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“It’s never enough though, is it?” Dagian asked, appearing in her line of vision as he stood over her. His head cocked to the side. “You can try and try, but you’ll never be enough. Maybe it’s best you remain a Source. Then at leastsomeonecan control that power in your blood.”

“I just need more time,” she gasped again, pushing onto her hands and knees.

Dagian lowered to a crouch beside her, his voice going low. “You know when you become the most desperate? When I attack those you think care about you.”

“They do care about me,” she hissed, light flickering in her hands.

“Some do. Some don’t. How can you tell the difference? How can you tell who is using you and who is trying to save you?”

“Save me? From what?”

The smile Dagian gave her was chilling when he leaned in closer to whisper in her ear, “Yourself.”

Then she was screaming as his power coiled around her, biting into her skin, clawing at her.

“I need to see your power, Tessalyn,” Dagian was saying, more of his magic flooding through her.

“Stop!” she cried. “Please!”

There was no one here to save her. No one was coming. Dex wouldn’t do anything. Theoncouldn’tdo anything. Rordan wanted this. It was why she was here. To see the extent of her abilities.

“Tessa! Let your power fight back! You can’t do it yourself!” Dex was yelling at her, but it was Luka’s voice echoing in her mind.

Start fighting for yourself.

Fight back.

But she didn’t know how.

No one had taught her how to fight back. She’d only been taught to submit. To be less than she was. To shove all that she was down—all of her light into the dark—so that someone else could shine.

She’d only been told she wasn’t enough.

Too wild.

Too impulsive.

Too much of a hassle.

Uncontrollable.

So she became what was expected of her, and she let her power out.

All of it.

And this wasn’t like in the training chambers when she’d submitted to her power, letting it take what it wanted. This was her calling on her magic, dragging it up from the depths of her being. Every wild and untamed piece of her.

This washerwhispering to her power and telling it to take what she was owed.

She felt Dagian’s magic strike out at her again, but it slammed into a wall of her own power. Lifting her head, Dagian’s face paled as she smiled at him. She was still on her knees, and she lifted a hand before slamming it to the ground. Lightning skittered out from her palm, bouncing along the floor, a fissure appearing. Light flared before golden mist started floating up.

“Father?” Dagian called, unease in his voice as he took a step back from her, then another.

She pushed to her feet, that crack widening as she kicked off the shoes she’d been wearing, the stone floor cool beneath her bare feet. With another thought, light was arching from her palm. It didn’t slam into Dagian though. It wound around him before dragging him forward, his feet scrambling for purchase while he cried out in dismay.

When he was directly in front of her, she tilted her head, studying him. Her voice held that eerie ring to it when she said, “Is this what you wanted to see, Dagian?”

“Yes,” he said, straining against the hold of her power.