Page 131 of On Wings of Blood

She was using me. Wielding me as an instrument as she went after Blake. I should have been horrified, terrified, shocked.

I was all three. But I was also letting her do it.

If you were capable of this, why didn’t you help me when I was trying to keep him out?I complained.

But she ignored me.

Interesting,she mused, a moment later.Very interesting.

What? What’s interesting?I demanded.

Here. Take a look.

She shoved him at me. Yanked me into his head alongside her.

The world tilted.

I felt my mother tearing through Blake’s mind like a careless hand rummaging through old chests in an attic. She wasn’t being subtle. She wasn’t being careful. She was just yanking up lids and diving in.

Images, thoughts, and emotions swirled around me.

Gleefully, Orcades shoved a wave of them at me.

Emotions. A torrent of rage. So hot and fierce it nearly knocked me off my feet.

But it wasn’t just anger. It went deeper than that. I felt Blake’s grief, his pain at being forced to kill Coregon. I felt the sickening mix of fury and betrayal.

Underneath all of that, something else lurked.

Blake’s anger atme. It was strong. So intense.

Emotions slid away, slipping like sand through my fingers.

A new memory emerged.

The world softened. Blake’s mind settled into calm like the sea after a storm. I blinked and suddenly I was there, standing alongside him on a beach.

He was younger. Maybe eighteen. His face was more open, more boyish. He lacked all of the hard edges I’d come to associate with him. His nose wasn’t as crooked. It hadn’t been broken yet.

He was smiling, actually smiling, as he chased a small girl through the shallow waves.

His sister. Aenia. She couldn’t have been more than three or four. Her giggles rang through the air as Blake splashed water at her.

She darted away from him, only for Blake to scoop her up and twirl her around as she screamed in delight, her pale ringlets bouncing around her face.

I could feel it. His joy. His protectiveness.

Love poured off him for this little girl.

It hit me like a punch to the gut. I hadn’t thought him capable of love. Not in any real way. But it was there, undeniable. Coursing through him like a current.

Before I could even begin to process what I’d seen, Orcades’ voice cut through the warmth of the memory.

Found something better, darling. Come and look at this.

The beach scene dissolved. I was thrust into a new memory.

Blake was in the headmaster’s office. He was standing in front of Kim’s desk.

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