“And look where that morality got you,” she sneered. “I taught you how to weave darkness, Riven.”
She twisted her wrist.
A spike of black ice slammed into my chest. The blinding pain knocked me backward, sending me skidding across the marble as I gasped for air.
“Did you really think you could use my own lessons against me?” she asked, walking towards me. The shadows in the room bent to her will. They curled around her legs like loyal dogs.
I scrambled to my feet, but she was already there. She threw a wall of force that pinned me against the cracked pillar.
I was outmatched. She was centuries old, and her command of the dark was total.
But I wasn’t just Shadow anymore.
Heat flared in my chest—the scar over my heart burning like a coal. The tether stretched up the spine of the building, connecting me to the golden fire climbing the shaft.
Trust the bond.
I reached for the Light.
I seized on the tether, dragging the dormant golden energy out of my marrow. It felt like swallowing the sun. It seared my veins, foreign and exhilarating.
Varessia raised her hand to finish me. A blade of ice formed in her palm.
“Goodbye, pet.”
I thrust my hand forward.
“No,” I rasped.
I seized the tether, drawing on the wildfire climbing the shaft above.
The air ignited. A blinding, searing lance of pure Gold erupted from my palm.
Varessia’s mask of boredom shattered. Her eyes went wide, the gold reflection burning in her retinas. She had fortified her soul against the dark, but the dawn burned straight through her guard.
The beam of Light smashed through her shadow shields like paper. It hit her square in the chest.
She screamed—a sound of pure agony as the Light cauterised her darkness. She was thrown backward, crashing against the marble pillar. Her white suit scorched black, her skin smoking.
She slid to the floor, gasping, her eyes wide with shock. “How?” she wheezed, clutching her chest. “You are… Dark-born.”
I stepped over her. The golden light faded from my hands, replaced by the icy familiarity of my magic.
“I evolved,” I said.
I didn’t hesitate. I wrapped a tendril of shadow around her neck and twisted.
CRUNCH.
Varessia went limp. The unnatural cold in the room vanished instantly.
I let her drop. She hit the floor in a heap of white silk and broken pride.
THIRTY-SIX
Selene
The maintenance shaft was a vertical tunnel of oppressive heat and the smell of burning dust. It trembled with the vibration of the massive cables running alongside the ladder—the arteries of Quinn Tower carrying power to the beast above.
