The room exploded again, but this time, I was the one doing the exploding. My magic lashed out, wild and uncontrolled, tearing through the stone, through the rubble, through Evelyn's golden shield like it was made of paper.
She fell back, her eyes wide, her scales cracking. "Impossible. Your qi was suppressed—"
"You suppressed it." I stepped toward her, the knife still in my hand, my power still roaring through my veins. "With my father's wards. With the egg's magic. With fifty years of planning and patience and waiting. But you forgot something, Evelyn."
"What?"
"I'm an Agro."
I raised the knife and brought it down. Not on her. On the floor between us.
The blade sank into the stone like butter, and the magic that erupted from it was everything. The wards that had been suppressing my qi shattered. The bonds that had been holding my father's chair dissolved. The walls that had been containing the room crumbled.
