Page 114 of Beneath the Starlight and Storms

The energy slides over my body like a second skin as I pull the vast skies to me, cloaking the Hunters in darkness, taking their vision and turning them blind to everything around them.

I watch them as they attempt to see through it, to use their shadows to find an invisible threat but it’s no use.

They can’t escape me or my power. Nor do I want them to.

They hurt my mate. I feel his pain as if it were my own. He had depleted nearly all of his reserve of power, slowly draining his life instead of focusing on healing and pushing the poison spreading through his body out.

And all to save us. To saveme.

They would not escape me. Or go easily into this dark night.

They would suffer. I would make sure of it.

Like a gravitational pull, I drag them closer before holding them in place.

My dust appears, clouds of it forming above each Hunter, gathering around them before seeping into them.

I sense the Hunters trying to heal and fight the invisible threat. But it’s too late. The dust has already settled inside them. They’ve already begun to grow hotter and hotter, slowly burning them from the inside out.

I drown out their screams and raise my hand as glittering black flames surround it.

I pause, watching the stars glide through it, having never seen anything like it before. My first and only other time I used my powers and fully transformed was nothing like this.

Narrowing my eyes on the Hunters, I push it outward toward them. A night full of dark flames and stars burn through them, finishing them all off instantly.

They become dust, the very thing that destroyed them. Before drifting away on a cool breeze.

Long, curving wings span out around me, before softly fluttering behind me.

Wings that were now nothing like the ones I had before. Wings that were once so thin they were nearly translucent.

Fragile. Delicate. Breakable.

Theyenjoyed breaking them. Testing them. Calling me a freak for being different. For being something they only saw as ugly and weak.

They were nothing like the Sun Fae’s huge, powerful, white feathered wings with tips of gold. Or the Moon Fae’s wide, black feathered wings with tips of silver.

But now they were just as beautiful as them. The translucent base was similar to my old wings but now with a touch of the dark night sky woven into it.

Thousands of gold and silver stars shimmered along every inch of them before dripping to the ground and disappearing like glittering pixie dust.

I spread them out around me, their width three times the size of me. And though they felt as light as a cool breeze, I knew that if I were to take flight, they would be as strong and as fierce against even the most turbulent of winds.

A gasp sounds out from behind me making my body stiffen. Hesitantly, I turn and look back at Hook, ready for his look of disgust and horror at what I had just done.

But apart from a spark of confusion, all I find is a look of relief that’s filled with pure love. There is no disgust in his eyes and not a flicker of judgment.

“You’rebeautiful, Tink. Those words will never be enough to describe your beauty. Describe how magnificent you are. But you should—” Hook gasps and falls to the side, unable to stop himself.

I rush over to him, my legs faltering for a moment as my body starts to grow weaker from the power I used. But I manage to catch him before his head hits the rocky ground and sit him up.

Something small and black falls out of his pocket.

I pick it up. “What is—”

“My promise,” he whispers. My heart flutters at his words and I glance up at him.

“And your final, twenty-first birthday gift. I promised I would find you a way to stay hidden and I have. Happy Birthday, Tink.” He takes a moment to catch his breath before attempting a smile.

---