Serenna rolled her eyes, abandoning dragonsight as scales sank back into her skin. Her wings slid cleanly through the slits in her leathers before vanishing. Smoother now, though she still tensed, remembering the day it took to learn how to pull them through without splitting half her armor.
Instead of shifting, Vesryn drew a Starshard from his leathers. Serenna flinched when he flicked it into the air. The claw at one of his wing tips snatched the gem from its arc, deft enough to prickle her skin.
The opposite claw clacked its talons, then lunged, yanking Vesryn’s hair until he winced. Serenna bit back a laugh as he slapped it aside with a muttered curse.
“Youcouldjust dispel your wings,” she said.
“And you could keep yours out,” he shot back. “Builds strength. Besides, the claws only turn fidgety when they’re bored.”
Serenna raised her brows. “Kaedryn says males who keep them out are compensating for something.”
Wings twitching, Vesryn scowled at her. “Kaedryn says a lot of things.”
“Right,” Serenna said, turning toward the crater’s edge, where the hollow sloped into a shadowed tunnel. Where Aelfyn bones lingered beneath the earth, denied a pyre that should’ve lifted their souls to the stars.
She wasn’t sure she believed in the restless dead. But the air stilled as if the stone itself held its breath in remembrance.
“Speaking of Kaedryn,” Vesryn said suddenly, his tone too casual while the bond hummed with uncertainty. “She helped me craft something.”
Serenna dragged her gaze from the den as he went on, fingers working at his armor. “And before you panic—it’s inert. Kaedryn confirmed it.”
From a hidden pocket, he drew his second Starshard. No longer a bare gem, it rested in a necklace of braided silver, the metal winding close to clasp the jewel at its heart. The facets shimmered, veins gleaming with the defiance of stars exiled from the sky.
Palm up, Vesryn offered it, his wings locking close to his spine. “It’s for you.”
“Me?” A rebuke stalled on Serenna’s tongue, awe and unease colliding with the memory of the gem’s unbridled power. She blinked, staring at the necklace before meeting his eyes. “It’s…beautiful. But wouldn’t it make more sense to give it to someone without Essence?”
“Maybe.” Vesryn shrugged, glancing at the claw still clutching the other shard. “But you helped collect both. I’d rather you have it.”
Of course he would. It was the kind of gesture he specialized in—thoughtful in his own way, but just dangerous enough to make her hesitate.
Serenna stared at the necklace, recalling the terrible screech it would release when it discharged power. “And it won’t…activate on its own?”
“No. And I found a way to focus to use the shards silently too.” Vesryn’s voice softened, fingers tightening against the necklace. “It’s not bound to anyone—or anything—now. This one came from that ice golem in the Wastes. I can attune it to you. If you want it.”
Serenna’s breath drew shallow. The chain wasn’t around her neck yet, but already she felt its weight at her throat—an Aelfyn relic, half-understood and deadly. Through the bond camehis silent insistence, protectiveness threaded with something sharper, like the shard could shield her if he couldn’t.
Shoving away her fear, Serenna nodded. The gem might be dangerous, but it also held power. And she was done flinching from it.
Vesryn offered his other palm. “I’ll need your hand.”
Steadying herself, Serenna slid her fingers into his. Essence stirred beneath her skin where they touched, rising to meet his magic.
“This feels familiar,” she murmured when shadows curled around her wrist with intimate certainty, recalling the moment he’d broken her finger.
Vesryn’s smile tugged crooked as he set the Starshard in her palm.
Serenna didn’t feel the rending—only the gem’s cool weight, warmth blooming as shadows split her skin and blood welled bright around the shard. Her hand clenched against the crystal on reflex. But the pain never came. Not with Vesryn smirking, stealing it through the bond before she could ever feel its bite. Just like always.
A soft flare of light bloomed from the Starshard’s core as a hum stirred beneath her skin, slipping through marrow with quiet insistence. Almost like hunger. The sensation curled into the root of her Well and the shard tugged once, as if claiming her, before settling against her pulse.
“I’ve already filled its reservoir with Essence,” Vesryn said, his thumb brushing her palm as he cast a tendril of mending to close the cut. “You can draw from what’s stored before you’ll need to use your own. Even siphon power that’s thrown at you—like the druids did to us. But that’s nothing compared to what else it can unlock.”
Serenna tore her gaze from the gem back to him. “What do you mean?”
A triumphant gleam lit Vesryn’s expression. “You can access all eight talents.”
Serenna’s eyes widened. She hadn’t considered why Kaedryn—technically a wraith who didn’t even have Essence—could wield abilities she’d never possessed through the shard. This was more than a gift. “Allof them?”
