Page 173 of The Reckoning of Starlight

Lykor glanced at Vesryn and Fenn and grunted. “We’re buying time.”

“For Jassyn?” She crossed her arms. “He doesn’t need you buying it with your corpse.”

“Skylash can move,” Aesar murmured. “That was the last excuse.”

Lykor ground his fangs.

A dark shimmer crossed the sky before he could snarl a reply.

Above the remaining lower islands, razorwings swept close, near enough for Lykor to make out the shiver of their wings cutting through the mist.

The swarm broke formation, scattering in every direction. One shape failed to level out, tumbling through the air.

Loose-limbed. No wings opening against the fall. Lykor knew before his dragonsight brought the falling body into focus.

Wings burst from his spine as he shifted. Space buckled, and Lykor warped into Jassyn’s path.

They collided hard enough to drive the air from his lungs.

His arms locked around Jassyn’s chest, wings snapping wide as the fall dragged them both toward the river below. Pain ripped through Lykor’s shoulders as he drove his wings down. Once. Again. Each stroke wrenching them farther from the ground.

Jassyn’s eyes were open when Lykor pulled him close, seeing nothing.

Blood ran from the corners of them and his nose, bright against skin gone ashen. His pupils had blown so wide the amber had nearly drowned.

Lykor’s fingers dug into Jassyn’s armor. He recognized the vacancy of Jassyn’s mind traveling somewhere beyond the reach of his body.

Lykor cradled the back of Jassyn’s neck and laid a palm over his heart. The beat battered against his hand, too fast, frantic as trapped wings against glass.

“Let go.” The words scraped out of him and vanished into the wind. He pressed his forehead to Jassyn’s, close enough to feel Jassyn’s breath against his mouth. Shallow. Rapid. Rhythm lost. “Whatever you’re holding, it’s done. Let go.”

Jassyn shuddered, lashes fluttering. His hand dragged up Lykor’s armor and found his jaw, barely carrying its own weight.

“You caught me.”

The words slurred together as his mouth twitched toward a smile that didn’t survive. Then his hand slipped from Lykor’s face, and his weight went slack against Lykor’s chest.

Lykor’s wings faltered.

Below, Blossom’s bridge crawled with soldiers. Lightning, fire, and Essence cracked along the northern shore where the shamans barely held. Vesryn, Fenn, Serenna, Skylash—all of them remained in the fight, spending themselves against a defeat already closing in.

Seconds mattered.

Lykor looked down at Jassyn’s blood-smeared face.

Jassyn mattered more.

“You shouldn’t—”

Lykor shut Aesar out before the thought finished. He ripped a portal open and plunged into it before the war claimed Jassyn too.

CHAPTER 46

JASSYN

Jassyn surfaced to the smell of jasmine.

Dry heat pressed against his skin like stone surrendering the day’s warmth after dusk. Silence occupied the place where the Aetherveil’s wind should’ve raged, so complete he could hear his pulse thud inside his skull.