Chapter 38 #2
And somehow—though he lay unconscious—Fenn’s magic answered, threading through the weave as naturally as if it had always belonged there. Questions rose at the edge of Serenna’s concentration, but she let them scatter.
“He wasn’t even supposed to be there,” Vesryn said, watching the blood trace a slow descent down Fenn’s temple. “I was too busy fighting off a razorwing and missed a bolt of lightning. It clipped Naru’s wing.”
He glanced toward the dracovae, remorse twisting his face. Serenna caught a shard of the memory—sparks turning flight feathers to ash, Naru’s screech ripping through the chaos as he fought to stay aloft.
“Then that sky-maggot knocked me off,” Vesryn continued. “Couldn’t get my own wings under me.”
A breath escaped him that only pretended to be a scoff.
“Fenn reached me before I hit the ground.” With a wince he shifted, charred leathers creaking against stone. “He tried to warp us clear, but lightning hit as we jumped. Blew us both out of the sky. We slammed into these peaks.”
Serenna let Vesryn’s voice roll past her as she worked, brushing damp strands of hair from Fenn’s brow.
A gash curved from the point of his ear to the back of his skull where bone had nearly split.
She pressed her fingers to the bruised echo of impact, guiding Essence beneath his skin in a steady pour until the swelling began to subside.
Then she sent the current deeper—soothing bruised ribs, coaxing torn wing membranes back into alignment, and finally setting the shattered wreckage of both legs.
“If I would’ve just been faster,” Vesryn said, his voice tightening into its familiar spiral. “Diverted the lightning before—”
“Then you’d be the one we’re mending,” Serenna cut in gently. “And you’d hate that even more if Fenn were the one piecing you together.”
Vesryn didn’t argue, but stubborn denial bristled through the bond.
“He shouldn’t have done that for me,” he muttered, sinking back on his heels.
Silence pooled between them as evening crept into the hollows of the Maw, shadows stretching long across the stone.
Serenna rolled her shoulders, leaning more heavily on Vesryn’s power now that her own gem’s reserves were guttering out.
When the final fractures in Fenn’s legs drew shut, he stirred beneath her palms.
A dramatic groan rumbled from his chest, followed by a sharp intake of breath. His eyes snapped open, wild and unfocused, and for a heartbeat she wasn’t certain he saw either of them.
Fenn lurched upright.
The motion blurred, talons flying to his head. Not to the place she’d mended, but to the uninjured side, digging in as though the blow had landed there instead.
His claw lingered a moment before sliding down to grip his left shoulder, which hadn’t been harmed at all.
“Fenn,” Serenna said softly, setting a hand on his arm. “It’s okay, you’re…”
The rest caught in her throat as his eyes flared, finding her with startling clarity before whipping toward Vesryn.
“Why…” His voice rasped before he cleared it. “Why can I feel the princeling’s shoulder?”
A cold prickle sluiced down Serenna’s spine. Vesryn flinched as if struck, his unswollen eye widening as he searched Fenn’s face.
In a breathless rush, Serenna asked, “What do you mean?”
Even as the words left her mouth, something misaligned tugged at the frayed edge of her awareness. In the hollow of her Well, the two familiar bonds gleamed silver, each anchored to a different heart.
They should never have touched.
And yet…
They had twined together.
Serenna’s stomach plunged. “Vesryn,” she pressed, her voice sharpening. “Can you feel him too?”
Vesryn didn’t look at her. Still staring at Fenn, his expression wavered, denial and dawning striking him in the same breath. “I thought I was sensing what you felt from him. Through your bond. Like an echo. Or something.”
He shook his head slowly before reaching for Fenn’s chest, fingers pressing into the scorched scraps of armor. Fenn’s brows rose, but he didn’t move—slipping into that unnerving wraith stillness, all coiled vigilance and unblinking calm.
Serenna sensed the faint stir of Vesryn’s power being drawn through the Starshard clenched in his fist. A sliver of Essence probed outward before a pulse of pressure cracked through the air.
Both males jerked back in the same instant, limbs seizing as though a current had ripped straight through them.
“What was that for?” Fenn growled, rubbing his sternum.
“I tried to sever it,” Vesryn said, every word clipped. “Like a bond. But…it’s twisted together.” He tossed his Starshard to the ground, his glare swinging to her. “You try to unravel it. You’re the one who linked us.”
“I didn’t bond you two together,” Serenna protested. “You watched me—I was just healing! What if the Starshards—”
“Just undo it!” Vesryn snapped.
Fenn’s eyes narrowed, his lip curling in a shape that felt like a dare. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about that shoulder you’re pretending doesn’t hurt?”
“I’m fine,” Vesryn gritted out, yanking his hand from the arm he’d been cradling—a movement far too sharp to be convincing. “There are more pressing matters.”
Fenn’s grin edged toward feral. “There will be in a moment.”
Before Serenna could voice a warning, he seized Vesryn’s dislocated arm and wrenched it outward. One brutal jerk down and the joint rammed back into place with a jarring pop that sent phantom pain searing through her own shoulder.
“Fuck!” Vesryn’s snarl tore free as he toppled back, clutching his arm. “I hope you felt that!”
“I feel a lot more than that.” Fenn’s fangs flashed. “Beg me not to die again, princeling, and we’ll have more than a bond problem.”
Vesryn bared his teeth, jaw working as he jabbed a finger at Fenn. He turned toward Serenna instead. “Just…dispel it.”
Serenna forced herself to ignore them—Vesryn’s fraying temper, the taunting heat in Fenn’s voice. She set her palm over Fenn’s chest and reached for the thrum tying them together. She focused on the braided silver cord and tugged.
The backlash struck like lightning raking her veins, lancing up her arm. She gasped and tore her hand away.
“Well?” Vesryn demanded, his voice sharpened by something perilously close to panic.
Serenna’s fingers tingled as she clasped the Starshard at her throat. “I…I don’t know how to untangle it.”
Fenn snorted. “So all of our magics are bonded now?”
“No.” Serenna’s denial rose too fast, tripping over itself before truth settled cold. “I don’t know.”
Vesryn dragged a hand through the hair the fire hadn’t burned away. “There has to be a way to unravel it.”
“Maybe there’s not.” Fenn bumped Vesryn’s shoulder with his. “Perhaps you’re stuck with me, princeling.”
Vesryn scowled. “This isn’t funny.”
“It’s a little funny.”
Serenna dug her fists into her eyes, steadying her breath.
“Vesryn,” she said slowly, lifting her gaze.
“You told me once that the entire Aelfyn race used to be bonded. What if I—what if we accidentally recreated that? With the Starshards.” She swept a hand through the charged space between them, where a faint hum lingered like a held note.
“Whatever happened didn’t behave like normal bonding magic.
What else might we do with the gems without meaning to? ”
“Who knows,” Vesryn growled, snatching his discarded Starshard from the ground and shoving it back into his leathers.
“It can’t get worse than this.” His glare stayed locked on Fenn, though the bite in his words had dulled, the fight already bleeding out.
“I don’t even know if having you two tangled together in my head means it functions like a proper bond. ”
He broke off. Color drained from his face. Slowly, horror dragged his gaze toward Fenn.
“Don’t panic, princeling. I’m not rooting around in your thoughts…yet.”
Serenna flinched. “Did you say that to me?”
Fenn blinked. “No. That was for—”
“I heard him too,” Vesryn gritted out, fingers clenching on his knees.
Fenn sat up straighter. “You both can hear me?”
“Stop yelling in my head!”
“I wasn’t—”
“Enough!” Serenna’s shriek tore free as she clutched her skull. “Both of you—just shut up. One second. Please.”
Silence crashed in, but the twined cord—or whatever it was—vibrated with Vesryn’s dread and Fenn’s amusement.
“Stars,” Serenna whispered. “This isn’t a bond.”
“No,” Vesryn said, his words gone hollow. “It’s a fucking curse.”