Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) (33 page)

“Stop. 
Apologizing.”

The
scene changed.

Gion
thought that maybe this memory thing would stop now that Ty had calmed down.

Instead,
he recognized the Air Palace dungeon.

Seneca.

Oh
Jesus.

This
definitely
wasn’t
a memory sharing.  This was just further proof that
something very weird was happening.  The memories in a sharing were almost
always shown in chronological order.  They usually showed Matches key scenes of
their partner’s life in order to get them to know and trust each other as
quickly as possible.

Not
only had this particular memory happen a year
before
the Fall, but it
absolutely wasn’t gonna promote trust and tender feelings.

What
the hell was going on?

This
was
his
memory.  Ty’s energy couldn’t be doing this.  This was
him
.

Somehow.

Gion
vainly tried to stop the scene from playing out; tried to wake them up.

Ty
gasped as she saw where they were.  It was hard to miss what with the stone
walls and the plastic manacles.  Elementals would have been able to manipulate
metal shackles, but the thick white plastic held prisoners captive.

“Gion? 
You really were down here?  I know you said that when you rescued me from the
Air House, but…”

“I
was down here.”  Shit.  Why couldn’t he show her some
good
memories? 
Did he even
have
any good memories?  Gion wracked his brain for a second
and came up with Ty in a white dress at Clea’s recital.  The most important
moment of his life.  Why couldn’t they be looking at that?

“Why
are we seeing this?”  Ty looked as baffled as he felt.  “Is it a memory
sharing?”

“It
can’t be.  We’re not a Match.”

“Yes,
but Freya thought… Oh my God.  Gion, are you
chained?
”

Gion
sighed in annoyance as the former him tried to rip the plastic shackles right
out of the wall.  “Seneca thought that I planned to overthrow him.  At the
time, I wasn’t really planning to, but, after a night in the dungeon, it was
pretty high on my ‘to do’ list.”

Seneca
had dumped him in the dungeon after it occurred to the bastard that Gion’s
powers far exceeded his own.

Seneca
had never found his Match.  He had no heirs, except Amarna and his niece had never
been his favorite person.  Amarna could pretend to be a mousy little thing, but
more and more Gion saw that the girl was sharp.  She was a leader.  Seneca saw
that before Gion had.  He had to give the guy some credit for noticing the
girl’s potential.

Unfortunately,
once Seneca saw Amarna’s potential, he also saw the threat that she posed.  In
his later years, Seneca saw everyone as a threat.  Tossing Gion, Amarna,
Isaacs, and dozens of other into the dungeons had been his way of dealing with
the problem.

He’d
wanted to execute them.  He’d been trying to get the Council to sanction it.  Really,
though, all he’d done was create an insurrection.  By default, all the Air
Phases awaiting their beheadings were suddenly on the same side.

“Perfect.” 
Isaacs sat slumped in the corner.  They’d been locked in the same cell.  “I
pushed hard to become a soldier and then King Insaniac locks me up for it.  I
should’ve gone to college and learned computer repair.”

“Shut-up.” 
Memory-Gion ordered.  The plastic was cutting into his flesh as he tried to pry
it off his hand.  “I’m not going to die here.”

“How
did Seneca capture you?”  Ty asked as if she couldn’t imagine such a thing.

“I
was asleep.  There were twelve of them, with plastic restraints.”  After that
Gion slept a lot lighter, with Plexiglas over his windows and three bolts on
his doors.  Or in the Air House library, isolated from the other Air Phases and
with a sword lying across his chest.

Isaacs
was looking for a target for his anger and Gion just provided it for him.  “No,
genius, we’re
not
going to die here.  We’re going to die in front of the
palace, drawn and quartered
Braveheart
style.  It’ll be a fucking
inspiration for all the little kiddies.”  He pumped a chained fist in the air. 
“Freeeedooommm!”

“Asshole.” 
Both Gions muttered in unison.

Ty
actually gave a startled laugh.

“This
is
your
fault.”  Isaacs continued, undaunted.  “If you really
had
overthrown that shithead, we wouldn’t be in this mess.  You’re powerful enough
to jack the House.  I know it.”

“I
don’t want to rule this House.”  Gion retorted.  “I’m not getting stuck with
the Air House crown.”

Jacking
the House involved ripping the Element away from the other Phases in the
House.  Dragging the weight of the Air from Phases who opposed them, the person
jacking the House would shoulder all the powers, redistributing the energy over
their own side of the dispute.  The other Phases wouldn’t die, but they’d no
longer be able to control the Air.  It was incredibly difficult and dangerous. 
No one had ever successfully jacked a House before.

Until
Gion.

“Are
you ready to admit your crimes?”  Seneca demanded from the other side of the cell
door.  “I might show leniency if you confess.  Your deaths will be quicker,
traitors.”

“Fuck
off.”  Isaacs shouted back.

“No
one is plotting against you, sire.”  Gion got out from between clenched teeth. 
“I don’t want your throne and I can prove it.  My Match is in the Water Kingdom
and I’m going there to be with her when she’s of age.  I won’t be staying in
the Air House, anyway.”

Isaacs
shot him a stunned look.

Ty’s
jaw dropped.  “Did you mean me?”

“Of
course, I meant you.”  Gion kept his attention on his former self.  “This was
before you knew Parald.  I thought you were mine.”

“You
could have the woman
and
my kingdom.”  Seneca retorted.

“No,
I couldn’t.  She has her own crown.”

Elemental
Houses went by matrilineal descent.  If they came from different Houses, men
usually went to the women’s kingdom, unless the man was the king of his own
House.  If both Matches ruled their kingdom, they had to choose one.  Parald
had agreed to rule the Water Kingdom with Ty after their Phazing.

Anyone
paying attention would have chosen the Water Kingdom over the Air House.  The
Water Kingdom was the epicenter of Elemental culture.  Their Athens.  The Air
House didn’t engender nearly that level of respect, no matter how hard they
tried.  The Water Kingdom was definitely the better real estate.

Knowing
Parald, he probably had some plan to keep both kingdoms.  Gion saw that now. 
The man would never give up power.

Gion
had zero interest in ruling the Air Kingdom, though.  All he’d ever wanted was
a chance to be with Ty.  The choice between her or some stupid crown was a no
brainer.  “I’d rather have my Match than the Air House.  I give you my word.”

Ty’s
fingers wound around his.  “You’d give up a kingdom for me?  That’s a beautiful
thing to say.”  She beamed up at him.  “You’re such a romantic man.”

Gion
grunted.  “Yeah, watch how well my softer side goes over.”

“Dude,
how much
Lifetime
have you been watching?”  Isaacs scoffed.

“Enough
of your lies!”  Seneca roared.  “I don’t need Job to tell me how to run my own
lands.  You die first, Gion.  One hour!”  He went stomping off, yelling for his
guard.

“Looks
like you should have majored in something other than soldiering, too, boyo.” 
Isaacs drawled.  “If you weren’t about to lose a head, I’d totally suggest that
you choose a new career in hostage negotiation.  You have a real talent for
reaching out to people.  It’s incredible.”

“I’m
not letting Seneca kill me.”  Gion snapped.  “Not without my Match even saying
my name.”  He looked down at his wrist and Gion remembered how he’d considered
ways to chop off his hand.

Ty
rested her head against his shoulder.  “You have a beautiful name.”  She
whispered.  “It’s holy.  The masculine form of Gaia.  I think your parents knew
you’d be special.”

“My
father named me ‘Gion’ because it was his name.  He lived to regret it, once I
became an incredible disappointment, of course.”

“You
are not a disappointment.”  Ty gave him a small shove, moving away from him. 
“What did I just tell you?  You saved me, Gion.  Again and again you’ve saved
me.  I don’t mean to sound egotistical here, but, as far as I’m concerned, that
makes up for any horrible things that you think you’ve done.  Whatever happened
to you, it brought you to me and that’s all that matters, now.”

Gion
stared down at her, considering that.  What he’d done was bleak.  Addom and all
the other lives he’d taken.  Gion would never forgive himself.  But, if he went
back and changed any of it, would he have missed meeting Ty?  Would he have
been less powerful?  Less ruthless?  Would he have been unable to save her from
the mob or from the Air House dungeons?

In
the end, keeping Ty alive was all he cared about.

Was
everything he’d done just leading him to her?

Key
jangled outside the cell door.

Gion
swore, recalling this next part with crystal clarity.  “It’s Parald, Ty. 
Don’t…”

The
door swung opened.  Parald stood there with a bloody sword in his hand and a
demonic smile on his face.  “We’re gonna make a deal, boys.”

Ty
sucked in a horrified breath at seeing her ex-Match.  She backed up rapidly,
colliding with Gion.  He could tell from her panicked look that she was about
to fall into another attack.

“Angel.” 
Gion caught her against him, holding her so Ty’s back was to his front. 
Enveloping her with his body.  “I’ve got you.  This is just a memory.  He’s not
even going to see

you.  You’re okay.  He’ll
never touch you, again.”

Ty
turned in his grasp, burying her face against Gion’s chest.  “I can’t stand
being around him.  He’s always felt
wrong
.  Even in the memory I can
feel it.  He’s evil.”  Shudders wracked her.

“I
know.  He won’t hurt you.  I won’t allow it.”  It was a vow.

Ty’s
arms wrapped around him.  “I won’t let him hurt you, either.”

Gion’s
heart turned over in his chest at the promise.

“Aren’t
you the dishwasher?”  Isaacs demanded as Parald came into their cell.

“I’m
about to become king.”  Parald held up the keys.  “I’ll let you go, and in
return you follow me. 
I’m
in control of the Air House, now.  Seneca’s
dead.”  He honest-to-God licked the blood off his sword and smirked.  “It wasn’t
much of a fight.”

Memory-Gion’s
eyebrows soared.  “His guards will be sad to hear that.”

“Most
of them are already with me.”  Parald stalked forward.  “The rest, I need you
to deal with.  I’m your only way out of here.  You help me jack the House and
I’ll make you my second-in-command.”

“That
seems reasonable.”  Gion allowed calmly.  He would have joined up with Jason
Voorhees to get out of the dungeon.

“You
stay loyal to me or you’ll regret it.”  Parald warned.  “What happened to
Seneca can happen to you.”

“Of
course.”  Gion agreed, already thinking of ways to kill him.

“Hail
to King Whoever-You-Are.”  Isaacs chimed in.  “Let’s not forget about me, here,
okay?”  He rattled his shackles.  “I can be incredibly loyal to people who save
my life.”

The
scene changed, again, this time to the Council Hall.  Gion recognized one of
the private waiting rooms where Phases cooled their heels before their time in
front of the Council.  It looked like the sitting room of a really nice hotel;
marble pillars and streamlined furniture, all in neutral shades.

This
one wasn’t Gion’s memory.  This one had to come from Ty.

She
stiffened beside him.  “Oh, no.”  Ty backed up.  “No.  Gion, I don’t want you
seeing this.”

“Are
you kidding me?”  After what he’d had to show
her?
 “What’s…?”  He
stopped short, seeing memory-Ty enter the room.

“Wait
here.”  She said to someone and Gion realized that it was Isaacs.

“I
forgot he was your bodyguard.”  Gion hadn’t been able to bear the idea of
watching over her before her Phazing with Parald.  Isaacs, bastard that he was,
had been the next best choice.  Parald had been all for the idea.

“I
don’t want you to see this.”  Ty’s voice got higher.  “Don’t watch.”

Gion
ignored that.  Ty was dressed in her formal turquoise robes.  Usually, Phases
only wore those on their Phazing Day or other ceremonial events.  This memory happened
the morning that Ty renounced Parald; the day of her ninety-third birthday.

In
the memory, Ty crossed the tiled floor and knocked on the door to the connected
bathroom.  “Parald, I’d like to speak with you.”