Chapter 44
SERENNA
The Aerie’s sitting room door slammed open. Serenna jerked upright from lounging across a couch, eyes whipping to the entryway. Lykor stalked into the chambers.
With an irritated huff, she readjusted on the sofa, cradling a glowing mushroom. Already thoroughly bored with the evening, she stared out the windows, watching the sun flee from the sky.
A week had passed since the Lunar Solstice. Disappointment from the prince’s absence had waned like the twin crescents rising over the mountains. I’ll try to get my tether off again. Maybe Vesryn was busy in Kyansari.
Serenna ground her teeth. That circular thought offered no comfort. With Lykor readying the wraith to leave, time was the more pressing issue rather than her bruised feelings.
Upon hearing Lykor shed his cloak and seeming to settle in for the evening, Serenna’s quizzical gaze cut back to him. He tossed the snow-covered furs onto a chair. Snatching his gauntlet from the table—where Aesar had left it that morning—he shoved it onto his claw.
“Is your dramatic entrance necessary?” Serenna griped, secretly relieved that he hadn’t portaled directly into the sitting room. “Take off your shoes if you insist on stomping all over the place.”
Predictably, Lykor responded with a sizzling glare. He strode through the room, unexpectedly dropping to the other end of her couch. Serenna squawked, barely yanking her legs to her chest before he crushed her feet.
“What are you doing?” she snapped, swiveling to sit up.
Lykor grunted. “I’m sitting in my spot.” His gauntlet creaked as he unlaced his boots, the leather glossy like a crow’s plumage.
“You couldn’t have picked, I don’t know, one of the other four couches?” Serenna scoffed when he ignored her. Leaning back into the sofa, she idly traced the mushroom’s glowing gills.
A rustle of wings gliding down the spiral stairs announced Aiko’s arrival. Landing on Lykor, the vulpintera curled around his neck with a contented purr, rubbing her head under his chin. From her perch on Lykor’s shoulders, Aiko fastened her beady gaze on Serenna.
I didn’t want to pet you anyway, you vile bat. Serenna had settled onto the same sofa as Aiko earlier, earning a hiss before the vulpintera had retreated to Lykor’s bedroom. She pinched her lips at the pair of them, tossing the luminescent fungus to an end table with the others.
Fenn had been supplying caches of mushrooms before departing in the evenings.
The delivery had turned into a game of sorts—even after Serenna insisted that she didn’t need them.
Since giving him a talent, she’d gained some measure of enhanced wraith sight.
The stars trickling in through the windows provided sufficient light.
To humor Fenn, Serenna had begun asking for more obscure colors. She smirked at the cluster he’d collected today. One was nearly violet. Fenn had claimed his wraith eyes could see more hues than hers and argued it was the color she’d requested, refusing to hear otherwise.
Serenna turned her attention back to Lykor. “Why are you here?”
Lykor rolled his shoulders, reclining back into the couch. “I live here.”
“And what?” She hardly ever saw Lykor in the evenings. Usually Aesar spent his time with Kal. But Serenna didn’t voice her observation. “You’re blessing me with your presence tonight?” She sniffed. “I’d rather be alone.”
Lykor’s lip curled, the tips of his fangs capturing the final shards of sunlight.
Serenna considered throwing a mushroom at his head, annoyed with him for being as irritating as he was attractive.
At least he looks different enough from Vesryn.
I couldn’t live with him if he looked like the prince and…
Serenna let the reflection die. That’s terrible for me to think of considering what happened to him.
Lykor scratched Aiko behind her fluffy ears, drawing out a purr. Her eyes glittered in Serenna’s direction. Like she'd defend her roost if Serenna so much as dreamed of staking a claim on Lykor.
On the same end table as Serenna’s mushrooms, Lykor’s attention hooked on the Heart of Stars she’d been listening to earlier. His gaze flicked back to study the shimmering fungus. Serenna didn’t need to be untethered to sense him reaching conclusions about where her collection had come from.
“Fenn’s making progress with his ability,” Lykor commented. Conversationally.
“You’re chatty this evening.” Serenna’s voice dripped with false sweetness. “Shall I make tea while you tell me about your day?”
“Aesar was out today,” Lykor muttered. Elaborating.
As easy as it would’ve been for Serenna to despise her captor, something inside of her still softened. Fenn had mentioned that Aesar and Lykor were attempting to divide their time. I can’t imagine sharing my life with another like they do.
Serenna decided against being snide, carrying on with Lykor’s previous comment. “Fenn is…” How do I describe him? She grabbed a mushroom, twirling it by the stem. “Fenn has made a habit of using force for everything.”
A more accurate way to define how he wielded Essence would be “annoying.” That afternoon, he was the one to launch a snow drift on her head before she could summon the elements to halt the freezing tide of flakes.
Though Serenna assumed Fenn would figure out maddening ways to utilize even an innocent talent such as mending.
It wasn’t fair how he’d manifested his magic so fast. “I’m almost regretting giving him that power now,” Serenna mumbled, staring out the window as the tranquil stars blossomed across the sky.
Lykor’s eyes thinned in Serenna’s direction. Assessing. “Why did you?” he asked, unbinding his hair, shaking the fringes away from his face. Aiko batted at a stray strand like a cat pawing a string.
Guilt from deceiving Fenn still clung to Serenna like the hoarfrost on the windows. She shrugged, withholding the truth. “It seemed like a better use for Essence since…” She waved her golden shackle between them.
Lykor’s jaw clenched, the ticking in his cheek suggesting she’d struck a nerve. He barked and bit out every word. “Do you want to take the tether off?”
“No.” Serenna lifted her chin, despite feeling like it was practically an offer, rather than a challenge. She set the fungus back on the table, crossing her arms. “I don’t want you in my head.”
Lykor made a show of rolling his eyes.
And wouldn’t it be fitting if he forced me to ditch the gold and Vesryn finally appeared?
Serenna reached for an easy escape, picking up the Heart of Stars.
She hoped it was enough to keep Lykor away from contemplating her power and the tether.
For all of his browbeating to find another relic, he’d all but abandoned this one on the dining table like it was nothing more than a decoration.
“What are you doing fiddling with that trinket?” Lykor asked, right on cue.
The topic change had the tension in Serenna’s arms dissolving. “You’ve been away in that jungle while Fenn and I have been searching the fortress for weeks.” She relaxed into the couch. “If there are any clues about where the other artifacts might be, couldn’t the Heart tell us?”
“And has it blessed you with some miraculous insight?” Lykor sarcastically asked. Aiko stretched, flapping her wings before winding down the front of Lykor’s chest to curl up on his lap. “Or have you picked up the habit of prattling like your lieutenant companion?”
Serenna scowled. “You’re the one who asked.”
“What is it saying then?“ Lykor prompted, apparently lowering himself to engaging.
Sighing as if he’d demanded a tedious favor, Serenna held the relic to her ear. She frowned, acting like she heard something aside from the poem.
Lykor leaned closer, burning her with his stare. “What is it saying?” he repeated with increasing interest.
Serenna shushed him, eyes darting, like she was absorbing every word. Letting her jaw go slack, she met Lykor’s gaze with awe.
“It says you’re a prick.”
Lykor barked out an explosive laugh. Serenna glared at him, slouching into the sofa. I should’ve known he’d be amused.
Attention wholly on scratching Aiko under the chin, Lykor asked, “Have you tried asking the Heart where the others are?”
“Of course I’ve tried,” Serenna snapped. A blatant lie. And Lykor knew it, judging by his arching brow, the action pinching her chest as it reminded her of Vesryn. “What would you ask the dragons?” she volleyed back.
“Ask it, specifically, if there are Hearts hidden in the ancient druid capitals.” Lykor cracked his neck. “Start with the jungle and the volcano.”
Serenna studied the artifact, chewing on her lip as the repeating verses droned on in her head. “How would I do that?”
“I don’t know,” Lykor growled. “That’s a voice I’m not privileged to hear inside of my skull.” He waved his gauntlet. “Send a thought into it. Surely you can manage that.”
Serenna pursed her lips, focusing on the crystal’s depths. The riddle floated over her like snowflakes on the wind.
Greetings, young draka, hear our plight,
New hatchlings from earth and starlight.
Feeling absolutely ridiculous, Serenna interrupted the words. Greetings great dragon, master of skies… She faltered, having no clever rhyme.
Serenna sucked in a breath when the Heart ceased its chanting. Whispers lingered at the corners of her mind, giving her the impression of a silent beast rearing its head at a whiff of prey.
Scalp prickling, Serenna hurried on with Lykor’s questions. Do you know what happened to the Hearts? You spoke of the galaxy whelps hiding the relics after binding your power. Did the druids steal any back in the war?
An unfamiliar voice uncoiled in her thoughts, a snake stretching in the sun. The lilt was higher, but no less guttural than the one that had been intoning before. Pulse thundering, Serenna went rigid, fingers blanching from clenching the artifact.
Hatchling of earth and starlight, we do not know what has passed while chained to dreams, blind to the events of time’s tapestry.
Serenna ripped her eyes away from the depths of the crystal as a shadow formed and shimmered into an outline—a great serpent unfolding its wings.
She glanced at Lykor, receiving his expectant stare.
Turning her attention back to the relic, she asked, Would the druids have hidden the Hearts in the volcano or jungle cities?
If the druid tribes subdued the whelps from the stars, it is possible they concealed the Hearts in their domains.
A shadow darted in Serenna’s mind, a reflection of a reflection, almost giving her the impression of a dragon’s form as it spoke.
Search in tempest’s eye, where fury reigns; nature’s roots, the shade of a glade; or volcano’s core, where flames cascade.
The presence dimmed, like one returning to the soft embrace of sleep.
Do you have more information? Where can we find you? Serenna hurried to ask.
Our places of slumber are scattered like the stars. Young draka, return the Hearts—unbind…
Hands shaking, Serenna blew out a held breath as the voice faded. Bracing herself, she turned to Lykor, repeating what she’d heard.
“That fucking glade,” Lykor muttered to himself along with a string of entertaining words that Serenna tucked away for later use. Aiko crawled up his armor, settling on the rim of the sofa. Watching her. “You’re going to search the Slag,” he ordered, rubbing his temples.
“Right now?” She and Fenn hadn’t ventured there. For obvious reasons, not feeling the need to explore the volcano’s magma chambers.
“Yes, right now.” Lykor sat up, suddenly stern. “What else are you doing? Staring at your thumbs?”
Glaring since she didn’t have a rebuttal, Serenna flung a finger in the gesture she’d learned from him.
“Where’s Fenn?” Lykor glanced around, as if only now noticing her guard’s absence.
Serenna shrugged, telling herself she couldn’t be bothered to care. Probably the Lagoon.
She rolled her eyes when Lykor ripped open the sitting room door with a burst of force. Two of Fenn’s sisters hesitantly peeked in from their post.
“Where’s the lieutenant?” Lykor barked, stomping his boots on as Essence vibrated off of him.
Fenn’s sisters shared a nervous glance at Lykor’s magic. Rank silently elected the one wearing more earrings to speak. “He’s typically at the Lagoon at this hour.”
Lykor rose and opened a portal. He gently petted Aiko a final time, the gesture so at odds with his acidic command. “Take the elf and tell that oaf to stop fucking around. He’s back on duty until they locate the Heart.”
Serenna scoffed, folding her arms. “And where are you running off to, dearly bonded?”
“I’m returning to that fucking jungle.” Lykor cinched his shoulders. “Find the Heart here. Swim through that lake of fire if you have to. As soon as we retrieve the relics, we’re crossing the Wastes and leaving this stars-forsaken place.”