The Chilling Change Of Air (Elemental Awakening, Book 3) (8 page)

I stepped into what was clearly the master suite. Opulent, plush, luxurious and masculine with a hint of femininity in the pattern on the thick coverlet that spread over the king-sized bed. Aquas and browns, modern to match the artwork, but rich in design. Small oriental looking flowers dotted the bedspread, hand embroidered by the looks of it. I let my gaze fall over the dark wooden furniture, the large bay windows and overstuffed armchairs sitting at a comfortable angle to each other by a beautiful orchid in full bloom. The fire called to me, an Aubusson rug before it the only reference to old money the house seemed to have.

It was such a contrast to Theo's old home, I wondered what he thought of it. Then I decided it was better I didn't know. The least I had to do with him, the better.

It would only hurt.

"Is it to your liking?" the butler asked.

"It's beautiful, Aktor. But surely this is the master suite."

"And you are the mistress," he said with a small bow and then backed out of the room before I could argue that fact.

As he had done, so many times before, Aktor simply accepted me. Despite the rules. Despite the obstacles. Despite Theo not thinking the same way. Aktor had put me in this room because he knew I should be with Theo. Here. In the master suite. And the old man was counting on that transpiring.

But wishes are one thing. Reality, I have learned, is something else.

I walked across the soft carpet to the fireplace, thinking I should shower the grime off but Fire called. I knelt down and watched the flames lick higher, a hiss of burning wood welcomed me home.

Aether
, it said.
Oh, Aether
, it cried, and then I heard voices.

It took a second, maybe two, to realise they weren't in the room with me, but were coming through the flames of the Fire like a
Pyrkagia
communique.

"Darling, you must be tired," Isadora's voice purred from inside the hearth.

"Not too tired for this," Theo replied, his voice muffled but still audible through the crackle of the flames.

"It's been a long time, Theodoros," the bitch murmured. "Things have changed."

"If you mention that
Gi
one more time I will throttle you," he snapped back, the hand covering my mouth trembled as finally the tears returned.

"Theo," Isadora tried, and I reluctantly acknowledged that at least she
was
trying.

But how do you fight off an amorous suitor such as Theo? One you have always loved and so recently thought lost to another. One who clearly doesn't remember that fact and still believes you are his.

"Allow me this, Dora," he pleaded. "I need you, love."

And then he groaned. A sound I had heard him make on many occasions. A sound I knew he made when things were heating up and
Pyrkagia
was flowing and we were usually fully naked, skin on skin.

I made my own sound. A hitched, horrible sound. Then managed to whisper, "Stop!"

The words were for the Fire, to break the connection, to not show me anymore. But they could have equally been for Theo.

Stop hurting me.

Stop breaking my heart.

Stop doing this.

Stop.

The door to my room crashed open and as I struggled to gain my footing on the stupid rug beneath my feet, Theo crossed the space between us and hauled me up to his level, shaking me like a rag-doll. Shaking me while he sent every ounce of his will through his
Pyrkagia
directly at me.

I screamed.

Isadora screamed from the still open door.

And Theo let out the roar of an injured lion; so pain-filled, so wretched, so real.

"Get out!" he yelled, at first I thought to me. But his hand was still wrapped around my throat and his eyes were actually on Dora.

"Theo, what are you going to do?" she inquired, somehow managing to sound steady. But even I could see the worry in her eyes.

"This is between me and the eavesdropping
Gi
," he snarled.

"Theodoros!" Aktor thundered from the hallway.

And then with a flick of his hand Theo pushed Isadora back out the door, slamming it shut and then melting the lock completely.

They banged on it for several seconds. They yelled for him to not do anything he'd regret.

And all the while he watched me, not the rattling frame of the door. Not the lightning that shot down all around the building in a thunderous crack of sound, not the torrential rain visible through the still open curtains, nor the flames in the fireplace as they licked the mantle above.

Not even the orchid as it swayed in its pot and danced to a death's dirge.

"You want me?" he asked, voice deceptively soft. "Here I am," he whispered.

And then he leaned forward so slowly until his lips were hovering above my mouth.

"Open," he instructed.

"What?" I squeaked, but of course, that meant I "opened."

And Fire burned down my throat as he breathed
Pyrkagia
into me through a kiss that surely meant my death.

I have suffered much since I awoke in a pit full of dirt.

I have been vilified, ostracised, and cast out.

I have been tortured, poisoned and experimented on in a mad scientist's lab whilst still conscious.

I have been dragged from my home, fought for another, made to kill in order to protect those I consider mine.

I have discovered my once-thought kind and trustworthy grandfather was in fact a member of a cult that was obsessed with Elemental powers not natural to humans.

I have found out I am a god's answer to a fate not yet determined but thought to be the very worst.

I have loved and lost that love.

And I was through with it all.

As Theo's body moulded to mine, and a moan escaped his lips, while Fire swelled between us, his and mine, I pulled on the Earth. And felt its ever present reply.

We are yours. Do as you wish. Take from us, Aether. Yours.

The ground beneath that exquisite mansion rumbled. The house shook. I could hear Aktor and Isadora yelling at Sonya to get out. The glass in the window frames rattled and then just gave up the ghost and shattered.

Rain poured in, soaking us where we stood. Drenching us, but not quenching the Fire. It burned. We burned. It raged to an inferno between us. I could smell the burned Aubusson carpet. I could feel the flames lick up my body, my clothes turning to ash at my sides.

Theo's hands replaced them.

Remember me!
I shouted inside my head.
This is us!
I yelled.

But a part of me knew. He was acting on instinct, nothing more. His feeding had been interrupted between Isadora and himself, and I'd been presented on a singed platter for him to taste.

Theo's
Stoicheio
wrapped around mine in a poor imitation of a
Thisavros
bonding. Nothing like the real thing. Hollow. Weak. Fake.

I started to struggle in his hold, his lips still firmly pressed to mine, his tongue halfway down my throat, his hands; one fisted in my hair holding me still, the other cupping my butt cheek and thigh, pulling me hard against his erection.

The wind had started to howl, the curtains billowing horizontal to the floor now. The rain sharp splinters of ice digging into feverish skin.

"I will have you," Theo growled against my lips. "You want this too."

I did. I did want it. Skin on skin. Theo around me, with me, inside me. But not like this.

I tried to speak, but my back had hit the wall beside the still raging fireplace, a picture next to my head falling to the floor from the impact our bodies made. The walls swayed, the ground rolled, the house screeched in denial, but I knew it was no good. Resistance was futile.

This house and anyone in it would be buried if I didn't stop this now.

Was it me? Was I causing this?

Stop!
I yelled to Earth, Fire, Air and Water.
Stop!
I ordered, but all I heard was the groan of trees outside, the roar of flames around me, the whistle of the wind and the sharp rat-a-tat-tat of rain on any available surface.

We cannot
, several different voices replied.
We cannot
, they repeated at different resonances.
We cannot
, they cried with force enough to make me moan from the pain that took up residence inside my head.

My vision began to blur, my limbs became weak. But not Theo. Whatever was weakening me was not affecting him. His hands roamed down my body, lifting me off my feet and wrapping my legs around his waist.

No! Not like this. Please, no!

I felt him ready to enter.

A single tear rolled down my cheek.

Not like this,
my mind whispered desperately.
He'll never forgive himself
,
my heart and soul cried out.

A bright white light filled the room, so blinding it even made Theo pause. His head pulled back, his chest pulled away, just our groins aligned but no closer.

"What the hell?" he said, suddenly aware of the state of the room, who was in his arms and just how close we were to being crushed in rubble.

His wide golden eyes glanced down at my scorched but obviously naked body, held aloft by his grip on my rear. I saw the second he realised what was about to transpire. I waited for the anger to be directed at me. But it didn't come. His eyes had stilled on my wet cheeks.

Then the light expanded, rushed around us in a tornado of lightning bright flashes, ozone wafted on the electrified air. Theo's dark hair rose off his head, I could feel mine doing the same.

"What's happening?" he asked, his words sounding like static, as he removed my legs from his waist but somehow managed to pull me closer, not push me further away with that move.

"I...I don't know," I stammered, but I was thinking that maybe I did.

The wind picked up, although all I could see before me was Theo and the blinding white light that surrounded us, and all I could hear was his harsh breaths mixed with mine.

Where to, Aether?
a new voice sounded in my head. High-pitched and chilling, not deep and steady like the Earth, or playful and teasing like Fire. This one froze me, then ran cold fingers down my spine.
Where to, Aether?
it repeated.

I shook my head.

"What is it?" Theo demanded.

"
Aeras
," I whispered and the voice inside my head sighed, changing from chilling to calming in one breath.

Aether, where to?

So many things swept through my head. The look on Theo's handsome face, so close and yet still so closed off. The sound of a building about to break. The façade I'd seen earlier, driving through those gates towards the sleek mansion on top of the hill. The grass lawns, the trees.

The Moreton Bay Fig.

The more I thought about the gnarled, exposed roots of the tree, the one outside as well as the one in a book I used to own and the one that had appeared in my first dream visit from Gramps, the more it crystallised in my mind.

So be it
, whispered Air.

Then the light blazed, and the wind whipped and the cool wet feel of grass met my toes. I looked down and saw a tree root, my eyes followed it until they came to the tree. The light dissipated, the wind calmed, and that ozone smell wafted away on a now non-existent breeze.

But it still rained.

"What the fuck was that?" Theo demanded, looking down at me with shock and I was thinking horror on his face.

"
Aeras
," I repeated.

"Yes," he said, stepping away, putting space between us, taking his body heat, but not the heat of his gaze. His eyes roamed hungrily over my completely nude body. I couldn't look at his. It hurt too much. Because although I saw appreciation in his look, there was still no recognition.

I was a naked woman before a
Pyrkagia
prince, one who was still hungry.

I covered my breasts with crossed arms as Isadora, Nico, Aktor and Sonya came running over. They all stopped as one, taking in the sight of our unclothed forms.

"Did we miss the party?" Nico asked, as Aktor removed his shirt quietly and walked over to me holding it out.

I could have kissed him.

Nico reluctantly did the same for Theo, whose eyes still hadn't left my body, this time concentrating on my naked thighs.

"What the hell happened?" Isadora demanded, taking a step toward Theo and being cut off by Nico. They glared at each other, but she didn't push forward, taking the silent threat at face value.