Igniting Spirit (Gathering Water Book 3) (4 page)

“Yes.” His eyes were downcast.

Aahana grew a small chair and sat in it, plopping down as if she couldn’t stay on her feet any longer. “You Gathered Death?”

A nod of the head was his only reply.

“Wait, what?” Whatever they were talking about must have been a big deal, a
really
big deal, because Ezra refused to meet anyone’s eyes, and Aahana looked like she’d just been punched in the bread basket.

“Long ago, before we came to this realm, the most powerful among our people had the ability to Gather Death as well as Spirit, or life. We called them Thanatos. But they were often the most corrupt among our people during a time when all Ethnos were corrupt. Instead of using their power to help heal our land, instead of taking Death and infusing Spirit, they would just Gather Death for the power it gave them. It is a dark power, capable of infecting Spirit and eating it away like a mold on bread. None would stand against them, for fear of being infected with their power.

“But that wasn’t the worst of it. When all the life is taken from something, what is left is death. Take the death away as well, and what is left is
nothing
. That nothing would breed unnatural creatures, the stuff of nightmares that feeds on that which it lacked — energy — until our world was barren, all the while multiplying the nothingness it created. We left, and that is why we can never go back. Our world was already crumbling, but given enough time it would have healed itself. Now, it is a world of monsters. The Thanatos were all killed in the hope that our past would never repeat itself. Entire families were destroyed for fear of the power in their genes.”

Unnatural creatures? Nothingness? Shouldn’t I be riding around on a luckdragon or something?

“Why have I not heard any of this before? It seems rather important.” The only time I could remember death mentioned was in a conversation I’d had with Laurel, and she simply said that you can’t remove death from something. Either she didn’t know this particular history lesson or she lied to me. I really hated being lied to.

“The Elfennol don’t speak of it. I’m certain most of them don’t know it. My grandfather walked through the portal and helped build our first city in this realm. He told me of the Thanatos and the danger they present. He told me why we must never go home, because to go home is to become worse than dead. It is to be taken away from the natural cycle of things. In secret, I told my own children. The Elfennol fear the past, and would rather forget things as a method in preventing their recurrence.

My fingers were going numb from the vice-grip that Ezra had on my hand.

“You inherited this ability from your father, did you not?” Aahana asked.

He silently nodded his head, and I could almost feel the shame radiating from him. He looked up and met Aahana’s gaze for the first time in this conversation. “Are you going to tell the Elders?”

She nodded.

“Hold on. What will they do when they find out?”

She didn’t answer.

I pulled my hand free and stood up, not at all liking what the silence implied. “Well, then they aren’t going to know! You just keep your mouth shut, problem solved.” I hovered over Aahana, not trying to seem threatening, but knew I did anyway since the air started to shake around me.

Control was not my best attribute.

“It is likely that they already figured it out. Kaylus used that ability to kill poor Arthur. If they have not already pieced it together, they soon will. They might not know Ezra has the same ability, but all of Kaylus’ blood will now be considered tainted. If they have not figured it out, we need to warn them of what Kaylus is truly capable, because it is far worse than we thought.” Aahana spoke in the calmest voice I’d ever heard, and I finally knew where Alexander got his stoicism from. It annoyed me so much I started pacing.

“She’s right, Della. They need to know about my father. Stopping him is more — “

“I’m not going to let them kill you because you have an ability that scares them! You aren’t your father, and if you —”

“They are not going to kill Ezra. We have not done that type of thing for millennia,” Aahana said in such a way that made me feel stupid, even though there was nothing in her inflection that was mean. “At worst, they will imprison him for life. It’s most likely that he will be forbidden to marry or father any children in order to end the taint with him. But it is doubtful they will do even that now.”

I stopped pacing, “Oh, okay. So, why won’t they do anything now?”

“In small part because of how he nearly spent himself saving our people yesterday, but mostly because of you.” Aahana finally moved, adjusting her seat to more comfortably look at me since I was still standing.

“Me? They don’t even like me! Is it because they’re afraid of me now?” I could live with that, if it meant freedom and protection for those I cared about.

“Did they teach you nothing of our history in Eurybis? Nothing of the Runes?” She finally displayed a little emotion in her voice; exasperation. Like mother, like son. I remembered the rune the people had created when I walked past them before, and racked my brain trying to remember a lesson that had included its meaning and came up with squat.

“Uh, no?” They taught me plenty, or so I’d thought at the time. A flicker of worry again entered my mind for the Elfennol. They seemed so learned, but were missing very important chunks in their education system. Between that and the prejudices they held against the Clades, I wasn’t sure their way of life could continue for much longer… or should continue.

“The people have chosen you as our protector. You have saved us all, and they have placed their futures in your hands in the hope that you will continue to keep them safe. The Clades are yours now. It is how the rulers of the Ethnos were all chosen long ago, and sometimes still are among the Clades.”

My knees buckled, so I fell on the bed next to Ezra, and it was my turn to cut the circulation from his hand.

“The Elders would do nothing to your mate, even if they had the inclination.” Aahana smirked when I dropped Ezra’s hand like a hot potato.

“He’s not my mate! I mean —”

She smiled and even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew Ezra was very pleased with himself.

“Your second-in-command, then. It is clear you favor him and your abilities complete each other. Together you have full control over all the energy in this, and every, world. It gives our people hope to see you together in the face of the evil that Kaylus can bring down on this realm if he so desires.”

My head was spinning, so I leaned over and put it between my knees. How was I going to explain this to my father, the leader of the Elfennol? The same Elfennol who hated everything about the Clades because they didn’t understand them. But I remembered Cash, and the fact that I’d come to the Clades and not my own people for help. I came because they
could
help me, and if what Aahana said was true then I didn’t need to bargain or fight to get them to do so.

If it meant losing my place among the Elfennol and never seeing my dad again, it would hurt, but not more than having Cash slip away. Cash taught me what family meant, what having a home was like. He taught me to feel, to hope, to be happy. He was more than my cousin. He was my brother in all the ways that counted.

I’d sacrifice a lot if it meant keeping him alive.

I sat back up, then stood, determined to follow whatever path my destiny pushed me down.

“Aahana, if you would, find the rest of the Elders for me. I’d like to meet them in my room. C’mon, Number Two, let’s go furnish the new digs before our guests arrive,” I announced.

After a nod from Aahana I pulled Ezra up by the hand and dragged him out the door.

“So, do you want me to grab a few more people to help us make the new place?” he asked.

“I already built one. It’s the gigantic black place filled with my energy.” It was just too cool not to use. This time there was no crowd to walk through, but I kept my chin held high and tried to remember the faces of every person that respectfully nodded their head at me as I walked past.

Once we got inside, we made a simple round table with plenty of room for a dozen or so stools. Chairs would have been better, but I wasn’t the best at that level of detail yet, and apparently Ezra didn’t care to make them. Instead, he worked on creating sconces built into the walls and had the Loa fill them with fire.

“Would it be easier to make a light rune instead?”

“Yes, but you are master of more elements than Spirit. I am too. I don’t want anyone to forget.”

“Do you think you’re in danger?” I asked, searching his face for the worry I was feeling.

“No more than I’ve always been. But I’m afraid my father still has allies here. A lot of our people left shortly after the eruption settled — people who were more like my father. We have a lot of factions here because freedom is prized. There have always been a few, luckily the minority, whose beliefs aligned more with my fathers than that of common sense. My father was an Elder, and I don’t know who left is trustworthy.”

“How many Elders are there? Is it like the Elfennol Council?”

“The number of Elders changes. It’s usually people from the oldest families, but not always. Sometimes a person will be elected by the people, some are chosen by the other council members. We aren’t governed as strictly as the Elfennol, so there has been little need for the type of political structure they have. Our Elders are mostly a hodge-podge to fulfill  what we need at the time, and we haven’t needed much of anything for a while, until now.”

I’d sat down on the edge of the black table while he spoke. I knew there was something else he wanted to add by how his shoulders stiffened before he turned to face me.

“Della, we need you. So many people were lost yesterday either because of the catastrophe, or because they left to join my father. Nearly a quarter of our population is gone.” He sounded so desperate, I reached forward and grabbed his arm to pull him closer and wrap my arms around him. My head rested against his chest, and his fingers tangled in my hair. He continued, “I didn’t tell anyone else this, but when my father escaped he tried to take me. The men who left with him could have killed me.
He
could have killed me but he wanted me alive, and I don’t think it was because of his paternal instincts. He has always treated my abilities with the Loa as a tool in his arsenal, and it makes me sick to think what he might use them for — and that he’s ready to use them now. Father has always had a way of making people do things, Della. What if he can make me—”

“Stop.” I pulled away enough to slide off the table and stand in front of him. He didn’t move back, so we were pressed against each other and I had to strain my neck back to meet his eyes. The light in the obsidian room was just bright enough for me to see the golden flecks in his green eyes.

“Kaylus will
not
take you. He will not make you do anything, and he will not do anything to you.” It was my turn to feel desperate as the memory of my first Reading came back to me in vivid detail. My family could Read things in the elements, a bit of the past, present, or future. I’d only just learned how and had only done it successfully one time. I’d seen Kaylus plunge a knife into his son’s body. I had watched the light fade from his eyes as he died.

I needed to wash the image from my mind, had to assure myself that he was alive, so I reached with both my hands and held his face. I let my thumbs rest on his temples, wrapped my fingers through his short hair, and pulled him down to me.

Our mouths met with a fierce hunger. It wasn’t gentle, but it was right. Ezra lifted me back onto the table, and instantly I hooked my legs around his, pulling him close enough that I could feel his heart beating against my chest. Ezra’s arms wrapped around me, hugging me just as tightly as I held him. His mouth left mine, and I think I growled until I felt it latch onto my neck, teeth grazing that sensitive spot right above my pulse, and the growl turned into a low moan of pleasure. I threw my head back, before I felt a small tug on my hair, not hard enough to hurt, just enough to direct my face back to his. One of my hands found its way under his shirt to touch his bare back, and the feel of the scars under my hand that his father had given him fueled my determination to keep him safe. Our urgency seemed to ease at the same time, and our kissing slowed. Still we held each other, forehead to forehead, until I felt something brush against my hand. We pulled apart just enough to look up to see a cyclone of small white flowers rain upon us. What was even more incredible, at least to me, were the veins of energy from every element pulsing through the tornado-shaped structure. I only saw it because I was Tempering Fire at the time, and it let me see energy.

“Did you do that?” I asked, referring to the still-swirling flowers. Ezra had done the same thing on a few occasions, mostly to let me know when he was thinking about me, or to let me know he was close.

“No. The Loa did that on their own.”

I let Ezra pull me back against him and rested my head against his heart again. we stayed that way silently watching the flowers rain down for what seemed like forever, which wasn’t long enough.

“Aahana and the Elders will probably be here soon,” he said, finally.

“They’ll be here any minute, actually,” Aahana’s voice said from the doorway, eyes sparkling with a very “I-told-you-so” type of look. Ezra pulled himself away quickly and I slid down from my perch. I met her eyes, refusing to feel embarrassed, then walked to stand behind the stool furthest from the doorway. Ezra stood behind the seat to my right, and we watched as she walked into the room followed silently by a person I knew only too well.