Windburn (The Elemental Series #4)(50)

The wounds had been the result of the lava whip, wielded by the queen of the Pit. I should have died, but was healed first by Blackbird, which still confused me, and then fully healed by the mother goddess. But I was left with the curling vine studded with thorns that marked every place the whip had touched. I barely noticed it.

“What’s done is done. Unless you want to kiss it better?” I arched an eyebrow at him, surprising even myself. Playfulness was not something I knew in the bedroom. Yet with Cactus, it seemed natural.

Grinning from ear to ear, he bent his head. “As you wish, princess.”

His lips found their way around my body with ease, drawing more than one moan from my own lips.

Cactus lay on top of me, holding himself up on his elbows. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to complain I seduced you and you had no idea what you were doing, in the morning.”

I rolled my eyes. “Keep talking and I’ll change my mind.”

He kissed me softly and lowered himself—

The door rattled with the force of a body being tossed against it and Peta screeched, “Lark, Blackbird is here!”

I jerked away from Cactus and ran to the door, scooping only my spear as I went. I flung the door open and Peta—in her leopard form—fell in. Blood splattered her coat and she was breathing hard. “I’m fine, but you can catch him. End of the hall, Samara has him cornered.”

I didn’t wait for Cactus, or bother with my clothes. My bare feet on the floor energized me in a way I’d never felt when I’d connected with the earth before. I used the power to send me all but flying to where Peta had directed.

At the end of the hall, I slid to a stop as Samara went flying through the air right in front of me. A wild wind whipped down the hallway and held her aloft. She glanced at me, then pointed with her sharpened staff.

I stepped around the corner. Blackbird was indeed cornered, his back to the mountain and no way out.

“Let me guess, you have my father here?”

Blackbird laughed, though there was a nervous edge to it for the first time. “Please, I don’t need Father.”

“Then why are you here?” I approached him, my spear held across my body.

“You’re here, Lark, isn’t that enough? You and I are tied, bound together in ways you cannot understand yet.”

“Not good enough.” I was close enough that I knew I could leap and tackle him.

Samara stepped up beside me. “You know him?”

“One of the problems I’ve been dealing with.”

She grunted.

“You’re looking lovely, Lark. Perhaps you and I should be discussing the potential between us. We could produce the most powerful children.”

“I’d have to be tied down and unconscious.”

He swept his cloak back over one leg and I got a glimpse of dark brown leather pants. Not unlike a Terraling Ender. “That can be arranged.”

Revulsion curled through me.

His presence didn’t surprise me, but I couldn’t figure out what need he had of my father. And then it hit me.

“Your lover is here, isn’t she? Cassava has hidden herself away and you’re helping her.”

He laughed. “Clever girl. Yes, of course I’m helping her. I have been all along. But you’re so easy. I know how to make you do what I want.”

I swung my spear out and he leapt back, slamming into the wall. Why wasn’t he attacking me?

“Samara,” he said, and lines of pink slid around him, “kill her.”

Worm shit and green sticks.

Samara lunged at me, her eyes filled with his power, tingeing the whites. Her pointed staff swept my legs from under me and I hit the ground hard, the stone biting into my bare back. I rolled as she slammed the point of her spear toward my heart. The tip caught the edge of my back and tore a flap of flesh off. “Samara, fight him!” I yelled, knowing it would do no good. Unless I could get my hands on her skin, the power he held over her would stand.

She came at me again and again, and I deflected each blow. But I knew it was only a matter of time before she got through my guard. Her speed matched mine. I had only one choice. I flung my arms wide. “Kill me then.”

With a lunge, she drove her staff toward my middle. At the last possible second, as the tip touched my bare belly, I stepped to the side and slapped my hands on her face. Her momentum carried us forward a few steps before we stumbled to a stop.

“What happened? I dreamed we were fighting.” Her words were slurred as if she’d been drinking.

I let her go, watching for signs that the command Blackbird had given her was truly gone from her. I turned, to see if Blackbird remained, already knowing he too would be gone. The hall was empty except for Samara and me.

“Not a dream, my friend.” My breath came in gasps, and I touched the spot on my belly that had almost become a new scar. A thin trickle of blood ran down, but it was the injury on my back that was going to give me a good war wound.

Footsteps, and then Cactus was there in nothing but a pair of pants. He stared at me and spoke words that made my blood run cold.

“Blackbird took Peta.”





CHAPTER 17





“’m coming with you,” Samara said as we ran back to my room. I grabbed my clothes and slid them on with speed, ignoring her. “I said—”