by Lexi C. Foss
Heat raked across my skin, making my element react and crust over a protective layer of earth.
Where is it coming from?
I rushed to the source, my entire room bathed in a glow of red, and found an inferno shooting into the sky in front of the Spirit Quad.
Titus.
I knew the Fire Fae was powerful, but he roared with terrifying fury with arms outstretched and muscles taut as his element left him all at once, seeking and devouring everything in its wake.
Something pinched inside my chest, and I grabbed at it as if a needle had just pricked me. Then it struck again, this time harder, and cracks spread out at my feet in protest.
“Sol!” Vox came billowing from the house in a rush of wind that caught the inferno and sent tiny tornados swirling across the destroyed landscape. “What’s happening?” His wild black eyes with that distinct ring of silver grew wide as he took in the scene. “Sol, you have to stop Titus from whatever he’s doing. He’s going to die if he keeps that up!”
This had to be the same force that took Exos, that wanted Claire dead, and now it was after us.
“I’ll get to him,” I promised and set my feet apart. I’d never done this before, but now was not the time to fear what I was capable of. I opened the gate that I kept tightly locked on my talent. No hesitation. No fear at what I might destroy. If I didn’t stop Titus, his flames would consume him and then melt us all.
My power rushed out of me and made the world tremble, but Titus wouldn’t be deterred. His inferno lifted him up and made him throw his head back, and he pushed even harder on a scream, his skin turning white-hot and his eyes ablaze when they flung open to take note of me.
“Claire!” he roared, the name a plea.
My gut twisted that something might have happened to her, but I couldn’t help Claire right now. Titus was the one about to rip himself in half, and I had to get him under control.
Control, the one thing I feared losing, slipped over me like a breeze, and I glanced back to see Vox with his arms spread and his hair flung out around him like an ancient god of the fae. Few knew his true power, but I did. It was why he’d been assigned to me and also why I trusted him.
He wasn’t afraid to contain the earth.
The wind listened to him, swirling the fires aside and giving me the energy I needed to keep my own unruly power in check.
Bless you, Vox.
My skin took on an impenetrable armor, and the heat lessened to a manageable level. I stormed up to Titus and grabbed him by the neck. “You need to stop!”
“Claire!” Titus repeated, the name a vow.
Then I felt it.
I felt her.
That ache inside my chest grew and became a clawing need. It was coming from Claire.
My eyes went wide. She’s dying.
“Impossible,” I breathed. Claire and I hadn’t made a connection, hadn’t bonded even on the lowest level, but she was inside my soul, reaching out to me, begging me for my element.
No wonder Titus was losing his shit.
I turned to see Vox concentrating on keeping the inferno in check, as well as stabilizing my energy, but Claire could do that for me.
If I just gave in, we could help each other.
The fires loomed, building walls that crept closer to the edges of the quad and threatened to reach the trees bordering Earth Quad. These weren’t normal flames. They would consume everything in their path, and nothing would stop them. Titus had lost control, being the only bonded mate that Claire could reach out to, and she’d taken too much.
It was as if something had sucked the very life out of her, forcing her to latch onto those closest to her, to help her reinforce her elements.
Without the added strength, she’d die. I could feel it in my very soul. There was no choice here. Either I let her in or I allowed her to perish.
And damn it, I couldn’t let that happen.
“Vox!” I yelled, sending my voice booming across the distance between us. “It’s Claire! Let her in!”
He flinched and his winds twisted. “Are you insane? I can’t let you go; you’ll be even worse off than Titus!”
I knew Vox’s fears. If my control slipped, even for a second, I could split the world in two.
Titus grabbed my shoulder and squeezed, his hot fingers a brand even against my armor. His eyes glowed with rage and fury and desperation. “Give her what she needs,” he begged. “She’s dying. I can’t give her enough.” He sounded so broken. So alone. So anguished.
And it was all the encouragement I needed. I closed my eyes and felt her spirit slip inside as if it had always meant to be there. The sweet flush of peaches filled my senses, and her earth warmed over me like an embrace. I fell to my knees, relieved when Vox’s steadfast control retreated as he followed suit.
The world trembled, burned, and my ears suffered the howl of a thousand hurricanes.
But Claire would live, if only for just a few moments longer.
It would have to be long enough.
Because I felt it now, the water energy joining the others.
You better save her, Cyrus, I thought. Or there will be hell to pay when you return.
Cyrus
Claire was no longer breathing, her body limp on the altar. Warm water flowed around her, most of it controlled by my magic, as I fought to keep her alive long enough to complete the ceremony.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
She should be awake and willing, not knocking at death’s door. Fuck, my betrothed should at the very least like me, but we were nowhere near that level of comfort. I was just a means to an end for her. A nuisance she wanted to get rid of at her earliest opportunity.
And I couldn’t blame her for that.
Yet I wouldn’t change a thing.
Other than not taking her into the death fields.
But her training? The way she’d strengthened under my harsh treatment? That was my doing by being the enforcer she needed. The others were too soft on her, drowning the fighter inside. I provoked her to the forefront, and I hoped like hell that little warrior met me now.
“We must begin,” my father said as the priestess arrived.
“This is unprecedented,” the petite fae replied, taking in the scene before her. “We value consent as one of the highest principles.”
“With life right above it,” I told the tiny, white-haired woman. “If it’s not meant to be, her element will reject mine. Now stop delaying.”
I stroked my thumb across Claire’s frozen cheek, willing the hot springs around her to heat her blue skin. It didn’t work. Because that wasn’t what she needed.
Her elements were drowning, seeping from her body to the netherworld.
She needed an anchor.
I would be that anchor if she accepted the bond.
The priestess took her position before us, her frail hand lifting to hover over Claire’s heart. A chant began, one hummed in the old language. I closed my eyes, allowing the whispers to infiltrate my being, taking me to a place in the fae heavens where energy pulsed bright and consuming.
Claire, I breathed, searching for her spirit, willing her to come forth, to join me in the plane and allow me to give her what she required to survive. Come to me, little queen.
I clasped her hand in the ceremonial room, squeezing tight, while my soul roamed the fields in pursuit of her. She wasn’t gone yet. I could feel her life hanging in limbo, her fae half striving to hold on just a little longer as if it knew what I would offer.
And there.
Sitting by the spring, her eyes a gorgeous blue, I found her.
She played her fingers across the water, watching it form on her fingertips before floating up to the beaming sun. It’s beautiful, she marveled, oblivious to the chaos looming over her prone form.
You’re beautiful, I admitted, swallowing. Do you know why you’re here?
She shook her head, sending those alluring golden curls in waves down her exposed back. This
flowy dress she wore was unlike any I’d seen her in, but I wanted to buy her hundreds just to see it again. Because she was stunning. Strong. Luminescent.
I like it here, she whispered as if the words were a secret only for me. And maybe they were.
It’s one of our most sacred places, Claire. Not even I have ever set foot here.
Why now? she wondered, her voice holding a musical quality I longed to hear from her icy lips.
The priestess guided us here for our vows.
Mmm. She looked around, her expression one of awe and expectation. The water element in her was taking over and driving her instincts, knowing the reason for all of this even while the human inside had no idea.
I need you to repeat the vows, I told her, hearing them from the priestess now. Can you do that for me?
She murmured her approval, her bright blue eyes smiling up at me. The utter devotion in that gaze nearly undid me. I had to remember it was her element staring at me like that, not Claire. Because she never gazed at me in that manner. And likely never would.
“I, Claire…,” the priestess started.
And I began translating each word for my betrothed, needing her to hear them from my lips, not from those of a stranger.
I, Claire, accept the power that binds me to Cyrus, born of Spirit and Water. To cherish and respect, through all of the eras and time that may fall before us, until our souls do us part. I give unto him my fluidity, my grace, my tranquility, and accept his in return. My element is now his just as his is now mine, to the fae heavens may we never part. And I shall never forsake him for another, my water forever belonging to him and to him alone.
She repeated each word, the pledge engraving her name into a piece of my heart that I would never get back. Tears filled my eyes by the end, the very real ramifications finally settling over me as my own oath began.
I, Cyrus, former King of Spirit and heir to the Water Kingdom, accept the power that binds me to Claire, future Queen of the Water Kingdom. To cherish and respect, through all of the eras and time that may fall before us, until our souls do us part. I give unto her my favor, my serenity, my purity, and accept hers in return. My element is now hers just as hers is now mine, to the fae heavens may we never part. And I shall never forsake her for another, my water forever belonging to her and to her alone.
A binding energy flourished around us, swimming through our veins, flooding my thoughts and my heart, and forever tying me to a woman who never wanted me. And to a kingdom I never desired.
But I wasn’t given time to consider the future, the spring around Claire bubbling over into a wave of molten lava that threatened us both. I grabbed her and misted back to my quarters, the ceremony complete, and held her against me as her energy consumed mine.
Take what you need, I encouraged her, feeling her lethal yearning.
My heart raced as our elements locked, her water greedily absorbing mine as I cocooned us in a sea of warmth and allowed the waterfall in my chambers to soothe her ears and lull us both into a comatose state.
I’d done my part.
Now it was on Claire to survive.
But a warrior lurked within her, one my presence seemed to provoke best. And that warrior was now raging in my head, seeking out every reserve and drinking me dry.
I succumbed to the darkness, my last thoughts for Claire. You’ll have to do better than that, little queen. Take everything. Take more. And don’t stop until you can breathe.
Exos
Magic stirred around me, a desperate pull at my senses, and yanked me from my hole with a fierceness few others could possess.
Claire.
She was all around me, her spirit weeping with words I couldn’t understand. I flew upright, the barren cell around me unfamiliar and cold. Where am I?
Another wave of need hit me hard in the chest, sending me to the floor on a groan. It felt as if my heart were splitting in two.
No. My spirit.
My eyes flew open. Something had happened to Claire. Her death slithered around me, her need for my energy clawing at my insides and begging me to save her.
Only, another was there instead of me.
Water.
The hot spring scented the air, a new bond falling into place.
Cyrus.
I would recognize that power anywhere. He’d taken his rightful place in the Water Kingdom. And it seemed Claire was his chosen queen.
Fuck.
My throat refused to work. My body stiff from disuse.
What’s happening?
I felt it then, the fraying link to Claire, unraveling from being without one another too long. A tear fell from my eye, a foreign concept, one I’d never experienced, not even at my parents’ funeral.
But for Claire…
I collapsed in anguish, my spirit withering at the erosion between us. Claire… I needed to find her, to rekindle our bond.
I’d waited too long to escape. Hid from that dark essence for far more time than I’d anticipated.
Where is it? I wondered, searching the shadowy recesses of my cell, noting the low lighting in the dingy corridor. No one spoke. Nothing moved. I’m alone down here.
I stood, my legs protesting beneath me, and shook the iron bars. They didn’t move. But I’m awake, I realized. That gives me an advantage.
All I had to do was wait. Someone would come by soon, and I’d manipulate that person into releasing me.
Don’t forget me, Claire, I whispered. I’m coming for you. Because I had to warn her. I just couldn’t remember about who or what. But someone, something, was down here with me. Who?
I shook my head, dazed from several weeks—over a month—of shutting everything down.
Why had I done that? Better yet, why can’t I remember anything of import?
I swallowed, my throat parched from disuse. I just had to escape, then everything would be fine. It had to be.
Another ache settled over me, Claire’s essence drawing on mine, and I allowed it. Whatever had happened, she needed it more, and I had enough left to fight.
Whoever put me down here was going to die. Horribly.
And I couldn’t fucking wait.
Claire
Several Days Later…
Exos stroked my cheek, his breath warm against my neck. I snuggled closer, adoring his strength and the crisp scent of water clinging to his skin. Mmm, that’s new. He usually smelled of sunshine and man, but today he held a cleaner scent, reminding me of the rain forest.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, his voice huskier than usual.
I smiled. “Refreshed.” Oh, how my throat burned.
A straw slid between my lips as if he knew. “Drink, little queen.”
My brow furrowed even as I complied. That’s a new nickname. Exos usually called me princess, sometimes baby when he was turned on. My thighs clenched at the prospect, missing his touch and the way our element danced when together.
I drew my finger down his bare abdomen, creating a stream of water along his skin. I’d meant to use fire, but this worked, too.
Exos groaned as I pushed him back, my tongue already traveling downward to lick up the mess I’d made.
“Claire…,” he cautioned.
“Shh.” I needed this. Needed him. My body ached with weakness, my heart not fully whole.
I don’t want to think, I decided, indulging in the motions instead of my thoughts. I could analyze my body later. For now, I wanted to mate. To complete the bond we’d started. To consummate our link.
Some part of me questioned that logic.
A hint of the Claire of old.
But the Claire of new pushed worry and concern out the window, the fae inside me flourishing to the forefront.
“I need,” I said, not necessarily understanding what I required, just that I did.
“Open your eyes,” he demanded, that voice harsher than Exos’s usual tone. He pushed me to my back, his lower body settling between mine and causing me to arch up into him.
&
nbsp; Something was different.
A fluidity in our movements I’d never felt before.
Oh, I liked it.
“More,” I begged.
“Look at me first.” He trapped my hips as I tried to move upward, his hands on my face, a trace of cool water sliding across my lips that I licked off on a moan.
My eyelids fluttered, a dull light illuminating the male above me. So cruelly handsome with aristocratic lines etched into his stern jaw and perfect nose.
But the eyes were all wrong.
Not Exos.
“Cyrus,” I breathed, confused, but not alarmed. A sense of safety fell over me, his essence so well known and welcomed that I could never push him away. I cupped his cheek and tilted my chin enough to brush my mouth against his. “Kiss me.” Two words I never thought I’d say in his company, but they fell from my lips like a prayer.
It wasn’t Exos I needed, but Cyrus. I felt incomplete without him, a puzzle piece missing from where we were joined.
“Oh, Claire,” he whispered, his forehead falling to mine. “You don’t understand yet.”
“Make me understand. Show me.” I drew my nails down his bare back, adoring the way his muscles flexed beneath my touch. “Please, Cyrus.”
“You’re killing me.” He swallowed, his arousal thickening between my thighs. “The urge to… It’s wrong, little queen. So fucking wrong.”
“Then make it right.” I kissed him again, this time with more force, and licked his bottom lip. “I need you.”
I couldn’t explain why.
Didn’t understand how I’d ended up in bed beneath him.
But fuck my mind. My body ruled me now. And water.
I wrapped him in a sheet of my power and smiled as he caressed me in kind. So much peace in that seductive touch. It elicited a sigh so deep that I swore I left the world for a moment before I returned.
“Cyrus,” I breathed, arching into him once more. “Please.”
His growl vibrated my chest, causing my nipples to bead against him beneath the shift I wore. I wiggled, wanting it off, yearning to feel.