Page 27

Twenty-Two Years Old

Marlena woke to an empty bed… again.

After last night’s conversation with Arlet, she was on edge.

So the second her mother sighed heavily about Ivelle joining them for the meeting this morning, Marlena’s anger rose, and she had nothing left in her to hide it.

“You know, Mother, you once told me that sighing too often was a sign of emotional incompetence.” She and Ivelle took a seat at the end of the table, across from her parents.

“Oh, so you do listen when I speak. Fascinating.” Ryanna rested her hands on top of the table. “Which means you heard me when I told you that you wouldn’t be granted Ivelle as your second in charge.”

Jonan sat quietly, as he usually did when his wife was going rounds with his eldest daughter.

“With all due respect, you don’t get to pick who Marlena’s second is.

Her choice is implemented after she’s sworn in, which means you then have no control over Amora or what happens there.

” Ivelle’s attitude had changed since Marlena promised her what she wanted—power—but the fierceness behind Ivelle’s eyes had always been there…

and now it was clearer than ever. “And you’re the ones who wanted me to learn from Marlena in the first place. ”

Marlena and Ivelle weren’t friends, but they were on mutual ground. Ivelle knew she’d never get anywhere without Marlena paving the way, and Marlena knew it would be easier to have someone around to do her dirty work.

“Ivelle, shut up.” Jonan spoke, finally interjecting in the women’s little spat.

Marlena glared at her father, nails digging into the oak table. “No, we’re not doing that. I am two weeks away from ruling part of our realm, and I can make it very easy or very hard for the both of you.”

Ryanna scoffed at her. “Ruling? We’ve told you this before.

You don’t get full control. We still have an agenda that we plan on keeping up on.

We think it’s just time for a new face in the public eye.

If we got nothing else right with you, at least you’re beautiful…

someone people are willing to follow blindly.

” But we can still call this whole thing off.

If we say we think you’re not fit to run Amora, we can leave it up to a vote again. ”

All you are is a pretty face.

“Shut the fuck up,” Marlena responded to the voice in her head.

When she realized she said the words out loud, she moved on as quickly as she could to distract Ryanna from staring too intently.

If she stared hard enough, would she see through Marlena’s facade?

“How well did that go for you the last time? I think a lot has changed since I was sixteen… I think a lot of people see something else in me that wasn’t there then.

” Her icy gaze held her mother’s. Marlena wasn’t that girl anymore.

I’m worse.

“Is that what Arlet thinks too?” Jonan asked, snatching Marlena’s attention.

For a millisecond, Marlena’s mask fell, but she snapped it back into place as fast as she could. Unfortunately, it seemed her parents caught the slip.

“I caught her leaving the room you stayed in very early this morning, still in the dress she was wearing last night.” Ryanna tilted her head with a knowing sneer.

Marlena saw herself in her mother then, realizing she shared so many of her mannerisms. Oh no.

“And I thought that was a little strange, seeing as though she lives right down the hall and had every opportunity to go to her own room last night.”

Jonan stretched his legs out under the table and put his hands behind his head. “When your mother told me, I questioned some of the help… and it seems you two have been spending a lot of time together.”

“We’ve been friends since we were children. We’ve always spent a lot of time together,” Marlena countered.

“Oh, Marlena. Please. There’s no use in lying to us when it’s so clear we know the truth.” Ryanna had this smile on her lips that made Marlena’s eye twitch—made her want to rip that smug ass look right off her fucking face.

“We have put up with a lot of things when it comes to you.” Jonan sat up straight, his hands clasped on the table in front of him.

He was the picture of ease, with his peppered dark brown hair brushed back in the perfect wind-tossed style he liked to wear it.

His white blouse was unbuttoned a few, bringing attention to his toned chest.

He didn’t look like the type of person he was on the inside.

Rotten.

“But this little thing you’ve got going with Arlet stops now.

We won’t watch you waste your life away with someone who can offer you nothing in return.

You should be holding out for when Bridger gets bored of Vega.

” Jonan leaned back in his chair again, relaxing like he’d already won the argument before it even started.

“We’re looking out for you. You should be grateful. ”

Talking about Vega was one thing, but their snarky attitudes were what made Marlena lose whatever patience she had left—which wasn’t much. “Grateful?” Marlena spat, her chair scooting back as she stood. “You’re trying to take yet another thing from me!”

Ryanna let out another long, drawn-out sigh. “Must you be so dramatic?”

“You think this is me being dramatic?” Marlena asked, her voice rising as she pointed at herself.

“My whole life you’ve been taking from me.

You took my childhood, pressing me to be ready for the Curia.

Then you tell people I’m not powerful enough and try to snatch not one, but two seats right out from underneath me after abusing me for years. ”

Jonan had begun to turn red, but Ryanna’s anger spiked quicker. She jumped to her feet, leaning across the table at Marlena. “We didn’t abuse you, Marlena. Don’t you dare go around spreading lies.”

Marlena’s jaw dropped, completely unhinged from the shock.

“You’re fucking kidding me, right? You locked me in a room with no food and barely enough water to survive when I was nine!

You caged me like a feral fucking animal and made me use the bathroom in a corner.

You took every opportunity you had to remind me that I wasn’t good enough, that I would never be good enough!

And now you want to take the one person who’s shown me that I’m worth loving?

After everything you’ve done, you’re willing to take more? ”

Ryanna rolled her eyes, reeling with annoyance like Marlena was throwing a temper tantrum. “Get a grip! We loved you. Everything we did to you, for you, was out of love.”

“You never loved me!” Marlena screeched, her breathing ragged. “You’ve never loved me!” She slammed her flat palms against the top of the desk, the sound of her rage echoing through the room.

Before Marlena saw it coming, her mother’s palm connected with her cheek. “Don’t you say that.” Ryanna hit Marlena so hard, her head snapped to the side and her ears rang.

Marlena cupped her face and rubbed until the sting wasn’t as noticeable. The voice in her head, the one that was starting to sound a little too much like herself, roared to life. Always the punching bag. When is enough, enough?

Enough was now.

Marlena turned her head back to her mother, and a gust of wind swept Ryanna off her feet. The action took her back to the last time Marlena’s mother swung on her. In this exact room…

With a swiftness not even Marlena knew she possessed, she caught her mother by the throat in midair before her feet made it back to the ground.

Ryanna hung suspended over her desk; Marlena’s control of the wind assisted in keeping her mother dangling above.

Jonan jumped to his feet, making an attempt to throw himself over the desk at Marlena while Ivelle scampered backward. He never made it to his daughter. A stronger gust of wind split through Marlena’s fingers, sending a desk flying. It took Jonan off his feet and pinned him down.

Marlena stared into her mother’s petrified eyes, squeezing on the sides of her neck until she started to turn purple.

She’d warned her not to touch her again.

Marlena pushed her cloak of invisibility over them both. She took a step back and slammed her mother down on the table like a human centerpiece.

The two of them couldn’t be seen, and the wind circling the room covered enough of the noise that Jonan couldn’t pinpoint their exact location once he unpinned himself from under the overturned desk.

Marlena leaned down, close to Ryanna’s ear, and loosened her grip so her mother could draw in a single, shallow breath.

Marlena kept enough distance in between them to keep her eyes locked on her mother’s.

“That’s the last time you ever lay a hand on me.

I’m going to make you regret all of it. Him too. ”

Marlena dropped the blanket of invisibility and let her mother go before backing up a few steps.

Her father spun in circles until his eyes landed on his wife.

Jonan dropped to his knees when he got to her, hands clutching Ryanna’s cheeks while she heaved heavy breaths.

Her neck was already bruising but would heal quickly enough with the ichor running through her veins.

Marlena only turned her back when her parents both set their stares on her, their faces mauled with a mixture of fear and fascination.

She didn’t have to make sure Ivelle was following her because she was already opening the door for Marlena. With her head held higher than ever before, Marlena stormed out of the meeting room.

A guard heard the commotion and barreled down the hall at her. “Hey!” he called out, reaching for Marlena’s arm.

No one will ever touch me without my permission again. Marlena spun around, catching him by surprise, and took him down without touching him.

He was a large man, and he didn’t fall softly. When his head banged against the floor and the crack of his skull rang down the hall, Marlena realized just who this guard was.

The guard from Dimico House. The one from nearly four years ago who’d refused to give her the respect she commanded. What an unlucky time and place to be for him…

A slow and eerie smile crept across Marlena’s lips when the guard’s vision cleared and he, too, recognized the woman standing over him.

She wasn’t the same young girl anymore.

Air wielders could always feel the air around them. When their powers came to be, it could be hard to ignore what was once weightless. The strongest could feel the air inside objects… jars, water, anything with oxygen .

The air entering and exiting the guard’s lungs was palpable to Marlena, taking up space in the room when she focused on his panicked breaths. He scooted back, trying to put space in between them—but every move he made away from her, Marlena took two steps forward.

This man couldn’t run from his past.

He could get up and flee, and Marlena would still be able to feel his lungs contracting. She grabbed for the power within, snatching on to his air with a gentle first tug, watching as the guard gasped for the breath leaving his lungs.

One long draw of her power, and Marlena drained his lungs of all oxygen. And it wasn’t even hard . She stepped over him, lost inside herself while watching this man claw at his throat like it might help.

He was at her mercy… and Marlena wasn’t letting go.

It was easy. So easy. To reach inside someone’s lungs and cut off their air supply. Marlena had always wondered how simple it would be, but she’d never expected it was as effortless as taking a breath of her own.

She had always been too scared to try.

But not anymore. I can’t be scared anymore.

Marlena was done being scared. Where had that gotten her?

The man’s face started to turn blue, and his movements were becoming more erratic by the second. She imagined him begging for his life if he could.

But he can’t because you now have his life in your hands, the voice inside said. Her voice. My voice.

“Marlena!” The scream was followed by a soft touch on her lower arm. So featherlight. So soft. So at odds with the fear distorting the usually ariose cadence.

It snapped her back into reality. Marlena let go of the air, and the guard inhaled a sharp, ragged breath, followed by gasps and coughs.

He was alive… but he had been so close to death.

Arlet stood beside her, both hands now on her arm with a bewildered look on her face. Her eyes were wide, and her chest rose rapidly with sharp, nervous breaths.

No one said anything.

Marlena looked around the room, taking in all the faces who’d witnessed her outburst. There was a mixture of shock, fear, and pain.

Even Ivelle stared like she hadn’t known this version of Marlena had been hiding beneath her skin.

She’d been there all along… waiting.

Arlet’s fingers felt like they were searing the skin from her bones. Marlena snatched her arm away, looking her dead in the eyes. “Do not touch me.”

The look on Arlet’s face should have made her stop. The hurt running rampant across her features couldn’t calm the piercing cold rage burning through Marlena’s body.

No one will stand in my way of getting the revenge I deserve.