Page 257 of Volik

My heart slows even more.

Slowly, I lift one hand and press it to my chest. Over my heart.

I inhale.

Volik lifts his empty hand and presses it to his chest.

We are here.

I exhale.

Volik shifts. Tenses.

I dart my hands up, like I’m going to halt him.

“What are you trying to do?” Morell laughs behind me. The dagger nicks my throat with his movement. “You’re just a powerless human.”

I hold Volik’s gaze. “I am not human.”

Blade cutting into my skin, I turn my head to look at my mate’s enemy. “And I am not powerless.”

I twist my hands.

And my gravito obeys.

The dagger at my neck rips out of Morell’s grip and shoots off to the side.

His head turns as he watches his dagger fly away.

And his shock loosens his grip.

Rocks slide off the ledge as I rotate.

One foot on the cliff, one foot in the air, I turn my body.

And I close my fingers around the hilt of Volik’s dagger as it flies into my grip.

Magic crackles against my skin as I shove the blade up under Morell’s rib cage.

He jerks back, looking down.

My left hand is still wrapped around the hilt, my fingers fitting perfectly in the grooves.

Morell smiles as he starts to lift his gaze. “You miss⁠—”

I curl the fingers of my right hand.

And the second dagger, the one stained with my blood, slams into my hold.

Training.

Nights of no sleep with Volik.

Practice.

It all comes together in that moment.

And relief fills me as I move with meaning.