The Bound (Ascension #2)(110)

“How do you expect me to leave when you say things like that?”

His brown eyes lit up, and that gorgeous smile that had won her over lit her up from the inside out. “I don’t.”

“I have work to do.”

“How is that going?” he asked sincerely.

She knew he was just trying to keep her with him longer. He would do it every day they were together, and that was most days after he had talked to Alise and convinced her to leave them alone. She had been under the impression that Cyrene was just going to disappear, but the longer Cyrene had stayed, the clearer it had become that she wasn’t going anywhere.

“Good,” Cyrene said. “Making progress.”

“Moved on from water?”

Cyrene frowned and shook her head.

Despite her limitation of being Bound to Byern, Cyrene had been working twice as hard to master her powers. Matilde and Vera had warned her that it normally took years to be able to manipulate all of the elements, but Cyrene didn’t want to hear it. She felt ahead of the game since she was Bound to Avoca. They had spent all winter on the water element, and they had to be getting close to mastering it. Cyrene was anxious to move forward with her training.

“No, but I will, if you let me go,” she rebuked.

He groaned in protest, but then he leaned down and kissed her one more time, wrapping his arms around her. “Come back to me today. I’m going to miss you.”

“You’ll be too busy beating Robard to miss me,” she said with a wink before scurrying out of his arms and rushing to the door.

Training went much the same as it had been going.

She’d wake up exhausted and go to bed exhausted. Her powers were growing, but she never felt like she used as much energy as she had against the Braj or Indres. No more blackouts. No more Serafina visions. Just the endless, tiresome work of making water do her bidding.

She and Avoca linked, and together, they reached toward the ocean and pulled up a huge amount of water. Cyrene took lead and began spiraling the water in the air, creating a spherical cyclone. Avoca twisted, and Cyrene could feel what she was going to do before she even did it. Avoca jerked her hand, and the cyclone rose into the air, picking up sand, rocks, and even more water. It rotated and enlarged as it spiraled upward.

All the while, Matilde was shooting dangerous flames in their direction. The first time she had tried that, both Avoca and Cyrene had needed new clothes because their gowns had been singed beyond repair by the end of practice. Now, working as a team, they could dodge the flames while still raising the water formation overhead.

“Now, freeze it,” Vera said.

She jabbed at Avoca with her magic, and Cyrene could feel the ice hit her in the sternum.

“Ugh!” Avoca cried, nearly losing focus.

Cyrene reacted on instinct to protect her and take more of the energy for herself. She felt the burst of release as her powers rushed from the depths within her. She took a deep breath and forced herself to keep going. She was never as good at freezing the water as Avoca, but it was a test. Vera had taken Avoca out of the equation for a reason.

Cyrene shot her hands forward, and in her moment of clarity, the sphere shook and cracked. Then, before her eyes, there was a perfectly round ice crystal. The bits of sand and rocks and seaweed were trapped within it, but it was so flawless that Cyrene nearly cried.

She brought it down toward them, and as it drew near, the water was so cold that it made their breaths come out in puffs in front of them. Cyrene giggled and then did something on instinct. She ruptured the ice crystal into tiny snowflakes and let them softly rain down on them, as if they were in the Taken Mountains.

She held her tongue out in front of herself and danced in the snow. Avoca laughed along with her, and soon, all four of them were twirling around in the snow on the middle of a deserted tropical island.

“First and last snow of the season,” Cyrene murmured.

“In spring,” Avoca said.

Matilde nodded with a smile at Cyrene and Avoca.

Vera looked pleased as well. “I think that concludes the water element.”

“What?” Cyrene asked in surprise.

“You have more to learn, but you could not have done what you just did without significant control and understanding of the element,” Matilde said.

Vera nodded. “The Bride of the Sea ceremony is coming up this week to praise the start of spring. We’ll break until then and start up on the next element henceforth.”

“What will we be working on?” Cyrene asked.

“Earth,” Matilde said automatically. “Avoca has a perfect grasp on it, and you should know how to manipulate her element, as she does yours.”

Avoca looked ecstatic. “I can’t wait.”

The girls returned to the capital with a feeling of giddiness between them. Avoca almost immediately disappeared to go find Ahlvie. He still wasn’t staying in the palace because he appeared to like his new job as an entertainer, but he had relocated closer to the grounds to be near Avoca and Cyrene.

To both Cyrene’s and Avoca’s dismay, Ceis’f had not returned. Avoca had sent a messenger to Eldora to ask her mother about him, and her response had been disheartening. No sign of Ceis’f back home either. If they hadn’t had training…and if not for Ahlvie, Cyrene was sure Avoca would have gone out to look for Ceis’f. But he had done what she had asked of him, so she tried to block him out.