elemental 05 - inferno (8 page)

“It’s not going to taste that great,” Dylan admitted ruefully. “But it should do the job.” 

Finally, Dylan put down the book and gestured for Aira to lie down. “Are you ready?” he asked, rubbing his hands together. Aira shrugged as she tried to relax on her back, looking up at him.

“It doesn’t really matter, does it?” she said wryly. “We have to get this done either way.” Dylan’s dark eyes were full of sympathy. He took a deep breath and began a low, steady chant, whispering the words full of soft consonants. Aira had always admired the language of water elementals, the way their spells sounded like the gushing babble of a river or the steady rhythmic lapping of the tides. Because it was an element associated language, Aira wasn’t able to learn it—in spite of being around it constantly with her grandmother. It was as much a language that was intuited as spoken, words shifting meaning constantly, dependent entirely on context and emotional intent. 

Aira took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt the coolness of Dylan’s hands running along her body slowly in a way that was more clinical than sensual. As his hands traveled from her head to her shoulders, across her chest and down her arms, following through along her legs and ending at her feet. She felt the sensation of something tugging inside of her—a pulling, drawing feeling. She instinctively fought against it, in spite of knowing it was exactly the point of the spell—for Dylan to pull her grandmother’s lingering elementally-aligned energy out of her. Some part of Aira didn’t want to let go of that last scrap of her grandmother, even if it was damaging her with the poison that infected it. She reminded herself that she had her grandmother’s house—she had her grandmother’s legacy. She had a thousand little pieces of her grandmother to cherish; she didn’t need the part that was living inside of her. Slowly, Aira felt the energy ebbing away from her, seeping out of her in a gradually growing torrent, being pulled into Dylan. He would be a better keeper of that energy anyway, she thought—he was of the same alignment. 

“Okay,” Dylan said after several long moments, running his hands over her body one last time. “Drink the potion right now.” Aira sat up, feeling oddly light, and reached out for the mug. She took a deep breath and exhaled it all at once, gulping down the room-temperature contents of the container as quickly as possible and avoiding tasting it as much as she could. There was a bitter edge to the brew, which almost made her throat close up in protest, but Aira forced herself to continue swallowing until there was nothing left. The last bit of it went down her throat, and Aira felt her body tingling all over, electrical impulses dancing along her nerve endings, up and down along her veins. It was similar to the feelings she’d had waking up and during the days leading up to the birthday where she’d come into her abilities as an elemental—a kind of body-wide power-surge that wasn’t quite as uncontrolled and wild but was just as distracting for the moments it lasted.

She opened her eyes to see that Aiden had joined them. Her anger at him was starting to evaporate, but Aira wasn’t ready to let him off the hook just yet. “Did you find anything out?” she asked him curtly, putting the mug down and making a face at the aftertaste of the potion.

“I’ve got a few people in mind. It’s really going to come down to what happens at the execution tomorrow.” 

Aira sighed and nodded. “Yeah, it all is pretty much going to depend on that, isn’t it?” She stood, feeling as if she wanted to run—no, fly. She was filled with a nervous energy, a constant internal locomotion that she needed to satisfy somehow. She made the mistake of looking at Aiden and felt the full force of his attractiveness, nearly blinding her with sudden lust. Aira left the room quickly—she barely had control of herself, she certainly wasn’t going to engage in a sudden impulse to throw Aiden onto the floor and strip him naked and have him. She rushed up the stairs to her room and made her way for the shower. A cold deluge would have to do.

The next day, Aira was not at all surprised to be called on by Saoirse. The younger elemental was surprised to see her answer the door, looking completely alert. Aira had been testing herself all morning; bringing the wind up to an almost dangerous speed and then bringing it back down to a gentle zephyr, just to reassure herself that her abilities were fully in place once more. She wasn’t sure how she was going to go about completing her mission from the elders, but Aira was determined to see it through, to show that even a plot to poison her wouldn’t bring her down. She hoped the elders would at least appreciate that fact.

Saoirse recovered her composure in a moment, and Aira told the other woman that no matter what the rules stated, Dylan and Aiden were coming with her. “Someone tried to kill me, outside of the rules. I am not above flouting them in response.” She reached out with her will, forestalling Aiden’s bristling defense with a gesture, and stared Saoirse in the eyes. “You will take me to the elders, and you will allow Aiden and Dylan to follow you.” Saoirse’s dark eyes flickered a moment in confusion, and she agreed.

Aira thought with a weariness that she didn’t expect to feel that she would be glad when the whole situation was over—whatever the outcome. If she was taken out of contention for ruling the element she belonged to, then she would go renegade. And she thought, or at least hoped, that she would have help from Aiden and Dylan in doing so. Aira watched the scenery flash by through the window of Saoirse’s car and hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. Her grandmother had done a lot to try to keep her alive, to keep her safe. The best that Aira could do would be to honor her wishes and try her best.

When they arrived, Alex was in chains at the base of the balcony where the elders were assembled. Aira looked around the gallery at the curious faces among the observers; she knew they were startled by the fact that she was so well. In fact, she hadn’t slept at all the previous night. The potion that Dylan had given her, infusing her with as much air-aligned energy as her body could possibly bear, had kept her awake. A slightly less magical excuse for her restlessness was in the bedroom next to hers. Aira knew instinctively that there had been more than just a purification and purging that had gone on with Aiden. Things had to be settled between them. She took a deep breath as she stepped into the center of the vaulting room, trying to decide how best to complete the task she was set. She focused her mind on Alex, on the fact that he had done things that were inexcusable among their kind—poisoned her, manipulated people in a tawdry, evil way. He had even tried to manipulate her. 

“Aira, are you able and willing to proceed?” The spokesperson for the elders asked in sonorous tones. 

Aira nodded shortly. “Before I execute this elemental, I want to make it known—and on the record—that he poisoned me under the direction of another elemental.” Aira heard the hiss of consternation from the gathered observers. “He was given an offer to preserve his family if he got me out of contention. The poison that he gave me was designed to kill me, although you can clearly see that it has not.” Aira looked around the room, her mind gauging the expressions on faces, reading the moods. She hadn’t discussed her plan with Aiden or Dylan; she had come up with it shortly before Saoirse’s arrival. In her current hyper-aware state, Aira thought that she would have an edge on determining who it could be—provided they were there. She thought that Aiden was right; whoever had been behind he poisoning would surely come to see her, to make sure she was near death, or at least incapable of performing her set task.

Half-hidden among the observers, Aira spotted her. The woman was tall and thin, with intense green eyes and blonde hair. She displayed an expression of abject dismay, her emotions completely unguarded in her surprise. “You,” Aira said, reaching out with her will. The woman tried to look away, but couldn’t do it fast enough. Aira brought her focus on the woman, brought her will to bear on her as she held her gaze irresistibly. “Come down here, now.” The elders began to protest. Aira repeated the command, gaining the woman’s compliance to her persuasion before she turned her attention to the men and women who had come to judge whether she was fit to be the ruler of her element. “You allowed Alex to have poison that would kill almost any air elemental. You released him into my custody with that poison. Your job amongst our kind is to make judgments, to pass decisions. If you have a problem with a ruler making a decision, you can try and see if you can face off against the rulers who exist.” The woman had finally made her way down onto the floor, coming to Aira’s side, her green eyes clouded over. 

“Aira! This is unstable behavior.” The spokesperson for the elders was red in the face, furious with her.

“You caused this situation. I am finishing it.” She turned her attention back on the woman. “Tell me your name,” she said, reinforcing the order with her will. 

“Oriel Dylans,” the woman said. Aira barely spared a glance at Aiden’s direction, caught the sight of him nodding in the corner of her vision. 

“Why did you put Alex up to poisoning me?” Oriel reeled slightly under the onslaught of Aira’s will. “Tell me everything.” Oriel’s eyes clouded over once more, and she began to speak quickly, the words rushing out of her.

“I sent my brother with the poison for Alex. My grandfather is the ruler of Fire—with the seat for air in contention, he would lose power. Without you in place, he could keep his power because someone less powerful would be the ruler of air.” Aira turned and looked at the elders.

“There, are you satisfied? I was right.” The elders were murmuring amongst themselves. “I rule that Oriel Dylans should be imprisoned, and her fate decided by the rulers for her crimes.” The elders looked briefly wary, but Aira stood before them, unflinching and ready for whatever they might say.

“You are not a ruler yet, Aira,” the spokesperson said. “But since you were able to get a confession out of her, we will sequester her until the situation is decided.” He gestured, and two guards came up—water elementals, both of them—and pulled the woman out of the enormous room. Aira’s heart was pounding. She still had one thing left to do. “Now you will proceed.” 

Aira took a deep breath. Alex, looking much worse for the wear after his long confinement and the injuries inflicted on him by Aiden and Dylan—both mental and physical—stared at her defiantly. 

Aira closed her eyes and began a low chant. She had not given much practical thought to the need to kill a person before—she had hoped never to be put in that situation. But here it was, and it was Alex or her. Aira began forming the image of a bow, carefully bringing it to life from the energy that she held inside of her. She made it strong—impossibly strong—almost manifesting it into a physical object of substance rather than a simple construction of energy. The spell was what was important about it, Aira knew. The intention behind her words, the focus of her mind. She started to form an arrow. She would only need one. Aira modified the spell, thinking of the quickest, surest way to kill a person with magic—a thought she had never entertained before and hoped she would never have to entertain again in her life.

The arrow was ready. Aira opened her eyes and brought the bow and arrow together, pulling back the bowstring while the entire room fell silent. She took aim, breathed in, and let the arrow fly as she exhaled, a cold, steely-feeling dread running down her spine as it vaulted the small distance between her and Alex. It hit him in the eye, driving back into his head, and Aira heard the collective gasp. Alex fell to the floor almost instantly, the arrow causing a crackling, an electric sound in the air, as its magic surged through him, killing him in the span of a few heartbeats. Aira dissolved the bow and arrow, shuddering as the energy from Alex’s body surged into her. She hadn’t known that it would do that—for a brief moment she felt the power surge sensation work through her and wondered if she would ever be able to feel like a normal person again in her life.

C
HAPTER
8

AFTER A LONG, DEEP STILLNESS, the elders began to fidget, the shuffling sound of their clothing filling the air. Aira looked up at them. “Well?” she said harshly, feeling the tears burning her eyes. She knew she had to kill Alex—it was the only thing she could have done in that situation. But the fact of having killed someone gave her a sensation of pain in the depths of her being, an agony of guilt in spite of the fact that it was the best choice—the only choice. Alex was going to be put to death no matter what she did. She could only preserve her own life and end his as swiftly as possible. 

“You have successfully completed the trial,” the elder spokesperson said gruffly. “We also note that you did so after being poisoned and that you appear to be stronger than ever.” 

Aira nodded curtly, wanting more than anything to leave the building, to go home and stand under the shower for as long as the hot water held out and scrub herself clean of what she had done. 

“Where does this leave us in the process?” Aira asked, feeling impatient. The elders murmured quietly amongst themselves. 

“You are the first choice for the ruler of your element,” the elder spokesperson said. He looked at her firmly. “However, we are not confident that you have the stability to be an effective ruler. You must have a mate, or else you will be eliminated from consideration.” Aira stared at them, appalled. 

“Haven’t I proven to you that I am the strongest of the air elementals? Haven’t I demonstrated that I can make life-or-death decisions and that I can follow through on them? What the hell more do you want from me?” 

The elder shook his head.

“If you fail to find a mate, we will have to go with our secondary choice. You have a week.” Aira started to move towards them and stopped herself just in time. A week to find a mate. She took a deep breath to try and quell the rage she felt. “You are dismissed, Aira.” The elders filed out, and Aira stood in her spot for a long moment, seething with rage. They had put her through so much already; they had made her kill a person before their very eyes, and yet they were demanding still more from her. Aira stood where she was, hearing the observers filing out, talking amongst themselves. It was finally down to her instability, she thought bitterly. They just couldn’t let her live unfettered. They couldn’t stand the thought of giving her so much power without giving her an outside check on it. She was trembling with suppressed rage as Aiden and Dylan joined her on the floor.