A pulse of proximity sparked through the bond. Not Fenn, who she sensed flying with the wraith below, but from higher above.
Vesryn.
Perched on Naru, he circled over the plains as rangers assembled atop their dracovae, opening portals south to scout the outer mountain range of the Crackling Maw.
Between the dracovae wheeling overhead, Serenna glimpsed a flash of obsidian scales and maroon wings. No larger than a fox, Cinderax, the Emberhart hatchling of fire, streaked through a portal, leading the charge as if hope itself burned in his wake.
“Nice wings, Princess,”Vesryn murmured, telepathically coiling around her mind.“Took you long enough to stop eating sand.”
Serenna scoffed, scowling at his silhouette as he coasted lazy circles on Naru.“Must be nice,”she fired back,“lounging up there like a glorified saddle ornament.”
His snort echoed through her mind.“Keep talking like that, you harpy, and I’ll come down there just to silence you properly.”
“As if your wings could ever keep up with your mouth.”
There was a pause, then maddening laughter.“You wouldn’t last five minutes before begging this mouth to never stop.”
Stars, even his thoughts were smug. Heat pricked Serenna’s cheeks, and she nearly climbed the sky to roast him on principle. But the threat of charring Naru’s feathers stopped her.
“I still haven’t forgiven you, by the way,”Vesryn added, too casually,“for knocking me out of the air with that punch of wind and calling it ‘training.’”
“You deserved it.”She’d only done it because he’d singed the tip of her braid, too busy flaunting his new fire to notice where it landed.
“Did I?”His voice curved slyly.“Either way, the view from the ground proved exquisite. Flat on my back, watching you descend like a storm.”He let the words linger before adding,“Next time, if you ask nicely, I’ll stay down longer.”
“Better let Naru keep flying for you,”Serenna snapped, the talons on her wing tips clacking.“It’s safer up there.”
Vesryn’s chuckle softened into words, slipping through her mind like wind through feathers.“I always knew you were meant to claim the sky.”
Serenna’s breath snagged where his warmth curled behind her ribs. For a heartbeat she drifted, unsure whether flight or his affection held her aloft.
Then Naru banked into a portal, and Vesryn vanished with the other rangers.
Tender moments hardly lingered in their world, but the feeling he left behind still burned. She longed to continue rising into the vision he held of her—someone who effortlessly claimed the skies rather than falling into the dunes.
That first attempt had been anything but graceful, sand hardly a merciful landing beneath a ruthless sun, grit scraping her throat as she’d tumbled down the slope. A wretched gust had slammed her sideways the instant her wings caught lift, hurling her spinning to the ground.
Fenn had been with her that time, cackling as he landed beside her—obnoxious when he hauled her up—until she’d snarled, snatched at his power in their shared Well, and blasted him with a volley of force.
Serenna lost count of how many drafts she’d failed to catch after that. But now with the currents steady beneath her wings, her mind slid forward to what came next.
Tomorrow, she and the prince would fly north to scout a Bramblemaw den, once the nesting ground of an earthen dragon. Kaedryn had spoken of Starshards buried in its roots, and Serenna would meet with the druid leader that afternoon to learn more.
With a jolt, she realized the canyon’s far ledge rushed to meet her.
Focus narrowing, Serenna slowed her wingbeats, dipping into a glide. At the last instant she flared the membranes, airripping taut across the leather. Her boots struck stone and skidded, momentum jolting through her legs, arms flung wide for balance as she sprinted forward.
Her breath hitched, but she didn’t fall. Every muscle trembled with strain as she folded her wings, stillness settling slowly back into her body. Triumph bloomed, though it had been cultivated by more than her own endurance.
Every night, Jassyn and the rebel magus from Centarya had mended the new fliers, weaving strength from exhaustion. With Vesryn, she’d trained muscles she hadn’t known existed, while Fenn had pushed and prodded her in the sky until her wings buckled midair and the world spun sideways.
A gust tore across the ledge.
As if summoned, Fenn landed beside her with a muted thud, wings rustling as they tucked behind him. Onyx scales shimmered along his arms, sinking back into skin as he met her gaze. His crimson eyes still burned, pupils narrowed to the vertical slits of dragonsight.
He tilted his head, the corner of his mouth lifting in that slow, predatory curve Serenna knew too well—the one that always came before he said something meant to disarm. Or something ridiculous enough to make her want to both laugh and throttle him at once.
He’d be insufferable about this.
