Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(59)

“Finley, you must not kill the humans. Don’t start a war with them.”

She jerked away from me, coming out of the fog in an instant. “Lark, what are you doing here?”

I repeated the words, pushing harder with Spirit. I didn’t truly know what I was doing and the last thing I needed was to harm my friend.

“You are being manipulated,” I said. “And I am trying to show you the truth.” I held my hand out to her, knowing in the past just my touch was enough to break the hold of Spirit on someone.

But not this time.

“She said you would try to stop me.” She threw the words at me. “You have turned from the mother goddess, Lark.”

She swept her hands out and I saw the intention in the lines of power.

Finley was going to drown me.





CHAPTER 21



I had a split second to decide how to handle Finley. I could try to use Spirit on her again, or I could fight her.

Spirit was not going to work. The ties Viv had wrapped around her were obviously too tight. Sadness and grief flew across the bond between Peta and me. We both knew what was going to happen.

“Ash, fly!” I called out, and he launched from my shoulder into the ceiling rafters.

“Don’t make me fight you,” I whispered to Finley. Because I knew… I knew this time there would be no bringing her back. If I lost, she would go on to wipe out the humans as she’d been commanded.

The water of the Atlantic Ocean swept in through her window, coming for me.

I dove for Finley, tackling her to the ground, softening the stone to encase her within it. At least, that was the plan.

The water blasted me off her, lifted me and held me in midair in a bubble of the cool liquid.

Finley’s voice was clear, echoing through the water like a microphone. Peta was in her own bubble of water away from me. Her eyes narrowed as she fought to swim to the edge. I knew she was not worried about getting a breath of air so much as she was worried about taking Finley out.

Tears streamed from my eyes, mixing with the salt water. This was not what I wanted to happen. This was not how it was supposed to end. Finley was a good queen. A powerful queen who didn’t deserve to die.

I didn’t want to be the one to end her reign.

I closed my eyes as the water pushed in on me from all sides, the pressure increasing on my ears, chest, and limbs. My eardrums burst and my heart began to falter under the lack of oxygen. But I had one thing Finley did not. I knew the name of the elemental who’d created this power.

Realm.

Just his name, nothing else echoed out of me, forming bubbles in the water.

Finley was still speaking, but her voice was growing dim, fading as spots of darkness blackened my vision.

A part of my brain whispered that it was always destined to come to this for me. Water would be my death.

Realm. Again, I mouthed his name, the last of my breath leaving my body.

I blinked, and below me, Finley was unmoving and the water around me no longer pressed down on my body.

A presence slid through the water. I twisted where I was to face him. He floated in front of me, the scene below me frozen as it had been in the hot springs below the Spiral. His body was powerfully built, but lean, and his skin was the lightest of greens, his eyes brilliantly blue and his hair that same shade of violet as Finley’s. His fingers and toes were webbed, but even so, he didn’t seem to have to move much to stay where he was.

His voice was clear, as clear as if we were not floating in water. “That you know my name is interesting. Not interesting enough to keep you alive, but enough that I am curious. That I would speak to you before you die.”

I stared at him, gathered my strength and asked the one question I hoped would help him see my cause. “Realm, are you going to let me and Olivisha die?”

He jerked back through the water as if I’d struck him. “You have two of our true names… you are of that demon spawn’s ilk then?”

I laughed, bubbles floating away from my mouth. “No, I am against Vivica. Olivisha… she gave me her power to use. For a time. Until the false mother goddess is dealt with. She fears Viv too greatly to stand against her.”

“And me?” He spread his webbed hand against his bare chest. “What is to be done with me?”

“I would free you if I could find you,” I said. I glanced at the bubble Peta was in. Her eyes were on us, and I could see she was keeping close tabs.

“I don’t even know where she stuffed me,” Realm grumbled. “She knocked me out, and then when I woke, I was in an oubliette.” His eyes were not on mine any longer, but on Finley. “That one is a good queen, of that much you are right. But you cannot break the hold Spirit has on her. Not without killing her.”

I didn’t fight the tears. It wasn’t like he could see them. “She is my friend; I’ve known her since she was a child.”

“And so you do her a great disservice to leave her in the care of that bitch who is breaking our world apart.” A sigh slipped from him and he swam closer to me. “You know my name, and Ollie trusted you. That is enough for me. Take what power I have left and do your best, child of the earth.”

He kissed me then, not on the forehead as Olivisha had done, but on the lips, catching me off guard. His hands swept up to hold my face and the caress of water over my entire body turned from pain to a sweet pleasure that left me wanting. Realm pulled back. “Beautiful soul, ah, I see now what Ollie saw in you. Stand in my place against the bitch who confines us,” he murmured. I found myself following him through the water, wanting, needing that sensation of connecting again. He gave me a lopsided grin, his lips calling to me. “You are dangerous… another time, perhaps, child of the earth.”