Rootbound (The Elemental Series, Book 5) (28 page)

“He was delivering a message for me. He’s Mother’s messenger boy now. But I would give him to you, for the stones.” Raven grinned.

Time paused, the world slowed, my heart stopped beating, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe or think. I had two powers to me, two elements that were mine. And one of them would allow me to control Raven.

I grabbed hold of Spirit and held it like never before.

I was ending this.

Now.

aven’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

I slammed Spirit into him, using it like the weapon it was, digging it into his mind. He stumbled back and shook his head, tried to lift a hand, red lines of power coursing over his skin. Fire at his fingertips.

“No.” I threw the word at him and he lowered his hand, horror finally replacing the smug look on his lips.

Spirit grew in me, filling me as fast as I flung it at Raven. I wanted control over him, I wanted him to break into a thousand pieces at my feet and beg for his life. Beg to be forgiven so I could tell him it would never happen. Then and only then would I kill him.

“Larkspur, this is not the way.” Talan stepped between Raven and me. I felt Talan’s hold on Spirit, felt him trying to slow me down. I flicked a hand at him, and the ground bucked under his feet, sending him to his knees. I thought it would break his concentration. I was wrong.

“You’re on his side?” Peta cried out, her pain cutting through me. Chaos built around us, so many emotions, so much power, so much pain.

Raven shook his head and I screamed, a wordless cry as I threw everything I had at him. “Tell the truth, Raven. Do it.”

His mouth flopped open, once, twice and then the words came in a flood.

“I don’t love Samara. I manipulated her with Spirit to accept me into her bed. I plan to let her carry to term, have the baby, and then I will use her own Enders to kill her. They will think she is dangerous to her family and they will kill her. I will raise the child on my own and take control of the throne. Once that is done I will take the Rim next. I will keep Bella as my queen. She reminds me of Mother. We will take each family throne, one at a time. But I will do it this time, I will not rule through others. I will rule. I will bring the elementals into line.”

The Sylphs around us gasped and shifted. “Samara, do you hear this?”

“I hear it.” She stepped beside me and laid a hand on my arm. “You will kill him?”

“Yes.”

Raven shook and I refocused on him. Talan stood where I’d thrown him.

“Lark, this is not the way. Do you not feel it, the darkening of your soul?”

I didn’t care that he was right, that I did feel my heart closing off. The part of me that would have held back and given mercy slowly shriveled.

I snorted. “It is not the use of Spirit that darkens me, but this world and those who are in it. Raven, is that all the truth?”

He shuddered, his body twitching. “You were always my favorite, Lark. I wanted us to be on the same side through this all. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

His words surprised and hurt me more than I thought they would have. I stared at him, his blue eyes fighting sudden tears. I hardened every part of me. “Then you should have tried harder to do what was right.”

He bowed his head and slumped to the ground. The second his knees hit the stone he disappeared.

A scream of fury ripped from my mouth.

I stumbled forward. I knew he’d had that trick up his sleeve, but I’d thought he’d be too busy fending me off to use it. Damn it all to the seventh hell.

A hand touched my arm and I swung around to face the deep blue eyes of Talan. “He held back, do you realize that? He didn’t use all his power, though maybe he didn’t even realize it. I think a part of him wanted to tell you the truth all along. Whatever bond you have with him from the past still affects him now. It could play into your favor at some point.”

I jerked away from him with a snarl. “You stay the hell away from me.” I dug my hand into the leather pouch at my side and produced the plastic bracelet he’d offered me. I flung it at his feet.

Peta let out a long, low hiss and shook her head. “You’ve turned out poorly, Talan. You obviously needed me more than you realized.”

As I spun away, I caught the look of sorrow in his eyes. “Peta, you don’t understand.”

I left them to argue. I had a queen to face. Samara had sunk to the ground, her skirts pooling around her.

“Lark, what did he do to me?”

I crouched in front of her. “Manipulation. He has a powerful tool that he used to benefit himself.”

Her pale eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “He could do it again?”

I nodded. “He could. You need all your people to know to send a message for me immediately if he returns. If they are all aware, he won’t be able to control all of them at once.”

She grabbed my hands. “He’ll come for my baby.”

I gripped her tightly. “No, I don’t think so.” At least not right away, but I wasn’t going to worry her with that now.

Samara slumped farther, then slowly straightened herself. “The stone?”

I lied, knowing it would be easier for her to give it up. “I believe it was how he manipulated you. I didn’t know it was possible.” I didn’t want to tell her that she’d been manipulated not only by Raven using Spirit, but by some other unknown elemental that had his own agenda via the smoky diamond. No need to have her panic that there was more than one manipulator of epic proportions out there.

With a quick nod, she held her hands out to me, and I helped her stand.

“Larkspur has once more saved our family. If ever she needs help, you are to give it. If ever she is in danger, you will try to save her. She is a protector not only of the Rim, but of the Eyrie as well. Raven will be killed on sight.”

The crowd murmured and agreed, though I saw more than one pair of eyes narrow on me.

I moved away from her, hurrying to Shazer. I laid my hands on him, not caring how much of my soul darkened to heal him. Spirit flowed through me and into him, weaving the bones back together. Shazer let out a low groan. “Damn, that hurts almost as much as breaking them.”

“I could leave them as is,” I said through gritted teeth.

He lurched up to his feet. “Thanks, but I rather like being able to stand.”

The Sylphs who’d been so reluctant closed ranks around him, petting his side and touching his feathers. He gave me a wink. “I think they like me.”

“Vanity will get you nowhere,” Peta said. “You’re still a horse’s ass.”

He let out a whinny and the Sylphs around him giggled and sighed.

I took a few steps back, allowing Shazer whatever hero worship he had coming.

Samara stepped beside me once more. “He is legend here. The soul of air made flesh.”

“He’s a good friend,” I said. But my mind was already away from Shazer and whatever legend he represented.

Unfortunately, I knew Talan was right. For some reason, Raven left rather than battle me. Whether it was out of some sort of kindness or a way to drag things out between us, I didn’t know.

At least Raven had spilled his proverbial guts, and now I knew what his plans had been, not that it was likely to help me any. The thing I couldn’t figure out was that while he’d asked for the stones, it had been . . . offhand. And he’d not tried to really fight me for them.

I looked around for Talan, but he was gone.

They were a couple of cowards as far as I was concerned. I walked away from the crowd, Peta with me. A thought I didn’t like rolled around in my head, making me question not only what I’d learned, but the premise I was running on.

“Did you notice Raven didn’t talk much about the stones? He asked, but he hadn’t even taken the smoky diamond from Samara,” I said.

Peta glanced up at me. “What does that matter?”

I frowned. “The mother goddess said Raven wanted the stones for himself, that I was hunting them at the same time as him. But he was never really hunting for them. He was just hanging out in the Eyrie, sending Enders after me, waiting for me to come to him. Causing trouble, yes, but . . . it just doesn’t add up. If he’d wanted the stones, why didn’t he fight harder?” I rubbed a hand over my face, a new line of thought making me break out in a sudden cold sweat.

What if I was wrong about Talan? What if I was wrong about Raven?

What if there was a third player I’d not truly ever considered? A person I trusted, a person who’d guided and at the same time manipulated me all along?

Horror clutched at my belly as the pieces fell into place in a wicked, dangerous way. An impossibility that I’d never considered before rose and looked me straight in the eye with the malevolence of a red-eyed demon.

“We have to go, right now,” I whispered to Peta.

“What? Why?”

I opened my mouth to tell her, but the horror of the words was too much. Too much and too painful to truly believe.

But the more they rolled around in my head, the more I knew they were the truth.

The truth hurt, and this burned like a thousand hot pokers being jammed into my belly. I’d been a fool, a stupid trusting fool, and the hurt slowly formed into an anger that burned away the pain.

“Lark?” Peta clawed at my leg in an attempt to slow me.

“Now, we have to go now,” I said again.

She let go of me. “If you are sure.”

“I am.” I strode across the Eyrie toward the Pegasus. “Shazer, are you ready to fly?”

“Yeah,” Peta snipped. “You done with your fan club?”

Surprisingly, the Sylphs laughed as he backed away from them. “Don’t blame me for being beautiful.”

I leapt onto his back, Peta right behind me. Samara hurried to my side and put a hand on my leg. “Lark, will you come when the baby is born?”

I didn’t want to make promises I couldn’t keep. What I was about to do was beyond dangerous; it was downright suicidal, and I knew it, no matter how much my anger fueled me.

“I will try.”

“I want you to be his guardian. To be his protector as you’ve been mine.” Her eyes welled and I placed a hand on hers. It occurred to me then that the next generation was going to be full of half-breed royals. More than ever before. They needed the elemental world to be ready for them and their strength.

“I will try,” I repeated. “I . . . may not be here.”

Her eyes closed. “Be safe then, for I believe you may hold the world in your hands.”

A chill swept through me. “Advice, or insight?”

Her eyes fluttered open. “Aria left me the gift of sight. It comes now and again. Our world needs you alive, Lark. For whatever is coming is worse than even the demon hordes.” She shuddered and took her hand from mine. I gritted my teeth on the chill that made them want to chatter.

Shazer took a leap, and the Sylphs around us swept us upward on a monster gust of wind. He laughed and his wings beat to keep the momentum going. “I think I like them.”

Another time I would have laughed. But not now. Not with what I knew I was going to do.

“Where are we going exactly?” he asked. Peta looked up at me, concern filling her eyes. I knew she could feel the anxiety growing in me, the fear and the feeling of inevitability. The knowledge that I was most likely walking into a trap, and a bad one at that.