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

by Cassandra Gannon

  The Reprisal must’ve already been on the move, because the place seemed deserted, except for the sounds of running downstairs and some muffled shouting outside. Gion instinctively looked out of the window. Chason’s shithole homeland stretched out around him, gray and desolate. Below, someone stood by Mara’s sepulcher, but he didn’t see Ty anywhere.

  Gion had never really thought of the Magnet Kingdom as large, but now it seemed impossibly vast. Ty could be anywhere. He couldn’t find her unless she did that screaming thing in his head, calling him to her.

  Why wasn’t she doing that? Had Chason already done something to her? Or did she just not understand that Gion could hear her? He’d never explained it to her. How could Ty possibly know? Why hadn’t he taken three damn seconds to tell her…?

  Energy surged and Brook and Tharsis appeared beside him.

  Gion glanced at them distractedly. He should order them to go home. Ty wouldn’t want them put at risk, but, at the moment, he was just grateful to have more eyes. “Split up.” He commanded, already heading for the door. “Find her. Anybody gets in your way, kill them, call me, or jump around them. Don’t get dead or I’ll never hear the end of it. Understand?”

  “He’s hiding her.” Tharsis ran a hand through his hair. “They don’t even have to be in this kingdom, for God’s sake. With the barriers down, Chason could have taken her anywhere.”

  Brokk handed one of his swords to Tharsis. “Chase only needs Ty to get to Gion. He has no reason to hide. He’ll want Gion to see…” he glanced at Tharsis’ strained face, “everything. Otherwise, there’s no value his revenge.”

  “Well, I’m fucking here, so where the hell is he?” Gion snapped.

  If possible, his anxiety level jacked even higher, because Brokk was right. If Gion was Chason’s real target, then there was no reason to take Ty, at all. Chason could have decapitated Ty right in front of Gion and accomplished his goal.

  Gion couldn’t survive without Ty.

  He wouldn’t even want to.

  Better than anyone, Chason understood the utter desolation of losing the woman you loved. And, God knew, Chase had never been a subtle bastard. If he wanted to destroy Gion, the best way to do it was to kill Ty fast, before Gion had a chance to retaliate. Not kidnap her. What would be the point?

  A thought occurred to Gion, dark and horrible, born from his years serving Parald. The most likely reason to take your enemy’s woman was to rape her and then kill her. Would Chason do that? Parald would, with a grin on his simpering face. But, would a recovering choirboy like Chason go that far?

  Of course not.

  No.

  No.

  …Maybe.

  Before today, Gion had never thought that Chason would really threaten to kill Ty, so who the hell knew what he was capable of?

  Shit.

  Gion had to find her.

  Now.

  Chason must know that Gion would come for Ty. He must know that there was a timeline, here. A small window before Gion caught up with him. He was more powerful than Chason and Gion would brutally cheat without a second thought. In a fight, the safe bet would always be on Gion. Even crazy as a loon, Chason lacked Gion’s cruel streak.

  To get Ty back, there was nothing Gion wouldn’t do.

  Nothing, at all.

  So why was Chason risking this? Why not kill her outright? What was he planning?

  And where the hell had he taken Ty?

  *****

  Chason zipped Ty’s sweater up so forcefully that the back of his hand knocked against her chin. “You’ll be fine. Just stay out of my path.”

  “I’m not going along with this.” She hissed, batting his arm away.

  Chason ignored that, not releasing his grip on her as he tugged her along. Ty couldn’t jump herself with Chason so close and she wasn’t strong enough to pull him along with her. For all practical purposes she was stuck with him until he let her go.

  … Or she stabbed him.

  A shard of Plexiglas stayed clutched in Ty’s hand. She wasn’t certain what might happen to an Elemental impaled with plastic, but she was positive that it would hurt. So, she kept it hidden in her grasp. She didn’t want to do anything drastic, yet

  Ty still didn’t think Chason would hurt her. It seemed fairly clear that he wasn’t planning her grisly death, at the moment. And she’d loved Mara so much, that it was hard for Ty to contemplate killing her Match unless there was just no other alternative. Mara had been the first one to give her a copy of Ismena.

  Also, no matter how much Ty didn’t want to be there, she felt like something… bigger was at work. That synchronicity Raiden spoke of, as events came to a head. Chason had inadvertently brought her to the one spot where she might be able do some good for her kingdom and family.

  The Air Palace.

  Just being there sent Ty into the first hyperventilating stages of a panic attack. She could feel Parald in the castle. Just feel the miasma of his evil seeping through the mortar and stone. In so many of her nightmares, Ty was trapped in the Air Palace, running down its endless, tackily decorated hallways, unable to escape.

  But, if Parald was here, then this was her chance to kill him. If Parald was dead, his army would stop attacking the Water House and Job wouldn’t have to kill anyone.

  Plus, the Love Tablet was in Air Kingdom. In order to undo the… whatever that Parald had done, Tessie said she needed the box. This was Ty’s chance to find it. To help fix Parald’s treachery and remove the block from inside of her. Raiden’s words from the Agora came back to her.

  I know now that you’re the only one who can do this. Find the box. It will be behind him.

  And, amazingly, she knew exactly what that gibberish meant.

  Granted, Raiden was a nut. But, for some crazy reason, in the midst of all this war and deceit, Ty believed him. She believed that she was the only one who could do this. She had to get the tablet or Gion would come here and try to find it himself. Probably alone. Ty would rather risk herself that her Match.

  And she’d rather risk Chason than either of them.

  Ty wasn’t a hero. Let Chase deal with the first hail of castle guards, if he was so determined to be an idiot. All she wanted was to kill Parald, find the box and to make it out of this alive.

  Chason dragged her along in his wake, his sword slashing through fleshy obstacles as he neared the throne room. The noise of the battle was everywhere, metal and shouting and the pounding of running feet.

  Phases from other Houses were arriving in the Air Kingdom; some Reprisal, some civilians, and all of them eager for Parald’s head. Everyone who’d waited two years for revenge against the Air House had just been waved through the toll. With most of the Air House army in the Water Kingdom, the remaining soldiers were outnumbered so heavily that none of the invaders were meeting much resistance.

  Chason cut a swath through everyone, unconcerned about the fighting. He was focused like a Doberman on his prey, moving towards Parald with relentless determination.

  From the corner of her eye, Ty saw Yuan, of the Reflection House, one of the most powerful Elementals alive.

  At least, she thought it was him.

  It was definitely a Reflection Phase, but that House had the annoying ability to look however they wanted, so it was always difficult to identify them by their appearance. There was a white streak at his temple and a savage glow to his colorless eyes as he fought Air Phases.

  “There are only two sides in this, Ty.” Chason told her in a conversational tone. “You can be with me or against me. Either way, I’ll be leaving here with Parald’s head, so I don’t care which you choose.”

  “This isn’t that kind of war.” Ty glowered up at him. “You want me dead. Parald wants me dead. Whose side am I supposed to be on?”

  “I don’t want you dead.” He looked surprised that she’d say such a thing. “You’re just a means to an end. Collateral damage. Raiden said that I can’t use you to get at Gion, so I’ll use you against Parald,
instead. It’s nothing personal.”

  Okay, that was just insulting. “I take the invasion of my kingdom and my subsequent kidnapping quite personally, as a matter of fact.” Ty dug her heels in and did her very best to halt him entirely. “I’m not just a pawn, Chase. I’m a real person!”

  He didn’t respond to that, just continued forward march, pulling her along.

  To her left Alder, of the Fire House arrived, jumping right into the middle of a cadre of Air House guards. Grinning like a maniac, he cheerfully began battling them, six against one. Ty wasn’t even a teensy bit concerned over who’d win that fight. Fire Phases lived to skewer their enemies.

  She recognized more and more warriors from the various Houses, now.

  Rysimer and Abram and Europa and Djinn and Pele.

  There was no way the Air House could win this.

  Bodies fell. People screamed. It sounded like the Fall, all over again.

  Except there was no coughing.

  Across the room, she saw Mara’s cousin, Kahn, of the Light House. Black-red gore covered the side of his face as he savaged his way through the Air Phases. There was a desperate frenzy on all sides of the fight. As if everyone knew that they only had a few moments before Job arrived and reigned in the carnage, so they needed to hack apart as many of their enemies as they could.

  Chason’s own sword flashed out, cutting down an Air Phase who stepped into his path. He didn’t even hesitate as he stepped over the body. He didn’t notice Kahn. He didn’t notice anything. Ty had the feeling the entire world was white noise to Chason, now. Just meaningless distractions as he headed for his goal.

  Ty averted her gaze, executing a graceless leap over the corpse on the floor so the pooling blood didn’t touch her. She was still in her bare feet. “This is insane.”

  “Insane.” That actually got his full attention. Chason chuckled in a completely inappropriate and off-kilter way. “Insaaaane. That word is haunting me, you know. A specter. I think only people who really understand it, should be allowed to use it, though. Everyone just throws it around, but it has a visceral component that you hyperbolic dilettantes can’t possibly appreciate.”

  There was absolutely nothing Ty could say to that.

  “Insanity is not just a state of mind.” Chason continued as if he thought she was going to argue the point. “It’s a living thing. Organic. It follows you everywhere. Believe me. I know.”

  “This has been a nightmare for you. Okay? I’ve only just come to see how much.” Losing Gion would kill her. No wonder Chason was so distraught. Ty had no idea how he’d even hung on this long without his Match. “I miss Mara, too. I was at your Phazing Day. She let me hold her flowers and…”

  “Don’t say my Match’s name!”

  His volume had her cringing, but Ty still didn’t back down. “Or what? You’ll jump me into the middle of a battle? Rip me from my home? Drag me around against my will?” She snorted. “You’re not going to do a damn thing more to me, until I get you what you want, and we both know it.”

  Chason scowled. “Gion has brought out a particularly bitchy side of you.”

  Ty actually took that as a compliment. People never called weak women “bitchy.” It was only the ones who stood up for themselves.

  “At least, Gion never abducted anyone. In fact, he rescued me from the dungeons here.” And he’d come for her, again. There wasn’t a doubt in Ty’s mind.

  “Gion is a fucking maniac!”

  “Gion is a better man than you are, by any objective standard. Face it, no matter what happened in the past, today Gion is the hero of the piece. Guess what that makes you?”

  “You have no right to judge me, Ty. None.”

  “As your victim, I’d say I definitely have a…”

  “You’re not a victim! You won’t be hurt. I told you that. Not unless I have no choice. Just stay out of my way and it’ll be fine.” They reached the massive double doors of the throne room. Chason must have memorized maps of the Air Palace, because he hadn’t made a single wrong turn getting there.

  Two Air Phases stood guard at the door. One look at Chason had them bolting in the opposite direction.

  Chason barely seemed to notice. He pounded a fist against the massive fortified door, positioning Ty in front of the peephole.

  “Chason, don’t so this.” She hissed, bracing herself as he laid his sword across her throat. Ty tightened her grip on the plastic shard, the edges of it digging into her hand.

  “I’m sorry. This the only way to get my Match back. Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “Get her back? That’s… impossible.” Ty wasn’t going to use the word “insane,” again, but that was pretty much the definition of it. “Mar… I mean, your Match is dead. Remember?” She tried for a humoring tone. “If you…”

  “I know she’s dead! Raiden had a vision and said I could get her back, though, if I had you with me. Alive.” He shook his head like the words were jumbled. “Or something. So…”

  A roar came from inside the locked throne room.

  Parald.

  “Ty! Give her to me!”

  The sound of his voice had Ty’s vision wavering and her heart rate speeding up. She leaned backwards against Chason as fear threatened to suck her under.

  Panic attack.

  Panic attack.

  Panic attack.

  Ty squeezed her eyes shut and fought for control.

  No.

  She wasn’t too weak. She never had been.

  She could do this.

  “Let me in or you can watch her die!” Chason shouted back. “I want to make a deal.”

  Silence.

  Then, “What sort of deal?”

  “Open the door and find out.”

  “It’s a trick. You think I’m an idiot?”

  “Hell yes. I also think that you’re an asshole with delusions of grandeur. I think I have the only thing that you really want and I’m pretty sure that you’ll be stupid enough to believe that you can take me in a fight. So, I think you’ll open the door and try to prove it.”

  “I can take you in a fight. The Magnet House is nothing compared to the Air Kingdom!”

  “This isn’t about Houses. This is about the qualities of men. I was bred to be great and you were bred to be a servant in the kitchen.”

  Ty swallowed hard, trying to maintain control. There was just no way Chason would make a deal with Parald. None. There was nothing in the universe Chason wanted from the man except vengeance. Chason was pushing his buttons in a completely unsubtle way. Was Parald honestly egotistical enough to fall for his taunting?

  Yes. Apparently, he was.

  Thank God, this moron wasn’t her Match.

  “I’m the King! Not because my pussy of a father was king before me, because I fought for my throne. It’s all me! I’m the ruler of this kingdom by right, not luck. Talent, not bloodlines.”

  “Congratulations.” Chason intoned. “So, you were born a dishwasher.”

  That sounded so much like something Gion would snark that Ty gave an amazed burst of nervous laughter, despite her careening emotions.

  The door slammed open a Parald stood there, a sword pointed at Chason. “I was born a king!”

  Ty only had a second to react to seeing Parald again, and then Chason was shoving her out of the way. She staggered to the side as Chason used his Magnet powers to rip the sword right out of Parald’s hand. It flew across the room, crashing into the wall behind them, and Chason advanced.

  Parald’s eyes widened. Obviously, he hadn’t expected Chason to cheat quite so fast.

  Ty could feel the slimy touch of his powers against her and shuddered. She had to find that box and fix this.

  “You killed my Match, you son-of-a-bitch.” Chason spun his own sword around in his hand. “I’ve been preparing for this moment for two years. I had a whole speech and everything. I dreamed of hearing you beg.” He tilted his head. “And now that we’re finally here… I don’t even care. I
’m going to kill you, right now. Because, I simply don’t fucking care what else you have to say.”

  “All I wanted was Ty! It’s her fault, not mine! All I wanted was my Match!”

  Ty’s lingering panic dissipated under a cloud of rage. She wasn’t scared anymore. She was angry. So out of her mind furious that she just shoved her way into the throne room and jabbed a finger at Parald. “You conniving bastard! You aren’t my Match. You never were!” Portraits of Parald dressed like human kings seemed to follow her with their beady eyes as she advanced. “Gion is my Match and you know it. This is all because you tried to destroy my connection to him and it didn’t work!”

  Chason’s head snapped around to gape at her. “What?”

  “Parald used the Love Tablet to do something to our Phazing energy. I was never supposed to be with him. It’s always been Gion.”

  “I chose you. You should be fucking grateful, you little whore.”

  “You’re so useless, I can’t believe I ever thought Gaia would punish me and connect my energy to yours.” The words poured out of her. “I am so much better than you. So much stronger. You are nothing but a murderer and I will never ever let you beat me.”

  “You’re my Match! You don’t have a choice…”

  “Gion is my Match. Gion is King of the Water House. Gion is the man I love. We make each other happy and whole. Nothing can change that. Certainly not you.”

  “I’m the King!”

  “Keep saying it while you can.” Ty smirked at him with utter confidence. “The barriers are gone and there’s a big target painted on your forehead. Without Gion and Isaacs helping to protect you, you’re already dead. And, since they’re both playing on my team, I’d say the best you can hope for now is a nice royal funeral, your majesty.”

  “You bitch!”

  Chason blinked. Ty could see him processing that information behind his crazed purple eyes. “Parald doesn’t even have a Match? He’s done all this and you’re not even his?”

  “Ty belongs to me! I can have whatever I want!”

  Ty looked over at Chason. “I’m not his. If he had a Match out there --A real Match-- odds are he killed her in the Fall.” The poor woman might have been better off.