Breaker (Ondine Quartet Book 4) (66 page)

 
He shook his head. “I felt inadequate, a failure. It was like being shown the secret to the universe and being told you could never have it.”

I understood. My body ached for the magic that had accompanied me my entire life.
 

“These hands don’t have magic.” Daniel looked down at his palms. “But they can still do good, Kendra. Magic is extraordinary, a gift I will always marvel over. But it doesn’t determine a person’s worth, what they choose to believe in. Our dreams are fluid, just as we are. They change as we change.”

Life is water.

Nexa’s words from a lifetime ago echoed.
 

I thought of how Tristan was willing to leave his throne, to reimagine a different life.
 

You were a revelation.
He’d changed.

Chloe had broken up with Cam, because she had wanted to be someone else.

I glanced at the dock. Lucas spoke with Oriel, a smile lighting up his face. His laughter filled the air, a sound deeper, older than when I first met him.
 

The tragedy was still there, a shadow lurking beneath his eyes. But more and more, the laughter was more frequent, the smiles more sincere.

“You ended a war, Kendra. You achieved something for elementals and for yourself that was hard won. Freedom.”

I exhaled. “I don’t even know what that means any more.”

“It means every possible choice in the world now lays before you. All you have to do is answer a question.” He leaned over, wise eyes peering over his glasses. “What’s your next dream?”

For the first time, I allowed myself to imagine.

FORTY-TWO

I stood before the wrought- iron gates. The gardinel on duty stared at me, his mouth slightly open.

“You can close your mouth,” I said softly.

He snapped it shut. “Sorry, I just…
 

“I’d like to surprise her.”

“Of course,
sondaleur
.”

I almost told him to not call me that, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

I studied the familiar gates. Each time I’d passed through them, something had changed.
 

Now, something new would begin again.

The gate had also changed since I last saw it.

The ornate H remained, but under the words “
havre de leau
” new words had been engraved into the plaque.

My words, ones I’d written into the prophecy book.

She gave her choice

To speak for all

So others would have

The choice for themselves.

She is sondaleur.

An iris bloomed beside the words.

I turned to Daniel.

He smiled. “They’re waiting.”

I hugged
 
him. “Thank you.”

He’d taken care of me for months, just as he’d once taken care of my mother.

He nodded. “Go.”

I walked through the gates.

***

I don’t know how long I stood outside the partially open door, simply listening to their voices.

The pleasure was sharp, so strong it hurt.
 

“…You’re being stubborn again.”

“Yeah, one of the perks of being Governor.”

“I swear, if you use that damn excuse one more time, I will resign my post and move in to Stan’s beach house in Mexico.”

A very unladylike snort. “Please. You enjoy bossing around the young recruits too much to do that. Besides, Holden told me you played that prank on Garreth the other day. He’s still pissed by the way.”

“And has he also told you what he did with that brokerage in New York?”

Curiosity lightened her voice. “No.”

“It’s probably better if you don’t know. Plausible deniability and all that —“

I opened the door.

They stared at me.

“Hi,” I said weakly.

Cam scowled. He’d filled out a bit, as if he spent a little more time in the weight room.

I shifted, uncomfortable.
 

A hot slash of pain razed my upper arm.

“Wha…what the hell?”

“Sorry.” He shrugged and wiped my blood off his blade. “Had to make sure you weren’t Aquidae or something.”

I glared. “Easier ways to go about doing that.”

His scowl disappeared. “Good to see you, Irisavie.”

I couldn’t help it. I grinned. “Same here.”

“Was wondering when your lazy ass would show up. You owe me eclairs.”

“I’ll get on that.”

Aubrey remained frozen behind the large mahogany desk. She’d grown out her hair and the deep, auburn locks now fell about her shoulders in a casual, sophisticated style. Her steel prosthetic hand was visible beneath her long-sleeved blouse.

“Should I call you Governor Rossay now?” I said lightly.

She slowly moved around the desk toward me. She still didn’t speak.

I hesitated. “Aubrey?”

She ran.
 

And suddenly we were both crying, holding each other as if we’d come home.

***

When I reached the sand, I waited for several minutes.
 

He knew I was there.

But he didn’t turn.

I walked toward him. With each step, I held my breath, waiting for the moment he moved.

He didn’t.

I stopped a few feet away. An icy wind stirred his hair. He was so beautiful, my chest hurt.
 

“You always did prefer the winter swells.”

His back stiffened. “Even before you were gone, you were everywhere. I can’t go anywhere without seeing you or feeling you. And now I’m hearing you.” He laughed harshly. “I’m losing my mind.”

I moved closer. “Sometimes we think we’re losing something when we’re really finding something else. I remember the first time you kissed me.”

A long pause. “Here.”

“That day, I thought I’d lost everything. Everything I thought was true about my life had been a lie. You showed me there was something more. A different truth.”

“You turned my world upside down that day.” His voice was hard, bitter. “All I wanted was for my life to return to normal.”

“So why don’t you do that now?”

“Because now there is no normal without you,” he said simply. “I’ll find you, no matter how long it takes. I promised you I wouldn’t let you go down there alone.”

“And what if I find you first?”

His shoulders trembled. “I wish you would.”

My cheeks were wet. “Then turn around, my love.”

Slowly, so slowly it seemed as if he barely moved, he turned.

He’d lost weight. The sharp cut of his cheekbones accentuated the deep dark pools of his eyes.

He stared at me for a long moment, his gaze running over every part of my face again and again as if trying to recognize me.
 

I suddenly realized I no longer had an aura. Did I look that different?

“Is it you?” His voice was ragged.

“Yes.” I swallowed. “Sort of. I don’t have magic anymore. I’m not sure if that still makes me an ondine or a human.”

I searched his face for any reaction.

He didn’t move.

Something inside broke.

“Tristan,” I whispered. “It’s me. It’s me and I love you so much and —“

He snapped.

In one fluid movement, he lifted me up, his body pressed against mine and there was nothing, not war or blood, not life or death, not the earth or sky itself that could ever pull us apart.

“Kendra.” He said my name over and over, the same cry I’d heard echoing in the depths of the ocean.

And I knew then what had brought me back, the thread that would never break, the power greater than any magic.
 

“I came back for you.”

FORTY-THREE

“I choose you.”

The words rang through the air, crisp and strong.

The pool of water in the fountain stirred. Several ripples disturbed the surface. A thin, pale ribbon of magic emerged from the water.
 

It spiraled up and undulated forward. With a soft swish, it wove around Amber and Todd’s bodies then circled their entwined hands three times.

Governor Rossay stepped forward. Nicknamed the “Steel Hand”, she’d been re-elected to the position last month by a resounding margin in the first widespread elemental elections.
 

She touched their bound hands. “Magic and elemental law recognizes this union.”

A familiar tall figure leaned in. “What do you think? Our turn yet?”

“Not for a long, long time, buddy.”

Tristan’s soft chuckle stirred my hair.

“So do I get to kiss her now?” Todd asked loudly.

Aubrey grinned. “Go for it.”

The gathered crowd cheered as he grabbed Amber and pulled her to him in a blazing, passionate kiss. The immense marble fountain rose above them, a perfect backdrop for the happy couple.

Most bindings took place along the water or in the woods. The Governing Complex was not usually the first choice.

But two months ago, they’d completed construction on the fountain in the courtyard. Soothing water fell over the entwined statues of twenty ondines.
 

Of the original twenty-five who had trained and fought that last day, only five had survived. The fountain was a monument to remember the bravery of those young twenty.

At the very front, a familiar kind face gazed down on Aubrey and Amber. Rather than the usual location along the beach, both Aubrey and Amber had wanted to do it here, beneath Chloe’s beautiful smile.

It was time for the blood that stained these stones to be replaced with other memories.
 

Jeeves gave Amber a bouquet and hugged the happy couple. With each day, the haunted look in his eyes faded a little more.

The Shadow was gone, but he had been right. He still remained in the wounds borne by survivors, both visible and not. He was within us, in our darkest and most dangerous desires.

The unimaginable continued to exist, never really gone, because it was a part of who we were, a shadow trailing us no matter where we went.
 

We’d just shut down an underground elemental group who’d planned an attack on Haverleau. Julian was currently investigating a vicious string of murders in Virginia, a suspected elemental serial killer.
 

We continued to push back, to fight, and that was where we found our peace.

Strong, warm arms wrapped around me.
 

“What’s next, Chevalier Irisavie?” Tristan murmured.

I leaned back. “Anything. Everything.”

Amber removed an iris from her bouquet and placed it into the fountain.

The clouds shifted.
 

Afternoon sun spilled light across the courtyard, warming the stones and bathing the curves and lines of the sculpture.

The flower drifted, light and open, gliding a path through still water like the faint stirrings of a dream.
 

Series Terminology

Áimoni:
Literal selkie translation is “Place of Harmony”. An open spaced pavilion used for gardinel training in their kingdom.

Aquidae
: Demons formed from the black blood of the Shadow. Supernaturally fast and strong, they have no soul. Their mission is to destroy the balance of the Elemental world, turning everything into darkness, violence, and chaos.

Armicant:
The weapons maker for elementals. Resides in the Selkie Kingdom and is responsible for constructing every
kouperet
blade. Also chooses the
pedaillon
stone for each gardinel and marks it with the elemental brand. It is a creature composed of the Four Elements: Water, Earth, Air, and Fire. It’s blood is Essence.

Chevalier
: The knights of the water elemental world. Comprised of demillirs, the chevalier corps patrols for Aquidae, taking out any cells they find. Besides protection and patrol, their duties center around the justice system, thus making their function similar to human police officers. Chevaliers also act as a back-up and support group to the work of the gardinels.

Demillirs
: Half-human, half-ondine males with no Virtue or elemental magic (the only known exceptions so far being Jeeves and Julian). Most non-Redavi demillirs serve as chevaliers because they possess extra-human speed and strength. Demillirs can either be born (a male born of an ondine and demillir) or created. When a fully human male mates with an ondine, the bonding process infuses him with ondine magic, turning him into a demillir.

Dessondine
: Ancestors of the ondines and one of the oldest and powerful water elemental races (like the selkies). They live immortally underwater, and Jourdain, their High Priestess, is credited as being the Mother who created the ondine race.

Elemental Magic
: All ondines, who are not Redavi first borns, possess this type of water magic. It gives them control over the creation, movement, and transformation of water in all its forms.

Elemental Brand:
A diamond brand the Armicant sears onto the right foreflipper of selkies when they’re inducted into the gardinels. The brand infuses a part of the selkie’s seal form with Essence, allowing them to fight underwater. The color of the brand is the same color as a selkie’s
pedaillon
stone and is determined by the Armicant.

Essence
: A particularly pure brand of energy and magic resulting from the combination of ondine, dessondine, demillir, and selkie blood.

Four Elementals:
The Four Elements that work together to protect and maintain the balance of the Earth: Fire, Earth, Water, Air. Each elemental world has many races and complex societies that support it.

Gardinel
: A selkie warrior, trained to protect dessondines and ondines both on land and in water. They work protective and military duty, much like the military and secret service.

Kahliev
: Taken from an ancient legend based on the sacrifice of the first selkie son of the first selkie family. It means a connection that transcends time and space, a bond forged from shared experiences and growth. Selkies use this term often to greet each other. It embodies the spirit of their kingdom.

Kouperet
: Silver blade infused with Essence. The only known weapon effective in killing Aquidae.