“Yes.” Isaacs couldn’t blame Gion, either.
Not for that, anyway.
“No one will have Ty but me.” Parald’s voice got calmer, which was never a good sign. That usually meant that the Air House’s fearless leader had some new idea. “We need to separate them before it’s too late.”
“Certainly, sire.” Isaacs nodded agreeably. “How should we do that?”
Parald glowered at him. “You work on getting Ty. I’ll deal with Gion.”
“You’ll deal with Gion?” Isaacs tried to keep the skepticism from his tone. Parald was powerful, but the guy wasn’t known for doing any heavy lifting. “Alone? How?”
“Never fucking mind how. Just bring my Match to me.” Parald stalked over and flung himself down on his ostentatious throne. “I know how to cure Gion’s obsession. He’ll leave Ty for good after I’m done. He’ll walk right fucking away from what’s mine.”
Chapter Three
I have come to the terrifying conclusion that I am the decisive element….
If we treat people as they are, we only make them worse. If we treat people as
they ought to be, we help make them all they are capable of becoming.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Since the Fall, the King’s Chamber in the Water Palace stood empty. Good manners and expediency meant that it was the perfect place for Gion, though.
There were plenty of bedrooms in the palace, but this one was the nicest and Ty had the impulse to show off the Water Kingdom’s beauty. For some reason, Ty cared if Gion found his new home impressive. She wanted him to like it.
Plus, the King’s Chamber was one of the few extra bedrooms that consistently stayed made up, so it took no preparations for Gion to move right it. Nia and Tharsis were in the Shadow Kingdom for the night, but Brokk would be looking for her. Ty only had a limited window of time to think about sleeping arrangements. She all but shoved her new citizen through the double doors and then sighed.
Typical.
Gion looked oddly right in the serene space.
Which was ridiculous, given his Jack the Ripper fashion sense.
Like most of the Water Palace’s rooms, the King’s Chamber overlooked the sea. The large four poster bed in the center of the room was draped in gauzy blue fabrics. Pastel, Minoan style murals decorated the walls. White stone tiles covered the floor. Everything was designed to be light and airy, and to draw attention to the spectacular view.
Dark and imposing, Gion moved over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and stared out at the moonlit waves. Glass doors along the exterior wall led to a balcony that overlooked the Water Kingdom’s highest waterfall. From the bed, you could see nothing but the endless pouring of the waterfall into the ocean far below.
Ty had seen the sight all her life and she still thought it was stunning.
Gion didn’t react for a long moment. Then, he glanced at her over his shoulder. “Whose room is this?”
“Yours.” She bit her lower lip. “Listen, could you possibly stay in here for a little bit? I’ll need to explain this to Brokk and…”
“No, I mean, whose room is it really? Is this the King’s Chamber?”
“It was. Before my parents died.”
“Well, why don’t you sleep here, then? You’re the queen, now.”
Ty shook her head. “I have my own bedroom.” This was her parents’ room; the real king and queen of the Water House. “So, will this do, for now? If you aren’t happy here, you can pick your own room tomorrow, but I have to…”
“You should be in the King’s Chamber, Tritone.” Gion looked genuinely annoyed.
Ty didn’t want to argue. She never wanted to argue. “That really isn’t any of your business.”
Gion turned back towards the window. “Very well.” He brooded quietly for a beat. “Before you go, then, we need to discuss restrictions. Are there any places in this kingdom that you’d rather I not go?”
Ty frowned. “Well, knock before you go into other people’s bedrooms. Tharsis isn’t going to like it if you just burst in on him. And I think Brokk has his door booby-trapped, so that could be dangerous.”
Gion shot her another look. “I meant other than the occupied bedrooms, obviously.”
“Oh.” Ty thought about that. “No.”
“Do you have a list of laws for the kingdom?”
“I don’t think so.” Ty’s frown got deeper. “I guess we did before the Fall. But, since it’s just the three Water Phases left now –me, Nia and Thar-- we don’t really enforce any laws.”
“Brokk lives here, now, and so do I.”
“Brokk’s a Wood Phase. They never do anything wrong.” Wood Phases were notoriously good at following rules.
The Council had assigned Brokk to Ty as a bodyguard due to the high number of people who wanted her dead on any given day. He took his job hyper-serious, so he really wasn’t going to like her bringing Gion home with her. In fact, he wouldn’t be thrilled that she’d left the human realm, at all. Brokk was supposed to be picking Ty up from her drug counseling, but she’d skipped out on him. Better to have Gion’s arrival a fait accompli. Less chance of Brokk trying to decapitate the guy.
“My father was a Wood Phase.” Gion remarked.
“Really?” Ty hadn’t known that. It was hard to imagine Gion being half Wood Phase. They were so… good. “Were you close to him?” Ty had adored both her parents. She missed them every day.
“I’ve never been close to anyone.” Gion carried a bag with him and he tossed it onto the bed. Ty briefly though how sad it was that Gion’s whole life fit into a single satchel. “I’d feel more comfortable if we established some ground rules about living here. I like to know where I stand.”
“Don’t hurt my family. I told you, that’s all I care about.” Ty wondered what Gion was expecting her to say. Given what she knew about the Air Kingdom, probably the show times and seating charts for tomorrow’s public executions. “Just use your own best judgment about the rest. We don’t have dungeons in the Water House, so I promise you won’t get chained-up for jaywalking.”
Gion glanced at her sharply. “Was that an actual joke, Tritone?”
“No.” Yes. “Um… I have to go call Brokk, before he finds me missing from the meeting.”
Gion wasn’t done grilling her. “What should I do here, though?”
Ty looked over at the bed. “Sleep?”
“Not in the bedroom. In the kingdom. What should my function be?”
“Um… I don’t know.” Ty blinked. “Can you cook? We usually take turns doing that.”
“No.”
“Oh. Well, that’s okay. You can buy us takeout on your nights, I guess. Pizza is very popular.”
Gion wasn’t satisfied with that. “What do the rest of you do all day?” The Air House fostered a super competitive, Gordon Gekko-ish drive. Gion looked confused that Ty wouldn’t assign him some high-pressure, “complete-them-or-don’t-come-back” tasks.
“Well… Nia lives in the Shadow Kingdom most of the time, so she’s fixing it up to her liking. Plus, she works with the Council. And Tharsis, he…” Ty trailed off because she had no idea what Tharsis really did day-to-day, anymore. “He watches TV, a lot. He likes that show with the humans trying to be fashion models.”
“Uh-huh.” Gion crossed his arms over his chest. “And what do you do?”
“I work on my projects on the computer. I’m helping Job find humans with Elemental DNA markers.” Locating human Matches was the only way the Elementals could stave off extinction. “And I do research on the missing Tablets of Fate. Trying to discover where they’re hidden.”
Gion rolled his eyes. “Looking for those damn boxes is a waste of time.”
“I wasn’t asking you to help.” Ty assured him, a little annoyed. “Do whatever you want, alright? The Water Kingdom allows everyone to find their own path. We always have. What do you like doing? Do that.”
Gion stared down at the bedspread.
Ty
suddenly realized that he had no idea what he liked to do.
None.
Ty’s heart broke a little. Gion terrified her, but that was partly because she had boundless respect for him. Gion could do anything. Next to Job, he was the most gifted Phase in the universe. Beautiful, untouchable, powerful, he stood in the King’s Chamber filling the entire space with his presence.
…And he looked utterly lost.
“Gion, you don’t have to figure everything out today. And you never have to worry about making yourself useful. No one will kick you out, even if you just want to spend your days doing jigsaw puzzles.”
He didn’t believe that. She could see it the set of his brow. Gion thought that he needed to be contributing to the bottom line every second. The idea that he’d be welcomed even without exceeding the highest performance standards seemed utterly foreign to him.
The Water House didn’t force people into boxes or demand results from its Phases, though. They were the artists and intellectuals of the Elemental realm. They believed in personal autonomy and the pursuit of happiness. How could Ty explain that to a man who grew up in the Air Kingdom, where any lapse in perfect, gold-star achievement meant scorn and ostracism?
“Don’t you have any hobbies?” Ty suggested, searching for something that would ease his transition. “You could focus on those.”
“Like what? Stamp collecting?” Gion snorted. “You don’t want to hear what I usually do for fun, Tritone. Trust me.”
She checked her watch, again. Brokk would be worried. Especially since Parald had kidnapped her last week. Poor Brokk blamed himself for that, even though Ty was the one who’d wandered away without protection.
Obviously, if Ty didn’t give Gion a concrete role, he wouldn’t be able to adjust properly, though. She could see that. Gion was a Water Phase now, but the “your-best is-still-not-good-enough” attitude of the Air Kingdom continued weighing him down.
Ty had a responsibility to her subjects. She wanted Gion content and fulfilled and, most importantly, secure in his new home. If he felt like he didn’t belong, Gion might leave. If he left, Ty had the horrible feeling that Gion wouldn’t survive. “How do you usually occupy yourself in the Air Kingdom? Can’t you just keep…?”
“I kill people.” Gion interrupted flatly.
“Oh God.” Ty shook her head. “No. Please, don’t do that here.”
“Mostly, I listen to Parald’s endless, fucking yammering.” Gion continued, almost to himself. “And I think of ways to undermine him. I want to kill him, but I can’t. So, I start saying things or doing things that I know I shouldn’t. I know that they bring too much attention, but I almost want Parald to understand how much I hate him, so I say and do them anyway.”
“I see.” And she did. Ty knew what it was to endure Parald.
“Then, I go to the library to get away from the other Air Phases, because I can’t breathe with them around me. And I try to focus on,” Gion hesitated, “something better. I think about ways that I might be able to have it. To steal it, even though it’s not mine. I plot and strategize and wait. It’s hopeless, but I do it anyway. Because, without that vision, I would have died long ago.”
There was nothing Ty could say to that. She stared at him for a long moment.
Gion finally glanced at her, again. “I’m not a good man, but I’m not useless. I’ll help you and your kingdom if you’ll let me.”
Ty bit down on her lower lip. What job could she assign him that would fit his skill set and keep him occupied? Something with security? A new idea raised its hand in her brain. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Yes.” The word was unequivocal.
Ty debated for a beat and then gave into her instincts. “My cousin Nia is going to have a baby.” Excitement filled Ty as she thought about it. “No one except the family knows that she’s pregnant, but we won’t be able to keep it quiet for long.”
Gion blinked. “A child?” He looked shocked. It would be the first birth of any Elemental since the Fall. The first new life after all the countless deaths. “Are you sure?”
Ty bobbed her head. “Chances are, it will be a Water Phase, too.” Ninety-two percent of children were born into their mother’s House. “The baby will be the heir Water Kingdom. I can’t have children.” Not without Phazing with Parald, anyway. Since that would never happen, Ty knew she won’t have a child of her own. “So, my niece will probably take the throne after I’m gone.”
“You’re not going to die.” Gion told her. “And how do you know it’s a girl?”
“One day, Parald will kill me.”
Ty knew that and she liked to make sure that the people around her did, too. Few Phases understood that beneath the surface of his stupidity and arrogance, Parald had a craftiness that never rested. His schemes seemed to succeed on pure luck or the talents of others, but it was really Parald’s own flair for cruelty. He lulled you in, until you thought that he was useless or beaten. Then, he struck at your weakest point and smiled as you lost everything.
Sooner or later, Parald would catch her and then one of them would die. Odds seemed good that it would be Ty. After it happened, she wanted everyone to remember that she’d accepted her fate and no one was to blame.
Well, except Parald, of course.
“Parald is not going to kill you, Tritone. I won’t allow it.”
Ty disregarded Gion’s emphatic tone. “Anyway, I just have a feeling that the baby’s a girl. It’s not scientific, but I just think it’s female.” She hesitated. “I’m worried, though, that Parald will come after her. He hates the Water House. He’ll do anything to hurt me, including killing my niece.”
Gion silently considered that.
“So, if you could help me make sure that the baby’s safe --That the Water Kingdom and the Shadowland are completely secure-- I would really appreciate it.” Ty tilted her head. “You and I understand Parald better than anyone, I think.”
Gion nodded. “We do.” He agreed. “I’ll protect your niece. I give you my word.”
“Thank you.” The baby had become the most important thing to Ty, so whatever Gion wanted to do to keep her niece safe was fine. “Fix anything you think it’ll take to,” Ty waved a hand, “up the security or whatever.”
“That’s a very broad mandate. Do you want reports?”
“Reports?” Ty almost said “no.” She was a scientist, not a security expert. Gion would know better than her what needed to be done. Why should he waste time telling her about it? Honestly, Ty felt pretty confident in the Water House’s barriers most of the time, anyway. And Brokk was there to bodyguard her, so she couldn’t imagine Gion finding too many problems.
Still, getting reports would add another task to the job and give him something extra to do. Gion needed to feel productive. “Um… sure. Yeah. Reports are good.” Ty was pleased with herself for her thinking of this.
Gion’s mouth curved. “Excellent. I can do that.”
He had a lovely smile. It surprised Ty how it softened the sharp edges of his face and made Gion so much more approachable. Such a shame he didn’t seem to know how to have fun.
Such a shame that she was too broken to teach him.
Ty dropped her gaze and nervously cleared her throat. “Right. So, I’m going to call Brokk, then. You just get comfortable.” She edged towards the door. “Um… If you’re hungry, I can get you some food. Or you could go down to the kitchen yourself. Just let me break the news to Brokk first, so he doesn’t flip out when he sees you.”
“The man works for you, Tritone. You don’t have to worry about his reactions to your decisions. Tell him what to do and demand that he comply.”
Ty couldn’t imagine even attempting such thing. “It’s not like that with Brokk. He’s my friend.”
Gion’s jaw tightened. “Friendships depend on loyalty, not self-preservation.” He clearly disapproved of her attitude. “You’ll get further with people if they fear you. Believe me. Better that they’re afraid to cross you,
rather than you just relying on them to be your trusty pal.”
“I don’t think you’ll get further that way, at all. At least, not down any road that I want to be on.” Ty feared far too much in her life to try and scare anyone else. Not that she even could, but still… “If you have to intimidate everyone, then I think you’ll always be alone.”
“But, you’ll be alive.”
“Maybe. But at what cost?” She shook her head. “Some things have to be given willingly, Gion, or they’re worthless. Loyalty is one of them.”
“And sex.”
“What?” Ty’s voice went high at the calm non sequitur.
“The woman has to be willing or it’s worthless.” He looked right at her. “You have to wait for consent.”
Ty winced, memories assaulting her.
She deliberately focused on Gion, trying to stay in control. He was so beautiful and his hypnotic tone washed over her, soothing away the beginnings of a panic attack. Ty’s energy instinctively tuned itself so that it could brush against his.
This time, Gion’s energy pushed back. His massive powers slid against hers in a very deliberate caress that had Ty’s entire body jolting. The Air energy swept over her, lighting up her system and causing her mind to go blank with pleasure.
Ty’s gaze slammed into Gion’s, her mouth falling open in shock.
“Did you think that you’re the only one who feels the energy between us, Tritone?”
“I…” She looked away from his stunning face and swallowed hard. Gion’s powers felt incredible against hers. Better than Ty imagined anything could feel. How was it possible that they could do this? “I don’t think we should…” She trailed off with a slight whimper as the Air energy licked its way through her. “Stop.”
“Good. I don’t think we should stop, either.”
“No. I mean, you have to stop.” Ty shook her head desperately. “Something’s wrong, if we can do this. It’s not normal.”
“Oh, I consider us so much better than normal.” The Air energy pressed against the Water powers, massaging on some frequency that Ty hadn’t known existed.
Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) Page 5
