Page 121 of The Last Syphon

“AHHH! AHHH!” He wailed, his body bucking.

Every projectile within him she could feel. She knew exactly where they were. They were a part of her. They were her magic, and it didn’t matter that they were swimming in blood. Her magic burnt to obey her, to please her, and she wanted to shred this man from the inside out.

She continued to twist.

“STOP! STOP!” he cried out in agony. He clawed at his clothing, ripping them right off his body as he jerked and twisted, trying to get away from the pain. His bare chest was in view and⁠—

There they are.

Moving beneath his skin were the shield arrowheads. She could see them, even from this distance, poking out of him so much that it stretched his skin, as if they were trying to burst out of him.

“Ahhhh! Ahhh! Ah! No! Stop! Please!”

It would have been incredibly painful. Inara was sure of it. The shield arrowheads were as sharp as blades, and they were currently inside of him, moving with every twist of her hands, mincing his internal organs into mush.

Kill him. Do it. Make it hurt.

She didn’t need convincing.

Inara always tried to do what was right…Well, most of the time. She didn’t hurt people unless they tried to hurt her first. And this man had just threatened everything she knew and loved.

There was no realm where she allowed him to live.

With a jerk, she ripped her hands apart. The shield arrowheads burst out of his body from four different points. He thumped to the ground. The arrowheads hovered in the air, twisting and turning and dripping with blood. Some of the rage ebbed with his death, and she allowed her magic to slip away.

Pure silence followed. Slowly, she turned.

Everyone was staring at her, and not in a good way. Prince Walder was expressionless, as he often was, but the people behind him—the citizens, the Shielders, and even his Elite Guards—were looking at her as if she were some kind of monster. Their expressions ranged from horror to bewilderment to…disgust.

Disgust was the one that hurt the most.

All her life, Inara had been terrified to show her magic—her true magic—because she feared how people would look at her once they found out she was a Syphon. Syphons were portrayed as terrible, evil beings. People who killed without rhyme or reason. Who took from others, draining them of everything they had, leaving only ash behind. It had been written all throughout history as such, after all.

This look everyone was giving her was the one she’d been running from for twenty-seven years, and it wasn’t even her syphon ability that had caused it.

It was just her.

Every cell in her body screamed to flee the room. Flee the heavy weight of their judgemental eyes and get away. Inara wanted to, but she refused to give them the satisfaction. She’d done nothing fucking wrong. That man deserved to die, and if Inara had to do it all over again, she would do it all in the exact same way.

But despite that, she could not shake the feeling that she was a monster. That they all saw her as a monster.

She hated it.

Inara took a deep breath in, straightened her spine, held her head high, and walked out of the room without looking back.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Inara’s feet dangled over the edge of the building as she stared out into the night sky, her thoughts dark and volatile. Lights from the city and dwellings below entranced her, so she poured all her focus into it, trying to banish the horrified, fearful looks she’d received from her mind.

It didn’t work.

The negative emotions filling her up inside continued to worsen, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t shut them out.

All her life, she’d lived with a hope. A dream. That one day, she wouldn’t have to hide anymore. That one day, she would wake up to a realm that accepted her for who she was. Not have to conceal such a big part of herself. That her very existence wasn’t a fucking crime.

Tonight proved that would never happen.

If people looked at her like that now, she didn’t even want to imagine how they’d look at her if they knew the truth. If they knew she possessed the very power they’d all been taught to fear their entire lives.