Before Fenn could respond, a shadow unfolded in front of them. Serenna tensed as a female appeared, twin golden braids swaying, her skin shimmering like the first blue light of dusk. She only knew of one elven wraith female—Mara.
But this wasn’t Mara.
Gaze pinned on Fenn, a fanged grin spread across the female’s lips. Her crimson eyes blazed with amusement and malice before she crooned, “Hello, brother.”
CHAPTER 18
JASSYN
Fleeing the suffocating tension of the war room, Jassyn pursued Vesryn through the portal. The meeting had gone more smoothly than he’d expected, but remaining in Lykor’s presence felt as reckless as braving a storm of knives, each glare poised to cut him down.
The rift spat Jassyn into chaos.
The ground bucked beneath his boots, nearly pitching him back into the portal before it vanished. A hurricane of Essence whipped through the air and drowned all thought. Jassyn slammed a shield around himself, uncertain if the prince was venting his frustration in another magical tantrum or—
The answer roared through the dracovae stables, where the barn had become the heart of a battlefield.
Screams and weapons clashing hammered Jassyn’s senses, the onslaught already raging. Freed from their stalls, dracovae screeched, talons shredding through soldiers. Scaled tails cracked like whips, scattering bodies as the beasts fought alongside the rangers.
Twenty paces ahead, Vesryn was a tempest. His glaives carved in arcs of steel and shadow, obliterating any who approached.
Recognition struck like a blow. Jassyn froze, horror immobilizing him. The attackers wore gleaming white plate—Kyansari’s warriors, dispatched to crush the prince’s rangers. And judging by their glazed expressions, they were all compelled.
Vesryn’s voice rose above the cacophony as he bellowed orders to Flight Captain Zaeryn and the officers to retreat. With a sweeping thrust of his glaive, the prince ripped open a new portal beside him, its dark expanse wide enough to swallow a dracovae.
Rangers and former Centarya initiates—now wraith—formed a fragile bulwark around the rift, holding back the overwhelming tide of Kyansari’s soldiers. But their efforts to usher the beasts through only drew more attention, the prince now the eye of the storm as the soldiers targeted the portal.
Shadows erupted from the tips of Vesryn’s weapons. The darkness writhed and coiled, ensnaring an encroaching warrior.
They’re compelled, Jassyn frantically sent through the bond.
A violent slash of rending streaked down the corridor, shredding the prince’s magic. Freed from Vesryn’s shadows, the soldier staggered forward with a wordless cry, her sword glinting as she wildly charged.
Vesryn’s face twisted with wrath as he spun, his glaive severing her head in a single, sweeping stroke.
Jassyn’s stomach lurched as a spray of blood arced through the air, the soldier’s lifeless body collapsing in a twitching heap on the dusty ground.
A little help then?Vesryn snarled, throwing himself out of the path of a rampaging dracovae.Showing mercy is a death sentence for us.
Jassyn’s eyes darted around the fray. He didn’t have time to unravel the coercion gripping scores of warriors. But there hadto be a way to avoid killing them, to override the commands driving their actions and—
A concussive blast bludgeoned Jassyn’s shield. He staggered, thoughts rattled loose as the burst of Essence shuddered the air. Searching for the source, he tracked the concentrated surge of power to the opposite end of the barn.
Before he even registered the motion, a gold-plated knife was in his trembling fist.
Elashor.
Of course the general was here.
A dark regret burned through him. He shouldn’t have stopped Vesryn from ending Elashor’s life when they’d fled Centarya.
The general exuded an unnerving calm, even as Zaeryn led a squad of rangers straight to him, likely to divert attention from Vesryn and the retreating forces. Striking out ruthlessly, Elashor’s longsword flashed with lethal precision as Essence raged around him. Multiple rifts loomed nearby, spilling an unceasing tide of reinforcements into the barn.
Jassyn’s thoughts raced. Could Elashor truly control so many minds at once, or were the soldiers individually operating under a command to kill? Either way, taking the general down—disrupting his influence and closing his portals—would be the only way to end this senseless slaughter.
Time ground to a halt. Dread cinched its noose around Jassyn’s throat as Elashor moved with terrifying speed, punching out a blast of force. Zaeryn stumbled as his sword swung toward her middle. Too fast to stop.
The blade struck with devastating impact, cleaving through armor and flesh. Blood sprayed as Zaeryn crumpled.
