Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(62)

“You are, whether you like it or not. Finley would have wanted you to take her spot in this time of unrest.”

I wasn’t so sure about that.

Below our feet, the Deep rumbled. I went to my knees and shot a look to Talan, frowning. “An earthquake?” No, that didn’t feel right.

He shook his head, his eyes so sad, I almost believed the sorrow in them.

“Humans.”





CHAPTER 22



The ground below us in the Deep shook again, shuddering like a beast stuck with arrows. I drew myself up. I lifted my wrist and Ash flew down from the rafters, landed lightly, and then moved to my shoulder.

“All of this, all of it is a distraction to keep us from going after Viv,” I said.

Talan grunted. “You think?”

“Don’t sass her!” Peta snarled. “You should be helping her, asshole, not making it harder for her to do her job. Whether you like it or not, she, you, and two of your siblings are going to stand shoulder to shoulder against Viv, now.”

Goddess love Peta. I could always depend on her, if no one else.

Dolph made a movement with one hand, two fingers pointed downward and a quick swirl. In a flash, the Enders were around me, a protective ring. “She is our queen now, protect her with your lives,” Dolph said.

The other Enders nodded, their eyes solemn.

Dolph made a motion with his head for me to follow him. I didn’t move. “No. No more lives for mine.” I held a hand out to Peta. “Are you with me for a bit of a ride, cat?”

She groaned. “I hate water, you know that.”

I smiled at her. “It is not our enemy any longer.”

She twitched her ears back and forth and then leapt for my arms. I caught her and put her on my other shoulder.

“Dolph, get the Undines to safety as best you can, but do not leave the Deep.”

He stared at me. “What?”

“Do not leave the Deep. The madness that takes our kind after years has been ramped up to mere hours,” I said. “Get them to safety as much as possible.”

Dolph shook his head and then bowed. “As you say, my Queen.”

It sounded strange from his lips, but I put it aside. I called up the power Realm had given me, wove it through the ocean outside the window and swept it in. A wave hovered through the opening like a surfboard waiting on me. I stepped on it, my feet as solid as if I stood on the earth. I turned to Talan. “After Vivica is dealt with, you and I are going to discuss your training methods and what you did to Shazer.” I couldn’t hold back the anger in my voice, the pain he’d caused me by killing Shazer. Even if Shazer had said yes. “I understand the need to stand together and that is all that is keeping me from doing anything rash. For now, are you with me?”

His jaw twitched once, anger flaring. “I am with you, Larkspur.”

“Then come on. I may need your help.” I held my hand out to him, a show of trust I didn’t truly feel, but Peta was right. Talan would stand with me against Viv.

Carefully, he put his hand in mine and I pulled him onto the wave.

Another flick of my wrist and Ash dropped to me. I settled him on my shoulder; for now, we were together, even if it was not as I would have wished it. I would not leave him behind.

With a single, simple thought I pushed the water out the tall window, which in turn took us with it. Talan swayed and I kept my hand on his, steadying him.

“I hated it when Realm did this,” he muttered.

I wondered if the idea had come through with the power Realm had handed to me.

All thoughts of Realm, though, were washed from my mind as I took us higher with the water, so high that we were above the spires of the Deep. Surrounding the world of the Undines were human warships circling like sharks around an injured, helpless whale. Only we were far from helpless.

A deep, cold rage began to churn in my belly, a rage that was not my own.

Realm might as well have been egging me, and the power he’d given me, on.

“Easy,” I whispered to the power in me. “Easy.”

I might as well have brought some of Realm with me. I could sense him as strongly as if he stood by my side. I clutched Talan’s hand a little tighter. “Your brother’s power is not what I expected.”

“No, he was always a bit of a hothead. Strange, considering he was full of water,” Talan muttered. I could feel his eyes on me, but I kept my eyes on the warships. I needed to find the one with the main leader. We hovered where we were for a minute while I looked over the ships. I finally settled on the biggest with the most guns and men.

“There, we will start there.”

“Wait, what?” Talan howled the words as I snapped my fingers and we dropped down the water as if it were a giant slide. Our bodies picked up speed, faster and faster as we approached the ship. Guns were trained on us; I could almost feel the heat and smell the black burn of gunpowder. I snapped my fingers a second time and the water kicked us up into the air at the last second so we hovered over the deck of the warship.

“Peta, shift,” I said. We needed to make an entrance. We needed the humans to see we were strong enough to take them out if we chose.

We dropped through the air, Peta shifting as she leapt from my shoulder, Ash taking flight and circling our heads with a screech. The three of us landed hard enough to dent the metal of the ship’s deck. I stood from a crouch and brushed off my clothes as if I had all the time in the world. When I finished, I addressed them with a voice I’d heard only my father use. Commanding, imperious.