Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(68)

Theron growled at the stableboys to get the horses out of the way, but I just led him and Adria to skirt around them. That was when I saw Galen, and my breath caught, halting me for a moment.

I started moving again, quicker, admonishing myself. I was simply surprised—it had been months since he’d been at the palace, and I hadn’t expected to see him. That was all.

The people began cheering louder again, and Galen looked in my direction. Our eyes met and I felt it, every pulse of blood in my body, the million fine strings at my fingertips.

I didn’t dare move. The threads were alive, stronger than I’d ever felt, sparking with heat and light and lightning. I’d been using my ability in small ways here and there, trying to learn to control it in secret, but I hadn’t ever felt my power like this, so bright in my hands.

Adria made a noise, and I jolted forward, walking toward my husband’s brother with my chin raised, trying to summon the cold and the stillness I’d known while he was gone.

He came to me and knelt, dropping his head, and everyone quieted to hear our exchange. “My queen,” he said.

I nodded to him. “Commander. You’ve defended us well, but we are happy to welcome you home.”

“Thank you, my queen.”

“You must rise,” I told him. “As our valiant hero.”

The people burst into cheers at this proclamation, and I started to move away as they quieted.

He stood, calling out to me. “My queen, I’ve heard you’ve been busy here, as well.” I looked back at him, and his eyes made me flush. He took a step closer. “Feeding our people. Protecting our women. Perhaps it is you who should be called a hero,” he said.

“Don’t be silly,” I denied, but he caught my hand and kissed it.

For something that Calix did so often and made me feel nothing, the radiating heat of his lips on my skin took me utterly by surprise.

Warmth rushed over me, and before I could tamp the feeling down, the heat burned out of my skin and over the threads. The threads burst, and all around us the white stone squares of the courtyard suddenly shattered beneath our feet, dissolving into sand.

Adria screamed. I fell back, pulling away from Galen as I landed in the sand.

“My queen!” Theron called, pulling me behind him like it was an attack.

When my eyes found Galen, his sword was drawn, turning as he shouted orders to defend the queen. Theron hurried me inside, and I saw Calix standing on the step, his face twisted in a dark snarl.

Calix met my gaze, and the threads, and the power at my fingertips, vanished. I didn’t look back to the courtyard.


I couldn’t leave my room. I knew that Calix would come, and avoiding him would only make it worse. He knew—he’d seen what I was, I was sure of it. What I could do.

But I still couldn’t leave. I stayed on the balcony until the sun set. And then I came in from the balcony, sitting on the floor, holding myself tight and shaking. I skipped dinner, waiting for Calix to return.

The door didn’t open until very late. I was sitting on the bed, wrapped in a coat with my arms twined tight around my body. I had stopped shaking, but there was still something shivering deep within me.

“Wife?” he asked. I looked up, and his face was folded in a frown. “Why are you still awake?”

My heart started pounding again. “Today …,” I tried, but my courage failed me.

There was a knock on the door before I could finish my sentence, and Calix called out for it to open.

Theron opened it. “Princess Danae?” he asked.

“Yes,” Calix said, his face lightening.

Danae came in and went to her brother. “I just returned,” she said. “You wanted an immediate report.”

He drew in a sharp breath. “You found it,” he said, his eyes gleaming.

Danae shook her head. “We couldn’t find it. We found a lake. The quaesitori need further instructions if you want them to search other caverns.” She looked to me. “Shalia, we need your help.”

I hesitated. “It’s sacred to us,” I told her. “But it wasn’t there?”

She shook her head.

“Calix, what else do you remember of the vision?” I asked. “Perhaps there’s something we missed.”

He shook his head. “No. The vision spoke of a sacred body, a desert lake. It could not be describing anything else.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this, Calix?” I asked him.

He didn’t meet my gaze. “Why didn’t you tell us about the lake?” he said. He turned to Danae. “Were you able to drain it?”

“Drain it?” I gasped.

He shot a glare at me.

“No,” she said. “It’s not possible; there’s nowhere for the water to go. And we mapped much of the bottom, but there are crags and outlets that we can’t get into.”

“Then take more men,” he said. “Take the yellow powder and burst it open.”

She shook her head. “That is neither safe nor possible, Calix. You can’t burn the powder underwater, and it’s as likely to collapse the whole place as to reveal the elixir.”

“You need an Elementa,” I told him, placing my hand on his arm. “Surely they would be able to feel something that interrupts their powers, or test that it’s there?”