Blood and Starlight Book 17 Chosen and cursed

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The second realm smelled of something between rain and electricity, the specific atmospheric signature of a world where power was not concealed but ambient.

Amara Cole had been told her whole life she was ordinary. She had believed it until the night her hands lit up like a second sun and three vampires hit the pavement.

They were at Ashveil in the aftermath — standing, damaged, Amara and Nova watching it come back to itself.

The power surge lit up every window in the eastern district and three creatures from the second realm turned and fled. She hadn't even been trying yet.

The threat came the way threats in Ashveil always came — fast, ancient, and completely certain she was something to be collected. She wasn't. She never had been.

She moved. The Starfire moved with her — not like a weapon she wielded but like a part of her she'd finally stopped fighting. The first attacker hit the wall. The second unravelled under focused light she shaped mid-motion. The third hesitated.

That was always the mistake. Hesitating in front of Amara Cole.

'She cannot be contained,' one of Malachar's lieutenants reported. Malachar was quiet. 'No,' he said finally. 'She cannot. Which means she must be redirected.' He was wrong about that too.

When it was over she stood in the quiet and counted her people. All breathing. She exhaled.

'Nova — ' Amara started. 'Don't,' Nova said. 'I have eyes. I've always had eyes. The spreadsheet goes back four months.'

Amara's journal: *Zephyr told me something today that cost him to say. I'm not going to waste what it cost.*

Amara Cole had been told her whole life she was ordinary. She had believed it until the night her hands lit up like a second sun and three vampires hit the pavement.

She didn't aim anymore. She simply pointed herself at the problem and the Starfire understood the assignment.

Later, at the window, she thought about how far she had come from not knowing. She knew now. All of it.

She fell asleep against his shoulder at the war table. He didn't move. He read the treaty documents one-handed for two hours so she could sleep.

She walked through Ashveil after — the city doing its complicated thing of being ordinary and extraordinary simultaneously. She loved it for all of it.

'Nova — ' Amara started. 'Don't,' Nova said. 'I have eyes. I've always had eyes. The spreadsheet goes back four months.'

The power surge lit up every window in the eastern district and three creatures from the second realm turned and fled. She hadn't even been trying yet.

Her power reached into all three realms simultaneously — which should not have been possible. The ancient texts had a word for it: Convergence-Born. There had been three in recorded history.

She walked through Ashveil after — the city doing its complicated thing of being ordinary and extraordinary simultaneously. She loved it for all of it.

'Nova — ' Amara started. 'Don't,' Nova said. 'I have eyes. I've always had eyes. The spreadsheet goes back four months.'

Amara's journal: *The hardest part isn't the power. The hardest part is believing I'm worth all of this — the protection, the love, the fighting for. I'm working on it. Getting there.*

Later, at the window, she thought about how far she had come from not knowing. She knew now. All of it.

'You're doing it again,' she said. 'What?' 'Looking at me like that.' 'Like what?' She looked at him sideways. He smiled — the real one, not the careful one. She looked away.

Amara's journal: *The hardest part isn't the power. The hardest part is believing I'm worth all of this — the protection, the love, the fighting for. I'm working on it. Getting there.*