LILY'S POV
Lily opened her eyes and Adrian was staring at her.
He was sitting at the edge of the bed watching her sleep with those burning amber eyes. Just watching. Not moving. Not saying anything. Just staring at her like she was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.
Lily's breath caught.
She'd forgotten for just a second that she wasn't alone. Forgotten that the man beside her was a demon who'd been imprisoned for eight hundred years. Then she remembered and her body went rigid with panic.
"How long have you been watching me?" she asked. Her voice came out rough from sleep.
"A few hours," Adrian said like that was normal. Like it was perfectly reasonable to spend hours staring at someone while they slept. "I don't sleep the way you do. My mind doesn't shut down like that."
Lily sat up slowly, pulling the blanket with her. She was still fully clothed which was something at least.
Adrian stood and walked to the small window. The sun was rising outside. The forest looked different in daylight. Less terrifying but also more real.
"We need to talk," Adrian said without turning around.
"About what?" Lily asked even though she already knew. Everything from last night was crashing back. The contract. The signature in blood. The mark on her wrist that proved it was all real.
Adrian turned to face her and his expression was serious in a way it hadn't been before.
"About your magic," he said simply.
Lily's stomach dropped. "I don't have magic. I was tested when I was younger. They said I had no magical ability."
"They lied," Adrian said and there was something in his voice that sounded almost angry. "I can feel it. It's humming under your skin like a second heartbeat. Powerful magic. Old magic. The kind that should have been trained since childhood."
Lily got out of bed and put distance between them. This didn't make sense. If she had magic, someone would have told her. Her parents would have trained her like they trained other noble children with abilities.
Unless.
Unless they didn't want her to have magic.
"That's impossible," Lily said but her voice wavered.
Adrian walked toward her and she didn't back away this time. He reached out and grabbed her wrist. Not gently. He held her arm steady and pushed up her sleeve.
The contract mark was there. Black thorns twisted together like a brand.
But underneath the mark, she could see something else. Faint silver lines running through her skin like veins made of light. They pulsed softly with each heartbeat.
"That's your magic," Adrian said quietly. "It's been trapped. Suppressed by someone with power and intention. Someone who wanted to keep you weak."
Lily stared at the silver lines under her skin like they belonged to a stranger.
"Who would do that?" she whispered even though she already knew the answer.
"Your family," Adrian said. "Specifically, whoever was raising you when you were young enough to suppress completely. Magic suppression is dark work. It takes power and knowledge. Only someone who cared deeply would bother."
The words hit Lily like a physical blow.
Her parents hadn't just neglected her. They hadn't just favored Rose. They'd deliberately crippled her. They'd taken her magic and locked it away so she could never be as powerful as her sister.
So Rose would always be better.
So Lily would always be less.
"Why?" Lily breathed. "Why would they do that?"
Adrian released her wrist but his eyes stayed locked on hers. "I don't know. But I know how to undo it. And I know how to teach you to use what comes back."
Lily sat down heavily on the bed. Her hands were shaking. Eight hundred years of being one person. Eight hundred years of believing she was weak and powerless and meant to be in the background. It had all been a lie. A deliberate, calculated lie from the people who were supposed to love her.
Adrian pulled her to her feet before she could spiral further.
"Stop," he commanded and his voice snapped her back to focus. "Feel sorry for yourself later. Right now we work. You want revenge? Then you need power. Real power. And you have magic sleeping inside you that's stronger than your sister's will ever be."
Lily wiped her eyes roughly. "I don't know how to use magic. I've never had magic."
"You've always had magic," Adrian corrected. "You just didn't know it. That's not the same thing. The magic is there. It's been there your entire life. You're just going to wake it up."
He walked to the small open space in the cottage and gestured for her to follow. Lily stood on shaking legs and moved to stand in front of him.
"Magic isn't complicated," Adrian said. "It's not something you learn like reading or writing. It's something you feel. It's part of you. It's your will made physical."
He held out his hand and fire appeared in his palm. Real flames dancing and alive and absolutely impossible.
"Show me," he commanded. "Show me your fire."
Lily stared at the flames in his hand then looked at her own empty palm.
"I can't," she said. "I don't know how."
Adrian's eyes narrowed. "You can. You already have magic inside you. You're just afraid."
"I'm not afraid," Lily started to say but it was a lie and they both knew it.
Adrian stepped closer and his shadows wrapped around her like a cage. Not threatening exactly but not optional either.
"Close your eyes," he commanded.
Lily closed them.
"Feel inside yourself," Adrian continued. "Past the fear. Past the doubt. Past everything your family taught you about being weak. Feel for the magic. Feel for the part of you that's wild and powerful and absolutely uncontrolled."
Lily tried. She really tried. She looked deep inside herself for something magical but all she found was anger. Pain. Betrayal.
Adrian's voice came again, softer now but with an edge underneath. "Don't think. Feel. What do you want more than anything right now?"
"Revenge," Lily whispered.
"Then show me," Adrian said. "Summon fire. Burn with the rage you've been holding inside. Let me see the power you've been hiding from yourself."
Lily opened her eyes and held out her palm like Adrian had done.
She focused on her anger. On the betrayal. On five years of loving someone who didn't deserve her love. On her sister's cruel smile. On her father's rejection. On her mother's silence.
The anger burned inside her.
Her palm stayed empty.
Lily felt tears of frustration building. "I can't do this."
Adrian reached out and tilted her chin up with one finger so she had to look at him. His eyes were glowing so bright she had to squint.
"Then I'll make you," he said and there was something almost cruel in his smile.
He snapped his fingers and pain exploded through Lily's body.
It wasn't physical pain exactly. It was something deeper. It felt like her magic being forced awake. Like something inside her that had been sleeping for her entire life was suddenly being shaken and demanded to wake up.
Lily screamed.
And in the center of her palm, a tiny spark of flame appeared.