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

by Cassandra Gannon

  “Ty.” He said softly. “Just get out of there.”

  “Please, don’t watch.” Real-Ty repeated.

  “I won’t have you, Parald.” Memory-Ty insisted. “I won’t have my life dictated to me by some force beyond my control. I could have put up with just not loving you, but this…”

  “I don’t give a shit if you love me or not!” Parald roared. “You’re mine. I’m the fucking King of the Air House and I can have whatever I want!”

  Ty looked right at him. “No.”

  The word was unequivocal. Gion knew from the stubborn look on her face that she wouldn’t back down. Ty looked fragile, but the woman had a core of solid steel.

  Ty swept up the hem of her robes and started for the door

  Parald stepped directly into her path.

  Gion automatically reached for his sword. He could feel the situation deteriorating.

  “What do you think you’re going to do, huh, Ty?” Parald loomed over her. “You think this is that fucking fairytale where the girl gives up her Match for true love?”

  “Ismena happens to be my favorite story. Not that you’d know that, because you couldn’t care less about me.” Ty gave her hair a toss. “I’m actually happy that this happened. Finally, I have a valid reason to get rid of you.”

  “I own you. You can’t get rid of me!”

  Ty leaned closer to him, her eyes bright with triumph. “You’re renounced, you asshole.”

  Under any other circumstances Gion would have laughed at that, but this was getting very, very bad. Parald’s face went purple with anger and Gion’s apprehension grew. “Ty, don’t…”

  “You stupid bitch!” Parald lunged at her. “No one fucking renounces me!” He shook her. “You should be on your knees, grateful that I chose you!” He tried to smash his lips over hers.

  “Stop!” Memory-Ty pushed him away and Parald hit her.

  His fist slammed into her face and the blow sent Ty flying to the floor. The back of her head struck against the tile, leaving her dazed.

  Gion swore viciously. “I will fucking kill him!”

  “Stop watching! Stop watching! Stop watching!” Real-Ty grabbed his arm as Gion automatically tried to help the past her.

  “You’re lucky I decided to have you as my Match.” Parald stalked over and dragged memory-Ty up onto the sofa, pinning her beneath him. “I can have anyone I want!”

  Memory-Ty cried out in fear as Parald tore at her clothes.

  Gion’s fury was a living thing inside him. “You son-of-a-BITCH!”

  “Please, Gion. Please, stop watching. I can’t bear it.” Real-Ty tugged at his arm. “Please.”

  Gion glanced down at her, his eyes wild. “I can’t do anything! He’s… And I can’t…”

  “Wait.” Ty beseeched. “He doesn’t rape me. Just wait. Please don’t watch.”

  “What?” Gion’s mind buzzed with rage and frustration. He couldn’t focus. Parald’s palm was covering Memory-Ty’s mouth and her muffled screaming slashed through him like jagged nails. “Ty. Oh my God.” Parald pried her legs apart and Gion doubled over in physical pain. “Oh my God.”

  “I’m sorry.” Real-Ty’s voice broke on a sob. “I tried to stop him. I swear. I feel so dirty, having you see this. I didn’t want him.” A tear went sliding down her cheek. “I fought, but I was just too weak. I’m always too weak.”

  “You…” That actually penetrated his haze. “What? No. Ty, no.” He shook his head and tried to concentrate on her, instead of the frenzy threatening to consume him. “Listen to me. Nothing he does is your fault. Nothing. If he forced you, it still wouldn’t be your fault. And it wouldn’t change a damn thing about how I feel about you. Understand?” His voice was harsher then he’d intended.

  She looked up at him and Gion forced himself to calm down.

  “Understand?” He repeated in a softer tone.

  Ty gave a jerky nod.

  Gion turned away from the sofa. It gutted him, but he did it and opened his arms. That was all it took for Ty to burrow against his chest, clinging to him. Gion exhaled into her hair. It wasn’t about him. It was about Ty and what she needed. “I won’t watch. I’m here and I won’t watch, alright?”

  “Thank you.” Ty swallowed audibly. “It’ll be over in a minute.”

  “When the hell…?”

  A loud pounding on the door interrupted his demand for an exact ETA on her rescue.

  “Sire, the Council is ready to see you.”

  Gion blinked as he recognized his own cold voice.

  “I wasn’t strong enough to stop him.” Ty smiled in relief. “But, I didn’t have to be. You stopped him for me.”

  “I…?” Gion glanced over his shoulder and saw Parald sit up. His face had a harsh, calculating glow. He wasn’t out of control, which was somehow even worse. Parald wasn’t crazy. Ty was right. He was just evil.

  “Sire?” Gion heard himself say, again. “Isaacs isn’t out here, but Job’s ready.”

  “Just a moment.” Parald called, sounding out of breath. He leaned over Ty, again. Her eyes were wide and glassy. “Get up.” He hissed and quickly rearranged her clothes. Ty tried to push him away and Parald gave her another hard shake. “We’re going to the stand before that fucking Council and you’re going to say the words to make me your Match, ya got it? You do what I say or you’ll regret it.”

  Memory-Ty looked over the side of the couch. Her hand moved, reaching out for the door…

  Towards Gion.

  In her traumatized state, Ty automatically reached for him and Parald stopped her. The bastard grabbed her wrist and yanked her to her feet.

  Gion hated the man.

  He hated Parald so much that it burned straight through to his soul. Gion pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. Maybe it would be safe to kill Parald when Ty was a hundred. That was only four years away. Somehow, he could endure four more years of Parald being alive.

  Parald kept talking. “You think Gion’s gonna help you, Ty? Huh?” Another shake. “What have I told you about him? Gion thinks you’re weak and useless. He told me that. He’ll laugh if you start whining at him.”

  Gion’s anger made the Air energy crackle around him. “I didn’t tell him anything.” He shook his head. “Parald’s lying. I never would have let him hurt you. He knew that.”

  “He always said things like that about you.” Ty murmured. “He wanted me scared of you. He wanted us separated.”

  Gion considered that. Was Parald savvy enough to have felt their connection? No Match would want his woman’s energy linking with another man’s. Was that the source of Parald’s scheming?

  Once Ty looked presentable, Parald dragged her towards the door. “Just get out there and keep your mouth shut. You don’t know what the hell you’re doing. When Job asks you if you accept the Match, you just bob your head or I’ll make you sorry.”

  Ty ripped free of his hold and didn’t say a word. Gion recognized the ‘rot in Hell’ gleam to her eyes, but Parald apparently didn’t notice.

  He opened the door and smiled at Gion. “Here’s the happy bride. Take her to Job.” He patted the top of Ty’s hair and the mask of a loving Match fell over his face. “See you soon, darling.”

  Gion remembered this day. He’d been crazed. Thinking of Ty Phazing with Parald left him desolate. He couldn’t even bear to look at Ty, for fear of what he might say. He wouldn’t have noticed a parade of aliens dancing down the hall, let alone the quiet appeal in her eyes.

  Memory-Ty looked up at him and Gion saw himself stare at a spot two feet above her head. “Ready?” He asked flatly and started walking without waiting for a response.

  Shit.

  Ty had needed help and he’d been completely oblivious.

  He’d screwed up. He always screwed up when it really mattered.

  “I’m sorry.” Real-Gion glanced down at her and wondered how she could ever forgive him. “Angel, I’m so sorry. I wanted you so badly and I was so upset about your Match that I d
idn’t see…”

  Ty cut him off. “Wait.” She instructed and followed the two other thems out into the hall.

  The Classical elegance of the Council Hall surrounded them as they made their way towards the main chamber. Memory-Ty looked shell-shocked. Gion wanted to punch his former self. Oblivious moron.

  “You should have said something to me, Ty.” He snapped. “I would have…”

  “Wait.”

  Memory-Gion reached the doors to the Council Chamber. He started to pull them open, then hesitated and slammed them shut, again. He finally focused on Ty. “Tritone? I can’t do this without…”

  She looked up at him with damp turquoise eyes and Gion saw himself lose his original train of thought.

  “Just know yourself and be happy.” He said, instead. “You deserve that. I wish… I wish things could have been different. I wish…” He stopped and glanced away. “Damn it, I wish we didn’t have fucking Matches.” Gion jerked the door open and stalked into the Council Chamber without giving Ty a chance to reply.

  He had no idea what Memory-Ty gazed after him like he said something amazing.

  Real-Ty sighed contentedly. “Thank you, Gion.”

  “For what? Saying that?” It wasn’t exactly Shakespeare. “Why?”

  “You never read Ismena, did you?”

  Gion didn’t see a way to skate around that question. “No.” He admitted.

  “Parald was actually right. It’s about a woman who renounces her Match for true love. I always adored that book. I named all my dolls ‘Ismena’ as a girl.” She smiled. “I never understood why a story so antithetical to the Elementals’ basic laws would be so popular with Phases, until now. I think it’s because a lot of us secretly want what the humans have. We want the freedom to choose our own destinies.”

  “And you did it.”

  “I did.”

  It stuck Gion how much courage that must have taken. On the very day that she came of age, Ty rebelled against every Elemental tradition and renounced her Match. In fact, Memory-Ty was about to go into the Council Chamber, look right at Parald and tell him she’d rather die than be his queen.

  “Ty, how can you ever say that you’re weak? No one else would have had the strength to go in there and renounce Parald like that. No one, but you.”

  Her mouth curved. “I was inspired.” Ty slipped her arm thorough his. “The last words of Ismena are, ‘know yourself and be happy.”

  “Really?” That was… amazing.

  “Yes. When you said that to me, I knew what I had to do.” Ty stood on tiptoe to kiss the side of his jaw. “I just absolutely knew.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  It is a citizen of both elements-- air and water.

  F. H. Laing- ‘A Reassuring Thought…’

  Ty came back to the present with a gasp.

  She was on the kitchen floor with Gion’s arms around her. The digital clock on the microwave told her that no time had passed since the beginning of their experience. Just like in a genuine memory-sharing, it had all happened instantly.

  Ty smiled.

  Her residual panic faded and excitement filled her. What she and Gion just saw was extraordinary. Everything about their connection was a little bizarre, but this proved that what they had was really special.

  Freya’s double-Match theory had to be right.

  Only Matches had memory sharings.

  And that mental trip into the past had to have been some kind of memory sharing. Scientifically, there was just nothing else that it could be. That meant that Gion didn’t have another Match. He wouldn’t leave her. He really was hers.

  All Ty had to do was kill Parald and she could have Gion. She’d only have one Match. Her real Match: Gion. Just like things were supposed to be.

  Ty gave an excited “squee” and kissed him full on the lips. “Did you see that? You did, right? You were really there with me?”

  “Yes.” Gion didn’t look thrilled. He seemed baffled. “You’re the genius, here. What the hell was that?”

  Ty bounced to her feet. “Well, I think it’ll take more research to be sure, but I’m very hopeful that it’s good news.”

  “More with the research. Great.”

  “Ty?” Nia came wandering in. Red eyebrows climbed as she took in Gion’s position on the floor. “Right.” She shook her head and looked over at her cousin. “So, someone’s here to see Gion.”

  “I’m not eager to visit with Job.” Gion muttered, standing up. He still looked immaculate. “It’ll be a complete waste of time. I can already give a Ghost of Christmas Future summary of the conversation yet to come. ‘If Gion doesn’t change his ways, I predict a sad and…’”

  “It’s not Job, wiseass.” Nia headed over to the stove to check on the spaghetti. “It’s some Air Phases, actually. Come to visit you.”

  “What?” Gion scowled. “Damn it, I told Tharsis not to let anyone in here until I checked their names. Are Water Phases genetically incapable of understanding security?”

  “Well, if we’re too slow for you, you could always move out.” Nia poured the pasta through the strainer in the sink and endeavored to look innocent. “I wouldn’t mind.”

  “Nia.” Ty frowned at her cousin. “What are you doing?”

  “Helping with dinner.” She transferred the spaghetti in to a bowl and handed it to Ty. “I’ll get the sauce and then we can eat.”

  Gion went sweeping out of the kitchen like a storm cloud.

  “I asked you to be nice to him.” Ty hissed.

  “I am being nice. This is me being nice to the vampire who’s bewitched my little cousin. Note how I haven’t sent him over the waterfall in a barrel.”

  “He’s not a vampire. He’s my…” Ty stopped, not wanting to share Freya’s theory of the double-Match just yet. It was like a birthday candle wish. If she said the words out loud, it might not come true.

  “He’s your what?” Nia pressed.

  Ty bit her lower lip. “I love him.” She whispered and then dashed out of the room before her cousin started lecturing.

  Nia could be overprotective. Ty was used to that and she even appreciated it. Nia had always doted on her. Ty was the baby of the family, born a hundred and fifty-eight years after the twins. All her life, Nia and Thar looked out for Ty and spoiled her. They loved Ty and, occasionally, they thought that gave them the right to rule her life. She accepted that.

  But, Ty still wasn’t giving Gion up.

  She hurried towards the dining room just in time to hear Gion’s voice snap out like whip.

  “No. You aren’t welcomed here. Get out. Now.”

  It wasn’t so much the words as it was the deadly serious quality of his tone that had Ty breaking into a run. Gion was about to kill their houseguests. That would not be a great way to endear him to her family.

  “Gion!” She went skidding into the room. “Don’t…” She stopped abruptly, spotting the target of his wrath. “Isaacs.”

  Parald’s new number one Phase stood in her dining room between Cross and Brokk, sunglasses over his eyes and a scowl on his face.

  “How could you let Isaacs come within three kingdoms of Ty?” Gion demanded, glaring over at Tharsis. “Do you have a brain injury?”

  “I didn’t invite him.” Tharsis held up his palms “not my fault” style. “Amarna brought him.”

  “Isaacs isn’t going to hurt her.” Amarna volunteered. “He needs Ty’s help.”

  Ty’s mind went blank for a beat. “Alright.” If he was planning to kidnap her, Isaacs probably would have had a better plan that just… showing up, so Ty was at a loss on how to act. Good breeding had her falling back on politeness. “Um. I’m glad to see that you’re okay after the Agora fight, Isaacs. I tried to check on you, but…”

  “I’m not okay!” Isaacs roared. He ripped the sunglasses off of his face and pointed at his eyes. “I can’t fucking see, Ty. I can’t see, and it’s your fault, and I want amnesty.”

  Ty sucked in a breath as she took i
n the milky blue sheen to gaze. “You’re blind?! Oh my God, Isaacs. I’m so sorry. Have you seen Freya?” She instantly winced over that phrasing. “I mean, have you gone to…”

  Gion cut her off. “I don’t care if his eyes were eaten by wolves. Isaacs isn’t moving in, Ty. That’s the end of the discussion.” He glared over at Amarna. “And what the hell are you doing here?”

  “She brought Isaacs, of course.” Ignoring Gion’s bad mood, Ty moved closer to Isaacs and pulled out a chair for him. The man had kidnapped her once, but she couldn’t just let him suffer. “Here, Isaacs. Have a seat. What can I do?”

  “He blackmailed me into letting him tag along.” Amarna reported dismissively. She kept her attention on Gion. “I really came to see you.”

  “What kind of food do you have?” Isaacs sat down and put his hands on the tabletop as if testing the solidity of the wood. “I like steak.”

  “Seriously, we’re not really gonna feed this asshole, right?” Cross looked over at Tharsis. “He’s a bad guy. Do we all remember that?”

  Brokk nodded. “I remember that.”

  Gion frowned at Amarna. “We have nothing to discuss. And Isaacs,” he pointed a finger at him, “you’re leaving. You’re not eating here. You’re not living here. I’ll get you a German Sheppard to lead you around, if you’re that hard up.”

  “I’m allergic to dogs.” Tharsis protested.

  “Elementals don’t have allergies.” Brokk spun the chair around so he straddled the back. “And I like dogs.”

  “Isaacs has been injured. You’re all being unreasonable.” Ty put some spaghetti on Isaacs’ plate. “Here’s some pasta, Isaacs. Hang on, we have tomato sauce, too. And don’t worry. I’ll call a doctor for you.”

  “Pasta?” Isaacs’ face creased in distaste. “You don’t have steak?”

  “No.” Nia came in, slapping the tureen of spaghetti sauce onto the table. She shot Amarna an aggravated look. “You were supposed to come here alone.”

  “I know. I apologize. I knew Gion could handle him, so I wasn’t worried.” She moved closer to Gion, the intensity of her eyes belying her subdued exterior. “And we do have something to discuss. Parald. Now’s the time to defeat him.”