Serenna’s wings flailed against the wind, but his momentum dragged her into his orbit. She folded into him instead, clutching the hard line of his shoulders.
As half of her burned to defy him and the other half burned to match him, she felt it—what he wanted. Not surrender or submission, but to clash with an equal. There was no middle ground left between them, only the spark where defiance met desire.
Vesryn’s mouth claimed hers, stealing her breath, her balance, her world. For a moment, there was no sky. No dragon to find. No war waiting on the horizon. No tomorrow.
Only Vesryn, all heat and hunger as he devoured her, the air coiling around them with every rhythmic beat of his wings while he held them aloft.
A lash of Essence whipped from the prince. Serenna gasped against his mouth. Breaking the kiss, she reeled back as her senses spiked, lightning brewing above.
Vesryn caught her chin, anchoring her gaze as the storm converged.
“Eyes on me,” he growled, breath skating across her lips. “Don’t watch it. Just feel.”
So she did. Chest heaving, Serenna looked only at him.
The world fell away as they hovered.
Lightning screamed from the clouds.
Serenna’s fingers tightened in his armor, but she didn’t glance away from the draconic jade blazing in his eyes.
Vesryn’s mouth crashed back into hers—and without severing the kiss, without tearing free, she flung her hand outward.
The bolt struck her palm, spitting sparks up her arm before she threw it aside, not caring where it fell.
The kiss deepened, wild and consuming, his tongue tracing hers in a clash of heat and want. Vesryn hauled her closer like he could fuse her body into his.
Then he laughed, low and wicked, and snapped his wings shut.
The sky tipped sideways, spinning as the world ripped them down.
Weightless, they plunged in a tangle of limbs. Serenna’s shriek trailed behind as the wind skinned her from the sky. Instinct howled, her wings bursting wide, thrashing for any hold against the fall.
“Vesryn!”
She twisted in his grip, fighting to right herself as they tumbled. But his hand locked behind her neck, forcing her eyes to his as they plummeted.
“Shift back,” he ordered.
“Are youinsane?”
Panic clawed up her spine as her wings caught nothing, gusts hammering into every joint as the membranes shuddered like torn sails.Each frantic beat scorched through her shoulders, but it wasn’t enough. Not to lift them. Not even to break the fall.
“Trust me,” Vesryn breathed. “Shift.Now.”
For one suspended heartbeat, trust felt like surrender. But something in his tone cut through the panic.
Teeth clenched, Serenna obeyed. She held her breath and banished her scales. Dismissed her wings.
Vesryn didn’t. The sky shoved them down, wind screaming in her ears.
Or maybe that was her.
Below, the ruins of an ancient city speared through a rising mist—a graveyard of towers and spires, crumbled stone gaping from the Maw.
Terror rose bitter at the back of Serenna’s throat, but Vesryn only crushed her closer, folding around her like living armor. His wings flared wide.
The drag hit like a fist to her chest, air blasting from her lungs as the plunge bled speed.
