Page 209 of The Reckoning of Starlight

Frost erupted from Lykor’s claw and tore upward into a wall of ice. Before the shield finished forming, Jassyn felt the shamans fighting to seize control. Fractures raced across its surface as the shards began twisting inward toward them.

Lykor snarled and destroyed the barrier himself. It burst apart overhead, fragments hissing into the mud before the shamans could turn his own defense against them.

Shadows boiled off Lykor’s skin. “I’m ending this now.”

Beyond the shamans, the lake thrashed with Rimeclaw’s struggle. Frost pulsed through the water in violent waves, locking mud solid and splitting stone as Blossom’s roots strained around his submerged body.

Above, the battle churned along the shore and through the sky. Skylash and Veyrix ripped across the clouds, lightning flashing between them as she dove at him again and again, the Zephyrfang twisting clear on savage bursts of wind.

Below them, dracovae screamed through the smoke, veering from bolts the enemy shamans ripped from Skylash and turned against them. Wraith tore gaps through the human ranks and vanished as arrows hissed into the spaces they’d occupied. Druid fire streaked across the sky, then twisted into the shamans’ control and flew back toward those who’d cast it.

Everywhere Jassyn looked, the same twenty shamans were turning the battle’s advantages back against them.

“Get me to Bhreena.”

Lykor’s attention snapped to him. “And then what?”

“Those shamans with her,” Jassyn said. “We don’t know if they chose the king.”

Lykor’s eyes flared crimson. “They could be the same shamans who helped her kill Daeryn. When exactly do you plan to ask them? Before or after they kill you?”

“Before,” Jassyn gritted out. Captivity had taught him too well that obedience was no proof of loyalty. “If possible.”

Another strike of lightning screamed toward their cover.

Ready this time, Jassyn seized the current and snapped it off course. The bolt carved a violet scar through the air and detonated against an abandoned stretch of shoreline, blasting mud and lake water into the smoke.

Lykor didn’t look away from him. “No.”

“But—”

“No.” He leaned forward, close enough that the shadows writhing around him curled against Jassyn’s throat. “They’re trying to kill you.”

“I want to give them a choice.”

Lykor’s lip curled. “Bhreena had a choice.”

“She chose what she thought would keep her sister alive.”

“The same sister Galaeryn threw in a prison in the first place,” Lykor hissed. “This isn’t up for discussion.”

Jassyn held his gaze. “I would’ve done worse for you.”

Lykor locked his fist in Jassyn’s armor and hauled him close, ice cracking over his knuckles. Jassyn met his crimson glare as the ruined camp burned around them, smoke and heat tangling in the narrow space between their mouths.

“You’re gambling your life on a traitor’s conscience.”

Before Jassyn could answer, Lykor kissed him.

It landed like a blow, tasting of fury and frost. Brief enough to be a wound. Jassyn’s fingers rose to Lykor’s face, but Lykor pulled away before they touched.

Lykor released his armor and drew both glaives. “Stay behind me until we’re close. Then do whatever reckless thing you’ve already decided I can’t stop.”

Jassyn’s jaw tightened, but he nodded.

Lykor launched from behind the wagon, shadows lashing around his shoulders.

A shaman spotted him instantly, tearing fire from a druid’s strike and hurling it at his chest. Lykor swept a glaive through the air. Ice surged from the sodden shore and crashed into the flames, scalding steam swallowing the space between them.