Serenna curled her nails into her palms, pulse pounding in her temples. “Vesryn is different,” she said slowly, measuring each word. She fought to steady her voice, to temper the sharp edge of her fury at how he’d been treated. “He might look like his ancestors, but he’s not them.”
And besides, they were all shaped by the Aelfyn’s legacy—Kaedryn had admitted as much.
“Vesryn is here because he wants a world without their tyrannical rule,” Serenna insisted, unfurling her fingers as she shoved her anger aside.
The druids would have to decide if they truly meant to follow them like Kaedryn had claimed. Stand with her—andher companions—against the king, or vanish into legend for good.
Because the elves were coming. And this time, they would shatter the world. No remnant would remain hidden.
“We know the elves have already begun crossing the sea,” Serenna admitted. “And if they’ve reached your shores…”
Kaedryn’s brows pulled together, her pupils narrowing into slits. “Then the New Dawn is already veiled with darkness.” She exhaled heavily, shaking her head. “Asharyn is far from the western shores—hundreds of leagues inland. And yet…” Looking to the sky, her gaze grew distant. “If the Aelfyn have set foot upon these lands once more, then it may already be too late for us. Our numbers are few and our power is no more than a memory.”
“Perhaps there’s a way we can help each other,” Serenna ventured.
Lifting a hand, she hauled an orb of water from a pool, hovering it between them. With a slight twist of her wrist, she split it into a scattering of raindrops. Each bead glistened in her subtle display of control, reminding Kaedryn of these reborn powers—of what the druids had been waiting for.
Serenna studied her through the veil of floating beads, noting the way awe flared in her eyes. But wariness lingered just beneath it.
“Your ancestors…” Serenna began, unsure if her question would pry open wounds of the past or bring her closer to the truth. “Did the Aelfyn steal their magic, turn them into wraith—shadow walkers?”
Kaedryn shook her head. “No, my ancestors surrendered their starlight to aid a faction of Aelfyn who foughtagainstthose breaking the balance of the world.”
“But…how is it that they became druids?” Serenna pressed, casting the globe of the water back to the pool.
The garden’s stillness stretched like a thread, pulling tighter between them, broken only by the bubbling fountains.
“Not all of the Aelfyn were gluttons for power,” Kaedryn eventually answered, running one of the ribbons of her robe between her talons. “Some were found worthy to be scalebound.”
“Scalebound…” Serenna tested the word, letting its meaning unfurl. “That’s what you call druids?”
A mournful smile curved Kaedryn’s lips. “The scalebinding was a covenant. Something sacred, granted to those deemed deserving—human and Aelfyn alike. It marked them as favored by the dragons…what you now call druids.”
Serenna’s breath caught as the pieces of information aligned. “The dragonscreatedthe druids?”
Nodding, Kaedryn met her gaze. “The remnant is descended from those blessed by the line of Cinderax.”
Serenna’s pulse thundered in her ears, rattling against her bones. “Cinderax?”
She barely breathed as Kaedryn shifted, wings unfolding, scales erupting from every pore. Sunlight filtering through the leaves lit the leathery membrane of Kaedryn’s wings.
She straightened, pride ringing in every word. “Cinderax is the chained dragon this city guards.”
CHAPTER 50
LYKOR
Lykor lurched awake, heart thundering in his chest, his breath harsh in the quiet room. The darkness folded in too close, the confinement too tight.
No.
There was moonlight.
Silver streamed in through the open blinds, striping his twisted sheets with light. No shackles. No stone. Instead, a downy mattress sank beneath his weight.
Not the prisons.
Leaning back into the pillow, he exhaled slowly, forcing the constriction from his chest.
