Page 158 of The Reckoning of Starlight

Lykor tore a volley of ice spears from the storm and hurled them before either could recover. One punched through the rider. The rest shattered across chitin, cracking the creature’s carapace and sending it corkscrewing out of the sky.

The plateau broke into view as Lykor and Jassyn swept over the crown island’s rim.

Rimeclaw’s breath had drowned the island in white, frost deep enough to bury the crystal formations whole. The Aelfyn architecture that caged Veyrix glittered beneath a second prison, and at the center, the dragon thrashed against both.

Serenna and Fenn flanked Vesryn, sunfire blazing from the Heart between his hands into the crystal like dawn forcing its way through the lid of a sealed tomb.

Fenn poured everything he had through his claws, flame roaring out in a wild, unbroken torrent. Serenna caught the stream between both hands, narrowed it to a white-hot point, and lanced it through the ice until frost shrieked into steam.

Veyrix writhed against the prison still trapping him, one wing beating hard while his fangs gnashed at empty air. Wind burst from his jaws and sent ice skittering across the island. Crystal clamped the other wing to his side, fissures racing through the casing as sunfire burned deeper.

Freedom lay close enough to hurt.

Lykor hit the crown island hard, frost cracking under his boots. Jassyn landed beside him, wings snapping shut.

Rimeclaw’s shadow engulfed them. Frost thundered from his throat in a white tide.

Lykor thrust both palms into the descending blast and ripped it sideways. The torrent arced over him and Jassyn, locking into a jagged vault.

Too narrow. Too slow.

Aesar surged forward and seized their Well. Essence struck through Lykor’s hold, violet light locking the ice into place.

“The others.”

Lykor snarled and forced the dome outward. It swept over Serenna, Fenn, Vesryn, and Veyrix just as the full weight of Rimeclaw’s breath crashed down.

The shield of ice bowed until white filled Lykor’s vision. Fractures raced overhead, each one ringing through his skull. The blast roared across the frozen curve, pounding the island until the pressure against his palms began to ease as Rimeclaw flew by.

Lykor crushed the ice overhead from within. Its frozen weight burst into snow and collapsed around them in a white roar, hissing against the sunfire. Only then did Aesar unravel the shield.

As Rimeclaw circled above the crown isle, Galaeryn raised one hand.

The gesture carried idle contempt, the careless certainty of a king who only had to reach for what everyone else was bleeding to save.

Essence ignited from his palm and followed the prismatic currents of the Starshard circles. Across the sky, every blazing stream became a path to the wielders. The nearest cluster of magus fell first.

Aesar recoiled before the first scream, the memory of pain flashing behind Lykor’s eyes.

Across the storm, the magus convulsed in flight. Their wings locked. Limbs stretched. Indigo spread through their skin while their mouths widened around shrieks too high for any sound.

Any other channeler needed hands on flesh to plunder a Well. Galaeryn reached for the prismatic power from Rimeclaw’s back, distance another law he’d stopped obeying centuries ago.

Five magus became wraith between one wingbeat and the next, their bodies growing still as they fell. Talents tore free in blinding globes and circled their falling forms, moons ripped loose from ruined worlds.

Galaeryn closed his hand, his gaze already landing on the next wave of fliers.

The stolen power streaked toward him. One globe after another plunged into his chest, light branching beneath his skin before sinking out of sight into the fathomless depths of his power.

“No,” Jassyn breathed beside Lykor, his face gone bloodless.

Another wave of Essence rolled outward.

The sky hemorrhaged fighters, Starshard circles flickering out across the storm. Flame, shadow, and starlight died as Galaeryn pillaged from Well to Well.

Rimeclaw’s ice slammed through the alliance, hurling fliers out of formation. Razorwings flooded the gaps, closing around each severed cluster until the battle splintered into isolated rings of fraying prismatic light.

Lykor turned away from their falling people.