Page 78 of The Reckoning of Starlight

She swallowed the bitterness and shifted into her wings, the clawed tips clenching tight.

“The evacuation is taking too long.” Her voice frayed at the edges. “We need to buy them more time.”

Vesryn snatched her hand as if expecting her to take flight. “I just got you back. I’m not losing you to this battle.”

“We fight.” Fenn gripped Vesryn’s shoulder. “The three of us together. Standing farther from the flames won’t make the risk vanish.”

He stepped back from the prince and pulled the Starshard from his armor.

Essence ignited around him in a blinding rush, glowing talents unseating one by one until six orbs spun like severed stars. He kept portaling and force in his Well—the talents Serenna had gifted him. Through the bond, she felt the feral satisfaction of his body shedding the shape Ayla had forced him into.

Golden hair bled dark, shadow devouring the gilded lie until night crowned him again. His skin deepened to indigo as his frame lengthened to the height Serenna knew, joints cracking as his fingers stretched back into taloned claws.

His eyes flickered, glacial blue searing away to crimson. When they landed on Serenna, they burned. And when he grinned at Vesryn, his fangs flashed in the firelight.

“I can still wield your elf magics with the Starshard,” he said, curling his fingers around the gem as the talents spun closer. “Taryn gave me a thorough demonstration of its uses.”

He drew the abilities into the Starshard, their light splintering through its facets until the gem pulsed in his palm.

“But this form…” He flexed his wings, claws raking the air. “This one is mine.”

With Vesryn’s hand clasped in hers, Serenna reached for Fenn, settling her other palm against his chest. The market fell away until all she felt was his drumming heartbeat.

Fenn’s fingers closed over hers. The bonds hummed between the three of them, and for the first time since before Saundyl’s ship, Serenna could breathe.

Fenn spread his wings wide. “Shall we?”

He hooked an arm around her waist before she could answer, and Vesryn’s fingers tightened through hers. Fenn warped her skyward, the prince’s curse snarling through the bond as he was yanked up with them.

The world folded, sound crushing flat, pressure slamming her ribs, the ground ripping away beneath them.

They reappeared high above Asharyn.

Fenn released her waist and swept out beside her as the city sprawled in flames below. Serenna caught the sky with Vesryn still holding her hand, their wings beating in tandem.

One corner of Fenn’s mouth lifted when he saw the prince’s fingers still locked through hers.

Vesryn released her as though the contact burned. “Warp us like that again,” he said, voice honed down to threat, “and I’ll portal you into the lake.”

“Promises,” Fenn murmured. “Wraith have a celebrated history with water, princeling.”

Vesryn’s mouth tightened around whatever answer wanted out. He jerked his chin toward the southern district, where ice and shadows churned above the streets. “That must be Lykor.”

Serenna flared her dragonsight and Lykor resolved through the haze. He carved through the sky on azure wings coated with rime, shadows lashing with every beat. He dove low over a building and ice speared from his fists, freezing a magus solid where they stood.

Serenna scanned the burning city. “Then we help him.”

She tucked her wings and dove. Vesryn and Fenn fell into place at her sides, wind roaring past as they arrowed toward the south.

Lykor banked hard ahead of them, an obsidian arc cleaving the night. A bolt of Essence streaked toward him from the rooftops. He rolled beneath it, wings folding tight before snapping wide, then flung a fistful of shadows into the attacker, detonating her before a scream ever formed.

Frost sheathed his arms as he rose to meet them, already scanning for the next threat.

Essence erupted from the streets below—geysers of rending and force racing toward them. Lykor flicked his wrist, and a violet shield cracked across the air, encasing them in a sphere.

The pressure of his Well thundered against the scales that Serenna had locked into place, her bones ringing with the force of his power.

Lykor’s gaze raked over her and Fenn before he searched the sky behind them.