And another.
I tried to build a shield, to counter them, to protect myself, but my energy reserves were depleted from the darkness I’d allowed myself to release.
However, it still lingered.
Hovering on my shoulder, waiting for me to embrace it once more.
But I couldn’t. It made me feel too cold. Too wrong. Toopowerful.
I curled into a ball instead, denying that flicker of energy and absorbing the brunt of Zeph’s and Zakkai’s hits instead.
Aflora?Kols whispered into my mind.Are you all right?
No,I replied, trembling beneath the pain and agony of having my own mates attack me when I’d told them to stop. They were trying to make a point. I understood it. But that didn’t make me accept it.They won’t stop.
I sounded so weak. So pitiful. And I could almost hear Zakkai and Zeph taunting me for it, calling me out for giving up.
They wanted me to be strong.
To stand up to them.
To give them a display of power meant to destroy them all.
I hate them, I told Kols.I hate them.
I could hear the sadness in my voice, a perpetual moping that I loathed.
I’m stronger than this, I thought in my next inhale.So much stronger.
But it required me to block an important part of me. My earth. My tie to the element I loved and adored. Choosing strength meant I had to welcome the darkness.
I shivered, abhorring the choice.
However, the electricity roaming over me, as well as Zeph’s shouts to fight, left me no choice.
I tapped into that black hole, pulling it into me once more, and released it on a wave of energy that had tears falling from my eyes.
Everything stopped.
Inky flames engulfed the room.
Then Zakkai cut through it with a blast of cerulean magic that tamed the darkness back into a little ball of spinning power that seemed to seep back into me, inch by inch.
I didn’t move, my arms locked around my legs as I remained in the center of the room.
The spells were all gone.
But the aggression remained.
“Aflora?” Zeph asked, his deep voice holding a touch of concern.
I ignored him.
“She’s fine,” Zakkai said. “Or she would be if she accepted the dark source the way she needs to.”
“Does she look fucking fine to you?” Zeph demanded. “Because she looks broken to me.”
Zakkai snorted. “You’re allowing emotion to cloud your judgment. That’s why she’s not as prepared as she should be—because you’ve wasted all her time by coddling her. So now we have to resort to this to ensure she’s ready becauseyoufailed to train her.”
