Page 12 of Dark Princess Ascending

"When we were kids, we read legends about soul-sucking vampires." She shuddered at the memory. "You were terrified of going to sleep for weeks afterward."

A thoughtful expression crossed his face. "I wonder if those legends were based on people with abilities like yours."

"That doesn't make me feel better." She slumped in her chair. "What if I take too much and kill someone? I call it energy; the ancients might have called it a soul, but the mechanism of stealing it is the same."

Ell-rom regarded her with a serious expressionon his face. "You have to tell Amanda so she can help you figure it out. Your ability is not any worse than mine, and they accepted me despite it. They will accept you, too."

Morelle considered this. It was true—the clan hadn't rejected Ell-rom despite the devastating potential of his power. Instead, they were working to help him understand and control it.

"But your ability is straightforward," she argued. "You don't need to drain anyone to power it. Mine is strange and parasitic."

"Our abilities are complementary. Mine destroys, while yours averts destruction. I'd say that yours is the positive side while mine is the negative."

She shook her head. "There is more. My so-called nullifying power is not based on me blocking someone's paranormal ability. I nullify it by sucking the paranormal energy out of the person, thereby temporarily making them incapable of using their talent."

Ell-rom leaned forward. "So what? You didn't harm anyone. The energy drain was temporary, and yesterday, you used it to save a life. That's not parasitic—that's symbiotic."

She blinked at him. "That actually makes sense, and I definitely prefer to think of it as symbiotic rather than parasitic."

"You are welcome."

This was why she needed to talk to her brother.He could always help her see things from a different perspective.

"What do I do now?" she asked.

"First, you need to tell Brandon. He loves you, and he will be hurt if you tell Amanda before you tell him."

She leaned back. "If I tell anyone, he will be the first to know. But I'm still not sure that I should. What if he starts to fear me?"

Ell-rom shook his head. "Does Brandon even have a special ability?"

A smile tugged on her lips. "Many, but not of the paranormal kind. He can thrall and shroud, like other immortals, but nothing more than that."

"Then he has nothing to fear from you, right?"

She shook her head. "I don't know about that. His shrouding and thralling might be enough, and I might also draw on just any life energy in my vicinity. Even that of humans." Morelle snorted. "For all I know, I could suck the life energy from a field of flowers and see them wilting in front of my eyes. Wouldn't that be something?"

"It would." Ell-rom shuddered. "You really need to test all of that."

6

PETER

Peter leaned against the wall of the international arrivals area, sipping a large iced caffè mocha through a straw, and mentally rehearsing all the things he wanted to tell his mother about Marina. He needed his mother to understand why he was so completely, irrevocably in love with her, but how could he explain that she was his soul mate?

His mother wouldn't accept that explanation. To her, the very idea that a human with no godly heritage could be his destined mate was laughable.

He could tell her about Kaia's research into the secret of immortality and tell her that there was a chance she would find a way to turn Marina immortal while she was still young enough to undergo the transition, but that wouldn't change his mother's attitude either.

She'd already made up her mind that Marina was an opportunist who had ensnared him with great sex.

Well, there was some truth to that. The sex was incredible, but that was just one small part of why he loved Marina. How could he make his mother understand that Marina made him happy? That coming home to her was the highlight of his day and that his heart felt lighter the moment he pulled her into his arms?

Marina wasn't an opportunist who wanted him just because he was an immortal Guardian with a large bank account and a hefty investment portfolio. She just wanted him, Peter, and she proved it each time he walked through the door with an expression that was pure joy.

He'd never made anyone as happy as he made Marina.

The arrivals board showed his mother's flight had landed twenty minutes ago, but she still needed to go through immigration and then collect her suitcases. He'd wanted to get her an American passport so she could skip the line, but she'd refused, saying that it wasn't worth the trouble.