Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(46)

His dark eyes were still worried. “What if it kills me?”

I swallowed hard. “Talan would have said something, wouldn’t he?”

Peta trotted forward. “I overheard him, and he has a point.”

He dropped his nose to her. “I knew I liked you from time to time, pussy.”

She batted a paw at his nose. “The shift after this long could kill him. We aren’t talking about a few years, or even only ten or fifteen. We’re talking about a few thousand. I heard what Meghan said.”

“This isn’t helping,” I said. I swallowed hard, thinking. “Talan, tell me we can do this safely.”

“It can be done safely,” he answered, smooth as butter.

Peta put a paw against Shazer’s lower leg. “This needs to be Shazer’s choice, not Talan’s. Or even yours.”

I nodded, reached out and touched Shazer just behind his ear. “It is your choice; she is right about that. Do you want to return to your previous shape if we can do that?”

He was quiet a long time. “I don’t know. Alive and stuck like this, I am still alive at least.” A flicker of fear flashed through his big dark eyes. I pressed my head to his.

“I understand.” I would miss him, but if Talan was right, then Shazer would have to go. Much as I hated it.

I stepped back from him and turned around. “It’s not happening.”

Meghan lifted an eyebrow. “The wee pony is right to be scared.”

Shazer stomped a foot behind me and I held an arm out to stop him from charging her. “Not without reason. He’s held this shape for thousands of years; no one truly knows what will happen if it’s taken from him. Or if he’d even survive it.”

Talan stood a solid twenty feet from us and even at that distance I could see the irritation in his face, the flick of muscles along his jaw.

Talan stalked forward. “He is a liability that you cannot see because he is your friend!”

We were nose to nose, neither of us backing down. I refused to give up on Shazer.

Behind me, he butted his nose into my lower back.

“Lark. Let them try then.”

“No, you said you didn’t want to.” I didn’t look back at him.

“Let them try.” The resignation in his voice cut through my heart.

Talan shook his head. “She will never forgive me, but I will hold you to those words, Shazer.”

My eyes widened and the power of Spirit whirled around him.

I went to my knees, frozen in place. “Talan, don’t you dare!”

Raven ran across the beach. I heard the first pulse of wings, but I knew it wasn’t enough.

Seconds later, Shazer followed Talan to a place in front of me. Raven was on his knees, too, and Peta sat as if frozen.

“This is what will happen if you try to bring someone back. Someone who does not have the heart to shift. Someone like your Ash.” Talan bit the words out.

He flicked his hand at Meghan and she went to his side, trembling.

“Talan, do not do this,” she whispered.

“This is a lesson she will learn. That no one can be trusted. That her friends are not with her. That she cannot do everything.” His eyes hardened. “Learn this lesson well, Lark. Seeing as you would learn nothing else from me.”

What if Viv had put a booby trap inside of Shazer, too, like she’d done to the gargoyles? I could only hope the same trap that had lain in wait for me would take Talan. But somehow, I doubted it.

Meghan stepped up beside him again and reached around his middle, shaking. “One hand on the heart, one hand on the head.” She placed her hands accordingly and bowed her head. “You put your hands over mine, Elemental, then open your power to me.”

I looked Shazer in the eye and he winked at me. “Lark, this is not your fault.”

Talan stepped into position, reaching around Meghan. “It is her fault, for being childish. For being stupid. You lose those you love when you think you know it all.”

I realized then that Talan did not expect Shazer to survive.

“Talan, stop! I will learn.”

“Lies.” He breathed the word. “You are right, Lark. You only learn one way. Pain. Suffering. They have always been the best tools.”

“Please, stop!”

My words fell on deaf ears. I fought the bonds he’d placed on me like never before. Talan was not my friend. He was not trying to help me, but hurt me.

And he was going to murder Shazer.

Shazer began to breathe harder, the air flowing in and out of him in huge gulps as though he were running. His body shivered and his skin twitched, but I could see nothing changing.

Meghan shook her head. “Tough one. Talan, do you be sure?”

“Do it, witch.”

Shazer grunted and I kept my eyes locked on his as I frantically pulled at the threads of Spirit around me, but it was like fighting air.

“You hurt him, and I will kill you, Talan!” I screamed the words, panic and rage fueling them and my efforts. I focused on the threads on my mind and body.

I told myself a lie I was determined to believe. The bonds were nothing to me. The power of Spirit could not touch me as long as I held tightly to the earth.

A soft voice whispered through me from the ground, the voice of the true mother goddess.