A claw wrapped gently around her arm, breaking through her trance. “You got him, she-elf,” Fenn murmured. He tugged her back to her feet, away from the twitching, mangled remains she’d been repeatedly hacking.
Disoriented, Serenna blinked. Not a single reaver remained standing. She hadn’t noticed that she’d dropped her shield or collapsed to her knees. Her breaths came in ragged gasps, the nauseating taste of blood coating her tongue, the stench of entrails clinging to the tunnel.
Gagging, her vision blurred as tears carved tracks through the gore streaking her cheeks. Serenna’s grip on the blades loosened, every limb shaking. It took her three tries to slidethe weapons back into their sheaths. She didn’t bother cleaning them—there was no point. This wouldn’t be the last time she’d need them.
Serenna reached for Fenn’s claw and ruthlessly steered her mind back to their mission. But they would have to wade through the corpses to reach the end of the tunnel. If these had been humans instead of compelled wraith…
No. She banished the thought, her sanity already dangling by a frayed thread. She wouldn’t let herself falter. Not now.
Delving into the depths of their shared Well, Serenna sparked Fenn’s side, drawing on his force talent. Raising a trembling palm, she unleashed a blue wave that hurtled bodies through the air, their mangled limbs flopping lifelessly as they smacked against the walls. The sickening thuds made her instantly regret the waste of Essence, bile burning her throat.
Fenn squeezed her hand, their sticky palms melding in a grim embrace as he gently encouraged her forward. The offered reassurance steadied her unraveling nerves, but it wasn’t enough to stifle the crawling sensation creeping under her skin, the blood of the slain clinging to her.
After a few moments, the mouth of the tunnel widened, revealing the frigid landscape beyond the fortress.
Suddenly, Serenna wrenched free from Fenn’s grip, the motion more than frantic. Bolting to the open air, she collapsed into the snow.
The icy crystals bit into her palms, but she welcomed the sting, embraced the cold. Grabbing handfuls, she smeared it over her arms and face. She scrubbed furiously, grinding the frozen shards against her flesh as if it were that simple to erase the horrors of the fight.
Serenna barely registered Fenn kneeling beside her, his claw a comforting weight on her shoulder. Her focus narrowed on suppressing the nausea roiling in her gut.
She’d taken lives before—always in desperate acts of survival or to protect others. But this felt different. Forced to fight husks under the king’s control, killing had become an unthinking rhythm. For the first time, the war felt undeniably real, its peril pressing down on her chest.
“I’m okay,” Serenna whispered, though the words rang hollow, meant as much for herself as for Fenn. “We—” Her voice cracked, and she swallowed hard, eyes squeezing shut. “We need to keep moving.”
Fenn squeezed her shoulder, whatever words he was saying muffled by her pulse roaring in her ears. He drifted away as she tried to steady herself, dragging in shaky breaths, the air clouding around her.
Her resolve felt as fragile as the flakes spiraling down from the sky. With trembling fingers, Serenna raked trenches through the snow, mustering her strength. She’d refused to stay behind—demanded to accompany Fenn. She wouldn’t slow him down any more than she already had.
A thunderous crash ripped Serenna free from the tangled maze of her thoughts. She twisted around, spotting Fenn at the tunnel’s entrance, deftly manipulating an array of levers embedded in the stone.
Each mechanism groaned as he pulled or flipped it, the ceiling shuddering above. A torrent of boulders plummeted down, shaking the earth and spraying shards of stone.
Serenna staggered to her feet as the storm of debris settled. Dust hung in the frigid air, the tunnel nearly entombed. “The rocks will only delay the Essence-wielders,” she said, her voice sounding distant. “The magus can clear the way with force.”
Fenn glanced over his shoulder, offering the faintest smirk. “Lykor planned for that.” He pulled a final lever. With a heavy clang, gold-plated chains crashed from the ceiling, the gleaming web trapping the rubble below. A cascade of rock followed,burying the net and sealing the entrance completely. “We’ll see how they fare when their magics disintegrate against that.”
With the tunnel collapsed behind them, Serenna swept her gaze over the endless expanse ahead. The distant army loomed along the far side of the volcano. Night had fallen, the gathered clouds blotting out the stars and spilling snow.
Fenn’s claw slipped into her hand, his cloaking shadows coiling around them like a misty shroud. Darkness encompassed them, rendering them invisible to all but wraith.
With two quick bursts, Fenn warped them around the base of the keep, closing the distance to the next entrance.
Serenna’s stomach plummeted. It was overrun, the defenders nowhere in sight.
Concealed a safe distance away, they watched as humans flooded into the tunnel, a river of bodies streaming into the keep. One figure, clad in red leathers and a hooded cloak, oversaw the operation. They stood out like a single drop of blood on untouched snow, stark against the magus hovering at the end of the line.
Fenn pulled Serenna closer, his arm wrapping securely around her shoulders as they began discussing their next move. His warmth seeped into her, a brief solace against the ice frosting deep in her bones.
“You should warp me behind the magus,” Serenna said. “Since you can stay invisible, I…” she leaned into him, absorbing his heat while her mind raced, calculating her odds of standing against twenty trained Essence-wielders. “I can keep them distracted while you pull the levers from the shadows.”
Expression grim, Fenn frowned at the advancing army, spinning a ring in his brow. “I’m not keen on making you a target. Could you stir the snows? Submerge the entrance from here?”
Serenna shook her head. “We need that golden net deployed.” She swallowed hard, forcing herself not to dwell on the blameless humans who’d be crushed under the rocks. They had no choice. “Without it, they’ll clear the way in minutes.”
Fenn’s eyes unfocused, his attention shifting inward. He blinked rapidly before exhaling roughly. “It’s not going to matter,” he said with a sigh. “My father just sent word—one of the southern tunnels is also lost.” His shoulders sagged under the weight of the news, defeat dragging him down. “Humans will pour into the fortress no matter what we do here.”
“How much time do we have?” Serenna asked, heart leaping into her throat. The prince still hadn’t returned, and tugging on the bond felt useless. “Do we need to regroup back inside?”
