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And now it was about to become one of the only things on earth that could both wield and protect against Celestial magic.

To safeguard against what was coming for the woman we treasured.

24

~Ariana~

Guilt and upset warred within me.

I was supposed to take back my power with the help of Pops. I’d agreed to it, and he’d trusted me to do it that way, the carefully supervised way.

But he and the family had also kept something massive from me. Even Grandfather who was one of the closest to me out of all of them. He’d missed my party not for Guardian Movement business, but to reach out to the Celestial Plane aboutme.

Without my knowledge. Without any of them giving me a heads up.

As though I didn’t deserve to know.

No, it was worse than that. They were afraid of what I would do if I knew. That I’d lose control or something along those lines.

They didn’t trust in me.

They didn’t have faith in me.

On the one hand, the fact that I’d felt that way about myself for the longest time did lend some justification to them being of that opinion about me.

But on the other hand, I’d hoped they would be able to see beyond that. I’d hoped that they hadn’t shared my insecurities.

They obviously did, though.

With that upset prevalent, I couldn’t have Pops with me during this spell now, nor any of my family members. It could create emotional instability that would impact my control over my magic.

And, honestly, I also wanted to prove to them, but mostly to myself, that I could do this without needing the full magical might of Ryker Morgan to stabilize me.

Besides, I had something more now, something beyond magical might. And it had me smiling as I looked out at the source of it in Kai, Vorzyr, and Nyx, who were milling about and helping me to prepare for the spell.

Kai was running a test on his Aetherbound Scepter. We’d managed to imbue it with the ability to counter Celestial magic, adding Vorzyr’s Primal Celestial Resonance to give it a hell of a boost as well, and Kai’s magic and my blood had been used as binding agents.

I’d honestly thought it would take days to pull off, but Kai’s knowledge was beyond most others, especially for his age,andhe was incredibly talented at employing workarounds and finding solutions where there appeared to be none.

And now, here we were in a remote mountain region far away from anyone or anything, either supernatural or human.

I lowered myself into a cross-legged sitting position on top of the highest mountain peak in the area and watched as Kai cast a containment ring around me, a ward that would ground the energy I’d be returning to me in a rush, and prevent outward shockwaves. While I had the ability to do that myself, I couldn’t use my magic for anything else other than the spell at hand. My focus had to be absolute.

Meanwhile, Nyx was employing hisshadow magicto a mammoth degree and concealing all four of us and what was about to happen. I didn’t want anyone, especially my family, toknow I was doing this yet. I would need time to acclimate once I’d received all my power back, time to properly stabilize, and I didn’t want them to see me before then.

Vorzyr had shifted into his stunning dragon form and he was patrolling the area as an extra precaution, because Grandfather did possess the ability to see throughshadow magic.I wasn’t sure if Dad and Mom did. I mean, it should be possible, but unlike Grandfather, they’d never encountered it before.

I finished lighting the last of the twelve candles encircling where I sat, and then I called out to the guys that I was about to get started.

The moment their confirmations rang out, I drew in a couple of centering breaths, then held my hands out either side of me and upturned my palms, my silver magic sparking in soft, glowing flames.

I had to keep my eyes open to monitor my magic as it filtered back to me, to ensure it wasn’t happening dangerously, or causing any damage in the process.

I slipped into a sense of deep relaxation, letting the spell roll through me, making myself open and accommodating.

“Omnis pars mei, revoca,”I uttered carefully, ensuring the conviction of my words was steady and controlled.

All parts of me, return.