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She moved on to her svadhishthana gate, settled in the depths of her belly. Pulling magic with it always gave her the slight feel of freefall. When she released the magic back over the plant, she could see the color of the petals would be red-orange, like a ripe peach. These two gates were what she usually used when she took in the energy from her feeds.

Further up, just underneath her ribcage, was her manipura gate. She’d never pulled magic with it, so when the magic listened, shock flushed through her.

“What is it?” Alessandro asked from the other side of the plant when she released her position in surprise.

“That was my manipura gate. It’s never engaged in pulling magic!”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Never?”

“No.”

He let out a low hum. His eyes shone, but much like when he’d visited her in her childhood room, she couldn’t tell which color they shifted to.

“How long have you been lining yourself with null charms?”

“Since I was nine.”

“This is a good way to test what you’ve enhanced in that time. Try again.”

She did. It still stunned her.

“Release.”

Rowan poured the magic onto the petals and her breath hitched as the petals began parting.

He grinned at her. “Three out of three. Keep going.”

The anahata gate, sitting at the center of her chest, caused the most change to the plant. It was where she called forth her sword of light. The bud went from the size of a mandarin to the size of a grapefruit.

Between her eyebrows, her ajna gate, like her manipura gate, was new to pulling magic. The action caused goosebumps to erupt along the back of her neck and down her arms.

This was strange. Too strange.

The last gate was her sahasrara. If this one pulled, Rowan was going to scream.

“Is that fear on your eyebrow, princess?”

She narrowed her eyes. “It’s caution. That was six for six. If I pull from sahasrara…” Her words failed her.

He raised an eyebrow. “Youwillpull from your sahasrara. Little elf, you’re Blessed. It’s where the gods can reach you from the Celestial Realms.”

Her breath caught in her throat. Then she let out a scream.

Frustration swelled in her chest.

Years. Years of being ignorant of her potential.

Of her truth.

She clenched her hands and stood. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

He also rose to his feet. “What are you so afraid of?”

“I’m not afraid!” She snarled as she stormed past the threshold of her bedroom door. “I’m pissed.”

The Dragon King appeared in front of her. She didn’t let that stop her. He was in the astral plane. He shouldn’t have been able to interact with the real world. But she slammed against his chest.

She glared up at him from her spot on the floor. “What the fuck!?”