Gripped by guilt, Jassyn cleared his throat. “I’m not sure how it’s possible, but there’s more.”
Vesryn’s fingers twitched. “What else?” he grated out.
“That wraith. He…” Jassyn’s voice faltered, a residual chill tingling down his arms. “He was compelled.”
Vesryn’s jaw went slack. The implications of Jassyn’s knowledge caught up to the prince a moment later. “You were close enough to tell?” His eyes widened before narrowing to slits. “You assessed him?”
“I—I saved him.” Jassyn pulled the blanket tighter around his neck, shame weighing on his shoulders. “I didn’t realize the warrior was a wraith. I thought he was an elven-blooded before I saw his eyes and fangs.” Jassyn’s knees trembled from finally voicing the admission. “I couldn’t kill him. But he didn’t kill me either—he could have, but he just…left.”
Vesryn scoffed, folding his arms. Poised to reprimand. “Your failure to end that wraith puts us at risk.” A muscle rippled in his jaw. “What if he returns with that army?”
Jassyn averted his gaze, the accusation landing hard enough to have regret blurring his sight. If he had to do it again, Jassyn still didn’t think he’d have the strength to kill. If Serenna is somehow with that wraith, I hope she’s not paying the price for my weakness.
Vesryn resumed stalking back and forth across the sitting room. “Do you think that wraith returned this evening and abducted recruits without our knowledge? Like how they raid the capital?” He waved hand in the air. “Relay a message to Nelya and your ring of magus to see if anyone else is missing.” The prince halted in his tracks, yanking at the stitching in his rapidly fraying dragon sigil. “Serenna and I captured three wraith today. But the mindless ones. Do you think it’s possible those beasts are compelled too?”
Jassyn hesitantly nodded.
Apparently through with the conversation, Vesryn stalked out of Jassyn’s sitting room, tearing open the door to the hallway. “I have more questions and you’re coming with me to extract the answers from Thalaesyn,” he said over his shoulder disappearing down the corridor.
Preparing for another battle with the prince, Jassyn dragged a hand over his face. It was bound to be a long night.
CHAPTER 24
SERENNA
Ripped back into consciousness, Serenna sucked in a startled breath. She hacked on dust and then swallowed, throat raw from her previous screaming.
With a groan, she rolled over onto her back, inventorying her injuries from the fallen rocks. Gingerly feeling the throbbing lump on the side of her head, nothing seemed battered worse than her pounding skull.
Pained tears blurred the edge of her vision as she blinked up at a sheen of violet. Rubbing some life back into her eyes, and then regretting the action when dirt scraped into her skin, Serenna registered a crystalline lattice restraining the ceiling. Lykor had managed to tie off a shield, but there were gaping holes where the gold-laced rocks had disintegrated the magic, breaking through the ward.
With every muscle screaming in protest, Serenna hesitantly pushed herself to a sitting position. Torches now extinguished, the shield was the only source of light, faintly illuminating her domed prison with a purple glow. Her heart catapulted up her throat when she saw Lykor collapsed on his back beside her.
Black blood had congealed on his pale skin, a dried rivulet descending from underneath his dark hair. Incapacitated—but still breathing—she eyed him for a moment before glancing around the settled dusting of shattered stone. The rubble had reduced Lykor’s torture chamber to half its size, the area now smaller than her sitting room.
Serenna shied away from that terrifying fact that he’d stolen portaling from her, wondering if Lykor had included her in the shield so he could steal the rest of her power. Reminded of her defenselessness, Serenna clawed at the golden shackle latched around her wrist.
When the metal didn’t budge under her frantic grappling, Serenna reined in her rising panic, reluctantly acknowledging defeat. Glancing over at her captor again, she scrutinized something familiar about his deceptively attractive face. Rather than accepting the simple fact that Lykor might be missing a few spokes in the wheel, Serenna replayed the mayhem in the war room.
The name that other elf-like wraith had mentioned… I know I sensed another presence taking over through the bond. Serenna picked at a dry sliver of skin on her lip, combing through the havoc, turning over the events like soil. If Lykor is truly harboring Aesar…
A glimmer in the shield’s dim light snagged her attention, the hilt of a dagger gleaming at Lykor’s belt. Serenna didn’t think twice before scrambling over to his prone form.
Eyes riveted on the rise and fall of his chest, she hovered above Lykor’s waist, her wild heartbeat blocking her throat. Despite reassuring herself that he was unconscious, apprehension hammered against Serenna’s ribs as she considered stealing the knife. I can’t kill Lykor if Vesryn’s twin is somewhere in there, but I won’t be defenseless.
Feeling like she was about to disturb a sleeping lion, desperation fueled her determination. In one fluid motion, Serenna yanked the blade from its sheath, clutching the weapon to her chest. With her shred of protection, she scooted back to the edge of their reduced space. Slumping against the rubble, she waited for Lykor to wake.
While Serenna inspected her elongated fingers, she considered working up the courage to probe Lykor’s pockets for the key to her tether. Until a sudden intruding thought jabbed her, sharp like the knife she clenched.
This is all Vesryn’s fault! Serenna banged her hand on the ground, furious at the prince while hurt carved a hole in her heart. If he hadn’t kept her in the dark about whatever was going on with Ayla, she wouldn’t have overreacted and portaled to retrieve answers.
Scorched by shame for what had unfolded on Vesryn’s balcony, Serenna banished any further thoughts about the prince, knowing it would do no good to wallow in self-pity. There were more pressing matters to worry about now than her wounded feelings.
Serenna jumped when Lykor’s eyes snapped open. He sat up, palming his head, dried blood flaking from his face. Swiveling his attention to her, Lykor’s fiery gaze narrowed on the blade she held between them.
Without a word, he reached forward for the weapon. Leaning into the wreckage, Serenna tightened her grip, her mind too dulled to consider striking him with the blade. Lykor wordlessly snarled, prying her fingers off the hilt, wrestling the dagger free from her fist.
Serenna wasted a scowl while he absorbed himself in idly tracing the edge of the golden blade. Chills erupted over her skin as she registered the familiar vine-covered handle.
“Where did you get that knife?” she thoughtlessly demanded, forgetting her self-preservation. Lykor’s fangs flashed in the shield’s violet light but Serenna’s curiosity continued to stifle her common sense. “That’s not yours—I’d recognize Jassyn’s daggers anywhere.”
Lykor’s eyes snapped to hers so quickly that Serenna flinched, alarm bells clanging in her head to keep silent. His gaze flicked back to the blade.
“Don’t be fucking stupid,” he said, sheathing the weapon. “I doubt this dagger is the only one of its kind ever crafted.”
Suspicion flaring, embers of realization fanned in Serenna’s stomach, an accusation combusting from her mouth. “You’re the one who attacked Jassyn.”
Something that she couldn’t decipher flashed across Lykor’s face, convincing her to swallow any further remark. He mumbled something inaudible like he was talking to himself before growling, “We need to accept the bond.”
Serenna’s blood chilled, the unexpected statement stunning her speechless. She clicked her teeth shut, staring at him before a disgusted laugh spilled out of her mouth. “I don’t think so. If anything, I want to reject it.” Assembling fragments of her confidence, Serenna crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “Tell me how.”
Lykor ignored her, seizing her wrist. “I need Essence.” He unfolded from the ground, yanking her up with him, his head nearly grazing the collapsed ceiling.
“And I need you to let go of me,” Serenna bit out, unsuccessfully tugging against him to reclaim her limb.
“I don’t have enough magic remaining to suffer your simpleminded objections.” Lykor’s claw tightened around her arm. “If I don’t reinforce this shield, it’s going to unravel and dump the remainder of the ceiling on our heads.”
“I’m not accepting the bond,” Serenna snapped, skin crawling under his feverish fingers. “Portal us out of here.”
