Without hesitation, Jassyn rushed over, dropping beside Fenn and Kal just as the portal sealed shut. Mending light flickered from his fingertips but then vanished. Jassyn sucked in a breath, his spine snapping straight before his head whipped toward Vesryn.
The barrier the prince had left around them shattered. A shimmering wave of Essence burst from Jassyn’s chest, flowing toward his cousin across the keep.
Vesryn’s face was a mask of strain, hands outstretched as he launched another wave of shadows. Unblinking, Lykor advanced, driving the prince back down the street step by step.
“He’s…draining my Well,” Jassyn gritted out, sweat beading on his forehead. His fingers shook over Fenn, glowing with thatstrange green light. “I’ll do what I can but…” He shoved curls from his eyes and wrestled with thin wisps of mending, weaving a sputtering stream into Fenn’s wounds.
“Hurry,” Kal urged her.
Wiping her cheeks, Serenna’s breaths shuddered through the desolation gripping her heart. Dread doused the relief of Jassyn’s arrival as Essence continued to flow from him to the prince. But if she could help Vesryn, take the fight off his shoulders… It might leave Jassyn with enough magic to save Fenn.
Digging her nails into her palms, Serena ruthlessly focused on the task ahead. One unsteady step after another, she ventured forward, plunging into the fray.
Vesryn dashed through a portal, narrowly dodging a cleaving whip of rending. He emerged a level higher on the streets above and launched a whirlwind of shadows down at Lykor.
Lykor’s gauntlet snapped into a fist. A riptide of force blasted the street beneath Vesryn’s feet, the cobblestones exploding upward in a hail of stone.
The prince slipped, boots skidding across the fractured ground. He vanished, tumbling into another portal just as the wall behind him collapsed.
Vesryn reappeared, smudges of dirt streaking his face. He stumbled further down the street, his shoulders heaving with labored breaths.
Lykor prowled forward, pursuing the prince into a courtyard, shadows lashing from him like living chains. Window boxes outside of dwellings spilled over with herbs and luminous mushrooms. Fountains gurgled, drowned out by the crackling roar of Essence.
Serenna’s steps slowed as she approached, her skin tingling beneath the oppressive weight of their magic. Casting her perception down the bond with Lykor, she sensed a dark energy—a wall of coercion. She tunneled deeper into the link, reaching toward the shared space within their Well, uncertain whether the king had woven any safeguards against intervention.
Across the plaza, Vesryn locked onto her, eyes wild and sharp. “Get out of here!”
Whips of rending lashed out, snapping through the air as Vesryn attempted to restrain Lykor. But with a flick of his wrist, Lykor shattered the prince’s magic, swatting it aside effortlessly.
“I can help,” Serenna insisted.
Vesryn circled Lykor, keeping her out of range. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“So are you!” Serenna bristled, in disbelief that they were trading arguments while the fortress collapsed around them. The prince’s warning was a distraction she couldn’t afford—and one she could prove wrong.
Her mind spun. Using the bond was uncharted territory, something she’d never attempted before. But she’d have to figure it out. Lykor had exploited their link before, pilfering from her Well.
Gritting her teeth, she plunged into their connection, hurtling toward his side of their shared magic. She seized his reserves, wrenching on every shred she could.
Essence poured from Lykor in a rush. The glittering deluge of raw power slammed into Serenna’s chest, forcing a gasp from her lungs.
The jolt was enough of a threat to snap Lykor’s attention away from the prince. He whirled to face her. Shadows coiled around his fist before he punched them forward.
Darkness streamed from Serenna’s fingertips, her rending streaking through the air to collide with his in a violent clash. The impact shattered into jagged arcs, obliterating a nearby planter and sending soil and stone flying in every direction.
Serenna’s pulse spiked as Lykor’s wrath fixed on her, the full strength of his power crashing down. Panic clawed at her as she desperately wrenched on their bond. Lykor staggered, magic surging violently between them while they both grappled for control.
Muscles burning, every breath a battle, Serenna twisted away from a dark coil of shadows whipping toward her. The prince darted into place beside her, disintegrating the strike before it could land.
“Anytime you want to fill me in on the plan, that would be great,” she bit out.
“I need Jassyn here!” Vesryn snapped, his exhaustion fraying his temper. He launched wave after wave of force and rending at Lykor, his magic shattering uselessly against Lykor’s shadows.
Lykor flung out his claw, smashing nearby pots of mushrooms and flowers. Petals and pottery blasted apart, pelting them in a spray of ceramic and dirt. Forgoing a shield, the prince veered aside, but his movements were slower than before.
“If Jassyn is your plan, why did you charge in without him?” Serenna stumbled over the strewn debris. Vesryn’s arm shot out, catching her by the waist.
“Fine. There is no plan!” He swept a cloud of shadows aside with a sharp flick of his wrist.
