They craved destruction and darkness.
I craved peace and light.
But I possessed the darkness within me as well, a darkness gifted to me by my father.
It all blended inside, stirring a violent ball of lethality that I longed to release.
I stood, my feet feeling lighter than air.
I still couldn’t see anything around me—the white light too blinding—but Ifeltthe auras of everyone. No. It was more than that. I could sense their intentions with a part of me I’d never accessed before.
This wasn’t about good versus evil.
This was about creating a new reality.
A new existence within the realms.
A new order to the universe.
I spun toward the Dark Provenance members, towardGleason. “You.”
He possessed powers that he shouldn’t.
All of them did.
The cuffs, I realized, looking in the direction of their wrists. I still couldn’t see them beyond the blinding light, their energy signatures resembling lukewarm shadows amid the brightness in my vision.
But their wrists werebeaconsof power.
Scion created them.
What did that mean? Why were they all reminiscent of divine power?
To protect them?
To establish a new sort of balance with the Dark Provenance at the heart of it?
Did they call the Shadow realm here?
My mind spun with all the potential scenarios. However, a pulse of power nearby drew my focus to the splintering veil.
I stepped toward it, only to feel Ezra’s hand on my wrist. “It’s too late.”
“It’s not,” I said, moving blindly through the field toward the rift. “I can fix it.”
The power hummed inside me in agreement, our new Divinity flooding my veins with unspeakable energy.
I was overflowing with it.
Burning my very soul and threatening to expel me from this plane, to force me back to the place I shouldn’t be able to reach.
The place where our spirits danced.
I fisted my hands at my sides, belatedly realizing I still held the dagger. My focus shifted toward it, my mind conceptualizing a plan before I even understood it.
A conduit.
I lifted the knife and aimed it toward the tear—a cataclysm I could feel more than see—and unleashed my light.
