Shadow's Claim

But wasn't this folly also flanked with those trees?

Where Vrekeners were wont to perch.

She looked at the closest tree, a massive wooden tower looming beside her. Next to it, she felt as tiny as an ant. As powerless as one.

Her breaths began to shallow as her gaze followed the trunk up and up-until it disappeared into the ghostly fog above. That oh-so-familiar seed of anxiety grew.

There could be a colony of Vrekeners up there, and she'd never see them.

But they could see her. . . .

Trehan saw the exact moment panic quickened inside her. Her body shot still even as her heart began to race.

"Easy, love." He was at her side in an instant, hands covering her shoulders.

Her eyes were wide and locked on a nearby tree, her breaths hitching.

"Look at me, Bett. Look at me!" He cupped her paling cheeks, making her face him. "Breathe. Inhale, exhale."

She squeezed her eyes shut, gripping his shoulders, digging her nails into the muscle. "I'm supposed to take breathing advice . . . from someone who didn't use his lungs . . . for centuries?"

"Nothing can ever touch you when you're with me," he said in a comforting tone, placing his palms over her back. She seemed so frail as she gasped for air, her shoulder blades so fragile beneath his callused palms. My delicate little Bride. His hands felt too large and rough against her, but when he rubbed her back, it seemed to soothe her.

"I-I want to return to my spire." Finally she opened her eyes.

He gazed down at her, studying her expression. She's trying to get control. He could wrap her in mist, but he didn't believe she needed it. She appeared to be tamping down the worst of her panic. "I don't think that's what you want me to do."

"Why on earth not?" Her voice was shrill, even as her breaths were steadying.

"You're reining this back in. You're beating it."

"I can beat it-back in my rooms!"

"Those Vrekeners stole more than your ability, they stole your enjoyment of this place. You can reclaim it tonight."

Her heart sped up again. "This is some kind of test? Some kind of catharsis? You'll help me past my fear? No, thanks! I don't have to do this now. One day I'll get my power back, and then I'll be cured."

"You're more than just power."

"So says the male that has so much of it!" She fretted her bottom lip. "Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do. I-I don't want to be like this-cowards don't want to be cowards. But I also never wanted to be the type of female who needs a male to be strong."

"Fitting. Because I never wanted to be the type of vampire who can think of nothing but his Bride. In any case, you don't need me to be strong. You simply need me here for this first step-which is that way." He pointed to the three stairs leading out of the folly into the glade.

"What can possibly make you think I'm capable of this? Why do you have so much faith in me?"

"I'd ask you why you have so little," he said. "Bett, you're teaching me how to see the world; the least I can do is help you see yourself. I've delved far into your mind. Deep down you know you're remarkably intelligent; you've considered that your talents are unequaled; you suspect that I find you the most exquisite creature ever fashioned. You are; they are; I do."

Before she could reply, Trehan said simply, "Greatness resides in you. Power or not, you can become empowered."

The vampire's words were like a bell pinging in her brain, reminding her of Morgana's cryptic comment: "The greatest thing about having power is the mere having of power. Use the latter well, and you'll never have to use the former."

Bettina had figured that her godmother was advising, "Fake it till you make it." Or "Perception is reality."

All at once, the real meaning clicked. Power is where you find it, where you seize it, how you wield it.

Bettina finally understood. As Daciano pointed out, the Vrekeners had robbed her of this folly; she could steal it back from them.

She might not be able to get her ability back, but she could still be empowered.

It's where you seize it!

This was a fantastic revelation. . . . But I'm still not going out into that glade.

She backed away from Daciano, away from his big, warm hands. "Greatness? Are you joking? I can't do this. Vrekeners could be teeming in the trees, and I would never see them." Until it was too late.

"They could very well be."

"Wh-what was that?" Chills raced over her.

With a confident nod, he said, "There could be twenty or thirty of them. Perhaps more."

"What?"

"It's possible that a dozen more have landed since we've been discussing this."

"Why are you telling me this?" she cried.

"Because you're still going to walk out there."

"The hell I am!"

"If I told you none were here, would you believe me?"

How to explain this? "I would believe you. But my mind wouldn't . . . it wouldn't register it."

"Then accept that they are here. Now, what do you think would happen if our foes lie in wait?"

"They'll attack!"

"And then?" His voice went lower, silky with menace. "Come, Bettina, you know what comes next."

"You'd fight them?"

"I would do to them-what I did to the four." He leaned his shoulder against a carved basilisk column; at that moment he looked far more terrifying than any dragon. "You'll have a ring of bodies around you, more heads than you could ever fit in a sack. I'll let you pick which Vrekener to spare-for torture."