And yet…
They had twined together.
Serenna’s stomach plunged. “Vesryn,” she pressed, her voice sharpening. “Can you feel him too?”
Vesryn didn’t look at her. Still staring at Fenn, his expression wavered, denial and dawning striking him in the same breath. “I thought I was sensing what you felt from him. Throughyourbond. Like an echo. Or something.”
He shook his head slowly before reaching for Fenn’s chest, fingers pressing into the scorched scraps of armor. Fenn’s brows rose, but he didn’t move—slipping into that unnerving wraith stillness, all coiled vigilance and unblinking calm.
Serenna sensed the faint stir of Vesryn’s power being drawn through the Starshard clenched in his fist. A sliver of Essence probed outward before a pulse of pressure cracked through the air. Both males jerked back in the same instant, limbs seizing as though a current had ripped straight through them.
“What was that for?” Fenn growled, rubbing his sternum.
“I tried to sever it,” Vesryn said, every word clipped. “Like a bond. But…it’s twisted together.” He tossed his Starshard to the ground, his glare swinging to her. “You try to unravel it. You’re the one who linked us.”
“I didn’tbondyou two together,” Serenna protested. “You watched me—I was just healing! What if the Starshards—”
“Just undo it!” Vesryn snapped.
Fenn’s eyes narrowed, his lip curling in a shape that felt like a dare. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about that shoulder you’re pretending doesn’t hurt?”
“I’m fine,” Vesryn gritted out, yanking his hand from the arm he’d been cradling—a movement far too sharp to be convincing. “There are more pressing matters.”
Fenn’s grin edged toward feral. “There will be in a moment.”
Before Serenna could voice a warning, he seized Vesryn’s dislocated arm and wrenched it outward. One brutal jerk down and the joint rammed back into place with a jarring pop that sent phantom pain searing through her own shoulder.
“Fuck!” Vesryn’s snarl tore free as he toppled back, clutching his arm. “I hope you felt that!”
“I feel a lot more than that.” Fenn’s fangs flashed. “Beg me not to die again, princeling, and we’ll have more than a bond problem.”
Vesryn bared his teeth, jaw working as he jabbed a finger at Fenn. He turned toward Serenna instead. “Just…dispel it.”
Serenna forced herself to ignore them—Vesryn’s fraying temper, the taunting heat in Fenn’s voice. She set her palm over Fenn’s chest and reached for the thrum tying them together. She focused on the braided silver cord and tugged.
The backlash struck like lightning raking her veins, lancing up her arm. She gasped and tore her hand away.
“Well?” Vesryn demanded, his voice sharpened by something perilously close to panic.
Serenna’s fingers tingled as she clasped the Starshard at her throat. “I…I don’t know how to untangle it.”
Fenn snorted. “So all of our magics are bonded now?”
“No.” Serenna’s denial rose too fast, tripping over itself before truth settled cold. “I don’t know.”
Vesryn dragged a hand through the hair the fire hadn’t burned away. “Therehasto be a way to unravel it.”
“Maybe there’s not.” Fenn bumped Vesryn’s shoulder with his. “Perhaps you’re stuck with me, princeling.”
Vesryn scowled. “This isn’t funny.”
“It’s alittlefunny.”
Serenna dug her fists into her eyes, steadying her breath.
“Vesryn,” she said slowly, lifting her gaze. “You told me once that the entire Aelfyn race used to be bonded. What if I—what ifweaccidentally recreated that? With the Starshards.” She swept a hand through the charged space between them, where a faint hum lingered like a held note. “Whatever happened didn’t behave like normal bonding magic. What else might we do with the gems without meaning to?”
“Who knows,” Vesryn growled, snatching his discarded Starshard from the ground and shoving it back into his leathers. “It can’t get worse than this.” His glare stayed locked on Fenn, though the bite in his words had dulled, the fight already bleeding out. “I don’t even know if having you two tangled together in my head means it functions like a proper bond.”
