Page 111 of Princess Redeemed

“You taught me pain,” I say, taking a step forward.“Now let me teach you humility.”

His magic shatters against mine.

And he takes a step back.

Not much.But enough.

I smile, even as sweat drips down my spine and my muscles tremble from the strain.“Still think I belong on my knees?”

He doesn’t answer.

Because he knows the truth.

I’m not his stepdaughter anymore.

I’m his damnation.

67

I standtall before the demon king, my heart pounding like a war drum.The look in his eyes is no longer contemptuous or domineering.I’m not sure what it is.Frightened?

No, he’d never let me see that.

Apprehensive?

Maybe.

“Aren’t you going to fight?”I demand.“Isn't that what we’re here for?”A bitter laugh escapes me.“Or was that just another one of your lies?”

His lips curl into a twisted smirk.“You're no better than I am,” he snarls.“You can pretend all you want, but we’re the same.”

Seriously?That’s where he’s going?

A sure way to get me to knock him on his ass.

“No,” I say, the word punctuated with the conviction of someone who finally knows her worth.“We arenotthe same.”

I strike first.

A quick jab to his solar plexus.

He blocks it—barely—but I pivot and drive my heel into his side.

He grunts, stumbles, but recovers fast.

Too fast.

He sweeps his arm, and a blast of dark energy slams into me like a wrecking ball.I fly backward, my spine ricocheting off air held stiff with psychokinesis.It doesn’t hurt as much as it should—I’ve been hit harder—but it knocks the breath from my lungs.

I don’t give him the satisfaction of staying down.

I flip to my feet, teeth clenched, and surge forward.He throws another wave of cold and crushing power.I slice through it with mine, moving like lightning.His eyes flare, and this time, we both move at once.

He’s strong, for sure.Taller than me by nearly a foot, broader, and made of raw fury.His magic hammers at mine, a brutal back-and-forth of invisible forces slamming into one another midair.He’s trying to get inside my head, trying to wrap his power around my mind and squeeze.

No.

Fuck, no.