“I know you’re disappointed, but this isn’t a waste,” Jassyn said with a soft insistence. “We still have the druids at our side. If we walk away now, we lose their alliance and their warriors. But if we can actually free Cinderax, we gain an advantage—no matter how small.” Jassyn took another step closer, nearly breaching his space. “You’re the one who brought us this far. Don’t turn away now. We need you.”
Lykor’s heartbeat stumbled. Unprepared. Unguarded against this strange gravity pulling them closer.
Jassyn’s eyes lifted through his lashes, catching Lykor’s gaze with a quiet, unwavering intensity. A flush bloomed across his cheeks, and when he spoke, it was barely more than a breath. “Ineed you.”
CHAPTER 53
SERENNA
Serenna exchanged a wary glance with Vesryn and Fenn as Jassyn vanished after Lykor. She understood Lykor’s dismay—the same cold dread clamped tight in her chest. But she refused to let this fragile alliance fracture now. Not when the dragon—everything they sought—lay within reach.
Lykor’s fury was his own, and she wouldn’t let it steer them off course.
Inhaling slowly, Serenna steadied the tremor in her hands and turned to Kaedryn and the guild masters. “Lykor’s…outburst doesn’t change anything,” she said, her voice firm despite the uncertainty wedged between her thoughts. “We still intend to free Cinderax.”
Kaedryn’s wings rustled as she dismissed Lykor’s retreat. She cradled the Heart of Stars reverently, as though it might shatter at any moment.
“Our histories speak of the Hearts harnessing the Aelfyn’s starlight—allowing them to bind the dragons,” she murmured. Balancing the artifact in one claw, she lifted her Starshard in the other, the gem catching the light in its setting. “But the relics must also possess the means to shatter those chains.”
A ribbon of raw Essence streamed from the Starshard, a brilliant burst that wound around the Heart. Serenna flinched, but the familiar, horrific screech never came. She blinked as the magic surged and vanished into the artifact’s core.
Vesryn stepped closer, tilting his head. “Is the HeartabsorbingEssence?”
Lips pressed into a thin line, Kaedryn nodded, her focus never wavering from the relic.
Serenna held her breath as the Heart devoured every drop of power. White light swirled within its crystalline depths, refracting across the chamber’s walls in prismatic arcs.
But as the moments ticked by, nothing happened. No shudder of awakening from the entombed dragon, no answering pulse of magic from his prison.
Kaedryn’s shoulders sagged. A frustrated sigh escaped as she shook her head, the light from the Starshard fading. “What I have isn’t strong enough to activate the Heart.”
Vesryn reached out, his fingers hovering just above the relic’s surface. Kaedryn scowled, talons tightening around the crystal as she moved it away. The prince arched a brow before glancing over at Serenna and Fenn.
“What if we all channel Essence into it?” Serenna suggested, stepping closer.
“Starlight,” Kaedryn corrected gently. “The legends speak of the Aelfyn’s devastating starlight—you must wield that same power.”
“Fine,starlight,” Vesryn drawled, snatching the Heart out of her grip. Kaedryn drew herself up, bristling. “If starlight is what the Heart craves,” he continued, “then let’s not starve it any longer.”
Mulling over Kaedryn’s insistence, Serenna pressed her teeth into her lip. “I think she means we need to channel illumination—like when we restore each other’s Wells. But if that’s notstrong enough…” She swallowed, her palms suddenly clammy—she knew what they’d have to try.
The eight colors of the glowing Heart bathed Vesryn’s face in a halo of shifting light, highlighting the eagerness in his eyes. “Only one way to find out.”
Essence surged around him, a corona of power spilling from his palms into the relic. He beckoned her and Fenn closer while Kaedryn hovered nearby, knotting her fingers in front of her.
Fenn brushed Serenna’s hand. “You can use my magics.”
With a nod, she pressed her palm against the prism and dipped into the shared depths of their Well. White light blazed from her fingertips as she channeled Essence into pure illumination.
Serenna gasped when the Heart seized her magic, a ravenous current that demanded more.
“Think you can keep up?” Vesryn asked, braiding his magic with hers.
Serenna peered up at him, matching his smirk with a flare of power. She threw open the floodgates, pouring Essence into the Heart until the entire chamber shimmered with luminous energy. The relic drank in every wave of light, its hunger boundless.
Serenna’s breaths quickened, her arm trembling as she funneled more power into the Heart, but she didn’t falter. Their magic pounded a relentless rhythm against her chest as she pushed herself to the threshold of her strength—determined to reach it on her own before the prince could drive her there.
But because he couldn’t help himself, Vesryn’s lips quirked as he unleashed another surge of Essence. Serenna gritted her teeth and strained for more, refusing to yield, her magic entwining with his in a battle of wills.
