Page 214 of The Reckoning of Starlight

No dragon left in any realm would be beyond their reach.

Serenna’s blood turned to ice as the king began to ascend.

CHAPTER 56

SERENNA

Serenna turned to Vesryn as Galaeryn rose above the platform, the king’s cold radiance washing the lake in blue and silver.

The prince hovered beside her, gaze fixed on the ruptured sky. Across the lake, Fenn still raced from circle to circle, clutching hatchlings against his chest and shoving them through portals.

The trap they’d drawn around Galaeryn frayed and died, one ring of sunfire at a time.

“We failed,” Serenna said, the admission scraping through her throat.

Emerald eyes met hers, bright and steady. Vesryn drifted closer, wingbeats slowing as he took her hand.

“If the king reaches that portal,” he said, “there’s no telling what he could bring back from the other side.” His grip tightened. “I can intercept him. Maybe hold him long enough for you to gather what remains and strike.”

Serenna’s stomach plunged. “No.”

Vesryn’s expression softened, the decision already settled behind his eyes. Fear hollowed the breath from her lungs as she understood that he was only waiting for her to accept the cost.

“There has to be another way.”

“You know there isn’t. We need all the Essence the circles have left.”

“They’re scattered,” Serenna gritted out.

“Then gather them.”

She stared at him. Beyond the prince, Galaeryn climbed slowly, the edges of his body blurring into starlight. The portal hung above him, waiting like an endless eye.

“Make yourself the focus.” Vesryn’s voice stayed low, but command lived in it, a prince choosing to become the blade and placing the hilt in her hand. “Draw every wielder’s power through your Starshard. I’ll buy you time. When you’re ready, strike with everything.”

Serenna crushed his fingers in hers. “And what happens to you?”

Vesryn held her gaze, saying nothing.

She shook her head, fury rising fast enough to choke her. “Tell me.”

His mouth tightened. “You don’t stop. Whatever you feel through the bond, whatever you see happen to me, you drive the sunfire into him. Finish it.”

Tears blurred Serenna’s vision, smearing the fires below into the starlight above. But every line of Vesryn’s face stayed painfully clear. She sensed him reach inward, hauling on his Well. Essence kindled under his skin, power rising like dawn.

“Don’t—” Her voice broke around the word. “Don’t do this. Please.” She gripped the bond, reaching for the pulse of him, that infuriating certainty she’d never imagined could disappear.

Vesryn drew even closer, the edges of his wings brushing hers. “If he goes through that portal, there won’t be another chance.”

A tear slipped free. “You’re asking me to channel sunfire at you.”

Vesryn lifted his palm to her cheek, unbearably gentle while fire and Essence still tore through the armies along the shore below and the portal devoured the stars above.

“I love you.”

Serenna went still.

She’d known. Of course she’d known. Through the bond, his love had always worn arrogance like armor. And it had lived in reckless choices and maddening smirks, every steadying hand against her back.