Page 213 of The Reckoning of Starlight

Vasharax had been ripped from his arms, maroon wings thrashing as a cord of force cinched around her ribs and launched her toward the portal. Fire streamed from her jaws as her talons scythed empty air. Her roar cracked across the lake, high and furious.

Fenn warped.

He reappeared just below Vasharax’s path, one claw outstretched, close enough for her spiraling fire to expose the desperation flaring in his eyes.

A second pulse of force slammed into Vasharax, blasting her past Fenn’s grasp in a streak of flame.

Fenn warped again, higher this time, casting out a net of Essence as he reached. His claws snapped shut through Vasharax’s trailing fire as she crossed the portal and disappeared.

Serenna’s wings faltered.

Vasharax had burned in her awareness, bright as a coal smoldering in the dark. Then that little flame vanished, leaving a silence sharp enough to cut the air from Serenna’s lungs.

Memory struck without warning. Vasharax in Asharyn’s nursery, tumbling over Fenn’s boots, chasing orbs of fire through the sand, all snapping fangs and fearless claws.

But now the dragon was gone.

The rift stole back the distance Serenna had fought to keep. Vesryn caught her around the waist and pulled her hard against him, his arm locking tight enough to bruise.

Fenn burst back beside them, fist still clenched. Slowly, he opened it.

Embers clung to his palm, the last of Vasharax’s fire curling into smoke between his talons.

A lance of force streaked from Galaeryn toward another ring, a Tidecrasher hatchling huddled at its heart. The wielders closed around the dragon, a shield sweeping over them.

The king’s power struck, shattering the ward into flecks of violet light.

The hatchling screeched, frost erupting from its jaws as Galaeryn flung it through the portal.

A Stormstrike vanished next. An Emberhart followed before Serenna could drag air into her lungs. Galaeryn barely moved, only angling his aim from one hatchling to another as blue light flashed and they disappeared into the portal.

By the time Serenna found her voice, eight dragons were gone.

“Fenn.” His name broke from her lips, choked with the tears she couldn’t afford. “Get the hatchlings out.”

She sensed Vesryn’s telepathy barreling outward at the same time, carrying the order ahead of Fenn through every surviving circle.

Fenn shook his head. “I shouldn’t leave your side.”

Serenna touched his arm. If the stars were merciful enough to leave them alive until dawn, grief could claim her then. Right now, the hatchlings needed him more than she did.

“Vasharax is gone.” The words scraped her throat raw on their way out. “You’re fast enough to save the rest.”

Fenn’s gaze dropped to her fingers locked around his wrist. Slowly, he turned his palm beneath hers and caught her hand. His grip tightened once before he let her go.

He warped, cold rushing into the space he left behind, and reappeared at the closest circle. As he seized a shrieking hatchling from its center, he opened a portal beside the startled wielders, thrusting the dragon through before Galaeryn’s next snare could close.

Serenna tracked him through the bond as he crossed the sky, his presence slipping in and out of her awareness—there, gone, there again. Across the lake, channelers scattered beneath the king’s assault, some fleeing, some falling, others opening desperate portals for the hatchlings as Fenn raced to them.

A wave of pressure rippled over the platform, sharp enough to prickle across Serenna’s skin.

Her attention snapped back to the king as his boots started to lift from the ground. He rose slowly, though nothing carried him, as if the world simply let him go.

Light writhed underneath his skin, gathering at his fingertips and along the crown above his silver hair. Essence streamed around him in widening rings, drawn into his orbit like wayward stars.

His outline dissolved into radiance.

Ayla’s warning reverberated through Serenna. He’ll call them here. Or go to them. Galaeryn didn’t need every dragon through the portal before he crossed. If the way remained open, the Aelfyn could enter their world and claim the rest themselves.