Ready at last to untangle this knot she’d tied between them all, Serenna’s mouth parted. But before she could force the words past her tongue, Fenn tipped them a nod and wove back through the curtains, wings flexing for flight. A clean retreat, offering no conflict, as if disappearing into the night might undo the fact that he’d been there at all.
Vesryn’s hand tensed against hers, then pulled free as he flopped back onto the pillows with a groan. Pressing his palms hard to his eyes, he muttered, “Fucking stars,” before lifting his head to shout toward the balcony. “Fenn! Just…stay.”
Fenn’s silhouette halted mid-step, the stillness sudden enough that Serenna’s breath hitched in response. For a moment, she thought he might pretend he hadn’t heard, vanish as swiftly as he’d arrived.
But then his weight shifted, and he glanced over his shoulder. “Stay?” he echoed, head cocking as if to test whether he’d imagined the invitation.
With a shrug, he dispelled his wings and ducked once more into the room. “But fair warning, princeling—our she-elf claims I’ll never master restraint.”
The word ‘our’ landed as a soft shock beneath Serenna’s skin, blooming heat in her chest.
Fenn crossed the chamber with a feral curve of his mouth, already peeling out of his tunic and kicking his boots aside. For all his swagger, there was a heartbeat where his eyes flicked to Vesryn—a silent weighing, as if making certain his welcome hadn’t been mistaken.
Then, with a grin sharp as a blade, he winked at the prince and loosened the ties at his waist, trousers slipping free in an unapologetic drop that bared him completely.
“And I’m already regretting this,” Vesryn grumbled, rolling onto his side. He flung an arm across his eyes and extinguished the hovering illumination orbs. “We needboundaries,” he added flatly as the room plunged into darkness. “Starting with you not undressing this close to my face.”
“Didn’t realize I held so much power unclothed,” Fenn quipped as he slid beneath the covers and folded himself against Serenna’s other side.
The mattress dipped under his weight as he slung an arm around her waist and tangled a leg with hers.
“But if you’re that flustered,” Fenn murmured, leaning over her to brush Vesryn’s shoulder, “I can always take it slow.”
Vesryn snarled and knocked him aside. “Touch me again and see how fast you lose that claw.”
Fenn chuckled, his eyes flaring just enough to cast a faint glow across the bed. “Will you always get this worked up when I’m nude, or is tonight going to be special?”
Serenna felt Vesryn turn back toward them in the dark. “Believe me,” he muttered, “nothing about this feelsspecialon my end.”
“Interesting,” Fenn drawled, voice dropping, suggestion thick as smoke. “I thought we were finally bonding. Oh wait—we already did that.”
Vesryn growled and scooted away toward the edge of the bed. “Stars, do youevershut up?”
Serenna’s laugh caught in her throat as she reached for the prince, curling her fingers around his and drawing him back until her chest pressed to his spine. With a weary sigh, Vesryn melted into her hold, body curving to settle against hers.
Behind her, Fenn yawned and nuzzled closer, his mouth finding the hollow of her neck as his palm settled warm at her hip.
The three of them lay entwined in the dark as their breaths leveled out. Serenna knew dawn would break them apart, but she closed her eyes anyway and sank into this borrowed moment of calm.
CHAPTER 44
SERENNA
Three days of portaling and flight had borne Serenna, Fenn, Jassyn, and Cinderax over marsh and mire and rain-swollen rivers, until each of Serenna’s wingbeats trembled on the edge of collapse.
By the time they reached the broken coast of the Shattered Reef, exhaustion had pressed them into silence. When they finally landed on an island’s lonely cliffside, Jassyn fell asleep before the last embers of sunset faded, while Cinderax curled nearby.
Though weariness clung to her, Serenna found no rest as night deepened, knowing tomorrow they’d be hunting for the Maelstrom. She relieved Fenn early from his watch, and once he’d slipped into sleep, the hours of her vigil crept past slowly in a kind of quiet that made every thought louder.
The hush of the sea lured her to a hill above their camp where the moons spilled silver light across the bluffs. Barefoot, she settled in the grass, drawing her knees to her chest. Salty air misted against her skin as she took in the dark sweep of the surface below. The ocean whispered ceaselessly, waves wrapping the island chain like a serpent tightening its coil.
The bond stirred like a coal given sudden breath, and Serenna glanced down at their camp. Awake now, Fenn rose from his bedroll, hair tumbling over his shoulders, chest bare to the night.
He never needed a reason to shed layers, but the trousers clinging to his hips were unmistakably tailored—indecently close to a style she’d only ever seen Vesryn wear. Serenna shook her head as Fenn drifted past Jassyn, curls tousled in the breeze, then past Cinderax, whose tail twitched once though he didn’t stir.
When Fenn finally lifted his gaze up the slope, his eyes flared as they landed on hers. In the space between heartbeats he warped, reappearing beside her.
Moonlight struck the piercings on his face and chest, skin shimmering like midnight ink. He joined her in the grass, legs sprawling before him, shoulder bumping hers.
