“Wraithed you?” Fenn asked, his mouth twitching, showing the points of his fangs. He snagged her waving hand, inspecting her nails. “Your talons are still stubby.”

“I don’t have talons yet.” Serenna yanked her wrist out of his grip. “Maybe I will if Lykor plans on taking more of my power.”

Grin swept away, Fenn’s humor faded. “My father said not everyone survives a siphoning of magics…” He twisted one of his braids. “The torture nearly destroyed Aesar. That’s why Lykor appeared. He endured years of torment so Aesar and the elders didn’t have to.”

Heart stilling, Serenna blinked dolefully up at Fenn. I never wondered how they came to be.

“But it doesn’t make what Lykor did to you right.” Fenn’s voice softened. He gently rested a claw on her shoulder, the gesture igniting an emotion Serenna couldn’t place. “We heard the screams and… I’m sorry my father and I weren’t able to stop him.” Her pulse skipped when he snarled, fangs shooting down. “Maybe the magics on Lykor took away his control, but I won’t let—”

Fenn’s talons abruptly tensed against her. His eyes flashed, a fire in the night, burning a trail across the chamber.

They weren’t alone.

CHAPTER 37

SERENNA

“Are you training Lykor’s pet with our weapons so she can join your miserable clan, Lieutenant?” Larek asked.

Despite the heat in the chamber, a shiver of foreboding shuddered down Serenna’s spine. A band of nearly thirty reavers armed with crossbows, maces, and knives filed in, spreading across the cavern.

Trapping them.

Larek strode to the center of the firing range, crossing his arms over his spiked armor. Breath tight, Serenna glanced around, scanning the wraith. She didn’t see Fenn’s sister, Taryn, among their number. But that didn’t mean another reaver wouldn’t try to snatch her this time.

“If you have a problem with her presence,” Fenn said, clacking his talons before cracking his knuckles, “you can take it up with Lykor.”

“And where has Lykor been these past few weeks?” Larek sneered, the streaks of his face paint glinting red in the magma’s light. “Planning his next blunder?”

Fenn ignored him and growled, “What do you want?”

Larek’s attention flicked to Serenna. “I’m taking Lykor’s elven scum.” Serenna flinched when he took a step forward, flashing his fangs. “Hand her over and I’ll forgive our previous…disagreement. I’ll even let you join us when we abandon this cesspool.”

Fenn clasped Serenna's hand, calculating eyes scouring the firing range, likely hunting for any clear path to warp away. Bracing herself, Serenna’s stomach clenched in anticipation of the spin.

The weightless feeling never came. There was no way out.

Instead, Fenn’s guttural growl lifted every hair on the back of her neck. His extending fangs glinted in the magma’s glow. “If any of your clan lays a talon on her again, I will sever every offending claw.”

With a twisted smile, Larek’s gaze narrowed in a dark promise. He signaled with that eerie whistle through his teeth.

Fenn reacted before any of the reavers, vanishing from her side. He collided with Larek in a clash of talons, his knee jerking upward to smash Larek under the ribs.

Terror strangled Serenna’s throat as the other wraith blurred into shadows, converging on Fenn. None of the warriors bothered drawing their weapons.

Disappearing and reappearing around the center of the closing ring, Fenn was a thunderhead of spinning darkness. Distorting into a tempest of smoke, he whirled and dodged the reavers, kicking out, swiping at legs. With brutal bashings of his elbows, Fenn shattered the arms of those daring to get close before ramming them back into the circle of wraith. His lightning fast talons snatched blows, twisting wrists in sickening crunches of bone. Snarls ricocheted across the caverns, punctuated by grunts when fists smacked against flesh.

Despite Fenn’s claws flying, jabbing, deflecting, and counter-striking, the reavers caged him in, a cruel vice tightening. Time seemed to slow as Serenna watched in helpless horror, knowing he was going to be overwhelmed by so many.

She gasped as Larek landed a devastating punch square in Fenn’s gut.

Off balance, Fenn stumbled, doubling over. The reavers seized him as he struggled to wheeze. Still refusing to surrender, Fenn’s motions became choppy and uncontrolled.

Restraining him, the swarm of wraith rained down blows from every direction. A handful of reavers held Fenn up while others beat the resistance out of him. Larek’s fist connected with Fenn’s face. He sent another rapid hit under Fenn’s chin, snapping his head back. A spray of black blood spattered into the air.

Serenna took a step forward, not feeling very brave at all as she faced a pack of ravenous wolves.

Everyone forgot about me. Or rather, they didn’t find any point in watching her. Her stomach hollowed out at the helplessness.

Serenna’s nails dug into her slick palms as Larek landed repeated strikes against Fenn’s middle, depriving his lungs of air. Her eyes ricocheted around the stark chamber, searching for anything to use. Fenn’s crossbow lay at her feet, but the weapon was worthless against so many and without the quiver of bolts at his side.

A stir of air brushed past Serenna. She felt like slapping away the useless aid. There were too many reavers to bother with what little she could do by weaving the wind.

Flames spurted from the sluggish magma, tugging on her attention. Chewing a hole into her cheek, Serenna winced at her only option. Of course Lykor insisted that I practice with everything except fire!

Desperation to buy time had Serenna’s voice ringing out in the caverns, shrill with her panic. “Are you so scared of Fenn that it takes a horde of you to face him? Do the reavers have no honor?”

Every blazing gaze pinned on her, raptors targeting a rabbit. Fear knifed through Serenna’s gut as fangs flashed. Fenn sagged in the warriors’ clutches, knees giving out as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Larek warped to her side. Serenna attempted to scurry back, but he viciously seized her arm.

“What do elven scourge know of honor?” Larek asked, his wicked nails scoring into her flesh. “Only the strong survive. Fenn is insignificant without the backing of his pathetic clan.”

If Serenna had one foolish tactic she could always rely on, it was running her mouth. “Funny how it takes thirty of your pathetic clan to bring him down.” She whimpered through her nose as Larek’s tightening grip drew more blood in response, feeling as if his talons burrowed down into her bones. Warring against the dizzying pain, Serenna clenched her teeth, fanning the cinders of her defiance. “Did you already forget how fast Fenn outmatched you in front of the fortress?”

Larek’s canines flashed in her face. “And for that, your lieutenant is going to take a stroll through the stream.” Snatching her shoulders, Larek swung Serenna around as the reavers hauled Fenn back to his feet. They herded him with a barrage of blows, steering him toward the magma.

Gritting his fangs, agony contorted Fenn’s bruised features. He struggled, attempting to twist out of their claws, but his opposition only provoked a harsher beating. What air remained in his lungs whooshed out as he folded over, breath bubbling in his throat.

“Stop it!” Serenna shrieked. Terror clanged against her skull the closer the reavers dragged Fenn to the molten shore. Larek is bluffing, she told herself. He just wants to prove he bested Fenn.

Larek’s talons shackled her arms, forcing her to watch. With each passing moment, Serenna doubted more and more that this was merely an act. She thrashed in his grip, as helpless as a fish protesting a hook. “Don’t hurt him!”

Larek scoffed against Serenna’s back, his claws digging in further. “It would seem the lieutenant is good for more than regurgitating Lykor’s drivel. Perhaps we’ll keep him around as…motivation for your compliance.” He spun Serenna around, lowering his face to hers with a growl. “But he needs a reminder that disrespect comes with a price.”

Serenna’s lungs pulled in air faster than she could breathe as Larek leaned forward. In a shock of biting pain, she sucked in a hiss as he grazed her neck with his fangs, peeling a layer of skin. The silent threat conveyed that he had the power to effortlessly end her life.

Despair weighed on Serenna like lead, sinking her into an ocean of dismay. Fenn will only suffer more if I oppose them.

“I’ll do it.” Serenna’s voice shattered on the agreement. Blood trickled down her chest as she tried to recoil. “Whatever you need to cross the Wastes. Just…don’t harm him.”

“I’m feeling generous.” Larek smirked, releasing her. “I’ll let the lieutenant keep half of his toes. This time.”

He warped back to the cluster of warriors still wrestling with Fenn. Serenna flinched when Larek seized a fistful of Fenn’s braids, shoving him forward to the churning flames.

Mind exploding in terror, Serenna stared across the chamber, every fearful breath straining her lungs. She swallowed her screams as the reavers dragged Fenn closer to the smoldering fire.

Twisting around in the cacophony of the fray, Fenn frantically searched the cavern. Dangerously close to the scorching heat, sweat rolled down his battered face. His eye that wasn’t swelling shut met Serenna’s with an intensity that pierced through the chaos. A moment stretched as his gaze darted to the trail of blood trickling down her neck and arms.