by Lexi C. Foss
It wasn’t her own life she was worried about. My Claire wanted to save the world.
And I loved her for it.
Claire
Just days ago, I stood in the middle of Spirit Kingdom while Exos ascended to his throne. And now I was back at the Academy meeting Elana for our biweekly training.
Somehow, it felt wrong. Like I should be doing more than just attending classes as usual and acting as though I didn’t know my mother had tried to kill me. But every time I tried to say something to Elana about it, my lips seemed to seal shut.
Which only made this session all the more uncomfortable.
My saving grace was knowing Sol stood just outside waiting for me to finish. At least returning here meant I had all my mates in one place again. Although, Cyrus kept leaving for his mysterious meetings in the Water Kingdom. And Exos had returned to his Spirit Fae twice in the last few days on business.
It made me wonder what life would be like when all my mates graduated.
Would I have to travel between the kingdoms to see them all?
I frowned. Cyrus really needs to teach me how to mist.
“Everything all right, dear?” Elana asked, her silver eyes kind in her assessment.
“Just thinking about the coronation,” I replied. Not necessarily a lie. It was related to my future, right?
But Elana didn’t look all that convinced, her brow pinched in a way I didn’t care to see.
So I said the first thing I could to deflect the subject back on her.
“You weren’t there. I assume because it’s not mandatory to attend that sort of event?” I phrased it as a question, which was totally lame. However, the way her face clouded over suggested I’d touched on an interesting topic. “Mortus wasn’t there either.”
She nodded slowly, the pixie she’d conjured disappearing into mist. Water, I realized, fighting another frown. She just used water.
Something I wouldn’t have questioned except that Elana supposedly only had access to spirit. So how was she using water now? Had she somehow manifested the element and not told anyone? Maybe it was a fledgling power. Or—
“I hated missing the coronation,” Elana said, interrupting my thoughts. “But the Academy required me to stay here. Mortus, too. All the young lives at this school are my responsibility, and I take that responsibility seriously.”
My brow furrowed. The way she said that made it sound like the Academy could be in danger.
Because of my mother? I wondered. Does she know that Ophelia is still alive?
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask, but my voice refused me. Literally. Like, I couldn’t part my lips. It felt as though someone had clamped an invisible hand over my mouth. Urgent whispers flooded my thoughts, all of them unintelligible.
I’m losing my damn mind.
That was it.
I clearly needed more sleep. Less sex. Something. Because apparently, I no longer had control over my brain or my body.
Elana had said something while I was lost to the invisible force controlling my body. She stared at me expectantly. “Sorry, I missed that,” I admitted, my mouth working just fine over those words.
My mentor gave me another one of those concerned looks. “Are you sure you’re all right, Claire?”
“Mm-hmm.” I cleared my throat. “I’m just a little tired. It’s been an exciting week.” Understatement of the fucking century.
Her silver eyes told me she didn’t believe me, but she allowed the topic to drop. “Well, how about we focus on something new today? Instead of pixies, I mean.”
“Sure. What did you have in mind?”
She swept her hand in a wide circle and conjured an ethereal bowl of water.
No. Correction. That is definitely not water.
“You’ve established a firm hold over life, the side of spirit that comes naturally. However, there is another side to your power you’ve yet to explore, and I think it’s time to teach you what it really means to be a Spirit Fae.” Elana locked a cold grip on my wrist, making me suck in a breath.
There was only one other side of life that I could think of.
Death.
Power flooded into me, fluxing back and forth as my mentor tugged at my spirit essence that wasn’t ready for this invasion. “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice going up a pitch.
Elana gave me one of her kind smiles in an effort to soothe me, but every hair stood on end as the temperature in the room plummeted. “Relax, Claire. This is a normal progression to your training that I promise you are ready for.”
I didn’t feel ready.
And this certainly didn’t seem all that normal.
The bowl of misty liquid rippled as Elana concentrated. “Think of your power and what it is capable of. Spirit transcends this world, and that is a beautiful thing.” Her element tugged at mine again, just enough to extract a sliver of my connection to Exos—to the source.
A translucent face formed, one with dead, silver eyes that looked right through me.
Elana smiled. “My, this is one of the older Spirit Fae I haven’t had the pleasure of talking with yet. Well done, Claire.”
I didn’t feel like I’d done anything at all.
Trying to extract my grip from Elana’s, I found myself bound to her and an icy power linking us as the spirit finally focused his gaze on me. It tried to smile, but the motion seemed forced.
“Why don’t you try speaking to him?” Elana asked. “Introduce yourself.”
The last thing I wanted to do was talk to the spirit of a dead fae. It seemed inappropriate. Intrusive. Wrong.
“Um,” I managed to say around my tongue, which had gone dry. “Hi. I’m, uh, Claire. Who are you?”
The spirit tilted its head, the motion slightly unnatural with his unblinking stare. “You?” he asked, not seeming to be able to comprehend my question.
“Use your power,” Elana encouraged. “Ancient spirits are accustomed to rest, not conversation. He’ll need some help.”
Help. Right.
My lips twisted to the side. I didn’t see the point in disturbing an ancient fae’s rest like this, but clearly, Elana wanted me to learn something.
Use your power, she’d suggested.
Okay.
I concentrated on the writhing form, on the agony teasing the edges of his lopsided mouth. My brow furrowed. What happened to you? I wondered, noting the way he flinched every few seconds as if reliving his death over and over again.
Was that why this felt so wrong to disturb him? Because it tortured him to call upon his spirit?
“Pain?” I asked, using a single word with a coaxing strand of my power underlining the question. This all felt so strange and foreign. I needed to know if the spirit was suffering as a result of our intrusion.
Elana frowned. But I ignored her and focused on the visage before us.
His eyebrows—what was left of them—pulled down. He opened his mouth to say something, but then Elana ripped her hand from mine, dissolving the spell instantly and sending out a shock wave of mist and energy.
“Spirits need to be comforted and coaxed,” Elana chided, clearly irritated with me. She brushed her hands together and sighed, transforming back into the patient and kind mentor in a second, the change a startling one. “You’re a sweet creature, Claire. But your human side has too much empathy. Spirits can’t feel pain, I assure you. It may seem like they can, but that’s just because they mimic the life that came before. When conjured, they are tools just like any other power offered by the elements.”
My spine went rigid. Tools? Elements weren’t tools. At least not to me, or to my mates. Our gifts were to be respected and embraced—not used as mindless tools.
“I see,” I murmured, not sure what else to say.
Elana seemed to sense my discomfort, and she summoned a few familiar pixies to clean the table of the sparkling spirit dust. Warmth and life seeped back into the air, bringing with it a sense of rightness. I almost sighed in my relief, excep
t the cool claws of reality seemed to be clinging to my heart.
That soul… he felt pain. I was certain of it.
“I don’t mean to frighten you, sweet child. You have to understand that I’m a thousand years old. I’ve seen life and death run its course hundreds of times, and I have grown to accept its finality.” Elana twisted a ring around her finger. “It’s easier that way.”
Guilt spiked a hole through my chest.
Of course Elana must have lost so many friends and family members over the years. I was being too hard on her to expect her to have the same level of empathy that I did. What did I really know of loss or spirits? Rick’s death still held its bitter weight in my soul, but that was one death, whereas Elana must have experienced many. “I’m sorry,” I said. “You’re right.” I gave her a weak smile. “It was just… unexpected. That’s all.”
She nodded. “Sometimes lessons are best learned without warning.” She rose to her feet and brushed spirit dust from her dress. “I’ve traumatized you enough for today. Return to your mates, Claire, and think about what I’ve said. You have a great gift, and if you choose to embrace it, you can help the Spirit Fae and the rest of the realm in ways no one else can. I would love to explore your spirit magic further on our next visit. We don’t have to continue to explore this side of your power if you are averse to it. However, if you are willing, there is much I can teach you.”
The hope in her gaze said she truly believed me to be capable of great things. Although, I wasn’t sure I could ever get behind summoning spirits as part of my training. “I’ll think on it,” I promised. “Thank you, Chancellor.”
Elana beamed and guided me to the front hall, indulging me in meaningless chitchat that I tuned out, too consumed with the day and everything that had happened.
All I wanted to do was return to my mates. To Sol, who waited just outside and promised me life—not death.
I smiled to myself. Yes. My Earth Fae is exactly what I need right now.
Sol
Finally, it was my turn with Claire. I knew having four other mates kept Claire busy, but I hadn’t gotten to spend time with her like this since before she left for the Spirit Kingdom.
I paced back and forth in front of Elana’s mansion, not realizing that I was grinding a crack in the stone until I tripped over a jagged edge. How long was Elana going to keep Claire in there? Was everything all right? Should I go in?
Before I made a fool of myself and barged into the Chancellor’s home, Claire appeared with a knot to her brow and her gaze distant. I waved a hand in front of her face.
“That bad?” I asked.
She blinked up at me as if she’d almost forgotten I was there. I’ll admit, that stung a little, but then she smiled and slipped her fingers around my neck to pull me down for a kiss. Her lips brushed mine, and I tossed out any notion that Claire could ever forget about me.
“Better now,” she promised, then curled into my chest. “I just don’t think Elana was good for me today. I need to relax.”
I grinned and wrapped an arm around her tiny waist, careful not to put too much weight on her. It made me nervous to be this close to Claire without Vox as my backup to make sure I didn’t break her, but I couldn’t use him as a crutch forever.
Baby steps.
“I know the perfect place to relax,” I told her, grinning.
She glanced up at me, curiosity bright in her blue eyes. Her irises had an occasional rainbow sparkle to them now that she had embraced her fae half, and I adored the small curve of her newly pointed ears. “Consider me intrigued,” she said.
I led the way toward a field between the Spirit Quad and the Earth Quad. I’d tried—and failed—to grow Claire an oasis of peach trees on more than one occasion. I finally figured out that it was all about placement. Too much shit went down on a constant basis to have such delicate things out in the open in the Spirit Quad. Not with Vox sending tornados out the window when he sneezed and Titus setting things aflame because, well, that was just what Titus did.
No, Claire and I needed a place only for us.
Just for earth and sky and sweetness.
The punch of flowering peach trees hit us before we crested the hill to the small grove hidden in the forest.
Claire’s eyes lit up and she sucked in a breath. “Sol, did you make this? It’s gorgeous!”
My heart grew three times its normal size. I’d created and lost so many groves in an attempt to impress Claire. They never seemed good enough or were destroyed before she’d gotten a chance to see them. Then I had worried she would think it was stupid or a waste of energy.
But seeing her expression now? Yeah, it was worth all the effort.
She grabbed my hand and dragged me into the oasis, the crunch of forest under her shoes morphing into the soft patter of her footsteps over the smooth stones I’d placed for a path. My own thunderous footfalls drowned out her excitement, but she didn’t seem to mind.
Claire let go of me toward the middle and skipped to one of the trees, running her fingers up through the leaves and wrapping her delicate fingers around a peach. She snapped it free and brought it to her nose. She closed her eyes and drew in a long, deep inhale. When she let out the breath, her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at me. “Sol, really, this is lovely.”
Encouraged, I waved a hand and sent a wall of forest trees aside to show the rest of the grove that I was still working on. “It’s not done yet, but I was hoping you could help me. I mean, I was hoping we could work on it together.”
She approached the clearing where small mounds of dirt waited for life. I craved more of her magic, of the sweet fruit and mystery that only Claire could provide.
So the place didn’t look too bare, I had sent pink and purple fae flowers around the perimeter. It gave the place a pop of color, and Claire grinned as she stepped over the boundary. “It’s like a fairy circle,” she mused.
We’d told her a hundred times that fairies weren’t a thing, but I shrugged and agreed. She could call this place whatever she wanted. “Sure.”
She chuckled and handed me the peach. “In the human world, we have these stories in which there are fairy circles. If you get trapped inside, then the fairies will take you to their world and never let you leave.”
I bit into the sweet flesh of the peach and chewed as I considered the idea of a fairy circle. I swallowed and nodded. “You’ve got me. I’m not letting you leave.” I offered her the remaining half of the peach. “But at least you won’t starve.”
She took it, then ran a finger over my mouth where a hint of peach lingered. Her features softened, and I leaned down to her unspoken command to adore her. She met me with a tender kiss, her tongue running over my lips, and then she parted for me when I couldn’t resist a taste for myself.
She was so much fucking better than a peach.
My hand went to her collarbone in a possessive grip, but I forced myself to pull away. That tension was still in her body, and I wasn’t going to ignore the signs that my mate had something on her mind.
“What’s wrong?” I pressed.
She licked her lips, her gaze lowering to take in the bulge forming at my crotch.
Well, I couldn’t help that.
She was my mate and we were alone, and all I wanted to do was show her how much she meant to me, but I would always put her needs before my own.
“I should be asking you the same question,” she teased, but a darkness in her eyes said that she was weary and troubled.
Without giving her a chance to stop me, I scooped her up, running my arm across the back of her legs, and slipped her against my chest. She squealed as she went airborne, and the peach in her hand went flying as she clung to my neck. “Sol!”
I marched her to the biggest tree in the oasis. Peach trees dotted the long path I’d made, but there was one surprise at the end.
The fae called it a World Tree, and it would be where Claire and I would one day consummate our vows. Assuming, of course, that she
intended to someday have me as her true mate.
For now, it would be where I would share secrets with her, where she would be free to open up to me, and where we’d both feel safe from anything that chased her.
This was our place.
Her eyes went wide when she took in the long silver branches that made the tree appear otherworldly. “What is that?” she asked against my cheek.
“A World Tree,” I said, proud of the creation. I’d come a long way in my studies and my powers since Claire had taught me not to be afraid of what I was capable of. “It’s just one branch of many that come from my magic’s source.”
Vox hadn’t been pleased when I showed him this the other day, saying it was dangerous to tap into my royal blood.
The look on Claire’s face now, however, told me he was wrong.
Large roots sprawled out from the base, making a perfect bed with soft moss, and I laid Claire down onto it before joining her. She nestled up against me and slipped her fingers under my shirt, exploring the muscles across my chest.
“You’re full of surprises, Sol.”
I gave her a kiss on the crown of her head. “And you’re full of worry. Spill it, or I’ll tell Cyrus that you’re holding back.”
She laughed. “No, you won’t.”
She was right. Talking to Cyrus didn’t fall on my favored list of activities, and everyone knew it. Not my fault the Royal Fae was a pompous ass. Oh, he gave me space. But I saw through his antics.
Fucking waterfall.
I brushed the hair from Claire’s face and pressed my forehead to hers. “I’m here for you, little flower.” That was what she felt like—a delicate bloom that could fly away on the wind if I breathed too hard. “Talk to me. Did something happen?”
Her fingers continued to explore my skin, making the earth tremble as my need for her grew. “It’s Elana, I guess. She introduced me to the other half of my element today, and it sort of didn’t go as planned,” she admitted, then sighed. “Actually, no. Honestly, I think it’s my mother that’s bothering me more.”
