Page 191 of The Trials of Ophelia
We were being beaten.
But if they were unrelenting, then we would be, too, I swore, shoving my sword through another’s side and slicing Lucidius’s dagger across their throat.
I took up a spot on Mila’s other side, slashing my way through the warriors who found a foothold over the ledge of the lookout. I stomped on the hand of one, sending her spiraling back toward the earth, and swiped across the ribs of another who had lost his chest-plate.
I stood heaving, peering over the edge of the cliff.
Mystiques stayed true until our dying breaths, and even if we lost this battle due to a well-intentioned letter written by a naive, hopeful hand, tonight would be no exception.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Ophelia
Kakias screamed as I stabbed her, her power shooting outward in a blunt wind. It threw me back, stone and glass and starry sky blurring.
Darkness rimmed the courtyard, swirling like a dust storm of the Soulguider deserts. It clawed against my skin and stung my eyes.
Somewhere, Sapphire rioted, her whinny slicing through the night and my heart. But she was outside—safe, I reminded myself as I skidded across the hard floor, bones jarring.
That one stab wound wouldn’t kill the queen—she’d made herself as close to immortal as possible on Daminius, unless she killed me—but it did deter her from attacking and riling up her magic. I wanted that power untamed within her. Uncontrollable and unceasing.
Power I’d once felt beneath my skin, that greeted me now like an unwelcome friend. It was more unruly than the sliver that had lived within me for months, like it had festered in the queen.
But it was undeniably hers. It tasted of her on my tongue, bitter and primal and greedy.
Pushing to my feet, I wiped my dagger clean of Kakias’s blood. Tendrils of erratic magic pressed down on my body, but my second pulse beat wildly, pushing at the edges of my skin, like a beast longing to break free.
Use me, starry child of Angels.
Use it? I staggered under Kakias’s power. How could I?—
There was one thing that would light this courtyard with the essence of Angels. One weapon I had not planned to use tonight. But the power in my blood begged to be released.
So I trusted that instinct and did the one thing I knew would feed it.
I ripped my gloves off, swiped my dagger against my palm, and slammed the gash to my chest, right over Damien’s emblem. I freed the ancient thing prowling beneath my skin.
Angellight burst from the shard and attacked Kakias’s power.
That light wrapped itself around me, too. Warmth seeped along my skin like a tempered fever, but it was emboldening, not sickening. It was sovereignty and secrets wielded with the darkest intentions.
And looking down, I gasped, turning my hands over before me. They were radiating, gold.
“By the fucking Angels.”
It was not merely a reflection of the Angellight swirling around me. Not a tint or an ethereal cast.
My flesh was glowing.
I was emitting a light I’d only seen from one other being before. A source of power that only the Angels could wield. One that stole the breath from my lungs and sent my world spinning.
But this light hummed in recognition of me…it was mine.
Somehow, I commanded the power of Angels.
Confusion blurred my thoughts, but I tightened my grasp on my surroundings. My Angellight continued to push at Kakias’s untamed magic.
And I wondered, if this light was coming from me, would it also obey me? I focused on that source rather than wondering how in the fucking Spirits this was possible.
