Page 53 of Revenge of the Forgotten

She wanted to prove all of them wrong.

The walls rattled with the booming thunder. The fact they were miles under the sea never crossed her mind. All Vega could feel was the power flooding her senses. When she closed her eyes, behind her eyelids she could see the swell of the sea above them, the rising waves crashing against the coast of Imber. Am I doing that? Her eyes shot open.

Khort circled her in the room. Vega spun slowly, never allowing him to get behind her like he’d been teaching her. Like she’d allowed Meyer to do… Her breathing was ragged, sweat prickling her skin as her agitation grew. Khort shuffled his feet with the next boom of thunder, a little smile forming on his face.

Vega caught on to what he was doing, egging her agitation on to get a rise out of her powers.

“You feel that? That raw anger?” His smile made Vega even crankier—the lightning sparked and grew between her palms as she flexed her hands. The warmth building in her palm pulled her gaze to the source. Her eyes matched the color of the crackling power in her hand. She stared at it in amazement. “Use it.” Khort’s words were barely a whisper. “Remind everyone who you are and what you can do because they’re forgetting.” The words sank inside Vega. They weren’t meant to make her mad; they were meant to make her strong.

Khort knew Vega didn’t want to let anyone down—that she always wanted to be the hero to her sister’s villain.

Vega wanted good to prevail in a world where evil loomed around every corner.

The wind in the small training center started to swirl, the thunder rumbling more as her lightning continued to crackle, making Khort’s loose pieces of hair stand on end from the static in the air.

“Rein it in. Control the downfall. Don’t let it consume you when you’re mad. You will battle angry, tired, and feel more defeated than you’ve ever been, and that doesn’t stop the fact that you have to continue on in order to survive. If you can’t think while you control those powers, it’ll consume you. You will end up like some of your other lives: dead before you even get the chance to fight for your life,” Khort continued circling her.

Vega allowed herself to close her eyes again and feel the way her body tingled, the way her brain seemed to thrum along with the beat of the thunder. “Am I making those waves?” she asked, clenching her jaw while she watched the water above them settle.

“With your wind, yes. The water isn’t yours to control. It’s a reaction to the ability you do have.”

Vega strained, her teeth grinding as she fought to control the storm brewing thousands of feet above.

“When those memories come flooding back, you’re going to be mad. You’re going to feel hatred, betrayal, sadness, all of it, all at once.” Vega listened to Khort’s words, grasping for the control she wanted, telling herself to bring her power back to a simmer and not a dangerous boil. “You have to be ready to remember everything, Vega. It’s not all pretty.” He was much closer now. Vega’s eyes shot open when she sensed his proximity. Her breath caught in her throat as his dazzling eyes fixed on hers. “Do not falter this time.”

Vega didn’t flinch, only marveled at the calmness of the room around them now. There was no wind, no blue lightning nipping at her hands, no thunder rumbling the walls, and the sea above was back to flat waters. It was as if none of it had ever happened.

“Once you remember, don’t forgive what he’s done to you. Use that anger but never lose control, or you and everyone else will be dead.” Khort stepped back.

Vega felt like her air was her own again, not a shared space, warm with emotions. She took a large gulp to steady her racing heart.

“That’s enough for the day,” Khort declared. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

She stood in the middle of the room, shaking from the release of power she’d exerted—from the realization she was needed here.

That finally, she was wanted.

Vega fell to the floor and rested her back against the bench in the outer corner of the ring. She was so tired, her muscles screaming from overuse.

You’re not alone here.

As tired as she was, a smile still spread across her lips. Vega’s head rested against the bench, and she stared up at the ceiling.

You were never alone. They were always with you.

21

Blood stained the water swirling down the sink’s drain, the candlelight in the room flickering against the wooden walls.

Bridger wasn’t sure whose blood he was cleaning off his face, from his hair, and scrubbing from underneath his fingernails. It could be his, the soldiers of Tolevarre’s, Vega’s father’s, or the blood from the other three sharing the dilapidated cabin with him—the blood from their successful summoning of Remus.

There had been no way to prepare for Marlena’s attack. There were rumors of an uprising within some of the families, but it seemed like their parents were handling it well enough. Little did they know, Marlena had been planning to give herself a promotion, and all it took was murdering her parents and anyone else who opposed her—all while betraying everyone who loved her.

Once the blood from their fight out of the capital was wiped from his skin, Bridger shut the water off and headed back into the main room slowly and silently. The others hadn’t heard him approach, allowing him the time to overhear their conversation.

“Imber is on our side. Emil would never betray my father. That much I know for sure.” Vega sat in the middle of the room, a fire crackling beside her. The fireplace might have once been gorgeous, but now the stone was caving in, and the chimney was falling through the ceiling.

A map sat in the middle of the floor. Vega’s black fingernails pointed at the island off the coast of Solum. “They’re going to be our biggest ally. This is where we start.”

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