Page 57 of The Reckoning of Starlight

“Asharyn’s numbers rival ours,” she said. “But we hold a fivefold advantage in trained Essence-wielders.”

Galaeryn clasped his hands behind his back. “Then I expect no delays. Prioritize the dragons and those blood-bound to the artifacts. If their hovels amount to anything worth occupying, we’ll convert the settlement into a permanent stronghold.”

Serenna’s throat cinched. Fenn’s wing brushed hers as they followed in silence, so faint it might have been accidental. She knew it wasn’t.

Asharyn’s sandstone had been shaped into more gardens than garrisons, into sacred pools and open courts. Market squares where Fenn had sampled everything the vendors offered. Shaded colonnades where Vesryn had walked beside her, their fingers intertwined.

War wouldn’t find a city braced for siege. It would find homes with doors still open, sandals left beside thresholds, fountains still bright in the sun. And once the fighting began, blood would run through it all.

Galaeryn surveyed the assembled ranks one final time. “Begin the campaign tonight.”

Serenna’s spine locked, her gaze snapping to her sister.

Ayla’s stride hitched. “Tonight?”

Galaeryn didn’t look at her as he opened a portal. “I expect your report by dawn.”

The rift sealed behind him, darkness folding shut where he’d stood.

Ayla’s nostrils flared in the silence the king left behind. Her attention flicked to Fenn before pinning on Taryn. “Untether him. He’ll portal us there.” Her fingers clamped around the Starshard at her throat, eyes colliding with Serenna’s. “And you’ll lead the charge. Your precious druid city will see who commands you now.”

CHAPTER 14

JASSYN

Jassyn tried to leave Blossom behind in the garden.

More than once.

But she followed anyway.

By the time he reached the last manicured hedges, Jassyn had insisted he needed stealth, that slipping through the estate unnoticed was the best chance to find the Heart of Stars. And that he’d return and sever the chains binding her.

He drew to a halt as Blossom rammed the sensation of devouring into his skull, images bleeding into his mind in shuddering bursts.

Roots fissuring marble. Fruit left too long in the sun, sweetening past ripeness into rot. Pressure behind his tongue, dirt packed into his molars.

This place could be swallowed whole. Together, they could raze the estate until every polished stone remembered it had been stolen from the earth.

Jassyn clenched his jaw and tried to force the dragon from his mind, but she wasn’t listening.

Blossom’s power shuddered through the ground, and the marble path ruptured. Vines punched through, barbed and slick with sap. One snapped forward, crimson petals flaring wide to reveal a needle-fanged core. It struck with venomous speed, burying a darted spine in the soil beside his boot.

A demonstration.

How to make root obey like a weapon. How to rip stone from elven order. How to bloom ruin through a foundation and call it a reclamation.

Jassyn swallowed the taste of dirt and kept moving.

They emerged from the hedges into the sweep of a marble colonnade, its archways marching in pale succession toward the estate’s inner court.

Ahead, two guards turned at the thunder of Blossom’s approach. Essence surged around them.

Jassyn braced. There’d be no turning back now.

The guards rushed forward, shadows flaring in twin spirals.

Behind him, Blossom stamped one claw.