Page 127 of Forging Darkness

I can’t help but wonder if her snark is an attempt to cover her own nerves. If so, she’s doing a better job than me. I’m jumpy and jittery and all out of sorts.

I close my eyes and phase into the spectrum world, confident the rest will follow suit. It’s not even a minute before Steel, the two bodyguards, and Silver appear in the fortified room with me.

Silver curls her lip, showing me one of her sharp fangs. There’s the girl I got to know over the last week.

In order to use my angel-fire, I have to morph. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, centering myself like Thorne taught me. It’s not long before heated energy flows through my body.

I stoke the flames until the intensity reaches its peak, and I let it release. The change washes over me like a tidal wave. My wings unfurl and armor molds itself to my body.

What seemed like an impossibility only a few weeks ago is now a reality. I can control my transformation.

Steel stares at me, something like awe shining in his eyes. I have to tamp down the desire to preen.

“Whenever you’re ready,” flows a voice over the speakers. The Elders, as well as Steel’s parents, are watching us on video from another room.

“They need to leave. Or at least step behind me,” I say, pointing to Silver’s guards.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” one of them says.

I look to a camera in the corner of the room. “There’s no way I’m unleashing pure angel-fire with them standing so close to her.”

“Zander. Onyx. Leave the room.”

The guard who spoke up opens his mouth to argue, but then just shakes his head, gesturing to the other to stand down. After they leave, I nod to Steel and he moves to the back corner of the room.

“Are you really going to leave these on me?” Half turning, Silver shakes her bound wrists.

“Did you really think we’d let you out of them?” Steel asks.

She hisses at him.

“If all goes well, we’ll take them off after,” I explain. “Or they’ll burn up with the rest of your body. Either way, they won’t be an issue for very long.”

Closing my eyes once again, I focus my power. This time, I funnel it into my arms and down to my palms as I begin to form a ball of energized angel-fire between my hands.

This is not how it happened before, but I was in the heat of the moment fighting for my life. I can’t recreate those conditions, so I’m doing my best.

It’s boiling in the room, but that’s not what causes sweat to break out on my brow and trickle down my hairline. My arms shake as the ball grows in power, but instinct tells me it’s still not enough.

As I force myself to create even more power, I open my eyes. Flames lick my skin and I smile because now I’m getting somewhere.

Tendrils of fatigue worm into my muscles, but I can’t stop now. I won’t stop. I only get one shot at this, and if I do it wrong, Steel and his parents will have to watch their loved one burn alive.

With that thought I reach deeper and the blaze between my hands turns a green color. The power blows my hair back like a gust of air.

Lifting my gaze off the angel-fire, I locate Silver. She’s still standing on the other side of the room, her back pressed up against the wall, arms still secured behind her back.

Even though she’s trying to hide it, she’s frightened. It’s clear from the wild look in her eyes and her body language. She might bolt at any moment.

And . . . I like it.

A deep sense of satisfaction burns in my chest, fueled by her fear. I’m intoxicated by the knowledge that with a flick of my wrist, I could end her. That my power cannot be contained. It’s a wild and potent thing that only I can control. I could tear the world down and rebuild it in my own image with the energy coursing through my veins. There isn’t a creature alive who could stop me. And . . .

What am I thinking?

This is not like before. This is not like me.

The ball of angel-fire between my hands shrinks under the weight of my confusion.

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