Page 106 of Forging Darkness

I can no longer hold back my tormented scream of anguish. For what’s happening to me. For what’s happened to Steel. For what’s happened to all the humans and angel-born sacrificed to greedy Fallen in the past.

It starts subtly but as the magic consumes me, rising over my head and making the outside world a fuzzy unreality, I feel her—Seraphim. Her essence burrows past skin and bone, seeping into the deepest crevices of my being, trying to harness the power coursing through me.

I’m complacent for only half a heartbeat. That’s all I can stomach handing over to her.

I still have enough control of my functions to stoke the fire inside. Ignoring the pain, I let my power burn hotter than it ever has. Every lungful I breathe is like sucking in liquid fire, but I don’t stop. Can’t stop.

More of Seraphim’s essence absorbs into my body. It feels like black sludge snaking trails through my mind.

I think of Silver, and I know I still have a chance. Seraphim is undoubtedly powerful, but I’ve spent a lifetime suppressing and hiding my true self—no more.

With an unheard cry, I reach into the deepest parts of myself, the well I haven’t yet dared breach, and put everything I have behind it.

I detonate. And for a shining moment, the world is no more.

Chapter Thirty-Four

I’m a flame. A burning ember that can never be extinguished. A power like the world has never seen.

Fire skates over my body, undulating in waves and crackling at the ends of my fingertips. With a mere thought, I can direct it wherever I want.

Something strikes my arm, but it feels like the brush of a feather. Power surges, lashing out at whatever dared to attack. My gaze shifts in time to see Legion land on his back and then topple off the platform.

Silver stands wide-eyed behind him, mouth ajar as she takes me in. I’m so intoxicated by the power, I don’t concern myself with Seraphim, simply content that she’s no longer there.

I stretch my wings. Currents of energy flow to the tips of my feathers. It’s glorious.

A horrible shriek breaks through my new utopia, scratching my eardrums. I create a flaming ball of energy as large as a soccer ball between my hands and launch it in the direction of the ear-splitting annoyance. It goes streaking toward the coliseum seats, exploding in a shower of gold and red when it makes contact, sending Fallen and Forsaken diving for cover.

When the brightness of the explosion fades, two charred bodies lie prone in the stands. Deep satisfaction that they were so easily ended permeates my mind, and a smile grows on my lips.

A small blossom of worry at my own blood-thirstiness starts to form, but I stomp it out. They deserve even worse, every one of them.

Fallen and Forsaken within the radius of the blast beat at small fires that have started on their clothes. Within moments three of them are set ablaze; they rush for help, but their fellow warriors flee rather than lend aid. Their anguished cries are once again grating to my ears, and I send several consecutive rounds of fireballs at them to end the noise. Just like the others, only their scorched remains are left behind.

“You killed her!” Legion roars from the side, his voice heavy with accusation I’m not going to deny.

“And if I could resurrect her to do the same over and over, I would.”

Silver stands behind Legion and tries to catch his arm before he rushes me, but he moves so quickly she’s left grasping at air.

Legion barrels toward me with single-minded focus and a war cry on his lips.

Without retreating a step, I lash out with my wings, swatting him like a fly. He goes sailing backward over Silver’s head and lands in a heap on the sanded arena floor.

I march toward him, Steel’s impassioned words a broken record in my mind:strike fast and true.

Between Seraphim’s absence and my rain of fireballs, the coliseum has broken into a circus of chaos. Some Fallen and Forsaken flee, while others shove through the crowds and drop onto the arena floor, fighting each other on their way to challenge me. It’s the perfect moment to escape, but there’s a steady drumbeat in my chest that I can’t ignore. It’s pounding to the beat ofkill, kill, kill.

I no longer want to simply escape this place. Instead, I want this White Kingdom to go up in a blazing inferno, and I want to watch until the last writhing beast is nothing but ash in the wind.

The flames dancing on my fingertips creep up my hands, over my wrists, and continue to climb up my arms. The fire spreads with every fury-filled heartbeat, and I’m glad.

Something skids through my mind and gives pause to my assured steps. The child.

The desire to preserve Angeline’s life wars against my newfound bloodlust, and for a few stretched seconds, it’s a toss-up on which one is going to win.

With a grunt, I spin, searching for her. My blood runs cold when I spot her, standing at the edge of the platform, free and unshackled. It’s my first look at her face since Seraphim dragged her into the arena.

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