by Anna Webb
“You came here just to see her?” Jamie asked, a shot of fear rushing up his spine. If Mike had been called in, then Allyra’s injury was obviously more serious than he’d been led to believe.
“No, the Council had assembled for the completion of the Fourth Final. Nonetheless, I would’ve been called in for her particular injury,” Mike said. “The wound she received by the Revenant blade has reopened.”
“Her injury from the Between?” Jamie asked. “But, that’s old now. And well healed.”
Mike shook his head. “It was healed, but during the Fourth Final, it was reopened and started bleeding into her lungs.” Mike frowned, his fiercely intelligent features tightened in thought. “We have so little experience of Revenant poison that I can’t say with any certainty if this is expected or not.”
Jamie could see that Mike was holding something back and he pushed him to continue. “But…” he prompted gently.
For a moment, Mike seemed torn, but eventually spoke again, his voice dropping in volume despite the empty corridor. “I’m telling you this in confidence.”
“Understood.”
“Jason claims that Xolani and François had Revenant blades and cut Allyra with it. He believes that the reintroduction of the poison into her system aggravated her old wound.”
“A Revenant blade? Here? Impossible.”
“Jason seems very sure.”
“Jason can’t be trusted,” Jamie replied pointedly. “He’ll say anything if it serves his own interests. In fact, if anyone had a Revenant blade, I’d put my money on it being Jason.”
Mike shrugged noncommittally.
“What did Xolani and François have to say? It’s a pretty serious accusation that Jason’s leveled against them,” Jamie asked, sure that Jason was lying, but to what end?
“They haven’t returned, and the search parties have found no sign of them.”
“And Allyra? What did she say?”
“We didn’t get much of a chance to question her, but the little she said supports Jason’s version of events,” Mike replied.
Jamie felt as if his heart had suddenly been encased in ice, as a deep hollowness took root within him. It was just more proof of Jason’s corruption of Allyra. She was too trusting, and it would only be a matter of time before Jason stabbed her in the back, possibly as soon as she’d served his purpose.
“Can I see her now?” Jamie asked.
Mike nodded. “She’s in the last room.”
Jamie flashed Mike a smile and started making his way down the corridor, this time at a much more sedate pace. It gave him an opportunity to take in his surroundings. The corridor was wide and airy and the ceiling high above his head. Allyra was being housed in the medical wing of the Elemental College.
He took a deep breath as he reached the door to Allyra’s room. A strange sense of déjà vu swept over him—it seemed that he spent way too much time outside Allyra’s hospital rooms. Jamie opened the door gently, not wanting to disturb Allyra, expecting to find her sleeping. The scene that greeted him took him by surprise.
Allyra was sleeping, but she wasn’t alone. Jason was sitting at her bedside, holding her hand in his. His head was bowed close to hers, and if Jamie didn’t know better, he would’ve described the look on Jason’s face as concerned and affectionate.
Except he did know better. Jason simply wasn’t capable of such emotion.
Jamie took a deliberate step forward, his foot falling heavily on the slick tiles. Jason startled backward at the sound, withdrawing his hand quickly. When he looked up, his features were wearing that familiar mask of careless arrogance.
“Can I help you?” Jason drawled out, his voice bored.
“What are you doing here?” Jamie snapped back.
Jason’s lips curved into a lazy smile. “Just checking on my ticket to the top. Wouldn’t want her to die when we’re so close to achieving everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Jamie clenched his hands into tight fists, fighting the urge to slam one into Jason’s smug face. He managed to keep his anger in check by taking a couple of deep breaths, and when he finally spoke, his voice was both calm and deliberate. “You can go, I’m here now.”
Jason grinned, not fooled by Jamie’s attempt at composure. He leaned back in his chair and stretched out his long legs, placing his feet deliberately on Allyra’s bed. “But it’s just so comfortable here.”
Everything Jason did was calculated, and this was no different. Jamie understood that Jason was deliberately provoking him, but he still had to fight not to rise to the bait. Jamie plastered a fake smile on his face. “Surely you wouldn’t want to deny your adoring fans your presence.”
Jason shrugged carelessly. “I guess you’re right, my fans do get anxious when deprived of my sunny disposition.” He stood up lazily, yawning and stretching his long limbs. “Besides, there’ll be plenty of time in the days ahead for me to have some alone time with Allyra, so I wouldn’t want to deprive you of a few short moments now.”
“What?” The question slipped out before Jamie could stop it. He bit his tongue, angry that he’d fallen for Jason’s carefully baited hook.
“Don’t you know?” Jason asked innocently. “We have a week’s break until the Fifth Final. Allyra and I will be leaving to do some training.”
The way Jason caressed the last word suggested he was expecting to do things other than training. Jamie clenched his jaw. He and Allyra might no longer be a couple, but it didn’t mean that he liked the idea of her with any other man. The idea of her with Jason made him feel more than a little ill.
“Allyra is coming home with me as soon as the medical team clears her,” Jamie snapped out.
“The medical team has already cleared her, and we’ll be leaving at first light tomorrow morning.”
“You do realize that you can’t move her without her consent, right?” Jamie shot back, making sure to slather on a thick layer of sarcasm.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to suggest, but Allyra has given her consent.” Jason shrugged carelessly as he moved toward the door. Jamie felt a flash of childish glee at the sight of Jason favoring his left leg. “Not that it matters whether you believe me or not.”
* * *
Jamie sat with Allyra for an hour, but she made no sign of waking up. Her moon-kissed skin was pale, but her breathing was even and steady. He couldn’t help but be reminded of the last time he’d spent at her bedside. When she’d been trapped in the Between, including that awful moment when the Revenant had plunged its sword into her, spilling her blood onto the starched white sheets.
That was then, and this was now. Allyra wasn’t trapped in the Between. She was merely sleeping. There would be no deadly wounds, no shocking surprises. It was as close to peaceful as their lives got these days.
The thought of it made Jamie feel terribly weary, and he wished desperately for the simpler times before Allyra’s sojourn into the Between. He couldn’t help but wonder what they would’ve been doing now if none of it had happened. Probably living their normal, slightly boring, and, to his mind, infinitely preferable lives.
Jamie sighed and got to his feet. Whatever Mike had given Allyra was doing a fine job, and she was still sleeping peacefully, wearing a small, wry smile. He dropped a kiss on her forehead and then made his way out the room.
He strode purposefully down the corridor, determined to find Mike and convince him not to release Allyra into Jason’s doubtful care.
Chapter 34 – Allyra
“Allyra…”
The voice whispering her name was familiar, and it brought a smile to her lips. She followed the sound of it, languidly drifting into awareness. Allyra opened her eyes slowly, reluctant to leave the warm embrace of sleep. Jason was watching her, his lips curved into a bemused smile, and in that magical place halfway between sleep and awareness, a small voice whispered in her mind: he was achingly, painfully handsome. An unexpected flash of longing rushed through her and jolted her into crystal-sharp consc
iousness.
Utterly unbalanced by the strange emotion, Allyra forced it aside and snapped at Jason, “What are you smiling at?”
Her sullen response only made his smile stretch even more widely across his elegant features. “You,” he replied fondly. “So cute, sleeping there drooling, with your hair like a lovely rat’s nest.”
Allyra resisted brushing her hand across her mouth to check for the aforementioned drool. Instead, she rolled her eyes at him.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“About halfway there,” he replied, turning away from her and dropping a pair of dark sunglasses over his eyes.
“That’s not an answer,” she grumbled. “I have no idea where there is supposed to be.”
Jason ignored her, instead opening the car door for her and handing her a pair of sunglasses and green, military-style jacket.
She slipped out the car and shivered involuntarily as the cold winter air hit her. It was a typical Highveld winter day with the sun bright in a cloudless sky, but with June fast approaching, the temperature had dropped significantly. Allyra wrapped the jacket around her. It was a few sizes too big and smelled vaguely of fresh laundry soap and the lingering scent of Jason—the fresh bite of an ocean wind carrying the sharp scent of cedar smoke. He was in every way a contradiction.
“I’ll order us something to eat,” Jason called over his shoulder. “Any requests?”
Allyra shrugged and shook her head, making her way toward the bathrooms.
Her reflection stared back at her through the greasy mirror. The bathroom was lit by a single lightbulb hanging by an electrical wire to the ceiling. It cast a sickly greenish hue over her face, highlighting sunken cheeks and eyes—a result of two weeks spent fighting the freezing Antarctic weather. With quick, careless movements, she pulled her hair into a messy ponytail and then tried for a smile that came out more like a grimace.
Walking out of the bathroom, she saw Jason still waiting in line at the counter. They might’ve been in a dingy roadside diner in the middle of nowhere, but it seemed to be a particularly popular dingy diner. Still exhausted, Allyra settled into a booth and glanced up at the television tuned to the news. No access to technology for six months and yet not much seemed to have changed in the world. Wars, a failing economy, and inept politicians. She started to zone out until something caught her eye. Ice creeped through her veins, and her heart pounded an erratic rhythm in her chest. Allyra struggled to catch her breath.
“Allyra?”
Jason’s voice broke through her consciousness, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from the television. Following her line of sight, Jason looked up, and with the barest flick of his fingers, the television screen faded into static snowflake.
“Come on,” Jason said, and when she didn’t respond, he slid his hand under her elbow and guided her out to the car.
The scenery flashed by, an endless film of dry yellowed grass against a background of brilliant blue sky. It was familiar, back in her beloved Africa. She was home, but she felt oddly out of place.
“Aren’t you hungry?” Jason asked, his voice even and conversational.
Allyra ignored him, her eyes fixed on the unchanging landscape.
“Are you really just going to ignore me? It’s going to get pretty tedious—by my estimate, we are stuck together for another eight hours.”
And when she still didn’t answer, he said, “Sulking is both childish and idiotic and utterly pointless. If you don’t want to talk, then I’ll have to fill the silence, and I’m not sure you’re going to enjoy my monologue on the impact of modern technology on the human psyche.”
“Her name was Jessie Whitmore,” Allyra said, her voice unemotional. “She was getting married but wanted one last adventure, a final dance with freedom. Given her proud British naval heritage, she chose to sail single-handedly around the world with the side benefit of raising money for cancer research. A week ago, as she neared the end of her journey, a freak storm engulfed the deadly Southern Seas. Her family lost contact with her, and while they held out hope, pieces of her boat were recovered over the past few days by search boats, and today, they recovered her broken body.”
The silence fell thick and heavy between them, broken only by the rumble of the car engine.
“And now you’re going to wallow in guilt because you somehow think it’s your fault.”
She turned to him, utterly stricken. “It is my fault—a freak storm a week ago? That’s undeniable timing, exactly when I created a terrible storm just to save my own life.”
“Don’t you mean save my life?” Jason asked quietly.
“Does it matter? Are we really going to argue semantics? I used my Gift with no thought of the consequences. No one life is worth more than another.”
“You did what you had to do.”
“Really? Is that all you have to say?” Allyra replied, incredulous.
“You said it yourself, the Southern Seas are deadly. How do you know Jessie Whitmore wouldn’t have died anyway? You’re giving yourself way too much credit.”
Allyra let out a harsh laugh. “Weren’t you the one telling me to embrace my Gift? To give in to the power of it? And now suddenly you’re telling me that it wasn’t me after all.”
“People die every day, Allyra.”
“And you’re a bastard.”
Jason shrugged carelessly. “You always knew exactly what I was. I won’t apologize for it.”
Allyra turned back to the passing view, a lump in her throat that she just couldn’t swallow.
Chapter 35 – Allyra
Allyra woke up in an unfamiliar bed. The pillow was soft beneath her cheek and smelled faintly of oceans and autumn fires—Jason. The room was bathed in the gentle pink light of dawn, and she ran her fingers along the wooden wall. It was warm beneath her touch but rough, as if sanded down by hand. The wooden planks were different colors, and different ages, each one carefully chosen for length and fit and then lovingly put together.
The sound of sizzling bacon was enough for her to brave the cool winter air beyond the warmth of her blankets. There was a single metal rod at the other end of the room with a choice of clothes hanging from it. She pulled an oversized red plaid shirt on and followed the sound of the cooking bacon.
Jason was standing over an old wood-fired stove—the very picture of domesticity. She’d seen him dressed for combat and survival, but this was the first time she’d ever seen him in clothes of his own choosing. Faded jeans hung low on his hips over a pair of well-worn leather boots. A thick woolen jersey completed his ensemble.
“I hope you don’t mind my borrowing your clothes, but I can’t seem to find any of my own,” Allyra quipped, picking up a piece of crispy bacon and snapping it into two pieces.
Jason raised his eyebrows at her bare legs and pointed out a bag set on an old but comfortable-looking couch. “I think you’ll find what you need in there, and breakfast will be ready in ten minutes unless you finish it all.”
“Where are we?” she asked.
“My humble abode.”
“Not quite the bachelor pad I imagined.”
He shot her a hard look and put down a plate loaded with eggs, bacon, and toast in front of her. “Eat up. We need to get back to training.”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “You know I barely survived my last brush with death.”
“So?”
“So, don’t you think some recovery time is in order?”
He pursed his lips and shot her a look that said you’re joking, right?
She sighed and took a bite of toast. She might as well eat while she could, there was no arguing with Jason when he was in this mood—all business and focused on winning.
Jason’s wooden cabin was nestled on the side of a steep mountain above the tree line. The mountain stretched a little taller behind it, but Jason led her down into the pine forest. They hiked over pine needles under the shadows of the surrounding trees, the air hanging fresh and damp around them. Eventual
ly, they arrived at a small clearing, fenced on three edges with thick forest and on one edge—a sharp, rocky cliff.
The clearing was filled with a training course, all expertly handcrafted from wood. It appeared to be an ongoing project spanning many years—some of it looked new and freshly made, perhaps only a few months old, while parts of it were made from wood grayed with age and weather. Allyra ran her eyes over it all with amazement. “What is all this?” she breathed.
“I wanted to be everything—strength, stealth, speed, and agility. I thought if I trained hard enough, I would have it all one day.” Jason glanced at her and then turned his eyes forward once more. “I don’t suppose you know the feeling, since you have it all already.”
I know what you are.
Allyra walked to the edge of the cliff and sat down, the valley below hidden by a thick layer of early morning mist. She dangled her legs over the edge and Jason settled down next to her.
“How long have you known?” Allyra asked quietly, not looking at him.
“Since the Final Trial.”
“How?” she asked, trying to cast her mind back to find the mistake that might have given her secret away.
“We were fighting, and I called a column of Fire at you. You were quick but not quick enough. I know I got you, but there was no sign of it burning you. It was then that I knew. But I think I suspected it before then—you were too good. Too quick and too strong. I couldn’t quite believe it. And of course, a few days ago, I woke up in an igloo that could only have been built by someone Gifted in the Water Element—and since I know you’re not an Oceanic… Well, it confirmed my suspicions.”
Jason gave a small shake of his head. “An Elemental, the first one since the Betrayal,” he said. There was something strange in the tone of his voice—disbelief, reverence, or jealousy.
“So why didn’t you tell anyone?” Allyra asked. “I guess this information is worth something.”
“First, I kept it to myself, waiting for the perfect moment to maximize its value. Then…” Jason shrugged ambiguously.
