Measured steps rang against the planks.
Through the wall of soldiers, a figure emerged. White armor flared in the sun, a cape dragging behind him.
Serenna’s vision swam. Light and metal smeared together, the world reduced to glare and motion. She blinked hard, forcing the outlines to resolve. Recognition struck. For a heartbeat, hope surged so sharp it shoved breath back into her lungs.
“Serenna.”
But the name landed cold. Not a brother’s relief. A commander’s report. Formal and flattened, stripped of warmth.
Serenna went still. Wind snapped soaked hair across her face as her skin chilled.
Saundyl didn’t move toward her or even glance at the harpoon skewering her thigh. He lifted a hand in wordless command, and a soldier obeyed at once.
A streak of rending slashed from the warrior, severing the rope. Metal wrenched free. Serenna’s scream tore loose as pain scorched her vision white. Blood streamed down her armor, spattering the deck red.
Before she could even draw air, the soldier’s power tore through her thigh, yanking flesh and muscle closed. When the warrior stepped back, Saundyl remained unmoved. Azure eyes blank as ice, his silence stung more than the wound.
Essence shimmered around his shoulders in a mantle of starlight, but through it, darker threads unspooled.
Understanding snapped into place. The rending didn’t belong to a random soldier. It was herbrother’s, held like a blade at her throat.
Serenna tensed as Saundyl began to circle her, his boots clipping against blood-slick boards. At last he halted in front of her, his gaze pinned on the wings cinched tight at her spine.
“What…are you?”
The question came flat, almost bored. But Serenna heard the tension beneath it, the strain of someone forced into detachment.
Dread clamped her ribs. She knew what coiled at his throat—the leash of duty, the choke of command. The capital’s noose drawn tight around his tongue.
The last time they’d spoken—back in Vaelyn, when Lykor had razed the previous fleet before it could sail—Saundyl had confessed that Elashor held his family hostage. Then, her brother had spoken in fury and fear. Now, he stood surrounded by his captors, his words honed with calculation.
Serenna’s gaze flicked to the warriors flanking him, all alert with steady hands, ready to strike at the smallest slip. She couldn’t risk spilling the full truth with the capital’s eyes so close.
But if Saundyl’s composure was simply a mask… She had only one chance to test it.
“You’re aware some of the dragons are unchained?” Serenna asked carefully, refusing to let fear rule her voice.
Saundyl’s mouth thinned. He gave a single nod. “I received a report about that disaster at the lake.” He tilted his head, eyes narrowed and measuring. “But you already know something about that. Don’t you?”
The ship rocked, and Serenna would’ve staggered if the rending hadn’t locked her in place like a vise.
“Not all of the capital’s forces were wiped out,” she ventured. Her throat went dry, unspoken words scorching her tongue. But silence would win her nothing. “My people saved who we could.”
Saundyl’s brows lifted a fraction. “Your people.”
She held his gaze. “The druids.”
No flicker of surprise crossed his face. Only the composed stillness of a soldier who’d learned to wear restraint like armor.
He knew.
Of course he did. Maybe not everything, but enough to grasp what she’d become.
“How many of you are there?” he asked.
“Not enough,” she whispered, the truth falling between them like a lifeline, daring him to hear what she couldn’t say aloud. That they needed others willing to fight.
Saundyl’s gaze slid toward the warriors at the helm, then across the ship’s railings, eyes tracking the ranks as he seemed to weigh the shape of his own allegiance.
