Page 45

CHAPTER 45

SERENNA

S erenna jolted awake, a gasp scraping against her parched throat. Arms stretched high above her head, she dangled half-suspended, toes barely skimming the ground. Her muscles ached, strung so tightly that they threatened to snap.

The world was too bright, too hot. Sand blistered beneath her feet as her body roasted. The sun blazed at its zenith, a merciless inferno knifing into her skull. Had a full day passed?

Sticky with grime, she clenched her eyes shut, recoiling from the glare. Sweat carved trails down her face as the heat crushed her, wringing out every drop of moisture.

Serenna tried to swallow, but her shriveled tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Weak and heavy, her head lolled back, colliding with unyielding stone. The strike of pain ricocheted down her spine, tearing her eyes open despite the sun’s blinding wrath.

Vision swimming, she blinked up at the red pillar looming behind her, the rough sandstone scraping her bare skin raw. Chains yanked her arms high, her shoulders throbbing at the punishing angle. Gold shackles seared into her flesh, branding her with heat.

She was naked and tethered—helpless and bound.

Scattered memories surged forward in waves. Flashes of Fenn facing an ambush, of shadowed forms shifting at the edges of her sight.

But she’d been poisoned. Too weak to lift a hand, unable to fight.

Serenna’s breath came shallow and quick, refusing to reach her lungs. With every ragged gasp, her lips cracked further, sticking against her gums.

Fenn. The tether left behind a void where her bonds should be. Where is he?

Summoning the scraps of her strength, Serenna forced her head up. Agony ripped through her neck, every tendon shrieking in protest. Gritting her teeth, she fought to bring her senses into focus.

Sound took shape first. A violent clang of metal striking against stone rang out to her right. Squinting, Serenna turned her head, each inch a battle.

Her eyes landed on Lykor, stripped bare and bound to a pillar, just like her, but blood was crusted on half of his face. What is he doing here?

Enraged, he snarled a storm of curses between sawing breaths. Thrashing against his restraints, every muscle bulged and quivered beneath sun-blistered skin. Blood glistened along his wrists where the metal had split flesh, the rest of him covered with sweat and dust. A rabid animal caged, he writhed with fangs bared, attention riveted on something beside him.

Serenna followed his gaze, her heart lurching up her throat.

Head slumped forward, Jassyn hung limp against another pillar. Unmoving but breathing, with dried blood crusted across his face.

Panic spiked, sharper than before, solidifying Serenna’s marrow to ice. Her pulse pounded as she twisted her neck to her other side, pushing past a lance of pain that shot through her spine. She had to see. Had to know.

Vesryn.

Like Jassyn, the prince sagged in his chains, suspended by the cruel links. Silvery hair clung to his face in damp tangles, his chest barely stirring. His skin gleamed with sweat, every bare inch of him red and welted from the blazing sun.

Shapes came into focus as Serenna squinted and scanned the circular crater that trapped them, a cage of sand. Red stone walls towered, reaching skyward, sealing them within a crucible of heat and light.

Fenn wasn’t here. Serenna’s thoughts fractured, more frantic now. Where is he?

Beyond Lykor’s snarls, a distant roar built to a crescendo.

Serenna lifted her gaze. Her eyes burned as she peered into the glare, the air shimmering with distortion. Dark silhouettes hovered against the molten sky.

Shadows. With wings .

Hundreds of them, flapping and swooping into the yawning mouth of the pit, gliding down to perch upon tiered rows of stone seats that wrapped around the perimeter of this sinister furnace. Black scales on their arms glittered, drinking in the light as though they thrived on the very heat that was scorching her.

Serenna’s breath snagged, each thunderous wingbeat hammering against her skull. A crushing weight of understanding wound tight around her chest, her heart drumming a frenzied rhythm.

These had to be druids.

They weren’t extinct. And they weren’t merely their captors—they were their executioners, smothering the air with the weight of their judgment.

Whatever these creatures had planned, it wouldn’t end quickly. A shrine to suffering, this unforgiving arena was a place where mercy had long since crumbled to dust.

And the four of them were the next offering.

Above, the roar of the crowd swelled. Fear seeped beneath Serenna’s blistered skin, wormed through her veins, and feasted on the terror thrumming in her blood.

Muscles trembling from the effort, she tugged futilely at her chains, the metal only gnawing deeper as she struggled. Sweat burned her eyes and she blinked furiously, trying to clear the haze.

A shadow passed overhead, cleaving through the brightness. Wings outstretched, a figure descended, airy white robes billowing. Soundlessly, a female landed in front of them, streamers cascading from her flowing raiment.

Her wings snapped shut with a crack , sharp as a crashing wave. Above her shoulders, three-fingered claws flexed at their leathery peaks. The black sheen of her wings rippled and then vanished entirely, shifting back into her spine. The scales along her arms followed, sinking into indigo flesh without a trace, leaving behind what was unmistakably a silver-haired wraith.

The crowd hushed as the female approached with liquid grace, a viper weaving through the sand. Tiny, dark scales glittered like constellations along the planes of her cheekbones. Cold and detached, her eyes—red reptilian slits—swept over each of them in turn.

Beside Serenna, Lykor had gone still, tracking the druid with simmering rage.

The female lifted a claw, talons flashing like sharpened steel. She signaled, a methodical clacking as she struck her nails together.

A rustle of wings, accompanied by thuds against sand, announced the arrival of more druid-wraith. As silent sentinels, they flanked the leader, their shadows stretching across the arena.

But it wasn’t more of these strange creatures closing in that held Serenna’s attention—it was the female’s jewelry.

Around her wrist, a key glinted in the unforgiving sun, taunting from a silver chain. The freedom from their shackles—dangling so close, but feeling as distant as the stars. And yet, there was something more alarming.

Delicate rings coiled around each of her fingers, linked by finely woven strands of metal. The intricate web snaked across both sides of her claw, cradling a crystal gem in her palm.

A Starshard.

Before Serenna’s mind could conjure the horrors that lay ahead, the female’s fiery gaze pinned on the prince. In a blur of shadows, she warped directly in front of him, fangs extending as her arm shot out. She twisted her talons in Vesryn’s hair, yanking his head back, exposing his throat.

Serenna jerked against her restraints. She tried to cry out—to beg—but the only sound she made was a pathetic whimper, a near-silent plea strangled by fear.

Still dazed, the prince’s lashes only fluttered.

The druid struck, slamming the Starshard against his bare chest. Serenna’s stomach flipped as Vesryn convulsed, his back arching. The female’s eyes narrowed, ticking back and forth as if tracing invisible threads, reading something hidden from everyone else.

Heart lurching, Serenna’s breaths shattered in short gasps as she braced for the inevitable—the piercing whine, a bolt of Essence obliterating the prince.

The female leaned closer to Vesryn’s ear. Serenna expected a hiss, but when the druid spoke, her voice was silk wrapped around barbed menace.

“We will bleed the starlight from your bones.”

The words echoed in Serenna’s mind, the threat coiling around her thoughts. Her throat constricted as the meaning settled in, dread clawing its way up. But Vesryn barely twitched, still lost in the depths of unconsciousness.

Tilting her head, the druid’s lips thinned as the fiery gleam in her eyes dimmed to something far more chilling—indifference. Her jewelry chimed as she withdrew, releasing the prince with a flick of her wrist. The chains jerked him as he crumpled forward.

Serenna flinched as the druid warped again. In an instant, the female was towering over her, scrutinizing, slitted pupils sharpening.

And then, just as swiftly, she lost interest. The female drifted to Lykor next, her eyes dissecting his glower before flicking to Jassyn’s slumped form.

“You three are not like the thieving ancestors,” she said at last, her voice ringing through the arena. “Like him.” She lifted a talon, aiming the point at the prince, as though his very existence was an accusation—a condemnation.

“You two have lost some of your starlight.” Her reptilian gaze skimmed over Lykor’s fangs before cutting to Serenna’s red-ringed eyes. “But to stand beside the Aelfyn’s tainted descendants… Unforgivable.”

She let the word hang in the air, heavy with finality. “If the flayers deem you worthy of life, you will surrender the rest of your starlight as penance.”

Lykor’s growl deepened into a rough, “No.”

It collided with Serenna’s panicked, “Yes!” She’d agree to anything to buy more time for the prince.

Serenna’s head snapped toward Lykor just as he turned to sneer at her. We’re already dead, his eyes seemed to say, smoldering with challenge. Why pretend otherwise?

For a heartbeat, Serenna’s frustration eclipsed her fear. If she weren’t bound, she’d throttle Lykor with their chains herself. He’s ready to die defiantly, she thought bitterly. But I’m not ready to die at all.

To him, surrender wasn’t survival. And if this arena was going to be their end, he’d go down snarling.

But Serenna clung to a frayed hope. There had to be a way out.

The druid traced a slow line along her lip while Serenna’s mind spun, grasping for anything—some way to placate this female, some way to appease whatever the flayers were to stave off their judgment. Her mouth parted yet no words came, her thoughts baking under the sun.

But the druid’s interest had shifted already. She turned to Jassyn’s slumped form, her gaze thoughtful as she flowed toward him.

Lykor’s snarl ripped through the air. “Don’t you fucking touch him!”

The female froze mid-step, eyes sliding back in his direction.

Lykor flashed his fangs, a predator initiating a challenge—but Serenna saw the calculation beneath the display.

He was stalling. Attempting to keep the female talking.

“What happens after we surrender our magic?” Lykor growled, his voice dripping with venom rather than acceptance. “You let the sun bleach our bones?”

A cruel smile coiled at the corners of the druid’s lips, a promise of pain flickering in her reptilian eyes. “ If the flayers find the starlight in your blood blameless,” she purred, “we will allow you to persist among the wingless.”

She let the words linger, waiting for them to sink deep before her gaze snapped back to Vesryn—cruelty flaring like an ember reigniting.

“But not this one—descended from our traitorous ancestors,” she hissed, her claw extending toward the prince. “When the flayers have had their fill, we will return what dust remains of his bones to the stars.”

Serenna’s heart seized, her scream a broken rasp in her throat. “No!”

Scales erupted from the druid’s skin, her wings reappearing, lashing outward from her back.

The crowd roared in response, a tidal wave of sound that shuddered the sand beneath Serenna’s feet. A gust of wind swept through the pit as hundreds of wings rustled in unison.

Then, the stomping began. Synchronized footfalls, each thud a hammer sealing their doom.

Without a word, the druid and her silent guardians launched into the sky. Wings slicing through the air, they ascended to a platform that jutted out over the pit—a vantage from which they could watch the suffering unfold.

Across the arena from the pillars, a low, grinding rumble grated against Serenna’s ears—the unmistakable scrape of stone against stone. A massive slab of rock slowly lifted from the ground, dust billowing around it in curling plumes. A cavernous mouth of darkness gaped open to spew forth whatever nightmare lurked beyond.

Serenna’s breath quickened, pulse pounding as shadows crept into the light. No more than knee-high, a cluster of creatures lumbered into the arena. Spikes jutted from their domed shells, gleaming like sunlit dunes.

Her stomach lurched as she got a clearer look. Rows upon rows of needle-like teeth gnashed together inside their snub-nosed maws. Three sets of tapered legs jerked beneath their armored carapaces—skittering, pausing, and lunging forward in eerie synchronization.

Serenna’s skin prickled with the realization as they scurried forward. They knew their purpose. To strip flesh from bone with devouring bites.

To flay.