Koln’s lips pressed into a tight line. “Yes, Lieutenant,” he drawled. “Nothing excites me quite like obeying your every command—especially since we’re the same rank.” But his irritation faded as the prism caught his attention. Turning it over in his claws, he studied the crystal, approval flashing in his eyes. “So, you managed to unearth the one in our keep.” With a satisfied nod, he tucked the relic away.
Then, without warning, Koln seized Fenn’s face, slamming a fierce kiss to his mouth—quite thorough and unrestrained, uncaring that they had an audience. Serenna’s cheeks burned, her jaw dropping open as they continued.So that’s where Fenn learned—
A cough from Jassyn snapped her attention away. Koln rose and slapped Fenn’s shoulder. “Glad you’re not dead.” He shot Jassyn a wink before scanning the courtyard, strolling off when he located Kal.
Serenna couldn’t help but grin as she watched Koln swaggering away, his long arms swinging easily at his sides. “I can see why you like him,” she said, catching the glower Fenn aimed at Koln’s back, and noting the dark flush creeping up the tips of his ears.
Jassyn cleared his throat, his voice hardly audible. “What’s the Lagoon?”
Fenn’s eyes lit up but Serenna quickly interjected. “Don’t agree to go. Trust me.”
CHAPTER 6
SERENNA
Serenna followed Fenn up the narrow stairway to the Aerie’s bedchamber level. Glancing back over her shoulder, she caught sight of Jassyn lingering in the living area below. In the torchlight, shadows flickered across him as he stood at the wide windows, his gaze fixed on the snowy mountainside where the final remnants of night yielded to the first pale strokes of dawn.
It had taken an hour for the venom’s grip to loosen enough for Jassyn to stand—he’d adamantly refused Fenn’s offer to carry him. In the meantime, he’d recounted everything that had happened during the weeks he and Serenna had been apart.
She was stunned to learn that Jassyn and the prince—now wanted by the capital—had openly defied Elashor and the king. Each revelation struck like a hammer, shattering the fragile illusion of the life she’d expected to return to on Centarya. The uncertain future loomed, impenetrable as the twilight pressing against the windows.
But it wasn’t only her own fate that weighed heavily on her. Helpless humans and others like her—those bred for their magic and wielded as weapons—remained shackled under Elashor andthe king’s unyielding rule. Their web of power snared countless lives, including those of her mother and brother.
Yet beneath her grief and fear, a strange relief stirred. Vesryn was here, reunited with those he’d thought lost.
Serenna probed the shining nexus between them, but a fortified silence met her—a barricade fully locking away his emotions.
She had no right to intrude, yet Vesryn’s retreat stung.He just needs time to process everything,she told herself, forcing the unease away.
Jassyn’s voice drifted up the stairs, the words carrying a hesitant question. “Are you certain this is the best place for me?”
Serenna halted, glancing down. A soft globe of light hovered around Jassyn’s shoulders, illuminating the scar’s pale seam on his cheek.
“Wouldn’t it be better if I stayed with Vesryn and Mara?” he pressed, fingers twisting around a curl.
Serenna shared a look with Fenn. “Maybe he has a point,” she said.
After Lykor’s violent eruption and sudden disappearance, she couldn’t predict what he might do if he were in Jassyn’s presence again. “What if Lykor—”
Fenn lifted a claw. “I know you’re both worried,” he began, gaze steady as he took in their concern. “But when Lykor disappears like this, Aesar brings them back once the storm has settled—that’s how they’ve always handled it.” He paused, chewing absently at his lip ring. “Lykor wouldn’t abandon us. Not now.”
Serenna nodded as Fenn’s reassurance unraveled some of her tension. The prince’s decision to remain with his mother for the night made more sense now. Mara’s dwelling was near Kal’s—which Aesar preferred over Lykor’s chambers. Clearly, everyone expected Aesar to drag Lykor back.
Fenn beckoned Jassyn upward, a smirk tugging at his lips. “We can share a bed if you’d sleep better with someone at your back.”
Jassyn’s mouth parted, his words caught between confusion and protest.
“You’re staying here with us?” Serenna asked, her lips twitching because she knew Fenn meant every word. As they reached the top of the landing, the circular loft curved around them. Its ring of doors led to various bedchambers—including the one she’d stayed in these past few weeks, a few down from Lykor’s.
Fenn’s expression softened as he took her hand. “Even if you might not need a guard anymore with the reavers gone and your magics restored,” he said, his thumb brushing lightly over hers, “I’m not ready to leave you yet, she-elf.”
A warmth unfurled behind Serenna’s ribs. Had the night not drained her, the feeling might’ve spilled into tears. “I’m not ready for you to leave either,” she whispered, shoving away the haunting memory of his body riddled with crossbow bolts.
Fenn glanced down at the dried blood smeared across his chest, his tattered tunic long since discarded. “And besides,” he continued, eyes flaring with a roguish glint that promised trouble, “Lykor’s showers are far more comfortable than the ones in my clan’s dwelling. Two of us couldn’t fit in those cramped—”
Jassyn cleared his throat in pointed interruption. Fenn only grinned, turning as Jassyn reached the top of the stairs. In one fluid motion, he slung an arm around Jassyn’s shoulders, drawing him close.
“You know,” Fenn said, his voice an inviting purr, “I’m sure we could make room for three if you’d care to join.”
