The bench was cold under my legs as I sat in the back yard under the light of the bulb over the door. It had been almost twenty-four hours since the power transfer was completed and while I'd shared the family magic with Mom before, I didn't realize until I took on my half she'd only shouldered me with a portion of it in the past.
I flinched from the memory of standing in the Council chamber, all those eyes watching and weighing me, as the power flowed out of Mom, happily through Gram and into me.
One question was finally answered without a doubt as the surging Council power, the most I'd ever seen, burst into life the moment Mom was free. Stripped from Batsheva Moromond in that moment, it returned to the chamber in search of a new host.
I wasn't the only one who gasped as sheets of red fire fought it, a battle waging overhead as Batsheva's blood magic fought to contain and control it.