Windburn (The Elemental Series #4)(48)

Sounded more like we would have a guard at all times to keep an eye on us. But maybe it was my past experiences in other elemental homes that tainted my view of things.

The halls were wide and tall, with open ceilings like the throne room. Walls with no roof, and the bright blue, cold sky beckoning above us. Of course, the Sylphs could keep the weather constant over their homes. Cactus, Peta, and I, on the other hand, would have no such amenity.

Where the Eyrie was not cloud and drifting fog, it was set into the mountain, as Samara had said. I couldn’t help but reach out and touch those parts, reassuring myself that I could at least still feel the earth here and there.

Samara stopped in front of a door on the left of us, toward the mountain. I let out a sigh of relief. “There is food and drink inside. I will be back in an hour to take you where you wish.”

She turned on her heel and strode away, her white leathers blending into the drifting clouds at her feet.

I stepped inside the room and let out a sigh. There was no cloud for footing here, but a solid smooth stone. I bent a knee and pressed my hands against it. Limestone, common to the area. It warmed under my hand and the mountain seemed to strain to reach me.

“Easy, Lark.” Cactus put a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t think you should connect with the earth here. Neither of us should.”

I blinked up at him. “Why not?”

He crouched beside me and lifted my hands from the stone. “Terralings made this place for the Sylphs.”

I knew that our family had at one time been close with the Sylphs. “What does that matter?”

“Because, Dirt Girl, what you felt in Giselle applies here too. She had Spirit flowing through her from the things Talan had worked on her; the mountain has had Terralings work through it in detail. It makes the stone eager for your touch.”

Frowning, I stood. “That makes no sense. We have helped all the families build their homes in the past. To one degree or another. Why would touching this particular stone be bad?”

Peta trotted to the large bed that dominated the room and leapt up onto it. She sunk down to her chin in the lush blankets. “Oh, this is nice.” She seemed to lose her train of thought for a moment in the physical sensation.

“The Eyrie . . . it is different from the others. The Pit is buried under a mountain close to the fire in the earth. The Deep floats in the ocean, made up of sand and shells. But the Eyrie is built into the mountain, and while it is high within the stratosphere, it is the power of the Terralings that keeps it together. With the connection you have to the earth boosted by Spirit, you are drawn like a magnet to this place. It means you have more power here than anywhere else in this world. It also means the mountain will do as you ask, even if you don’t ask.”

“Shit, I didn’t know that.” Cactus tightened his hold on me, and pulled me closer to him. He let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Don’t touch anything, Lark. You’ll break the mountain in half.”

I snorted. “Please, don’t be a fool.”

Oh, if only that were the truth.





CHAPTER 16





he first day passed in the Eyrie with no clues as to whether my father was there at all. Samara led us around on a tour of the second and third levels. Tiers were built into the mountain with multiple wide stairways leading up and down.

“Night is coming, and I have to go on guard duty.” Samara stopped again at the door to our suite.

“Will you come in for a moment? I have a question I’d rather not ask in the open.” I stepped through the doorway and waited, looking at her while keeping my face carefully blank. Her pale eyebrows ticked upward, but she stepped through the door.

We hadn’t spoken much through the tour, at least not about anything other than the makeup of the Eyrie and what we were seeing. All interesting, but not what I wanted to know.

I made myself ask the question. “Samara, is there any dissension in the Eyrie? Something a person from outside of your family could exploit?”

If I thought her eyebrows had climbed before, that was nothing to what they did then. “Who exactly would want to exploit my family?” Her words were smooth, but there was a hard bite to them. I saw the way her hand drifted to the pointed short staff strapped to her back.

I held my hands up, palms facing her. “There is one from our family, Cassava. She has . . . caused a great deal of strife not only in the Rim, but has tried to usurp the other families in one way or another too.”

Samara’s hand dropped away from her staff. “The queen here is well loved, even by her spoiled daughters. The Enders respect her even with her advanced age. There is no reason for anyone to think she will cross the Veil anytime soon. And as I’m sure you’ve noticed, it is hard to slip anything by her in spite of her eyes.”

Tension should have eased off me with her words, but it did not. If there was no dissension here, why was my father hidden away in the Eyrie? Either Samara was lying, or there was more going on than the Ender knew. I hoped it was the latter; I liked Samara.

“Is that the only question?” She looked up at me.

I nodded. “Yes. For now.”

She backed out and shut the door behind us with a click. There was no additional click of a lock, though. Cactus went to the bed and flopped down with his legs and arms spread wide, his fingers reaching for Peta. “Come here, bad luck cat. I know you want to cuddle.”