Page 69 of Gray Dawn

No.I held tight to my convictions, but goddess it hurt.I won’t lean on you again.

We shall see.

As if the surface tension of a bubble had burst, the Hunk retreated, but that wasn’t far enough. I wanted it gone. Not hidden. Not protected. Not plotting its next move.Gone.Out of me. For good.

Welcoming Colby’s power on full blast, I let it surge within me, hot and pure and bright, clearing my senses.

Magic—mymagic—hit me with the force of a runaway train, and I staggered to regain my balance. Power saturated me from my skin down to the bone and deeper still.

From the start, the Hunk had been holding me back. It had tricked me into believing I needed it by weakening me. Then it fed me what it had stolen in the form of a boost it took credit for.

All the times I thought I required its help was a scam. All along, it had been strangling me, convincing me I was weak. It had been in my head, playing off my insecurities. And if I hadn’t been cut off from my magic, if I hadn’t felt the difference as it coursed through me, if Dad hadn’t pried the Hunk’s grip loose, I might have never realized the con job it was running on me until it was too late.

With that realization, as quick as my anger flared, it extinguished.

I don’t need you. Ineverneeded you. Thanks for showing me that.

Lightning charred my veins, igniting tiny fires within me until I coughed ashes, and the world spun in dizzying circles.

From a great distance, Marita rasped, “Rue?”

I opened my mouth, but all that came out was smoke.

Warmth flooded my chest,and a tiny voice kept chanting my name like a prayer.

I was tired. So tired. So very tired.

But I was lighter than I ever had been.

“Her eyelids are twitching.”

“She’s breathing again.”

“I hear her heartbeat.”

A punishingcracklit up the left side of my face, and my eyes sprung open to find Marita leaning over me with her hand cocked. The persistent throbbing in my cheek led me to believe this wasn’t the first time she had tried using tough love to rouse me from…

“What happened?” I worked my jaw and winced from the ache. “How many times did you hit me?”

“The number isn’t as important as the result,” she hedged, “and the result speaks for itself.”

It all came back to me in a rush.

Bjorn. Their injuries. The Hunk.

Gratitude burning in my chest, I flung myself at Marita. “You’re alive.”

“You’realive.” She held on tight. “I wasn’t sure there for a minute.”

What she was saying finally permeated the fog, and ice clinked in my veins. “Colby?”

“Right here.” Her voice came from behind me. “Do you think you can maybe help me?”

Slowly, I levered myself into a seated position and angled myself toward her. “What do you…?”

The scene before me made no sense.

None.