An echo of boots thudded behind her. A deep voice growled something she couldn’t understand, sounding like a threat of distant thunder. I’m sure I disturbed something Vesryn didn’t want me to see. Sensing his furious presence behind her, Serenna whirled to face him.
She met flaming eyes and flashing fangs.
With a shriek, Serenna stumbled backward, hips colliding into the table. Her heart pummeled the inside of her chest as she hauled on her magic, slamming a shield around herself.
Attempting to make sense of this dark-haired stranger who looked impossibly familiar, Serenna’s mind whirred with questions. She stared at his half-wraith appearance, analyzing him while her lungs hauled in air.
“Who—who are you?” Serenna stammered, scanning for an escape, searching for the prince. Vesryn must know him, right?
Her eyes rolled wildly, taking in the foreign surroundings that could’ve been carved from a rocky cavern. Sharp golden weapons festooned the stone walls accompanied by flames flickering in strange, spiraled sconces lining the edge of the room. Empty fireplaces somehow emitted rushes of air, heating the space.
The entire wall at the head of the table was glass, curving halfway around the room. The view opened up to a jagged mountain range where the sun crawled below snowy, desolate peaks. Serenna’s eyes darted across the frozen expanse, gaping at the unexpected landscape. I portaled farther than I thought.
“Where am I?” Serenna asked, her focus hesitantly returning to the elf-like wraith.
Judging from his spiked armor and the cunning look burning in his eyes, Serenna assumed this male wasn’t like the mindless creature the prince had unleashed on her in the dungeons. The seams of his black leathers cut edges even sharper than his jawline. His trousers, the dark color impossible to discern, shimmered with iridescence in the fading sun.
The male peered at her with the same calculating interest that Naru provided the innards of a rabbit. But Serenna sensed that she repulsed him instead, a cockroach to be crushed under his boot.
Her eyes widened, registering that she could perceive his revulsion. Breath hitching on the revelation, the peril of her situation locked every muscle in denial. Covering her mouth, Serenna stifled a wordless gasp, fully identifying him in her mind.
It wasn’t Vesryn’s presence that had drawn her here. It was this stranger’s. The bond that distance must’ve dimmed, the silver cord now glaringly bright because of his proximity. It’s not possible. Fear had Serenna refortifying her shield, the violet magic protectively flaring around her.
Flicking a wrist, shadows streaked out from the male’s metal gauntlet, effortlessly slicing through her ward. Serenna’s body seized, snared in another bind of rending.
The realization of the bond engulfed her in a mute panic, robbing her ability to launch any counter strike. Chest drumming with paralyzed horror, Serenna helplessly watched the elf-wraith approach her, the heavy steps of his boots ominously echoing against the stone.
The stranger’s gaze dismissively passed over her before a pressure of force whipped the box she’d dropped into his palm. He flipped open the lid. Scarlet eyes reflecting torchlight thinned, veering to her before glancing back at the displayed Heart. He barked out a sudden laugh, the booming noise jarring Serenna’s pulse.
When he rolled his shoulders, it sounded like each vertebrae in his spine cracked in half. Brows forming a severe ridge, his searing gaze riveted on her. “I see this stars-cursed bond proved useful after all.”
He knows what’s between us too. Struggling to drive air down her lungs, every fiber screamed at Serenna to flee from that intimidating stare.
Touching the relic, five colors sprang from the prism’s peak, confirming the obvious fact that this male had Essence. He grunted, jerking his head at the Heart. “How did you come by this?”
Serenna’s heart stuttered at his words as shadows continued to billow around her, shackling her in place.
“Speak!”
Her voice fled when she opened her mouth. A burst of Essence had Serenna’s body flying toward his outstretched claw, propelled by a blast of force. Colliding with the metal of his gauntlet, he seized her neck like a vise. The grip bit into her skin as sharp canines flashed in front of her face.
“If I have to ask two fucking questions to retrieve one satisfactory answer,” he snarled, “then this is going to rapidly deteriorate into an unpleasant experience for you.”
A tremor rippled all the way from Serenna’s head to her toes as she swallowed the scream coiling in her throat. “I don’t see how this day can get any worse,” she whimpered, her words hoarse around the fist constricting her air.
His crimson eyes flared like stoked flames, an outpour of his loathing assaulting her.
Serenna’s vision blurred.
Agonizing fire blazed through her veins as rending scalded every nerve. Spine arching, Serenna released a strangled howl as the darkness threatened to incinerate her bones. Heart thrashing against her ribs, her limbs contorted, body twisting in excruciating and unnatural ways. Searing anguish raged, the all-consuming torment dragging her toward unconsciousness.
Released from the male’s gauntlet but still constrained by the shadowy bindings, Serenna slumped, dazed and panting when the rampant contractions of her muscles finally stopped. Blood flooded her mouth from where she’d bitten her cheek. She stared unblinking at the floor, reclaiming her breath as the memory of pain retreated.
Her power was there, in the crypts of her mind. Waiting. Finally, Serenna’s instincts roused. She snatched at her magic. Moments. She only needed moments to spin a portal to somewhere—anywhere—else.
Power erupting, Serenna blasted out a wave of rending from every pore. As if ignited by her outburst, the fires in the lamps flared, casting wavering shadows against the stone. Papers on the table shot in the air, the figurines on the map scattering. The explosion of power crashed around the room, rattling the sconces affixed to the walls.
Her magic bounced uselessly off of the male’s shield.
Unfazed by Serenna fighting for her life, he stood with his arms crossed across his leathers, not appearing taxed at all. The arrogance was all too familiar as something about his angled features clawed at her mind.
Gritting her teeth, Serenna channeled her hate along the nexus lurking between them, the second silver cord in her Well connecting her to this…this…abomination. His presence soiled her mind, scum clinging to a stagnant pond.
Warring to break out of rending’s hold, Serenna hurled shock waves of Essence at the male, her chest heaving from the effort. She threw her entire Well against him, hacking at the darkness constraining her.
His lip curled, shearing her magic with a slash of rending, affording her no more attention than one would a bothersome gnat. Serenna felt just as insignificant. Just as helpless. Recognizing her power was futile against his, she slowly let her shadows dissolve.
“Release me,” Serenna demanded through clenched teeth with all the authority she could muster.
The male stepped forward, stooping to growl in her face. “It was you who opened a portal and breached my fortress.” The words he released flayed her cheek with a repulsive heat. Steel edged the low tenor of his voice, promising more pain. “You have no right to make demands.”
“I have every right!” Serenna shrieked, her voice shrill with despair. “You wraith brought war to us! For no reason!”
As soon as the statement left her mouth, realization clubbed her like a blow. He must be able to portal. This…wraith thing had sensed her presence and traveled to Centarya—that was the only explanation. He used the bond to cross the realms, just like she did. She was the reason the wraith were able to attack the academy—the reason so many had died.
It’s all my fault. Heart sinking below her ribs, Serenna blinked back tears of guilt. Have I really been so stupid not realizing I had another bond?
“You elves—half-elves—whatever you scourge are, forced my hand with your military island.” The male’s gauntlet squealed as it snapped into a fist. “I can only imagine it will be a matter of time before your kind scours the lands for us. Destroying my people. Hunting us like animals.”
