“You’re on his side?” Peta cried out, her pain cutting through me. Chaos built around us, so many emotions, so much power, so much pain.
Raven shook his head and I screamed, a wordless cry as I threw everything I had at him. “Tell the truth, Raven. Do it.”
His mouth flopped open, once, twice and then the words came in a flood.
“I don’t love Samara. I manipulated her with Spirit to accept me into her bed. I plan to let her carry to term, have the baby, and then I will use her own Enders to kill her. They will think she is dangerous to her family and they will kill her. I will raise the child on my own and take control of the throne. Once that is done I will take the Rim next. I will keep Bella as my queen. She reminds me of Mother. We will take each family throne, one at a time. But I will do it this time, I will not rule through others. I will rule. I will bring the elementals into line.”
The Sylphs around us gasped and shifted. “Samara, do you hear this?”
“I hear it.” She stepped beside me and laid a hand on my arm. “You will kill him?”
“Yes.”
Raven shook and I refocused on him. Talan stood where I’d thrown him.
“Lark, this is not the way. Do you not feel it, the darkening of your soul?”
I didn’t care that he was right, that I did feel my heart closing off. The part of me that would have held back and given mercy slowly shriveled.
I snorted. “It is not the use of Spirit that darkens me, but this world and those who are in it. Raven, is that all the truth?”
He shuddered, his body twitching. “You were always my favorite, Lark. I wanted us to be on the same side through this all. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
His words surprised and hurt me more than I thought they would have. I stared at him, his blue eyes fighting sudden tears. I hardened every part of me. “Then you should have tried harder to do what was right.”
He bowed his head and slumped to the ground. The second his knees hit the stone he disappeared.
A scream of fury ripped from my mouth.
I stumbled forward. I knew he’d had that trick up his sleeve, but I’d thought he’d be too busy fending me off to use it. Damn it all to the seventh hell.
A hand touched my arm and I swung around to face the deep blue eyes of Talan. “He held back, do you realize that? He didn’t use all his power, though maybe he didn’t even realize it. I think a part of him wanted to tell you the truth all along. Whatever bond you have with him from the past still affects him now. It could play into your favor at some point.”
I jerked away from him with a snarl. “You stay the hell away from me.” I dug my hand into the leather pouch at my side and produced the plastic bracelet he’d offered me. I flung it at his feet.
Peta let out a long, low hiss and shook her head. “You’ve turned out poorly, Talan. You obviously needed me more than you realized.”
As I spun away, I caught the look of sorrow in his eyes. “Peta, you don’t understand.”
I left them to argue. I had a queen to face. Samara had sunk to the ground, her skirts pooling around her.
“Lark, what did he do to me?”
I crouched in front of her. “Manipulation. He has a powerful tool that he used to benefit himself.”
Her pale eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “He could do it again?”
I nodded. “He could. You need all your people to know to send a message for me immediately if he returns. If they are all aware, he won’t be able to control all of them at once.”
She grabbed my hands. “He’ll come for my baby.”
I gripped her tightly. “No, I don’t think so.” At least not right away, but I wasn’t going to worry her with that now.
Samara slumped farther, then slowly straightened herself. “The stone?”
I lied, knowing it would be easier for her to give it up. “I believe it was how he manipulated you. I didn’t know it was possible.” I didn’t want to tell her that she’d been manipulated not only by Raven using Spirit, but by some other unknown elemental that had his own agenda via the smoky diamond. No need to have her panic that there was more than one manipulator of epic proportions out there.
With a quick nod, she held her hands out to me, and I helped her stand.
“Larkspur has once more saved our family. If ever she needs help, you are to give it. If ever she is in danger, you will try to save her. She is a protector not only of the Rim, but of the Eyrie as well. Raven will be killed on sight.”
The crowd murmured and agreed, though I saw more than one pair of eyes narrow on me.
I moved away from her, hurrying to Shazer. I laid my hands on him, not caring how much of my soul darkened to heal him. Spirit flowed through me and into him, weaving the bones back together. Shazer let out a low groan. “Damn, that hurts almost as much as breaking them.”
“I could leave them as is,” I said through gritted teeth.
He lurched up to his feet. “Thanks, but I rather like being able to stand.”
The Sylphs who’d been so reluctant closed ranks around him, petting his side and touching his feathers. He gave me a wink. “I think they like me.”
“Vanity will get you nowhere,” Peta said. “You’re still a horse’s ass.”
He let out a whinny and the Sylphs around him giggled and sighed.
I took a few steps back, allowing Shazer whatever hero worship he had coming.
Samara stepped beside me once more. “He is legend here. The soul of air made flesh.”
“He’s a good friend,” I said. But my mind was already away from Shazer and whatever legend he represented.
Unfortunately, I knew Talan was right. For some reason, Raven left rather than battle me. Whether it was out of some sort of kindness or a way to drag things out between us, I didn’t know.
At least Raven had spilled his proverbial guts, and now I knew what his plans had been, not that it was likely to help me any. The thing I couldn’t figure out was that while he’d asked for the stones, it had been . . . offhand. And he’d not tried to really fight me for them.
I looked around for Talan, but he was gone.
They were a couple of cowards as far as I was concerned. I walked away from the crowd, Peta with me. A thought I didn’t like rolled around in my head, making me question not only what I’d learned, but the premise I was running on.
“Did you notice Raven didn’t talk much about the stones? He asked, but he hadn’t even taken the smoky diamond from Samara,” I said.
Peta glanced up at me. “What does that matter?”
I frowned. “The mother goddess said Raven wanted the stones for himself, that I was hunting them at the same time as him. But he was never really hunting for them. He was just hanging out in the Eyrie, sending Enders after me, waiting for me to come to him. Causing trouble, yes, but . . . it just doesn’t add up. If he’d wanted the stones, why didn’t he fight harder?” I rubbed a hand over my face, a new line of thought making me break out in a sudden cold sweat.
What if I was wrong about Talan? What if I was wrong about Raven?
What if there was a third player I’d not truly ever considered? A person I trusted, a person who’d guided and at the same time manipulated me all along?
Horror clutched at my belly as the pieces fell into place in a wicked, dangerous way. An impossibility that I’d never considered before rose and looked me straight in the eye with the malevolence of a red-eyed demon.
“We have to go, right now,” I whispered to Peta.
“What? Why?”
I opened my mouth to tell her, but the horror of the words was too much. Too much and too painful to truly believe.
But the more they rolled around in my head, the more I knew they were the truth.
The truth hurt, and this burned like a thousand hot pokers being jammed into my belly. I’d been a fool, a stupid trusting fool, and the hurt slowly formed into an anger that burned away the pain.
“Lark?” Peta clawed at
my leg in an attempt to slow me.
“Now, we have to go now,” I said again.
She let go of me. “If you are sure.”
“I am.” I strode across the Eyrie toward the Pegasus. “Shazer, are you ready to fly?”
“Yeah,” Peta snipped. “You done with your fan club?”
Surprisingly, the Sylphs laughed as he backed away from them. “Don’t blame me for being beautiful.”
I leapt onto his back, Peta right behind me. Samara hurried to my side and put a hand on my leg. “Lark, will you come when the baby is born?”
I didn’t want to make promises I couldn’t keep. What I was about to do was beyond dangerous; it was downright suicidal, and I knew it, no matter how much my anger fueled me.
“I will try.”
“I want you to be his guardian. To be his protector as you’ve been mine.” Her eyes welled and I placed a hand on hers. It occurred to me then that the next generation was going to be full of half-breed royals. More than ever before. They needed the elemental world to be ready for them and their strength.
“I will try,” I repeated. “I . . . may not be here.”
Her eyes closed. “Be safe then, for I believe you may hold the world in your hands.”
A chill swept through me. “Advice, or insight?”
Her eyes fluttered open. “Aria left me the gift of sight. It comes now and again. Our world needs you alive, Lark. For whatever is coming is worse than even the demon hordes.” She shuddered and took her hand from mine. I gritted my teeth on the chill that made them want to chatter.
Shazer took a leap, and the Sylphs around us swept us upward on a monster gust of wind. He laughed and his wings beat to keep the momentum going. “I think I like them.”
Another time I would have laughed. But not now. Not with what I knew I was going to do.
“Where are we going exactly?” he asked. Peta looked up at me, concern filling her eyes. I knew she could feel the anxiety growing in me, the fear and the feeling of inevitability. The knowledge that I was most likely walking into a trap, and a bad one at that.
I closed my eyes and let my mind relax, thinking about where I needed to go. I had all the stones, all of them. That was a lie, but it didn’t matter. I knew she would believe me. I’d never tried to lie to her before. A picture floated across my mind, the hanging trees, the thick moss, the stagnant water and rotting trees. Why was I not surprised at what I was seeing? Finley said Cassava took Ash to the same place. The irony was not lost on me.
“The cypress swamps.”
Shazer didn’t argue, just swept us back to the North American continent. I pulled Peta into my arms and buried my face in her thick fur. Her front legs swept around my neck in a hug, her paws kneading the back of my head. “Lark, I have never felt fear like this in you.”
I lifted my head. “Shazer.”
“Yeah?” He was oblivious to my distress. That was about to change.
“When we land, I want you to fly back to the Eyrie.”
“What? Why?”
I locked eyes with Peta and she slowly nodded. “I am with you, Lark. Never doubt it.”
Shazer shook his head. “Talk, woman, or I’ll dump you off my back right here.”
“I think I know who is behind everything. I know who made the stones, I know who made you. And she’s still playing us.” I whispered the words, as if she could hear us. For all I knew, she could.
He seemed to stall mid-air, his wings stilling as he stared back at me, understanding slowly dawning. “No. You can’t possibly mean her.”
I nodded slowly. “Yes. I think . . . I think the mother goddess is not who she seems to be.”
And I was about to face her not as a child of hers, not as a favored chosen one.
But as an opponent and a rival to her power.
CHAPTER 21
hazer flew hard and fast, never stopping once. As if we had a demon tailing us with our names engraved on his sword. Yet it wasn’t what was behind us that hurried his wings.
My request for speed was the only reason he flew as fast and as hard as he did.
“Why would you hurry?” he called out between gulps of air.
“Because she thinks I believe we are on a deadline, and that Raven is behind us, chasing us. I doubt that is the case now, but I need whatever surprise I can get. I will pretend I know nothing.” I had a hand on the leather pouch at my side. Four of the five stones rested there. The fifth was still buried under Griffin’s hut—the pink diamond that controlled Spirit.
The cypress swamps swept into view on the horizon as the sun rose behind us, dispelling the long night. My legs ached from gripping Shazer’s sides and the anxiety that filled me was almost too much to contain. For a split second, I wished I could have someone at my side. Not Ash, though, and that surprised me.
Raven. He was strong enough that maybe with the two of us working together we could stop her.
What the hell was I thinking? Exhaustion was making me stupid, that was the only answer. Shazer brought us to a bare section of beach, landing and dropping immediately to his knees. He blew out a long breath.
“I cannot fly back to the Eyrie. I must rest.” He groaned and flopped onto his side, his wings stretching out behind him.
“Go as soon as you can. At least . . . get away from here.”
He raised his head. “Ash will be trapped forever as an eagle if you die here.”
I took a deep breath. “Then I leave that in your charge. Tell Samara, maybe she can help . . . if I don’t make it.”
Peta stood in the sand beside me, shifting into her leopard form. “We must hurry.”
Her unspoken words were as clear. If we wanted the ruse to hold, we had to move as though we believed we were being chased by Raven. I had one more thing to do, though. I went to my knees beside Shazer and opened the leather pouch. From it I poured all the stones, sorting them into two piles.
“What are you doing?” Shazer asked.
“If I die, you hold the key to defeating her,” I whispered. “I do not know who you will trust, but I trust you.”
I hurried, my hands shook, and I knew this was the only chance I had to beat her. A gamble was ahead of me, and I was banking everything on it.
A curse.
The stones.
The mother goddess. I prayed I was right.
I nodded and we jogged across the small patch of sand and into the cover of the trees. The dense vegetation pulled at me. I let it for a bit before connecting with Earth to move things enough that the path was clear. Peta frowned up at me. I couldn’t explain now, we were too close.
But if I was truly in a hurry, I wouldn’t think about my connection to the earth, not right away. At least, that was the game I was playing. We sloshed through the water. “Peta—”
“I know, Lark. I know.” She pressed herself against my leg. We could both die, we both knew it. At least . . . at least she was with me.
The anxiety eased when the truth of it settled on my heart. I would never be alone, Peta would never cast me away as so many people had done in my life. Not even for Talan.
A soft rumbling purr rolled through her and into me. I dropped my hand to her head and let the last of the anxiety flow out of me, and in its place my confidence grew.
I had a plan, it was a good one. Maybe we could pull this off.
My next step sunk me in brown swamp water up to my chest. I sucked in a sharp breath as something slithered between my legs. Peta swam ahead of me, her ears pinned back. “Keep an eye out for logs with eyes.”
She grunted and kept swimming. The pull to the center of the swamp didn’t let up, and I followed it.
The water stunk, the rank, acrid scent of death that had resided for too long above ground filled my lungs. I hurried to get out of the water as much as to reach my destination.
“Almost there.” Peta tipped her head at what was in front of us.
A curtain of moss curled down from the trees in various shades of pale gr
een. Situated out of the water, the land looked solid, though I had no doubt there was more water than soil under it.
I approached the moss divider, each step bringing me farther out of the water until I stood on—somewhat—dry land. I glanced at Peta, she nodded, and I stepped forward, my hand lifted to the moss. It parted on its own, without any direction from me. Beyond the moss was a crystal clear pool of water. Even at that distance I could see it was pristine, unlike the rest of the swamp. The mother goddess sat beside it, her back to me.
Once more she had taken the image of my mother. I swallowed hard.
“Lark, you have the stones? Did you use the fake ones to replace the real ones?” she asked softly, though she already had the answer.
“Yes.” I didn’t dare take another step. She raised her head and smiled at me, my mother’s smile, my mother’s face. “You put the fake stones in the grave then? The grave that was Ash’s.”
She tipped her head to one side. “I knew you would not just believe he was gone, that you would find a way to prove to yourself he was alive if I sent you in that direction. I had your father place the stones with the body when it was buried. You are, if nothing else, predictable.”
I gave a slow nod, doing my best to school my face. “Did we make it in time?”
“Yes, barely, but yes. Raven is close behind you.” Her eyes crinkled with pleasure. My heart and gut lurched. “Bring them to me, let me see them.”
With leaden feet I did as she asked, walking until I was only a few feet in front of her. I undid the leather pouch from my belt and handed it to her. “What happens now?”
She opened the pouch and peered in, the smile widening on her face. “Oh, little Larkspur. Your desire to fit in, to be the good girl. It will be the death of you, I think.”
I took several steps back, hating that I’d been right. A minuscule piece of me had still believed I could be wrong. That my mistrust was misplaced. It died with nary a whimper.
Peta stayed at my side as I moved back, sticking to me like a burr.
The mother goddess glanced up at me. “Do you know the stones can be manipulated by those who control Spirit?”
Rootbound (The Elemental Series, Book 5) Page 19