Serenna’s neck arched against her will, her body bending as her mind shrieked. Shame burned hot and vicious where fury should have risen.
Ayla released her chin and rose, smoothing her palms against her leathers. The Starshard’s grip slackened and Serenna lurched forward, barely catching herself on her hands before her face struck stone.
She drew a breath through her nose and forced her legs beneath her. They trembled, but she shoved herself upright. The golden collar dug into her pulse with every ragged beat. Still, Serenna lifted her chin, refusing to bow.
Ayla’s lips curved. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten your little beast form,” she purred, stepping closer until her shadow swallowed Serenna whole. “That power is mine too.”
Serenna clenched her jaw until it ached. She clawed inward, desperate to lash out with lightning. But no spark leapt to her call. No wings unfurled. Her power lay locked beneath her skin, strangled into silence.
Just like her.
Ayla skimmed a finger down the Starshard.
Serenna’s spine arched with a violent snap, scales flooding down her arms. Her shoulder blades wrenched apart as wings burst free, membranes ripping the air with a sound like tearing hide. She opened her mouth, air hitching on something between a cry and a snarl, but no sound came.
“You tied yourself to the artifact so sweetly,” Ayla chimed, stroking the shard. “Not as its master, but as its offering. Now you’remineto wield.”
Serenna’s wings cracked shut and vanished on a wordless command.
“Mine to display.”
Her scales withdrew, every muscle locking. Unmoored inside her own skin, Serenna’s breath stuttered shallow as her body slipped away, leaving her mind stranded behind.
“And you’re up next,” Ayla said brightly. “If you survive…” Her teeth flashed, every word lacquered in venom. “The council will decide what scraps of you are worth keeping.”
Ayla turned on a heel, her stride smooth as a viper basking in the sun. “I won’t spoil what’s waiting for you in the Coliseum,” she called over her shoulder as she left the cell. “Fight or die?” She shrugged. “I don’t care which you do.”
At the archway where the arena’s light slanted in, Ayla paused, crowned in its glow. “Isn’t it beautiful?” she asked softly, glancing back. “To be free in choosing the manner of your suffering?” Then, with the smile of someone who already knew how the story ended, she added, “But do hurry, sister. Your wraith won’t survive long without you.”
Fenn.
Serenna’s pulse slammed in her throat as Ayla’s silhouette flared and then disappeared in the sun.
Finally released from the Starshard’s hold, she staggered, the echo of the binding clinging to her skin like scum. Her spine tensed, bracing for the next command.
But one never came. No guards did either. Just the tunnel loomed ahead, bleeding daylight toward her.
Serenna moved stiffly at first, dread pounding through her skull. Her boots scuffed the polished floor, each step swallowed by the hush of stone. Then she broke into a run. With Fenn already in the arena, every second she wasted here would cost him.
As she burst from the corridor, sunlight scalded her vision, blazing off pristine sand until her eyes watered. A roar of shouting followed, the sound striking her like a blow.
Above, white stone balconies climbed in tiered rings, pastel silks strung into shade. Hundreds of nobles sprawled on cushions, sipping from crystal flutes.
One male draped in emerald raiment flicked a human coin into the sand at Serenna’s feet, his laughter as putrid as rot. Beside him, a child clapped, shrieking for blood.
Serenna’s gaze dragged upward, searching for escape where none waited. Beyond the Coliseum’s crown, the sky stretched cloudless and cruel. And suspended in its vastness, Centarya hovered like a scar.
Once, she’d stood at the Spire’s peak with Vesryn, the floating campus spread below them. Once, she’d trained in those fighting rings hanging above the world, believing it all in preparation for a righteous war.
She knew better now. This theater revealed what the elves truly valued—violence curated into spectacle, perfected down to the stars-cursed sunlight.
And at the center of it all…
Serenna’s heart seized, a gasp caged behind her ribs.
Staked in the sand, Fenn lay splayed with arms yanked wide by rending restraints. Silver spears pinned his wings, driven through the membranes, anchoring him to the earth. Black blood seeped from a wound at his temple, streaking down to soak the golden collar at his throat.
His head scarcely lifted at her arrival. Yet across the hundred paces, his gaze found hers, the world narrowing to the span between them. He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. His eyes said enough.
