No stumble. Thank the stars for the small mercy since the gathered druids were watching.
Dismissing her wings, Serenna straightened as Fenn’s sisters landed behind her, their descent as soundless as their shadows. Her guard for the day. And arguing with Fenn about their presence only steeled his resolve.
If he wanted to playCaptain Skyclaw,then fine. She’d let him.
Brushing wind-tossed hair behind the tips of her ears, Serenna adjusted her leathers and recentered her Starshard at her throat. Her pulse steadied when Velinya emerged from the pavilion, hand lifted in greeting—a familiar face, at least, amid a gathering that already felt too ceremonial.
No longer wholly wraith, Velinya crossed the sand toward Serenna, honey-blonde curls fluttering behind her. Kal had restored a handful of her talents, distributed from the magic Lykor had stripped from the elves along Vaelyn’s shores. She’d taken to Kaedryn and Mara in recent days, standing in Serenna’s stead while Serenna honed her flight and helped Jassyn train those who carried the shaman gift.
Velinya’s grin flashed, ruby eyes bright. “Kaedryn and Cinderax are nearly finished with the preparations.”
“Preparations?” Serenna echoed, scanning the ring of druids, the first stir of dread tightening her gut. This suddenly didn’t feel like the typical exercise of displaying her earthen powers.
Fenn’s sisters took places near the tent, and Velinya gestured her in. Serenna drew a steadying breath and crossed between them into the shadow. She caught the fading lilt of her friend’s voice as she stayed behind, already making plans with the sisters to visit the Oasis that evening.
The sun’s glare eased as she passed beneath the canopy, cooler air pooling under the sail. Layered carpets spread across the sand in hues of ochre and rust, the woven fabrics forming asoft mosaic underfoot. Dust motes drifted through a column of dappled light, the hush deepening as her gaze followed its slant toward the center.
Silver hair flowed over Kaedryn’s shoulders as she stood in wraith stillness beside a ring of ten pedestals. Each rose from the sand, carved from quartz into the shape of dragon talons, curved upward to cradle an egg in the claw.
The shells shimmered in the canopy’s filtered light, a crystal casing imprisoning the true obsidian egg within. The Aelfyn’s magic still pulsed with the same star-forged stasis that had once bound Cinderax himself. Vesryn had shattered the dragon’s crystalline chains by channeling sunfire through the Heart of Stars, but the rest of the clutch had remained sealed in their eggs beneath the lake. Until now.
As Serenna studied the ring of eggs, Cinderax glided in under the canopy, wingbeats stirring the warm air. He swept once around the pedestals before landing beside Kaedryn’s feet, wings folding tight against his flanks. Two pairs of crimson eyes fixed on Serenna, smoldering softly.
“The clutch is ready,” Kaedryn said, beckoning her forward.
Serenna edged closer, the warmth of layered carpets bleeding through her boots. She opened her mouth to question their intent, but Cinderax’s voice rumbled through her mind first.
“We believe you may hold the power to wake them.”
“I…” Serenna glanced between Kaedryn and Cinderax. “I thought the other Heart of Stars we have was meant to free Skylash.”
Kaedryn inclined her head in agreement, resting a claw against one shell. “We believe there may be another path to break the Aelfyn’s starlight.” She traced a talon across the diamond-bright surface. “For all we know, this clutch may be the last of the Emberhart line—the bloodline wrought from pureflame. If they remain entombed, that fire will gutter out.” Her gaze lifted to Cinderax. “So we take the risk.”
Serenna swallowed, her throat as dry as sun-baked stone. “What…risk exactly?”
Cinderax’s clear eyelids swept over his irises.“Your sunfire,”he said,“may be enough to fracture the crystal casting—to wake the embers still dreaming.”
A coil of dread leaped to strangle Serenna’s ribs. “I can’t,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I barely controlled it. And if Vesryn hadn’t pulled me back—”
She stopped, the memory still haunting her. Yesterday, Essence had nearly incinerated her—intent on reducing her to ash and forging a star from the wreckage of her bones.
Straightening her spine, Serenna swallowed the unease clawing at her throat and steadied her voice. “It would be safer to wait for the prince to return from the jungle.” She drew a breath that refused to settle. “He has the most experience with sunfire.”
Kaedryn stepped closer, fingers brushing the chain at Serenna’s throat where the Starshard caught and fractured the light. “You can channel your starlight through this,” she murmured, tapping the gem. “Focus and direct it.”
Serenna looked down at the shard, its weight suddenly alarming. Her gaze lifted to the matching crystal nestled against Kaedryn’s claw. “Why can’t you use yours?”
Kaedryn sighed, tracing the delicate filigree of her setting. “I haven’t been able to summon thissunfirethrough mine.” Her lips tightened, eyes dropping to the carpet. “Or perhaps what you possess is stronger, born of something deeper in your Aelfyn blood.”
Serenna reached for an excuse she didn’t have. It wasn’t failure she feared, but the storm of her own magic breaking loose—devouring not only her, but everyone near enough to believe she could wield it.
“There might be another way,” she said, though her mind spun blank. “Or maybe Vesryn could…”
Kaedryn’s eyes flared, and Serenna’s voice faltered.
“Vesryn carries starlight, but not restraint,” Kaedryn clipped. “He’d scorch us all again. But you…” Her gaze gentled. “You were born to restore the balance, child of earth and starlight.”
Serenna bit back the urge to argue that Vesrynhadcontrolled it, that he’d guided her hand to channel the magic before entering the Bramblemaw den. But the protest died behind her teeth, swallowed by the quiet conviction in Kaedryn’s tone.
