Page 99 of Monster's Pretty Bride

Lightning races over my skin, my hair lifting in an unseen breeze. The ground trembles beneath my feet, energy radiating outward in waves, churning the earth beneath us.

The enemies surrounding us, those who stood in the wake of Catalina’s sacrifice halt.

Amelia.

The Elders.

The traitorous gargoyles who had allied with darkness.

They feel it.

The change.

The power.

Their faces twist in shock, in realization. I am no longer weak.

I am no longer bound.

I am power itself.

Amelia’s lips part, her confidence wavering since she revealed her betrayal. She stares, watching as the magic swirls around me, forming radiant tendrils of energy that crackle and lash like the storm of the gods themselves.

Now, I see it, fear in her eyes.

I step forward, slow, deliberate. The weight of my magic is crushing, pressing against me from every angle, as if the very world is bending under its force.

“Eryss…” Amelia’s voice falters, hesitant, cautious. “This is?—”

I don’t let her finish.

With a flick of my wrist, the air explodes around her, sending her slamming into the ground with bone-rattling force. A crater forms where she lands, dust rising in thick clouds.

Gasps fill the battlefield.

The Elders stagger back, their golden robes fluttering in the storm I have unleashed.

But I don’t care. My gaze locks onto Amelia, who coughs, her hands clawing at the earth as she tries to rise.

She looks up at me, her dark magic swirling, but weaker now. Because I have become what she feared most.

I am no longer a pawn.

I am the storm.

“You took everything from me,” I say, voice cold, echoing with power. The wind howls around me, my magic pressing outward like a force of nature itself.

Amelia’s lips curl into a sneer despite the blood dripping from her mouth. “You don’t understand, sister,” she spits. “This was never about you.”

Something inside me flares, rage, pain, loss. And yet, through it all, Naranus is there.

Standing beside me, silent, watching.

His body should be broken, his magic depleted. He should have collapsed the moment Catalina took his curse.

But he doesn’t.

He stands, towering, unmoving, the golden glow of my power reflecting in his dark, intense gaze.

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