“I’m not ready for something like that,” Jassyn snapped, his chest constricting with discomfort. “And I doubt I’ll ever be.”
Vesryn’s mirth morphed to understanding before he brushed loose fringes of hair away from his face, averting his eyes. “Right. Of course. I’ll fend her off for you if it comes to that.” Clearing his throat, he quickly backtracked topics. “But you should still consider training. I think working your body to exhaustion in the evenings will be an excellent distraction from the dust—to break your former routines.” The prince broke into a grin, sidling closer to shake Jassyn’s shoulder. “In any case, I’ll be tucking you in every night, ensuring you don’t slip up.”
If we keep this up, I’m sure Vesryn will think we’re friends. Jassyn rubbed his temples, mouth pinching into a line. “Fine,” he breathed out in reluctant agreement.
The prince’s eyes lit up, glinting with a wretched delight. “Really?”
“Don’t make me regret it.” Jassyn jabbed a finger at Vesryn’s chest, pushing him back out of his space. “I’m sure your influence will be more destructive than Stardust.”
Vesryn clapped Jassyn on the back, nearly sending him sprawling. “Oh, I guarantee it.”
CHAPTER 5
SERENNA
“Shield!” A female magus bellowed at Serenna from the side of the Combat Yard.
Serenna didn’t shield.
A brutal blast of force smacked Serenna upside the head, flashing a torrent of stars behind her eyes. She’d had no time to practice fabricating wards after Vesryn had snapped her into the ability a little over a week ago.
Blinking, Serenna found herself staring at the ground, hands sinking into sand. Shaking her head to dislodge the ringing in her ears, she swayed to her feet. A violent rush of shadows veiled Serenna in a gale of darkness.
“No rending!” the magus shouted.
Serenna scowled at the interfering menace before whipping her attention back to Ayla, twenty paces across from her. Wiping away perspiration trickling down her forehead, Serenna ignored the bursts of magic flaring around the other initiates scattered out in pairs.
The rules of the duel were completely unfair, stifling any advantage Serenna had with her aptitude in rending. She wasn’t going to obliterate Alari’s soon-to-be princess—she just wanted to bring that snake to her belly.
Serenna wouldn’t have been in such a fury if Ayla hadn’t taunted her with her impending engagement to the prince before their match, a vicious reminder that their sire had deemed Ayla a more suitable consort for the realm. Serenna’s mood hadn’t improved once her sister had started hurling her around the ring. Half-sister, she corrected, detesting even that close of an association.
Wrestling her emotions back behind iron bars in her mind, Serenna smothered her shadows before the magus reprimanded her again. Catching her breath, she twisted glimmering Essence around her hands, readying herself for another round that she was now seriously dreading.
The instructors had organized this “pre-tournament” practice, and Serenna thought the extra training would be prudent preparation—especially if the wraith returned. She wouldn’t have bothered if she’d known that the conniving magus intended to pair her against Ayla. Intentionally, she had no doubts.
The odds were stacked against her. Fanning the flames of her self-pity, Serenna checked off her sister’s advantages in her head. Ayla has more abilities than me so she’s automatically stronger, and she’s obviously had more practice so she has more magic in her Well to draw from.
Vesryn had suspended formal classes for two weeks while workers restored the battle-scarred campus. In the meantime, Jassyn had promised Serenna that he’d escort her to Kyansari to visit Velinya, who’d been transported to the capital’s healing grounds after the attack.
Between the absence of the prince and her friends, restlessness had Serenna seeking a diversion. I wouldn’t have wasted my time if I knew this was going to turn into a public beating. But it was too late to back down. The stubborn fragments of Serenna’s pride prevented her from yielding even though she had no grand illusions that she’d be the victor.
Ayla flicked her flame-colored braid over her shoulder before folding her arms, tapping her boot in the sand, apparently already bored with tossing Serenna around. Rolling her eyes, Ayla called out to the hovering instructor, “Could you at least match me against someone who’ll present half a challenge?”
Grinding her teeth, Serenna snatched her force talent from her Well, the unformed Essence in her hands morphing into a cerulean orb of light. Only an arch elf with all eight abilities would best her. And Ayla knows it.
Mending wouldn’t be useful, and Serenna couldn’t weave a shield even if her life depended on it. She had yet to manifest illumination and portaling—not that the remainder of her abilities would’ve been effective against her sister.
Ignoring Ayla’s question, the magus blazed a burst of light between her and Serenna, signaling the start of their next round. A riptide of Essence crackled from Ayla’s extended fingers.
Serenna’s eyes widened as four portals cleaved the surrounding air, boxing her in a prison. She didn’t have any warning before Ayla catapulted blows of force through each rift, aiming to pummel her from every direction.
Diving to the ground to escape the onslaught, Serenna scuttled through the sand on her hands and knees, fleeing through the closest gateway. On the other side, she realized the idiocy of the tactic. The portal had dumped her out nearly on top of her sister.
Serenna clambered to her feet, much closer to Ayla than she wanted to be. Unlike her sister, she hadn’t had years of extensive training in hand-to-hand combat. Serenna staggered back, creating more space. Her attention darted to the other pairs of recruits, calculating how far she could scurry to put more distance between them.
Portals unraveling, Ayla punched out a shock wave of force. Flailing with her power, Serenna returned the attack, casting a blue blast toward Ayla. Their magic collided, splitting the air with a crack like thunder.
The clash of magic swelled between them, shoving them apart. Serenna locked her teeth, boots skidding backward, digging trenches into the ring. In a frantic attempt to try something different, she slapped a wave of power against the earth.
A purple lattice ignited around Ayla, slamming into a solid shield, leaving her unscathed. A cloud of dust sailed in the sunlight while sand settled back to the ground. Waving a hand in front of her face, Serenna spluttered a series of coughs from the stirred debris. She flinched as an unexpected presence coiled around her mind, voice trickling into her awareness.
Come on, Harpy, you throw better magic than that when you’re facing me.
Focus fracturing, Serenna’s heart tripped and then raced. Her pulse jumped when she followed the subtle tug of the bond, detecting the prince near the yard’s perimeter trees. The spectating initiates eyed him warily, inching away. Vesryn arched a questioning brow at her, rolling a loose thread on his stitched dragon.
It took Serenna an annoying amount of effort to rip her attention away from the prince’s untimely presence. She silently seethed to herself, returning her focus to the match. Now he conveniently appears when I’m getting flung across the ring!
Serenna had sensed that the prince had returned to campus a few days prior. Assuming he had a hundred demands taking up his time, she hadn’t ascended the Spire like a moon-eyed girl to seek him out.
Using the telepathic link the prince still had latched onto her mind, Serenna sent him a snippy thought. You let me practice with rending, these horrid magus don’t. I’ve hardly—
The world turned upside down when a barrage of power launched Serenna into the air. Essence slipped out of her grip from the sudden shock. She crashed onto her back, colliding with the sand.
What air Serenna had left abandoned her lungs when Ayla rammed into her. They grappled in a tangle of arms and fingers until Ayla wrenched Serenna’s hands next to her head, staking her to the ground like a pinned beetle on display.
“Do you honestly think a half-breed from the human realms can compete with me?” Ayla hissed, straddling Serenna’s hips. “You have no place among the elves.”
Unable to combat the insecurity that her sister’s vicious words had induced, something in Serenna’s chest iced over, fracturing with the truth. She had yet to set foot in Kyansari. I’ll never be a pure-blood and belong. And Serenna wanted to scream at Ayla that neither would she, a fact that her sister always conveniently forgot.
