Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(32)

“Rian will be trapped,” I told him, my voice hushed.

“Rian wouldn’t come into the courtyard without more than one way out,” he told me, his eyes flinty. He wasn’t surprised. He’d seen Rian too—maybe he’d even known Rian would be there.

I moved forward, and we rushed through the halls. We made it to my bedroom, and Kairos ordered the guard not to let anyone in without his explicit approval. He brought me to the bed, and I sat with a sigh.

“Are you all right?” he asked. His head swept around the room carefully, and he asked, “The shaking—was that you?”

I swallowed and nodded slowly. “But not the rest.”

He shook his head. “No. That was the Resistance. From what I can gather, that is the bulk of their forces—recruiting people with elements that need protection. That and some farmers and dissenters.”

“But they seemed so organized,” I said, drawing my knees up.

“They are,” he said. “More than I can give Rian credit for too. Whoever Rian’s working with has a strong eye for that sort of thing.”

“Why would Rian do this?” I asked, shivering. “He’s attacking me.”

Kai sat beside me on the bed, his shoulder pressed to mine. “No,” he said gently. “I think our brother is a damn fool, but I can see, at least, that he was making an effort to do it in a way where you wouldn’t get hurt. Except for being dropped from the sky, but at least Galen saw to that. And as far as I can tell, he’s doing this to protect people from Calix’s injustice. Especially the Elementae.”

“Does Rian have an ability?” I asked.

He sighed. “Not that I know of. But Rian was in the islands during the massacre—do you remember that? Whatever he saw while he was there, it changed him.”

I drew a deep breath, uncomfortable with the idea that there were sides of my brothers I didn’t know at all. “I think Calix saw Rian.”

Kai’s expression turned stormy and dark. “That Rian cannot risk. If your husband believes you have anything to do with this—even through Rian—” He stopped abruptly. “Skies,” he muttered.

“But I don’t,” I insisted. “We don’t. Right?”

His eyes flicked to me and away. “I don’t know if things like ‘reason’ and ‘responsibility’ really matter to your husband. If he wants to see a connection, he will.”

I shook my head, standing from the bed. It was growing foggy and dark outside, and it felt like this was finding its way inside my mind and smudging what I was certain of. “He wouldn’t. He’s my husband.” I stepped closer to the glass, but looked back at Kai. “What about Kata?” I asked.

He lifted his shoulders. “I haven’t heard more.” Standing from the bed, he sighed. “I’m going to find Galen. You need your own guard, and I’m assuming he’ll agree to it after today.”

“Will a guard help if it’s my own brother endangering me?” I asked. “If it’s my very hands?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes,” he said, coming and kissing my temple before he left me alone again.





The Night the Three-Faced God Walked

I wasn’t shaking anymore, but there was an uneasy tremor deep inside me. I lay on the bed, but I couldn’t sleep, staring at the ceiling as my heart thudded in my chest.

I stood, pacing about the chamber, walking out onto the balcony in the thickening fog, but there wasn’t enough space to walk, and somehow the fog carried the green scent of Galen on it.

How could I be thinking of him now?

“Shy,” I heard, and I turned back toward the palace, but no one was there.

“Shy,” I heard again, and I turned into the heart of the fog.

Warm arms came out of the fog and wrapped around me, and Kata hugged me as the fog around us grew thicker still.

“Kata!” I cried, pressing my face into her neck. So many emotions rushed through me like pebbles tumbling down a slope, and I looped my arms around her shoulders, hugging her tight.

“I have you,” she whispered to me. “I have you. You must have been so frightened, but you’re safe now.”

“Was that you today?” I asked. “With the ice?”

“No,” she said. “That was another member of the Resistance. There are many Elementae who have joined us.”

“So it was true,” I said. “What they were saying about hunting and killing those with power?”

She drew back from our hug. “I told you that, before you were married.”

My chest felt tight. “I know,” I said.

“And you didn’t think it mattered to you,” she said softly. “Until now.”

For all I spoke of caring for my people, of wanting to lead and save, she was probably right. The weight of this stung, but she put her hand in mine.

I nodded. “I have the power you always thought I did.”

“I figured,” she said, her mouth tight. “I’m sorry it’s not what you wanted.”

I looked at our hands. “If we were back in the desert, this would just be one more thing for us to share. One more thing that makes us sisters in the way that birth didn’t. And maybe I was stupid,” I said, “but I married him. And I’m here. And these powers are illegal, and he hates the people who practice them. And I’m married to him, Kata.”