Fate of Elements (7 page)

S
lowly
, I came awake, aware Raina’s body was draped over mine.

“Finally,” Ronin said. “I thought you were going all Sleeping Beauty on us, like from the stories Charlie used to tell us.”

“Shut up.”

“It’s going to be hard to bring you up to speed if I can’t talk.” Ronin stretched back in his seat and laced his fingers behind his head. He may have looked relaxed, but the swirling red of his eyes gave away his anger.

“What happened?” I asked, focusing my attention on him while trying not to wake Raina.

“I’ve been piecing together what happened. The two of you were training and got into a fight. You kept pushing her and she pushed back. So hard, in fact, she used your body to take out half of the forest before slamming you up against a rock wall.”

I frowned and tested the muscles in my body. “I don’t hurt, or remember what happened.”

“That’s because she did something to you afterwards. I have no idea what, but it wiped her out so bad she couldn’t lift a finger to protect herself when Erion showed up.”

A growl sounded from deep in my chest. The thought of her alone and unprotected with my brother made my blood burn. She needed more training to be able to stand on her own.

“Before you get angry, you should know he was very pleasant to her. He was calm, almost helpful you could say.”

“What did he tell her?”

“Ahhhh, you know him so well. He told her about the merging of her power with the mate she chooses.”

“Great.”

“Oh, but that isn’t all, my dear King.”

“What else could there be?”

“Dayna.”

Now my blood ran cold, and my heart raced in fear of what could have happened. “Tell me.”

“Raina had called to me after Erion left. She was weak, and I almost didn’t realize what I was hearing, so I didn’t get there as soon as I should have. After Dayna had told her you killed her parents and half of her people, she was getting ready to drop a very large boulder on both of your heads when I was able to pull you under. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy. But then again, when is she ever?”

I closed my eyes and breathed in the sweet scent of Raina sleeping so peacefully next to me. “How long have we been out?”

“Only for a day.”

“What?” It took everything I had not to bolt out of bed and start pacing the room. “How can that be?”

“Do you want to know what I think?”

“When have you ever asked my permission?”

“Good point. I’m no expert on this whole ‘we’re getting a new god who walked through the Skeleton Door’ thing, but if I had to take a guess, I would say she somehow tried to heal you, but you got a little something extra in the exchange. Something Erion and Dayna know nothing about.”

I froze and tried to center myself to see if I could feel what he was talking about. The first thing I noticed was a change in the air quality. As I took a deep breath in, I could do more than smell the scents around me. It was like it had its own color. Its own flow. Cautiously, I thought of a nice, gentle breeze flowing across my skin, cooling it down, and suddenly it was there.

Reaching out further with my mind, I went through the cracks and underground caves until I found water. Easily, I was able to increase the flow. Moving further up to the surface, I made a field of wildflowers bloom.

The amount of power flowing through me verged on being uncontrollable. The only reason I was able to contain it was because I was King. If anything, this gave me more respect for Raina. To be able to do what she’d been doing would be considered nothing short of a miracle.

“How do you know I’m different?”

“I’m your brother, and I’ve been your best friend for centuries. I know your magical energy better than mine and exactly what you are capable of. Once you opened your eyes, I knew for certain.” He stood up and brought a mirror over to me. “Look at your eyes.”

The unfamiliar glowing eyes staring back at me were disconcerting. Raina’s healing magic blended all the elements together, and that showed in my eyes. They didn’t swirl with the molten fire of my essence, they also had the other elements mixing in them. I tried to mask my eyes like I’d done thousands of times before, making them pure black, but they wouldn’t change.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the two of you are closer than you’re letting on.” Ronin’s dry sarcasm dripped with each word. “I can’t think of any way a simple healing would have transferred some of her power to you.”

“No, under normal circumstances I’d agree with you. But she isn’t normal, and she has no training. Maybe it was a mistake.”

“Please.”

“Give me a minute.” I closed my eyes, focusing on the forest around the clearing and what creatures would be there. I didn’t want to choose one under Dayna’s rule. I knew it would get back to her, and the last thing I wanted was her to realize more of the prophecy was coming true. Unfortunately, the nearby stream didn’t have a good view of what had transpired, and Ronin had already spoken with my creatures, but they preferred to be underground, in the dark. That left Erion’s charges. Seeking around, I found a small bluebird whose nest was in a tree with a great view of the event.

Slipping into the mind of a bird wasn’t that different from a snake’s, except as I would have imagined, the bird’s brain was faster and not as cunning as I was used to. Watching the scene unfold was strange, and as I watched myself fly through the trees and smash into the rocks, I could almost feel the pain that somehow had been taken from me.

From the moment I had first seen Raina I knew she was beautiful, but seeing her instinctively use her magic to get to me quickly and then use her magic to heal me, was mesmerizing. The energy of the elements flowed around her, a tangible thing I could reach out and touch. Sometimes I’d forget she was a god and not of this world. But seeing her like this, it hit home how different she really was.

Even though I knew it was coming, when the wind picked up and Erion came rushing down to us, it surprised me to see the look on his face. I still didn’t trust him, but maybe time had healed some of the old wounds.

I couldn’t believe how weak Raina was. How much of herself had she given me? Is this something she could recover from?

We had been wondering when Dayna would show up. I wasn’t surprised it was when we both were at our weakest. My pride took a hit. I was lying there, passed out, unable to protect her when we were so close to death.

Watching the boulder fall toward us, even knowing Ronin was able to get us out of there in time, I felt my rage building like a forest fire sweeping across the land.

“I thought she’d come around.”

“Hallet, she wears her battle scars like trophies. Her memory is long. She is always going to find a way to make you remember what she has sacrificed, what has been taken from her. She’s been like that since we were young. You can’t change her. No one ever could.”

“I wonder had she loved Erion instead of me, if things would have been different.”

“If they had been, then the prophecy wouldn’t have been needed.” He shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

I sighed. “I’d been holding out hope she’d survive this…”

“And what? End up one big, happy family? Come on, Hallet, even you know it’s not that cut and dried. Unfortunately, not everyone is going to make it out alive. There is going to be blood and death. We couldn’t keep going on like we had been, something had to change. In the end, it will be better, but getting there is going to be damn hard.”

“Why can’t you go back to being my witty sidekick and stop being so logical, brother?”

His smile was crooked. “I’m talented. I can do both.”

“You’re not getting a medal.”

“Please, I already have enough.”

He was right, he did. There was no one else I trusted more than him. He’d stood by my side since we were boys. Always backing me up and protecting me, his King. His body held more scars than mine, and I couldn’t think of life without him. It was one of the things that scared me most about the battle ahead. Losing him, my true brother.

I
lay there
, keeping my breathing in a deep rhythm as I listened to Hallet and Ronin talk about what had happened. What they didn’t know was I had woken up the same instant he had. It felt so good, lying there in his arms, and it had been so long since I’d simply relaxed that I wanted to enjoy it a little longer.

When Ronin told Hallet he had changed since I’d healed him, Erion’s words came back to me. Hallet would be just as strong as me. I’d never dreamt of sharing strength with someone. It sounded nice to me, as if I was able to share the weight that had been dropped onto my shoulders when I chose to walk through the Skeleton Door. I continued to lie still and quiet, even when my emotions threatened to overwhelm my control.

I wondered how he could have become more than his element alone. We’d practiced some simple healing magic, and I’d never had that issue before. Of course, he had been close to death, so maybe I put too much of myself into it. The guilt I had felt since I was trying to reverse the damage I had done.

When Ronin said not everyone was going to make it out alive, I could feel Hallet’s sadness, and it made me wonder if maybe we were connected spiritually now as well. We’d talked about the history of his world, and yes, I’d been able to tell he was sad before, especially talking about the murder of his parents, but not like this. I could feel his heart aching, specifically about losing Ronin.

He was a good man with a past. He’d made some wrong decisions, but hadn’t everyone? The errors of his past didn’t equal the man he’d become. In this strange world, I had to trust someone. Fate had given me dreams of him for years. I had to completely go with my instincts and believe in him.

I’d become so attuned to the Skeleton Key, I knew it was still in my pocket. It never moved. Again, I wondered what would happen when this adventure was over. Should I use the key and go back to my other life? Should I stay? This place was so different from where I had come, yet there were some things that were familiar. If I stayed, would I ever truly feel a part of this world? Or would I always be treated differently because in their eyes, in their prophecy, I was a god? Would I be able to step into my rightful place as leader and assimilate to my new role, or would I be just as lonely, isolated by my status as God, as I was going in to work at my office back home?

As Hallet absently played with a lock of my hair, he continued to talk with Ronin about the coming battle. I knew in my heart of hearts that he would be devastated if I left. When our souls danced together, they created a bond that would forever be recognizable to the other. Would that bond still be there if I walked back through the door? What about after their world was peaceful? Maybe if I wasn’t needed anymore, we wouldn’t feel the same.

Listening to the deep rumble of their voices and the fire crackling in the fireplace, I again felt completely at ease and relaxed. I had no idea how I could adapt so easily.

“
I
t’s time
. Do you stand with me, or against me?” I asked him.

“I think you completely underestimate this whole situation,” Erion replied.

Using every ounce of control I had, I tried to keep myself calm. Over the centuries, I’d learned the best way to make him do what I wanted. He’d never responded well to anger.

“Do you really think I haven’t plotted and planned for every single outcome?”

“Oh, no, I’m sure you have. But you couldn’t have thought of everything. She’s different and brings something completely unique to the table. Things you couldn’t possibly even dream of.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re intrigued by her.”

“So what if I am? It doesn’t mean I’m not going to do what’s best for my people.”

“What is it about her that has both of you acting like her babysitter?”

Shaking his head, he turned his back to me and looked across the canyon. “You think this will be the perfect place for the battle?”

Walking over to him, I placed my arm around him and rested my head on his shoulder. “I do. You can use your wind to keep them where I want them, and I can make sure they never make it out alive. The ground is solid rock. They won’t be able to escape through the dirt this time.”

“What about Naida?”

I waved my hand away. “She’s too busy playing with her creatures to care what we do.”

“Again, you aren’t thinking things through. She doesn’t want her people harmed any more than we do.”

“Yes, but she also doesn’t like to fight.”

“While you live for it.”

“Some of us have had to fight for everything we have,” I replied.

He looked down at me. “All you had to do was look around, there were plenty of people willing to help.”

Rolling my eyes, I pulled away from him. “Can we please not talk about this again? I wasn’t in love with you.”

“This is where your downfall will be, Dayna. You always think you know everything and are so focused on your goal, you forget to look around you. I wasn’t talking about us. I was telling you before the bloodshed, when the four of us were friends, other people cared about you.”

“They cared about what I could give them. Nothing more.”

“There are times when I wonder how someone who cares so much for her own people could be so cold when it came to others.”

“Maybe it was how those others treated me and my own. Did you ever think of that?”

“No, Dayna, it’s how
you
perceived them. You were always ready to think the worst of everyone else.
You
always thought they were attacking
you
, putting
you
down. They were always wrong and you were always right. You were the one who was always getting your sensibilities hurt by some injustice or another.
You
were the one who was completely justified in seeking revenge for whatever someone did to you, but any time someone called you out for what
you
did to them, it was different.”

“You don’t understand!” I screamed at him. “You didn’t watch your people die by the hands of the other elements!”

“You forget who you are talking to. Each and every element had people die in that battle, it wasn’t just yours. All you can focus on is your people and Hallet killing your parents. But listen here; his parents died first, and from all accounts, by an Earth Element. By the old rules, he was completely justified as the new King of the Fire Elements to fight your parents to the death. Think about the fact that you two weren’t the only ones who lost parents that day. Mine and Naida’s were killed, too. Everything changed that day for
all of us
.”

I’d never seen him this angry. His hair was almost as black as the clouds that boiled above us. Lightning and thunder rumbled through the canyon, echoing off the walls until it was almost a constant sound. I needed him on my side if this plan was to work, and I wasn’t about to lose it now because he finally decided he’d had enough.

“I’m sorry, you’re right. The scars of watching my parents killed right in front of me is a pain I will suffer from forever. Something I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life. I close my eyes, and I can still see their faces as they perished. It haunts me, Erion. Still, after all of this time.” My voice broke.

He gathered me up in his arms, and I smiled. Sometimes he was too easy.

“I understand. The image of finding my parents slaughtered will always be right there, waiting to surface. I’ve been thinking of them a lot lately. This isn’t what any of them wanted. They’d tried so hard to bring peace here.”

“Sometimes you need the war to bring the peace,” I said.

“And sometimes you need to sacrifice in order for peace to happen.”

My heart sank. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I’m going to be sitting this one out. I don’t have the fight in me anymore. I think Raina will succeed in her endeavor.”

“Please,” I begged. “Don’t do anything rash. I need you.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t.”

I needed his power in this battle, there was no way I could win without him. Standing there, I looked at the man who loved me and had done anything I had asked of him since we were children. I would have to kill him now to get what I needed: his power.