“If I have your permission, Captain,” Lykor hissed, “I’m going to search that jungle.” Shoulders twitching, irritation nearly had Lykor’s skin bristling off his spine. “If the druids claimed any Hearts in the war, we prioritize searching their ancient capitals first—that’s all we have to go on. We have weeks at best before we need to abandon this place.”
Kal crossed his arms, sweeping his gaze over Lykor. “And what about my suggestion of portaling me—”
“No,” Lykor snapped. “This is the final time you’re bringing that up.”
Kal hadn’t relinquished his scheme of urging Aesar to transport him back to the military island. The captain intended to spin an illusion and seek Vesryn out, appearing fully as an elf, since his sharper features and skin tone still favored the wraith. Aesar wasn’t inclined to put Kal in that danger. Not that Lykor would’ve permitted the risk anyway.
“What do we do about the reavers in the meantime?” Fenn asked, fiddling with one of his eyebrow rings.
“Let them stay, let them go. It matters not to me.” Flaring his power, Lykor snatched his cloak with a whip of force. “If they refuse to follow my lead, then they don’t have a place with the wraith. I can only suffer fools for so long.” He twisted open a portal, speaking over his shoulder. “Keep a guard on the girl. I don’t want her magic falling into their hands.”
CHAPTER 35
JASSYN
Shadows swarmed Jassyn like a ballistic beehive. Essence blazing, he spun a renewed flare of violet light, arcing a shield between him and the prince. Doubtful that his crystalline ward would withstand Vesryn’s magical assault, Jassyn dodged the barrage of darkness, diving to the ground.
The black sand of the beach cushioned his fall. He rolled over his shoulder, scrambling back to his feet. Curls plastered to his face, Jassyn shook the rain out of his eyes.
A flash of lightning cracked behind the prince, shattering into the turbulent ocean. White-capped waves thrashed, sending the tide surging past their ankles. Forming another fist, Vesryn didn’t grant him any time to catch his breath.
Jassyn regained his footing before another volley of darkness bashed against his shield. Thoughts rampant like the storm, he cycled through his limited options. Gritting his teeth, Jassyn tapped into his depleting Well, fortifying his protective barrier before he tried anything else. Aside from blinding his cousin with a burst of illumination—that Vesryn would most likely slash through with rending—he had no talents at his disposal to retaliate against the relentless striking shadows.
A pulse of power billowed out from Vesryn. Before Jassyn could react, a blast of force smashed into him. Ward obliterated, Well completely drained, the punch of magic launched Jassyn into the sky.
Breath clinging to the inside of his throat, he collided with the chilly sea. The water swallowed him. Frantically resurfacing for a gasp of air, a wave crashed over Jassyn’s head, plunging him back within the depths.
Vesryn snarled telepathically into Jassyn’s mind, tearing past his mental barricades. I found a storm for you to practice with and you’re not even trying to use it.
Lungs nearly combusting, the ocean finally released Jassyn from its watery grave. Volleying a retort, his simmering grievances against the prince accumulated like the brewing tempest. My apologies, let me thank you while I’m busy drowning.
Finding purchase on the coarse sand, Jassyn’s hands and knees sank into the shoreline. Disoriented and coughing, he stumbled to his feet before another wave could slap his back.
Jassyn wiped the water off his face, finding no relief from the salt burning his eyes. Sensing the building pressure of Essence, his chest seized on another breath, anticipating the impending attack.
It never came.
The prince stalked up to him, snatching the front of his soaked leathers, towing him up the beach. Jassyn’s legs had no choice but to follow as his cousin dragged him to the grass-covered dunes.
Rain showered them, washing off the sticky sand clinging to Jassyn’s skin. Gray clouds tumbled past the rim of cliffs bowing over the churning sea. The surf crashed on the rocks, hazing the air with misty spray.
Vesryn finally released him. The prince crossed his arms while blistering displeasure radiated off him, almost hot enough to burn. Buffeted by the breeze, Jassyn lurched in the long grasses before reclaiming his balance. His chest shuddered, drawing in labored breaths to recover his lungs.
Looking anywhere else to avoid his cousin’s scorn, Jassyn craned his neck up at the towering craggy bluffs. Squatty black and white birds splayed their webbed feet against the battering wind, clumsily landing with beakfuls of fish before disappearing into burrows.
Vesryn’s rebuke was rough like the surf. “I brought you here so you could hone your elemental power.”
Tightening his lips, Jassyn hesitantly met the prince’s disapproval. “You didn’t give me a choice.” A glimmer of defiance flickered. “Regardless of what I wanted, you would’ve tossed me through that portal.”
“You agreed to spar with me,” Vesryn fired back.
“Not like this,” Jassyn grated out. He waited for a peal of thunder to subside. “Have you considered that perhaps I’d like to explore that magic on my own? In a calm environment with a clear mind?”
Vesryn drummed his fingers across his arms. “So what’s your excuse for the sloppy way you’re wielding Essence?”
“I’m tired,” Jassyn snapped, irritably shoving soaked windblown curls out of his eyes. That was an understatement considering that the prince’s magical bombardment had exhausted his Well.
Vesryn scoffed. “Then I’ll be sure to tell Serenna that we didn’t find her sooner because you were ‘tired.’” He viciously yanked one of the remaining scraggly threads on his leathers.
“You throwing me all over the beach to release your frustration has nothing to do with finding Serenna,” Jassyn argued, tossing his hands up. “I’ve spent the past week unraveling coercion with Thalaesyn from nearly sunup to sundown.”
“And it hasn’t been enough,” Vesryn growled, a tendon twitching in his neck. He shifted his stance, every muscle in his exposed arms taut.
Jassyn took a calming breath, not rising to meet the prince’s hostility. “We’re overwhelmed with how many wraith you and your rangers are corralling.” He readjusted one of his concealed daggers that was jabbing him in the ribs, cringing as trapped sand scraped between his skin and armor. “And no matter how fast you have us work, we can’t extract answers that don’t exist.”
After spending time consoling Velinya, Jassyn had gathered that her last memories were of a wraith nearly ripping her apart. When Thalaesyn had unraveled the final knots of coercion, she became coherent in the stables—with no recollection of what had happened to her after the attack or how she came to be transformed and magicless.
It was the same story with the other thirty or so wraith the rangers had rounded up from the wilds. Jassyn and his mentor had freed them from their mindless, coerced states, acquiring more questions than answers. The former recruits now secretly lived in dwellings at the Ranger Station while the prince and his warriors determined the next course of action.
This conversation was the closest they’d come all week to discussing the wraith, skirting the truth of the elves devoid of power. The prince had viciously refused to hear any matter pertaining to the wraith or speculate further on Serenna’s disappearance.
Dispensing sheets of rain, the wind sawed at the dune’s grasses. Water sluiced down their faces in rivulets as Vesryn glared at him. Silence stretched as the tension swelled and thickened, clogging the air. The prince stubbornly clenched his jaw, hinting at words restrained.
Chilled and fatigued, Jassyn’s patience with his cousin evaporated. He ruthlessly pointed out the obvious. “If Serenna has already been turned into a wraith, there’s nothing we can do.”
As soon as the admission slipped past his lips, Jassyn immediately recognized that he couldn’t have said anything worse. He knew they’d both been thinking of the possibility, but neither had given it voice.
Jassyn tensed when Vesryn’s retaliation detonated, shadows erupting from the ground. The darkness twisted up the prince’s legs, slithering over his arms to pool in his fists. Completely drained of Essence, Jassyn dodged a lash of rending whipped in his direction.
A bludgeon of force slammed into his back, knocking the breath out of his lungs. Sprawling forward, Jassyn’s palms shredded on black sand as he caught himself.
“I could be searching for Serenna, but instead I’m wasting my time here with you.” Vesryn planted his boots in front of Jassyn’s face. “You can’t even hold your own with access to ancient magic.”
Curls curtaining his eyes, Jassyn glowered up at his cousin. He battled to summon some type of courage to strengthen his spine, but Vesryn ground down his composure with every verbal blow.
“I don’t understand why the Vallendes are so fixated on your bloodline.” The prince’s words turned as dark and destructive as his shadows. “There’s nothing special about you if you can’t even use that power.”
Panting out of his nose, a remnant of icy fear seized Jassyn’s mind.
“You’re a lost cause,” Vesryn growled, looming over him. “A coward who can’t even fight to save himself.”
“The elves never gave me the chance.” Staring at his hands, remembering where the tattoos had been inked into his skin, Jassyn’s excuse sounded as pathetic as he felt.
Vesryn would never understand. The prince wasn’t the one who’d been shackled to the realm. A captive, catering to every depraved whim.
“I went against the council to claim your contracts. For what? There’s nothing to show for it.” Vesryn’s scathing words rattled around in Jassyn’s head, echoing like a gong. “Perhaps I should let Farine have you back.”
Pulse thrashing in his ears, Jassyn’s racing thoughts went silent. The prince’s taunt sent fury barreling through him like a storm. Jassyn’s vision flashed to white, the elements in the squall igniting like thousands of fires blazing across the sea and sky.
