Page 130 of No One’s Daughter

Not the woman I’d trained, or the one that had fought me tooth and nail. Nor the one I couldn’t help but love.

She was so much more.

She was so unlike any other true born I’d ever met—unlike any vampire, actually. Logic would dictate that it was her human upbringing on this realm that caused it, but I had a feeling the reason ran deeper than that.

She was an anomaly.

A contradiction made flesh.

​She was simply perfect.

​Human, yet not.

​Vampire, but not fully.

​A light in a world of darkness.

​Only time would tell of the legacy I knew she’d leave.

​I only hoped I’d get a front row seat to see it.

​But even now, I was certain that change was coming.

​And that change was her.

​The air crackled around her, like she was tearing a hole in the very fabric of this realm—because she was. The glass ceiling shattered, exploding inward with a violent, deafening crash, raining shards down in a glittered storm as the sky opened fully above us. Wind tore through the space, wild and unrelenting, whipping through bodies and fabric and flame alike.

​Candles snuffed out.

​Voices rose.

​Panic soared.

​But I couldn’t look away from her. I could hardly believe my own eyes. I’d only seen one other ever display this type of magic. The air thickened with it, every breath heavy with power, with something so raw and untamed that made even my own instincts recoil.

​Valerius must have snapped out of his momentary lapse, and I swear I saw a flicker of fear on his features before he schooled them back to his regular disgustingly calm self as he gave the orders for her capture.

​A lightning strike illuminated the square and in that moment chaos broke out. Bodies began moving toward her but I barely registered what they were doing. My focus stayed on her.

​She was kneeling on the hard stone, completely soaked to the bone, her face shrouded by her long dark hair as she held her sister’s lifeless body close to her chest.

​The expression on her face holding the purest of agony.

​And I felt her earthshattering pain.

It broke something in me.

My heart clenched so violently it felt like it might tear itself apart as I struggled forward, only to be yanked back by brutal hands.

Fists collided with my ribs.

My jaw.

Pain flared, as they forced me down, shackles biting into my wrists as they dragged me back.

Brothers.

Men who had once stood beside me.