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“I’ll just have to give him a reminder about toning down his reckless side, because riding definitely brings that out in him.”

“I bet Papa had a lot to say about that.”

She laughed. “He definitely did.”

“What about Dad?”

“He took a different approach.” She shook her head in dismay. “He raced him in wolf form.”

“Who won?”

“Dad. But don’t tell your Pops that. We had to call a tie.”

That had me bursting out laughing.

And it felt really good.

It even managed to push everything else down for me.

I held onto it as she led me back downstairs.

I held onto them, and how amazing and adored my family made me feel.

And in moments like this, I let myself believe everything would be okay.

I breathed in that lie and immersed myself in them, shutting out the outside world.

5

~Kai~

Ah,back in the heart of my power.

It was invigorating beyond belief.

I could feel it coursing through me, and I reveled in every moment of it, savoring it rolling through me and infusing me.

The muted glow from the pot lights I’d installed in the cave walls gave off a soothing effect that assisted with my focus. As did the magically-generated music ofBeethoven’s Fifth Symphonyechoing through the space. It energized me, and intensified my hand flourishes of power as I worked my magic with sure, graceful movements.

It was me in my element.

Potions galore lined the shelves I’d fashioned into the rough stone of the dark gray cave walls surrounding the space on all sides. Ancient volumes, as well as more modern takes on magical puzzles and mysteries, were arranged neatly on cabinets over on one side of the space.

Adjacent to that was a wall of levitating spellbooks. Several belonged to me and contained spells I’d created over the years. While others belonged to fallen magic-wielders that I’d managed to acquire through great effort and pains. Thatwas largely because the acquisition of magical knowledge was carefully controlled, especially for Academy students. The last thing that those in power wanted was people getting their hands on advanced, dangerous, and volatile information, like I had. Unfortunately, for them, that was what I did best. Gathering know-how, finding workarounds to obstacles that seemed insurmountable to others, and generally finding alternatives to outright magical prowess.

While I couldn’t match those at the top of the supernatural food chain, like Mia Snow, Cornelius Martel, Jaxon Silver, or Ryker Morgan, through sheer power alone, there were other ways to stand tall against that perceived superiority.

Knowledgewas power. And it was often greatly overlooked.

Except by one person who I’d grown fond of since he’d started teaching here.

Professor Gabriel Morgan.

He wasn’t as powerful as his son, Ryker, but he’d been able to hold his own amongst the greats several times over, all because of his extensive and arguably unmatched knowledge base.

Meeting somebody like him and discovering all that about him and his inspired approach had actually been the catalyst to me stepping up my own quest in that respect since I’d started at Maven Academy.

Because I’d realized that it had been the key to protecting myself and my family, something I’d become rather obsessed with ever since I’d found out the truth about what had befallen my parents years ago when that monstrous Immortal, Draco, had risen.