Chapter 1

The poison burned through me.

Damien, my husband, watched, his face a mask of cold satisfaction.

"It's for the best, Elara," he said, his voice smooth.

"Our Lumin community needs strength, not your Tier 1 weakness."

My own son, Kaelen, stood beside him.

Kaelen, with his brilliant Tier 7 Aura, a power I was so proud of.

He looked at me with contempt.

"Mother, your weakness is a stain on the Thorne name," Kaelen said.

He didn't even flinch as he helped Damien.

They were extracting my Lumin Core.

The pain was immense, a tearing of soul and body.

I had loved Damien. I had adored Kaelen.

For them, I was just an obstacle.

Damien wanted my cousin, Selena Vance.

Selena, who everyone whispered was a rising Tier 6 Aura, a Lumina Scion.

He believed she would give him stronger children.

Children stronger than Kaelen, apparently.

My vision blurred.

The last thing I saw was Damien reaching for Selena, who smirked from the doorway.

My sacrifice, my love, it meant nothing.

Only power mattered in our hidden enclave in New England.

And I, Elara Vance, was deemed powerless.

Then, darkness.