The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (41 page)

Dorian chuckled. “I forgot you haven’t eaten since yesterday morning.”

Before Phoebe could do anything, he snapped his fingers, and she scowled as she sat up. “I didn’t mean I was too weak to walk down to the dining hall.”

“Phoebe, you know I don’t think of them like servants. That’s the only way to summon them,” Dorian said.

“It’s still degrading. How would you like to be snapped at all the time? No one else pays them one iota of attention except for wondering where their food is,” she replied.

Dorian’s smile disappeared, and his eyes turned cold. “Complacency, remember?”

Phoebe’s irritation vanished. She hadn’t forgotten. She had come to terms with it, but she definitely had not forgotten. Link zoomed in through the door and bowed.

“How may I be of assistance to Sir and Miss today?”

Dorian’s expression changed to kindness as he spoke to the tiny gnome. “Hello, Link, thank you for coming so quickly. Would you be so kind as to bring Phoebe some breakfast, please?”

Link practically jumped in excitement. “Of course, Sir! I would be honored! What would Miss like?”

She smiled warmly at the gnome. “Glume is fine, Link. Thank you so much.”

Link bowed and exited the room at top speed. Dorian turned back to her when the door had closed. His forehead wrinkled in concern.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She shook her head. “No, didn’t you tell me not to say I’m sorry?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Then the same goes for you,” she said as she cut Dorian off. “This is the way things are. I’m learning so much about how things are here. And I already feel better. Knowing, I mean. It’s not quite as overwhelming as I thought it would be, just bad, very, very bad.”

Phoebe considered her emotions for a minute. For the first time in a long time she didn’t have to fight with her anger to control it. She could feel it in a small part of her, but it wasn’t trying to control her; she was controlling it. The horrible images playing over and over in her mind gave her more determination—that was an evil she could fight against. Kali, on the other hand, was a different matter. Phoebe turned her mind away from Cassius’s niece before she had a chance to get angry.

“I do have one question though,” she said.

“Anything,” Dorian murmured.

She lay back against his shoulder and breathed deeply, taking in his wonderfully unique aroma before posing her question. “What are we fighting for?”

He didn’t even pause to consider his answer. “Humanity.”

“I don’t understand.”

Dorian tightened his arms around her. “You’ve seen what people are already like. They know what’s going on, and yet they no longer want to fight to stop it. Before long, they won’t care at all. Some of them may even join him. How many will die when that happens? Petrozan sees humans as disposable—how long before there’s none of us left? Or how long before humans are nothing more than wild animals, doing whatever it takes to survive, no matter who might get hurt in the process?”

“But Petrozan and Esmeralda are both human. How is eliminating their own race going to do them any good?”

“Because then there’s no one left to oppose them. They see human emotions as a weakness. Only those who can act as if they have none will survive. Even when they die, there will be nothing left.”

Phoebe shivered and curled into Dorian’s chest. Link came back into the room and delivered her food. Dorian thanked him, and the gnome sped off again to start breakfast for everyone else. Dorian reached out and pulled the tray over to them.

“You need to eat.”

“I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Phoebe, please, for me?”

She sighed but uncurled from his chest and picked up her bowl. She thought over everything Dorian had said while she ate. As the sun slowly rose outside the window, Phoebe realized they weren’t fighting simply so people wouldn’t suffer, and they weren’t even fighting for freedom—they were fighting for their very survival as a species. Dorian watched her eat but said nothing. She couldn’t help but picture a desolate wasteland with Petrozan and Esmeralda standing triumphant upon a mound of the dead bodies of all the people that she loved.

“Dorian?” Phoebe said suddenly.

He was startled when her voice came out of nowhere but recovered quickly. “Yes?”

“I can’t live without you.”

Several emotions passed over his face quickly, but she was preoccupied with her own feelings. She knew it was true, with every beat of her heart; she knew that she couldn’t live if he didn’t.

“Nor can I live without you,” he replied.

“Then I’m ready to go to training. I’m ready to fight.”

Phoebe leaned against Dorian’s chest as she ate so she couldn’t see his face, but his arms constricted around her. A gesture that clearly said “I’m not ready to let you go.” It wasn’t a choice either of them could make. They
would
fight and they
could
die. The only choice they had was when.

***

Evan sparred with Dorian as Cynthia, Jared, and Phoebe lounged in the stands. Since they had been pulled out of the regular training arena, they had moved to a slightly smaller one with only one tier around the room. They were still waiting for Ethan, Lucy, and Hector to arrive, and Evan, impatient as always, had started without them. Phoebe was glad to have Hector coming in because everyone would have their own partner again. Evan was usually her partner, but he had taken on the additional task of assisting Dorian with demonstrations when Hector had been held in isolation for an extra two weeks. After they mastered each move, they would spar with one another and with Dorian, but they were unevenly matched and someone always had to go twice. Not that anyone minded two turns—Evan was usually overexcited to do it—but it was irritating because it slowed things down.

On the other hand, having their own training schedule was nice because they could work on everything at the same time. Instead of having Elemental training on Tuesday and Thursday morning, they now worked on them along with combat training. They combined all their training every day, and because they were progressing rapidly, they had Sundays off. Cassius also came down in the afternoons to help everyone with their talents, instead of just Phoebe, and so her evenings were free too. During this time, Ethan, Cynthia, and Evan carried on with whatever they felt like doing. The new training program was much more relaxed, and it was easier to focus, especially without Kali.

Jared shook his head. “He does that every time!”

Evan was on the mat, pinned by Dorian and cursing. Dorian laughed.

“You can’t move like that when you’re in that position. It weakens the leg you’ve got your weight on, and all I have to do is twist to bring you down.”

Evan grumbled. “I know, I know. I can’t help it. Phoebe is the only one who can get out of that hold. We can’t all read minds!”

Phoebe laughed. “Trust me; mind reading doesn’t help with that hold.”

Evan waved his arm forward as he caught his breath. “Show me again, please.”

He stood off to the side of the mat, and Phoebe stood up and stretched. She stepped to the middle of the arena and faced Dorian. He was about twelve feet away. She broke free of her mind’s cage and went straight to his. He smiled.

Not fighting fair today? he thought.

Phoebe shook her head.

You’ll have to at least let me put you in the hold.

She nodded.

Dorian flipped through strategies as he moved toward her. He always tried to make a split second decision, but it never worked. Even though he continued to flip through attacks, she could see that he had already made a decision and was just trying to throw her off. She kept her body standing casually until just before he lunged. She slipped down into a crouch to meet him. He mentally cursed as she countered him perfectly, and she laughed.

Phoebe had his arms locked behind his back, and he paused as he thought over how best to get his arm out and put her into the hold in the same movement. Phoebe chuckled again as she waited for him to decide. If this were a real fight, if either of them were to pause like this, they would be dead. But this was just a demonstration. Phoebe could tell his arm was starting to go numb as he tried to decide, which made her laugh once more.

You just wait until you have to fight Hector. What are you going to do then? he thought.

Her mind snapped back to her body like a rubber band in shock. She hadn’t thought of that.

That brief moment of distraction was enough time for Dorian to twist and put her in the painful hold. She didn’t even have time to react.

“Cheater,” she hissed.

“All’s fair in love and war,” he chanted softly just outside of her ear.

“Move as slowly as you can so I can see everything!” Evan called.

Phoebe’s lower back was already throbbing from the pressure the hold placed on that area. Dorian had her twisted with her arms trapped. The only leverage she had were her legs, where her knees rested in the mat. If her legs weakened or moved even slightly, Dorian would only have to shift and the added weight would bring her down to the mat. That was the mistake Evan always made because the first instinct was to shift to the right, thereby taking the weight and leverage off the left leg to relieve the pressure on the lower back.

Phoebe fought against the urge to relieve the pressure and focused on what she needed to do to get out. The muscles in her legs protested the prolonged tightness from supporting half of Dorian’s weight. To get out, she would have to twist even further, which would hurt her back even more. It wouldn’t be so bad if she could just shift to the right to relieve some of the pressure as she had originally wanted to do. Phoebe gritted her teeth and twisted, leaving her legs locked into place. Pain shot all the way up her back. She groaned.

“Come on, love, I know you can do it,” Dorian encouraged her.

Now came the difficult part, she had to twist a little more and lift most of Dorian’s weight with just her lower back. She twisted, ignored the increased pain shooting through her, heaved, and pushed Dorian back slightly. It was enough to pull one of her arms out. She was finally able to lean to the right and brace Dorian’s sudden weight shift with her free arm. She turned her back into its normal position and lifted Dorian over her shoulder. He landed on his feet in front of her. She jumped to her feet as well, but Dorian held his hands up in surrender.

Someone applauded. Phoebe spun around and winced as pain shot through her back again. Ethan, Lucy, and Hector had arrived. Evan and everyone else moved to the middle of the floor with Evan grimacing as he walked up.

“How do you twist like that? Doesn’t it hurt your back even worse?”

Dorian was already kneading the knots in her back to ease the pain left over from the hold.

“Of course it does,” Phoebe answered, “but it’s either that or be pinned. Although, if you prefer losing…”

Horror crossed over Evan’s face. “No, I mean, I’ll do it. It just doesn’t look like fun.”

Ethan rolled his eyes and guided everyone off to the side so they could start stretching for regular training. Dorian’s hands became soft on Phoebe’s back as the last knot was smoothed out, and his arm wrapped around her waist. Hector studied her seriously, and she felt heat creep up in her cheeks. She had all but forgotten her behavior from the day before. She began to worry about whether Hector was as forgiving and understanding as everyone else had been.

“How many times have you practiced that hold?” Hector asked.

His question threw her off, and it took her a moment to get back on track. “Four or five times maybe?”

He nodded and arched his eyebrows. “Impressive. They weren’t lying.”

He looked over her shoulder to watch the others stretching and joking with one another. Phoebe paused to take in his appearance to see if it had changed at all since the day before. His midnight-dark hair shined like satin. His muscles still bulged and rippled, and his dark brown eyes were flecked with green. He didn’t look any older, or younger, and his tanned skin was graced with scars up and down his arms. One scar started just at the base of his neck and disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt.

Phoebe’s hand twitched, and her fingers tingled as she felt the urge to reach out and touch his skin. It looked soft and supple, but surely the characteristic of impenetrability would indicate something solid and unyielding. She had shaken his hand the day before, but she had been so distracted she hadn’t noticed how it felt. She kept her hand at her side and decided to apologize instead. She squeezed Dorian’s hand lightly. He understood her silent message and walked over to join the rest of their friends as they stretched. Hector turned back to her questioningly as Dorian walked away, leaving them alone.

His eyes were kind, but confused.

“I wanted to apologize, for yesterday. That had nothing to do with you,” Phoebe said.

The corners of his dark eyes crinkled as he smiled. “That’s okay. I understand. Everyone was quick to explain.” He motioned to the others.

Phoebe felt her heart swell as she looked over her shoulder at the others. “They’re good friends,” she replied as she turned back to him.

Hector nodded. “The best, from what I’ve seen.” His brow knitted. “Although, I’m sure the friends you left behind were just as good.”

In just a few words, Hector had cut through to a bleeding wound that she had managed to suppress for so many weeks: her friends, her family, school, her simple life, everything that had been left behind—a past she might never return to. She couldn’t even picture Kate or Carmen here, or even her parents for that matter. To put these heavy burdens on them would erase their carefree, happy smiles. To take that away from them would be nothing less than criminal. But she also couldn’t see herself in that world anymore. In that sense, the past slipped even further away. It was something she could never return to because it was something she could never be again. Carefree was no longer part of her vocabulary.

Once again, her already fragile emotional state suffered another blow. Not anger this time, but sadness. Heavy, oppressive sadness. Cold drops of water stung at her skin as rain fell down around her. What she wouldn’t give to see her mother and father just one more time. Hector looked up in concern as the rain extended to the rest of the room. There was no storm this time. No angry cracking of thunder and lightning to accompany the steady drops.