Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) (44 page)

Chason’s
own sword flashed out, cutting down an Air Phase who stepped into his path.  He
didn’t even hesitate as he stepped over the body.  He didn’t notice Kahn.  He
didn’t notice anything.  Ty had the feeling the entire world was white noise to
Chason, now.  Just meaningless distractions as he headed for his goal.

Ty
averted her gaze, executing a graceless leap over the corpse on the floor so
the pooling blood didn’t touch her.  She was still in her bare feet.  “This is
insane.”

“Insane.” 
That actually got his full attention.  Chason chuckled in a completely
inappropriate and off-kilter way.  “In
saaaane
.  That word is haunting
me, you know.  A specter.  I think only people who
really
understand it,
should be allowed to use it, though.  Everyone just throws it around, but it
has a visceral component that you hyperbolic dilettantes can’t possibly
appreciate.”

There
was absolutely nothing Ty could say to that.

“Insanity
is
not
just a state of mind.”  Chason continued as if he thought she was
going to argue the point.  “It’s a living thing.  Organic.  It follows you
everywhere.  Believe me.  I know.”

“This
has been a nightmare for you.  Okay?  I’ve only just come to see how much.” 
Losing Gion would kill her.  No wonder Chason was so distraught.  Ty had no
idea how he’d even hung on this long without his Match.  “I miss Mara, too.  I
was
at
your Phazing Day.  She let me hold her flowers and…”

“
Don’t
say my Match’s name!
”

His
volume had her cringing, but Ty still didn’t back down.  “Or
what?
 
You’ll jump me into the middle of a battle?  Rip me from my home?  Drag me
around against my will?”  She snorted.  “You’re not going to do a damn thing
more to me, until I get you what you want, and we both know it.”

Chason
scowled.  “Gion has brought out a particularly bitchy side of you.”

Ty
actually took that as a compliment.  People never called weak women “bitchy.” 
It was only the ones who stood up for themselves.

“At
least, Gion never abducted anyone.  In fact, he rescued me from the dungeons
here.”  And he’d come for her, again.  There wasn’t a doubt in Ty’s mind.

“Gion
is a fucking maniac!”

“Gion
is a better man than you are, by any objective standard.  Face it, no matter
what happened in the past, today
Gion
is the hero of the piece.  Guess
what that makes you?”

“You
have no right to judge me, Ty. 
None
.”

“As
your victim, I’d say I definitely have a…”

“You’re
not a victim!  You won’t be hurt.  I told you that.  Not unless I have no
choice.  Just stay out of my way and it’ll be fine.”  They reached the massive
double doors of the throne room.  Chason must have memorized maps of the Air
Palace, because he hadn’t made a single wrong turn getting there.

Two
Air Phases stood guard at the door.  One look at Chason had them bolting in the
opposite direction.

Chason
barely seemed to notice.  He pounded a fist against the massive fortified door,
positioning Ty in front of the peephole.

“Chason,
don’t so this.”  She hissed, bracing herself as he laid his sword across her
throat.  Ty tightened her grip on the plastic shard, the edges of it digging
into her hand.

“I’m
sorry.  This the only way to get my Match back.  Don’t worry.  I’m not going to
hurt you.”

“Get
her
back? 
That’s… impossible.”  Ty wasn’t going to use the word
“insane,” again, but that was pretty much the definition of it.  “Mar… I mean,
your
Match
is dead.  Remember?”  She tried for a humoring tone.  “If you…”

“I
know she’s dead!  Raiden had a vision and said I could get her
back
,
though, if I had you with me.  Alive.”  He shook his head like the words were
jumbled.  “Or something.  So…”

A
roar came from inside the locked throne room.

Parald.

“Ty! 
Give her to me!”

The
sound of his voice had Ty’s vision wavering and her heart rate speeding up. 
She leaned backwards against Chason as fear threatened to suck her under.

Panic
attack.

Panic
attack.

Panic
attack.

Ty
squeezed her eyes shut and fought for control.

No.

She
wasn’t
too weak.  She never had been.

She
could do this.

“Let
me in or you can watch her die!”  Chason shouted back.  “I want to make a
deal.”

Silence.

Then,
“What sort of deal?”

“Open
the door and find out.”

“It’s
a trick.  You think I’m an idiot?”

“Hell
yes.  I also think that you’re an asshole with delusions of grandeur.  I think
I have the only thing that you
really
want and I’m pretty sure that
you’ll be stupid enough to believe that you can take me in a fight.  So, I
think you’ll open the door and try to prove it.”

“I
can
take you in a fight.  The Magnet House is
nothing
compared to
the Air Kingdom!”

“This
isn’t about Houses.  This is about the qualities of men.  I was
bred
to
be great and
you
were bred to be a servant in the kitchen.”

Ty
swallowed hard, trying to maintain control.  There was just no way Chason would
make a deal with Parald.  None.  There was nothing in the universe Chason
wanted from the man except vengeance.  Chason was pushing his buttons in a
completely
un
subtle way.  Was Parald honestly egotistical enough to fall
for his taunting?

Yes. 
Apparently, he was.

Thank
God, this moron wasn’t her Match.

“I’m
the
King!
  Not because my pussy of a father was king before me, because
I
fought
for my throne.  It’s all
me!
  I’m the ruler of this
kingdom by
right
, not luck. 
Talent
, not bloodlines.”

“Congratulations.” 
Chason intoned.  “So, you were born a dishwasher.”

That
sounded so much like something Gion would snark that Ty gave an amazed burst of
nervous laughter, despite her careening emotions.

The
door slammed open a Parald stood there, a sword pointed at Chason.  “I was born
a
king!
”

Ty
only had a second to react to seeing Parald again, and then Chason was shoving
her out of the way.  She staggered to the side as Chason used his Magnet powers
to rip the sword right out of Parald’s hand.  It flew across the room, crashing
into the wall behind them, and Chason advanced.

Parald’s
eyes widened.  Obviously, he hadn’t expected Chason to cheat quite so fast.

Ty
could feel the slimy touch of his powers against her and shuddered.  She had to
find that box and fix this.

“You
killed my Match, you son-of-a-bitch.”  Chason spun his own sword around in his
hand.  “I’ve been preparing for this moment for two years.  I had a whole
speech and everything.  I
dreamed
of hearing you beg.”  He tilted his
head.  “And now that we’re finally here… I don’t even care.  I’m going to kill
you,
right now
.  Because, I simply don’t fucking
care
what else
you have to say.”

“All
I wanted was Ty!  It’s
her
fault, not mine!  All I wanted was my Match!”

Ty’s
lingering panic dissipated under a cloud of rage.  She wasn’t scared anymore. 
She was angry.  So out of her mind furious that she just shoved her way into
the throne room and jabbed a finger at Parald.  “You conniving bastard!  You
aren’t my Match.  You never were!”  Portraits of Parald dressed like human
kings seemed to follow her with their beady eyes as she advanced.  “
Gion
is my Match and you know it.  This is all because
you
tried to destroy
my connection to him and it didn’t work!”

Chason’s
head snapped around to gape at her.  “What?”

“Parald
used the Love Tablet to do something to our Phazing energy.  I was
never
supposed
to be with him.  It’s
always
been Gion.”

“I
chose
you.  You should be fucking grateful, you little whore.”

“You’re
so useless, I can’t believe I
ever
thought Gaia would punish me and connect
my energy to yours.”  The words poured out of her.  “I am so much better than
you.  So much stronger.  You are nothing but a murderer and I will never
ever
let you beat me.”

“You’re
my Match!  You don’t have a choice…”

“
Gion
is my Match. 
Gion
is King of the Water House. 
Gion
is the man I
love.  We make each other happy and whole. 
Nothing
can change that. 
Certainly not you.”

“I’m
the
King!
”

“Keep
saying it while you can.”  Ty smirked at him with utter confidence.  “The
barriers are gone and there’s a big target painted on your forehead.  Without
Gion and Isaacs helping to protect you, you’re already dead.  And, since
they’re both playing on
my
team, I’d say the best you can hope for now
is a nice royal funeral,
your majesty
.”

“You
bitch!”

Chason
blinked.  Ty could see him processing that information behind his crazed purple
eyes.  “Parald doesn’t even
have
a Match?  He’s done all this and you’re
not even his?”

“Ty
belongs to me!  I can have whatever I want!”

Ty
looked over at Chason.  “I’m not his.  If he had a Match out there --A
real
Match--  odds are he killed her in the Fall.”  The poor woman might have been
better off.

Parald
made a face as if he couldn’t imagine what Ty was talking about.  “So what? 
Natural or not, I have
you
for my Match.  It’s done and that bond isn’t
going away.  You and I will be together forever.”

Not
once Ty got that Love Tablet.  She’d see to that.

Chason’s
energy went wild as he fully assimilated the news.  “
He murdered Mara and
you weren’t even a real Match?!
”

Ty
gasped as Mara’s name burned in the air.

Parald
cringed.

Since
the Fall, Chason hadn’t even
whispered
her name out loud.  Hearing his
own voice screaming it seemed to snap whatever control he might’ve still
possessed.  Ty felt Chason’s powers dragging all the metal in the Air Kingdom
towards the throne room.

Parald
retreated a step.  “I told you, that was all Ty’s fault…”

Chason
went for him.  His sword swung like an ax, aiming for Parald’s head.

Parald
ducked out of the way.  His Air energy slammed out, catching Chason in the
chest.  The incredible blast of Air lifted Chason up and backwards, but it wasn’t
enough to slow him down.

Parald
swore as Chason kept coming.  “Guards, now!”  He bellowed.  “Help me!”

And
that’s when eight armed Air Phases came charging out from behind a hidden panel
in the wall… and headed straight for Chason.

*****

Isaacs
pushed forward to stand next to Job.  “If Gion can’t hold the Air Element while
he’s off playing Lancelot,
I
can do it.”

Job
glanced at him.  Even with Isaacs’ damaged sight, he could pick up the tension
on Job’s face.  “Are you sure?”

“Between
me, Amarna and the others… Yeah.  The Air House won’t fall.”

“Alright.” 
Job nodded as if convincing himself.  “Alright.  This is happening
now
,
then.  So, I can go help Ty as quickly as possible.”

“Let
the Water Kingdom fall and go help Ty,
now
.”  Nia urged.  “I know that
Gion’s powerful, but no one could stop you.  I want my cousin safe and…”

Job
cut her off.  “Chason won’t hurt her.  No matter what even
he
thinks. 
And this is our best chance to stop the Air House army, so Parald won’t ever come
after any of you, again.”

“Let’s
just get it over with.”  Amarna’s voice was filled with anticipation.  “First
the soldiers.  Then Parald.  Today, we reclaim our homeland!”

Her
pronouncement brought another round of cheers from her followers.  They jumped
out of the Water Palace, no doubt heading down into the battle.

Isaacs
rolled his useless eyes.

Fucking
sycophants.

He
might not enjoy his new status as a Water House refugee, but he didn’t love the
Air Phases so much, either.  Centuries of following orders and trying to be
perfect… And where had it gotten him?  Blind and ostracized, with his own
troops trying to kill him.  Isaacs felt like he’d suddenly noticed that the
emperor had no clothes.

Even
if he
had
been a loyal Air Phase, though, he’d still know how this would
end.  Not even the greatest patriot in the universe would think that Saxon was
going to win the day and plant the Air House standard on the Water Palace
roof.  Nia was right.  No one could stop Job.  For once, Isaacs was on the side
of the angels.