by Larissa Ladd
Dylan also was coming into his inheritance soon. Aiden had seen it in him when the three of them had been in Oriel’s cell. The power from the water-aligned materials that had nearly dragged Aiden down had surged through Dylan the way that elemental energy eventually would. Dylan was no Lorene—no devastating force of nature terrifying almost from birth thanks to the high amount of power coursing through him—but he would be potent when he came into his abilities. It was also clear to Aiden that Dylan was lonely. It had been clear to him for months; when he had joked to Aira about finding a hot maid of honor to partner Dylan in the ceremonies, he had been thinking of the way that Dylan looked at him and Aira together.
It was plain as day to Aiden that Dylan needed someone in his life. There were few truly, dangerously unstable water elementals; of the four affiliations, water had the merits of both the mercurial alignment of air and the steady presence of earth—it was mutable but not fickle, the members of the element were emotional, sometimes tempestuous, but easily calmed, readily stabilized. There were few among the members of the element who were ever in danger of coming under threat from the elders. Before Lorene had found her mate and settled into the responsibilities of the rule of her element, she presented a powerful worry to the elders. But Dylan didn’t just need a partner to balance out the possibilities of a tempest within him, or even to help him manage the power surges that came along with his transition into a fully-fledged elemental. He needed someone who could be with him just as another human being. While Aiden and Aira worked consciously not to exclude Dylan, there were aspects of their relationship that—for obvious reasons—Dylan simply couldn’t be part of. Moments when they had to be alone together. And all that was left to Dylan was to amuse himself, where before Aira had come into their lives, Aiden and Dylan had been nearly inseparable; not just brothers but friends.
Was Dylan’s judgment clouded by his loneliness, or was there more to Leigh than he and Aira knew? There had been so many people at the wedding, and so many more at the reception, that it was impossible for Aiden to say whether or not he had even met the woman who Dylan had spoken to. All any of them knew was what Leigh had told Dylan: that her family had finagled an invitation and sent her to render a verdict on himself and Aira and their pairing together, that she was candid about the fact that she was there to observe and form an opinion about what their relationship meant to the wider world of elementals, and that she had refused to sleep with Dylan—though Dylan had admitted that he was more than willing to sleep with her, her status as a spy notwithstanding. Dylan had told them that Leigh said she had cousins who were extremists; that Aiden was almost as much of a target as Aira was—which was strange to him. Oriel had implied too that among her group he was considered persona non grata.
“Dylan! Come out of your room and eat something!” Aiden’s ruminations dissolved at the sound of Aira’s voice. He shook his head. They weren’t likely to know the full situation until they managed to track down at least one of the members of the group, or at the very least, Leigh. Whether or not Dylan was wrong in his judgment that the earth elemental was uninvolved in the attack, the fact that she was being held somewhere—and likely by the same people who were the masterminds of the earthquake and fire—meant that she had to know something.
Dylan’s bedroom door opened and he peeked out his head, looking sleepy. “I may have found what we need,” he said with a tired smile. Aiden watched his brother walk into the living room, a large, ancient-looking tome in his hand. Aira carried a platter of food to the coffee table: hamburgers skillet-fried with mushroom-onion gravy and rice, with a side of steamed broccoli.
“There’s coffee in the kitchen,” Aira told them both, putting plates out. They were—all three of them—seemingly running on nothing but coffee, beer, and potions concocted by Dylan. Only a little while longer, Aiden told himself firmly. Once we have this situation under control, we can relax for a little while. And get some healthier habits. He needed to talk to Aira about starting a family; but that would have to wait, just like everything else was waiting. Aiden stood and went into the kitchen to fix himself a cup of coffee.
CHAPTER SIX
DYLAN RAN HIS FINGERS THROUGH his hair as he settled into his seat, breathing in the scent of delicious food and coffee. The book he had been consulting was open to the relevant page and sat in his lap. Dylan sighed and put the book down carefully on a side table, reaching for a plate. He was ravenously hungry—Aira couldn’t possibly have timed the meal better. It was strange to him that after all the power that had flowed through him in Oriel’s cell, he was feeling utterly drained, exhausted, even. The potent energy coursing through his veins had begun to ebb almost as soon as they left the room—which he had expected. But it got worse as they got farther and farther away from the building that housed the elemental prisoners; and Dylan’s attempts to mine the information provided by Lorene’s obsessive desire to compile all possible lore and magic in one place had only deepened his fatigue.
“Once we get this crisis under control,” Aira said, sinking down to sit on the floor in front of the coffee table, “we need to work on some healthier life choices.” She cut into her hamburger patty with a fork, bringing a bite to her mouth and carefully chewing the hot meat.
“Little or no sleep, constant dependence on coffee to stay on top alert or beer to relax, along with potions; I’d say we’re pushing it,” Dylan said agreeably. “But we may be turning the corner on this. I may have figured out how we can track them down.”
“Good,” Aira said. “We could use a break in this. What have you got?” Dylan glanced down at the book, eating a few bites of hamburger and rice.
“Okay. So it’s going to require all of us.” Dylan sipped at the coffee that Aiden had brought into the living room. He would need a few hours’ rest before he could try out the idea that he had discovered—but he was so tired that the caffeine wouldn’t get in the way of that. “I can potentially reach Leigh, but it’s pretty far, and it’s not going to be a strong enough connection. If we combine to reach her, we may be able to get a really good lock on where she is. It’s difficult to pull off—we’re going to all have to be at the very top of our game—but if we can combine, I can get a lock on her energy, no matter what blocks are up.”
“Do we know if they’re all with her?” Aira asked. Dylan shrugged.
“Right now, I think the priority is to find out who is holding her and where they’re at. The rest of it can fall into place once we have whoever is holding her in custody. Also, with this tactic we will, theoretically at least, be able to track down the rest of the group if they’re not all there.”
“But it’s going to require us to be on the very top of our game.” Aira looked at Aiden. “Does the book mention how we combine?”
Dylan nodded.
“It details it very vividly. I have a good idea of what we’re going to need to do to accomplish it. I’ll re-read it, but we’re going to need to all get some sleep, recharge a bit, and then we can do this.” The book was written in the language of the water elementals—it was unreadable for both Aiden and Aira.
“Adding the energies of air and fire to the innate abilities possessed by water elementals bolsters the reach and increases the precision of tracking. Air elementals have inherent capabilities at finding the lost, travel, and divination. Fire increases the power of other elements—an important function in this variety of magic. The three elements combined can combat any block, particularly when they are wielded by very strongly aligned elementals.” There was some set-up required, but Dylan knew that it was more than possible.
Aiden cleared the dishes when everyone had finished eating and Dylan glanced at Aira. “How are you feeling?” he asked quietly. Aira shrugged.
“I just want this to be over, so we can all get on with our lives. I don’t want this to turn into another big war between elementals. I want to nip it in the bud, get these people in custody before they attack someone else.”
“We’
re probably not going to get all of them in one fell swoop,” Dylan said. Aira considered that and nodded. “But if we can get the most important people, we can seriously cripple them.”
“I just don’t understand why they feel like this is the hill they want to die on,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m the best possible ruler for air that there could be—aren’t I?” Dylan smiled wryly at the look of doubt on her face.
“That depends on what you consider ‘best possible,’” Dylan said. “I mean, from the perspective of ruling your element, doing what you can to keep people safe—both elementals and regular humans—you’re the best possible leader.” Dylan shrugged. “But if you wanted someone who would turn a blind eye or advocate for less secrecy, then you’re probably the worst.” Aira chuckled, rolling her eyes.
“The thing that disturbs me about this is that there has to be air elemental involvement,” Aira said softly. “If they’re holding Leigh confined—they have to be using water-aligned materials. None of them would be able to deal with that. The only people who could would be water or air elementals.” Dylan’s eyes widened. He hadn’t considered that. The water elementals that he knew were all on Aira’s side—not only because she was Lorene’s heir but also because of her policies. But there could be people of his own alignment who were arrayed against Aira, just as there had been people in her own element who had taken their stand against her.
“Well we know that there are air elementals who turned—and turned back.” Dylan chewed his bottom lip. “We might also have water elementals to contend with.” Aira’s eyes widened at the possibility of that as Aiden came back into the room.
“You’re right,” she said, shaking her head. Aira pressed her lips together. “I might have representatives from all four elements who want me deposed.” Aiden frowned.
“That just means there’s more reason to nip this in the bud.” Aiden sank down onto the floor next to Aira. “I mean, history doesn’t lie; any time someone comes into power there are these kinds of upheavals.” Aira sighed.
“Lorene had her own troubles,” Dylan reminded her. “She was unequivocally the best candidate for ruling water—but she had to contend with people who wanted someone else.” Dylan looked at his brother and sister-in-law and sighed. “For right now, let’s just rest up and get ready for what we need to do to get these people.”
“Okay,” Aira said, taking a deep breath and composing her face. “Let’s go upstairs.” Dylan saw the gleam in his brother’s eyes and laughed.
“Remember: we’re supposed to be sleeping and resting,” Dylan called after them as they stood and started up to Aira’s room.
That night, Dylan assembled what he needed to break through the track-blocking spell that the people holding Leigh were using. While he had been researching to find out the best possible way to nullify the block, Dylan had been thinking about the woman he’d met at his brother’s wedding. He had been so certain that Leigh was not part of the group that wanted to depose Aira; she had been there to observe, and the taste he had gotten of her essence had told him—limited though it was, and brief as it had been—that she was not inclined to violence. But he had to wonder what it was about her that had led the group actively seeking to punish Aira to hold onto Leigh; did she know something about the attacks? Did she know about the group’s plans? He had no idea.
Aiden and Aira came downstairs, looking—for the first time in days—as if they might have actually gotten rest. “When this is over,” Dylan said, raising an eyebrow at them with a smile tugging irresistibly at the corners of his lips, “I don’t want to hear from either of you for at least three weeks while you’re on your honeymoon. Just forget I even exist.”
“Done and done, bro,” Aiden said, looking at the configuration of materials that Dylan was assembling. “How is this going to work?” Dylan shifted one of the crystals into a better alignment.
“Here’s the deal,” he said, stepping back to admire his handiwork. “We’re basically going to merge our energies through Aira. She has the projective ability, I have receptive. These materials will amplify our different traits in the merge—making it easier to break through the barrier that the group is using to block any and all trackers.”
“So basically it’s like elemental radar,” Aira said, smiling slightly. “A giant receiver for the information I’m going to be seeking out.” Dylan nodded.
“Essentially. We all get in the middle and Aira starts; I merge with her first, and then Aiden, you come in third. Between the three of us we should be able to bust through and find Leigh, as well as discovering anyone who’s with her.” Dylan gestured to a trio of mugs. “These potions are just about at their highest potency. We should drink them now and get started.”
Aira picked up the mug that Dylan indicated for her and gulped down the contents quickly. Dylan picked up his own mug—an infusion of lemon, chamomile, thyme and lemon balm. He sipped it at first and then drank down swallow after swallow. It wasn’t terrible—but it wasn’t all that tasty either. As the potion went to work, he felt his energy flowing more freely, and he knew that Aiden—who had just finished his own potion—and Aira were feeling the effects as well. The air around them crackled and Dylan took a deep breath. They had to contain themselves, direct their focus outward. He gestured for Aira to step into the circle he’d formed.
Aira closed her eyes and Dylan—attuned to her only a little less than his brother from long association—felt her energy flowing outward, her focus driving forward through the ether. The wind outside picked up, just below a howl, echoing the potency of her focus. Dylan swallowed and stepped into the circle, sitting down next to Aira and closing his eyes. He felt the flow of her energy and slowly worked his way in, reaching out blindly and taking her hand, letting his energy suffuse her. It was not as violent as when Lorene had bequeathed her essence to Aira—but Dylan could hear the rain starting up outside and knew that the three of them had better find their targets quickly or risk coming under fire for the freak weather they caused.
Dylan felt along the lines of Aira’s projection, opening himself up. He overtook the merge slightly, directing her focus in the direction he knew they needed to look. They were looking to the desert—that was the only place where the fire and earth elementals would be equally safe. As Aira’s energy grew, her seeking projection magnifying, Dylan almost recoiled as he felt Aiden joining them in the circle, sinking down onto the floor and clasping both of their hands, closing the circuit. Dylan inhaled sharply, feeling his brother’s volatile, fiery energy surge through him and into Aira. How could she handle it? He forced himself to damp down his own discomfort, to be both conduit for Aiden’s energy and perception to Aira’s projection. This was why Aira was the ruler of her element, he told himself.
Dylan’s fine-tuned perception began to register fleeting impressions and he opened his senses to their limit, focusing on the tiniest traces. There. There she was. Dylan felt the presence of Leigh’s energy like a thread brushing his skin, insubstantial but perceptible. He pushed Aira’s energy towards it and the signal increased. Leigh was angry—she was in pain. Dylan pulled in the essence he had found, breathing slowly and steadily to increase his focus. She was bound at the wrists, at the shoulders, at the knees and the ankles; her energy was at a low ebb, but she was still fighting. It had only been a few days—she wouldn’t be totally incapacitated, but she was completely unable to subvert the bindings that held her where she was.
Dylan opened his mind up more. Leigh was in the deep desert, in a carefully concealed house—and she wasn’t alone. There were people there with her. Dylan counted six—not as many as Oriel said led the group, but they were all unstable—a morass of seething energies and conflicting feelings that rasped against Dylan’s perception enough to make him cringe. Dylan almost pulled away; it was too much. Instead he gritted his teeth and ceded control to Aira. He couldn’t locate the group as readily—he could only get impressions, feel the people there. Aira’s part of the focus mov
ed in and out, and Dylan could feel her getting a sense of directions, of the precise location and how they would be able to find it.
A loud boom of thunder cracked the air outside and Dylan relinquished his hold on both Aira and Aiden, shaking his hands at the wrists as lingering energy tingled under his skin. “Did you get it?” he asked her, hoping against hope that they wouldn’t have to do it again. Aira opened her eyes and for a moment looked disoriented; Dylan could appreciate the feeling.
“I got it,” she said, sounding almost breathless. She reeled slightly and grabbed onto Aiden for support. “I know exactly where those assholes are. It’s not all of them, but we’ll nab at least a few. And we need to get Leigh out of there most of all.” Dylan smiled sadly. So she had gotten that perception, too.
“It’s too late to get a start now,” Dylan said, looking outside at the gradually clearing weather; even without the storm, it was evening. They wouldn’t make it far before they all had to rest. “First thing in the morning?” Aira looked at Aiden and nodded.