"Good girl." He leaned down, pressing a kiss to my forehead that sent electricity dancing across my skin. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Be good."
Then he was gone, the door whispering shut behind him.
I lay back against the pillows, electricity still humming through my veins. The citadel's circuits called to me, mapping themselves in my mind. The storm over the ocean pulsed with building potential.
I was supposed to rest. Supposed to stay put. Supposed to not experiment with these incredible new abilities singing through my transformed body.
Through the bond, I felt Zephyron's attention shift to the war room. Felt him engage with tactical planning, his focus moving away from monitoring me.
The electricity crackled across my hands.
I lasted maybe ten minutes before giving up on the idea of rest entirely.
Itwasn’tthatIdidn’t try to rest. I did! Really tried. Lay still against the soft pillows, closed my eyes, practiced breathing techniques. In for four counts, hold for four, out for eight.
The electricity in my veins laughed at the attempt.
My body hummed with too much energy. My new senses reached out automatically, tracking every current in the citadel whether I wanted them to or not. The bedside lamp buzzed at a frequency I could feel in my teeth. The overhead lights created a low-frequency hum that resonated in my bones. Further out, the storm over the ocean built charge that called to something deep in my transformed cells.
I lasted maybe ten minutes before giving up entirely.
This was ridiculous. I wasn't tired. Wasn't weak. The transformation had left me stronger than I'd ever been—muscles dense and powerful, nervous system singing with potential. Lying in bed pretending to need rest when my body wanted to move felt like trying to sleep during a lightning storm.
I sat up, electricity crackling faintly across my skin.
The bedside lamp caught my attention. Just a simple fixture—glass shade, single bulb, powered by the citadel's main grid through wiring hidden in the walls. Through my new senses, I could feel the current flowing to it. Could trace the path from the transformer down through the walls to the outlet to the lamp's socket.
What if I just . . . touched it? Not physically. With my power.
I focused on the bulb's filament. Felt the resistance as current forced electrons through the thin wire, heating it until it glowed. Such a simple mechanism. Elegant in its own way.
I pushed slightly. Just the tiniest pulse of additional current.
The lamp brightened.
Oh.
The sensation was exquisite. Like flexing a new muscle I'd never known I had. I could feel the current respond to my will, could sense exactly how much power the bulb could handle before the filament would burn out. I stayed well below that threshold, just playing with the intensity.
Dim. Bright. Dim. Bright.
I made the lamp pulse in rhythm with my heartbeat, the electrical current ebbing and flowing like blood. The bond mark on my temple throbbed in sync. My reflection in the glass wall showed lightning scars glowing faintly with each pulse.
This was incredible.
I tried the overhead lights next. There were six of them in the nursery's main space, arranged in a circular pattern across theceiling. All connected to the same circuit, all drawing from the same power source.
What if I could control them individually?
I reached out with my awareness, following the current through the ceiling conduit. Found where it split, sending power to each fixture through separate branches. The wiring diagram appeared in my mind like I'd studied blueprints—which socket connected where, which breaker controlled this section, how the entire system integrated with the citadel's larger grid.
I pushed power to the first light. It brightened while the others stayed dim.
Then the second. Then the third.
I made them light up in sequence—one, two, three, four, five, six—then back down. Over and over, creating a circular pattern that chased itself around the ceiling.
Laughter bubbled up before I could stop it. Pure delight. Childlike joy in making something respond to my will, in having power that was mine and controllable and not hurting anyone.
