Fingers curling into the dune, Jassyn snapped. Chest heaving with livid breaths, he disintegrated into all of it. Turning into nothing. Freezing. Burning. Transforming into everything. The world inverted, splintering as time stretched and then stilled, threatening to shatter.
Sensing a fountain of charged air converging, Jassyn lunged to his feet. Lightning flashed, fracturing the sky. Like leaves stretching to the sun, he instinctively reached toward that whispering source of power buzzing in his veins. Jassyn hauled on the crackle of energy, yanking the sparks to his palms.
Vesryn’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly as he retreated a few paces. The ground given by the prince spurred Jassyn on.
“Is this what you want from me?” Jassyn raged over the wind, his voice fueled by anger. “You portal us to three different locations to find the biggest storm so I can show off this magic?” He flung his fingers out, hurling a spear of lightning at the prince.
“I want you to stand up for yourself for once,” Vesryn snarled, his shadows clashing and tangling with the sizzling blue light. “Stop acting like you’re so weak.”
Jassyn bared his teeth. “Fine.” Tunneling his perception, the surrounding breeze blazed with streamers of light. “Have it your way.” Driving out his hands, Jassyn channeled a blast of wind at the prince.
Vesryn stumbled, but his magic flared, darkness exploding around him.
Jassyn snatched another whirlwind of sparks from the sky, pressing offensively. For the first time, he could fight back. While the prince was off balance, Jassyn released a volley of energy. His breath snagged as the charge unexpectedly ripped through Vesryn’s cloud of rending.
Now on the defensive, Essence coiled around the prince. He slammed a violet shield between them. Lightning crashed into the ward, showering an explosion of purple and blue light.
“Is that all you’re capable of?” Vesryn jeered as rain dripped down his chin. Flicking his wrist, he conjured a tidal wave of force.
Jassyn clenched his jaw so tightly that his teeth creaked in protest. Shoving his hands forward, he met Essence with a rampart of air. Propelled backward by the prince’s onslaught, he slid, boots digging trenches into the sand.
Jassyn snatched another crack of light webbing across the sky, twisting it, turning it, aiming it at the prince. Glittering Essence pulsed as Vesryn fortified his shield to absorb the blow.
Sparks spun between Jassyn’s fingertips as he released the current. He channeled another surge of energy from the horizon. And another. Slamming a barrage of relentless strikes into his cousin’s ward.
Wrenching the wind, Jassyn punched a gale at the prince’s chest. Vesryn smirked as his barrier wavered, giving ground as Jassyn pressed ahead. Moving beyond the grassy dunes, waves brewed by the storm splashed over their boots.
Vesryn’s amusement only incensed Jassyn further. The anger in his chest was wound too tight, a mooring line stretched too thin. Refusing to relent until he had the prince on his knees, Jassyn channeled chains of lightning, pressing his cousin backward with persistent slaps of air.
His frenzy was a wildfire, fueled by decades of kindling stacked, doused with oil, primed to burn. Losing himself as he drowned on power, Jassyn harnessed the sea. Summoning a colossal fountain, he twisted the water into a cyclone, funneling it into the air.
The flash of fear in Vesryn’s eyes broke his cloud of rage, jolting Jassyn back to his senses. His connection to the earth dissipated like fog on the wind. But it was too late to recall the vengeful waters.
The prince disappeared under the crashing swell.
Scorching stars! Jassyn rushed to the shore as the ocean receded, eyes darting along the froth before the next wave knocked into his knees. Clasping his temples, Jassyn’s palms shook as he knotted his fingers in his curls.
Breath held, he waited. Moments passed. Each second without sight of the prince only magnified Jassyn’s concern.
Swallowing his terror, Jassyn nearly choked on relief when silvery hair bobbed above the waves.
Until he noticed Vesryn was floating. Facedown.
Jassyn dashed into the ocean, snatching the prince’s leathers before another wave could claim him. With a burst of panicked energy, he dragged his cousin past the breaking water, cursing Vesryn for his bulk. Hauling the prince all the way to the grassy dunes so the sea wouldn’t reach them, Jassyn collapsed next to him.
Vesryn didn’t stir.
Floundering, Jassyn fumbled with his depleted Well. I can’t heal without Essence! Eyes riveted to Vesryn’s still chest, Jassyn’s hand quivered as he searched for a pulse. Human lore insists that shamans healed with the earth.
Slamming his palm to the ground, Jassyn seized the power humming under him. Fingers curling into the grasses, he heaved at the earth’s magic.
A ripple streaked out from underneath his touch, beginning with the plants snared in his grip. The circle expanded, racing out in every direction. Seagrass wilted and then shriveled, crumbling into ash. The earth’s power rushed into Jassyn, blazing behind his ribs.
Uncertainty churned in Jassyn’s gut as he contemplated how to transform the green light spilling from his palms into something he could use to mend. Focusing on the prince, he reached out, resting his fingertips on Vesryn’s chest. I hope this works.
The prince’s eyes popped open. He spit a mouthful of water at Jassyn’s face. Before the stream hit his cheek, Jassyn jerked away. Wheezing, Vesryn burst into a cackling fit, choking on water and air.
“I had you there for a minute, didn’t I?” Vesryn coughed, sitting up to ruffle Jassyn’s soaked curls.
Shoving the prince off, Jassyn scoffed, vacillating between relief and irritation. He slapped his cousin’s back harder than necessary, helping him clear his throat.
“I didn’t mean it,” Vesryn hacked out, rushing through the words. “You’re stronger than anyone I know for enduring what you did.” An assortment of emotions rotated over the prince’s face before guilt anchored in his features. “I just wanted you to believe it for yourself. To prove it to yourself.” Vesryn directed his attention to the storm drifting further out to sea, a break in the clouds lightening the sky. “I…only meant to help you.”
“I’m not like you,” Jassyn bit out. His body quivered from too many warring feelings pulling him in every direction. A rope frayed, ready to snap. “Expelling anger in a magical tantrum doesn’t exactly help me.” Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jassyn inhaled deep breaths to calm himself, dispelling the darkness of his mood. “You have no reason to be vicious with cruelty to break me—to get the reaction you want.” Adding less forcefully, he added, “I’m already broken enough.”
Vesryn averted his eyes, guilt woven into his features. “I’m…sorry. I shouldn’t have taken it so far.”
Turbulent thoughts settling, Jassyn offered his side of the truce. “We’ll find Serenna. She’s going to be okay.”
A companionable silence unfurled alongside the gentle breeze. Jassyn studied the radius of ash spread out beyond them before drawing his hands to his face. Glowing green light still shimmered from his palms.
The cuts he’d received from skidding in the sand had somehow disappeared, revealing smooth skin. Jassyn’s mind raced for any plausible explanation. I didn’t do anything with this power. He glanced at the prince. Vesryn had his fair share of scrapes from his tumble in the ocean.
Wringing his hair out, Vesryn eyed the foreign magic warily when Jassyn gripped his arm. “Do you know what you’re doing with that?” The slight tightness in the prince’s voice provided Jassyn with a tinge of twisted satisfaction.
With an honest shrug, Jassyn spooled the earthen magic into his cousin. “You didn’t seem to be concerned about that five minutes ago.”
“That was before you created this”—Vesryn waved around the sandy dunes—“ring of death.”
“I’m not sure it’s quite ‘death.’ It feels more like a tipping of scales,” Jassyn added after Vesryn’s brows rose skeptically. “Or a balance disrupted. I think.”
Pursing his lips, Jassyn threaded the strange filaments of light, stitching his cousin like he would with Essence. He couldn’t put a finger on the sensation, but something felt unnatural—off in some fundamental way—with stealing energy from the earth.
Driven by instinct more so than intuition, Jassyn hesitantly touched the ground after healing the prince. He sent his awareness tunneling below, attuning himself to the roots of the withered plants. Chest heated with ancient magic that had no place to go, Jassyn shifted the excess power to his fingertips. Dispatching the energy he hadn’t used for mending, green light ignited the veins of his arms, the pressure under his ribs flowing back into the earth.
Vesryn’s eyes popped along with Jassyn’s as tufts of grass broke through the sandy soil, reclaiming the dunes. Redistributing the life he’d borrowed, Jassyn ran his fingers through the scattered blades, comforted by the unexpected equilibrium. The blooming beauty of renewal.
For the first time, he almost felt like something was right.
CHAPTER 36
SERENNA
Three weeks blurred in the search for the Heart of Stars. Serenna and Fenn had explored tunnels darker than pitch, ransacked ancient storerooms, and rummaged through uninhabited dwellings in what felt like every corner of the Frostvault Keep.
They’d managed to avoid entanglements with the reavers while they’d scoured the districts Fenn had deemed safer territory. But more than once, a contingent of his clan’s warriors had accompanied them when they’d ventured where the restless wraith had a heavier presence.
A dracovae patrol had been spotted by a scouting group two days prior, stirring the reavers into a frenzied hunt, the bloodthirsty warriors determined to fell the beasts and elves. After the sighting, Kal had surrendered to Lykor’s plans of abandoning the fortress, organizing supplies and mobilizing the clans for departure.
