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Rest was a luxury here, though. It was a luxury back in Midgrave, too. One I could not afford.

Every single day in Midgrave had comprised of fighting. If I wasn’t slaughtering vampyres, I was training with the other Phantoms or being sent out on missions.

I still remember that first mission Lord sent me on.

He almost looked… nervous.

“You’re ready for this,” Lord had said. Of course, I believed him. I spent years fighting every single day.

And winning every single fight.

When I wasn’t training with other Phantoms, I was training with Lord himself. He was the one who had taught me how to wield a blade correctly. He taught me how to hold a weapon in my hand—not too tight, not too loose. He showed me how to escape an opponent much larger than me, how to not panic in the throes of death.

Every single day, Lord had made sure I was ready.

And it all led to this.

If only he had been the one to teach me magic. I was certain Lord would have broken through to me.

He saw me like that. He understood even the deepest parts of me.

My chest ached. I had never been away from Lord for more than a few days, typically when I was sent out on missions.

I felt too far away from him. Too distant.

I closed my eyes and thought of his voice—commanding and violent—echoing off the stone walls of the castle.

I pictured him telling me exactly what those mentors had told me. I pictured him holding Venom, slicing my shirt, and cutting the skin above my elbow.

Letting me bleed.

And then I pictured the land below being infused with the blood, accepting the sacrifice to the archangels.

“Bleed,” Lord would say. “Bleed and live.”

I wasn’t sure what changed, but suddenly, every ounce of my body was electrified with a new energy. It was unlike any rush of adrenaline I had felt before, unlike any thrill.

Static erupted from the tips of my toes to the ends of my fingertips, followed by a deep pull of dark, smokey magic that grew thicker and thicker, swirling and molding the surrounding air.

This was it. This was the energy Headmistress spoke of.

I was finally connected to the magic.

I pictured Lord giving up more and more of my blood for the offering. I slid the tip of Venom from my shoulder down my bicep, cutting more of my shirt, not even flinching as the contact stung.

Warm liquid poured from my arm.

I kept my eyes tightly shut.

Bleed and live.

The light buzzing in my body turned to a full-on roar, and any chill I had felt from the night breeze had morphed into a burning fire that overtook all of my senses.

Magic rushed through me.

I felt it as surely as I had felt anything else before.

Bleed and live.