Frost Fire (Tortured Elements) (27 page)

Dad walked back to the Hummer and leapt into the driver’s seat. The engine started, and metal screeched as Dad backed his vehicle away from Drake’s ruined truck. And he drove off into the fog without a word of goodbye.

Drake stared after him for a long moment, watching as the swirling fog covered every trace of the Hummer. He stood there until he could no longer hear the vehicle’s rumbling engine. Until he was sure Dad was gone.

Then he let his head drop into his bleeding hands. Because Dad would never be truly gone. Not ever.

Allai let her eyes shut as soon as she couldn’t hear the engine anymore. She figured it was okay to look weak, as long as Rhaize wasn’t there, and as long as Drake was the only one to see. Because Drake would take care of her.

Although she wasn’t sure that was possible at this point. The pain was everywhere. In every joint, every muscle, every bone of her body. She didn’t want to move, but her body shook violently, and more pain tore through her with every tremor.

Allai squeezed her eyes closed tighter. There wasn’t much to look at, anyway. Just the fog and the shards of glass lying around her.

Then Drake’s arms were around her. He lifted her up, and she pressed her face into his chest. His familiar scent was soothing, and his touch as gentle as always. Drake carried her for a while, and she guessed he was taking her away from the ruined truck.

His footsteps stopped after a minute, and Allai peeked open one eye. They were a few yards away from the truck, right at the border of a wheat field. Fog surrounded them. She tried to peer through the thick haze, but it had enveloped them.

A ripple of pain ran up her spine, quivering the muscles in her back. She whimpered and bit back a scream. She couldn’t scream in front of Drake. She couldn’t let him see that all his efforts to save her weren’t working.

Drake dropped to his knees and held her close to his chest. “You’re going to be okay, Allai,” he murmured in her ear. “I’m going to get you to Flacks, okay? I’ll find a way to do it. You’re going to be fine.”

Allai tried to smile at him. She wasn’t sure if she actually succeeded, but she didn’t have the energy to try any harder. “It’s okay, Drake.”

She wasn’t exactly sure what she meant by that. Because it
wasn’t
okay. The edges of her vision were starting to darken, and the pain suddenly didn’t feel all that bad. She knew she should be panicking, because this had to be the end.

But she couldn’t panic. With Drake holding her, and his warm breath against her neck, and his comforting scent all around… She just couldn’t bring herself to panic.

“I should have taken better care of you,” Drake whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Allai said. Her voice sounded foreign, even to her own ears. It was weak and strained with fatigue. “You did everything right.”

“But—”

She reached up and pressed a finger against his lips. “No buts. You’ve always taken care of me, Drake. You’ve always kept your promise.”

Drake shook his head, and for a moment Allai thought he was going to protest. But then he brushed her hand away from his lips and leaned in to kiss her. This time Drake’s kiss was just a little rougher, just a little more desperate. He wrapped his arms around her more tightly, pulling her so close that she could hear his heartbeat thudding in time with hers. Allai pressed a hand against his chest, feeling his heartbeat against her palm. Memorizing it. Savoring it.

Drake pulled away and then cupped her chin in his hand. He brushed his thumb across her cheek, and tilted her chin up so their eyes met. “I love you, Allai.”

She opened her mouth, but no response came. How could she respond? Was it even possible? Everyone and everything she’d loved had just been ripped out of her life. She couldn’t replace them. Not yet.

Drake smiled softly and kissed her forehead. “You don’t have to respond. I don’t expect you to. I just need you to know that I love you.”

She smiled back at him. Then her vision faded away, leaving nothing but darkness and the faint sensation of Drake’s comforting warmth.

Allai woke to the gentle touch of sunlight on her face. She blinked a few times, and her vision slowly came into focus. She was lying on a bed, covered in a heavy quilt, with bare white walls surrounding her. A hospital; that’s where she must have been. But then she saw the vaulted ceiling above her and felt the silkiness of the sheets. And no hospital would have those things.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, sleepyhead.”

A deep, masculine voice said the words. Allai turned toward the speaker and groaned as her head spun. She closed her eyes to escape the whirling room and took a couple deep breaths until she didn’t feel so dizzy. When she opened her eyes, she found a man sitting beside the bed.

He was the strangest type of handsome she’d ever seen. His face was all harsh angles and topped with short-cropped hair so blond it looked almost white. He was just as muscular as Drake, but Allai guessed he’d be even taller if he stood up.

“Where’s Drake?” she asked him. Her voice was nothing but a scratchy croak.

“He’ll be back soon,” the man said. He had an odd accent, something between Irish and English.

She blinked a couple times, trying to understand his words and the situation. “Did… Did I die?”

The man chuckled, his lips lifting into a smile. His teeth were even paler than his hair, but the smile was still friendly. “Die? Of course not. We’d never let that happen to you, love. You’re much too precious.”

Allai bit at her lip. She tried to press a palm to her forehead, but her hand was stuck beneath the sheets, and she was too tired to untangle it. “Are you… Flacks? Did you save me?”

“I helped save you. But I’m not your father.” His smile faded a little. “You don’t remember me? Not at all?”

Allai slowly shook her head. “Sorry, but no. I don’t remember you. Should I?”

His face fell a little, but he quickly changed his expression to a small smile. “I guess I can’t really expect you to remember me. You were young.” He offered her his hand. “I’m Corinth Ashton. Although you used to call me Uncle Cory.”

Corinth. The name made her heart beat faster, and she tried not to let a gasp escape. But she was pretty sure she failed, because Corinth’s lips pursed with concern.

She stared at his hand, knowing she should shake it, but not wanting to. Because she’d heard the stories about Corinth. He was Flacks’s right-hand man and a ferocious warrior in battle. Shieldak had warned her about Corinth once: ‘
Flacks has brutal cunning, and Matthias has brutal strength. But Corinth is still a threat, Allai. Out of the three Caedes, he has the most control over his powers, and he’s been using it to his advantage for centuries.’

Corinth slowly withdrew his hand when Allai didn’t take it. He sighed. “I guess you’re probably not too comfortable with me, are you? With Shieldak raising you, and all. He probably told you some pretty nasty stories about me.”

Allai nodded and looked toward the door. She’d have to run right past Corinth if she was going to make it out of the room. And, if she did make it out, where would she even be? Her head started to pound as she realized she still didn’t know where she was.

“Don’t look so scared,” Corinth said in a soothing tone. “I’m not going to hurt you. See, that’s the thing about me. I can be vicious when it comes to fighting for the Keepers. But I wouldn’t dare harm anyone I love. And you’re one of those people, Allai.”

“But I don’t know you,” Allai whispered.

Corinth shook his head. “You just don’t remember me, love.” He paused for a moment, and his smile came back. “I was your favorite, actually. You used to follow me around everywhere.”

Allai closed her eyes as a strange mixture of excitement and panic settled in her stomach. Because Corinth could tell her about her past, and maybe even unlock some of mysteries she’d always wondered about. Where had she grown up, who was her mother, when was her birthday? Dozens of questions begged for answers, and Corinth could be the key to getting them answered.

But so far his explanations—even his presence—also brought confusion. Or maybe it was fear that was making her heart beat wildly. What he was telling her seemed surreal—she’d spent part of her life surrounded by the Keepers, the three Caedes Mages, and with Flacks as her father.

Corinth chuckled, but it was a kind sound. “You’re probably a little confused, aren’t you?”

She nodded. “What… What happened?”

Corinth clasped his hands together and leaned back in the chair. Allai waited for it to collapse under his weight, but it just creaked a little. “Apparently, you had a little run-in with Rhaize.”

Allai stopped breathing. She stared at Corinth, waiting for him to take back the words. But he didn’t, and her heart beat even faster, making the room start to spin again. She closed her eyes to shut out the spinning and whispered, “Is Drake okay? What happened to him? Where is he?”

“Drake is just fine, love,” Corinth said. “He’ll probably be back in here any minute. I made him leave to go sleep for a bit. He hadn’t left your side for almost two days.”

“Days?” she said. “How long have I been out? And where am I?”

“Why don’t I start from the beginning?”

Allai nodded. That sounded like the best option. Like a welcome option. After nearly a week—or had it been longer?—of confusion, her mind was craving solid answers.

“You lost consciousness after you ran into Rhaize,” Corinth. “Literally ran into. He crashed into Drake’s truck and totaled the thing. Apparently he wanted to make sure you didn’t make it here.”

“But where’s here?”

“Hush, love. I’m getting there. Anyway, Drake was able to contact your father, and he used his transportation spell to get to the crash site.”

Allai closed her eyes, trying to understand the information. Flacks. That’s who Drake had contacted, and that’s who had come to the site of the car crash. She sighed. It was going to take a while before she got used to correlating Flacks with the words ‘your father’.

“You were pretty far gone by the time he got there,” Corinth continued. “It was a strong spell he’d set on you, and it was splintering fast. Although you should know that Flacks set that spell on you with the best intentions. He thought someone might try to take you away from him when you were still young, so he set a Binding spell. It would obscure your powers and species if anyone ever took you away from him, and that’s exactly what happened when Rhaize got ahold of you.”

“But it almost killed me,” Allai said quietly. She wasn’t sure if it was defiance or disbelief that made her say the words.

Corinth sighed. “Yeah, love, I know. Flacks thought he’d be able to reverse the spell before your powers started maturing and made it splinter. He never thought you’d be away from him for so long.”

“And what about Silas?” Allai demanded. “He was an agent of the Keepers, and he was trying to
kill
me.”

Corinth shook his head. “He wasn’t. Flacks sent him to retrieve you, not to kill you. The French had just refused a bargain that would give custody of you back to Flacks. Flacks knew they were going to go to Shieldak with the information that you were a Caedes, and he knew Shieldak would kill you the moment he found out. So he sent Silas to bring you back to him and keep you out of harm’s way.”

Allai took a deep breath as this information settled in. It was all such a strange concept: Someone had actually planned on raising her from the moment she was born until she was old enough to care for herself. Or maybe even longer than that. Someone had planned on caring for her, and educating her, and maybe even loving her. Rhaize had ruined that plan. Shieldak had, too. But the fact that there had been a plan in the first place made some of the tension run out of her, and a small smile form on her lips.

Corinth gently patted her hand. “Your father was able to reverse the Binding spell. But… Well, you were still pretty close to dying. You were barely breathing, and your heart wasn’t beating correctly. So I drove out to the place where you’d crashed and worked my magic.” He winked at her. “My specialty is healing. Flacks works with the mind and teleportation, and Matthias just blows stuff up. But I’m most powerful with the healing aspects of magic.”

“Thank you,” Allai said. “I mean for… saving me.”

Corinth chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t thank me, love. I should just be thanking you for surviving. Magic isn’t the safest way to practice medicine when a person is that far gone.”

“Oh,” she murmured. Allai took a deep breath to suppress the chill threatening to run up her spine. Because she’d been close. So close to losing her life.

“Anyway, once I’d patched you all up, we brought you back here to the Chimeras’s headquarters. Tanner—he’s the head of the Chimeras—granted you political immunity, and he’s said you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need to recover. After that, he and Flacks will have to discuss arrangements. And you’ll also have a say in that conversation, of course.”

“So I’m in Idaho?” Allai asked. She tried not to think about the rest of what he’d said. That involved the future, and she wasn’t sure she could handle thinking about anything but the present and near-past.

Corinth nodded. “Just outside Coeur d’Alene, to be exact.” He made a sweeping gesture around the room. “The Chimeras have a nice setup. I think you’ll like it here, for the time being.”

Allai took another look around the room. The plain white walls still looked drab, and the skylight at the top of the vaulted ceiling made it feel like there was a spotlight on her. But it would do. At least for now, until she figured out a new place to call home.

The lockgem. The thought of it suddenly struck her, making her gasp. She couldn’t feel it around her neck. She wasn’t wearing it. Where had it gone?

“My lockgem,” she said, snapping her attention back toward Corinth. “Where is it? What happened to it?”

Corinth gave her a faint smile. “That lockgem isn’t your responsibility anymore, love.”

She let out a sigh and fell back into the pillows. They must have found a way to break the spell. She was no longer bound to Drake, and Drake’s life was no longer in danger.