“Do you sense Serenna?” Jassyn whispered. Nothing else would rattle him like this.
Vesryn sliced a hand through the air, demanding silence. His eyes flew wide, darting back and forth too fast for Jassyn to follow. Suddenly, the prince sprang to his feet and tore open a portal, the dark void rippling in the air.
“Wait!” Fighting to move, Jassyn’s legs twitched feebly. “If Lykor is there and sees you—”
But the prince was already dashing through the gateway. Mind reeling, Jassyn swore and gritted his teeth, trying to push himself up. His muscles trembled, frustration mounting as his body betrayed him.
In an unusual moment of foresight, Vesryn had left the portal open. Jassyn’s stomach tightened with the urge to fling himself through—just as recklessly as the prince—if only he could move. But doubt crept in with every breath.
Lykor would be there. And Jassyn, still struggling to stand, was anything but prepared for another encounter.
There wasn’t time to second-guess. If Vesryn faced Lykor, the coercion would trigger and he needed to be there to stop it.
Resolve steeled his bones, anchoring him against the rising dread. He had to act. Now.
When he attempted to move again, Jassyn’s hands flopped from his lap to the ground. Useless.
But beneath the soil, he sensed the pulse of life humming through the leaves and roots. Raking his fingers through the grass, Jassyn abandoned caution, swallowing his worry.
He’d only used the earth this way once before—during a training session with the prince, when he’d transferred plant life to heal Vesryn’s wounds. He’d barely known what he was doing then, but his own injuries had vanished too, revealing that self-healing with the earth was possible.
Focusing on the power racing under his palms, Jassyn closed his eyes and reached. The forest stirred around him, its ancient thrumming matching his heartbeat.
He tensed as the ground beneath his fingers withered, plants curling to ash in silent sacrifice. Holding his breath, Jassyn surrendered to the tempest of magic and let it sweep him away.
CHAPTER 2
SERENNA
Lykor’s shadows engulfed Serenna’s vision, drowning the fortress streets in darkness. Her heart pummeled against her ribs, panic crushing the fleeting reassurance of Vesryn’s arrival.
She’d hardly had time to process his presence before instinct took over. She whipped Essence into a spiraling vortex, forging it into a shield of violet light. Vesryn’s ward slammed into place over hers, sealing them in as they knelt beside Fenn.
Lykor’s rending crashed into the barrier with the force of a hurricane, the impact rattling through Serenna’s bones. Beside her, the prince bared his teeth. Essence fountained from his outstretched hands, absorbing Lykor’s onslaught.
Illuminated by the ward’s amethyst light, Vesryn’s eyes met hers. Through the bond—one of three coiled in her mind—the prince’s emotions swept over her. Relief tangled with confusion, grief threaded with fury, but something tender and unguarded wove into the fabric of her heart.
But another bond flickered.
Serenna’s breath caught, terror reigniting. Her eyes fell to Fenn’s limp form, riddled with enough crossbow bolts to be kindling for a pyre. Blood slicked her fingers as she clung to him,pouring every ounce of her will into keeping him anchored to life. To conserve her rapidly dwindling power, she released her shield, letting it dissolve under the shelter of Vesryn’s barrier.
A flare of red light ignited around the prince. His arm hovered, wisps of mending winding around his palm. For a heartbeat, Serenna’s hope swelled—he was going to help heal Fenn. But he veered toward her shoulder, stitching up a wound she’d already forgotten about.
Vesryn’s jaw tightened as his fingers skimmed over her neck, crimson light sealing fang marks. He stared at her hands, clenched tightly around Fenn. A muscle twitched in his cheek as a cold decision settled.
The hollow ache in Serenna’s chest constricted as he withdrew. She wanted to protest, to demand that he try, but he wouldn’t waste Essence on a life he’d already deemed lost. Especially not while Lykor’s shadows swarmed around them, strangling his shield.
“Lykor’s mind—there’s coercion,” Serenna forced out. She tunneled through the third bond but only met emptiness, Lykor and Aesar both lost to a void. “You have to leave before the compulsion drives him to kill you. He’s…he’s your—”
“I know exactly who he is,” Vesryn grated out, each word honed with fury. His jade eyes locked onto hers, fierce with determination yet shadowed by anguish. “And I’ll save Aesar fromLykor.”
Another wave of rending slammed into his ward, the blow detonating in a burst of violet light. Essence blazed around the prince, his magic a beacon defying the shadows.
Serenna reached for his arm, her fingers trembling against the tension knotted beneath his skin. “You can’t,” she whispered, her voice nearly breaking as Lykor’s power surged again. “But if you leave, the coercion should dissipate.” Her plea soundedbrittle and desperate, but that was all she had to convince the prince.
Vesryn’s hand curled into a fist before he pulled free from her frail grip. “I’m not leaving my brother.” Flicking his wrist, he wrapped a shield around himself. His features darkened, mouth set in a hard line as he tipped his chin toward the portal he’d left open. “You should go.”
Serenna’s fingers curled around Fenn’s claw—a silent vow not to leave him. Their bond wavered like a dying ember, her soul refusing to release his, despite the prince imploring her to.
