Peta (An Elemental Series Novella, 3.5) (7 page)

“She doesn’t need you,” I spit out, as I arched my back. “She’s stronger than you.”

His lips twitched. “You see, already you have chosen her over me.”

I had, and I didn’t care. “She would never put me aside. Not even for the mother goddess.”

Talan crouched in front of me. “Perhaps that is true. Will you bring her to me, when I come to you again?”

I hunched my shoulders. “I will give her the choice. I will not force her.”

“That is all I ask.”

Hunching myself further, I fought the tears and then gave up, looking to him. “You broke my heart, Tal. You broke it into a thousand tiny pieces and I have been trying to fix it for so long. And then Lark comes into my life and those pieces are flowing back together. Having you show up now . . . it isn’t fair.”

“No, but that is how the mother goddess works, isn’t it? Fair is not her middle name, kitten.”

I had to smile at that, and it was as if my smile broke the dream apart.

Lark was already awake, but her thoughts were being kept from me. I wasn’t worried, but I should have been. Talan was right about her, she was a bit wild, and also grounded. A deadly combination when it came to her setting her mind on something.

s we left the hidden library, Lark gave Cactus directions. So she
did
have a plan. My curiosity got the better of me.

“What are you doing, Dirt Girl?”

“I’m going to confess,” she said as if it were the most natural thing in the world to take someone else’s place in death. Like she was telling me we were going to have tea and cookies with a friend.

“No!” I roared, leaping in front of her and physically blocking her from moving forward. “I will not allow it. You and I both know those Enders were killed after they were healing. You would at most have a lashing, and yet even that would kill you here in the Pit! Your death is not deserved, Larkspur. You can’t do this.” I couldn’t stop my voice from shaking. I could not lose her. Damn Talan for putting the thought in me. I did not want it to be true.

I would not admit even to myself that she was quickly becoming my world. She dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around my neck. I pressed my mouth against her collarbone, my teeth chattering against her skin. I could not keep my emotions in check—especially after seeing Talan alive and realizing how much Lark already meant to me. I had to stop her from this madness.

No matter what it took, no matter what I had to do I had to keep her from confessing.

“Peta, I don’t plan to die,” she said. “Belladonna will get me out of this and if I have to . . . I will fight my way out.”

I gasped and then pulled back to stare at her. A little wild? Perhaps more than a bit. None of my other charges had ever even considered fighting another elemental, even when it was warranted.

“I’m not like the other elementals. I won’t go down without a fight. Trust me. Please.” She begged me both with her words and the bond between us to understand her. And a part of me did. But the other part . . .

“You would be banished, anathema to all who met you. Your life would be over; you would be the walking dead. For what? A single life freely given in exchange for yours?” Could she truly mean to do this?

“No one will die, Peta.”

That was easy for her to say. She was young and hadn’t seen how very hard the world could be, and how cruel the mother goddess was at times.

She put a hand on my head, her fingers working deep into my fur. “Peta.”

I dropped my head and rolled my eyes up so I could look at her still. “Larkspur, please do not ask me to do this. To watch you offer up your life. You will be the thirteenth charge the mother goddess has given me. I cannot bear to watch you die, too.”

“Walk with me.” She put her hip against my shoulder and I reluctantly let her push me so we were again moving forward. I knew she could find her way to the throne room. There was the large statue of Fiametta already twinkling at us from a distance. In only a few more strides we were at the large doors. Fiametta’s voice could be heard clearly, at least to my ears.

“Trust me to come out of this alive, Peta,” Lark said.

“That is what my first Spirit charge said right before he died trying to save a friend,” I whispered. Talan had done that very thing, told me to trust him as he dove into the tornado to save his friend. And they’d both died. Or at least, I thought they had.

Lark faced Fiametta like only a true warrior could. Without fear for herself, only thinking of those she wanted to save.

It took all my strength not to leap in front of her and knock Fiametta flat, to urge Lark to run and escape the Pit. To make her see that there was no good way this could end.

Trust. The word was hard for me to swallow, yet I did anyway. Lark had a plan, and I would trust in it as she had trusted in me to give her good advice. A relationship of give and take, of trust and understanding.

Even Talan hadn’t trusted me completely, for if he had there would have been no deception at the end. He would have broken the bond between us and walked away. I’m not sure that it would have been any easier, but it would have at least been honest.

Fiametta led Lark to her personal chamber, and when I moved to follow, the queen stopped me, her blue-eyed glared hot on my fur. “This is not for you, familiar. I see your hand in this; you took her to the library, giving her access that only Loam had.” She pointed at the paper Lark still clutched.

I tipped my head to one side, a burning desire to lash out growing strong in me. “You are not my queen any longer, Fiametta. I obey Larkspur, no one else.”

Fiametta’s hands clutched at her side, and her eyes. Oh, if looks could kill I’d be dead and buried ten feet under.

Lark put a hand on my head and calm flowed through her into me. “Wait for me. Please.”

Reluctantly, I nodded and sat outside the door. “I will come if you call.”

The door slammed behind them and I sat quietly, breathing slowly in through my nose and out my mouth. Focusing on the rise and fall of my chest and trying not to think of all the awful things the queen could be doing to Larkspur. This was the part of being a familiar that I hated. The moments where I could do nothing to help.

Yet the bond between Lark and me was steady and her life force was strong giving me a measure of certainty that it would be all right. A sudden burst of power flowed through her, disrupting my meditation. Earth, that was what she’d pulled on. Only a second, and then the power was gone and the ground was still.

“Peta.”

Lark called for me and I spun, pushing the doors open. Fiametta was sunk to her neck in the rock. I lowered myself to my belly and crept forward.

“Lark, what has happened?”

“I need you to get Cactus. Hurry,” she said, and a thread of worry floated between us.

Without a word, I turned and bounded away. Finding Cactus was easier said than done.

I all but slammed into Brand as I rounded the first corner.

“Bad luck cat, what are you doing here? Where is Lark?”

“I need to find Cactus,” I spit out, ignoring the jab at me. Now was not the time.

“I saw him headed this way.” He turned and pointed and I was off and running. Why Lark needed Cactus, I didn’t know but I had to get him fast. The queen would have something up her sleeve, that much I knew. Fiametta hadn’t risen to power because of bloodlines or good looks. No, she’d taken the throne with sheer strength and intelligence.

Three corners and I picked up the scent of Cactus—a little bit fire and a little bit dirt. “Cactus!” I yelled his name and he sprinted toward me, he green eyes meeting mine.

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, but she needs your help right now. You must hurry!” I snapped, swinging a paw at him with my claws outstretched to get the point across.

Brand was right behind me when I turned. “Out of my way, Ender.”

“If Lark is in trouble, I can help,” he said.

“Fine, but don’t dilly dally.”

Of course, it was the wrong choice to bring the Ender, but I never thought he would turn on Lark.

I was so very wrong.

As the crossbow slammed into her shoulder she stumbled backward, reaching for her spear but I knew what was coming, could see it on Fiametta’s face. I leapt in front of Lark as a ring of fire burst up around us, like a cage that increasingly shrank.

Fiametta stood over us. “These two men are loyal to me, you didn’t really think any negotiation we made in front of them would hold, did you?”

Pinned to the ground, I laid my body over Lark’s, protecting her from the heat. It was all I could do. We were sunk, Fiametta would kill us both. Yet I knew that if I had to die, I was glad it was with Lark.

She stared up at Fiametta. “You know, I’m beginning to think the rulers of all the families are assholes.”

Another time I would have laughed because she was right. All the rulers
were
assholes.

We were dragged off to the dungeon and I was chained to the wall by my neck. I couldn’t help but pace the small length I was given. This was not the first time I’d been chained up, but I didn’t take it lightly that the last time had been while I was Talan’s familiar. Something about the Spirit users obviously got them into trouble.

Lark’s friend, or supposed friend, lashed out at her.

“We aren’t going to survive this. I thought I could at least get you out of here and now you’ve gone and screwed that up.”

“What?” she whispered. “Are you serious?”

“One thing, I asked one thing of you—to go with Brand and save your own life—and you couldn’t even do that.”

Her pain cut through me, not of the physical variety but through her heart. This man who hurt her, she loved him. I could feel those ties as surely as I could feel my own ties to her. And he was cruel to her. A cry slipped out of me as I strained against the chains in an attempt to reach her. To comfort her.

Ash softened his voice. “I was only trying to make you angry, so you could reach your power.”

What an idiot. Men and their brilliant ideas. I wanted to snap at him that it would have been better if he’d hit her if he’d wanted to piss her off.

Belladonna though saved him from my tongue lashing as she swept in and had Lark and me unchained and brought before Fiametta once more.

This time, Belladonna took the stage and brought everyone to a standstill with her reasoning: Lark could not be held accountable for the deaths of the Enders because she herself was not yet an Ender.

A sigh of relief slipped out of me, but it did not last. I should have known.

Fiametta had Lark read the second part of the papers, about the punishment at the choice of the ruler offended.

Fiametta pointed the coiled leather at Lark. “Strip her.”

Belladonna gasped. “You can’t truly mean to do to this.”

“Cassava has obviously misled you, little Terraling. We are not friends, and neither are our families.” Fiametta uncoiled the leather and her hands lit up as she called on the fire. Like a living snake it wrapped around the leather.

Lark’s sister yelled at her, “Lark, fight her!”