“I should make you do it,” Jassyn whispered through his disbelief, his voice snatched away by the wind. Forming a fist, lightning flared and slithered across his skin.

Jassyn stalked up to Elashor, chaining the general’s legs to the ground with sparks. A swell of anger barreled through him, imbuing his words. “I can see inside your feeble mind.”

Body trembling, veins thrashing in his forehead, Elashor snarled as he fought the sword. But the general’s physical strength was no match for the magic at Jassyn’s command.

He could control everything.

He could end everything.

“It seems so simple now.” Something vengeful had Jassyn tilting his head, a predator for once, cornering defenseless prey. “I can snap my fingers and make you sever your own throat.” He snapped. Elashor gritted his teeth in response, pushing the sword deeper into his neck, skimming skin to draw a thin stream of blood. “But you already know that, don’t you?” Jassyn spun sparks in his palm. “What else do you know?”

Show me what the king is planning, Jassyn seethed into Elashor’s mind.

Images unfolded, incomplete thoughts Elashor battled to withhold, discussions with—

Someone snatched his shoulder, startling Jassyn out of the telepathic assault. Blinking rapidly, the prince came into focus.

“Easy, Slayer,” Vesryn said, squeezing Jassyn’s arm, anchoring him back into his own mind.

Jassyn’s eyes whipped to the soldiers. A blanket of rending enveloped them like fog, shackling them to the ground. Clarity returned slowly as he caught his breath. Stars, what was I doing?

He refortified the telepathy and lightning constraints on Elashor, restricting access to his magic and body. Despite his defeat, the general sneered, lips opening to speak. Jassyn yanked the words out of his throat, silencing him.

Vesryn tugged Jassyn’s elbow. “We’re leaving.”

The prince spared Elashor a dismissive glance before his eyes sharpened on Jassyn’s forehead. Reaching out, he cautiously brushed Jassyn’s curls aside. Jassyn winced when Vesryn’s fingers trailed over the bloody cuts.

The prince’s confusion quickly morphed into realization. His attention ricocheted to Elashor and then back to Jassyn, face twisting with fury. Shadows exploded, mirroring the roiling tempest, encompassing the three of them in a raging gale.

Vesryn faced the general, still fettered with sparks, kneeling on the ground. Jassyn dashed to seize the prince’s elbow when he stalked forward, shadows churning in his wake.

“I’ll kill him,” Vesryn snarled, ripping out of Jassyn’s grip.

“He’s not worth it,” Jassyn urged. “If we do anything to him, someone else will just take his place.”

Nostrils flaring, Vesryn wavered, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. The shadows receded around them as the prince calmed his magic, but embers of anger burned in his eyes.

A muscle feathered in Vesryn’s jaw. “Let me mend you, at least.”

“I’m fine—you can heal me later.” Jassyn shook out his arms, releasing the sparks from his fingers. “Like you said, we need to leave.”

The liberating strength left behind an irrational aftermath, an intoxicating residue corroding Jassyn’s thoughts. I should destroy Elashor’s mind and harvest the king’s secrets. Warring to halt that wild urge, a shred of control had him yanking on the reins.

No. I’m not finished.

Faster than his lightning, Jassyn planted a foot, pivoted, and twisted. His fist smashed into Elashor’s face with a satisfying crunch of cartilage and bone. The general crumbled to the ground in a heap, sword clattering beside him.

Vesryn’s nod was more than approving as he opened a portal.

Jassyn’s knees threatened to give out as exhaustion caught up to him. He wiped blood and rain-soaked curls away from his eyes and asked, “Where are we going?”

The prince lowered his voice, scanning the battalion shrouded in rending. “We’re portaling all of that research in your rooms to the jungle.”

“We’re really fleeing,” Jassyn said, accepting that he was about to leave behind the only home he’d ever known.

But it’s not safe here anymore. Glancing around, they were the only ones from Centarya in the courtyard, but he knew the residents must’ve observed the displays of power. His eyes shied away from Elashor, collapsed on the ground. Word would spread. I hope this didn’t sentence the others like me.

“There’s something I want you to consider,” Vesryn said, one boot through the portal. “You won’t like it, but if today was any sign, the benefits would outweigh your distaste.” The prince idly scavenged the front of his bare uniform for a thread that wasn’t there. “We’ll need an edge since it’s just the two of us now.”

“And that would be…?” Resignation pooled in Jassyn’s stomach. The quiet rain droned, pattering in the growing puddles. He already knew the answer before Vesryn spoke.

“I think we should bond.”

CHAPTER 44

SERENNA

The Aerie’s sitting room door slammed open. Serenna jerked upright from lounging across a couch, eyes whipping to the entryway. Lykor stalked into the chambers.

With an irritated huff, she readjusted on the sofa, cradling a glowing mushroom. Already thoroughly bored with the evening, she stared out the windows, watching the sun flee from the sky.

A week had passed since the Lunar Solstice. Disappointment from the prince’s absence had waned like the twin crescents rising over the mountains. I’ll try to get my tether off again. Maybe Vesryn was busy in Kyansari.

Serenna ground her teeth. That circular thought offered no comfort. With Lykor readying the wraith to leave, time was the more pressing issue rather than her bruised feelings.

Upon hearing Lykor shed his cloak and seeming to settle in for the evening, Serenna’s quizzical gaze cut back to him. He tossed the snow-covered furs onto a chair. Snatching his gauntlet from the table—where Aesar had left it that morning—he shoved it onto his claw.

“Is your dramatic entrance necessary?” Serenna griped, secretly relieved that he hadn’t portaled directly into the sitting room. “Take off your shoes if you insist on stomping all over the place.”

Predictably, Lykor responded with a sizzling glare. He strode through the room, unexpectedly dropping to the other end of her couch. Serenna squawked, barely yanking her legs to her chest before he crushed her feet.

“What are you doing?” she snapped, swiveling to sit up.

Lykor grunted. “I’m sitting in my spot.” His gauntlet creaked as he unlaced his boots, the leather glossy like a crow’s plumage.

“You couldn’t have picked, I don’t know, one of the other four couches?” Serenna scoffed when he ignored her. Leaning back into the sofa, she idly traced the mushroom’s glowing gills.

A rustle of wings gliding down the spiral stairs announced Aiko’s arrival. Landing on Lykor, the vulpintera curled around his neck with a contented purr, rubbing her head under his chin. From her perch on Lykor’s shoulders, Aiko fastened her beady gaze on Serenna.

I didn’t want to pet you anyway, you vile bat. Serenna had settled onto the same sofa as Aiko earlier, earning a hiss before the vulpintera had retreated to Lykor’s bedroom. She pinched her lips at the pair of them, tossing the luminescent fungus to an end table with the others.

Fenn had been supplying caches of mushrooms before departing in the evenings. The delivery had turned into a game of sorts—even after Serenna insisted that she didn’t need them. Since giving him a talent, she’d gained some measure of enhanced wraith sight. The stars trickling in through the windows provided sufficient light.

To humor Fenn, Serenna had begun asking for more obscure colors. She smirked at the cluster he’d collected today. One was nearly violet. Fenn had claimed his wraith eyes could see more hues than hers and argued it was the color she’d requested, refusing to hear otherwise.

Serenna turned her attention back to Lykor. “Why are you here?”

Lykor rolled his shoulders, reclining back into the couch. “I live here.”