Page 122 of The Reckoning of Starlight

“I don’t know. At least a few whom Cinderax denied the scalebound gift.” Kaedryn pressed two fingers to the mended seam at her neck and swallowed. “Daeryn tried to stop them.”

Jassyn could almost understand Bhreena’s logic. Cinderax had refused her the power she believed herself owed, and the slight had stripped away whatever trust she’d placed in the alliance to protect her sister.

So Bhreena had returned to Galaeryn with a dragon and a Heart of Stars, wagering that what she delivered would purchase her sister’s safety—and outweigh her defection.

Jassyn knew the fear of measuring survival against another’s power. He’d stared at Farine’s ceiling while she took what the realm had licensed her to take, counting how much of himself compliance might preserve.

Around him, every face had turned his way, waiting for the command that would carry them beyond this ruin. It would’ve been easier to let his knees crumple beside Daeryn and surrender the burden of deciding what came next. Jassyn’s wings slackened behind him, a chill settling where violence had burned.

“This position is compromised,” he heard himself say. “We move to the Aetherveil. Tonight. Everyone we have left.”

Lykor’s lip curled as he glared at the kneeling warriors. “Everyone?”

Jassyn’s focus returned to those who’d opened the way for Bhreena, leaving Daeryn’s blood to cool on the cavern floor while they delivered Galaeryn a dragon he needed.

If he meant to lead whatever fractured, doomed thing this alliance had become, he couldn’t hide behind Lykor’s shadows and call himself worthy of the title.

Jassyn extended one hand and reached for the only part of Blossom he had left.

The earth shuddered as a vine tore through the frost-hardened soil and spiraled upward to cradle his palm. More roots followed, creeping toward the kneeling warriors like serpents scenting blood.

The prisoners strained against Lykor’s shadows, muscles jumping against leather while their knees remained pinned to the frost. Around them, the wraith drew back from the roots’ path.

Lykor’s head snapped toward him, shadows rippling. “I’ll do it.” The offer held no judgment. “If you want.”

Jassyn’s fingers closed around the vine.

One pull and the roots would bore through rib cages, split skulls, and devour flesh until nothing remained but bones.

He hesitated, and knew it for weakness.

He wanted to do it.

Bhreena betrayed them, leaving Daeryn dead. Blossom was gone along with their only Heart. The traitors had earned their fate, simple and violent.

But he didn’t trust the part of himself that wanted to feel the roots tighten. Better to be the reluctant leader, one who’d demand answers rather than dispense death.

Lykor could carry out the sentence, but Jassyn wouldn’t pretend that made the choice any less his. He would bear whatever followed, even when the consequence wore Lykor’s face.

A coward’s way of keeping his own hands clean.

Jassyn released the earth. The vine slipped from his palm, and the roots withdrew back into the ground.

“Finish it.”

He turned his back as Essence surged. He heard one body rupture, then another. Blood and splintered bone struck the frost as the screams ended one by one.

Jassyn faced Fenn, keeping his gaze above Daeryn. “Build a pyre for…” He couldn’t say the name. “For him.”

Fenn nodded.

Velinya kept Kaedryn braced against her side as Serenna and Vesryn guided them back into the tunnels.

Jassyn dispelled his wings. He walked until the mountain ended and the world fell away. The peaks stretched below, pale beneath the stars, their beauty offering no comfort.

Lykor materialized beside him, his shadows vanishing into the night. The execution had left no mark that Jassyn could read. Perhaps it had cost him nothing.

Jassyn stared across the expanse. “What’s the point of any of this? We’re hiding at the edge of the world, waiting for Galaeryn to find us.”