Chapter 28
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 the audacity.
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 to kill him.
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.
As if this were only sport. Like she wouldn’t die if she lost.
Before she could prepare—let alone respond—a pulse of Essence burst from the prince, punching the sky with a taunt.
Serenna’s heart seized, the clawed tips of her wings snapping shut as she sensed the storm turn. Its eye locked onto him. Wind rushed back as the sky split open. Blinding and merciless, a bolt of light forked downward—aimed straight for his heart.
Vesryn didn’t dodge. Didn’t shield.
Realization struck like a blow, and Serenna flung out a hand. “You stars-cursed bastard!”
Reaching for the static, she wrenched the lightning off its path. The current veered toward her, slamming harmlessly against her palm even as she flinched from the impact.
Breath tearing through her chest, Serenna hurled the bolt back into the clouds. The lightning twisted into the storm, swallowed by the writhing lattice of sparks.
“Try to keep up!” Vesryn shouted before she could swear at him again.
He became a blur, arrowing deeper into the Maw, wings cleaving reckless arcs. Essence flared just as erratically around him, a crackling beacon daring the tempest to strike.
Above, another charge kindled. The sky seethed, a roiling mass of black and gray fissured with light. Clouds convulsed as another burst of lightning lanced toward him.
A hiss tore through Serenna’s teeth as she tucked her wings and dove after him, slicing through the battering currents.
Reaching again, she snatched the bolt a heartbeat before it hit him. Sparks thrashed around her arm before she cast the current aside. The lightning struck a distant crag and shattered stone, an explosive echo rolling like thunder as they streaked past.
Serenna’s muscles burned as the wind howled around her, rattling her scales and jolting her with every tilt. The air turned punishing, currents of heat and cold trading blows until every joint screamed to hold her aloft.
Yet a reckless hunger rose to meet the storm. The beastblood in her veins hadn’t affected her much before, but now it reared its head at Vesryn’s challenge—the way he dangled himself before the lightning, trusting her to steal its fury before it struck.
He’d always done this, pushed her to the edge. Not to break her or watch her fall, but to see if she’d rise.
The wind carried Vesryn’s laugh as he circled wide. “You’re getting faster!”
“And you’re getting stupider!” Serenna shot back, though she couldn’t hide the grin tugging at her mouth.
Smirking, Vesryn twisted midair to face her, flying backward with infuriating ease. “You asked for practice.” He launched another flare of Essence skyward. “I’m just giving you something to work with.”
“I doubt Jassyn’s going to taunt the storm—unlike you!” Serenna banked after him as he vanished behind a shattered peak.
But he wasn’t wrong. Better to master the elements now than falter when she flew in earnest with Jassyn at dawn.
Heart pounding hard enough to bruise her ribs, Serenna chased after the prince. As the next blinding bolt speared down to smite him, the claws on her wing tips reached.
The talons raked skyward, and the lightning banked. She felt the charge before it struck—a shudder echoing through her membranes as the lightning leapt into her waiting claws.
Twin orbs of static pooled between her wings, hissing with leashed heat. Gritting her teeth, Serenna drew the current across her shoulders and down her arms, unraveling the energy strand by strand until the sparks dissolved into the wind.
“You’re more prepared than you think,” Vesryn called, wheeling back toward her. “You’re ready for what waits ahead.”
Wind tore silver hair across his brow, lightning flickering wild across his eyes. He banked around her, close enough that the downstroke of his wings struck hers.
A rush of air knocked her off balance before she caught herself.
Holding her gaze, he looped again—closer this time—circling with the precision of a predator. The claws on their wings grazed in passing, talons striking together like blades kissing in the dark.
Every muscle drew taut as Serenna tracked him, bracing for whatever he might unleash next.
But when Vesryn swooped, she still wasn’t ready.
He snatched her by the waist with those calloused hands and yanked her against his chest. Need slammed through the bond like the collision itself.
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 you insane?”
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.
The ruined structures still rushed closer. Vesryn twisted, forcing her above him. Chest to chest, his arms locked around her, his body a shield between her and the earth.
His wings vanished. Serenna squeezed her eyes shut as a decapitated spire rose to meet them. She sensed a shockwave of Essence detonating from the prince, a concussive burst of force that arrested their descent in one violent breath.
She pried her eyes open to find them hovering inches above the fractured floor of a broken tower.
Vesryn released his power.
They struck the ground.
So did the lightning.
The sky cracked open through the spire’s shattered crown. A bolt plunged after them, still hunting.
With the last scrap of awareness she possessed, Serenna snatched the current and wrenched it sideways.
Stone erupted, shards of rock splintering outward as the charge punched through an archway. Cracks fissured across the floor, debris raining down as the ruin groaned beneath them.
When the echoes finally died, the only sound left was Serenna’s heartbeat, pounding against the breath between their chests.
Above, lightning seethed through the bruised sky. Silent now, but waiting.
The fear, the drop, the impossible stop—all of it crashed through her at once. With no more distance left to fall, a raw sound broke free, half laugh, half sob. Serenna’s lungs caught, then found air again as she collapsed against Vesryn’s chest.
On his back, the prince lifted his head to meet her eyes. “Still alive?”
“Yes, you reckless idiot!” Serenna hissed, slamming her palm against his armor. “I’m not even going to ask why you did that.”
She started to push herself upright, but Vesryn snagged her wrist before she could pull away. His eyes—bright from flight—locked onto hers, green fire flickering through the gloom.
“Slap me like you mean it.”
Serenna stilled, her pulse rioting beneath his thumb.
“Or do you need a little more incentive, princess? Maybe if I—”
Her hand cracked across his cheek, snapping his head to the side. Palm stinging, the sound rang through the hollow tower.
Slowly, the prince turned back to her, breath shallow, lips parted. The chaos in his eyes had burned away, replaced by something far more ravenous.
Vesryn seized her waist. The world tilted as he flipped her beneath him. Stone struck hard against Serenna’s spine as his weight pinned her, stealing the air from her lungs.
His mouth crashed into hers, rough and claiming, the taste of him still wild from the storm.