Page 142 of Rising Out of the Darkness
Unfortunately, dear king, I have other plans.
A snort burst free beside me, and both Clara and I looked towards Declan inquisitively. A shrug was our only reply as I shifted my focus back to the king.
“These two have become even more powerful than the ‘Blessed’ among us. One has even obtained a dynamis we have not witnessed for centuries, a dynamis that brought us an era of peace, and I’m here to guarantee that she will bring it to our lands once more.”
Cheers and applause thundered within the room’s walls. However, the gasps and whispers from those who didn’t agree didn’t go unheard by my ears. Alastor nodded towards Will, and a space was created around him as he approached the middle of the room.
He rolled his neck in a circle, shaking out his body, preparing it for the dynamis it was about to endure. Will spread his arms wide open and lowered his head, collecting his dynamis from deep within.
Not one sound could be heard, as if we were all holding our breaths with anticipation for what was about to come.
Just as I exhaled, Will’s arms combusted in flames.
My jaw dropped as he conjured long strands of fiery whips. He twirled them in circles, slamming them against the marble floors with enough force to make them crackle. His whips blazed over the heads of the crowd, causing guests to shriek and scatter further away.
Suddenly, Will intertwined both ropes of fire for his last party trick of the night. His blue eyes latched onto mine. He stalked towards me, and I could feel my body leaning away from the threat. Just as my head thumped against the chest behind me, Will launched his fiery whips towards me.
Strong arms tugged me backwards just as the whips crackled against the floor. Precisely where my feet had vacated.
As I clawed my way from Declan’s hold, my dynamis simmered underneath my skin as rage built inside of me against the person I’d once thought I knew so well. With a devious smirk, he snuffed out his flames and stalked back towards Adara.
“You’re next, Light Phoenix,” the king summoned.
“Behave yourself, or there will be consequences,” Alastor sneered beside me.
Declan’s chest rattled with a low growl as he stepped between us, forming a barrier.
“You too, boy,” Alastor huffed, before stalking towards the side of the king.
With a shake of my shoulders, the words rolled off me. If I was going to show everyone how truly powerful I was, I was going to need to regain my control.
Just as I began to make my way towards the middle of the room, a voice whispered next to me.
“Show them all. Let them see how powerful you are. Let your light shine, Lena.”
My pulse quickened inside my chest. For a whisper, the words were so loud. They felt as though they vibrated inside my head. Turning, I paused, noticing Declan was nowhere near me. Goosebumps pebbled over my skin as I made eye contact with the man still standing amongst the crowd—halfway across the room.
I’m finally losing my ever-loving mind.
“Anytime, Lady Morrigan,” the king grumbled from his throne.
Startled by his booming voice, I turned my back to them all. For what I needed to do tonight, I needed to be free of distraction. Silence blanketed the ballroom as my eyelids fluttered shut.
Over this past month, I had come to understand some of the many intricacies of my dynamis. The more confident and comfortable I felt with my emotions, the more vibrantly my dynamis flowed. However, the greatest epiphany I’d had here happened two nights ago when I realized what my strongest emotion was.
Love.
What I had created in that ballroom had taken my breath away, just like it had done the first time I had zephyred or the first time a flame ignited between my fingertips. The same feeling had flowed through me when I grew an entire plant from nothing and splashed Liam with the Tide dynamis I thought I would never be able to achieve. That feeling had consumed mybody the night Declan and I had somehow managed to combine our dynamis, creating something spectacularly powerful and beautiful.
Every moment I used my dynamis, I pulled on the emotions necessary to wield it. Inevitably, right before I used my power, love enveloped it, allowing me to do things with my dynamis I never thought I’d be capable of.
I supposed that I shouldn’t be surprised that love was my most powerful emotion of all. It was what had kept me going all these years, given me hope, and provided me with the strength I couldn’t always find within myself. No matter how difficult my life had been, how far I let myself succumb to the darkness within my mind, I still held onto the faith that love would guide me through it.
The love from those close to me, my family and my small circle of friends. Even the love of a man who had helped me find my true self in more ways than one. For once in my life, I was beginning to love myself.
Fate had taken my life in many directions, but one thing had always remained constant,love.
It was a power in itself to show love and in return be loved by others. Sometimes, opening your heart left you vulnerable, but it was a chance that was worth taking.
