering against the force of her awakening. The air trembled, the ground quaked, and everyone in the room froze as they watched in awe.
Even Syrena.
Esmyra’s eyes snapped open, and the room drowned in their light. She lifted her chin toward the floor length windows, watching as her body transformed before them all. Piercing teal and serpentine irises glowed, splitting into two with cold, merciless power.
Her hair remained black as night at the roots, yet every strand bled into silver at the ends, shimmering like liquid moonlight. Heat seared across her skin as her runes morphed back into Kaelypso’s glowing swirls, only now they were crimson red, blazing like molten fire carved into her flesh.
She remained hovering, just as she had when she saved Maerinys, rising alongside the kingdom as she ripped it from its chains to the depths.
Draevyn’s gaze shone with pride as he watched her, and even through the water-made gag, she could see his smile.
Esmyra looked to the vaulted, glass-paned ceiling, eyes catching the moon as it bled higher in the sky, nearing its peak.
Her stare fell to Syrena, her voice was low, trembling with the wrath of a god. “Release. Them.”
Syrena’s face drained, paling as though all the blood had been leached from her at once. She looked to Azarian, who watched with his jaw gaped open. “What is this magic?!”
“I—” He turned to her, eyes wide. “A surrender, Your Majesty. I believe Kaelypso is surrendering her full power to her vessel.”
Syrena’s lips trembled just slightly before she forced them into a cruel smile. “That power is MINE.”
But then, as though clinging to her last shred of control, Syrena’s skin rippled with a shimmer of unnatural light, and she morphed.
Her mortal shape was drowned out, swallowed by Naerysa’s form claiming her like a parasite taking over its host. A sun-kissed sheen exuded from her skin, rose and gold swirls shining brightly with hair to match, as her eyes burned with cruel luminescence.
Syrena and Naerysa hadn’t merged. Esmyra’s twin surrendered herself to her goddess, only Naerysa hadn’t done the same in return. And now, The Goddess of the Surface had full control.
Kaelypso had surrendered herself to protect Esmyra while Naerysa only shoved Syrena in the dark, conquering their body as her own.
Her laughter echoed like broken glass as she leveled her gaze at Esmyra. “We’ll never release them.” Her hand clenched tighter, and the whirlpools of water constricted each of the crew, choking them as their bodies lifted like offerings.
Esmyra bared her teeth as she raised a hand, a jolt of raw power tearing from her palm.
It ripped through the throne room, the blast splitting as it struck each of the circling vortexes, igniting them from within.
Each watery prison shuddered before exploding outward in a tidal burst that sent saltwater spraying in every direction.
The crew dropped, blades clattered, and bodies convulsed as air seared back into their lungs. It only took a moment for the room to fill with chaos then, as the rasp of freed steel and the thunder of her power echoed off the ruined walls.
Naerysa staggered back as her traps detonated, her composure cracking for the first time.
Esmyra found Draevyn across the chamber, his chest heaving while he pushed himself to his feet, fire flickering in crackles across his skin. He gave her a firm nod, strength gathering in his stance as water dripped from his hair and clothes.
But then his expression shattered. His eyes widened in horror, his voice tearing through the chamber. “ESMYRA, LOOK OUT!”
The throne room shook, and Naerysa’s scream was sharp as her magic exploded outward in a blinding solar flare.
It mimicked the sun’s rays, searing the air and chamber as its heat radiated and shimmered like molten gold.
Light struck everywhere at once in a destructive brilliance, forcing everyone to shield their eyes.
The crimson glow of Esmyra’s tattoos lit brighter in response, and her eyes locked on the oncoming wave. She thrust her arms forward, and jagged bolts lanced from her fingertips, splitting the torrent in two.
Her lightning arced across the air, cutting through the heat like silver blades. Where the two forces collided, embers and sparks burst, shaking the walls with every strike as the room transformed into a battlefield between sun and storm.
The crew scrambled to avoid the violent bursts of magic. Out of the corner of her eye, Draevyn shielded the men closest to him, yelling for them to stay low, but she felt his unwavering gaze on her the entire time.
The solar energy shoved Esmyra back, yet the goddess within her prevailed. Her teal eyes blazed, hair whipping like a storm cloud as she shoved her hands forward. She sent bolts of power lancing into Naerysa’s flares, fracturing them, splintering the light into jagged shards.
The air itself screamed, and Esmyra could feel the raw weight of Naerysa’s power trying to overwhelm her. But she pushed back—every nerve, every pulse of her magic merging with the goddess within.
Naerysa’s flares arced in blinding waves, each one bursting outward like a miniature sun, igniting the air with flickers of fire. Her twin’s power brushed against hers, clawing and biting its way through to try and siphon her magic and soul.
But Esmyra would never yield.
Jagged bolts leapt from her hands, the strikes meeting the flares with a deafening hiss, yet both goddesses refused to be driven back.
Kaelypso thrummed within her, pulsing in time with her heartbeat.
Their fury.
Two souls.
One fucking vengeance.
Every nerve within her shivered.
This was freedom. This was justice. And this was their moment to reclaim everything their sisters had tried to take.
Pillars toppled, walls buckled, and glass shattered from the shockwaves of their attacks. Every collision sent waves radiating outward, throwing Naerysa and Esmyra backward, locked in a battle of wills.
And then a flood of armored guards rushed in, spears raised, their war cries echoing from every direction.
Esmyra’s crew was on them in an instant, steel ringing against steel, their defiance as fierce as her own.
But the sight dragged her focus downward, watching Draevyn throw himself into the madness without a second thought as several guards ignited in blistering flames the moment they aimed their spears in her direction.
Her magic pulsed, faltering for just a breath as her eyes locked on him.
But that heartbeat was all her sister needed.
Power ripped across the space, and Naerysa hurled an arc of burning light straight into her.
It struck like a blade through the heart, searing through her ribs.
The impact tore her from the air, pain exploding through her body as she hit the stone floor with a cry, sparks of magic flickering wildly as her velsinyte-tipped spear flew across the chamber.
The world tilted, the sound of battle muffled under the roaring in her ears. The scent of scorched flesh clung to her skin, the grip on her power wavering.
Across the room, Naerysa advanced with a predator’s smile.
Fuck.
“Get up,” Kaelypso begged. “Esmi, you need to get up!”
Esmyra tried to push herself off the floor, but her body trembled, her magic stuttering across her skin. The air seemed to thicken around her, every breath a struggle, every beat of her heart ragged.
And then she noticed how Syrena’s hands were lifted, aimed at her with fingers curling like talons.
Esmyra felt it instantly. The loss was an invisible tether coiling tight around her core. Her power lurched inside her chest, dragged toward her twin in a sickening pull.
It wasn’t just her strength that was being taken; it was her, the very essence of who she was.
The essence of Kaelypso.
Even as her vision blurred she could see the glow clinging to Naserysa’s form as her power seeped into her.
She could faintly hear Draevyn’s desperate screams for her, begging her to get up, pleading with her to fight back and live.
Esmyra’s jaw locked against a scream, but the terror in her chest was undeniably real.
“I won’t let her win,” she whispered to Kaelypso as she forced her mind to anchor, shoving the panic back.
She pushed herself up, every muscle screaming in protest from the loss of power. Her knees nearly buckled, but fury braced her spine.
With a gut-wrenching scream, she threw her arms wide as power detonated out of her in a blinding surge.
There was nothing controlled or precise about it.
Esmyra had become a storm breaking loose.
It ripped through the chamber, colliding with stone, fire, and flesh alike.
The shockwave slammed into everyone—the guards, her crew, and her sister—hurling them in all directions with bone-shattering force.
For a heartbeat, the silence that followed was filled only with the crackle of fading sparks and the ragged pounding of her heart.
Esmyra’s vision was edged in white, but there was a savage satisfaction burning in her veins as she stood in the center of it all, glowing in the light of the crimson moon.