From Flame and Ash: An Elements of Five Romance

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  I was a teapot, set on steam, and I couldn’t stop it.

  The earth around me still shook, large crevices spreading out from my fingertips as I dug them into the soil.

  Mud sloshed every time I hiccupped a sob. I tried to control it and spit out more water, more dirt, more air.

  I didn’t know where it was all coming from. I didn’t know how to control any of it. I was choking on my own elements, on my own Wielding.

  And I feared I would hurt everyone around me because I couldn’t stop it.

  Easton reached for me again, and I scrambled back and shakily got to my feet. I held up my hands and shook my head.

  “No. Don’t touch me. If you do, I could break. I could hurt you. Do something. I need to…I need to go. I can’t be here. I’m going to kill you all.” And then I ran.

  I ran towards the edge of the Spirit territory where we had been before.

  Everything looked different now, at least from this side. There was mud everywhere, broken pieces of ground where the water had latched onto it.

  But we were still on a cliff. I could sense the waterfalls all around us.

  Far ahead, the sea was calm as if there hadn’t been over a dozen Wielders trying to kill us moments ago. Trying to drown us.

  But it didn’t matter now.

  They were dead.

  And I was going to die. From my own Wielding, not theirs.

  They hadn’t killed me. I was going to kill myself.

  The ground rattled beneath my feet, each stone starting to fall, pebble by pebble.

  The water right below where I stood started to thrash, and I swallowed hard, my hair blowing in a wind of my own creation.

  I couldn’t control it. Why was everything so amplified?

  I had been fine with Earth and Air, even though those two weren’t connected and were of separate kingdoms.

  Why was Water so much harder?

  I cried out, my body convulsing.

  This was it. Maybe I wasn’t the true Spirit Priestess. Perhaps the elements had been wrong. The prophecy flawed. I was going to die.

  Suddenly, strong arms were around me.

  Easton pulled me to his chest and ran his hands over my hair as he whispered in my ear.

  “You’re fine. Just breathe. Lean into me. Trust me. I’ve got you. I’ve got you, Lyric. No matter what happens. I’ve got you.”

  Easton held me as the trembling racked my body. Air slammed into him through me, and I cried out. But he didn’t move, didn’t scream. He just took the elements I gave him. Took the pounding of pain and fury.

  I shook, tears falling down my face. I hated feeling so weak. But I wasn’t strong enough to control this. I clearly wasn’t the right person for the job. This was too much.

  Water started to pool around us, coming from the sea as my Wielding spun out of control once more.

  It slammed into Easton’s back and then into our sides, but still, he didn’t move.

  “I’ve got you, Lyric. Just breathe. Focus. I’ve got you.”

  He repeated those words over and over again, and I tried to hold on. I believed him. But it was hard.

  I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t focus.

  Then Easton ran his hands through my hair, despite the gusts of wind slamming into us. He pulled me closer, so close I could feel every inch of him, and I took a deep breath. All of a sudden, I didn’t sense the elements.

  I just sensed the Fire within him, the Earth as well, but mostly the Fire.

  And the king he was.

  Just Easton.

  I could breathe.

  As the water slowly began to recede, and the earth quit its shaking, I let out a breath.

  The air around us stilled, calming.

  I let out more breath.

  Easton didn’t stop speaking to me. Didn’t stop whispering.

  Because he had me.

  I could breathe.

  As I sank to my knees, leaning deeper into his hold, he didn’t let me fall. Instead, he caught me and lowered down with me. And I cried in his arms.

  It was too much.

  I had killed those men. And I hadn’t even thought twice about it.

  Whatever voice had surged up inside of me, whatever power had taken over, I hadn’t been strong enough to withstand or control it.

  I had let the elements rule me, and I had almost failed. I had nearly hurt and killed those who were there to protect me. If it hadn’t been for Easton, if it weren’t for his calming force, I likely would have lost control of it all.

  And so, I wept. I grieved for so much.

  For the fact that this was my life now. That I still had no idea what was going to happen next. I wept for Brae. I cried for Rhodes, a boy I would never have. Someone I wasn’t sure I even wanted anymore. I wept for the life I once had. I mourned my parents who no longer remembered me.

  I wept for it all.

  And then when there were no more tears to cry, I sucked in a ragged breath and pushed away from Easton.

  I shoved away because I was scared. Because I didn’t know what to say.

  I rose to my feet, shaky but not as much as I had been before.

  Easton stood too, in one graceful move. It was as if he had practiced it for hundreds of years. Perhaps he had.

  “Lyric?” he asked, his voice softer than I had ever heard it. He didn’t look like the boy who had smirked at me. Didn’t look like the boy who had yelled at me to try and teach me.

  He just looked like Easton. The one who had held me when I broke. The one who comforted me when I cried.

  “I’m not the right person. How can I be the Spirit Priestess if I can’t handle three elements? How am I supposed to handle five? I’m not the right person.”

  “You are, Lyric.”

  “No. I can’t be. If I was, I wouldn’t have broken like that. I’m weak. I’m not strong enough.”

  Easton stormed towards me, closing the two steps between us. He loomed over me, anger on his face. “Yes, you are. Now, shut up.”

  And then he kissed me, so hard and fast I could barely understand what was happening.

  His hands were suddenly on my face as he brought his mouth to mine. I sucked in a breath at the feeling of soft lips against my own.

  He was kissing me.

  Easton was kissing me.

  And it felt…right. It felt like everything had been coming to a thousand times of needs, a thousand times of wants.

  It was something I’d never had before, a kiss that didn’t make any sense. No, I couldn’t kiss Easton.

  What was wrong with me?

  I pushed him away, shaking my head. “I can’t.” I sucked in a breath. “What was that?”

  I looked at him as he glowered at me. “You know what that was. What it’s always been.” Each word was uttered with a growl, and my eyes widened.

  “Are you saying you’re my…?”

  I couldn’t finish the sentence, couldn’t say anything more. I just looked at Easton. And I knew. I knew what he could be to me. I knew what that feeling inside of me was and had always been. Why I had been drawn to the boy with Fire. Why I didn’t understand exactly what I felt for Rhodes and why it was so different with Easton.

  I looked at him. I could still taste him on my lips. Feel how swollen mine were.

  And I knew.

  That connection between us.

  There was something.

  But I had no idea what to do about it.

  Before I could do or say anything more, Easton lifted his head and pulled me behind him.

  Suddenly, Teagan, Wyn, and Arwin were at our sides, pointedly looking at me.

  They had seen everything, had seen me break, had seen me fall, and had seen Easton kiss me.

  They had seen it all.

  But no one was paying attention to me now.

  Because I wasn’t the important one here.

  No, that was the Water Wielders coming at us, this time on a ship, surfing on a wave made from Wielding as they came towards us near
est the lowest waterfall.

  I could see them in their blue robes, their strong features that spoke of ages past. I could sense the power within them.

  And I had just killed others like them. I didn’t want to do it again.

  “Remember,” Easton growled, “I’m just a Wielder. Don’t call me by name.” He was still under his glamour. The others couldn’t know he was the king.

  I looked at him and swallowed hard.

  I couldn’t think. And I needed to focus. Not on him but on the task at hand.

  “Are you Lyric?” one of the men asked as he stepped off the boat and onto a rock nearest the edge of the waterfall. “Rosamond sent us. We are the guards of the Lord of Water. It’s time to take you to your friends.”

  Easton stiffened ever so slightly, but I didn’t lean into him. I didn’t do anything. I just looked at those in front of us. Those with a connection to my friends.

  And I knew this was why we had come. Why the Water charm on my bracelet still warmed.

  This was why we were here. To get to the Lord of Water.

  Rosamond, the Seer, had Seen me. She had sent for me. Rhodes had sent for me.

  Now, we were ready for the next task.

  I just had to push away everything that had just happened recently so I could focus.

  No matter how hard it was. No matter how much my mind wanted to rebel.

  Because I was the Spirit Priestess, even if I couldn’t control the power within me. Even if I might die because of it.

  But others were relying on me. I couldn’t focus on feelings or connections right now. I had to concentrate on strength.

  Even if sometimes I felt like I had none.

  Chapter Seventeen

  To get to the Water Estate with the Lord of Water’s guards, we had to travel over the sea. Unlike the Earth territory when the Lord of Fire had sent us in a caravan, and we took turns hiking and sometimes using the wagons, this time, we were on a ship.

  A huge wooden vessel not powered by mere sails or oars or even the mechanics of an engine one could find in the human realm. Instead, the Water Wielders used their powers to guide the ship through the water towards their destination. The ship still had sails, so unless they were just for show, I figured they were used at times with Air, though no one mentioned it.

  As Air and Water were allies, it kind of made the lack of mention odd.

  Of course, I didn’t really know the situation within the Lumière Kingdom. I only knew bits and pieces from what Rhodes, Luken, and Rosamond had told me, and from what I had read in the history book that Rosamond had given me.

  But that had been more about the Fall and the mechanics of Wielding rather than the current climate within the kingdoms.

  I knew more about the Obscurité Kingdom than I did the Lumière now. Maybe that should have worried me, but it didn’t. Because there was still so much to learn when it came to both kingdoms as well as the Spirit territory that lay between them.

  Once the lord’s guards had taken us to the ship, things had moved quickly. The Water charm on my bracelet kept heating up, so I knew we were going the right way, even if it felt like I was doing something that could irrevocably change my life. It seemed everything was changing my life these days.

  The guards hadn’t even introduced themselves by name. Instead, they had put one fist over their hearts, crossing their bodies with their arms as they bowed their heads regally. And they had done this to me and no one else. I didn’t really know how I felt about that.

  They called me the Spirit Priestess, and they rarely used my name when addressing me. I was just a title, their prophecy.

  Maybe I needed to stop thinking things like that. It was just going to stress me out more than I already was, and we were on our way somewhere I had never been before.

  It was odd to think that we were amongst people we didn’t know, going to a place we didn’t know, and yet I knew it was the right thing to do. Just like Wyn knew it was right because of her emotional Seeing.

  Not that there was an actual title or term for that. But I trusted when Wyn had feelings about things.

  Of course, just because someone believed they were telling the truth didn’t mean they actually were. It depended on what they thought true at the time they were speaking. That was what Wyn could read, those moments. At least if we put our faith in the talent that Wyn might have.

  We weren’t a hundred percent sure that it was actually a gift, but we still followed it. That and the indications of the bracelet on my wrist.

  “Do you ever have a feeling that you’re here not as a guest but as something or someone who isn’t really allowed to go anywhere else?” Wyn asked, her voice just a whisper in my ear.

  We stood on the deck of the ship, all five of us surrounded by the lord’s guard.

  “Well, now that you mention it,” I whispered back, my shoulders tightening. “I mean, we aren’t prisoners, right?” I asked, my voice so low I was afraid Wyn wouldn’t be able to hear me. It wasn’t like we had any privacy on the deck, not really. None of us had been invited below deck, nor had we been given any accommodations or sustenance other than some water and bread. We had declined it all, stating that we had our own rations. I didn’t know if that had been the wrong thing to do or maybe the perfect response.

  It didn’t matter that I was a Spirit Priestess and was supposed to be part of each kingdom. It mattered that the people I was traveling with were not from this kingdom. They were not supposed to be here at all, and yet the guard had told them to come with me.

  I didn’t know what was going to happen next, or if my new friends were in any danger. I just had to hope that once we got to wherever we were going, Rhodes, Luken, and Rosamond would make sure that my new friends were safe. After all, we were all fighting for the same purpose now. Right?

  “I don’t know, Lyric, but keep your guard up. I’ve never actually been to where we’re going, so it’s all just as new for me as it is to you.”

  I looked over at Wyn, my eyes slightly wide. “Really? I would have thought all of you would have found your way into the other kingdom at some point.”

  “Oh, I’ve been to the Air territory a couple of times, as well as to the border between the two within the Lumière Kingdom, but I’ve only ever been to the waterfalls that we passed that create the border between the Spirit and Water territories. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to go, but my orders usually took me to the other side. Teagan has been here, though. As has Easton.” She winced and looked over her shoulder. Thankfully, no one was listening to us or even making any sudden moves as if they had heard. “I mean, Frederic.”

  I rolled my eyes and smiled. Easton was going by Frederic at the moment, and it was hilarious. Easton did not look like a Frederic at all, and he was the only one who was actually good at remembering that was his new name. All of us kept slipping up even though there wasn’t anything funny about what would happen if those of the Lumière Kingdom found out that it was actually Easton and not just an Obscurité Wielder named Frederic with us.

  “Anyway,” Wyn began, speaking quickly. “Arwin hasn’t been here either. So, we’ll take in the sights. We’ll figure out what you’re supposed to do—prophecy and all.”

  “I hate the unknown. I hate that I feel like I’m right on the verge of something that’s important, but it’s not really making any sense. It’s a little too much. You know?”

  “I know exactly what you mean. Well, maybe not exactly since I’m not actually unlocking Wielding like you are, but…three out of five? That’s a lot. And you’re getting there.”

  I swallowed hard and looked down at my hands, at the power beneath my skin. We were surrounded by water on all sides, a vast sea of nothingness. And it called to me. A siren song as if it begged me to start using my Wielding. Tempting me to train.

  But I couldn’t. Not right then.

  I was afraid of what could happen if I did. Would I be able to control it? Would I be able to use my Air and Earth at the same time
without breaking down or being overwhelmed?

  I never wanted to feel like I had felt when my body was breaking down. Or worse, how I was when it felt as if something had taken over my mind and I wasn’t strong enough to fight back.

  And I had been able to get out of it because of Easton.

  And that scared me. Maybe even more than the power itself.

  Because I couldn’t let myself rely on him. I didn’t know what his motivations were, and I didn’t know what he felt about me.

  But I could remember the feeling when we had spoken when he kissed me. I remembered the fact that I had felt a connection to him, even if I shouldn’t.

  I was afraid that he was the one person that could mean the most to me.

  Even if I didn’t know what to do about it.

  “What are we talking about over here, ladies?” Easton said as he came over.

  “Just the sights,” Wyn said. “What do you think, Frederic? Enjoying all the water?”

  Easton gave us a look and just rolled his eyes. A smile played on his lips, and for that I was grateful. Because if he could at least retain some humor in the situation, maybe it wasn’t all that bad. Perhaps we weren’t prisoners on our way to another dungeon like I had been during my previous trip to the Maison realm.

  It was starting to really get on my nerves that every time someone found out that we were entering a new territory, we were taken directly to the lord’s estate against our will.

  Yes, I wanted to eventually visit them all and try to unlock my elements as I unearthed the prophecy, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be forced into any of it.

  Although it seemed I didn’t have much choice.

  “Just wait until you see what’s below the water.”

  I looked up at Easton and frowned. “What do you mean? I mean, there has to be like fish and things, but what are you actually talking about?”

  He just shook his head and then put his hand on the small of my back, gently pushing me towards the edge of the ship. Wyn took a discreet step back and then another before she was slowly walking away towards Teagan and Arwin.

  I noticed her giving me a strange look, leaving me alone with Easton, and I wondered what that was about. Because I still hadn’t had a chance to talk to her about the fact that I had kissed Easton. They had all seen it, and nobody was talking about it. Everyone was doing an excellent job of not talking about it.