Page 153 of Stone Temptation

Heat. Fire. Roar.

“…won’t… hurt… him…”

Panic. Fear. Flying.

Asher.

He flew us from the tower after a chimera attack. Saved me again, did his job as my bodyguard. A job he never asked for.

“What a nice guy. I have to pay him back.”

“I think he’s in trouble.”

“Then I have to help him.”

Part of the milk split open as if made of paper, water streaming in. It sliced through the milk, forming a river beneath me.

Power…

Great power…

Was the water talking to me?

More of it broke through the milky barrier, holes forming, washing the whiteness away. Streams ran past me, under me, over me, orbiting me in aquatic spirals. Making things clearer, washing away the corruption on my system.

Yes, corruption. Magic. A poison to hold me back, to keep heavy boots on the head of the real me.

A powerful me.

The corruption tried to drown me in milky toxin, to keep me from my true self. My real power.

I saw myself unravel, the threads of one Luke giving way to another.

“I’m not the me I thought I was,” I said.

The last of the milk washed away, granting me understanding. I wasn’t just a useless mote enchanter able to become invisible, potentially having visions, any of those things. There were greater parts of me, previously hidden. The information stolen from me by magical intervention.

“I devour,” I spoke in the water, a circle of bubbles forming bracelets around my wrists. “I take. I destroy.”

Somewhere in my past, I’d received an incredibly powerful upgrade. The motes bestowed me with the skill to steal power, to bend it to my will. And there was more to the story, just out of reach, waiting to be discovered.

Destroy…

I tried to focus on the answer, the bastard slippery like soap in the shower.

This all reeked of Seth’s involvement. But I’d deal with him later. Right now, the mark on my neck whispered Asher’s name. Spoke of a threat against him.

A threat I’d undo. No one or nothing was hurting my gargoyle knight.

I burst from the dream into Asher’s arms. I smiled, forcing myself out of his hold.

“Luke!”

I landed in the sea, breathing as I would on dry land from the power I’d stolen from the monster at the cove.

Crab Cove.

Finn.

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