Page 65 of The Reckoning of Starlight

Galaeryn had been waiting.

CHAPTER 16

SERENNA

Serenna watched the war burn through Fenn with every portal Taryn forced him to open, his hands shaking harder each time. Rift after rift sundered the air, spilling Centarya’s forces across the realms.

Every jump started with just one. Then a dozen magus would surge through, turn, and tear open their own passages—scores of portals multiplying from the first. In waves, Centarya’s army poured through the voids, the island bleeding dry behind them.

Ayla kept Serenna tethered beside her with wings and scales buried. Her sister said nothing as the lines advanced, her gaze never settling on one place. More than once, her hand drifted to her middle, then jerked away, fingers curling into a fist at her side.

The portals carried them westward—through the Hibernal Wastes, through the druid jungle—each rift resetting the bruised sky. The same fading light stretched longer than it should’ve, until the sun drowned in rising stars. By the time Fenn tore open the last portal to a high dune ridge overlooking Asharyn, nausea had bored through Serenna’s gut.

Vesryn should’ve sensed Fenn untethered, crossing realm after realm through whatever bond the Starshards had formed between them. He should’ve come searching, thrown himself into danger without a plan. But she hadn’t seen so much as a shadow of the prince. And she supposed that might be for the best—if Centarya’s forces got their hands on his Starshard, they would chain him beside her and Fenn.

The city gleamed under dying twin moons, and Ayla’s control coiled through Serenna’s limbs, drawing every tendon taut.

Her sister’s voice carried the calm of a decision already made. “This dragon nursery you spoke of…” Her eyes slid to Serenna’s. “We’ll portal directly to it.”

Every instinct screamed to argue, to stall for one more minute before Ayla flooded her ranks into Asharyn.

But resistance would only make Ayla tighten her grip. Her sister had already pried most of the details from her and Fenn—the entrance, the guards, the hatchlings. Ayla had inventoried every threat she could count, but there was one question she’d never thought to ask.

Clinging to their only advantage, Serenna remained silent. From this far, there was nothing she could do to warn Cinderax and the twenty-two hatchlings who didn’t know what was coming.

Behind them, the stream of fighters didn’t cease. Magus and initiates poured through rifts until the dunes bristled with Centarya’s ranks.

Someone in the city had to see this. Some scout, some winged wraith cloaked in shadows…

“Taryn,” Ayla called over her shoulder, voice never rising. “Send the first wave into the city. I want Asharyn fighting before it realizes where we’re truly striking.”

Taryn turned and relayed the order down the ranks. Below the ridge, streets and towers gleamed under the moons—bright enough for any magus to mark a landing. Rifts opened across the sand, swallowing Centarya’s numbers before spilling them into the city below.

Ayla’s attention returned to Serenna. “You and I will take the dragons first. Consider it a kindness—they’ll be claimed for Centarya before the walls fall around them.” Her gaze slid to Taryn. “The nursery. Now. Bring your reavers.”

Taryn’s fist closed around Fenn’s Starshard. His whole body jerked—spine locking, teeth bared, a sound scraping through his throat that wasn’t a word. Another rift split the air in front of his hands.

His eyes found Serenna’s for one fleeting moment. Then Ayla’s control wrenched her forward, and the portal engulfed her.

Sand ground under her boots. Heat hit like a furnace, surrounding them with a sharp mineral bite. Braziers ringed the salt cavern, their glow carving long shadows up the walls. High above, hexagonal windows cut through the stone, open to the stars.

Reavers crowded in behind her, boots and armor filling the chamber with echoes, shrinking the nursery with every footfall.

The hatchlings wouldn’t understand speech. But Cinderax would.

Fear tore outward before Serenna could shape anything else, her mind screaming one desperate word through the scalebond.

“RUN!”

Scattered through the shadows, pairs of eyes peeled open. Icy blue. Amethyst. Ember gold.

“Secure them,” Ayla snapped.

The reavers spread wide, forming a ring around the chamber’s edge. Serenna’s focus flew upward, measuring the narrow windows. The hatchlings might fit if they fled.

A growl split the dark, and Vasharax pounced into the firelight. Her snout lifted, testing the air, and Serenna nearly cried out when she bounded straight for Fenn, the way she always did, all legs and momentum.

Fenn didn’t move, forced motionless at Taryn’s side.