It collided with Serenna’s panicked, “Yes!” She’d agree to anything to buy more time for the prince.
Serenna’s head snapped toward Lykor just as he turned to sneer at her.We’re already dead,his eyes seemed to say, smoldering with challenge.Why pretend otherwise?
For a heartbeat, Serenna’s frustration eclipsed her fear. If she weren’t bound, she’d throttle Lykor with their chains herself.He’s ready to die defiantly,she thought bitterly.But I’m not ready to die at all.
To him, surrender wasn’t survival. And if this arena was going to be their end, he’d go down snarling.
But Serenna clung to a frayed hope. There had to be a way out.
The druid traced a slow line along her lip while Serenna’s mind spun, grasping for anything—some way to placate this female, some way to appease whatever the flayers were to stave off their judgment. Her mouth parted yet no words came, her thoughts baking under the sun.
But the druid’s interest had shifted already. She turned to Jassyn’s slumped form, her gaze thoughtful as she flowed toward him.
Lykor’s snarl ripped through the air. “Don’t you fucking touch him!”
The female froze mid-step, eyes sliding back in his direction.
Lykor flashed his fangs, a predator initiating a challenge—but Serenna saw the calculation beneath the display.
He was stalling. Attempting to keep the female talking.
“What happens after wesurrenderour magic?” Lykor growled, his voice dripping with venom rather than acceptance. “You let the sun bleach our bones?”
A cruel smile coiled at the corners of the druid’s lips, a promise of pain flickering in her reptilian eyes. “Ifthe flayers find the starlight in your blood blameless,” she purred, “we will allow you to persist among the wingless.”
She let the words linger, waiting for them to sink deep before her gaze snapped back to Vesryn—cruelty flaring like an ember reigniting.
“But not this one—descended from our traitorous ancestors,” she hissed, her claw extending toward the prince. “When theflayers have had their fill, we will return what dust remains of his bones to the stars.”
Serenna’s heart seized, her scream a broken rasp in her throat. “No!”
Scales erupted from the druid’s skin, her wings reappearing, lashing outward from her back.
The crowd roared in response, a tidal wave of sound that shuddered the sand beneath Serenna’s feet. A gust of wind swept through the pit as hundreds of wings rustled in unison.
Then, the stomping began. Synchronized footfalls, each thud a hammer sealing their doom.
Without a word, the druid and her silent guardians launched into the sky. Wings slicing through the air, they ascended to a platform that jutted out over the pit—a vantage from which they could watch the suffering unfold.
Across the arena from the pillars, a low, grinding rumble grated against Serenna’s ears—the unmistakable scrape of stone against stone. A massive slab of rock slowly lifted from the ground, dust billowing around it in curling plumes. A cavernous mouth of darkness gaped open to spew forth whatever nightmare lurked beyond.
Serenna’s breath quickened, pulse pounding as shadows crept into the light. No more than knee-high, a cluster of creatures lumbered into the arena. Spikes jutted from their domed shells, gleaming like sunlit dunes.
Her stomach lurched as she got a clearer look. Rows upon rows of needle-like teeth gnashed together inside their snub-nosed maws. Three sets of tapered legs jerked beneath their armored carapaces—skittering, pausing, and lunging forward in eerie synchronization.
Serenna’s skin prickled with the realization as they scurried forward. They knew their purpose. To strip flesh from bone with devouring bites.
To flay.
CHAPTER 46
SERENNA
“What do we do?” Serenna croaked as the flayers crept forward, their legs scraping across the sand.
“It doesn’t matter,” Lykor growled, his gaze searing into the female druid above them. “We’re already dead.”
Serenna’s voice cracked. “You don’t know that!”
