Chapter 51: Emilia’s Descent

His fingers tightened a grip around my wrist. "Still you don't realize you have a choice?" His tone turned softer, near-as-broken. "You don't. You are what you are, Emilia. No matter how much you struggle against it."

I was resolute. "I won't be controlled by you."

"You think I have to?" He let out a breathless laugh. "This isn't my doing. This is you. This power—it's already inside you. You're just too afraid to use it."

I clenched my teeth "You want me to think I'm like you. That I'm tainted but I'm not"

His face darkened and his fingers pressed deeper into my wrist shooting me a burst of black energy. I gasped and my knees shook.

It was smothering like an open storm churning within me and ready to pull me down.

And then—I heard something.

A whisper.

Not his.

Mine.

A voice from deep inside me, struggling up.

"Stop fighting."

I stood still, my breathing in jerky gasps.

"You know the truth."