Vesryn shook his head. “We begin where it matters most,” he countered, the tips of his claws clicking together. “I’ll portal us near the threshold of the Crackling Maw. From there, we’ll follow the rivers to see whether the king’s forces have sailed into the Blackreach.”
Serenna rubbed the sleep from her eyes, the room still unforgivingly bright. “Or,” she interjected pointedly, “why not organize more fliers to cover both directions at once?”
“And throw off today’s entire training schedule?” Fenn’s wings rustled in scandalized protest. “By the time we rally others, we could’ve scouted half of the marshes ourselves.”
“We only have a few hours before the meeting,” Vesryn replied, the words carrying a reluctant echo of Fenn’s logic. “If we find nothing, we can coordinate a more strategic sweep while everyone’s gathered anyway.”
With a weary sigh, Serenna swung her legs over the side of the bed. She swiped her Starshard off her nightstand and fastened it around her throat while she crossed to the chest at the footboard where she pulled out a clean tunic and flight leathers that still smelled faintly of smoke from training. As she dressed, their voices continued sparring behind her.
“If the king’s army has already moved from the marshes,” Fenn said with an immovable note creeping into his words, “they’ll follow the desert north with Asharyn lying straight in their path. So we start with the plains—portal to the canyons, branch from there. That’s where the fight will find us first.”
Vesryn’s jaw flexed. “And if you’re wrong, we waste half a day staring at sand and soggy bogs while Skylash is at risk of falling to the king.”
Fenn’s grin sharpened, dangerous and amused. “So you’d rather chase lightning across the Blackreach than confirm the fire burning at your door?”
“And you’d rather bar the door and call it victory,” Vesryn shot back. “Never once looking at the horizon.”
Fenn shrugged. “Someone has to keep the house from burning while you’re out chasing storms.”
Serenna finished dressing, fastening each clasp and cinching her boots tight. Neither of them was wrong, but at this rate, they’d argue until the stars dimmed if she let them. And since they’d already dragged her from bed at this indecent hour, she wasn’t about to waste it.
Before Vesryn could fire back, she cut through the bickering. “Which one of you can portal to the marshes?”
Both males turned toward her. Serenna planted her hands on her hips. “Well?” she pressed. “That’s where Bhreena said Rimeclaw was found. Wouldn’t it make more sense to start there and fan outward? If the king’s forces have marched inland, we’ll see their trail heading toward Asharyn. If they’re still using the waterways, we’ll find signs of them near the inlets into the Blackreach. Either way, we’ll know which direction they’re moving.”
“I can take us as far as the canyons,” Fenn said, pushing off the wall and rolling his shoulders. “But if we portal jump across the desert—”
“I can get us closer,” Vesryn interrupted. “I’ve scouted the northern edge of the Dreadspire Range. It’s not quite to the marshes, but I can set us on a peak beyond the lightning’s reach. From there, we glide west.”
“It’s settled then,” Serenna said, raising her brows when Fenn opened his mouth.
He shut it again with exaggerated restraint and slung a pack between his wings. “I brought provisions, if you want to eat in flight.”
Vesryn scoffed, binding his hair in a knot. “It’s reconnaissance, Fenn, not a picnic.”
Serenna shook her head. “I’ll wait until we’re back. I won’t starve before midmorning.” Flying had never unsettled her before, but this would be her first long stretch, and she wasn’t eager to learn how a full stomach weathered the sky.
Essence whirled around Vesryn, curling in spirals before the air split. A portal unfurled in the center of her chambers, the dark oval breathing a cool draft into the room.
Fenn slipped through first, tossing Vesryn a wink over his shoulder. “I’ll make sure the mountain’s clear for your royal entrance.”
“Do us all a favor and fall off it,” the prince muttered as Fenn vanished.
Serenna sighed and followed with Vesryn close behind. She hadn’t imagined there’d come a day she would wish for Lykor’s aid instead. But here it was.
A chill wind battered her the moment she stepped through the portal, her boots scraping onto stone. Fenn’s eyes glowed while hers adjusted to the dark, the rift sealing shut behind them.
With Fenn smirking on one side and Vesryn visibly resisting the urge to shove him off the cliff on the other, Serenna stood between them on the ledge. Scanning the darkness below, she shifted into her wings, unfurling them through the slits in her armor before tucking them in tight.
The world dropped away, jagged spines of rock plunging into a sea of mist. Far to the south, lightning veined the horizon, its glow pulsing faintly from the Crackling Maw.
Haze blurred the world’s edge, dimming the stars, though twin moons still burned pale through drifting vapors. Serenna turned, orienting herself by the higher of the two, the direction of its glow marking the marshlands to the distant west.
Vesryn pointed across the plains. “We can portal jump once we’re in flight. Cover more sky that way.”
Both males stood poised at the precipice, wings etched in moonlight, eyes narrowing to draconic slits as they fixed on her. It took Serenna a moment to realize they were waiting forherto lead the dive.
Well, there really was a first time for everything if neither raced to outdo the other for once.
