Jassyn’s breath hitched. He wasn’t going to make it. There wasn’t anything he could do against a mountain carved from ice. His projectiles glanced harmlessly off the frosty hide.
The creature’s head crashed down with the force of an avalanche, the earth shuddering beneath its weight. Its monstrous jaws snapped shut, engulfing the prince.
Jassyn halted in his tracks, skidding to stop.
Vesryn was gone.
Devoured whole.
CHAPTER 38
SERENNA
“Vesryn!” The scream tore through the frozen air, a broken cry Serenna barely recognized as her own.
Wind lashed at her cheeks as she sprinted toward Jassyn, who was still staring at the spot where the prince had vanished into the behemoth’s maw.
Her awareness flew down the bond, the connection still shining with Vesryn’s life force.He’s not dead.Relief sparked only for fear to smother it.But for how long?
Sliding to a halt on the ice, Serenna grabbed Jassyn’s arm for support, each breath a gasp scraping her throat. Essence shimmered around her, but she hesitated, unsure of the best way to wield it.
Jassyn rapidly blinked, face pale as he cleared the haze of a telepathic sending. “Vesryn said he can’t portal out. The Starshard is absorbing Essence—even from within. He’s trying with his swords, but I don’t think…”
Together, they watched in disbelieving silence as the creature heaved itself upright, its massive form blotting out the sky. The ground shuddered as its serrated legs scraped for traction,spiked pillars of ice piercing the earth. Snow cascaded from its back in brittle sheets as it shook itself like a colossal hound, an avalanche of frost crashing down.
Serenna’s breath seized when the beast shifted, its eyeless face angling toward them.
Shadows unfolded next to her, Lykor swearing profusely as he materialized with Fenn.
“I’ll kill the prince myself if that golem doesn’t finish him first,” Lykor snarled, yanking his pack off his shoulders and slamming it to the ground. “Release Essence. Now!” He dropped to a crouch, his gauntlet nearly shredding the bag as he rummaged around. “And before you start flapping your tongues with a thousand questions, Aesar is convinced that the Starshard his brother is so obsessed with can track our magic. If we stop feeding”—he gestured theatrically—“thatthingour location, we might just buy some fucking time.”
There was no reason to argue. Serenna’s nails bit into her palms as she forced herself to sever the flow of power. The comforting pulse of Essence abruptly vanished, its absence leaving her unsettled and unmoored.
She shuddered as the monster halted and lifted one massive, spiked leg. Its talons flexed above the ice as though searching—or sensing—like a spider testing the vibrations of its web.
The grating squeal of Lykor’s gauntlet yanked Serenna’s attention back to him. He wrestled a torch and flint from his pack and struck his metal claw against the slab of stone. Sparks scattered, tiny bursts of light spraying across the oiled cloth. With a hiss, the torch sputtered to life.
Muttering something unintelligible about depending on “stars-forsaken shamans and candle snubs,” Lykor thrust the torch at Jassyn.
Jassyn blinked before snapping into action. His hand shot forward, and Serenna sensed the faint burst of pressure as hetugged on the flame. Coaxing the fire, the stream curled around his fingertips, condensing into a sphere that hovered above his palm.
Without pausing, Lykor ruthlessly struck the flint again, relighting the torch before shoving the burning end toward her.
“We need more than that!” Serenna’s voice rose with desperation as she gathered the fire.
She stared at the feeble light, laughably small against a mountain of ice. Her pulse thrashed in her ears, every heartbeat a relentless countdown to the prince’s final moments. The image of him trapped and dying burned behind her eyes. “We’ll never reach Vesryn with just torches!”
“I’mworkingon it,” Lykor gritted through his fangs, jaw tight as his gauntlet screeched against the flint again. He ignited more torches, slowly increasing the size of their flames.
The beast began planting one leg in front of the other, scraping across the ice with slow deliberation, deciding to resume its previous course.
“I have an idea, she-elf,” Fenn murmured as he stepped closer. His claw landed on her shoulder, a steadying weight. “I don’t want to leave you, but it might be our only chance to save your princeling.”
Serenna dug her fingers into Fenn’s arm, sensing the clash of regret and stubborn resolve—he’d made up his mind. His gaze flicked to Lykor, who was still swearing and hunched over his task, sparks flying from his gauntlet while Jassyn gathered scraps of flame.
For a moment, Serenna thought Fenn might ask for his permission. But he didn’t, his eyes swinging back to hers, flaring with a soft glow.
“Whatever you do, steer clear of the portal—and don’t follow.” He gently pried her fingers from his arm, his touchlingering as he folded his palm around hers. “I’ll return when I can. I promise.”
