She drew a brush through the damp weight of her hair, bristles snagging on knots the bathing pools hadn’t coaxed free. The water had washed the Bramblemaw’s den from her skin, but not the tremor from her nerves.
Serenna’s gaze slid back into her chamber, to the table where her Starshard lay. For a breath, she thought it pulsed.
She stared too long.
Long enough to remember when the stars had opened like a thousand eyes, every one of them watching her burn. And how Vesryn’s shard had siphoned the raging sunfire from her veins before the sky could claim her.
The Starshard should’ve unsettled her even more after that. Yet it had saved her too. Now every glance carried the question of whether it would be her salvation again. Or her ruin.
She couldn’t pretend her hand wouldn’t tremble when she next touched the gem, haunted by the Aelfyn who’d diedclutching their shards, reaching for the stars and finding only void.
So when a shadow unfurled across her balcony—too sudden, too close—it was as if the phantoms from the tomb had followed her back. All defenses forgotten, Serenna’s scream ripped loose. The brush clattered to the floor as she stumbled back, spine striking a sandstone pillar.
Massive wings flared across the balcony, blotting the dusk. No time to run. No time to—
A chuckle spilled around her.
Serenna clutched her throat, eyes wide as the shadows peeled back, resolving into Fenn.
“Didn’t expect you to bleat like a pocket goat, she-elf.” His fangs flashed, eyes glowing as he stepped in close to crowd her. “Should I knock next time?”
Serenna scowled and shoved at his chest. Or tried to. His body—unfairly solid—took the push without budging.
“You didn’t spend the day in a cursed tomb with dead illusions shrieking at you!” Serenna snapped, words cracking. She winced, teeth clicking shut, breath too fast to slow.
Fenn’s smirk vanished, his voice dipping lower, cautious. “Are you alright? I didn’t mean to—”
“I’m fine.” Straightening, Serenna squared her shoulders, as if posture alone could conjure composure. “I just didn’t sense you until you were already on me.” She cleared her throat, pushing forward. “How was your day, Captain?”
That, at least, landed.
Fenn’s lips curved, and the bond nearly purred for him, as if the new title were a scratch under the chin.
“I’d say productive.” His wings rustled once before vanishing. The scaled sheen of his arms slipped back into deep indigo as he shifted back into skin. “I accompanied Jassyn to the Maw. Would’ve flown in with him, but Lykor took over.”
“They…” Serenna blinked. “They wentintothe Maw?”
Fenn nodded. “They returned not long before you and the princeling.”
A knot cinched low in her gut, sharp enough to steal her breath. She hadn’t even wielded lightning yet, let alone channeled it the way Vesryn said Jassyn had. The earth bent so easily for him while she still carried the scorch of sunfire in her veins, unable to shake nearly burning to cinders in the tomb. If he was already flying ahead, then she was falling behind.
The thought had barely formed before Fenn closed the distance, scattering it.
“And now,” he said, voice velvet and heat, “I’ve ended up exactly where I wanted to be.”
His fang grazed the ring at his lip, pulling her gaze to his mouth, to the gleam tucked in his grin.
“Reporting for duty, of course,” he murmured, threading a claw through her damp hair, as if the brush she’d dropped had simply handed the task to him. “And it’sSkyclaw Captain of the Emberguard,” he drawled, sliding fully behind her.
Serenna huffed a laugh as she eased back into his chest. “Lykor outdid himself, but I’m not saying all that. And besides…” She tilted her head to catch his eyes, finding the flicker behind his smirk. “Pretty sure I outrank you,Captain. You’re the one stationed atmydoor.”
Fenn’s growl reverberated against her ear like a promise. “Then what orders does my she-elf have?”
Serenna shivered as his fingers glided from her hair, trailing down the curve of her neck. His talons slowed, lingering where he’d sink his fangs—if she asked again.
His thumbs pressed in slow, coaxing circles, unwinding the tension she’d carried since the den. Serenna’s breath loosened as her body sank into his touch.
Then Fenn’s palms slid lower, kneading her back in unhurried strokes. She bit down on her lower lip, swallowing the moan that threatened to rise. The sound would only widen his smirk.
