Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) (7 page)

Ty
disregarded Gion’s emphatic tone.  “Anyway, I just have a feeling that the
baby’s a girl.  It’s not scientific, but I just think it’s female.”  She
hesitated.  “I’m worried, though, that Parald will come after her.  He hates
the Water House.  He’ll do anything to hurt me, including killing my niece.”

Gion
silently considered that.

“So,
if you could help me make sure that the baby’s safe --That the Water Kingdom
and the Shadowland are
completely
secure-- I would really appreciate
it.”  Ty tilted her head.  “You and I understand Parald better than anyone, I
think.”

Gion
nodded.  “We do.”  He agreed.  “I’ll protect your niece.  I give you my word.”

“Thank
you.”  The baby had become the most important thing to Ty, so whatever Gion
wanted to do to keep her niece safe was fine.  “Fix anything you think it’ll
take to,” Ty waved a hand, “up the security or whatever.”

“That’s
a very broad mandate.  Do you want reports?”

“Reports?” 
Ty almost said “no.”  She was a scientist, not a security expert.  Gion would
know better than her what needed to be done.  Why should he waste time telling
her about it?  Honestly, Ty felt pretty confident in the Water House’s barriers
most of the time, anyway.  And Brokk was there to bodyguard her, so she
couldn’t imagine Gion finding too many problems.

Still,
getting reports would add another task to the job and give him something extra
to do.  Gion needed to feel productive.  “Um… sure.  Yeah.  Reports are good.”  Ty
was pleased with herself for her thinking of this.

Gion’s
mouth curved.  “Excellent.  I can do that.”

He
had a lovely smile.  It surprised Ty how it softened the sharp edges of his
face and made Gion so much more approachable.  Such a shame he didn’t seem to
know how to have fun.

Such
a shame that she was too broken to teach him.

Ty
dropped her gaze and nervously cleared her throat.  “Right.  So, I’m going to
call Brokk, then.  You just get comfortable.”  She edged towards the door. 
“Um… If you’re hungry, I can get you some food.  Or you could go down to the
kitchen yourself.  Just let me break the news to Brokk first, so he doesn’t
flip out when he sees you.”

“The
man works for you, Tritone.  You don’t have to worry about his reactions to
your decisions.  Tell him what to do and demand that he comply.”

Ty
couldn’t imagine even attempting such thing.  “It’s not like that with Brokk. 
He’s my friend.”

Gion’s
jaw tightened.  “Friendships depend on loyalty, not self-preservation.”  He
clearly disapproved of her attitude.  “You’ll get further with people if they fear
you.  Believe me.  Better that they’re
afraid
to cross you, rather than
you just relying on them to be your trusty pal.”

“I
don’t think you’ll get further that way, at all.  At least, not down any road
that I want to be on.”  Ty feared far too much in her life to try and scare
anyone else.  Not that she even
could
, but still…  “If you have to
intimidate everyone, then I think you’ll always be alone.”

“But,
you’ll be alive.”

“Maybe. 
But at what cost?”  She shook her head.  “Some things have to be given willingly,
Gion, or they’re worthless.  Loyalty is one of them.”

“And
sex.”

“What?” 
Ty’s voice went high at the calm non sequitur.

“The
woman has to be willing or it’s worthless.”  He looked right at her.  “You have
to wait for consent.”

Ty
winced, memories assaulting her.

She
deliberately focused on Gion, trying to stay in control.  He was so beautiful
and his hypnotic tone washed over her, soothing away the beginnings of a panic
attack.  Ty’s energy instinctively tuned itself so that it could brush against
his.

This
time, Gion’s energy pushed back.  His massive powers slid against hers in a
very deliberate caress that had Ty’s entire body jolting.  The Air energy swept
over her, lighting up her system and causing her mind to go blank with
pleasure.

Ty’s
gaze slammed into Gion’s, her mouth falling open in shock.

“Did
you think that you’re the only one who feels the energy between us, Tritone?”

“I…” 
She looked away from his stunning face and swallowed hard.  Gion’s powers felt
incredible against hers.  Better than Ty imagined anything could feel.  How was
it possible that they could do this?  “I don’t think we should…”  She trailed
off with a slight whimper as the Air energy licked its way through her. 
“Stop.”

“Good. 
I don’t think we should stop, either.”

“No. 
I mean, you
have
to stop.”  Ty shook her head desperately.  “Something’s
wrong, if we can do this.  It’s not normal.”

“Oh,
I consider us so much better than normal.”  The Air energy pressed against the
Water powers, massaging on some frequency that Ty hadn’t known existed.

Ty
grabbed for control, seizing onto Gion’s earlier words.  “I’m not giving
consent.”  She declared at little too loudly.

Everything
paused and then Gion pulled his powers back.  “Then, I’ll wait.”

Just
like that, his energy stopped touching Ty.

She
let out a shaky breath and tried to think.  He’d listened to her, even when he
hadn’t wanted to.  Even when he was strong enough that he didn’t
have
to.  The man was the most frightening, fascinating Phase alive.

“I
have to go.”  Ty whispered.  She backed out of the room and into the hall. 
“You’ll stay here, right?”

“I’ll
stay here.”  Gion agreed.  Icy blue eyes solemnly watched her.  Ty had the
feeling that he meant something more than just remaining in the room for
half-an-hour.

Queens
didn’t run away.

Absolutely
not.

But,
Ty did move quite a bit faster than usual as she hurried away from the King’s
Chamber.  Her own room was right next door.  She really should have considered
the proximity, because it wasn’t great for evading.

Ty
closed herself into her bedroom.  Like the King’s Chamber, Ty lived in a white
and blue paradise.  Soft, pale colors and sweeping views of the ocean dominated
the space.  A gilded fresco of clouds decorated the ceiling.  Her area rugs all
featured frolicking sea life.  Ty hadn’t changed a single picture frame in her
room for years.  Its consistency made her feel safe.

Sitting
down at her desk, Ty carefully punched Brokk’s number into her cell phone.  Her
hand
wasn’t
shaking.  And even if it was, it had nothing to do with
Gion.

Brokk
answered on the first ring.  “Where the hell are you, Ty?”

“I’m
in my bedroom.  I… ”

He
jumped right to her.  One second he was on the other end of the line.  The next
the lights flickered and Brokk stood right in front of her.

That
was one of the frustrating things about Brokk.

Most
Elementals couldn’t come and go in the human realm alone.  They needed to
combine their energy with one or two other Phases to make the jump.  Brokk
wasn’t the oldest or the strongest Phase, but he got the gold medal in
jumping.  Somehow, his powers let him enter and exit the human realm by
himself.  For someone like Ty, whose own energy could barely fill a water glass,
Brokk’s effortless skill ranked high on the “unfairness” charts.

Like
most Wood Phases, Brokk favored neat crew cuts and commando-style clothing.  A
bronze highlight colored his temple.  Wood Phases stood as the soldiers of the
Elemental realm.  Most Elementals were fine with spending their free time
watching reruns and eating Hershey Bars, but Wood Phases were trained to
protect and serve.  Committed to duty and honor, they gave selflessly.

In
return, they simply expected everyone else to follow their orders and fall into
line with whatever they thought was right.

Ty
liked all the Wood Phases.  She especially cared for Brokk, who’d always been a
little less formal and a little bit more extreme than the rest.  But, she
absolutely dreaded explaining Gion moving into the Water Palace.

Brokk
would not be a happy bodyguard.

“What
in the name of Gaia is going on?”  One of his hands came over to rest on the
top of Ty’s head, assuring himself that she was real and solid and okay.  Ty
had gotten used to Brokk touching her.  He was a physical sort of Phase.  Two
swords were crisscrossed on his back and there was a
Crocodile Dundee
knife strapped to his thigh.  “How did you get back…?”  He trailed off
suspiciously.  “Wait.  What is that energy?”

Ty
cringed.  Gion’s powers still charged the air.  He’d jumped them both back to
the Water Palace earlier, the barriers not even slowing him down.  Ty hadn’t
done anything but hang on.  The massive power it took still lingered.  There
was no way that Brokk would miss that.

“Um…” 
She cleared her throat. 
Think queenly thought.  Think queenly thoughts. 
“I’ve
granted amnesty to an Air Phase.  He’s just moved in.”

“You
what
?”  Brokk gaped at her.  “Who did you let in?”

Ty
tried to look more confident than she felt.  “Gion.”

“
Gion!
” 
Brokk roared.  “Are you insane?!  He can’t stay here!  He’s fucking
evil!
”

“No,
he’s not.”  Ty retorted.  She knew evil.  Parald was evil.  Gion
wasn’t
. 
“He’s…”

“Back
in school, Gion exploded some kid’s lungs for his science project.”

“I
highly doubt that.”

“They
used to call him ‘The Black Hole’ ‘cause so many people just disappeared around
him.”

“I
don’t think that’s fair.  The cape just gives a bad impression.”

 “He
once sent Stover, of the Dust House four hundred feet in the air and then
dropped him, just to see how big a splat he made.”  Brokk grimly reported. 
“They had to power-wash the pavement for two weeks.”

Ty
actually remembered hearing about that one.  There were a lot of horror stories
about Gion, though, so they all sort of ran together into one long death roll. 
“I think that there must’ve been some extenuating circumstances.  Stover was
always…”

Brokk
cut her off, again.  “Gion’s eaten three children that I know of.”

“Oh,
for God’s sake…”  Brokk could be utterly impossible.  “No one really believes
that one.”

“I
do!”

“Well,
I don’t.”

“Alright,
how about this, then.  It’s a
fact
that Gion’s betrayed every ruler he’s
ever followed.”  Brokk began counting them off on his fingers.  “First, he and
Parald overthrew King Seneca.  They seized control of the Air House and
that’s
really what set the Fall into motion.  Then, Gion left Parald, betraying
him
. 
The damn Air House has a bounty on his head and half the universe hunting for
him. 
Now
, he’s come here to you.  So, how long do you think before…?”

“What?” 
Ty interrupted.

“How
long do you think it will be before Gion turns on you, too?”

“No,
not that.  What do you mean Parald has a bounty on Gion’s head.  Since, when?”

“What
do you live in a box?”

Actually,
Ty
did
live in a box called the Water Kingdom most of the time.  Besides
her drug counseling in the human realm, she spent almost all of her time safe
in her homeland, hiding from her countless enemies.  “Why does Parald want Gion
dead?”  She hadn’t expected that.  At least, not yet.  How could Parald even
know Gion was gone, so soon?

“Because,
Gion helped you escape, of course.  Everyone’s been talking about it.  The
crazy bastard walked into the Air House dungeon and set you free.”  Brokk made
a considering face.  “They say that Parald went supernova when he found out. 
Which must have been a nice show, but still…”

Brokk
kept talking, but Ty stopped listening.

Gion
had rescued Ty from the Air House.  Letting prisoners go wouldn’t exactly help
Gion with his long term job prospects, but he’d done it anyway and he must’ve
been caught.

Which
meant that Gion had been forced to leave the Air House because of Ty.

Because
he’d been doing
her
a favor.

Only
he hadn’t mentioned that.  Even when Gion thought that she’d refuse him, he’d
never mentioned how saving Ty could cost him his life.  All Gion wanted was the
promise Ty had made him and the only thing that he seemed concerned about now was
how he’d fit into the Water House.

Ty
considered that for a long moment, reconciling the absolute arrogance of the
man, with his unexpected consideration.  The cold sarcasm, contrasted with the
warmth of the Air energy.  Gion’s terrible reputation, mixed with the fact that
he’d almost died to help her.

Then,
Ty looked over at the wall separating her room from Gion’s…

…
And realized, that under the façade of black clothes and pessimistic sneering,
the Water Kingdom’s newest citizen was a good man.