Romance: The Beauty Queen Chapter 4

connection to the Lumina flared around them, a calming silver aura trying to buffer the onslaught.

Gasping, Ella clung to him, burying her face against his worn leather jacket. His presence was a beacon in the psychic storm. She focused on *his* energy – steady, protective, resonating with the Well but distinct. Slowly, agonizingly, she began to separate her own consciousness from the raging river of the city's soul. She built a mental shield, not to block the Lumina, but to filter it, to find her place *within* the song, not swept away *by* it.

As the internal chaos subsided, a new awareness dawned. The light wasn't just outside anymore. It was *inside* her. She felt it pooling in her core, warm and potent. Tentatively, she opened her eyes.

Her hands were glowing. A soft, internal radiance emanated from her skin, pure white shot through with fleeting rainbows. It wasn't the harsh glare of Thorne's artificial Stabilizers; it was the gentle, life-giving light of the Source itself.

Kael stared, awe etched on his face. "Ella…" he breathed. "You didn't just stop the siphon for a moment… you *reclaimed* some of the energy. You drew it *in*."

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Before Ella could process this, the hidden passage they’d come through shuddered. A low, mechanical whine echoed from the other side of the shimmering brick. Thorne security had found the entrance.

"They're trying to breach the ward," Kael hissed, pulling her behind a massive, glowing tree fern. His starlight blade materialized in his hand. "Can you feel it? The pressure?"

Ella could. It was like a cold, metallic drill grinding against the warm, living energy of the hidden courtyard's protective magic. It felt… *wrong*. Violating. The Lumina within her surged in response, a flare of protective anger.

**"Stop!"** she commanded again, this time directing her will *outward*, towards the grinding pressure.