Page 6 of The Reckoning of Starlight

Fine.

Lykor would find Jassyn his way.

Around them, the courtyard returned to motion. Druids carried water and food to the freed while Daeryn’s shamans clung to their returned families.

“Serenna and Fenn.” Vesryn coughed, clearing water from his throat. “They were retethered. The bonds weren’t destroyed, but—”

“Then open a portal to them,” Lykor snarled. If they found Serenna and Fenn, they could find Jassyn.

“I don’t know where they are now. I can’t sense them.”

Lykor gripped his arm. “Then get as close as you fucking can!”

“It’s too dangerous,” Kaedryn said, stepping across the burned, soaked sand toward them. “If all three of them were subdued, the two of you won’t stand a chance.”

Lykor scoffed. “We’re going.”

His attention cut across the courtyard, to the prisoners blinking at a sky they hadn’t seen in weeks, maybe longer.

“You have the Heart. And enough here to keep yourselves occupied.”

“She’s right,” Cinderax rumbled, lifting his snout. “We need to find Veyrix in the Aetherveil before—”

“Then organize the search.” Lykor bared his fangs. “We’ve already mapped the flight paths. Vesryn and I are going after your scorching First Keeper of the Ember Accord. Or does the title you forced on Jassyn mean nothing the moment saving him costs you something?”

Kaedryn traced the Starshard inlaid into the jewelry on her palm, light breaking across the gem’s facets between her talons. Her gaze flicked toward the silent guildmasters gathered behind her.

“You’re not thinking clearly,” she said, quieter now. “Despair is driving your vengeance. We need to plan—”

“Then plan,” Lykor hissed through his teeth. “But don’t waste breath trying to keep us here.”

Vesryn opened a portal and stumbled through without a backward glance.

Lykor flexed his wings and stalked toward the rift.

Cinderax’s voice snared him just before he crossed the threshold. “If you follow them now, you may be flying into a trap. You might not return.”

Lykor glanced over his shoulder. “You assume there’s anything for me here.”

He followed the prince into the void.

Open sky struck him on the other side.

Lykor’s scales locked into place, his gut pitching before his wings caught, but he barely felt it. Dragonsight sharpened the world below, waterlogged scars of marshland streaking beneath his shadow as he angled toward Vesryn arrowing ahead.

“This is as close as I could get,” the prince said telepathically, the words as hollow as Lykor felt. “I don’t know how far it is to the sea.”

“THEN WE’LL PORTAL JUMP UNTIL THE WORLD RUNS OUT.”

Wind sheared across Lykor’s wings as he tore open a rift along the horizon.

They fell into rhythm.

Portal. Flight. Portal again.

Leagues vanished without a word crossing between them. Each rift was a refusal to stop, every wingbeat a decision not to think.

Lykor caught the glow of Vesryn extracting Essence from his chest. Globes of light spun free and drifted toward Lykor like summoned stars.