FEAR STREAKED THROUGH Sabyn as he sprinted for the girls’ room with the other men. Nnelg had burst into their quarters, screaming that a koratil attacked Loi and the girls couldn’t stop it. They’d bolted from their quarters and met Elena and Yakov racing down the turret stairs. When they reached the suite Elena extended a hand and the doors wrenched open, exposing the chaos within.
Kassie had it pinned against the wall and Cat shot it with a bolt of fire. It shrieked when its shield dissipated, exploding with a loud thud, remnants splattering everywhere.
I STOOD PANTING, while staring in shock at the bloody remains strewn about. My brain wasn’t up to making sense of this. Being wrenched from a deep and much needed sleep to been thrown into a sudden intense fight, bewildered me. I didn’t know what to do. Sabyn pushed past Kassie, Sian and me and scooped Loi into his arms. I then realized her throat bled from several nasty gashes. Elena hurried forward to attend to her and we were led away.
'WHERE ARE WE going?'
Yakov looked at Cat. 'You are being moved to your official quarters. It’s earlier than intended but this suite is in no state to be used now.'
He expected more questions but she just nodded and allowed Alek to lead her onward. After he saw the girls settled in, he headed to Elena’s suite. 'Are they okay?' she demanded when he entered.
'Yes, just in shock. Will Loi be okay?'
'Yes, all healed. She’s fine now.' She sunk onto the seat at her dressing table, her beautiful face creased with stress. 'How did this happen? It shouldn’t have been possible.'
He stood behind her, gently massaging her neck. 'I don’t know.'
Elena put a hand to her head and leaned back to look up at him her eyes troubled. 'Thank goodness we began training them immediately. If we had lost our Earth Elemental.'
'Hush.' Yakov interrupted her. 'Don’t do the ‘ifs’ Ellie, there’s no point. They’re safe in their quarters now and we can arrange for increased security.' She nodded and stood. He pulled her close enfolding her into his arms.
'Should we cancel the ball?'
He shook his head. 'That’s not possible now, it’s too close.'
'But what if she strikes again?'
'We won’t let her. We’ll have more troops in place and you’ll set up extra traps to warn us.'
She nodded against his chest then sighed, the stress ebbing out of her. He felt her chuckle and looked down. 'What?'
'Do you think Nnelg spotted you?'
He laughed. 'I don’t think so, but that wee cretin nearly made my heart stop.'
She laughed with him. 'Certainly unexpected.'
WAKING IN A new suite felt strange and we didn’t get any time to explore. Elena woke us early and made it apparent that we had to treat this just like any other day. We stumbled about while we got ready, mumbling to each other, all of us too tired to talk. When I sat back on the bed I’d slept in and pulled my boots on, I had a look around.
This suite made the last one look tiny in comparison. The bathroom alone was almost as big as our previous suite. The room divided into four, each bed tucked into one of the corners. After a quick examination, I realized the walls could be extended, so that we each had our own room if we wanted. Complete with our own dressing table, armoire, and seating area. It was impressive but I felt a little lost, not having the girls so close. At least now we could link with each other, that way we still felt near to one another.
The guys escorted us to breakfast and led us to the library afterward. Elena and Yakov and the Lieutenants waited for us, all wore serious looks. Elena greeted us then got straight into it. 'Last night was an unfortunate incident that shouldn’t have been possible. The creature that attacked you was one of Jenviet’s, we thought we had things in place to stop it.'
We stared at them and each other in stunned silence. I knew I shouldn’t be shocked that she wanted to kill us, but we’d never even seen this woman. It felt strange to know that someone out there truly wanted us dead.
Seeing as we had no questions Elena continued. 'We have ordered the return of the Centaur Cavalry. The Lieutenants, along with selected members of the General Guard, will move to sleeping quarters on the second floor.'
She mustn’t have told the Lieutenants this yet because Rashid and Patel looked surprised but nodded. Iggy however, turned a dark red. 'What? That’s ridiculous! I can’t possibly.'
Elena cut him off with a sharp look.
'It is necessary, Ignatius.'
Undaunted, he went on, 'But these Elementals are supposed to protect the heir. It is not our responsibility to protect them. What’s wrong with them that they are so weak?'
YAKOV GLARED AT Alek and Daron when they both shifted in their seats at Iggy’s outburst. Stay put, he growled at them in his mind. Trust Iggy to have an issue with this. The four girls stared at the Lieutenant with dark eyes, their energies smoldering around them.
'The girls are learning to master their gifts, Ignatius. By the end of the month they will be skilled enough to not need protection. But until then it would be ridiculous to allow them to be harmed. I don’t expect any more complaints.' Ellie kept her voice even, though her eyes flashed with annoyance. She dismissed the room and the girls went with the men to sword training.
Yakov felt sorry for them this morning, they looked bewildered and exhausted after last night. Soon they’ll be able to relax a bit, once they have the skills they require.
THE REST OF the week was hard. We fought against each other singly and in pairs, each of us determined to learn what else we could do with our gifts. Kassie could now capably lift herself and anyone else into the air. It had just taken a full explanation from Elena for it to click. The trick was to realize that because air is essentially everywhere, it isn’t about the weight that you lift, rather how much air you draw around it and how you space the molecules. Like with all new things there were a couple of practices that didn’t go as intended, although they only resulted in bruises. 'Better a bruised butt than a broken one, Cat,' Sian grinned impishly. I scowled at her while I eased down to the ground.
Elena had Kassie and Loi practice shielding, using their energy rather than the physical manifestation. They’d picked it up quickly while Sian and I struggled to keep ours in place.
'Your gifts are better used offensively,' Elena explained reassuringly. 'You will be able to do it with practice, but Kassie and Loi will likely always be better at it. That’s why it is imperative that you stick together in a fight.'
We nodded. She’d been repeating that since the incident.
The evening before the rest day should have seen us all feeling euphoric, instead we lay sprawled on our beds in our quarters. It did feel strange to walk up the turrets to the third floor. Everyone looked at you differently. The third floor was solely reserved for those of the Thalian line, Elena and her family, the Griffon Guard and us, the Elementals.
Now it felt real. I wasn’t sure if it was the change of rooms, or that thing trying to kill us, but now it all seemed very real. 'Maybe that’s why Iggy hates us.'
'WHAT?' LOI TRIED to sound interested.
'Because we’re the Elementals and according to everyone we’re at the top of the food chain. So maybe that’s why he hates us.'
'Top of the food chain?' Kassie snorted. 'Tell that to that thing that tried to eat Loi.'
'It tried to kill me, not eat me.'
'The end result is pretty similar.'
SIAN GOT UP and stood in the middle of the room, where we could all see her.
'It feels weird doesn’t it? Being told and then beginning to realize you have an immense gift. It’s very strange.' She stroked our emblem, embedded in the table in Kassie’s corner. It was embedded in every wall and door in our quarters and most of the furniture. Elena had explained about it the second evening we spent in here. The emblem was a large circle of gold split into quarters by two narrow strips of gold. Each quarter contained a polished cabochon stone that represented an element; it started at the top right wit
h a deep green tourmaline for Earth, then went clockwise to Air, a golden citrine, then Fire, a dark crimson ruby, and Water, a bright blue sapphire. Elena had also commissioned a piece of jewelry for each of us with a stone representing our Element. I’d chosen an amber ring. The ring was silver and very simple. I lifted it to the light and stared through it again. Pieces of leaf appeared to sparkle like gold within the amber.
'Meh. Enough.' I hopped up.
'Where you going, Cat?' Kassie called out.
'To find Alek.'
'What, are we not good enough for you?' Loi teased.
'Yeah sorry, Loi, you just don’t kiss as well as he does.'
They laughed while I stepped into the corridor and closed the door behind me. I knocked at the guys quarters down the corridor. That makes the rooms sound close but in reality the corridor was l-o-n-g. If you did laps of the floor you’d get fit very quickly, or die trying.
The door opened and Alek looked at me in surprise. 'Cat! I thought you were going to sleep?'
'Can’t, I’m too bored to sleep.'
'That doesn’t make sense,' he said, laughing and ushered me in.
I looked around with interest; a very similar style to our quarters, but they each appeared to have separate rooms. 'Where are the others?'
'Rumal and Daron are downstairs in the Great Hall and Sabyn went for a night flight with Tomiar. We thought you’d all gone to bed.'
'The others might have by now, but I’m bored.'
THAT PERPLEXED ALEK and he led Cat to his room. Settling on to the couch together he pulled her back into his arms. 'What do you mean by bored? Wasn’t this week hair-raising enough for you, literally?'
The results of Kassie’s thunderstorm had been impressive. He felt her sigh. 'That’s not what I meant. I mean I’m bored with training and fighting. It’s all we do.'
Well that’s true and they hadn’t really seen much of Elion, or anywhere else for that matter. He kept forgetting they were new to this world. 'What if I promise you something completely different on your day off this week?'
Cat twisted to look at him. 'How different?'
'We’d have to get the griffons to leap, to get there and back.'
'Really? It wouldn’t tire them out too much?' She looked excited now.
'It’s one of the places we first began practicing leaping to, they’ll be fine.'
WHEN I WOKE in the morning I raced around getting ready leaving the others staggering about in my wake. 'Slow bloody down, Cat,' Kassie growled and I stuck my tongue out at her.
'Not my fault you’re tired. Blame that on Rumal.'
She laughed and swatted at me when I zoomed past to borrow a comb from her dressing table. I dressed carefully this morning, selecting pieces I tended not to wear. While I might want to take it slow with Alek for the moment, that didn’t mean I couldn’t tease him. Besides, I was still considering my take-it-slow notion anyway.
LOI HURRIED ALONG after the other three as they raced to the Griffon quarters. She still felt a bit raw from the attack the other night. Her dreams were full of that nasty creature and in the background of every dream a woman laughed. She couldn’t seem to get that laugh, cruel and callous, out of her head. Sabyn waited for her when they arrived and, while everyone else fussed around getting ready, he took her aside into the stable hands’ room.
'Hey.' He held a hand to her cheek while he stared with concern into her eyes. 'How are you?'
Tears tumbled out when she tried to respond and he sat and pulled her onto his lap.
SABYN KNEW SHE hadn’t gotten over the shock yet and felt a moment of anger at Elena. Sure, she might be able to patch them up after a fight, but that didn’t change the fact that it had happened. Loi looked like she walked on eggshells since the attack, but she hadn’t spoken about it at all. Perhaps his timing was off approaching it now, but he wanted her to genuinely enjoy today. As he rocked her, smoothing her hair, she began to speak.
'Can’t get it out of my head.'
'I know.'
She went quiet again and he hugged her tighter. 'It’s normal, Loi, honest.'
She nodded against his chest. 'Silly isn’t it? But I just feel so, so, vulnerable and,' she gulped, hesitating before continuing. 'Weak.'
He knew what she meant. Loi had trained for years to learn to defend herself and with that came a confidence in her abilities. To be caught out like she had, made it feel like none of it mattered. 'It’s not silly, Loi.' He told her about the time he’d been caught out.
LOI LISTENED IN astonishment while he described all the feelings he’d gone through when it happened; fear, revulsion and shame. Just the same way she felt. The anxious flutters in her stomach dissipated a little and she managed to stop crying. He gave her a loving smile then kissed her deeply. When he pulled away, leaving her heart pounding, he pressed his forehead to hers. 'I promise, Loi, I will do everything I can to see you safe. Believe it or not, you’re going to be more than capable of wiping out dozens of nasty creatures with a thought soon. That’s the reason Elena’s pushing you so hard. The four of you are going to be extremely formidable.'
His words echoed in her mind. She’d doubted her abilities since the attack, but he said it with such reverence. 'Really?'
Sabyn chuckled, 'Out of this world.' He pulled her in for another kiss.
ALEK HELPED ME into a heavy overcoat when Sabyn and Loi came out of the back room. We could see she’d been crying, but the smile she gave us seemed brighter. I caught Sabyn’s eye, mouthing 'thanks' once Loi had walked past.
'Hurry up people!'
We turned and laughed at Citaan, all ready and waiting on Phroma’s back, bouncing with excitement. The heavy overcoat she wore concealed her baby bump and at the moment she looked like an over-tall, impatient child. Alek still hadn’t told me where we were going, but if I went by Citaan’s reaction, it would be good.
ALEK SNAPPED SHUT the last clasp on Cat’s overcoat and tossed her up on to Loushka’s back. 'Hey! Manners much.' Cat poked her tongue out at him. He glowered at her. You can’t actually die from sexual frustration, the annoying voice in his mind pointed out. A certain part of his anatomy disagreed. It didn’t seem fair that she could strut around in that and still have the go-slow rule in place. Really, those thigh high boots ought to be worn over pants. Not under a skirt with splits on either side, several inches higher than them. Maybe he should make her wear the coat while they were there.
‘Good luck with that.’ Loushka smirked at him.
‘Stay out of my head,’ he growled.
‘What’s the problem with her skirt? At least she can move easily. I recall Rayna wearing less.’
Alek froze. ‘Crap.’
Loushka laughed which caused everyone to turn and stare, while he flushed at the thought of having to explain that to Cat.
I WRIGGLED INSIDE my coat, trying to get comfortable. We all had to wear the coats because when the griffons leapt it apparently got very cold. I hope we leave soon, I’m melting under all this fabric. The men were lucky; they just had to wear their armor. I wonder what Alek said to Loushka that was so funny? He didn’t look amused. He’d scowled at me since I strutted in this morning but now appeared distracted.
‘What was that exchange about?’ I thought to Loushka
‘Alek will have to explain. Nice outfit by the way—why has it got him mumbling about going slow?’
I chuckled, ‘That’d be my payback for that awful week he put me through. I might consider reneging, but I’m not telling him that.’
‘Nice one.’
‘Thanks.’
Alek scowled at the two of us while we communicated and I couldn’t help giving him a naughty smile and wink. He hopped up into the front seat without a word so I took great pleasure in scooting forward and wrapping my arms tight around his waist.
‘COME ON, LOUSHKA, let's go.’
‘You know, I think Cat wants your attention.’
He gritted his teeth at the mocking tone.
'A
lek, Alek, Alek,' Cat chanted his name in an annoyingly cute voice.
‘Fine. Block your mind, Loushka, if you don’t want to be scarred.’
The griffon chuckled while she walked out to the courtyard. ‘Thanks for the warning.’
He took a firm grip of Cat’s thigh and with a swift move, jerked her around, so she straddled his lap. Those emerald eyes stared up at him in pretend innocence, while the twist of her lips gave away the mischievous intent. 'Catherine.'
HEE. NOW THIS was fun. I couldn’t help but smirk when he said my name like that. Exasperation and frustration all rolled into one, just the way I liked it. Opening my eyes even wider I pouted. 'You haven’t commented on my outfit. I picked it out 'specially for you.'
THE AFFECTED CHILDISH tone irritated him to no end. He yanked her closer so she pressed against his breastplate. Straight away her energy flared out and her expression changed from innocence to challenging. His body knew that look and responded. He bit off a curse. Getting a hard-on while wearing armor is NOT comfortable. The chuckle Cat gave suggested she knew all too well what’d just happened.
'Oi!' Rumal yelled from Kerak’s back. 'Cut that out you two, there’s a time and a place and it ain’t now.'
Like you can bloody speak, Alek thought, how many nights have you been absent from the quarters. Everyone else in the group hooted and hollered at the couple. Might as well give them something to yell about. He cupped a hand behind her head and kissed her, bruisingly hard, venting a little of his frustration.
The Arrival Page 31