Page 11

CHAPTER 11

SERENNA

S erenna locked eyes with Vesryn as Fenn ushered Jassyn down a darkened tunnel, the air charged with unspoken words. She resisted the urge to hurl a berating thought at Fenn for unnecessarily poking the prince’s pride. Now, the fallout was hers to handle—a male nursing raw knuckles, bruised ribs, and a wounded ego.

Vesryn exhaled unevenly, still wrestling with his temper as she pushed herself to her feet.

“Do you want me to mend you?” Serenna ventured, the question cautious.

“I’m fine,” Vesryn clipped, cutting off any further offer.

He rolled his shoulders stiffly, a faint wince betraying his effort to appear unaffected. Dismissing his injuries, he swept his gaze over her, the weight of it sending heat across her cheeks.

A furrow of uncertainty tugged at his brows. “You’re different,” he said at last, softer now.

Serenna steadied herself, digging her nails into her palms. “A lot has happened.”

“Did he hurt you?” Vesryn asked, his tone measured, yet edged with something sharp.

Serenna couldn’t tell if he meant Lykor or Fenn. “When I portaled here, Lykor and I had a…misunderstanding.” She forced herself to hold his eyes. “In a way, we worked it out, but he took my power when—”

“He what ?” Vesryn snarled.

His fury lashed through the bond, the sudden drop of his mental wall a thunderous clap that rattled through Serenna’s skull. She stiffened as the overwhelming force of his presence flooded her mind.

In an instant, the prince closed the distance, his rough hands cupping her face. “He’s the reason your eyes are ringed with red?” His voice wavered, trembling with rage, fingers shaking as he brushed back a strand of her hair. “I should have known that beast was the one who began turning you into a wraith.”

Serenna placed her hands gently over his, wading through the onslaught of his outburst. “The coercion—” She stopped herself. Lykor had initially pilfered her power on his own. “He did what he thought was necessary. To protect his people.”

“There’s no excuse for this.” Vesryn’s grip flexed before he released her and stepped back, as though distance might temper his rage. “I’ll make him return your talent. Or I’ll talk to Aesar and have him do it.” His jaw tightened while his frustration bled into the silence. “My mother explained…” Face falling, he shook his head and trailed off.

Serenna let the subject drop, knowing Vesryn wouldn’t change Lykor’s mind. She bit back the impulse to steer the conversation to why she’d portaled to Lykor in the first place. Now wasn’t the time.

Fingers twitching at his sides, Vesryn scanned the cavern as more wraith warriors filtered in, the volume of their conversations increasing around the tables. “We should talk somewhere else.” The command left no room for refusal.

A portal spiraled open, rippling like a midnight sky as it carved through the air. Serenna blinked when the prince extended his hand instead of charging through with his usual expectation of her to follow. Clasping his palm, she stepped into the black veil, heading into the unknown.

Before she could collect her bearings, another rift gaped open, dragging her through darkness. Realm after realm blurred past until they emerged into stillness.

Serenna’s breath caught as her eyes drank in the sky, streaks of crimson and gold painting the clouds. The sun dipped behind jagged limestone bluffs, casting molten light across a tranquil bay.

Vesryn’s voice carried a faint note of hesitation when he spoke. “This is where I wanted to bring you. The night of the Solstice.”

“What is this place?” Serenna asked, her voice floating with awe. Fragrant with salt and gardenia, a balmy breeze tugged at her hair. She slipped off her boots, the cool ivory sand spilling between her toes, the grains sparkling like starlight.

“It’s where I was the night I first sensed you.” Vesryn jerked his head toward the dense canopy framing the cove. “I was hunting a group of wraith in that jungle.”

The prince slumped to the sand, leaning against a rock that was softened by the embrace of creeping vines. Joining him, Serenna folded her legs to her chest and studied the curve of the coastline, a maze of verdant cliffs rising from the surf.

Vesryn plucked a white flower from a slender tendril, its satin petals catching the last rays of sun. “The moons rose right over those waters,” he said, nodding toward the center of the horizon, where the sea and sky merged. “In that moment, I knew I’d rather watch the lunar eclipse here than suffer through another affair in the capital. I just didn’t expect I’d want someone to join me.”

Serenna curled her fingers around her knees, fighting the ache swelling in her throat. The quiet admission was one she’d waited so long to hear—he remembered that he’d invited her. “I thought…” Her voice faltered as she glanced up at him. “I thought you invited me to the palace.”

“I invited you to the Summer Lunar Solstice,” Vesryn corrected, turning a petal absently between his fingers. “I had no intention of making an appearance in Kyansari—unless you had your heart set on going.”

Serenna couldn’t hold back the question that had gnawed at her for weeks, sharper than a persistent thorn. “So why did Ayla still think you were taking her to your engagement announcement?”

Vesryn frowned before slowly facing her. “You’re upset.”

“Of course I’m upset,” Serenna snapped, her ire and humiliation rising. “Ayla made it abundantly clear that you were expecting her. You told me you were late. Late for what? Her? ”

“Yes. I was late for her.” Vesryn bit out the words, crushing the flower in his palm. “But I never planned to take her to that engagement dinner myself. I intended to spin an illusion around one of my rangers, who then would’ve gone in my place. But after you and I captured those wraith…”

He uncurled his fingers, releasing the petals into the breeze, the remnants tumbling down the shore. “I needed my officers to stay where they were—I couldn’t risk word getting out and there wasn’t time to think of anything else.” He shook his head, gaze fixed on the horizon. “So I did my duty and endured that wretched dinner. But then I sensed you were gone. First from Centarya and then from the bond.”

Serenna drew an unsteady breath, struggling to anchor her churning frustration after weeks spent drowning in unanswered doubts. She knew now that the engagement had dissolved, but that didn’t lessen her festering anger.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered, fighting to keep a level tone—and a level head. “If I had known…” The rest of the thought disintegrated as quickly as it had formed. If she hadn’t left, she never would’ve discovered the wraith stronghold and the truth behind it. And she never would have met Fenn.

“That duty changed nothing between us.” Vesryn shrugged. “I didn’t think it mattered.”

“You didn’t…” Serenna gaped at him, disbelief extending far beyond the boundaries of her mind. “You didn’t think about how I’d feel seeing your betrothed prancing up to your chambers minutes after you…after we—” Her voice broke, catching on the words.

Vesryn sighed, raking his fingers through his hair. “That wasn’t how I intended our first time to happen.”

Serenna stared out at the bay, at a loss for words.

“But the engagement wasn’t important to me,” he insisted. “I told you that.”

“It was important to me .” Needing distance, Serenna surged to her feet, frustration flaring hot in her chest. She rapidly blinked, refusing to release the burning tears. “How many times did I have to ask? All I wanted was to know if we had a future! I just wanted—”

Before she could finish, Vesryn rose abruptly and gripped her shoulders. “I wanted to bring you here for the Solstice,” he said, his voice quieter now, almost pleading, “to ask if you’d accept the bond.”

Serenna froze. It wasn’t just his confession—it was the fragile hope it carried. How he admitted that he wanted something more. Once, accepting the bond had been her only desire, but now she wasn’t sure.

“I wanted the night to be special,” Vesryn continued, barely audible over the gentle breeze. “I wanted to bring you here to watch the moons eclipse, to take my time with you.” His fingers tightened around her, as if he feared she might slip away. “But after we captured those wraith, I wasn’t thinking straight. That wasn’t how I wanted it to happen.” His eyes searched hers, desperation flickering in their depths. He swallowed hard, clearing his throat. “I haven’t touched anyone in a hundred years—not since the night I thought my brother died. Not until you.”

The world seemed to tilt beneath Serenna’s feet, her anger fading to an ember. In its place, a hollow ache spread through her chest, chilling her to the bone.

Vesryn’s voice wavered, unsteady as moonlight rippling over the sea. “Everything changed when this bond formed. You…you brought me back to life.” His thumbs skimmed down her arms, but Serenna was hesitant to let the warmth unfurl. “Then I fucked it up. Just like I always do.”

The prince stepped back, hands falling away as he knotted his fingers behind his neck. He blew out a long sigh, his eyes lifting toward the blooming stars. “I spent weeks searching for you, terrified you were hurt. Or worse.” When his gaze finally dropped back to hers, grief mired the bond. “But now that I’ve found you…I feel like I’ve lost you.”

His quiet admission splintered through her. The heavy evening wrapped around them, the silence broken by the waves lapping against the shore. Despite this small step toward reclaiming what they once shared, it felt like they had taken two steps back. Serenna reached out and brushed his arm, hoping to bridge the widening chasm of misunderstanding and hurt.

“You haven’t lost me,” she whispered, her tears finally spilling over, tracing paths down her cheeks.

“Haven’t I?” Vesryn tensed under her fingers, eyes flicking to where he’d healed fang marks on her neck the night before. “I heard you bonded with that wraith—”

Serenna pulled her hand back. “Fenn is my friend,” she said carefully, heart lurching in a sudden sea of turmoil. “He’s kept me safe—”

“And a lot more than that, it seems,” Vesryn snapped, though his voice held more misery than bitterness.

But his words still struck deep. Serenna nearly recoiled. Almost slammed the bond shut, retreating from this tangled mess of hurt. But she’d experienced the same ache of jealousy weeks ago when she thought she’d lost the prince.

Serenna lifted her chin, her resolve blanketing the guilt that threatened to surface. She wasn’t ashamed—she refused to be. Fenn had been her foundation when her world shattered. She wouldn’t apologize for that, wouldn’t cast him aside just because the prince had finally decided what he wanted.

Vesryn must’ve sensed the shift because his shoulders slumped as he glanced away. “You were supposed to be mine,” he said, an anguished whisper. “I thought this bond forming between us meant something.”

“Then why did it never feel that way?” Serenna’s voice cracked, the question slipping out on a ragged exhale. Her chin quivered, Vesryn’s pain a fractured mirror of her own.

Comparing Vesryn to Fenn felt like a betrayal—but unlike Vesryn, Fenn had never left her doubting her place in his heart. Serenna forced out the question that burned on her tongue, perhaps the one that had wounded her the most. “Why did you always leave me uncertain about what was between us?”

Vesryn flinched, just a flicker of movement, but enough for Serenna to see the wound left behind. His expression crumpled and so did the rest of him, his knees hitting the sand before her.

“I know I failed you and I’m sorry,” he whispered, emerald eyes searching hers. “I could lay out all of my excuses, but words are a pathetic means to make amends.”

Serenna tensed, a scathing retort rising—that if he had only spoken to her sooner, none of this would have happened. But looking at him now, kneeling before her, already broken, she couldn’t bring herself to twist the knife any deeper.

Reading her hesitation, Vesryn stilled, his hand hovering in the space between them. Serenna didn’t pull away as his fingers tentatively grazed hers before cradling her palms.

He trembled, like he wasn’t sure if he still had the right to hold her at all, before saying, “I want to prove to you that this bond means something to me.”

Serenna’s breath hitched as a flood of his emotions swelled—pain and longing entwined with fragile hope. For a moment, she swore she felt the threads of their bond quivering, straining to weave together as a truth settled—she couldn’t deny his care for her. Imperfect, perhaps, but real.

“I wasn’t raised to expect one person to belong to another, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you for myself,” Vesryn admitted, his jaw tightening before he forced out an exhale. “But that’s selfish. You shine too brightly to be a star snatched from the sky and hidden in my shadows. But if someday, you ever want to accept—”

His palms tensed around hers, head snapping to the west.

“What is it?” Serenna asked, her pulse jumping in response to his alarm.

“Jassyn.” Indecision contorted Vesryn’s face. “I—I felt a pull.” His eyes unfocused before drifting back to hers, brimming with worry. “He’s probably fine. We—”

“Should go back,” Serenna finished softly as she squeezed his hands, tugging him to his feet.

But the words still felt like a retreat, not a resolution. And despite having the conversation she’d so desperately longed for, she wasn’t sure it had brought any closure at all.