Breath sharp in her throat, Serenna followed, wings tucked tight to her spine. As her boots struck, wind slammed into her, snatching at the leathery membranes. Stumbling, she shifted, shedding her wings before they dragged her over the edge.
By the time she steadied herself, Jassyn and Fenn had touched down, their scales and wings disappearing. On the rim’s narrow edge, the four of them stood, balanced between glass and sky.
Fenn turned slowly, eyes flaring as he focused on the lake below. “File my fangs,” he swore, pointing across the water. “They’re nearly in the Maw already. Ten ships. Maybe more. Sailing fast from the west.”
Serenna’s heart lurched. She followed his line of sight, squinting at the horizon, but saw nothing beyond lightning skittering across the surface.
“The rangers?” she asked, unable to sense the prince while tethered.
“They shouldn’t be far,” Jassyn said, adjusting his bracers. “We have to trust that they’ll slow the fleet. But it won’t be enough if those razorwings arrive.”
Serenna nodded and followed Cinderax closer to the crystalline disc. Multifaceted like a gem, each pane sparked as lightning fractured through the layers, the pulses climbing the lattice beneath their feet.
All breath abandoned her chest when her eyes landed on a shape coiled at the base of the mountain hundreds of feet below.
Skylash.
Serenna could barely make out obsidian scales glinting where lightning raced across the dragon’s frame.
Cinderax lifted his head toward the clouds, leathery frills tugged by the wind.“I sent word to Kaedryn that her legion can enter the Maw,”he rumbled.“This is the moment. We strike now.”
Light speared upward without warning, too fast to dodge.
Serenna flinched, but instinct moved faster than thought. Her hand snapped out as the bolt erupted through a crack in the surface.
Jassyn’s hand shot forward beside hers. The current split between them, forking in a burst of heat and static.
Sparks coiled up Serenna’s arm before she flung the charge skyward. Jassyn’s current followed hers, the twin charges vanishing into the clouds in a blinding flash.
“You were right,” Serenna said, vision still burning as she met Jassyn’s eyes. “The Maw’s storm is bleeding from her. After all this time…”
Whatever questions and wonder tried to rise withered as movement caught her eye. Sails breached the horizon, close enough now for her to make out.
One ship. Then another. A line of them growing, drawing closer.
They were out of time.
Serenna’s hands shook as she drew her Starshard from beneath her armor. She hesitated before asking Cinderax, “Is channeling sunfire the best way to break through the crystal?”
“It’s more than crystal,”the dragon said, prowling further onto the platform.“This is ancient Aelfyn architecture—woven and corrupted into a prison.”Light warped beneath his talons as he peered into the storm.“But wield your starlight with intent—as you did with the eggs—and a way below may open.”
Serenna moved beside him, dread winding tighter around her ribs. She saw no path down, only layer upon layer of angled glass, lightning writhing through the panes.
And at the nexus of it all, Skylash waited.
Serenna’s pulse stuttered. She’d done this before—more than once—but Kaedryn had stood ready to intervene if she lost control. And in the Bramblemaw den, Vesryn had hauled her back into her body before the sunfire devoured her.
If she faltered now, it wouldn’t just be her that burned. But there wasn’t time to wait for the prince to arrive.
Serenna glanced toward Fenn and Jassyn.
Fenn met her eyes and rolled his shoulders,fire sparking around his talons. “We’ve got you, she-elf,” he said as scales rippled into place across his arms. “We’ll keep the sky off your back while you call your magics.”
As Fenn launched flares of fire into the sky to signal Vesryn and the rangers, Jassyn gave a single nod. He grimaced as obsidian plates swept down his throat. “I’ll handle the lightning from below. You focus on the crystal.”
With an unsteady exhale, Serenna tugged the golden ring from her finger. Silence persisted with no bonds rushing back to meet her—not while Fenn and Vesryn still wore their tethers. Slipping the metal into her satchel, she brushed the Heart of Stars, ensuring it remained tucked safe inside.
She drew a slow breath. Then another. On the third, scales rippled across her skin, forging armor.
