Page 90 of The Reckoning of Starlight

At least now she’d dressed properly for the world ending.

She halted before Jassyn and pressed a claw to her heart. Once, that gesture might’ve looked like faith. After Asharyn, Lykor couldn’t tell whether devotion still held or habit had survived the fire.

Behind her, Asharyn’s guildmasters fanned out. He read the set of their chins, the careful stillness in their wings, the way their attention landed on Jassyn. Their precious prophecy—barely back from the Vallende estate and still reeking of Farine’s perfume—was being handed a city’s worth of panic before he’d scraped captivity from his skin.

“Your return steadies us,” Kaedryn said, her wings furled tight to her spine.

There it was. Gratitude with a hidden hook.

“We’re still counting the toll,” she continued. “At least a quarter of our number…” Her voice thinned. “Gone. Warriors. Artisans. Historians. Smiths. Entire bloodlines burned out by the Aelfyn scourge.”

Blossom’s magic rolled through the passage, carving their next fragile excuse for survival from the mountain. Alcoves split from stone, mineral steam curling through new seams. Growth kindled under her claws, crawling over the tunnel floor in luminous veins.

Survivors funneled into the chambers opening ahead—stained with soot, arms locked around children or whatever scraps they’d dragged from the city.

“Most of our people fled with wounds and nothing else,” Kaedryn said. “Half our stores burned with Asharyn. The scalebound have supplies, but nowhere near enough. Not for what’s left of us.”

Jassyn brushed his fingers along the stone wall, faint green light glowing at his fingertips. Mushrooms unfurled from the cracks—thick-bodied and dense, their caps rimmed in dim blue light.

Lykor recognized them. The same kind had grown in his fortress, stubborn enough to keep a population alive. The Bramblemaw’s gift made life crawl out of stone, but he hadn’t forgotten that the beast herself fed on living flesh.

“Blossom can grow gardens,” Jassyn said. “We won’t starve. Continue coordinating hunts with the wraith and rangers. We’ll carry on as we did in Asharyn.”

The guildmasters absorbed that in silence. Lykor watched the numbers sharpen behind their eyes—who could be spared, who could be spent, who would be sent into the open next after others didn’t come back.

Ahead, Blossom carved a refuge from the mountain’s gut, and still the demands found Jassyn faster than shelter could.

Bhreena shoved through the crowd with Daeryn at her side. Fresh vines uncoiled from the ceiling and brushed her shoulders, new growth spilling through the tunnel. She slapped one away, glowering toward the dragon.

“The prisoners?” Bhreena asked. “I’m told Elashor was taken alive.”

The faint glow of earth faded from Jassyn’s fingertips. He straightened, the First Keeper closing over whatever Farine had left behind.

Lykor’s molars ground together. The mountain could split itself open, dragon power could feed them from stone, and still Bhreena had found a way to make Jassyn bleed for an answer.

Not this time.

“I’ll handle that interrogation personally,” Lykor growled, frost crystallizing over his knuckles. “We’ll bury Elashor so deep in this mountain that Galaeryn would need the stars themselves to find his bones.”

Bhreena’s nostrils flared. “That’s it? We lost Asharyn, and this is your answer? Question Elashor while that dragon digs us a grave and the king gathers his armies?”

“No,” Jassyn answered. The quiet patience he’d used to coax food from stone vanished behind the First Keeper’s voice. “Fear doesn’t change the plan. We shelter here, tend to the wounded, and stabilize food sources. Then we scout the Aetherveil, find Veyrix, and free him.”

Bhreena’s lips thinned as she measured Jassyn. Her weight shifted forward.

Lykor stepped into her path. Enough to make himself the first body she’d have to get through.

“Speaking of dragons,” she said, scowling past him at the druids. “Cinderax still hasn’t offered his fire to those of us—”

Daeryn lifted a hand.

Bhreena went quiet.

Lykor wondered how long that would keep working.

“That is between us and the dragon,” Daeryn said. “You have your answers. Report to Mara and see the survivors settled.”

Bhreena’s attention lingered on Jassyn long enough for Lykor’s lip to curl.