Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(19)

The sounds of the fighting were loud, but no one was near us now. Dust rose thick around us, and I couldn’t breathe, coughing against Kairos as he kept me down and away, and it felt like he was sheltering my thundering heart as much as my body.

A dense curtain of dust hid us away from the fighting. The men who had been attacking him were broken on the ground, their bodies still and red.

Almost like the rock knew what I wanted.

I sucked in a breath, and it was thick with dust. I coughed it out as my heart pounded and I fought to get in any clean air, my chest tight with panic.

My hands were tingling, and it was more than the rush of fear—I had felt this before. On the bridge, when the veil had been removed and the shiver seemed to start inside me and end on the rocks.

The earth had answered me. The earth had reacted to me.

I used Kai’s scarf to cover my mouth as I desperately tried to breathe without coughing, black spots dancing in my eyes as all my thoughts and fears stormed inside my mind and I still couldn’t breathe.

Kata had told me, she’d told me for years—she always thought I had an ability. A power. Like her, but she could control water. What if I could control earth?

Foul sorcery.

No. No, I couldn’t possibly. If I could control earth, if I was like Kata, I would be a traitor to my new country. Peace would be broken before it was even real.

The scarf helped, and I finally got in a full breath, then another one. A cough came quick on the heels of the third, and the spots burst across my vision again.

Which was worse? Dying here for lack of air, or living to break the peace and betray my new husband with a power I couldn’t possibly have?

“Kairos,” I said, my voice shaking.

“Stay quiet, Shy,” Kai said softly, moving off me and pulling me farther into the alcove.

I nodded, trying to repress my cough as I followed him.

“Are you all right?” he asked quietly, looking up, watching the mountain like it was about to attack.

Was I? “Can Osmost get word to Kata?” I asked.

His eyes met mine, confused and questioning, always seeing more than I wanted them to. Then understanding sparked, and his head jerked up, searching the cliff again. “No, Shalia. I know she always said—I know it’s possible—but of anyone, you cannot have that power. Not with your husband.”

“Kairos, can he get a message to her? I have to see her. I have to …” I trailed off, looking up at the cliff. “Kairos, please.”

Something clamored closer in the dust, and he huffed out a breath. “Yes,” he said. “Don’t breathe a word of this, Shalia. Don’t even think about it.”

I nodded, gripping his hand and pulling myself up.

“Shalia!” I heard someone yelling. The clanging noises of steel were becoming quieter, and I saw shapes moving in the clearing dust. Kairos moved away from me as Galen charged through the dust. “You’re all right?” Galen asked, touching my chin and turning my head this way and that.

“I’m unharmed,” I said. It certainly wasn’t the same thing, but it was the only answer I could give.

“Come with me,” he said. “The column is broken. I need to get you to safety.”

“Where is Calix?” I asked.

“He’s coming behind us,” he said. “We need to secure you both as quickly as possible.”

Kairos let out a low, sharp whistle, and his dark brown horse came trotting back to us, with no sign of mine.

“Take my horse,” he said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

I nodded, swinging onto it. Galen put his foot in the stirrup, and I pulled at the reins. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Escorting you.”

“We’ll be faster on two horses,” I insisted.

“You’re all right to ride on your own?” he asked, surprised. “It’s a difficult ride.”

I nodded sharply. “I told you, I am unharmed. If the horse can do it, I can.”

He found his own horse, turning back to look at me. “Follow me closely. Shout if we are separated by more than the length of a horse,” he said.

“I will,” I promised.

He led the horses off the road, down the steep, sloping terrain littered with rocks and trees. I held my breath at the sharp pitch, but the horse knew what to do, following behind Galen’s until we hit open fields, and the horses ran, not at a full gallop, but a quick canter.

We crossed through fields, and passed small farmhouses, and I wondered why we couldn’t stop there. Was there not enough room, or did Galen not trust their loyalty to the king?

“Here,” he called, leading me down a path around a field of some sort of tall grain. I saw a large gate guarding a road and, farther in, a sprawling home.

Two guards appeared as we approached, and Galen shouted, “In the name of the king, open the gates!”

The guards didn’t hesitate, opening the gates and letting us ride in.

By the time we reached a pretty fountain, a woman was coming out of the house to stand on the steps. She was older, her hair white and still well kept. “Commander,” she said, dropping her head to him. “How can I be of service?”

“Forgive the imposition, Domina Naxos,” he said, inclining his head to her before he jumped from his horse and came to attend to me. “The king and queen have been attacked. This was the closest place we could come for shelter.”