SERENNA
Echoes of the meeting still thrummed through Serenna’s thoughts as she rushed down the dock. Ahead, Zaeryn and Kal vanished into the alleys, their orders to set the rangers and wraith in motion for dawn.
Vesryn lingered by the lakeshore, turning as she neared.
Breathless, Serenna reached him, her pulse a drumbeat counting down. “Can you portal me to the Maw?”
Vesryn arched a brow. Through the bond, she sensed him weighing her resolve against the impulse—and finding both tempting. “Right now?”
Serenna nodded, the decision already made since she’d sorted through her options.
“You don’t have to go if the rangers need you,” she said quickly. “It’s just…” Her teeth snagged on her lower lip. “Lightning is the only element I haven’t channeled yet. And I don’t want Jassyn holding back the storm alone.”
Vesryn studied her for a moment before the corner of his mouth quirked. She wasn’t sure what to make of the amusement flickering in that look. He tipped his chin toward a narrow side path, leading her away from the crowd of druids waiting on the guildmasters.
“Jassyn discovered that the storm hunts Essence,” he warned, opening a portal. “Once we cross the threshold, don’t summon it.”
Agreeing, Serenna clasped his offered palm. The rush of darkness met her as they stepped into the void. One heartbeat she stood on solid ground, but the next, there was no earth at all.
Only open sky.
Her stomach lurched.
Altitude punched the breath from her lungs as she tipped forward into empty air, fingers tearing free from Vesryn’s. Wind stripped tears from her eyes, hair whipping around her face. Her ribs seized, both from the fall and from theaudacity. How he’d hurled her into the sky as if she were already flying.
“Vesryn!” Serenna shrieked as she plummeted, both a curse and a scream.
He only laughed wildly, tumbling beside her. Emerald eyes blazed with draconic light as his skin rippled into scales, wings bursting wide as he shifted midair.
“You asked for the Maw!” he shouted over the wind.
Serenna bared her teeth and twisted toward the jagged mountains rushing up to meet her. She yanked on the flame caged in her chest, freeing her power.
She was going tokillhim.
Slowly.
Repeatedly.
Judging by the grin Vesryn flashed as he swooped beneath her, he knew.
The instant Serenna’s clear eyelids slid to shield her eyes, her scales locked into place, wings erupting through the slits in her armor. Membranes flared, maroon sails snapping wide. Pain screeched through her shoulders at the jolt, but she caught the updraft, wings shuddering as she clawed her way back into balance.
Serenna drew in a ragged breath, the thin air scorching her throat.
The Maw sprawled ahead, peaks rising like waves of broken fangs. Above the mountains, clouds churned and glowed, the charge of energy humming sharp enough to sting her teeth.
Vesryn wheeled toward her in a sweeping arc and pointed east across a ridge. “The threshold is beyond that range. Once we cross, the lightning will start to strike.”
A tremor wracked low in Serenna’s chest, both terror and thrill. She cursed under her breath and angled her wings to pursue the prince, still furious even as some traitorous part of her admired the reckless grace of how he flew. She’d meant only to hone her abilities, but in his wake, everything turned into a challenge.
With every stroke, the earth fell farther away, pressure knotting tighter around her ribs. Vesryn soared ahead, carving spirals through the broken clouds.
Without warning, the wind died as they crested the final peaks before the threshold. With no resistance to fight, Serenna shot forward, ears popping as the eerie calm struck from every side.
The storm crouched above. On the distant horizon, the Blackreach mirrored the veined sky, a reflection of a world bleeding light.
“Ready to catch lightning?” Vesryn called.
