Chapter 43
SERENNA
Serenna’s balcony doors hung ajar, the night breeze stirring the sheer curtains in rippling waves.
A handful of illumination globes drifted overhead in lazy arcs, their pale glow circling like miniature moons.
The air carried scents of the bathing pools she and Vesryn had visited after dinner—heated stones and mineral salts, the lavender oil lingering on her skin.
On the bed beside her, Vesryn propped himself up on one elbow, shirtless still, druid-woven trousers slung low on his hips.
Starlight slid across the newly shorn side of his scalp, the sharp line of it drawing her eye before she could pretend she hadn’t noticed.
It made him look wilder somehow, dangerously handsome in a way that heated her chest. Though she’d never admit it aloud unless she wanted to endure a week of his gloating.
“Did you see Jassyn’s neck?” Vesryn asked, smirking as he shoved aside a tangled heap of pillows to make room between them.
The memory of those fang marks had Serenna releasing a quiet laugh before she could stop it. “I…tried not to stare.”
“Now I need constant mental barricades,” Vesryn muttered. “Jassyn is hopeless at shielding when he’s…you know.”
“Distracted?” Serenna offered, lips twitching. “By Lykor?”
Vesryn huffed. “More like blasting desire down the bond so forcefully I nearly feel it myself.”
She rolled onto her side to face him, brushing her knee against his over the sheets. “You poor, dramatic prince,” she teased. “I’d wager you’ve put Jassyn through worse.”
“Maybe.” Vesryn’s smirk faded into something quieter, the humor draining from his face.
“But tell me, what stars did I offend to end up juggling a bond with Fenn?” He groaned and dragged a pillow over his face, the words coming muffled.
“At least you know what it’s like to block out whatever he’s up to at the Oasis with Koln. ”
Serenna’s gaze drifted to the balcony, to the sweep of night beyond it. Fenn’s presence hovered across the star-flecked horizon, dim but distinct in the back of her thoughts.
Koln had invited her to the Oasis again, and she knew Fenn would’ve liked her there. But she’d stayed behind because she wanted to spend this last evening with Vesryn before dawn sent her to the opposite corner of the realms.
When she didn’t answer, Vesryn peeked at her from beneath the pillow. “How…does that work with you three?”
“I’m not a part of their dynamic,” Serenna said, smoothing a faint crease in the linens.
“Fenn and Koln are committed to each other, but they keep their other ties separate. Fenn isn’t fond of Koln’s partners, and says he and Koln don’t last long in each other’s presence.
They either fight or—” She cleared her throat, heat rising to her cheeks.
“But they’ve found what works for them, even if I don’t quite understand it. ”
Vesryn lay quiet before murmuring, “Where I was raised, changing partnerships is common. Elves always say we live too long to expect desire to stay bound to one person forever. It’s just…I’ve never cared like this before. Not for anyone.”
A warmth unfurled low in Serenna’s chest as Vesryn shifted closer, his knuckles brushing down her arm. She hadn’t expected the weight of his admission to settle so gently beneath her ribs.
“Back in the capital,” he continued, “I chased anything that felt like living—pleasure, power, distractions that vanished by morning.” His thumb skimmed absently over her skin.
“But when I thought I’d lost Aesar…” He shook his head, breath shuddering out.
“After that, all I wanted was vengeance. I didn’t think I deserved anything softer.
Not after failing the only ones who mattered. ”
His gaze drifted away from hers. “Maybe some part of me still believes that’s true. That I’ll always be unworthy. That I missed my one chance to be anything else.”
Serenna felt the ache move through him before he finished speaking, a familiar, self-inflicted wound she’d sensed him carry before.
“You’re not unworthy,” she whispered as she reached for his hand, threading her fingers through his. “Not to me.”
In the soft haze of the hovering illumination, his eyes lifted again—unshielded, unguarded, his usual defenses stripped away.
His voice came quiet, calloused palm warm in her own. “It isn’t about being the only one. Not really. It’s knowing I’m not shut out. Even when I sense what you feel for Fenn, I still know you care for me. That I have a place. That’s what makes this all bearable.”
A muscle feathered in his jaw and Serenna squeezed his hand, unwilling to let him retreat behind his walls.
“And now thanks to this new Starshard bond,” Vesryn mumbled, “I get the pleasure of sensing how Fenn cares for you too.” He blew out a breath, half exasperated, half resigned. “How could I not respect someone who protects you and centers his world around you?”
Guilt pressed in Serenna’s throat, a hollow ache she couldn’t swallow down. Vesryn had given her nothing but honesty, and all she had offered in return was another thread of complication woven tight between them.
“I meant what I said in the Maw,” she murmured. “We can find a way to undo whatever bound us with the gems.”
“We don’t have to solve everything tonight. And with you leaving in the morning…” Vesryn trailed off, his fingers tightening around hers. “It helps, a little. Being able to sense where you both are. It’s almost like I won’t be so far away.”
The fracture in his voice cracked her open. Serenna lifted her hand to his jaw, thumb tracing his cheek, and leaned in. She sank into the heat between them, care and desire folding into the quiet they’d claimed from the night.
Before their lips brushed, a gust tore through the open balcony doors, sweeping the curtains wide in a sudden rush of wind. A thud struck the stone outside, followed by the rustle of wings snapping shut. Serenna’s hand lingered on Vesryn’s cheek as both of them turned.
Her pulse quickened.
Fenn slipped through the curtains like a shadow ferried by the night. As he crossed into the chamber, he reached up, scraping his talons along the entryway. Wind raked through his hair, teasing his tunic open along his chest.
When his eyes landed on them tucked together under the hovering illumination, he didn’t blink. His brow lifted, a smirk unfurling slowly.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt,” Fenn said lightly.
Serenna drew away from Vesryn and let her mental walls fall, allowing Fenn’s presence to seep through more clearly.
A thin ache snagged against her ribs—a flicker that wasn’t quite jealousy, but the sting of arriving too late to a moment already forming without him.
Perhaps one he hadn’t belonged to, and maybe wasn’t meant to.
Fenn rubbed the back of his neck as a pulse of unease hummed where their minds brushed, the claws at the tips of his wings curling tight.
Ready at last to untangle this knot she’d tied between them all, Serenna’s mouth parted.
But before she could force the words past her tongue, Fenn tipped them a nod and wove back through the curtains, wings flexing for flight.
A clean retreat, offering no conflict, as if disappearing into the night might undo the fact that he’d been there at all.
Vesryn’s hand tensed against hers, then pulled free as he flopped back onto the pillows with a groan. Pressing his palms hard to his eyes, he muttered, “Fucking stars,” before lifting his head to shout toward the balcony. “Fenn! Just…stay.”
Fenn’s silhouette halted mid-step, the stillness sudden enough that Serenna’s breath hitched in response. For a moment, she thought he might pretend he hadn’t heard, vanish as swiftly as he’d arrived.
But then his weight shifted, and he glanced over his shoulder. “Stay?” he echoed, head cocking as if to test whether he’d imagined the invitation.
With a shrug, he dispelled his wings and ducked once more into the room. “But fair warning, princeling—our she-elf claims I’ll never master restraint.”
The word ‘our’ landed as a soft shock beneath Serenna’s skin, blooming heat in her chest.
Fenn crossed the chamber with a feral curve of his mouth, already peeling out of his tunic and kicking his boots aside. For all his swagger, there was a heartbeat where his eyes flicked to Vesryn—a silent weighing, as if making certain his welcome hadn’t been mistaken.
Then, with a grin sharp as a blade, he winked at the prince and loosened the ties at his waist, trousers slipping free in an unapologetic drop that bared him completely.
“And I’m already regretting this,” Vesryn grumbled, rolling onto his side. He flung an arm across his eyes and extinguished the hovering illumination orbs. “We need boundaries,” he added flatly as the room plunged into darkness. “Starting with you not undressing this close to my face.”
“Didn’t realize I held so much power unclothed,” Fenn quipped as he slid beneath the covers and folded himself against Serenna’s other side.
The mattress dipped under his weight as he slung an arm around her waist and tangled a leg with hers.
“But if you’re that flustered,” Fenn murmured, leaning over her to brush Vesryn’s shoulder, “I can always take it slow.”
Vesryn snarled and knocked him aside. “Touch me again and see how fast you lose that claw.”
Fenn chuckled, his eyes flaring just enough to cast a faint glow across the bed. “Will you always get this worked up when I’m nude, or is tonight going to be special?”
Serenna felt Vesryn turn back toward them in the dark. “Believe me,” he muttered, “nothing about this feels special on my end.”
“Interesting,” Fenn drawled, voice dropping, suggestion thick as smoke. “I thought we were finally bonding. Oh wait—we already did that.”
Vesryn growled and scooted away toward the edge of the bed. “Stars, do you ever shut up?”
Serenna’s laugh caught in her throat as she reached for the prince, curling her fingers around his and drawing him back until her chest pressed to his spine. With a weary sigh, Vesryn melted into her hold, body curving to settle against hers.
Behind her, Fenn yawned and nuzzled closer, his mouth finding the hollow of her neck as his palm settled warm at her hip.
The three of them lay entwined in the dark as their breaths leveled out. Serenna knew dawn would break them apart, but she closed her eyes anyway and sank into this borrowed moment of calm.