Page 38

CHAPTER 38

SERENNA

“ V esryn!” The scream tore through the frozen air, a broken cry Serenna barely recognized as her own.

Wind lashed at her cheeks as she sprinted toward Jassyn, who was still staring at the spot where the prince had vanished into the behemoth’s maw.

Her awareness flew down the bond, the connection still shining with Vesryn’s life force. He’s not dead. Relief sparked only for fear to smother it. But for how long?

Sliding to a halt on the ice, Serenna grabbed Jassyn’s arm for support, each breath a gasp scraping her throat. Essence shimmered around her, but she hesitated, unsure of the best way to wield it.

Jassyn rapidly blinked, face pale as he cleared the haze of a telepathic sending. “Vesryn said he can’t portal out. The Starshard is absorbing Essence—even from within. He’s trying with his swords, but I don’t think…”

Together, they watched in disbelieving silence as the creature heaved itself upright, its massive form blotting out the sky. The ground shuddered as its serrated legs scraped for traction, spiked pillars of ice piercing the earth. Snow cascaded from its back in brittle sheets as it shook itself like a colossal hound, an avalanche of frost crashing down.

Serenna’s breath seized when the beast shifted, its eyeless face angling toward them.

Shadows unfolded next to her, Lykor swearing profusely as he materialized with Fenn.

“I’ll kill the prince myself if that golem doesn’t finish him first,” Lykor snarled, yanking his pack off his shoulders and slamming it to the ground. “Release Essence. Now!” He dropped to a crouch, his gauntlet nearly shredding the bag as he rummaged around. “And before you start flapping your tongues with a thousand questions, Aesar is convinced that the Starshard his brother is so obsessed with can track our magic. If we stop feeding”—he gestured theatrically—“that thing our location, we might just buy some fucking time.”

There was no reason to argue. Serenna’s nails bit into her palms as she forced herself to sever the flow of power. The comforting pulse of Essence abruptly vanished, its absence leaving her unsettled and unmoored.

She shuddered as the monster halted and lifted one massive, spiked leg. Its talons flexed above the ice as though searching—or sensing—like a spider testing the vibrations of its web.

The grating squeal of Lykor’s gauntlet yanked Serenna’s attention back to him. He wrestled a torch and flint from his pack and struck his metal claw against the slab of stone. Sparks scattered, tiny bursts of light spraying across the oiled cloth. With a hiss, the torch sputtered to life.

Muttering something unintelligible about depending on “stars-forsaken shamans and candle snubs,” Lykor thrust the torch at Jassyn.

Jassyn blinked before snapping into action. His hand shot forward, and Serenna sensed the faint burst of pressure as he tugged on the flame. Coaxing the fire, the stream curled around his fingertips, condensing into a sphere that hovered above his palm.

Without pausing, Lykor ruthlessly struck the flint again, relighting the torch before shoving the burning end toward her.

“We need more than that!” Serenna’s voice rose with desperation as she gathered the fire.

She stared at the feeble light, laughably small against a mountain of ice. Her pulse thrashed in her ears, every heartbeat a relentless countdown to the prince’s final moments. The image of him trapped and dying burned behind her eyes. “We’ll never reach Vesryn with just torches!”

“I’m working on it,” Lykor gritted through his fangs, jaw tight as his gauntlet screeched against the flint again. He ignited more torches, slowly increasing the size of their flames.

The beast began planting one leg in front of the other, scraping across the ice with slow deliberation, deciding to resume its previous course.

“I have an idea, she-elf,” Fenn murmured as he stepped closer. His claw landed on her shoulder, a steadying weight. “I don’t want to leave you, but it might be our only chance to save your princeling.”

Serenna dug her fingers into Fenn’s arm, sensing the clash of regret and stubborn resolve—he’d made up his mind. His gaze flicked to Lykor, who was still swearing and hunched over his task, sparks flying from his gauntlet while Jassyn gathered scraps of flame.

For a moment, Serenna thought Fenn might ask for his permission. But he didn’t, his eyes swinging back to hers, flaring with a soft glow.

“Whatever you do, steer clear of the portal—and don’t follow.” He gently pried her fingers from his arm, his touch lingering as he folded his palm around hers. “I’ll return when I can. I promise.”

The fire above her hand faltered. Serenna opened her mouth to protest, but Fenn quickly provided a reassuring squeeze before slipping off his pack and abandoning it on the ground.

Then he vanished, warping to the far side of the valley, a distant speck against the backdrop of broken cliffs and endless snow. He released a burst of Essence, the pulse shooting outward like a signal flare, immediately drawing the behemoth’s attention.

As it spun, a deafening bellow tore through the valley, the sound reverberating through Serenna’s chest as the frozen earth trembled beneath her feet.

With the force of an avalanche, the beast hurled itself forward. Claws screeched and skittered over the ice, carving deep gouges as it closed the distance to Fenn.

He didn’t move, holding his ground until the monster was nearly on top of him, jaws splitting open to consume him. At the last possible moment, Fenn’s arm whipped out, tearing open a portal just large enough to slip through. He warped through the void, leaving the rift open behind him.

Sliding to a stop, the creature loomed over the portal. The air around the Starshard rippled, dark distortions pulsing with a ravenous energy. Yet the crystal remained inert, seemingly unable to siphon the magic from the rift itself.

Maybe Essence needs to be aimed directly at it, Serenna thought.

Slowly, the beast extended a foreleg. Its talons plunged into the portal, probing the unseen space beyond, fishing for Fenn in the void.

“I don’t know what that oaf thinks he’s doing,” Lykor growled as another torch roared to life, “but we have two options. We either throw everything we’ve got at that thing in some grand, pathetic attempt to subdue it—and join the prince in its gullet for our trouble.” Hair spilling across his eyes, Lykor scowled first at the golem shadowing Fenn’s portal and then at the fire above Jassyn’s palm. “Or—my preferred option—we get the fuck out of here.”

“We’re not leaving Vesryn!” Serenna snapped, her flames blazing brighter.

She still sensed the prince’s life force—it wasn’t flickering yet, but every passing moment only teetered him closer to the brink. She refused to let the creature claim him without a fight, clinging to the hope that whatever Fenn had planned would turn the tide. His presence grew fainter, leaping eastward, leaving her with no guesses why.

“Of course we’re not leaving him,” Lykor muttered, rolling his eyes skyward. “Aesar would never allow it.”

Heart racing, Serenna studied the globe of fire whirling around her fingers. “What if we melt the ice around the Starshard? If we can dislodge it—”

Lykor’s sharp, humorless laugh cut through her forming idea. He surged to his feet and flung the last torch aside, the smoldering cloth hissing as it hit the snow.

“What else do you think the fire’s for, you shaman scourge?” He shrugged off his cloak. “Ripping that crystal loose might be our only chance.” Reaching over his shoulders, he yanked Aesar’s glaives free from their sheaths on his spine.

“You can’t seriously be considering taking Vesryn’s place,” Jassyn said, his gaze drilling into Lykor. “We all saw that colossus swallow him.” His eyes drifted toward the creature prowling around Fenn’s portal, circling like a shark scenting blood. “He’s still lodged in its throat, barely holding on with his blades.”

“That leviathan is going to charge the second you two start throwing fire at it.” Lykor cracked his neck, a ripple rolling down his arms. “Aesar and I will hold its attention. If you can rip that gem off, I’ll obliterate it with rending to free the prince.” The wind howled, carrying the distant groan of shifting ice. “Let’s hope the fucking stars are on our side for once. Burn it,” he ordered.

Without another word, Lykor warped.

He reappeared behind the beast and unleashed a punch of force. The detonation slammed into its icy hide, blasting a flurry of snow outward. Attention wrenched from Fenn’s portal, the colossus spun to face him with a thunderous roar.

Lykor flowed like a shadow, glaives a blur as he warped one jump after another, hacking at icy limbs. One moment, he drove a blade into the monster’s flank. The next, he vanished, only to strike its opposite side.

Serenna twisted her wrist, coiling the fire into a searing stream before lashing it toward the Starshard. In a blinding arc, the flaming whip raced over the lake and snapped across the creature’s eyeless face, sparks scattering like falling stars.

But it didn’t respond—didn’t even act like it felt it. The golem’s focus remained locked onto Lykor, tracking him as he warped between its legs in a blur of motion.

Redoubling her efforts, Serenna clenched her fist and gathered the flames into another blazing thread. She cracked it through the air, hurling fire at the crystal again.

But then came the dreaded sound. The one she should have been prepared for since the Starshard had gone dark, absorbing Lykor’s power.

A metallic whine rose, screeching across the valley, scraping against her nerves like a blade drawn across glass. Knees locking, Serenna’s heart stuttered against her ribs as she braced herself.

The crystal shard ignited, blazing with the fury of an exploding star. A concussive blast of force erupted toward Lykor.

Like smoke on the wind, he vanished an instant before the wave of magic struck. The impact ruptured the frozen lake, exploding a ring of ice outward. Shockwaves rippled across the valley, crumbling into the abyss below.

Serenna staggered as the earth heaved, the tremor rattling through her bones.

“Take my fire,” Jassyn said, voice taut. He flicked a hand, sending flames toward her.

He crouched, bracing his palms against the frosty ground, a pressure shuddering outward from his fingertips. The ice groaned in protest but the fractures began to shift, the splintered surface slowly knitting back together. “If that creature crashes through, it’ll just crawl back out again. But if we fall? I don’t think Lykor can warp us both out.”

Serenna nearly blurted that Jassyn shouldn’t worry—if they fell in different directions, she already knew who Lykor would prioritize saving. Lykor’s reaction when Jassyn had vanished beneath the earth stayed with her—the first flicker of fear she’d ever seen from him.

With a sharp exhale, Serenna rolled the fire into a burning ribbon. Flinging out her arm, she aimed the flames beneath the Starshard’s edge, fighting to pry it loose. Sizzling steam erupted where fire collided with ice, but the hide refused to melt with any speed.

At the same time, she reached through the bond, sensing Vesryn’s life force beginning to falter, weaker than before. Her heart stumbled up her throat as true fear settled, their time to save the prince running out.

The creature roared, slamming massive forelegs into the earth, fissures snaking across the ice as it barreled toward Lykor. Out of the corner of her eye, Serenna caught sight of Jassyn, trembling with the strain of reforging the shattered ice beneath the beast, weaving the sundered lake back together by sheer force of will.

Another screeching whine pierced Serenna’s ears, the Starshard’s wail splintering her vision as the sound drove an axe of agony deep into her skull.

Her breath hitched as a cataclysmic wave of shadows exploded from the crystal.

A sudden burst of violet light webbed from Jassyn’s fingertips, the thrown shield vanishing into the canopy of rending.

Before Serenna could blink, the dome of darkness detonated, blotting out her view of Lykor.

The beast reared its head, eyeless gaze snapping toward the hum of Essence crackling in Jassyn’s palms. Rising to his feet, he cursed under his breath.

But Lykor emerged, encased in the shimmer of Jassyn’s protective ward. As the shield unraveled, he hurled another blast of force into the frozen flank. The magic detonated, cracking shards of ice from its hide.

With a shriek, the creature slid as it spun back toward Lykor, legs scraping across the broken ground.

Teeth clenched so tightly that her jaw ached, Serenna spooled her dwindling fire into another arc. When Lykor angled the behemoth’s head back toward her, she flung the flames toward the monster’s crown. The attack skated uselessly around the Starshard, the icy armor swallowing every flicker of heat.

Serenna’s pulse hammered as she poured everything she had into the molten ribbon. Frustration scorched her, cold beads of sweat clinging to her brow. “This is taking too long!”

A useless complaint to vent her desperation—she didn’t have any better ideas.

The earth trembled beneath her boots.

But it wasn’t from the monster’s wild charge.

Serenna’s eyes snapped to Fenn’s lingering portal the moment it erupted.