Heiress: Birthstone Series Book Two (24 page)

But strangely, as I glared back at him, my weapon pressed
into his exposed skin, I realized how weak he really was. How weak they all
were. He’d placed so much trust in his gem, an external object, that he’d underestimated
my abilities. And I’d easily defeated him.

My life in Vairda had taught me how to do this. I’d learned
how to be independent and strong there. Never was I so grateful to be an
islander.

I leaned into him slightly. “Everything in this land is about
to change,” I whispered. “And I’m just the beginning.” I yanked a dart from the
inside of my vest and plunged it into an exposed part of his arm. He gasped
once before his eyes rolled back in his head.

I turned, my spear tight in hand. Around me, villagers
fought the few remaining soldiers. I ran into the fray with my weapon drawn and
headed toward a robust soldier who had an elderly woman by the neck. When I
reached him, I kicked the backs of his knees and grabbed the neck of his armor.
As I yanked him backwards, he lost his grip on the old woman, sending her
sprawling. Another villager broke through the crowds to help her up while I hit
the soldier in the stomach with the butt of my spear. I heard the air rush out
of his body. Before he could react, I whipped out another dart, stabbed him in
his arm, and moved on.

Through a cluster of screaming people, I saw Haji pinned
against a wall with a sword to her neck. I pushed my way past a woman carrying
a screaming child and a giant of a man trying to help her. A sword swung toward
me from the right and I twisted away, narrowly missing a slice to my side. I
knocked the sword wielder over with the blunt end of my spear and kept going.

When Haji’s captor moved his arm slightly I made my move.
Screaming with exertion, I aimed for a weak looking spot in the back of his
armor and sent my spear sailing toward it.

It ripped through his protective clothing and settled into
his back. At the same moment, Haji kicked his knees and jumped clear to avoid
his falling sword.

When he dropped to the ground, I remained still. My eyes met
Haji’s.

“Are you hurt?” I called out to her. She shook her head no,
eyes wide.

I nodded once unable to think how close I’d come to losing
the closest thing I had to family in this land. Instead, I retrieved my spear
and went in search of Faema and Lirig. I spotted Lirig stabbing his weapon into
the last soldier standing. Faema stood close to Nil. Her steady voice carried
over the crowd as she urged people to calm down.

When Lirig’s soldier had fallen, there was an immediate
mixture of cries and cheers.

I glanced around, searching for those who sounded angry. I
didn’t have to look very far.

“You’ve marked our village. We’ll be tried for treason!”
someone screamed at Nil.

“This is the fault of the boy,” yelled another.

Nil held up his hands. “We were trying to help!” he said.
“They would have hurt you anyway.”

The crowd parted and the young woman who had been the center
of the dispute made her way toward Nil. When she reached him, she closed her eyes
and sighed. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

Nil kept his head down, refusing to look at her. “I’m so
sorry, Cavia. I had to do something.”

Cavia’s gaze didn’t waver when she responded. “The only
thing I have ever asked from you was to leave. Now, because you cared more
about yourself than the wellbeing of this entire village, we’ll have to flee.
Again. Our parents would be so ashamed.”

Nil cringed. “But . . .”

“No, Nilym,” Cavia said. “You’re not welcome in this
village. We no longer claim you. Don’t ever come here again.”

She turned from him and made her way back into the crowd,
followed by many of the villagers. Some stayed behind, offering Nil words of
encouragement and glances of sympathy.

Instead of acknowledging them, he slowly walked past us. His
footsteps took him through the littered village streets. When he kept going, as
though in a stupor, I realized he wasn’t going to wait for us.

“Let’s go,” Faema said. She motioned for us to follow.

I opened my mouth to protest but something in her eyes stopped
me. Instead, I went to retrieve our abandoned gear with Lirig and Haji.
Afterwards, we set out after Nil, wary with the knowledge that our guide was as
lost and displaced as us in this strange, sad land.

“Aylen, are you listening to me?” Yuta rapped the table with
her knuckles.

I jerked my head around to look at her, and grimaced.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“I have to say, you’re not what I expected. I thought you’d
be more eager to learn some of these skills.” My trainer held up the gem she’d
been trying to tell me about and waved it in front of my face. “This is
important. I didn’t come all this way just so you could daydream.”

It had been several days since my last flight lesson with
Cole. Now that there were other options, Aluce had instructed Gil to keep
flight training off the list because she didn’t trust me to stay put in Et
Loedin. Probably for good reason.

In the meantime, I’d tried to attend each new training
session faithfully. The Healing Gem came almost easy for me, which was a relief
since nothing else seemed to. In fact, I seemed to be less controlled with
every lesson. With most of the other gems, every time I attempted to fulfill an
assignment, I wound up overdoing it. When I practiced on a weak Travel Gem, I
ended up somewhere in the city, far from the location I’d been instructed to
find. Later, I disappeared from my trainer’s sight and took half the objects in
the room with me through most of my Concealment Gem lesson. My trainer couldn’t
figure out how I’d done it and I didn’t understand any more than he did. It
took me the rest of the session to reappear. Most of the furniture did not.

Now, as I glanced at the frizzy haired, freckled woman’s
frown, my exasperation swelled. Still, I attempted to temper my tone before I
spoke.

“I just don’t see how a ‘Passion Gem’ is going to help me
win this war. My father is out there fighting battles, rallying people, and
here I am, learning how to force people to fall in love with me.” I frowned and
turned once more to peer out the room’s only window. Outside, several young men
and women were practicing sword drills in a fenced courtyard. Many of the
drills were similar to the lessons my father had taught me on the island.

“Don’t be foolish!” she spat. “If you can alter someone’s
feelings for you, they’ll do whatever you ask.”

I had enough experience to know I would have to humor her. I
fingered the brilliant, fuchsia stone on my necklace and tried to focus. The
usual flurry of emotions crowded my mind as I attempted to single out the
correct gem. After several minutes of painful concentration, I sensed its
unique presence and connected to it individually. It felt foreign as a surge of
heightened emotions rippled through me. I tried to choke them back and listen
to Yuta’s instructions.

“Choose one of those boys,” she said, pointing out the
window. “Convince him he’s in love with you. Make him want to do anything for
you.”

Already, I sensed a problem with this. It took every ounce
of will power not to yell my objections as the gem’s influence elevated my
feelings. There was a reason it had been named the “Passion Gem.” “Will it work
this far away?” I managed to ask in a nearly steady voice.

Yuta nodded eagerly. “It should with a stone that powerful.”

With a deep breath, I turned to watch the drills, each one
becoming more intricate than the next. I barely suppressed a sigh of longing as
I battled the urge to abandon my ludicrous lesson and jump into the sword
training. I had no doubt I could give any of them a good fight, but when Yuta
cleared her throat, I remembered the task at hand.

I spotted a quiet looking boy who appeared somewhat younger
than the rest. He seemed like a good target and easily swayed. Before I allowed
myself to feel too guilty for what I was about to do, I focused entirely on
him. The gem’s power bubbled inside of me, simmering and steamy, waiting to
boil over. It began to push back from inside, needing somewhere to go. The
pressure was too much and I directed it all at the boy.

Like a geyser bursting, the gem’s energy poured outward,
charging the air in the room.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, everything changed at
once.

 The boy lifted his eyes and stared at me through the
window, his expression glazed and blissful. But it didn’t stop at him. One by
one, every single man within my sight copied the boy’s movement, shifting their
eyes to me.

“What did you . . .” Yuta began. Her voice trailed away
before she could finish her sentence.

The sound of a few dozen pairs of feet treading closer
echoed through the window. I glanced quickly at the countless eyes staring my
way and saw not only vacancy, but a zealous adoration as they foolishly
stumbled toward the building where I was contained. My frame shook with terror.

“Break the connection!” Yuta commanded. “Break it!”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I flung the necklace
across the room, dropped my head to the table, and closed my eyes. “
Go away,
go away, go away, go away. .
.” I chanted to myself again and again.

It seemed a long time before I felt silence settle over the
room.

Timidly, I lifted my head and peered out the window, my
throat tight as I tried to breathe. Outside a small crowd of confused boys and
men milled about, muddled and displaced.

Except for one. One boy had never shifted or even tried to
approach the building where I was training. Cole’s tall, lean frame stood firm,
his feet planted on the snow crusted ground. His eyes stared at me through the
window, eyebrows raised slightly. His mouth was pulled into a taut line. I tried
to offer him a sheepish smile but before I could, a thick curtain was yanked
over the window.

My gaze darted to Yuta. Her arms were wrapped around her
body, like a protective barrier she hoped would keep my crazy away. She stared
at me, eyes wide, unblinking.

“I said pick
one
boy.” Her voice wavered.

“I did pick one. It must be the gem. It’s too powerful.”

“Then we’ll need to find an alternate.” She rubbed her arms
as though chilled and sunk down into her seat. Sighing, she pinched the bridge
of her nose and closed her eyes.

I hated to disturb her, but after another disasterous
training session, I felt I needed some more information.

“One of the men didn’t react to the gem,” I said. This got
her attention. She slowly dropped her hand and her eyes fluttered open.

“Really? What did he do?”

“He didn’t have that creepy look in his eyes. And he didn’t
move.” I shuddered.

She smiled a little. “Every gem has its limitations and
weaknesses. The Passion Gem doesn’t work on someone who already feels deeply
for you. Perhaps you have an admirer.”

As the words left her lips I felt my chest constrict
.
Someone who already feels deeply for me?

I hardly heard Yuta tell me my lesson was over for the day.
I almost didn’t notice when she got up to leave, signaling it was time to meet
the next instructor. Instead, I sat there for a while, embarrassed that Cole
had realized what my training had been about today. But most of all, I thought
of Sai. I couldn’t help wondering if he would have been affected by the Passion
Gem. Or, even after several weeks of my absence, would he have still responded
exactly like the strange Sky Dweller boy?

“I’ve decided not to meet with the Heat Gem trainer,” I
informed Gil once I’d found him in his room. Obviously I’d interrupted some
training of his own because several Weather Gems were hovering over the small
table beside his fireplace.

“You have to. It’s on your schedule.” He gave me an
apologetic smile and turned back to his gems. In one hand he held a small metal
tool. With his other hand, he picked up one of the gems and began to scrape at
it, creating a rhythmic, grating sound.

“What are doing?” I asked. I moved closer to get a better
view.

Gil’s hand paused mid-scrape as he glanced at me. “I thought
if the hearts were exposed, I might be able to gather enough power out of these
gems to warm this place up a bit. It’s probably a lost cause. These are weak
gems but they’re all anybody could find. Still, I thought I’d try. I’m
accustomed to cold, but this is a little ridiculous.”

“It’s not so bad if you’re dressed properly.” I looked
pointedly at the thin fabric of his shirt.

“I’ve never been one for heavy clothing. Besides, wouldn’t
you like to see a flower bloom or some other sort of color besides varied
shades of snow?”

Truthfully, it didn’t matter so much to me. I’d spent my
life surrounded by the vibrant colors of the islands and while I preferred
warmth, the snow was an interesting change of scenery.

“Is that why you’re so insistent on this Heat Gem training?”
I asked.

“No, but now that you mention it, I’ll bet it would come in
handy.” Gil smiled. “In fact, I’d be willing to bet you wouldn’t need to expose
the heart of your Weather Gem to generate enough sun to alter the landscape for
a while. Maybe that should be our next training subject.”

“I don’t think Aluce would appreciate that. She wants me to
learn skills that are more ‘
aggressive in war
.’”

 Gil laughed and pointed toward the door. “Speaking of
which, go! Before you’re late. Aluce will come after me if she finds out you
missed any training.”

“I want to work on sword fighting,” I said. “I need
something to keep me active and when it comes down to it, I’ll be facing actual
sword battle at some point. If Aluce won’t allow me to learn to fly yet, then I
need something physical to take its place.”