CADENCE HAS ALWAYS been stronger than me.
I’ve seen the memories—both hers and Ash’s. She was a gifted child; clever, athletic, and powerful in the ways of her people on top of it all. When I came onto the scene, even as a disembodied ghost she retained that natural dominance; that belief that she always knew best and I should just fall in line.
So I don’t know why I’m surprised that she can shred the barrier faster than I can build it back up. Even worn ragged, she’s faster, more powerful. And she has the natural advantage in this, too: it takes far less effort to destroy than to heal.
She reaches in and tears apart the scraps of life trapped in the barrier by the handful. I have to go one by one, fishing with painstaking care for those fragile, corroded, gossamer-thin strands of indiv
