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We go through several more rounds, and he takes me down each time just as easily as the first time. At a certain point, it starts making me mad whenever he pins me. No matter what I’m doing, he still gets to me. Over and over, he pins me down and lectures me about what I did wrong. Dad guides me by pointing out what I should be doing, but nothing seems to make it easier.

I start to doubt my ability to save myself. I can’t access that energy. I can’t defend myself or protect myself against someone who isn’t actually trying to hurt me. But maybe that’s what I’m doing wrong. I’m not treating this as a threat, so I’m not actually trying as hard as I should be. When I make this realization, I take a second to think about what I would actually do if it was Zypher coming after me and not Vash. Once I can visualize a scenario like that, I am quicker to center myself.

Vash attempts to get me down, but I slip away from him. He starts to circle me, but I keep my eyes on him, moving in sync with him. As long as I keep my body facing him, he stays in my line of sight. Every time he has done this, I end up getting distracted, but I channel that knowledge of what it would feel like for Zypher to come after me again.

When Vash suddenly lunges at me, I realize what I’m doing wrong. Vash sat there this morning and listened to me explain my visions. They all know that someone is going to get me. Zypher isgoingto get me. Vash is not looking for me to prevent myself from going down. We all know I’m going to go down, but he wants me to keep fighting. I have to keep fighting, or all of this is for nothing. The five years of abuse and the thirty-six hours of rape that Leli endured will never get avenged if I don’t keep fighting. We don’t get retribution for our trauma. The bad guys win, and I fail to fulfill the prophecy. If I don’t keep fighting, my mother will have died for no reason.

Vash tackles me and gets me pinned with my arms above my head. Before it was not a full restraint, because I wasn’t fighting him. When I started trying to wiggle away, he started fully restraining me.

“Inpulsa,” I mutter. I conjure up every bit of strength that I have so that when the surge of electricity enters him, he is immediately pushed off of me. I roll away and jump up so I can back away. It takes Vash a second to recover from what I just did, but then he immediately shifts. “Fuck.”

“Barrier, Lilith. Use a barrier. If you are in over your head. Use a barrier,” Dad says.

With my arms extended out from my body with my palms facing out, I put up a barrier just in time for Vash to smash into the side of it. He continues to try to get through the barrier, seeing if I have a strong enough hold on it.

“What do you do now?” Dad asks.

“I call for help,” I say, watching Vash.

“You call for help. You mind link with your mates, and you get help,” Dad says with a smile as he nods. He signals to Vash that he can shift back. I don’t let the barrier down until Vash smiles and turns to hug Leli.

“I’m proud of you,” Dad says, hugging me.

“Yeah. Only took me all fucking day,” I grumble.

“It takes a lot of strength to hold a barrier to keep a dragon out, Lilith. Be proud of being able to do that after one day,” he says.

“Ready?” Daemon asks from behind me. I turn and hug him, burying my face in his chest. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“I can’t do this,” I say quietly.

“Do what?” he asks, pulling away to cup my face.

“Any of this. Lead. Fight. All I’m going to do is get people hurt because I feel damn near useless,” I say honestly. “Why the universe would choose the most incompetent witch to save the world, I will never know.”

“You are learning, Lilith. You are far more advanced than anyone who has been training for as long as you have. No one catches on immediately, but you are catching on so damn quick. Your father showed you that barrier spell twice. You get that, don’t you? You just kept a full-grown dragon shifter away from you with a spell that you were taught twice.”

“I practiced that shit almost all day, Daemon. That’s not just twice. It’s dozens of failed attempts.”

“But you still did it, Lilith.Thatis what matters. If all else fails, electrocute the shit out of someone and put up a barrier.”

“And if I can’t speak? What do I do then? I don’t know how to do that spell without saying the word.”

“Then you move on to something else,” Daemon says. I try to pull away from him, but he holds onto my face tighter. “If Zypher has you pinned on the ground, you don’t stop fighting. I don’t care if he is buried inside of you; you fight. I don’t care how many tears you cry in the process, but you never stop fucking fighting. Physically or mentally doesn’t matter. Just fight. Do you understand? You are the High Witch; theQueenof Grimitara, and the mate of the Three Kings. You donotgo down without giving it everything you’ve got.”

“Okay,” I smile.

“Now, are you ready?” he asks again.

“Yes,” I say.

“Go on,” Daemon says before kissing me.

I go back to where I was, and Daemon, Kael, and Callum stand back from me. When they shift, everyone gets quiet. “Fuck,” I sigh.

They immediately separate, so I can’t keep my eyes on all of them. They fall into a predictable pattern, though. Daemon remains in front of me while Kael ends up behind me. Callum is off to one side, leaving my left side open. I know that the second I take my eyes off of Daemon, he will lunge. In all reality, he could get me from where I’m at right now.

I can hear Kael moving around behind me while I try to keep my eye on Daemon and Kael out of the corner of my eye. Anytime he shifts, so do I. They are all massive, so I know that this won’t last long. One of them is going to lunge at me. When one of them does, they all will. I don’t stand a chance if all of them come at me at once. There’s no way I could get away.