Kyansari’s soldiers prowled the beach, their plated armor glaring in harsh beacons of illumination. Beyond them, lines of humans scurried like ants, toiling as if driven by unseen whips. The mortals dragged crates of supplies between the docks and ships, stacking cargo on the piers despite the deepening night.
Serenna covered her mouth as the truth crashed down. The elves had desecrated her home, turning it into a machine grinding toward conquest.
“They’ve already built so many,” she whispered, her words nearly lost to the wind’s mournful howl.We’re too late.
The prince’s hand settled on the small of her back, a silent comfort against the insurmountable fleet—a hundred, perhaps more. “I think it’s safe to assume those in the bay are ready to sail.” His gaze unfocused on the horizon. “If some haven’t already.”
Serenna trembled, dread clamping around her chest as hope shattered under the fleet’s shadow. Even if they managed to reach the other side of the world before the king, it wouldn’t matter. They were so laughably outnumbered.
And what would remain beneath the elves’ unyielding grasp? Serenna hesitantly sought out the castle across the bay, its towers etched into the sky beneath the moons’ pale glow. She doubted her mother was given a say in the harbor’s creation—or in anything anymore.
The wind snapped across the cliffs, carrying the bitter sting of helplessness. She leaned into the prince, searching for an anchor against the tempest roiling inside her.
Mirroring her disquiet, Vesryn shifted closer, a steady presence at her side.
“Do you think we stand any chance of finding the dragons first?” Serenna asked, her voice catching on the edge of fear. She knew it wasn’t fair to seek solace—not when she sensed the prince’s doubts reflecting her own.
Vesryn’s jaw tightened. “I don’t know,” he admitted softly, the honesty landing heavier than any hollow reassurance. “Everything’s shifting, slipping out of reach. I’m trying to hold it all together, but…”
His words faded before he turned to face her. Moonlight reflected in jade pools that glinted with sorrow as his eyes searched hers. Vesryn’s fingers tightened at her waist, as though afraid she might drift away too.
For all his strength, for all the burdens he carried as an exiled prince, Serenna realized that he needed comfort as much as she did—if not more.
The weight of his unspoken fears crashed into her, but beneath the churning turmoil, Serenna sensed something deeper—a longing for something real, something solid, while the realms crumbled around them.
Vesryn’s gaze flicked from her eyes to her mouth, his breath quickening as if he stood on the edge of a precipice.
And then, without warning, his lips crashed into hers.
The kiss swept over her like a storm, consuming and fierce. It wasn’t gentle and she didn’t expect it to be—didn’t want it to be. It was a strike of lightning, a collision of emotions that had been building for too long.
Serenna pressed into him, her own urgency meeting every stroke of his lips, a silent promise that he wasn’t facing this alone.
It was everything they’d held back—unresolved tension breaking free from the pain of being torn apart. Vesryn hauled her closer, like she was the only lifeline left in this collapsing world.
The surroundings fell away with every nip, every brush of their tongues. The ships, the war at their heels, the desperate quest for hope beyond the Wastes—all of it vanished in the span of those heartbeats. In this stolen fragment of time, it was just them, holding each other under the stars, finding comfort in a fleeting moment.
And like everything else, it didn’t last.
The pressure of Essence blasted through the cliffs, a pulse of raw power shattering the moment. Serenna’s breath caught as they broke apart, spinning toward the source.
On the shore below, a massive portal hung open. Black shadows surged from the rift, strangling the night. Lykor strodethrough the darkness, releasing a hurricane of rending upon the harbor.
Trella burst through before the portal snapped shut, her earsplitting screech rupturing the air. Claws stirring up sand, the earth quaked as she barreled past Lykor. In a terrifying charge, she plowed down the shoreline, trampling the soldiers in her path. Screams erupted from every direction as Lykor and the dracovae descended on the docks.
Vesryn began swearing, each word more vicious than the last. “I have to stop him before he gets himself killed.” Essence flared around him as his gaze darted to hers.
“Don’t you dare send me back to the jungle,” Serenna snapped, reading that stubborn set of his jaw and the protectiveness flaring down the bond. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but you won’t be able to subdue Lykor.”
Vesryn’s fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. “Then what do you suggest we do?” he growled, his attention flicking back to the shadows swarming across the wharf.
Serenna bit her lip, dread twisting deep in her gut as the bitter answer took shape. “We should help him.”
CHAPTER 32
LYKOR
Essence roared through Lykor’s chest, a storm battering his ribs as he stalked along the shore. He punched out his gauntlet and shadows erupted, racing across the sand.
