Page 251 of The Reckoning of Starlight

Vesryn glanced back, silver eyes bright with provocation as he cut through a narrow divide between two islands, stripping the lift from her wings. Serenna drove through his next gust and closed the distance in three hard strokes.

She rammed her shoulder into his ribs.

The collision tore a grunt from Vesryn and knocked them both off balance. He caught her around the waist, white membranes rasping against amethyst as the wind battered them sideways.

Vesryn’s grip tightened at her hips. Loose strands of silver hair lashed across his cheek, and when his eyes found hers, the laughter there sharpened into want. His thumb pressed into the dip in her waist, his gaze falling to her mouth.

Desire drew tight and low through Serenna. She lifted her chin, closing the last sliver of distance between them without quite touching.

Vesryn’s mouth curved.

For one suspended instant, his breath warmed her lips.

Then the wind seized them.

Their tangled wings tore apart. Vesryn folded his and sent them plunging.

Serenna screeched as her stomach lurched into her throat.

Lift vanished. Vesryn controlled their fall while she writhed in his grip, lightning lashing from her palms.

“Vesryn!”

He angled them into a steeper dive.

A small island swelled ahead, roots streaming from its base, a cavern gaping open in the upper shelf.

“Vesryn—”

“Shift.”

Serenna glared at him as stone filled her vision, but she dismissed her wings.

Without their weight, her body dropped into his hold. Vesryn’s arm locked tighter around her waist. His wings hammered once, driving them through the cavern’s opening before folding against his back.

Wind roared past them and crashed into the far wall, bleeding the violence from their descent. Vesryn hit the stone on his feet, Serenna landing beside him hard enough that one ankle nearly buckled before he hauled her upright.

For one breath, his chest pressed hard and warm against hers.

Then Serenna shoved herself free.

“You—”

Vesryn advanced one step.

She backed toward the cavern entrance, open sky at her shoulders.

Another step.

Her shoulders struck something solid. Arms closed around her waist before she could turn, a familiar body fitting against hers.

Serenna tipped her head up. Fenn grinned down, crimson eyes glowing.

Low flames curled around a shallow ring of stone behind Vesryn, Fenn’s druid fire casting a steady warmth without wood or smoke. Mineral pools glimmered farther inside, blankets and bedding spread along the ground. Food and wine were set out across a low slab of stone, the chamber arranged with considerably more care than either male would admit to.

Serenna stared up at Fenn and removed the gold tether from her finger.

Essence flooded back into her Well. The bonds followed hard enough to steal her breath, Fenn’s satisfaction tangling with Vesryn’s amusement.