Page 49 of The Reckoning of Starlight

Hollowed. That was the only word for it.

Serenna’s stomach clenched around a cold, sinking weight as she ventured fully into the chamber.

Elashor turned at last, arms folding as he took her in with the detached attention of a general counting losses he didn’t intend to mourn. “This should’ve been settled months ago. Back in Vaelyn. The strongest shaman bloodlines from the north and the south run through you both. My sire didn’t spend centuries refining them only to let them die with you.”

Jassyn tensed, and ice spilled down Serenna’s spine.

Elashor’s gaze raked over Jassyn’s wings. “But he never accounted for this. Essence, earth, and dragon. That power will endure.” He gestured to the rug between them. “One way or another.”

Jassyn staggered back.

Elashor merely crooked a finger, and he froze.

Amber eyes wide, Jassyn scanned the room, but his body didn’t move.

“You can’t,” Jassyn rasped. “You can’t force us—”

“You had months.” Elashor’s voice flattened into something clinical. “Consider the delay corrected. King Galaeryn will have another vessel waiting when the Aelfyn arrive.”

The floor seemed to tilt under Serenna’s feet. Her stomach plunged and kept plunging, a fall with no bottom. The spark in her chest thrashed, begging for wings and flight.

Her eyes snapped to Jassyn, to the blood draining from his face as horror took shape between them. She turned toward the balcony, every muscle coiling.

Elashor scoffed. “Run, if you like.”

Serenna read the dare at once—the open balcony, the distance to the edge, Elashor standing untouched while Jassyn remained locked inside his own body. If she bolted, Elashor would send him after her. If she struck, Elashor would put Jassyn in the path of her lightning. Even victory would leave Jassyn paying for every blow she landed.

Serenna stayed still, and Elashor smirked.

“I’m not even fertile for another six months,” she said, throat so tight the protest came out hoarse.

“You think we don’t have a way around that?” He flicked a wrist toward Jassyn. “Prepare her.”

Crimson light flooded Jassyn’s palms.

He lurched forward, pale and shaking, fighting every inch and losing.

Serenna’s legs moved before thought could interfere. She backed away until a wall met her spine, the room running out.

She could’ve thrown lightning at Elashor. Hurled herself from the balcony. The knowledge moved through her with terrible clarity.

She could still fight or try to run.

That was the horror of it.

But Elashor had made Jassyn the price of defiance.

Jassyn’s hands shook in front of her, Essence spilling between fingers he couldn’t close.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I can’t stop. I can’t…”

When his magic breached her abdomen, Serenna flinched. Heat spread where it had no right to be, deep and invasive, forcing a window inside her body to open before its season.

She locked the scream behind her teeth and turned her fury on Elashor instead.

His expression didn’t flicker as he watched Jassyn carry out the command.

By the time crimson light faded from Jassyn’s palms, his exhales broke apart in shuddering bursts.