Chapter 55
Rylee
“What did you do?” Wrath undulates from every fiber of my being. “What was the price?” I squeeze his neck harder. “What was it? What did you bargain for?”
I can’t think straight. Not when every instinct is roaring at me.
Baydel’s mouth opens and shuts as he gapes for breath, his hands floundering against mine as he tries to free himself of my grasp—
A hit to the chest sends me flying backward. The invisible force of Baydel’s power. I crash against Kal, who topples with me to the ground, breaking most of my fall.
“You’ve gone mad!” Baydel gasps as he clambers to standing. “You see this? This is what you’re about to vote in for the throne? One. Do your fucking job!”
One steps in front of Baydel, a hand on the hilt of his sword as the other elites take a stance in front of their kings, like I’m a threat to them all.
Maybe I am. But whatever bargain Baydel made . . . I know it has to do with everything that’s happened. I just don’t know how.
Kal helps me to my feet. Power ripples along my skin. I curl my fingers, poised to make him tell me—
An explosion rocks the balcony so hard cracks spiderweb their way beneath our feet. Smoke covers everything. My ears ring, my vision sparkling before it clears.
Faders.
Three dozen of them.
Magical blasters blister the air, hitting targets at random.
I see one of the potentials’ fathers, Duke Windsor, go down like a stone.
Screams erupt among the chaos, the Royal Authority Council and their families scrambling, terror lining their features as they try to dodge the shots, ducking behind overturned tables or racing for the elevators.
I step toward the fray, halting in my tracks when I see a Fader who’s not wearing any gloves. He grabs hold of Duke Windsor’s wife, who still clings to his lifeless body, and she immediately seizes. Seconds. It takes her seconds to slump over her husband, joining him in death.
I gape, noting the other six Faders not wearing gloves.
“Siphons,” I mutter, ice splintering my veins. “They’re siphons.”
“What?” Kal asks, hauling me backward as a shot snaps by us.
“I—” The explanation lodges in my throat. “Layce, no!”
She doesn’t see the gloveless Fader behind her. She’s too focused on helping Beatrice Windsor to the cover of an overturned table.
The Fader grabs her bare arm. Her body twists at an awkward angle, her toes pointing in her shoes as she fights against his hold.
“He’s draining her.” The words leave me on a breath.
Ice fills my veins. My heart. My mind.
I’m frozen, watching the gruesome scene before me. Layce growing more limp the longer he holds her. The battle behind and around her, the attack Erin warned me about. Axl and Pierce are fighting hand to hand because they don’t have their powers.
Because . . . they’re mine.
The realization hits me hard and sharp like a lightning bolt. Since they sacrificed their powers to save me, I’ve been trying to give them back to them. Been locking them up, afraid of what and who I’ll become if I trust myself with them.
But they are mine.
As I’m theirs.
Keep being you. Never forget who you are, Rylee Gray. Evaluna’s demand rings in the back of my mind.
I trust myself. I’ve always known who I am. I’ve let other people make me doubt it too much. Not anymore.
One by one, I flick the locks on the doors I’ve kept the powers behind, letting them fully fly open with an acceptance I’ve never had before.
I’m worthy of these powers.
I deserve them.
We deserve each other.
Sea and sky and energy and emotion flood my body, my soul. Washing over me, filling me to the brim so much I can taste it on my tongue. I’m no longer afraid of who I’ll become, because these, just like my mates, were always meant for me.
And I’m the embodiment of pure, white-hot wrath as I step toward Layce and explode.