WHEN THEY ARRIVED at the Great Hall the doors were closed but they could hear the music. Loi fiddled with the ties on the wrap shirt Ada had created for her.
'You look fine, Loi,' Kassie gave her hands a playful slap. 'Leave it be.'
Loi shrugged and smiled at her diminutive friend. She didn’t know why she felt so nervous. Sabyn had seen her in far worse. Maybe that’s it, she thought. This was the first time she’d really been dressed up in front of him; I guess it’s good practice for the ball. The guards pulled the doors open for them. The spectacle that greeted them made Loi’s jaw drop. It felt like she’d stumbled onto the set of a movie when a large group of courtiers performed a dance in the center of the room. The room looked enormous, all the tables pushed back against the walls to make way for the dancers. The four of them stood watching while the dance continued.
COLORS SWIRLED PAST in an array of striking costumes. The normal dance attire reminded me of slightly less revealing cocktail wear. Sian squeezed my hand. 'Do you think they were all made by fabricers? They look amazing.'
I nodded absently, distracted by the dancers. They’re so good. The dance style looked snappy and fun. Lots of spins and lifts and occasionally all the women would perform a move and then the men. It looked fantastic. I jolted in shock when someone grabbed my hips from behind and spun me around.
SHE LOOKED AMAZING. The violet dress clung to her curves and made Alek wish she’d renege on her take-it-slow oath. The color of the dress emphasized her creamy white skin of which rather a lot seemed visible. Alek couldn’t help the suggestive smile he gave her. He raised her hand and this time twisted it, exposing the soft underside and pressed a languid kiss to it. Cat’s energy flared out and those close by leaped out the way with exclamations of alarm. The other three girls and Rumal, who’d just arrived, started laughing while Cat flushed red.
DAMMIT! I NEED to learn to stop that. But when he looked at me like that the ability seemed to vanish. I flushed again as Alek’s eyes roamed over me. It felt a bizarre sensation; normally I had fun chasing the boys and I always had the upper hand. Not this time. He had me between a rock and a, err, hard place and he knew it. I also knew full well that he’d be happy to ignore my go slow rule if I let him. And right at that moment I wanted to—badly. He wore a green shirt and slim tan pants. The shirt hugged him enough to show the hard muscles underneath and I just knew the pants would make his ass look great.
CAT HAD STOPPED blushing and now studied his outfit. She lifted her eyes and he saw that look. Exactly the same as when she had watched him in the river. He still had her hand and pulled her into the dancing crowd. Her eyes went wide as he spun her around and when he lifted her in time to the music she let loose a squeal, startling those around them into laughter. 'Alek,' she half wailed. 'I don’t know what I’m doing.'
He laughed, delighting in her uncertainty; it was fun to have the upper hand in this situation. The thoughts it inspired would have made Loushka yell at him. He resisted the urge to laugh again and lifted Cat into the next spin. She seemed to have a better grip on the steps and moved with him.
LOI STILL WAITED by the entrance, looking for Sabyn. Rumal and Daron had whisked the other two off and she’d lost sight of Cat and Alek in the crowd. She twisted her fingers in the silk fabric of the high waisted-harem style pants while she scanned the room. Plenty of heads twisted to stare but none were Sabyn. Where is he? A touch to the shoulder made her jump and she spun to find him smiling at her. Loi smacked him on the arm. 'Don’t do that. Where have you been?'
'Ow,' Sabyn rubbed his arm. 'Sorry, I got caught up talking to Yakov.' He offered his arm. 'Shall we?'
ACTUALLY HE’D FINISHED talking to Yakov a good five to ten minutes ago and had watched Loi for that time. He’d never seen her dressed in evening clothes and wanted a few moments to admire her. The outfit Ada had created looked stunning. She might not have realized it while she scanned about for him, but every male in the room had stared at her. The navy pants made her already long legs look endless and the dark gold shirt hugged her waist and breasts. She looked incredible. Part of him just wanted to whisk her away somewhere private.
Maybe later, he thought while he led her through the dance steps.
FOR THE LAST part of the hour Rumal had tried to teach Kassie the dance steps. Yet it seemed no matter what he said, she got them wrong. If he said left, she went right. Even when he moved with her she got it wrong. Now they had a small group of people trying to assist and all giggled helplessly when Kassie got it wrong yet again. The bronze haired woman just laughed along and had fun. At least she seemed to enjoy herself. Rumal shook his head at her. 'C’mon, Kass. If I lead you through it we might get it right.'
OKAY, SO DANCING isn’t my forte, Kassie thought. It had flummoxed Sian, Loi and Cat when they discovered her skill at getting it wrong. For a short period of time the girls had taken belly dance lessons and apparently she’d gotten every step wrong. Still, it had been lots of fun. Kassie shrugged those thoughts away when Rumal lifted and spun her. This style of dancing was great. And as long as he led her she seemed to be going the right way. It also gave her ample time to ogle him, and damn, he looked hot. The sleeveless black top showed off his biceps and muscled chest, and the fitted pants looked awesome. She smothered a giggle as some inappropriate thoughts stole into her mind.
Mmmm, really should go and find a broom cupboard or something.
Chapter Twenty Nine
A NAGGING NEED to use the bathroom woke Sian and she slipped out of bed, wincing at the pain in her calves. Ouch. Guess I haven’t worn heels for a while. She snuck through the room. Climbing back into her nice warm bed and knowing that today was their free day felt fantastic. She stretched out to try and relieve some of the tightness in her legs. Last night was so enjoyable. She ran through the evening in her mind. Daron had led her through nearly every dance and at the end of the evening they’d enjoyed a walk on the inner gate. It had been very romantic. Mmm and he’s such a good kisser. She giggled to herself then rolled over.
'Guys, wake up!'
EHHH. 'WHAT?' I groaned. Why is Sian bugging us? It’s our free day.
'Where’s Kassie?' Sian sounded panicked.
'What’dya mean?' mumbled Loi, pushing herself up and looking about with bleary eyes.
'Where’s Kassie? Her bed hasn’t been touched.'
Struggling to sit up, I stopped and took a moment to untangle myself, then twisted to look. Sure enough Kass’ bed looked neat and tidy, not a pillow out of place. As I started to answer, one of the doors to our suite opened and a rather rumpled Kassie walked in.
'KASSANDRA BOYD. WHERE the hell have you been?'
Kassie stopped short in the room and gave Sian a look.
Last time I checked I was still the oldest of the group, she thought and ignored them while she headed to the shower. When she came out, a good twenty minutes later, they still hadn’t budged from their beds. The sensation of three sets of eyes watching her felt unnerving. She found the long tunic she used for a nightie then climbed into bed. After a pause three heavy thuds hit the bed. 'Kassie,' squealed Cat. 'Where were you? Whatcha been doing?'
'We’ll tickle it out of you,' threatened Loi.
Kassie pulled the covers down from her face and gave them all a stern look which then dissolved into a very naughty one.
AFTER A LONG and pointless attempt to get any more information out of Kass, we gave up and instead got ready then headed to breakfast. Ms. Kassie snored away when we left the room and we gossiped while walking the corridors.
'I can’t believe she was out all night,' Loi couldn’t seem to decide if it was scandalous or not.
I chuckled. 'She looked like she had fun.'
Sian snorted. Loi and I exchanged an amused glance; Sian’s the prude of our group. Then she giggled. 'Did you see her neck?'
'No!'
'I missed that!'
RUMAL WATCHED THE doors to the Great Hall experiencing a bizarre sense of anxiety. He couldn
't remember the last time he'd felt like this. The sound of the girls voices at the doors had him tensing when he watched them enter. Kassie isn’t with them, he realized with a pang. He stood to greet them as the other men did, then stared in surprise when the three girls stopped in front of him.
'Rumal, you look so tired,' Sian had a look of concern on her face that didn’t match the mocking tone of her voice. The other two gave him cheeky smiles.
'Ahh, where’s Kassie?'
'You know, that’s exactly what I said when I discovered her bed un-slept in this morning.'
There was a long pause while he considered his options. 'So she’s in bed now?'
'Yup. Seems she’s pretty tired too,' Cat grinned.
'Well then, if you’ll excuse me I’ll arrange to have breakfast delivered to her.' The girls chuckled as Rumal hurried out the room.
'I THINK THAT’S the closest I’ve ever seen Rumal come to blushing,' Daron glanced at Sian. 'What was that all about?'
'Nothing much. Just Kassie pulling an all-nighter.' Sian slipped into the seat beside him. Daron gave her a shocked look.
'Indeed. Didn’t you notice the extra company in your quarters?'
'No. Rumal didn’t sleep in our quarters last night.'
'Oooooohh,' Loi and Cat chorused teasingly.
AFTER BREAKFAST EVERYONE split up. Daron and Sian headed to the library. Loi and Sabyn went to take their horses out for a ride and Rumal and Kassie remained unseen. Leaving Alek and me wandering down the corridor.
'Did you want to do anything in particular?'
I pondered ideas as we walked past the ballroom. 'Can we visit Loushka?'
An hour or so later we walked in the forest of the Scrodian Mountains. Alek took great delight in showing me different things. I’d marveled over tiny, jewel colored dragonflies with wings like leaves and now clutched the stems of a delicate green flower, its scent very much like jasmine, my favorite flower on Earth. I twisted it into the plait in my hair, so to enjoy the fragrance while we explored. Loushka had flown off to the high peaks, leaving us alone.
ALEK WATCHED AS she examined things, interested in seeing what caught her attention. It felt almost reckless to be so close to her with no-one in the immediate proximity. When she turned back to ask him something about the beetle she’d found, he reached out to pull her close, pleased when she started to glow. It was an easy way to tell how she felt, until she learned to conceal it. Every day the girls developed more skill with handling their energy, but until then he’d enjoy watching her visible barometer. She made some pathetic attempts at protesting when he wrapped an arm around her, tipping her chin up.
ALEK CHUCKLED AT me when I objected; curse my silly energy reaction. He seemed to recognize the different shades now and while I wasn’t about to admit it to him, at least not verbally, I was quite ready to throw my go-slow oath away. Heck, might as well try before you buy, thought my rational voice in a teasing tone. Mmmm, now that’s a good thought. My energy flared out brighter when he kissed me.
ELENA HAD A surprise for them when they arrived at the training circle the next day. 'Today we are going to practice attacking and defending. On each other.'
The girls froze and stared at Elena with alarmed expressions.
'Isn’t that dangerous?' Loi asked dubiously.
'Only if you do not defend yourselves,' Elena replied. Then she chuckled.
'I don’t think you will be able to do any damage to each other as you’ll be hesitating. But you’ll get over that and by then be prepared to attack and defend yourselves adequately. It’s the best way to learn, probably not unlike your Jujitsu.'
They kept up their dubious expressions.
'Besides, I can heal any injuries you incur,' she smiled brightly at them. 'So you will be fine.'
WHAT SHE DIDN’T mention was that she could heal our injuries once back at the castle, due to the preparation involved. Nothing makes the flight back to the castle seem eons longer than it is than a decent injury. And if you happened to cause said injury, you got to spend the ride back feeling like an utter bully.
'I’m so sorry,' I said for the eighth time.
'Seriously, Cat, shut-up. This is part and parcel of the training and I get that. But right now my back is really stinging and I’d love to hurt you. So shut-up.'
I flinched at her tone. Elena had split us into teams, Loi and I facing off against Sian and Kassie. We’d won, thanks to Loi’s clever idea to create a tunnel through the ground through which I’d then directed a hard stream of fire, singing a good layer of skin off Sian’s back in the process. I’d call it payback for her nearly drowning us, but a burn like that is pretty vicious. Daron shot me a cold look when he helped Sian down. All the guys had issues with it, even though it was the third session of the week. Only two days until our rest day and I couldn’t wait. So far this week I’d had my feet broken by Loi when she buried my legs, not realizing that the area contained mainly rocks. Kassie had electrocuted us when she pulled in a storm with Sian’s help; the look on Alek and Sabyn’s faces when they saw our hair that evening had been classic. Loi had broken her leg when Kass dropped her from a decent height and we’d all received numerous cuts, bruises, scrapes and burns. It certainly proved Elena’s healing gift, but you weren’t sure whether or not to be grateful. Grateful, because it didn’t hurt anymore and you were fine, not so grateful as it meant the following day was physical training. Then there was the other kicker we’d discovered through injuring one another. We could sense each others’ pain through our gift. Being Elementals means we really are linked, making the ride back feel that much longer.
At the castle Elena whisked Sian off to our suite, the three of us following right behind. It fascinated us to watch Elena’s gift and we crowded close. Before our eyes we watched the skin heal and at the same time the stinging sensation we all felt, thanks to our link, vanished. Sian relaxed straight away and we settled down to dinner in our room. It had become a habit after our Elemental training because we were too exhausted to dress for the Great Hall. Yakov, Elena and the men joined us, making them enjoyable evenings.
'What did Sian do?' Yakov deadpanned after seeing her back. Everyone laughed when I blushed and apologized again.
Dinner flew by and it seemed far too soon that Alek kissed me goodnight. I kept my arms locked around his neck while I grumbled. 'I don’t want to go to sleep, ‘cause tomorrows not the rest day and I’m tired.'
'Awww, kitten,' he teased, chuckling when I narrowed my eyes at him. Kitten had never been a pet name I’d envisioned for myself.
'But we get to practice sword fighting tomorrow and then you girls get to annoy Iggy in the afternoon.'
That’s true. Iggy had been trying to best one of us ever since Kassie’s demonstration with him. He had yet to succeed.
CAT POUTED AT his words but they appeared to appease her a little. At the mention of Iggy a smile tugged at her mouth. Actually I think it's Cat’s turn tomorrow, can’t wait to see her kick his ass. He wrapped his arms tighter around her back, savoring the kiss until Loi started to tease them.
I THREW A pillow at Loi when I got into my bed. 'Thanks a lot.'
'Some of us want to sleep, Cat. You two could have been at it all night.'
I smirked. 'No, that’d be Kassie.'
Sian and Loi laughed hard when Kass clambered over the top of her bed to mine and walloped me with her pillow. 'But. It’s. True.' I protested between thumps and she gave in, laughing. Kass used her gift to extinguish the lamps and I fell asleep moments later.
LOI DREAMT A weird dream. She stood in a vast swamp the mud thick and the stench strong. Her feet were firmly stuck and she wriggled hard to try to loosen them, but it seemed to make them more stuck. She reached down to pull one up when a force grabbed her by the throat and squeezed tight.
Chapter Thirty
I WOKE THE instant I felt Loi’s silent scream.
'LAURA!' Kassie screamed.
'Cat, light!' roared Sian.
; Something was seriously wrong and we all felt it. The terror and an awful sensation of Loi weakening.
I flared my energy out. 'HOLY HELL WHAT IS IT?'
SIAN GAPED AT the creature that had Loi by the throat against the wall and then blasted it with her energy.
'Shit!' Her energy pinged off. 'It’s shielding!' Noticing Nnelg cowering beside Audi, she yelled at him. 'Get Elena. Get everyone!'
The dragon vanished.
'Loi, get your shield up.' Kassie circled the creature warily, an expression of revulsion and fury on her face.
LOI FOCUSED HARD while her vision began to blacken, visualizing her energy expanding out, under the clawed grip. Relief washed through her when she managed to take a breath. The strange reptilian creature hissed in anger and slammed her, again and again, against the wall while she struggled to keep her shield in place. The girls hurled bolt after bolt at the monster. Loi sensed its shield begin to weaken. It turned and threw her to the floor.
I GRABBED LOI by the arm and pulled her behind me then Sian, Kassie and I moved toward it. The freakiest looking thing I’d seen yet. Its head looked similar to a crocodile, with a long snout and jagged teeth, but its body was human-like in form. Covered in scaly skin, its hands were strange curled claws. It hissed at us then opened its mouth and spat. We jerked our shields up and the nasty brackish scum that splattered over them dissolved away. I could feel the acidic properties in it and shuddered. Kassie gave me a hard look then began to concentrate an intense wind tunnel, directly onto the creature. I knew what she wanted and focused my energy.
The Arrival Page 30