Chapter 49 #2
Serenna couldn’t reach Fenn’s mind, not with the bond smothered. And even if she could, there were too many enemies poised to strike him from the sky.
He needed to flee.
She didn’t know how far he’d managed to portal Cinderax, only that it wouldn’t have been all the way to Asharyn. Someone had to make it back, to ensure the dragon and the Heart of Stars returned.
If Fenn didn’t leave now, he might not be able to at all.
The ache collided with fear, knowing he’d never leave her behind. Not while breath still burned in his lungs.
The fleet recovered with brutal speed, snatching Fenn’s fire midair and flinging it back like a spear.
Serenna didn’t hesitate.
Even knowing the shamans could seize her lightning in the same way, she gambled on surprise—because a heartbeat’s delay meant his capture. Or worse.
The spark in her chest ignited, cracking the sky open. Lightning branched down her spine, seared across her wings, and erupted from her talons as she called the storm. She unleashed a chain of sparks straight at the ship that had hurled Fenn’s fire against him.
Let it be enough, she begged.
Lightning collided into the deck with ravaging claws, catapulting splinters skyward. The mast toppled in a groan of timber, rigging and pulleys bursting apart.
Wreathed in flame, figures staggered through the smoke, their screams cut short. One by one, they fell as the hull reared against the ocean’s heave.
A second bolt kindled at her wing tips, fury and desperation fused into one last chance. Fenn could dive. Grab her. They could find Jassyn. Portal out. Escape. Or die trying.
Serenna bared her teeth and channeled the strike toward another ship.
But the lightning veered sideways, wrenched from her control. Anguish slammed inward as the rending bindings surged. Shadows raked deep into her nerves, delivering punishment.
Her ribs strained, crushing her lungs. Essence flayed her raw, scattering her breath. Darkness swallowed her vision. She convulsed against the restraints, thrashing as a scream shredded her throat.
The rending slackened, just enough for her to collapse to the deck. Shadows snapped taut again, crueler than before. Her wing talons scraped uselessly across blood-slick planks as her limbs spasmed, claimed wholly by pain.
She tried to move. To rise. To fight the betrayal tearing through her. But her muscles seized, fingers clawing at the deck as the edges of the world shattered white.
No. No, Saundyl wasn’t—
He wouldn’t—
Somehow, through the writhing wreck of her body, Serenna lifted her head. Chin dragging from the boards, she forced words through gritted teeth.
“Saundyl,” she gasped. “Please.”
He didn’t flinch. No hand raised, no mercy offered. Shadows seethed around his boots, tendrils lashing in time with her convulsions.
He only watched.
But for a heartbeat—just one—something flickered across his face. Guilt. Or resignation. She couldn’t tell.
It vanished as his magic surged, climbing to a new, unrelenting peak.
Serenna’s spine arched, nerves seared to flame. Blood pooled in her mouth, metallic and hot. Agony crashed through her in waves, shattering her mind on the tide.
Time unraveled. She could only count in pain, in spasms, in breath stolen.
When the torment ebbed, Serenna sagged against the deck, gasping. Shadows slid back into place, venomous and precise, pinning her limbs to the boards.
Something inside her cracked. Grief fossilized into fury, bleeding into defiance.
If this was the end, she wouldn’t meet it face down.
She had one reservoir left to fight with. One vessel of power not yet stripped.
The Starshard at her throat.
The tether smothered her Well, but perhaps she could still tap into what she’d stored within the shard.
She cast her mind outward, clinging to the gem’s weight where it hummed against her chest. That stockpile of Essence had been sealed away for a moment like this, when hope turned to ash.
Her focus narrowed, mind locking around the shard like a key sliding home.
The gem pulsed, then released the flood.
Serenna twisted the wave of shadows outward, cleaving through her bindings. Essence snarled as it gnashed her brother’s magic.
The restraints shattered.
She lurched upright, lightning clenched in her fists.
She tore off her tether, wings snapping wide, vengeance crackling through every joint.
Sparks laced across her arms, her own shadows climbing her spine like armor.
Her knees shook but held. For a breath, she stood unbroken, rage bracing her against the ring of soldiers.
She could fly.
Diving back into the gem, she seized portaling. Flinging a hand out, she ripped open a seam in the sky—aimed as close to Asharyn as she could reach.
They could escape. Regroup. Return with vengeance. Find Jassyn.
A plume of smoke streaked above the fleet.
Fenn.
Flames guttered along his wings as he plummeted. Tendrils of force trapped him in a net, yanking him toward a waiting ship.
Serenna’s breath broke, her heart plunging with him. Whatever plan she’d imagined vanished.
She was too late.
Chains of shadow lashed across her again—hurled by a dozen hands, coiling around her arms, her wings, her legs.
She struck back in frantic bursts, hurling the force of her Well and the Starshard’s power with wild, primal desperation. Essence flared. Lightning crackled. But for every strand she hacked and severed, two more knotted tighter, closing around her.
It was useless.
Still she fought, dragging more Essence from the shard even as it waned. Her portal collapsed as her power scattered.
Chest heaving, Serenna’s breath sawed through clenched teeth as the Starshard’s glow flickered and died.
Pinned back into place, she couldn’t even flinch as Saundyl emerged from the smoke. His hand shot out, fingers closing around the gem at her throat.
The chain sliced into her skin as he tore it away, the sudden emptiness cleaving fiercer than the cut. Serenna gasped, the jolt ripping through her chest, stealing what she hadn’t surrendered.
A piece of herself.
Behind him, the air convulsed. Essence converged, splitting open a portal above the deck, a scar against the white sails.
She didn’t know where it led. Only that she would be forced through.
“You were foolish, sister,” he said, voice low and cold, his fingers tightening around her Starshard, “to tie your Essence to something so easily claimed.”