Chapter 33 Esme
ESME
We dodge dragon soldiers for what feels like hours before finding shelter in a narrow alley between two workshops.
The scent of leather from the belt-maker mingles with the metallic tang from the jeweler next door.
Both shops stand empty. It seems all of Draethys is still hunting for their missing prince.
Brynn slumps against the wall, panting. “That thing you did with the shadows. What the actual hell?”
“Shadow energy,” I correct her, pressing a hand to my thundering heart. Chad positions himself at the alley's edge, scanning for threats.
The stone walls around us bear climbing-friendly cracks, and a service path winds behind the buildings: escape routes if we need them. For now, darkness conceals us.
“Shadow energy,” Brynn echoes. “Fine. But how?”
Heat crawls up my neck. How to explain drinking dragon blood to my little sister? I take a steadying breath.
“Things at Heathborne got... complicated.”
“No sh—”
“I discovered what Dayn really is,” I cut her off, then spill everything: the blood exchange, the transformation, the wedding, his disappearance. With each revelation, Chad's expression grows more alarmed.
Brynn's too.
The story sounds impossible even to my own ears, yet here I stand, living proof.
Brynn squints at me in the dim light. “So drinking dragon blood gave you shadow powers? Just like that?”
“Simplified version, yes.” I rub my temples. “I'm figuring it out as I go. It's strongest when I'm...” I search for the right words, “...protecting something I care about.”
Chad shifts his weight, eyes never leaving the alley entrance. “Like when you shielded Brynn back there.”
A crimson flash illuminates his irises for half a second.
“Your eyes,” I breathe. “They just—”
“What?” Brynn glances between us.
I gesture toward Chad's face. “They turned red.”
Brynn shrugs one shoulder. “Right. Darkbirch's perfect soldier is half-demon. Surprise.”
My mouth falls open. “Half-demon?”
“Nobody at the academy knows,” Chad mutters, suddenly fascinated with his boot heel scraping against stone. “Been managing it since I was thirteen.”
“Until I was cornered and—” Brynn starts.
“Nearly died,” I finish, studying Chad with new eyes. “Your powers respond to emotion too.”
He gives a humorless laugh. “Universal constant, isn't it?”
Something protective flashes across his face when he glances at my sister. There's some history there I'm not privy to, questions for another time.
“How did you even find me?” I ask. “Where's everyone else?”
Brynn's lips quirk into that familiar crooked smile that always preceded trouble when we were kids. “That's... complicated. Think less 'rescue mission' and more 'magical catastrophe with bonus civil war.'”
My stomach drops as she outlines what's happened since my abduction: darkbloods versus clearbloods, factions splintering, and everyone hunting desperately for the dragon who took me.
Brynn's voice drops to a whisper. “The coven's been buzzing with gossip about you and the dragon prince, but nobody knows what's true.
Esther's spirit vanished after Heathborne.
Our ancestral connections are... fragmented.
I've managed to reach Helena, Angus, and Ezekiel occasionally, but they flicker like bad reception.”
My jaw slackens.
Chad catches my expression and his lips curl into a half-smile. “Your little bookworm sister started summoning Salem ancestors. Not Esme-level spirit skills, but impressive nonetheless.”
“You're summoning?” The words tumble out before I can stop them.
Brynn's fingers tighten around the hem of her sleeve. “Problem?”
I search my emotions and find only surprise. This is the same sister who used to hide in the library during practical sessions, who collected ancient tomes while I collected combat badges. The gap between us had widened with each elder's praise for me and corresponding sigh for her.
“Not at all,” I say softly. “I just wish I'd known.”
“Hard to share news when you're never around.” She shrugs one shoulder, her gaze fixed on a point beyond my head. “It's recent anyway. The connections aren't as strong as your Esther link—”
“That 'link' might be more curse than blessing,” I mutter, Esther's manipulations bubbling to the top of my mind. She’s ultimately how I got in this mess. I still can’t believe she pressured me into drinking Dayn’s blood with zero warning about its repercussions.
“But you summoning Salem ancestors now?” I continue. “That's... impressive. Ezekiel, Angus, and Helena were brilliant strategists.” My voice drops to a whisper. “And you always did memorize the family grimoires.”
Something shifts in Brynn's expression—the faintest crack in her usual armor. “Hmph.”
I gesture at our surroundings. “And this ‘rescue mission’? Complete madness. You could've been incinerated on the spot.”
“Mom's going to murder us anyway.” Brynn sighs. “Jax is still unconscious. Darkbirch's falling apart. And the clearbloods—”
“Total chaos,” I finish. “Everyone's hunting for Dayn, including his own people.”
Chad's jaw tightens. “And what exactly does that mean for us?”
“It means we're screwed. Dayn married me to prevent my execution, then vanished after our wedding when I caught his brother plotting something.” I exhale shakily, lungs burning.
Brynn stares at me. “The dragons here... they think you killed him.”
I let out a dry laugh. “Trust me, the thought crossed my mind. But I’ve… needed him alive.”
“We'll unpack your concerning relationship dynamics later,” she mutters. “But they seem genuinely clueless about whatever conspiracy you stumbled into.”
Chad leans closer, voice barely audible. “What did you catch them plotting?”
“A return to the surface world,” I say grimly. No way to sugarcoat this. “Based on what I overheard at the palace, I don't think the king knows about this plot. One of his sons is behind it, maybe more. Dayn was supposed to be investigating, trying to stop it. If he'd just trusted me earlier—”
“That fits with something I discovered,” Brynn interrupts, voice hushed.
We freeze as dragon guards march past our hiding spot. Their shadows dance across the wall, each footfall sending a tremor through my body. The city's heat presses in, building like pressure in my chest. Every instinct screams to run, to escape this underground prison.
Yet something holds me back from leaving Dayn. The realization unsettles me more than the dragons.
“Tell me,” I whisper when the patrol passes.
Brynn leans closer. “I’ve had this… thought, this muffled thought in my head for a while now. Ever since I came upon Helena’s notebooks in the archives. I don’t think it’s my thought, but rather… I guess an implant from her somehow. It sounds weird.”
“Not necessarily. Esther can do that sometimes, too. You can recognize a foreign thought if you pay attention.”
She sighs. “I think Helena’s been trying to tell me that there’s something about you and Dayn that’s important…
The thought goes something along the lines of Salems and dragons…
Salem and the dragon. The witch and the prince of dragons.
On and on. I thought it was just my mind snapping under the pressure of the upcoming trials. ”
“What trials?”
Chad tenses beside us. “Later. We need to move. More dragons approaching. I can smell them.”
“You can smell—”
Brynn's nostrils flare. “Demonic senses. He can smell them coming.”
“We need to move,” Chad hisses.
I hesitate, then shake my head, the weight of my decision settling in my chest. “No.”
Brynn freezes mid-step. “No?”
“I can't. I can’t leave without Dayn.”
The braziers above cast dancing shadows across their faces—confusion, disbelief, concern.
Chad's jaw tightens. “He's their crown prince, Esme. He probably dumped you here while he plots the invasion with whoever's behind this.”
I shake my head. “No. He’s guilty of a lot, trust me, but not that. He thinks there's room for all of us: dragons, darkbloods, clearbloods. He’s not behind this war.”
Brynn studies my face, something shifting in her expression. “You trust him.”
“I do… to an extent.” The admission costs me, but it's true. “At least about this. And if Helena's message is right, we might need him. We want allies before we reach topside, because when this conspiracy breaks open—”
“The dragons will follow,” Chad finishes.
I grit my teeth. Not the conclusion I’d hoped for, but the unavoidable truth.
Brynn steps closer. “Well, you know this place better than Chad and me. Lead the way and we’ll follow.”
I hesitate still, not wanting to drag her further into this. But I also know she’s too stubborn to go back without me.
And in that moment it hits me: the gap between my sister and me feels like it’s…
vanished. I don’t have all the details of how we got to this point, and neither does she.
But the universe bent and twisted so that our paths would cross again.
I throw my arms around her and hold her tight, as tight as I can.
“Oh,” she quips and softens in my embrace, then tightens her own hold.
We feel it in each other.
The differences. The similarities. The same blood runs through our veins. The same power. The same determination to survive and to… do the right thing.
“I’ve missed you,” I tell her.
“Yet another thing I never expected you to say,” she says, giving me a wry smile.
“Well, don’t get used to that, either.”
“Also, I’ll admit, I didn’t think you’d be the one angling for a peaceful resolution under these circumstances,” Brynn replies. “You’ve definitely changed in the time that you’ve been away.”
“I’ve always been pragmatic,” I say. “Truth is, I’ve seen what the dragons are capable of. They may or may not be able to take the world above back. Of that, I can’t be sure, but I am sure of something else.”
“They’ll do it bloody,” Chad finishes my thought for me. “It will take lives. Too many from every side. We have to avoid that.”
“Yes. So, there you have it. Two Salem witches and a… half-demon, apparently, on our way to rescue a dragon prince from a plot to basically destroy the world as we know it,” I say, matter-of-factly, as I look up the wall and identify the grooves I need to put my hands and boots into in order to climb to the top of the jeweler’s building.
“Sounds like the blurb of a fantasy novel,” Brynn mutters, twisting a strand of hair around her finger like she always does when she's nervous. “Except those always end with the hero getting the guy and saving the world. I've read enough of those paperbacks to know we're probably screwed.”