Page 110 of The Reckoning of Starlight

Serenna snatched the lightning from the air. The jolt shuddered up both arms, webbing across her palms. Teeth clenched, she hurled the charge back.

The bolt struck Skylash’s throat and burst into sparks across her scales. Serenna hovered, chest heaving.

Neither moved.

Skylash bared her fangs. “At least you didn’t forget how to bite.”

Her grudging praise quieted the answering violence shuddering through Serenna’s scales. Only then did Vesryn and Fenn close the distance, settling at either side.

“How long have you been hunting here?” Vesryn asked.

A growl climbed Skylash’s throat, deepening until the air trembled around her.

“Ah, how much quieter my ancestors’ skies must’ve been. Before those addled wyrms gifted the scaleless speech. Now you multiply like insects, swarm the air, and scrape kingdoms from dirt.”

Before Vesryn could respond to the insult with one of his own, Serenna cut in. “We are searching for Veyrix. What do you know about these islands? Are they all guarded by Starshards? Or where—”

“Enough.” The word struck hard enough to jar Serenna’s teeth. “I know not where Veyrix fell. But his scalebound would have left protections behind. Your crystal gems. False winds. Wardens in the sky.”

“Wardens?” Fenn asked, piercings lifting with his brows. “Like the leviathan in the deep? Or the snow golem in—”

Skylash gnashed her fangs. “Your questions rise like ash and choke the sky.” One brutal downstroke hurled her higher. “I’ve flown for days without rest or meat, and you would keep me here until I starve. The next words you scar across my sky will carry his location. Anything less will be your last.”

She folded and plunged through the clouds, lightning streaming after her.

“Dragons,” Vesryn muttered, his wing claws flexing.

“I should’ve warned her.” Serenna steadied against the churning air Skylash left behind. “If the king claims another Heart from the crater Ayla mentioned, he could bind Skylash as he did Rimeclaw.”

Fenn tipped one wing toward the gap Skylash had torn through the clouds. “By all means, she-elf. Fly down and enlighten her.”

Serenna rolled her eyes. “The sooner we find Veyrix, the sooner she might stop trying to strike us.”

“Until she realizes you didn’t turn all those Unbound eggs into Stormstrikes like she ordered,” Vesryn added dryly.

“Not helping,” Serenna snapped.

She turned midair, scanning the island chain rising through parting clouds, mist winding between them. Nothing moved. Still, her gaze swept across each empty span, catching on every shimmer that disturbed the air.

“If we’re exploring,” Serenna said, “we do it carefully. Absolutely no Essence near the islands until we know the Starshards’ range.”

Vesryn arched a brow. “You’re starting to sound like her. One queen of storms barking orders was enough.”

Serenna flicked a spark at him. “That wasn’t a suggestion.”

Vesryn flared scales along his arm, the charge skittering across them. A pulse of desire rolled through the bond, tightening heat low in Serenna’s body.

Fenn cackled as he arced around them. “Do it again, she-elf. But harder. I think he liked that.”

“Like you didn’t heel the moment she ordered us to stay back,” Vesryn said. “I could’ve done without feeling what that did to you.”

Fenn’s fangs flashed. “Then stop paying attention.”

Vesryn scoffed and surged forward, wings driving hard.

Fenn slanted a grin at Serenna. “I think he’s warming up to me.” Then he warped past the prince.

Serenna followed, hoping the Aetherveil would yield some sign of Veyrix before those two found another reason to race each other into danger.