Page 105 of Claim the Light
I catch one of the flecks in my hand, feeling the chill within the substance, cold as a little cube of ice.
My forehead creases when my fingertips suddenly feel wet.
My hand snaps open. The ash is gone.
Instead, bright-blue snowflakes rest in my palm, their delicate shapes melting against the warmth of my skin.
I blink at them in surprise as the water drips through my fingertips, the liquid forming sparkling droplets in the air.
What just happened?
Opposite me, Tyler draws himself upright, his chest heaving, threats spewing from his mouth that might have once scared the shit out of me.
“I’ll fucking kill you, Sophia. If you don’t do what I want, I’ll break every bone in your body until you can do nothing but scream.”
I let his threats wash over me, my focus on the droplets of water now dancing in the air. Droplets I created.
“Tell me again about the balance between life and death, light and dark.”
My sudden command silences him. A deep scowl forms on his face. “Light and dark must always be in balance,” he snaps. “If life exists, so must death. Your life guarantees mine.”
“Yes,” I murmur. “For death to happen, first there must be life. But what if life isn’t what you expect?”
I catch another fleck of ash and close my hand around it, feeling the sharpness of its edges like rough pebbles. When I open my hand, glittering rocks rest in my palm.
Oh…
The picture of my life is coming together in my mind like a puzzle, all of the important pieces becoming clear.
This power I’ve been caging…
I close my eyes, remembering when I tried to heal Lana. I felt all of the life in my heart. Too much life and at its core was a wild energy. A power without boundaries that, once released, could cause irrevocable damage.
I remember the flash of fear in Lana’s eyes when she asked me to stop, as if I’d somehow struck at her very being, and I recall the way she described what she felt as somethingbeyond.
Tyler has risen to his feet, his fists ready at his sides, his black eyes fixated on me, but he doesn’t compare to the threat within me.
“You were wrong about me,” I say quietly. “Lana was, too. She said my power is life. You thought the same. But that’s only partially correct.”
He’s shaking his head, obstinate in the face of my assertion. “I’m not wrong. I was never wrong about you, Sophia.”
I stare at the pebbles in my hand. Objects that came into being with a mere thought on my part because I wanted one thing to become another. I wanted the ash to change.
“The dragon’s light is a source of evolution,” I say, studying Tyler’s swirling form. “Lana asked me what impact it would have on a dragon who craved power and delighted in cruelty.”
I shake my head with a quiet, unhappy laugh. “We were so focused on you. But whatIshould have been asking was what might happen to a dragon who was desperate for change.”
Tyler is eyeing me warily now. Maybe, in the midst of all his prideful thoughts, his instincts are finally alerting him to the fact that he’s in danger.
For the first time in my life, I don’t care about his response because whatever he chooses to say or do, it won’t change what matters—the choice I now face.
I can unleash the power within me and save myself, or I can continue caging it and die in this place.
“I was afraid of my power,” I say. “I didn’t embrace it like you embraced yours. I avoided it, despite how deeply I craved it.” I take a step toward him, my anger rising, the pain in my heart increasing. “Despite how deeply Ideservedit.”
He inches away from me, all the glittering mist swirling around him making him appear wraith-like as he glides backward.
Dropping the pebbles to the ground with a startling clatter, I spread my wings, testing their strength, only a hint of what they’re truly capable of. “Now I understand that, yes, I should beveryfucking afraid of my power.”
