Page 162 of Dhampira

“You’re a dhampir! Lilawen’s ward is gone and your magic is unlocked. You can take my vor without killing me. So take it, Corinthe! I give it freely.”

I gasped, understanding flaring like a torch. He was offering me his vor. Testing whether I could pull power from a willing vampire the way I’d ripped it from the resistant, dying witch.

“Do you think it’ll be different?” I asked.

Impatience flashed in his eyes. “I think we need to find out. Now drink!”

With the battle raging around us, I plunged my fangs into his neck.

He jerked and then tightened his grip on my arm. The scent of leather and spices rushed into my lungs. His blood rushed down my throat. The last vor he’d stolen sparkled within it like a jewel.

Olnava.

This time, I didn’t have to plunge to the edge of death. The vor bobbed within reach, the magic mine for the taking. Because he offered it. I didn’t have to steal. I didn’t have to kill.

I took it.

OLNAVA. The power to stun rushed through me, settling into my skin like it had always been there. Easy. Too easy. It was stronger than sezat, its edges sharper and clearer in my mind. No memories muddled it. The vor was pure magic, and it was mine.

Deep in my mind, the monster smiled. When I pulled my fangs from Lorcan’s neck, his dark eyes held a hint of awe.

And fear.

It cleared before I could be certain I’d seen it, and he stepped out of my way.

“Uci!” Rasimir cried, his voice closer this time. A witch hit the ground. Wasted power. In his haste to reach me, my father had grown sloppy.

Our eyes locked.

I ran forward.

“Uci!” he bellowed.

“Olnava!” I shouted at the same time.

His vor missed. Mine cracked against the air in front of him, blue light flaring. A gasp went up, and people shielded their eyes. For a heartbeat, the air in front of Rasimir shimmered. My vor licked over it, tongues of blue light hungry and seeking. Then his ward shattered, and my vor slammed into him.

The fighting in the courtyard stopped.

Rasimir went rigid, his eyes wide with shock as he crashed to the ground. His knights fell back, their expressions mirroring his. But he was frozen, and they were not. Several turned and ran, their cloaks fluttering behind them. The rest didn’t intervene as Vander rushed forward and dropped a ring of feygeld around Rasimir’s body.

“Zid,” Vander said.

A blue circle snapped into place.

I crossed the courtyard and stood over Rasimir. “You can’t see your prison. That’s more mercy than you showed the people you tortured beneath this castle.”

My father stared up at me, his eyes forced wide by the vor.

“You would have enslaved me,” I said. “If you had treated me with even an ounce of kindness, I would have tried to see the good in you. My mother saw it, so I have to believe it was real. But you don’t understand what it means to love. When you truly love someone, you love them more than yourself.”

Rasimir listened because he had no choice. Like the statues in the courtyard, he was locked inside himself.

“I found love in spite of you,” I said. “I found it in double measure. I want you to know that.”

He stared. One of his fingers twitched. The vor was wearing off. Then again, he was powerful. It was how he’d conquered an entire realm.

I could never let myself forget it. If I did, I might end up repeating his mistakes. My mother had sacrificed everything to make sure I never let the lust for power make me forget that love was more important than any crown.