Daughter of Dusk
Chapter Twenty-four: Pride

Nox peeks his head around the door. Part of me is relieved it isn’t Father, but I can’t ignore the fear pricking my skin at his presence. I stare at him, wide-eyed, forgetting about the life-changing information I just discovered, reverting back to an old version of myself.

For now, get out of this in one piece.

“Nox, please don’t,” I start.

“Don’t what? Don’t tell Father I found you both in his study? He’s going to eat you two alive, you know that, right?”

“Please, just, blame me, this was all my idea. Don’t bring Soren into this.”

“I’ll tell him whatever he needs to know, Mouse,” he says as he comes into the room, before turning to Soren. “What did she tell you? How did she manipulate you into helping her?”

Oh no.

“Don’t call me that. And I didn’t manipulate him. I said leave him out of this.” My tone is short.

Nox glares at me. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Soren holds his ground. “Just as she said. She didn’t tell me anything.”

Nox groans in frustration. “Fine. If you won’t tell me the truth, I’ll replace it myself.”

Find it himself?

Nox concentrates his energy, and my heart concaves into my chest as Soren grasps the sides of his head, doubling over in pain.

I cover my mouth in horror as my thoughts race in a whirlwind around me. But through it all, the passages I found in the compelling book from before come to the forefront.

Infiltrating someone’s mind with intense pain . . .

My horror transforms into ire and I run up to Nox, pushing his shoulders. “Let him go!”

He ignores me, and in the next moment, everything I found bubbles to the surface, and every emotion I’ve been pushing down for the last seventeen years envelops me in its hold.

I’m not going to be afraid anymore. Not of him, not of anyone.

“I said let him go!”

I send a beam of darkness against his chest and it blows him backwards, out of the study and into the hall.

My anger fades as I look back at Soren, who places his hands on the ground, taking several deep breaths.

My heart aches as I rush up to him, crouching to his level and running a hand through his white-blonde hair. “Soren? God, please tell me you’re okay.”

There’s pain behind the surface of his icy eyes, but he still manages a small smile. “I’m okay. I promise.”

I help him up and we head out of the study, shutting the door behind us. Nox is still on the ground in the hall, but I’m not sure how long that will last for.

We need to act quickly.

I turn to Soren. “I – I have to get out of here. I can’t stay here anymore.”

“Honestly, I don’t think I can either. We can head to my house and figure out a plan from there.”

I nod, and we run down the hall, but we soon come face to face with Father and Melinoe as they come around the corner from the training room, stopping us in our tracks.

“What is the meaning of this?” Father looks between Soren and me. “How did you escape the dungeons?”

I’m about to give an explanation, but Soren stands in front of me before I can get a word in. “I let her out.”

No . . .

Father narrows his eyes at him. “So the two of you have been conspiring against me. You disobeyed a direct order not to intervene with anything to do with Luna. And I will not tolerate insubordination.”

“You had no right to put her down there! Not to mention all the other terrible things you’ve done to her.”

“I will not concern myself with the opinions of some self-righteous boy who is barely eighteen years old.” He sighs. “I should have known you’d be trouble from the start.”

Before Soren can continue the interaction, Nox enters the corner of my eye and approaches Soren before I can react. Nox hovers his hands over Soren’s head, and he collapses in a matter of seconds.

I catch Soren before he can hit the ground, and Nox joins Father and Melinoe as the horror from before pulses through my blood. “What did you do to him?”

“Relax,” Nox sneers. “It’s a sleep technique. He’ll be fine.”

I gently lay Soren’s head on the ground and move him to the side before I stand, narrowing my eyes on Father.

“What has gotten into you?” He says in almost a mocking tone.

I know he’s trying to get under my skin. But I won’t let him. Not anymore.

“You lied to me.” I hiss. “I know what happened with Evangeline. She did want me. You’re the one who had to pry me away from her.” My tears threaten to come back to the surface as the passage in the journal comes rushing back. “You took me away from my own mother because you were afraid I’d fulfill the prophecy as Daughter of Dusk and challenge you!”

Anger swims beneath the surface of his dark eyes before he grits his teeth. “I don’t have time for your remarks. Nox, Melinoe, your assessment will be today. To the death. No holding back. Prove that I’ve trained you well.”

Whatever I was feeling before morphs back into fear, bubbling in my chest as past memories flash across my mind’s eye.

I take a breath, shifting into a solid attack stance, just like Blaire taught me.

Prove them wrong.

Nox and Melinoe rush towards me, and I put up a clear shield around myself. The glassy surface successfully deflects their projectiles, the shadows absorbing into the shield, waving through it like drops of ink in water.

I lower it as Melinoe comes closer, shadows forming in my palms. Nox hangs back, for what purpose, I don’t know, but he looks like he’s preparing his energy for something.

My mind perks up. It’s a trap.

Melinoe creates a shadowy mace in her hands, the translucent weapon flickering like an apparition. It even catches me off-guard for a second as I question its existence, but I know it couldn’t be more real.

I duck as she swings it at me, and I quickly jump backwards toward Nox.

No, this is exactly what she wants to happen. Don’t get any closer to him.

She swings her weapon at me again, and I instinctively put my arms out, watching as the mace . . . stops in its tracks.

That’s new.

Melinoe looks at me wide-eyed as my hands tremble, energy radiating from my fingertips as I keep the weapon in its place. She pushes against whatever force I’m using to hold it, but it doesn’t move.

“What are you doing?” She demands.

“I don’t know.”

“Bullshit. Nox, now!”

Darkness swallows the area where I’m standing, and I quickly move before a series of jagged shadows strike upwards, like the rocks I’d imagine exist at the bottom of a waterfall.

Before I can react to anything else, Nox manages to get a blow against my stomach, knocking me backwards. I resist the urge to fall to the ground, ignoring my shortness of breath as much as I can, pushing aside the shadows of fear that are threatening to infiltrate my mind.

The mace forms in Melinoe’s hands again and Nox readies a chaotic, dark, smoke-like attack in his palms.

As they close in, I ponder my dwindling options and do the only thing I can think of. I concentrate my energy and create an opaque version of the shimmery mist I’ve made before, cloaking our section of the hall in a blanket of darkness. It’s darker than it’s ever been, but I’m not going to fight it.

I quickly move out of the way as Melinoe’s weapon hits the ground with a loud thud, and a frustrated groan comes from Nox. I distance myself from them as fast as I can, taking a moment to catch my breath.

“Luna! What’s going on?” Melinoe shouts. “I can’t see anything!”

As I step back into the mist, I realize . . . I can see through it. Aside from a shimmering veil over everything, my vision isn’t obscured.

The corners of my mouth pull up into a smirk. Perfect.

I tiptoe my way closer to them, deciding to test the limits of my Aether abilities.

How much power do I really have?

I hover my hands together in front of me, building the energy between my fingers, watching as the Shadow condenses together, just as I did back on Kera. When I can’t contain it anymore, I slam both my hands on the ground, sending a shockwave of darkness rippling through the area and blowing them backwards and against the wall with a loud bang. But we’re far enough away from Soren that it doesn’t hit him.

I look to the side at Father, who seems unaffected by the blast. He must have dodged it somehow, but I can’t get his glare out of my head.

Stop it. Focus on this. Not on him.

I stumble to my feet as a wave of nausea rushes through me, but it only lasts for half a second. I wave my hands to get the mist to fully dissolve.

Melinoe remains still on the ground, knocked out. Nox shifts with a groan, but to no avail. Even so, he might regain his strength soon.

I remain frozen, realization hitting me.

I did it. I proved that I’m not just a punching bag for them. I proved that I actually have some strength from my Aether powers, as much as they tried to push it down for so many years.

A surge of something foreign fills me.

Is it . . . pride? Am I proud of what I’ve just done?

Father clears his throat, and I reluctantly turn to him, averting my gaze.

“How long has that boy been helping you?” He demands.

My blood turns to ice, though a simmering anger pricks the back of my mind as I bring my eyes to his. “Leave him out of all this.”

“I saw into his mind,” Nox interjects, getting up. “He’s been helping her since he got here. He got her to Kera, and he helped her break into the study just now. They even kissed.”

My eyes widen at Nox as he joins Father’s side. “You had no right to infiltrate his mind!”

“Is this true?” Father’s voice slices through the tension between Nox and me.

I can’t get around this. But his accusations don’t paralyze me as they did before.

I press my lips together, ignoring the shadows around me as I bring my gaze back to Father. “Yes. It is.”

“So I suppose you know everything you need to know then, don’t you?”

“I know you’re afraid of me.” The words leave me before I can stop them.

He blinks, and I see nervousness in his eyes for the first time in my life. “What reason would I have to be afraid of you? You don’t train your abilities and you’re no more than five feet tall.”

His words don’t read as patronizing. He’s not saying them to me. He’s saying them for himself.

“Maybe not. I am the Daughter of Dusk, but you don’t know the full extent of my Aether abilities. No one does.” I back away from him, moving toward Soren. “But I’m done. I’m not going to be pushed around by you anymore.”

I quickly make my way back over to Soren, shaking him awake.

“Soren . . .please, I need you to wake up. We have to get out of here.”

He shifts and his eyes open just a little before the whistle of something sailing through the air meets my ears, and I catch something silver out of the corner of my eye.

My body tenses and I turn, instinctively raising my hands in defence as I shut my eyes.

And then . . . silence.

I open my eyes and shift backwards with a gasp, the blade of Nox’s infamous knife inches from my nose, lodged in a protective barrier I wasn’t even aware I had created.

Without another thought, I wrap my fingers around the hilt of the blade, admiring it in my hands.

Suddenly, that strange sense of pride fills me again.

I’m the one with the power now.

Melinoe gets up, and I quickly devise a plan in my mind.

Looking back at Nox, I throw a beam of darkness at him. It hits him right in the stomach, pushing him back against the wall and knocking him out.

Melinoe runs at me with chaotic shadows in her palms, and any sense of rationality leaves me.

I create a series of small, pointed arrows around me and send them flying toward her. Several of them hit her, nicking her shoulders and arms.

In the next moment, I dive at her, knocking her to the ground as the back of her head hits the floor.

I raise the knife, ready to end this . . .

When I see the fear in her eyes.

Not a playful fear, not the anger I’ve gotten used to seeing.

She’s terrified.

She’s terrified because of me.

I lose grip on the knife and it clatters to the ground, my hands vibrating, disgust building in my throat.

This isn’t me. This is wrong. This is all wrong.

I won’t lose myself to the darkness.

If I did . . . how would I be any different from Father?

The fear retreats from her eyes as she grimaces and places her hand on her shoulder, blood pooling between her fingers.

I did this. But I can fix this.

I put my hand on top of hers, my fingertips tingling as I lift the dead energy from her wounds, watching as they mend, and her skin pulls itself back together. The rivers of blood dry up, as though nothing ever happened.

She looks at me, confused. “Why would you do that?”

“You’re still my sister.”

She blinks at me several times before her eyes flutter shut, the blow to the back of her head proving to be more powerful than her consciousness.

With one final look at her, I pick up the knife and get up, resisting the urge to just run and never look back. I glance at Soren, who is sitting up now, intently watching the interaction.

My eyes turn to Father, his expression unreadable. The closest thing I can tie it to is shock mixed with his usual calculating persona, but there’s something else there I can’t tie to any combination of emotions.

“You know, for a moment I thought you were strong, like your mother. I can see now I was mistaken.”

His words bounce off me as I shake my head. “If being strong means invoking fear, then I don’t want any part of it.”

I realize I’m still holding the knife as my grip tightens around it. The sensation sends a pulse of nausea through me, but I need to be ready; I don’t know what Father is planning.

I lift my arm, positioning the blade to defend myself.

“And what are you going to do with that, hmm? Are you going to attack me? Take me out?”

I shake my head. “No.”

“Why not? I know you want to. I can see it in your eyes. You want to get back at me for all the years you’ve been here. For everything that’s ever happened.”

His words make my anger simmer, but I manage to keep it under wraps.

Don’t let him manipulate you, Luna. Don’t let him.

I shut my eyes for half a second, taking a breath. “Evangeline wasn’t strong because she invoked fear. She was strong because she touched the lives of everyone around her. Including you.”

He blinks at me, opening his mouth to speak, but unable to make a sound.

Tightening my grip on the blade, I throw it at the wall behind him, the metal lodging between the cracks in the stones.

“That’s the path I choose.”

Without another word, I cover the hall in a shroud of opaque mist once more, helping Soren up and not looking back.