Zekia opened her eyes and the demons crouched before her feet. She was in their minds again, though unlike before, she was not one with them.

She was not their kin, but their master.

“Sit. Down,” Zekia said.

They cowered reluctantly with the strength of her voice, pressing themselves into the floor.

She had once thought they couldn’t be killed, because magic could not be killed, but she had seen that there were many ways to destroy something—to butcher it beyond compare—and perhaps magic could not be conquered entirely, but she was starting to believe that evil could.

This evil, so tainted in misery, could be killed by a strength of good just as pure. Zekia could do one final act of good, not for forgiveness, because that was not hers to ask for. But because it was the right thing to do. The only thing that would save her family from the monsters she had helped to create.

“This is not what I made you for,” Ashwood said. “This is not what you are supposed to do.”

But he was wrong.

This was what Zekia was made for, what she was always destined to do.

Save her Kin.

Take Malik’s destiny to be a great Liege and do good with it.

Inside of Zekia, her powers rose like a heartbeat, pounding on the surface of her skin.

They wanted to help.

They wanted redemption.

They wanted to be free.

And so, finally, she let them go.

The magic exploded from her and swept over the shadow demons in a blast of glorious yellow light.

Zekia was a sun.

She was the daybreak.

And darkness had no place here.

The demons shook and roared, but it only took moments for them to fade, like the night faded from the sky.

The warmth of her powers stayed with her, just for a moment afterward, and she felt them tinkering with her bones and putting her insides back in place.

Healing her, as a gift for her sacrifice.

And then they disappeared.

Zekia fell to the ground, newly empty.

Newly healed.

Just new.

Her magic was gone and she felt like a weight had been lifted from her. She also felt dizzy and like she might just faint if she closed her eyes, but the lightness in her heart was welcome.

This was her true destiny.

This was what she needed: to be free of all the pain her magic had brought.

To use it for good and to finally free herself.

Zekia had spent too long being scared and letting that fear take over, until she became all the things she never wanted to be.

Zekia closed her eyes.

She was good.

And she would not be scared again.

41

WESLEY

Tavia, Saxony, and even Karam—who just a few minutes before had considered Wesley’s youngest sister their worst enemy—ran to Zekia’s side like she was a precious thing they had to keep from breaking.