“You want me…” Serenna blinked as his gaze lingered on hers, mind working through his poetic words. “…As one of your partners?”

Fenn shrugged and plucked at his hair, shifting on the ice. “I understand if you find me distasteful because I’m a wraith and you’re a pretty little elf.”

Serenna’s response tumbled out, her bruised heart soothed by his straightforward honesty. “You’re not distasteful.” That didn’t really answer the question he’d hidden in those words, but she hadn’t exactly had a conversation discussing such an arrangement before. “I appreciate how open you are.” Which still skated around what he was after.

Serenna’s attention roved over his sky-high cheekbones and dancing eyes, always shining with a light of their own. She pried her stare away from the low cut of his tunic, the memory of his sculpted chest still burning in her mind.

“It doesn’t matter that you’re a wraith,” she insisted. “I think you’re attractive.” That was the only answer she could provide with her thoughts still dwelling on the prince.

Fenn smirked, leaning back on his claws. Kicking one ankle over the other, he circled his tongue along the point of a canine as it elongated. “It’s the fangs, isn’t it?”

Serenna cursed herself for stroking his inflated ego, attempting to recover. “It’s impossible to ignore your fangs when you flash them at me all the time.”

Fenn glanced away, his canines retreating with a click. “It is rather…embarrassing when they extend on their own.”

Serenna hardly restrained a disbelieving snort. “I thought they appeared when you were angry or when you feel the need to assert your dominance.”

“When you phrase it like that, it doesn’t sound like an attribute to be proud of,” Fenn mumbled, folding his arms across his chest, apparently insulted. He cleared his throat. “It is typically an uncontrolled, aggressive response.” Serenna almost swore the points of Fenn’s ears colored darker with a rush of his charcoal blood. “But you’ve made a habit of challenging me, and I seem to lose control of them when I’m aroused by that.” Fenn’s incinerating stare slid back to hers. “Sometimes, all I can think about is about how much I’d like to sink my fangs into that ravishing neck.”

Serenna’s hand leaped to clap the skin under her ear—the same spot on his flesh bearing puncture marks.

“And not to harm you,” Fenn hurried to say, lifting a claw as if to offer a comforting touch. He formed a fist instead, withdrawing. A volcanic storm swirled in his eyes, flicking to the scabs where Larek’s teeth had scraped into her skin. “Quite the opposite, actually.”

Heart whirling like a tempest, Serenna’s breath hitched on a riot of sensations. The confession evoked a tingle of fear fused with indecent excitement as she recalled Fenn’s claim about the effects of wraith venom. Heat scorched Serenna’s cheeks as a flurry of improper thoughts had her imagining what that experience would entail.

Fenn grinned in a way that seemed to outshine the stars. “I don’t bite without permission,” he reassured her with a salacious wink. “But I do hope you’ll ask.”

A brief smile curved Serenna’s lips before slipping off her face. Shame churned in her gut for finding amusement in his flirtations. She couldn’t help but feel like she was betraying the prince in some way. But it’s not like I need to deny myself friends if my life is heading beyond the realms. And Fenn just teases me, nothing more.

With a sigh, Serenna burrowed her hands into her pockets. Mainly so she wouldn’t fidget and pick at her nails. “Would you…” She cleared her throat, reclaiming her voice. “Would you tell me about your partners?”

Fenn’s spine snapped straight, glancing at her sideways. “Really?”

“I want to know more about you.” Serenna conjured courage, resisting the urge to squirm. She couldn’t deny her simmering curiosity, but she gave him the option to deflect. “Unless you have too many to list in one night.”

Fenn barked a laugh, stretching his arms above his head like a cat languishing in the sun. “If you believe that, then I suppose I gave you the wrong impression.”

Serenna pursed her lips, pointedly staring at the punctures on his neck. The bite marks were blatant evidence that he kept himself as entertained in the evenings as he made it seem. Unoffended, Fenn all but preened under her accusing look, tossing his cascading hair over his shoulder, providing her a better view.

“My first partnering was with Koln—we’re still together,” Fenn said, carving a talon into the frozen stream. “We didn’t always see eye to eye—still don’t.” He chuckled to himself, plucking out a sliver of ice. “I might’ve been to blame. I was jealous that Lykor spent more time training him instead of me.”

Fenn’s eyes flashed back to the past. “Lykor wanted nothing to do with me because of my father.” He curled his fist and water dripped from his palm as he melted the ice. “I can’t number the times Koln and I thrashed each other to a pulp. But I discovered later that he gives it as good as he takes it.” Fenn lifted the side of his tunic, pointing to an old, wicked injury wrapping around his ribs, reaching back to his spine. “I took his eye for this.”

Speechless, Serenna gaped, jaw dropping open as she studied the puckered blemishes, a roadway of brutal scars. Settling his shirt back, Fenn barreled on, forgetting to mention how they’d reconciled their differences before what was between them developed into…more. Letting him speak, Serenna tucked that skipped story away, saving it to ask about another day.

“Koln is a lieutenant now too, so we’re not on the same patrols anymore.” Fenn idly swirled his talons across the frozen water. “But we still manage to see each other every few days at the Lagoon.”

An expression Serenna nearly considered dreamy spanned over Fenn’s face as his eyes unfocused. “And then there’s Liah. She has the most stunning—” Fenn coughed, quickly catching whatever he was going to say. He dashed a glance at her. “She and Koln hardly tolerate each other though. It’s of no help that Koln doesn’t favor females. And…” The light in Fenn’s eyes faded like a star vanishing from the sky. “I guess I don’t really see her anymore.”

Serenna bit the inside of her cheek before daring to ask, “Is she with the reavers?”

Fenn nodded. “She was there that day with the humans on the snows.”

A bleak sadness smothered Serenna, constricting her ribs for his loss. She expected insecure jealousy to ricochet around her chest for each partner named—for each person more important than her. Instead, something empathetic unfurled, her turmoil relaxed by the open truth.

She quietly said, “I’m sorry you lost both Liah and your sister Taryn to the reavers.”

As they silently watched the moons drift closer toward each other, Serenna’s heart extinguished like an ember, growing cold like the stars. Why does knowing that Fenn has an interest in me while he carries affections for others not hurt like Vesryn’s secrets? I was so jealous of Ayla.

When Fenn didn’t speak further, Serenna prompted him, if only to distract herself from her spiraling thoughts. “And what about your other partners?”

Fenn shrugged, eyes bright with mischievous guilt. “That’s it.”

Serenna sputtered, “That’s—that’s it?”

“I’ve been with others,” Fenn said almost defensively, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I’ve come to prefer something more…consistent.”

Serenna laughed, shaking her head. “Thank you for spending your evening here with me.” She placed her hand on top of his, the heat from his skin radiating into hers. “If someone had told me a few weeks ago that I’d be watching the solstice with a wraith who I consider a friend, I wouldn’t have believed them.”

Turning his claw over, Fenn’s fingers enveloped hers. Serenna studied their intertwined hands, searching for her next words.

“In a way, I’m glad I’m here because I learned the truth about your people. I only wish everyone else could too.” Each of her blinks became a battle to hold his gaze, steady like stone. The wind outside the cavern seemed to still like her heart. “But I need to be honest, like you’ve been with me. Regardless of what happens in the capital tonight…”

Losing her nerve, Serenna glanced away, wishing the frosty stars provided solace. “I think my broken heart is still with the prince. Even if I’ll never see him again.” Brushing a stray tear away, her voice cracked, strained by the vulnerability of her words. “I wouldn’t want to give those pieces to someone else.”

Serenna’s pulse leaped when Fenn leaned closer, consuming everything in her sight until all she saw was him. “I’d gladly accept just a piece if only to protect it.” He squeezed her hand, an offered comfort. “If you trusted me with a shard of your heart, I wouldn’t break it further.” His gaze dropped to her tether peeking out from her cloak, glinting between them in the starlight. “I’m sorry Lykor gave you no choice but to be with the wraith and separated you from your prince.” His fingers tightened around hers, eyes brimming with an apology that wasn’t his responsibility to give. “But you could have a life with us.”

“A life shackled to Lykor?” Serenna whispered, her voice barely audible. “A life where I’m simply used for my magic? Where I’m locked in a tower or dragged around the world?”

Dejection flashed across Fenn’s face before he withdrew. “Of course you’d wish for freedom and to have your magics back. I don’t fault you for that.” He looked on the verge of saying more.

“Would you want magic?” Serenna blurted, an idea suddenly wheeling like a swirling of snow. Fenn had mentioned it before, musing that he could use the power to help others. She couldn’t put him in a position that compromised his loyalty to Lykor, but… If I could offer him something to provide aid…

Fenn spun a ring in his brow, frowning as he watched a streak of cosmic light dart across the sky.

“What if…” Serenna began. Her voice tapered out, the pirouetting of her mind stealing her words.

She glanced over the frosty expanse, wondering if Vesryn would open a portal in the valley below. Even if he’s in Kyansari tonight, he’d travel here if he sensed me. He wouldn’t abandon me. She clung to a sliver of hope that she’d be able to inform the prince of his brother and the truth of the wraith. Vesryn would tear the capital down with his bare hands if he knew about Aesar. We could change everything.

“What if I gave you one of my abilities?” Serenna couldn’t think of a stronger incentive to encourage Fenn to remove the tether. “Like Lykor did for your father?”

Fenn’s eyes went as round as the moons.

“You could have defended yourself today,” Serenna rushed on, finding his claw to squeeze. “You could have defended me.”

She hated herself as soon those words flew from her mouth. Fenn flinched, tugging his fingers out of hers.

Heart wrenching for exploiting his protective nature, Serenna clutched Fenn’s arm. “I—I didn’t mean… I only meant…” Waging an inner war, nausea burned her stomach for leveraging his guilt, for being the cause of that shame curving his shoulders. “Magic would’ve made a difference.”