Chapter 48

• I walked back to my chamber, the rush of power still coursing through my veins. It curled the corners of my lips upward and left me smiling for the rest of the day. I didn’t fully understand how the energy inside me worked, but I’d tasted it and now, I craved more.
• What made it even better was hearing Gosto say he was proud of me. That warmth lingered in my chest, effervescent and unfamiliar. No one apart from my parents had ever said they were proud of me. I grew up feeling like a disappointment, especially during my years in the Mortal Realm. Strength and confidence were foreign things, and yet now, I wanted to be wrapped in them every single day.
• I dropped my blood-soaked clothes into the basket and stepped into the shower. Crimson water spiraled around the drain as I scrubbed the blood from my skin. I had taken a life and I felt nothing. No remorse. No guilt. Was something wrong with me? Or was this just the beginning of something I couldn’t undo? Maybe the transformation inside me wasn’t limited to the physical maybe it was warping how I thought, too.