I stare at him, a cold shiver running down my spine. “…What?”
“If you truly believe you’re like Malak, then take off your grandmother’s medallion and give in to the darkness.”
I jolt. “No.”
He steps toward me. “I saw the way you looked at me every time you picked up your tools, Asha. The need to create is in your bones.”
Even now, I’m aware of the impulses, although they feel distant thanks to the silver metal.
Mold the living to match your will.
Make him yours…
“So create!” he orders me.
I snarl back at him. “You don’t command me anymore.”
“Did I ever?” He continues to step toward me, but now I step back. “Did I make you fight monsters, or did I simply unleash you upon them? Because if you believe what Tamra said, then you were waiting for the chance to fight and kill. Youlovedit.”
My voice is tight. “No.”
“No, what?”
I shake my head at him. “I hate these tools. I hate how cruel they are.”
“I don’t believe you.Youdon’t believe you.” His brow draws down and so do the corners of his mouth.
Slowly, he starts removing his shirt, even though it’s cold and he must be freezing because his skin is covered in goosebumps.
“Let’s settle this once and for all, Asha Silverspun,” he says, dropping the material to the ground. “Then you’ll know who you really are.”
He darts forward in a flash, his hand closing around my left wrist, his speed breathtaking.
But so is my own.
My right hand shoots out, my weight carrying me forward, but he must have been counting on that, because in the next instant, he lets go of my left hand.
My forward momentum takes me toward him, both of my hands colliding with his chest.
It’s only at the last moment that theclangof metal reaches my ears, and I register a flash of light as the silver medallion spirals away from me through the air.
With shocking speed, he removed it.
And now the titanium medallion has free rein.
Darkness washes through me and with it, rage.
Cold, malicious, deadly rage as my left hand presses to his bare skin.
Chapter31
The sudden rush of power is overwhelming.
“Decide who you are, Asha,” he says. “Make your move. I won’t stop you.”
My muscles flex as I fight my impulses.
Not to turn him to ash or dust, but to make him…
