I couldn’t realy think or feel anything, except that I had been ripped in two. It felt as if Oren had torn my heart from my chest, and I had never felt such consuming pain or anger as I did then.

Blackness surged through me with an intense heat. I didn’t even realy know what was happening around me. Everything felt like a hazy blur.

Then I saw Oren, squinting and touching his own head, and I remembered.

I could do something with my mind when I was frightened or angry. I’d done it to Tove when he tried to wake me, and I’d even done it on a smaler scale when Elora had been torturing Loki.

That act – that intense fear or anger – unlocked a power inside me. I did something to people inside their heads, causing great agony. It usualy only lasted a few seconds, but I had never been as pissed off before.

As soon as I realized what I was doing, I harnessed it and directed it toward Oren. At first, he looked confused and simply started backing up. He kept squinting and tilting his head, as if he were staring at a very bright light.

In the back of my mind, I knew my body should hurt, but I felt nothing. I walked toward Oren, and he began to hold his head. He fel to his knees. He was moaning and begging but I couldn’t understand anything he was saying.

Both Kyra and the other Vittra were curled up on the ground, and Kyra was actualy sobbing. I went over to Loki, refusing to let myself actualy see him, to realy believe he was dead, and I puled the sword from his chest.

I walked over to where my father was slumped on his knees, bent forward. His hands were clamped to his ears. He was muttering at first, but when I raised the sword over my head, I heard him begin to shout.

“Make it stop!” Oren yeled. “Please! Make the pain stop!”

“I’l put you out of your misery,” I said, and I swung the sword down, slicing through his neck.

I turned away so I didn’t have to see it, but I heard his head fal to the ground.

I stood there, stil holding the sword, and looked around the room. The haze had faded away, and pain returned to my body. My body screamed in agony, and my legs threatened to give out underneath me. Kyra and the other Vittra had stopped writhing and they both sat up.

“Go,” I said, struggling to catch my breath. “Tel them the King is dead.”

Kyra looked at Oren’s corpse with widened eyes, and she didn’t question my orders. She and the other Vittra scrambled to their feet and ran out of the room, leaving me alone with Loki.