Seraphina takes her time in answering, increasing both my nerves and Emmy’s. “Lightning is a rare element. So much so, that we believed it to be extinct. No one has possessed it in nearly a hundred years.”
My eyes slowly close. I’m the only one of my kind?
“You said she had a telling, Maddox. What was it?”
My fist smashes against my lips and I try to take slow, even breaths. That’s why Aetheries wants me? Because I’m unique? Because I’m special?
“In a place without magic, seek to find the one hidden from the darkest of minds. Ability born of power and light will protect her from becoming the night. When the attack comes, do not run but face like with like.”
Seraphina abandons her perfect posture and leans forward until her elbows rest on the table. “Maybe she is important to Aetheries, maybe she isn’t. They killed the Queen of Rovente and that had nothing to do with this girl. I will say though, that as an elemental her place is with us, not with Pensatore.”
“Unless there is something else that you wish to share,” Maddox says.
“I am Queen of Rovente, Maddox. I am a new Queen. For years, I have learned from my sister, but I was not raised with such a role in mind. I will be the first to admit that the rest of my life will be spent learning how to lead a clan.” The necklace begins to pulse more rapidly, and it makes my eyes hurt to look at it. “Rovente wants revenge for what happened to their Queen. They look to me to ensure that that punishment is carried out. I do not know the first thing of war, Maddox.”
A shaggy gray eyebrow cocks upward. “And you think that I do? Strega doesn’t have wars, Seraphina, you know that.”
“Mikayla told me about you. She claimed that you are a great leader, one whose people adore him. A Lord whose clan would follow and protect.”
Kaleb chuckles again, this time louder than before. Maddox shoots him a spitting glare, but says nothing to him.
“What do you want exactly?”
“Rovente is going to war with Aetheries. If what you have told me about the attacks on your clan are true, then perhaps joining with us is the best option for you.”
“Pensatore will never be part of a war. Not in my reign nor any others.”
“Your people are still people, Maddox. They will want retribution for the pain Aetheries has given them. It’s only a matter of time before they demand it. Help me lead this war, and Pensatore will not have to go after Aetheries alone. Our clans can fight side by side.”
“No,” Maddox says, his mind made up.
“Seraphina,” Ben immediately says. “We have much to discuss, will you give us a moment of privacy, please.”
She eyes me as she walks out the door with her guards hot on her heels.
11
“There is nothing to discuss,” Maddox says flatly. “Her mind is made up the same as mine.”
Ben is on his feet, pacing the length of the room. “You can’t make a decision without thinking it through.”
Maddox slams his hand down on the table. “I am the Lord of this clan and the decision is mine alone to make!” His roar vibrates my bones. For such an old man he has a lot of strength behind that voice.
I raise my hand slowly, but have no intention of waiting my turn to speak. “Did you know that your people are already talking? They want to know who those two men were. They don’t like the idea that someone could get inside this clan as easily as they did. She may be right. It may soon come down to them wanting to hit the enemy before they hit us.”
Maddox snarls in my direction. “You are no one. You don’t know the first thing about Pensatore or the people within it.”
“She’s right,” Kaleb mutters. He’s leaning so far back in his chair that he’s having to balance it on two legs. His feet are propped up on the table and he’s sharpening a knife using a rock.
Lincoln stretches his legs out under the table, his feet on either side of mine. “Yes, she is. Think about it Maddox. If Aetheries can murder Mikayla, the strongest being in this realm apart from the Watcher, what kind of damage are they capable of?”
“That’s Rovente’s problem.”
“Is it?” Ben questions. “What if Lincoln is right? What if they slaughter Rovente as easily as they did their Queen? What do you think they will do to us? Rovente abilities are much stronger than ours, we wouldn’t be able to hold Aetheries off on our own.”
“We aren’t participating in this.”
It’s my turn to slam my hand down on the table. “Why are you so opposed to defending your people?” Emmy mumbles my name under her breath but I ignore her. “If you are as great a leader as your clan claims you once were – which I have a hard time believing – then you would want to protect them from anything that posed a threat to them.”
The only thing missing from Maddox is smoke coming from his ears. He really, really doesn’t like me. “According to you, the only reason we are a part of this to begin with, is because you are here. Perhaps we should shove you out the gate and see how long you last.” He really doesn’t like me.
The three brothers share a glance, each one nodding so slightly that it’s barely noticeable.
“The law of Pensatore states that the Commanders, when in full agreement, can overthrow a decision made by the Lord of the clan.” Ben meets Maddox’s eyes, refusing to look away. “You refuse to see reason, Maddox. And the decision that you are trying to make can and will jeopardize the safety of this clan.”
“You’re overruling me boy?” Maddox hisses at the eldest of the brothers. “You have no idea of the consequences of what you are doing. None of you do.” He rises to his feet, getting into Ben’s face. “This is war you are so willingly jumping into. War. There will be no clan left if the three of you do this. They will die. Do you understand that? We don’t know anything about Aetheries. They are nothing but a question mark, yet you want to march our people to their lands and go to war with them? You think that is a reasonable decision? You think that overruling me in this is the right choice? You three will kill us all.”
“Maybe there’s another option,” Emmy says hesitantly. “Not everything has to be solved with violence. Has anyone tried to go and talk to them? Maybe a deal can be made or something.”
Lincoln and Ben simply ignore her and act like she never put in her two cents. Kaleb snorts at her idea. She’s so gentle, she always has been. She’s 23 and still stops her car in the middle of the road, turns her hazards on, and waits for a random animal to cross the road so that no one accidently runs it over. Of course she would think that words can solve this issue. I hope that she never has to learn that nice words can’t fix everything. I hope she always stays as gentle as she is.
Ben peeks out of the door, calling Seraphina and her guards back inside. Apparently the brothers have made up their minds as easily as Maddox had.
“Well?” Seraphina asks as soon as she sits down.
Ben stays on his feet, still pacing back and forth. “Before we make our decision, we need more information.”
“And what might that be?”
“What is the true history of Aetheries? All we have are rumors. What actually happened?”
She gives us a crooked smile. “I’m surprised that you even heard rumors. Rovente doesn’t like people in their business, especially if that business isn’t exactly pleasant. But if telling you will help you decide, then so be it. The only people who know what truly happened that day are either part of Aetheries now or dead. It wasn’t a proud time in our history and only the highlights were recorded. I’ll tell you what I do know, but keep in mind that it may not be correct.
“Nearly sixty years ago, around two hundred of our members changed. Their behavior became violent, their elemental abilities turned dark. They began verbally striking out at neighbors, friends, and family members. Then it progressed to using their powers against others, even the children.
“Like I said, their abilities weren’t the same as they had once been . Air elementals created poisoned
gas. Fire elementals created black flames. The cause for the change was never known, but the King was concerned it would spread. So, for the good of all, he exiled the tainted. The condition of mercy was utter containment and no further contact. Rovente is a clan of proud people – even the infected marched toward their exile with heads held high.” She pauses, emphasizing that last remark. The brothers sigh as though expecting such cockiness. “It was recorded that as the tainted crossed the outer boundaries of our settlement they raised a banner to the sky. The clan now known as Aetheries was born.”
“You still don’t know what caused them to change in the first place? Why it only affected two hundred and not the whole clan?” Kaleb asks. I’m fairly sure that is the most words I’ve ever heard him say.
“I do not. Nothing similar had happened before, nor has it happened since. Our people and lands were safe so it was never followed up on.”
Ben clears his throat. “So they are still elementals? The only difference magic wise, is that their element shifted to a darker version of itself, is that right?”
Seraphina nods. “Yes. They don’t see reason though. They act as though compelled towards violence – at least that is how the stories tell it.”
“It’s only two hundred?” Lincoln asks her.
She shrugs. “It was only two hundred sixty years ago. I can’t vouch for how many there are now.”
My stomach drops and I start to understand where Maddox’s hesitancy is coming from. Neither Rovente nor Pensatore know anything about who they are thinking about going up against. Half a million Pensatore members against 200 from Aetheries. Even if we know nothing about Aetheries, just the numbers alone would be in our favor. I smile, realizing that I’ve just included myself as part of Pensatore without even thinking about it.
“Going there for war would be stupid without knowing what we are up against,” Kaleb states, still running the edge of his knife along the smooth stone. “I’ll go.”
“As will I,” one of Seraphina’s guards volunteers. The man is short, shorter than even Emmy. He’d be lucky if he broke five feet. His face is stretched outward, reminding me a lot of a rat.
“We haven’t agreed to anything yet,” Lincoln declares. “Until we do, there will be no talk of gathering information or spying on these people.”
Seraphina pinches her chin between her thumb and first finger, staring down Ben as though just realizing that Maddox is not part of this conversation. “What else do you need to know?”
“How did they kill Mikayla?” Ben doesn’t dance around the question, he doesn’t sugar-coat it in any way.
I’m surprised to see that his bluntness doesn’t hit Seraphina in some way. She doesn’t grow angry or sad, it’s like she’s not impacted by her sister’s death. Two weeks doesn’t seem like enough time to grieve properly, but everyone is different I guess. Maybe they didn’t even like each other.
Her perfectly red lips open and close several times, but she can’t seem to find the words to answer. “I understand why you are asking, I do,” she finally says. “But I can’t answer it. It’s still a very raw and emotional subject for me. The Reapers would be better to discuss that with if you need the information that badly, seeing as they were the ones who investigated.”
Lincoln inhales deeply. “What did her body look like?”
At this question, Seraphina’s eyes fill with tears. “Shriveled. Like a pruned fruit left to roast out in the sun. Is that what you want to hear?”
The three brothers share another look, talking to each other in some kind of silent language. Apparently, Seraphina’s answer was exactly what they wanted to hear.
Maddox, on the other hand, has been left out of this discussion completely. Covering his face with his hands, he seems like a defeated old man who doesn’t want to believe what is happening around him.
“The enemy of our enemy is our friend right,” Ben says as he holds his arm out to Seraphina. Maddox exhales loudly, shaking his head as he watches. “We will work through the details in the next few days. You are more than welcome to stay in the castle as long as you wish.”
Seraphina smiles, and it makes me shudder. Once standing, she grasps Ben’s forearm – the Strega version of a handshake, so I’ve learned.
12
EMMY
Damon walks at my side, shaking his head left and right repeatedly. “This is a really bad idea, Emmy. You don’t just go to Kaleb’s house. You don’t knock on his door and say hello. In fact, it’s more likely that he has a knife against your throat before you even get the word out.”
“It’ll be fine.” No one is that paranoid or hates people enough to do something like that, even Kaleb. Yesterday, the meeting with Seraphina continued and more precise plans were laid out. Kaleb would be going to Aetheries with the long nosed, short man Seraphina brought with her - Roman. Kaleb hated the idea of having a tag along go with him on a scouting mission, and he made it very clear to all of us that he didn’t need the back up. I almost felt bad for Roman. The man looked like a child in comparison to Kaleb. Not only that, but Kaleb has this terrifying aura around him that repels most people. The fact that he was using a bone as a toothpick and staring at Roman with pure disgust probably didn’t help matters.
Grayson, the second man that was with Seraphina, was assigned to help train Violet. According to the Queen, elementals needed to be trained with other elementals. It was clear that she already knew about Lincoln’s ability to manipulate water, but she didn’t seem to think that counted for some reason. Neither Lincoln nor my sister liked the idea of having another person present during their training sessions. I’m not sure of Lincoln’s reasons, but Vi’s are blatantly obvious, at least to me.
Every time she talks about him, it’s a complaint of some kind. When she’s irritated and whining, her hands will always ball into fists. It’s been her biggest tell of building anger for as long as I can remember – apart from her actually physically pummeling someone or something. When she vents about Lincoln, she doesn’t do that. In fact, she normally trails a finger sensuously along her thigh or table or whatever surface is nearby. She likes him. It’s not surprising either, seeing how much one on one time they spend together. Plus, he is a very attractive man.
“Don’t do this, Emmy,” Damon hisses in my ear. “It’s not too late to turn around and pretend we were never here.”
I smack him on the shoulder then raise my knuckles and tap on the wood of his front door. Damon squeals then jumps to the side, pressing his back against the side of the house. “Really?” I say. His reaction is excessive and completely unnecessary. “Stop being such a baby.”
“Don’t blame me when this goes badly.”
Focusing back on the door, I roll my eyes, preparing to knock a second time. One heartbeat, I’m standing a foot away from the door. The next I’m staring at a broad, muscular chest while teetering at the edge of the stairs of the front porch. Kaleb is so close to me that my nose almost touches his leather jacket.
“It was her idea,” I hear Damon say softly. I shift my body weight to the right, peering around Kaleb’s torso. The tip of Kaleb’s long and thin sword rests at the soft part of Damon’s neck. He’s staring at me wide-eyed as if silently telling me I told you so.
I try and dart around the massive body blocking my way and run into the house. I don’t make it two feet before one of Kaleb’s large hands wrap around my shoulder, pulling me back against his chest. “Get away from my house. Now,” he snarls down to me. The man is massive, so tall that the top of my head barely reaches the curve of the top of his shoulders.
Kaleb releases me and puts his sword back in the scabbard on his back. Damon yanks on my wrist, beckoning me to get away from this house and its owner, but I hold my ground.
“You’re leaving today?” I ask him. He doesn’t respond or make any gesture to indicate that he even heard me. “I just wanted to tell you to be careful.” While I mean the statement wholeheartedly, there’s an underlying reason why I came
out here to tell him that. I believe that people who feel they have a reason to come back home, do. No one should ever leave their house without some kind of reassurance that they will be missed if they don’t return. I always told Violet to drive safe when she left for work, I always told strangers to have a great day. It’s the little acts like that that give people hope. Everyone needs a little bit of hope, even Kaleb.
When he doesn’t respond, I turn around and walk from the stoop, meeting Damon in the street.
“Being careful means that there is a threat to my safety,” Kaleb says so low and deep that I barely make out his words from not even ten feet away. “There is no threat.”
Damon hisses my name as I take a step back towards the house. “If there was no threat, you wouldn’t be going to that settlement in the first place.” The idea of anyone going to those lands doesn’t sit well with me, but no one in that meeting cared what I thought. “Whether you agree or not, it doesn’t matter. I hope that you return safely regardless of our difference of opinions.”
Enemy Of My Enemy (Price Of Power Book 1) Page 13
