Page 35 of Fallen Heirs

“I’m sorry,” I told them. “I’m so sorry I’ve been like this for weeks on end, what you had to do to break me out of it… it’s messed up, and I don’t want to be like this anymore.” Warmth permeated my hands and I looked down to see my fingers sparking with my golden power, as I started to loosen my hold on everything I’d been holding back.

I stepped back away from them, sucking in a breath. “You’re right, I need to start letting it all out. Just… get back… I don’t know if…” I felt that heat building inside me, the kind that used to when I hadn’t used my power in a long time when I’d been denying my magical heritage and trying to assimilate as human.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Talon told me.

“We’re here with you through anything,” Xavier said.

“Let it out, little angel. We’ve got you.”

Their words rolled over me.

And as I approached that point where I knew I could still pull it back, where I could also shove down all the pain that begged for release, and had been for so long now, I didn’t take the out.

I squeezed my eyes shut and let it all flood me.

All the trials and tribulations of the last few months.

Struggling with my magic.

Being taken by Constantine.

Being abused and used by him.

The horror.

The torture.

The degradation.

The shame.

And then my mom.

Watching her dying before me.

The grief of having to live a life without her now.

As it all rushed out of me, so did my power.

It was so intense and overwhelming that it had me screaming as it threatened to tear me in two, as it threatened to break me.

But I didn’t balk.

I opened my eyes and watched as my golden power blasted from me like a vicious shockwave, ripping through the grounds, up into the sky, all around me, as I screamed and let myself feel everything I’d been holding at bay.

It reached the ward and I watched through the heart of it to see Xavier suddenly there, throwing up his hands, his magic streaming forth into the sky and creating a shimmering barrier to contain the damage. At the same time, phoenix fire swirled around me, holding back the onslaught on the ground. And then Orpheus was created a swirling purple storm encompassing us all as the final front.

Despite it all, a smile spread over my face.

They were amazing.

They were fighting for me, pulling on every ounce of their power to contain my celestial magic to make it safe for me to unleash like this.

To make it safe for me to let it all out.

My hands shook with the furor of it.

And knowing that, seeing that, it was the light that cut through the agony and sorrow.

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