Cleansed by Water: The Nature Hunters Academy Series, Book 3

by Quinn Loftis

  Shelly whispered words that Ra had said to her only the night before as he’d held her in his arms.

  “What did you say?” Osiris asked, leaning closer to her.

  Shelly raised her chin and narrowed her eyes at him. “I said, my name is Shelly Nasir.”

  Chapter 20

  Gabby heard screaming, roaring, as a matter of fact, but it wasn’t until Liam grabbed her face and forced her to look at him that she realized the noise was coming from her.

  “We will get her back,” Liam’s lips read because she certainly couldn’t hear him, not above her banshee-like wails.

  Liam gave her a firm shake and growled. “Gabby.”

  The surprise roughness snapped her mouth shut, and finally, she could hear what he was saying.

  “We will get her back,” Liam said again. “She’ll be all right.”

  Tara ran over, shoved Liam out of the way, and wrapped Gabby in a tight hug. Gabby didn’t even hesitate to hug her friend back. Because that's what Tara was, her friend. One of her best friends, in fact.

  “I’m so sorry,” Gabby said softly as Tara pulled back and wiped at the tears running down her dirt-covered face. Gabby could see Elias hovering a foot or so behind Tara, obviously fighting the need to snatch her up into his arms.

  Tara shook her head. “Shelly’s tough. She’ll be fine.”

  Gabby nodded. “Of that, I have no doubt. I will do whatever I can to help get her back.”

  Tara gave her a watery smile. “You're a badass, so I’m betting on us to win.”

  The sound of a struggle caused Gabby’s defenses to go up, as did the others’. All of them dropped into fighting stances and turned to see where the threat was coming from.

  As her eyes roamed over the clearing that had been a battlefield only moments ago, she saw only the remnants of the fight.

  The light elementals that had helped fight with the light royals were helping gather the bodies of the fallen. The sound she’d heard was actually Ra roaring out a battle cry as he and Aviur flung fireballs at one another.

  “This is not good,” Tara muttered as they watched Ra form massive balls of fire in each hand.

  “Ra Nasir,” Aviur bellowed, “I order you to stand down.”

  To Gabby’s shock, the normally quiet and stoic Ra threw his head back and laughed.

  “You order me?” He growled. “You are not the only royal standing here. I have generations upon generations of royal Egyptian blood flowing through my veins. I have the power of pharaohs pouring through me, and you think you can stop me?”

  “Can’t he?” Gabby whispered to Liam. “Can’t the royal fire king elemental stop a freaking fire elementalist student?”

  When Liam didn’t answer right away, Gabby turned to look at him.

  “Well,” he said, drawing the word out, “technically, yes, absolutely. But Ra, well, he’s not your everyday normal student or even your everyday exceptional student. Ra is in a league of his own.”

  There was a brilliant flash of light, and when Gabby turned back to look at the fire elementalist, she saw light blazing from his eyes and his body engulfed in flames. He spoke in an ancient-sounding language, and the power around him just seemed to grow.

  The other royals circled around him. Several tried calling out, but he ignored them and kept his focus on who he deemed to be the biggest threat: Aviur.

  “You cannot go like this,” Aviur said. “You will not win.”

  “She is my soulmate,” Ra said, returning to a language Gabby understood. “No one will tell me when or how I can save her.”

  “Ra,” Elias spoke up as he grabbed Tara’s hand and jogged closer to his friend. Liam did the same, pulling Gabby along with him. “Let us make a plan. Rushing in, it’s not your way, man.”

  Ra’s blazing eyes snapped to Elias. “And if it were your female? Would you stand around, waiting for others to tell you when you could go for her?”

  Elias’s jaw clenched.

  Ra turned to Liam. “What about her? Would you let her be trapped in hell with that monster for even a second longer than you had to?”

  Gabby knew that neither of them would answer him because they could understand where he was coming from, and they wouldn’t lie to him, not their best friend whom they considered a brother.

  “He’s not going to hurt her,” Aviur pointed out.

  “Bloody hell,” Elias spat.

  Liam shook his head. “Wrong thing to say, fire king.”

  Ra chuckled, but it was utterly without humor and so sinister that it sent a chill down Gabby’s spine. “No, he’s just going to force her to mate with him and bind her to hell for all eternity. It will be a walk in the park for her, no doubt. And being separated from her soul mate won’t be painful at all either.”

  “Damn,” Liam muttered. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “What?” Gabby asked.

  “Their bond is different. She can’t live without his soul and vice versa. It’s going to be very painful for them to be apart.”

  “Why?” Gabby asked.

  It wasn’t Liam who answered. Ra turned those freaky eyes on her. “Because being separated like this will cause us both to die, slowly. We will wither away without our joined soul being whole.” He paused and Gabby sensed he wasn’t finished speaking. Everyone around them seemed to be holding their breath, waiting to see what the pharaoh would do. “Imagine someone trying to dig out your heart with a spoon, starting at your completely unblemished flesh.”

  The air whooshed out of Gabby as if she’d been kicked in the gut. “Damn.”

  Ra’s lips turned up into a feral grin. “I am, for all eternity, as is my mate. Unless they let me go get her.”

  “We need Aston,” Liam said, his eyes focused on Elias.

  Elias nodded. “We do, but he needs saving too.”

  “Why Aston?” Tara asked.

  “He’s the only one who can reason with Ra when he gets an idea in his head that he won’t let go of.”

  Their attention turned back to the fire king as he threw out his hand, and a whip made from fire wrapped around Ra. The whip pulled tight, and Gabby winced as she watched it scorch Ra’s flesh.

  “What are you doing?” Elias yelled at Aviur.

  “I have to bind him,” Aviur answered. “He cannot be allowed to enter the underworld.”

  “You can’t just tie him up like a freaking animal,” Tara snapped as they all watched Ra roar in rage.

  “He’s behaving like an animal. I’m not going to leave him tied up,” Aviur growled back at her. “I’m holding him still so my magic can burn through his and leave runes on his skin that will keep him in the human realm.”

  They watched as Ra struggled against the fire king’s hold. Aviur spoke in the elemental language. With every word, the whip uncoiled one layer at a time and, in its wake, left symbols burned into Ra’s flesh. They glowed angry gold, and when it was over, they crisscrossed down the parts of his flesh that could be seen from his neck, arms, and hands. Gabby imagined that the clothing didn’t protect the covered skin, not against magic that powerful. She’d felt the heat and power of it from thirty feet away.

  Once it was done and the whip was no longer wrapped around Ra, it appeared his temper had abated. He stood there with his chin up, shoulders back, and eyes glaring at Aviur. “I will not forget this,” Ra said.

  Aviur stared back, and Gabby could tell in his gaze that he cared for Ra. “I know, but you will live long enough to rescue her, and that is what matters.”

  Elias and Liam closed the distance between them and their brother and, without hesitation, wrapped him in a tight embrace. Elias had one hand on the back of Ra’s head as he pulled it to his shoulder. He said something, and Ra nodded. Only a few seconds passed before Ra put an arm around his two brothers and embraced them back.

  Tara wrapped her arm around Gabby as they stood and watched the three best friends. They looked incomplete without Aston.

  “I’m glad you're okay,”
Tara said softly, her eyes watching the scene before them.

  “I’m glad that you’re glad,” Gabby said. “And I know that must sound weird because—”

  Tara cut her off. “No, it doesn’t. You worked hard to keep from caring about people. People who could care about you. Because losing them hurts like hell.”

  “How’d you know?” Gabby asked, turning to look at Tara.

  “Shelly and I talked about it. She’s good at reading people and relentless when she decides she cares about someone.”

  Gabby smiled. “She’s crazy. But so am I.”

  “Yay, me too,” Tara said with a smile. “That’s why I know she will be okay. If anyone can go to hell twice and make it out without being demon dinner, lake of fire fodder, or becoming the bride of Satan, it’s her.”

  “I believe it,” Gabby agreed.

  The guys were heading their way as Professor Frost walked up to them. Her face was sorrowful, and her eyes shined with unshed tears. “We will begin making a plan to get Aston and Shelly back. But first, we need to send off the fallen warriors. Then we can regroup.”

  “Josie and Miles,” Gabby said, swallowing back her tears.

  Frost nodded. “And Jax and Zuri.”

  “Too many,” Tara whispered as she wrapped her arms around Elias.

  “Yes,” Frost said. “But it also could have been much worse.” She paused and glanced over at the royal elementals. The reunited mates were either embracing one another or speaking intently. It was clear they were relieved to be back together. “The royals are stronger together, and with their mates returned, they will be able to assist in getting Aston and Shelly back.”

  Gabby glanced at Ra. He hadn’t spoken a word since the guys had returned to them. His face was void of any emotion. His eyes were the only thing that indicated he felt anything at all. They danced with flames, and the pupils had enlarged so much that the whites no longer showed.

  Liam must have picked up on her concern through their bond because he leaned over and said softly in her ear, “He’ll be okay. We will make sure of it.”

  Gabby nodded, hoping with everything inside of her he was right and that Shelly and Aston would be okay, too. She’d only just begun to accept that these were her people. And she actually wanted to be a part of their group. It would be so unfair to lose any of them, especially Shelly, the one who had pretty much said she wouldn’t give up on Gabby. The girl had been as relentless in her pursuit of friendship as Liam had been in his pursuit of her heart. And both had been successful.

  “I’m opening portals to each of the academies,” Frost said, interrupting Gabby’s thoughts. “Go where you need to. Get cleaned up, get some food, and get some rest. You will be notified when the send-off for the warriors is scheduled.”

  They said their goodbyes and agreed to meet up after getting some rest. Gabby was exhausted. Her emotions were all over the place, and she just wanted to curl up in a ball and try to process all that had happened.

  “Will you trust me to take care of you right now?” Liam asked her.

  She looked at his handsome face and took in the concern in his beautiful, ocean-colored eyes. After several heartbeats, she nodded. She didn’t question what portal he led her through. She simply followed. They gathered their things, showered, changed, eaten, and he’d gotten them both in bed at her dorm in Crimson Academy. After all that, Gabby decided she rather liked letting Liam take care of her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered to him as he pulled her closer to his body.

  “Anytime, beautiful,” he said, pressing a kiss to her neck. “Now sleep. Everything else can wait for now.”

  Ra’s chest felt as though it would rip open at any moment. Even as he stood on the grounds of Crimson Academy with the warriors, students, and the royal elementals to send their fallen comrades off for their journey to the other side, all he could think of was Shelly.

  He watched as the royals placed coins over the eyes of each of the dead, payment for the ferryman to take them across the River Styx. He didn’t know what afterlife was true, other than the underworld. If they weren’t bound for Osiris’s realm, did they go to heaven, Valhalla, or the other places where the so-called “good souls” spent eternity? Maybe he should care about the fate of those who’d fought bravely beside him and died for their cause. And if he got his mate back, he would care. But until Shelly was back in his arms, nothing else mattered. Even Aston was just a side thought. Though he was a brother by choice, he was also capable of taking care of himself. Ra felt certain his air elementalist friend would be alright.

  “We are joined today”—Aviur’s voice filled the quiet field—“to honor the fallen warriors who gave their lives to protect those who will never know the sacrifice they made.”

  Ra’s eyes roamed over the bodies that had been placed on the pyres where they would be burned to ash, their bodies leaving this world and their souls moving on to the next.

  “Mother Gaia has honored their sacrifice and offers the growth of the poppies you see spread over this clearing.” Aviur motioned to the field of beautiful red flowers. “These flowers will grow year-round, in any weather, as a reminder of the lives they lived and freely gave up.”

  Ra was aware of Liam and Elias standing on either side of him. He could practically feel the pain radiating off Elias. He’d lost his friend and mentor. Ra was thankful, if not jealous, that Elias had Tara. He couldn’t be there for his brother right now, but she could comfort him. Ra couldn’t think about the fact that Tara was probably in nearly as much pain as he was over Shelly’s abduction. As the fires were lit by the arrows of Crimson warriors, Ra closed his eyes. The burning warriors only reminded him of his mate, trapped in the fires of hell. Though she wasn’t burning, that offered him little comfort.

  There would be no comfort or peace for him, no ease in the pain his body endured as half his soul had been ripped away. And if Aviur and the royals took too long in going after his mate, Ra was determined to find a way to break the hold the fire king’s runes had over him. No matter the cost, he would save her. After all, he’d already been through the seven levels of hell alone once before. And if he couldn’t do it again, then he’d find a way to raise the pharaoh's armies of old and storm the gates of hell at their head.

  The End

  Epilogue

  Rory stared at the guy she’d abducted from the battlefield. There was no reason to sugarcoat it. She’d straight up kidnapped the dude. In her defense, it was Kimba’s fault. The dragon female had insisted the guy in the human spectacles, specified because surely there were other kinds of spectacles according to Kimba, was Rory’s mate and, therefore, needed to be saved.

  So said dragon had swooped down and snatched up spectacle dude. And now, here they sat in the cave Rory called home, staring at one another. It wasn’t awkward at all.

  “What is your name?” he asked. He’d been held in the talons of a dragon, taken into the dragon realm, and now looked into the eyes of a dark witch. Yet there wasn’t an ounce of fear.

  “Rory,” she answered. She sat on a rock on the other side of the fire. It was winter in the dragon realm, and even during the day, the temperatures could drop into the twenties. The dragons stayed deep beneath the ground during the winter months, not really hibernating, but resting for long periods.

  “That’s a beautiful name,” he said, and she could tell he was sincere. He didn’t seem like the type to throw around compliments freely. But he did appear very observant. His eyes roamed over the cave, though they came back to her every few seconds.

  “What is yours?” Rory asked.

  “Aston Spence.”

  “That is odd,” she said, just as honestly.

  “Why did you take me?”

  “Because we’re mates.”

  He didn’t seem surprised by her answer.

  “Why do you think we’re mates?”

  Rory shrugged. “Because the dragons told me.”

  His eyebrows rose. “And why would the
dragons know this?”

  “You don’t seem surprised that they talk,” Rory pointed out.

  “I heard them when you grabbed me. Their ability to speak is less interesting than their ability to discern that we are mates.”

  “So you don’t deny it?” she asked, her voice rising in surprise. She thought for sure he would argue with her.

  “I felt you,” Aston said, his voice softening. “Like there’s a cord that connects me to you. Even now I feel it. And it hurts. But it seems the closer we are, the less pain I feel.”

  “The dragons call it a soul bond,” Rory told him. “Kimba, the dragon I was riding, said that our souls joined. But she said it didn’t happen the way it normally does.”

  Aston frowned at her. “It is odd I felt you before I met you. Usually, the soul isn’t shared until the pair have met.”

  Rory didn’t know what to say to that. She didn’t even know that soul mates was something that happened to humans. She’d been in the dragon realm for quite a while and knew that they soul bonded, but she figured it was a thing only for supernatural creatures.

  “You live here?” Aston asked after several minutes of silence. “In the dragon realm?”

  “I do now,” Rory said. “I lived in the human realm, but I’ve been here long enough that it feels more like home than my place in the coven ever did.”

  “Haven’t you been lonely?”

  She had. Though she had the dragons, especially Kimba, who’d become a dear friend, she missed human companionship. Not to mention, the pain Aston spoke of. She’d had that for as long as she could remember. “Yes. But I’m not lonely anymore. I have you now.”