Page 68 of The Lost Elemental

Another blow landed on my jaw and blood flew from my mouth. Drue stepped out of the spray. “Ready to run, mutt? Back to the human realm and your pathetically boring life? I heard you scrubbed toilets at a disgusting pub. But even that has to be better than this.”

Anger lit somewhere deep, stoking a fire I’d kept buried for so long. “The only one who’s pathetic around here is you. What? You’re too scared to fight me woman-to-woman? You had to bribe someone to keep me bound first? Clearly you’re not the all-powerful aether you think you are.”

The air tightened around me, making it hard to breathe. Memories battered at the walls of my mind. My name being yelled. Screams of agony around me. Complete terror.

Drue’s face reddened, and she kicked out at my ribs. The crack of bone and white-hot pain beat back the worst of the memories.

I spat out a mouthful of blood. My teeth must’ve cut my cheek when she hit me. But I wouldn’t give Drue the satisfaction of knowing how much pain I was in. I grinned at her, bloody teeth and all. “Coward. Just like I thought.”

She leveled a one-two combination, ribs then jaw. “You’re not even good enough to be the dirt under my feet.”

I wheezed out a labored breath. “Then why are you so obsessed with me, Drue? If I’m a waste of space, you wouldn’t be following me around like a little fangirl. You’d be going on with your pathetic little life as a wannabe aether.”

Drue’s hands clenched into fists, her face so red it looked as if she might have a stroke. “I am an aether. It’ll all be revealed. And my first act as queen will be your public beheading.”

Ding, ding, ding. That was the trigger. I had to press there, hoping I could keep her distracted until I could get some sort of help. That someone would come close enough and I could scream.

“How does it feel to know you’ll never have all four powers? That you’ll never know what it’s like for the princes to love you?”

Drue grew impossibly redder. “They will love me! They’ll worship at my feet, just like the rest of the kingdoms.”

I snorted. The movement cost me, my ribs feeling like I’d been stabbed with a dozen ice picks. “Were you dropped on your head as a small child?”

“You don’t know. You haven’t seen. My affinities are strong even through my bindings. The fourth will be revealed in The Unveiling.” A grin spread across Drue’s face, but there was nothing happy or cheerful about it. It was feral, like a rabid dog. “And I’ll tear you apart for trying to keep me from my bond. This is just an appetizer.”

Drue hauled back, sending an uppercut to my jaw. My head snapped back, skull crashing into the tree. Darkness swam around me. It was too similar to the smoke that had almost taken me. Thick dark tendrils choking me and pulling me under.

I fought against it with everything I had. Clawing at the walls of my consciousness, I struggled towards the light.

Another punch landed on my ribs. Another crack of bone. And suddenly I couldn’t breathe.

The air wouldn’t come no matter how hard I pulled. I gasped and coughed.

Drue laughed. “Oops. Might’ve pushed a little too far.”

It was the laugh that turned the spark to flame. Rage burst inside me. There was no imagining of a rainbow cascade of colors, this was raw power. Brutal in its feralness.

Drue’s eyes widened as the ground began to shake. “What the hell?”

She started to run, but it was too late. Water burst from my hands in a tidal wave of power, heading straight for her. The stream knocked her off her feet and swirled around her, trying to choke her the way I was choking.

It was as if it was guided by some force that wasn’t me. Something that was trying to protect me.

Drue screamed for help.

Some part of me wanted to stop it, to pull it back. But I was already fading. Not enough air. Too much rage burning me alive. A thought pulsed through my mind, wondering if this was it, the combustion Riven had warned me about.

And then I swore I heard him call my name. But it was too late. I was already gone.

37

I was warm. So warm it felt as if I were floating in a cocoon of light. I let out a low moan.

“I think she’s waking up.”

Some part of me recognized the voice, but I couldn’t quite put a name to it.

“Is she hurting? Maybe we should bring back the healer. He can give her more pain meds.”