Ty grabbed for control, seizing onto Gion’s earlier words. “I’m not giving consent.” She declared at little too loudly.
Everything paused and then Gion pulled his powers back. “Then, I’ll wait.”
Just like that, his energy stopped touching Ty.
She let out a shaky breath and tried to think. He’d listened to her, even when he hadn’t wanted to. Even when he was strong enough that he didn’t have to. The man was the most frightening, fascinating Phase alive.
“I have to go.” Ty whispered. She backed out of the room and into the hall. “You’ll stay here, right?”
“I’ll stay here.” Gion agreed. Icy blue eyes solemnly watched her. Ty had the feeling that he meant something more than just remaining in the room for half-an-hour.
Queens didn’t run away.
Absolutely not.
But, Ty did move quite a bit faster than usual as she hurried away from the King’s Chamber. Her own room was right next door. She really should have considered the proximity, because it wasn’t great for evading.
Ty closed herself into her bedroom. Like the King’s Chamber, Ty lived in a white and blue paradise. Soft, pale colors and sweeping views of the ocean dominated the space. A gilded fresco of clouds decorated the ceiling. Her area rugs all featured frolicking sea life. Ty hadn’t changed a single picture frame in her room for years. Its consistency made her feel safe.
Sitting down at her desk, Ty carefully punched Brokk’s number into her cell phone. Her hand wasn’t shaking. And even if it was, it had nothing to do with Gion.
Brokk answered on the first ring. “Where the hell are you, Ty?”
“I’m in my bedroom. I… ”
He jumped right to her. One second he was on the other end of the line. The next the lights flickered and Brokk stood right in front of her.
That was one of the frustrating things about Brokk.
Most Elementals couldn’t come and go in the human realm alone. They needed to combine their energy with one or two other Phases to make the jump. Brokk wasn’t the oldest or the strongest Phase, but he got the gold medal in jumping. Somehow, his powers let him enter and exit the human realm by himself. For someone like Ty, whose own energy could barely fill a water glass, Brokk’s effortless skill ranked high on the “unfairness” charts.
Like most Wood Phases, Brokk favored neat crew cuts and commando-style clothing. A bronze highlight colored his temple. Wood Phases stood as the soldiers of the Elemental realm. Most Elementals were fine with spending their free time watching reruns and eating Hershey Bars, but Wood Phases were trained to protect and serve. Committed to duty and honor, they gave selflessly.
In return, they simply expected everyone else to follow their orders and fall into line with whatever they thought was right.
Ty liked all the Wood Phases. She especially cared for Brokk, who’d always been a little less formal and a little bit more extreme than the rest. But, she absolutely dreaded explaining Gion moving into the Water Palace.
Brokk would not be a happy bodyguard.
“What in the name of Gaia is going on?” One of his hands came over to rest on the top of Ty’s head, assuring himself that she was real and solid and okay. Ty had gotten used to Brokk touching her. He was a physical sort of Phase. Two swords were crisscrossed on his back and there was a Crocodile Dundee knife strapped to his thigh. “How did you get back…?” He trailed off suspiciously. “Wait. What is that energy?”
Ty cringed. Gion’s powers still charged the air. He’d jumped them both back to the Water Palace earlier, the barriers not even slowing him down. Ty hadn’t done anything but hang on. The massive power it took still lingered. There was no way that Brokk would miss that.
“Um…” She cleared her throat. Think queenly thought. Think queenly thoughts. “I’ve granted amnesty to an Air Phase. He’s just moved in.”
“You what?” Brokk gaped at her. “Who did you let in?”
Ty tried to look more confident than she felt. “Gion.”
“Gion!” Brokk roared. “Are you insane?! He can’t stay here! He’s fucking evil!”
“No, he’s not.” Ty retorted. She knew evil. Parald was evil. Gion wasn’t. “He’s…”
“Back in school, Gion exploded some kid’s lungs for his science project.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“They used to call him ‘The Black Hole’ ‘cause so many people just disappeared around him.”
“I don’t think that’s fair. The cape just gives a bad impression.”
“He once sent Stover, of the Dust House four hundred feet in the air and then dropped him, just to see how big a splat he made.” Brokk grimly reported. “They had to power-wash the pavement for two weeks.”
Ty actually remembered hearing about that one. There were a lot of horror stories about Gion, though, so they all sort of ran together into one long death roll. “I think that there must’ve been some extenuating circumstances. Stover was always…”
Brokk cut her off, again. “Gion’s eaten three children that I know of.”
“Oh, for God’s sake…” Brokk could be utterly impossible. “No one really believes that one.”
“I do!”
“Well, I don’t.”
“Alright, how about this, then. It’s a fact that Gion’s betrayed every ruler he’s ever followed.” Brokk began counting them off on his fingers. “First, he and Parald overthrew King Seneca. They seized control of the Air House and that’s really what set the Fall into motion. Then, Gion left Parald, betraying him. The damn Air House has a bounty on his head and half the universe hunting for him. Now, he’s come here to you. So, how long do you think before…?”
“What?” Ty interrupted.
“How long do you think it will be before Gion turns on you, too?”
“No, not that. What do you mean Parald has a bounty on Gion’s head. Since, when?”
“What do you live in a box?”
Actually, Ty did live in a box called the Water Kingdom most of the time. Besides her drug counseling in the human realm, she spent almost all of her time safe in her homeland, hiding from her countless enemies. “Why does Parald want Gion dead?” She hadn’t expected that. At least, not yet. How could Parald even know Gion was gone, so soon?
“Because, Gion helped you escape, of course. Everyone’s been talking about it. The crazy bastard walked into the Air House dungeon and set you free.” Brokk made a considering face. “They say that Parald went supernova when he found out. Which must have been a nice show, but still…”
Brokk kept talking, but Ty stopped listening.
Gion had rescued Ty from the Air House. Letting prisoners go wouldn’t exactly help Gion with his long term job prospects, but he’d done it anyway and he must’ve been caught.
Which meant that Gion had been forced to leave the Air House because of Ty.
Because he’d been doing her a favor.
Only he hadn’t mentioned that. Even when Gion thought that she’d refuse him, he’d never mentioned how saving Ty could cost him his life. All Gion wanted was the promise Ty had made him and the only thing that he seemed concerned about now was how he’d fit into the Water House.
Ty considered that for a long moment, reconciling the absolute arrogance of the man, with his unexpected consideration. The cold sarcasm, contrasted with the warmth of the Air energy. Gion’s terrible reputation, mixed with the fact that he’d almost died to help her.
Then, Ty looked over at the wall separating her room from Gion’s…
… And realized, that under the façade of black clothes and pessimistic sneering, the Water Kingdom’s newest citizen was a good man.
Chapter Four
Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds
Christopher Marlowe- ‘Tamburlaine’
Gion found Ty in the library.
She sat at a long table, frowning intently at her computer screen.
Stacks of books were piled around her and there was a pencil caught behind her ear. Chewing on her thumbnail, she scrolled down the page on her laptop in deep concentration.
He hesitated in the doorway, watching her.
The morning light came through the windows of the vast room, brilliant and clean. Back in the Air Kingdom everything was always dim. The other Elementals couldn’t sever their link to it entirely, just as Parald couldn’t escape giving them Air. The Elements were all interconnected. Still, the Electricity House didn’t work real hard to make sure that the Air Phases got their share of the power.
It was so much brighter here in the Water Palace. So much easier to breathe.
The sun highlighted Ty’s hair, washing her in a golden glow. She looked like a human college recruitment poster for dedicated, conscientious co-eds. She looked young and pure and full of life. She looked like every dream he’d ever had.
Gion wanted to shove everything off the table and take her right there. If she let him, he would have had them both naked in fifteen seconds flat. His eyes automatically went to the buttons of her yellow sweater, gauging how best to get her out of it. Not that he planned to try, because she’d never give him consent, but mentally undressing Ty was the current extend of Gion’s love life.
Since the day he’d met Ty, all other women became obsolete, which meant that Gion had close to a dozen years of celibacy under his belt. Literally. He was more than ready to end the drought.
Unfortunately, unless Ty had a severe change of heart and suddenly realized that Gion didn’t repulse her, it seemed unlikely that she’d let him unfasten so much as one of her hair barrettes. Which was too bad, because they were intriguing little things shaped like daisies.
Gion’s gaze traced over Ty’s red curls.
The daisy barrette held back the turquoise streak at her temple, so it mixed in with the rest of the messy style. If Ty offered him a chance to really touch her hair, Gion would have eagerly met any price she asked. He loved it. The brilliant color, and the way the curls went in every direction, and the soft shine of it. The cut ended at her jawline, but if the mass of curls was straightened out, Gion hypothesized that it would be longer than his own shoulder length hair.
The Air House didn’t produce redheads. Even Gion’s licorice black color was an anomaly. Nearly all the Air Phases were blondes, their hair neatly arranged in straight, preppy styles. Gion relished every untamed, colorful, unique curl on Ty’s head.
She was beautiful.
As much as he hated Parald, he understood the man’s wild desperation to claim her. Gion would have destroyed the world if he lost Ty, too. The Air powers stirred, trying to connect with her.
Ty must’ve felt them, because she turned to look at him. She blinked as if trying to reorient herself to the world outside her computer. “Gion. Hi.”
And then the most amazing thing happened.
Ty smiled at him.
The breath froze in his lungs. For a minute, Gion wondered if he was about to become the only Air Phase in history to die of suffocation. Ty smiled at him. Honest to God smiled. Her eyes didn’t fill with dread like most Phases’ did when they discovered Gion standing behind them. Instead, Ty looked happy to see him.
As pitiful as it sounded, that alone was worth dying for.
Everything he’d endured to keep her safe… The insults and the plots. Parald’s cruelty. The years of near captivity in the Air Kingdom. Never being able to relax or trust anyone. The constant fear that he’d slip. The execution order on his head… It all meant nothing compared to Ty.
Gion would have done absolutely anything for this woman.
Not as a sacrifice, but because he loved her so deeply that there weren’t words for it.
He dropped his eyes, before he made a complete ass out of himself. “I finished my first preliminary report.” He held up the folder he’d prepared for her.
“Oh. Excellent. Wow, that was fast.”
No, it wasn’t. Gion almost looked down at his wrist to confirm that, but he didn’t want to draw attention to his platinum timepiece. For some reason, the contrast between Ty’s eccentric, plastic Hello Kitty watch and his own made him uneasy. Like she’d see him as so completely foreign to her quirky, feminine world that she’d never let him in.
Ty made a sweeping motion with her hand, beckoning him closer. “Did you sleep alright?”
“Yes.” Gion forced his legs forward, crossing the room. He never slept well, always prepared for an attack. For the last week, he’d been moving around constantly to elude Saxon and the other men that Parald had sent after him. Last night, surrounded by the serenity and magic of Ty’s kingdom, though, Gion felt almost peaceful.
For the first time ever, he was free.
“This is a nice room.” It was the most innocuous thing he could think to say. “I like libraries.” Gion actually lived in the Air House library most of the time, unable to bear his life in the palace. The Water Kingdom’s library remained one the best in the Elemental realm. Books lined shelves two stories high.
The mild comment had Ty smiling, again. “I like libraries, too. The first book I ever read was right over there.” She gestured towards a pillow laden sofa. “Ismena. The fairytale. I was about four. Everyone said I was very advanced for my age, but I think that I’d just memorized the book and recited it back to myself. I’d made everyone read it to me so many times, you see.”
Gion had never read a fairytale in his life, but he’d suffer on the rack before he admitted that to Ty. “The first book I ever read was called Be the Perfect Air Phase. A boy named Disappointment wasn’t the perfect Air Phase and suffered for a dozen or so illustrated pages. Very graphic, yet subtle in its metaphors. Conformity sounds so much better when ‘laziness’ is poorly rhymed with ‘his parents’ sadness.’”
“Why would you read something so dreadful?”
“All Air House children read it. Then, they’re tested on it. I got an ‘A.’”
“It’s a wonder you wanted read anything, ever again.” Ty adjusted her glasses. “But, if you like books, I’m pleased about that. It’s good that you enjoy something. Finally. Spend as much time as you want here in the library.”
Gion didn’t understand her sometimes. Most of the time. Why did she care what he liked?
Ty patted the seat beside her. “Show me the report.”
Gion carefully took the seat next to her at the table. He never sat beside Ty before. It was… nice. “I made you a copy.” He slid it over to her. “It’s still preliminary.” He added, again, in case she found something that wasn’t thorough enough. “I just think we should have a starting point. I’ll be checking the rooms, next. One by one.”
Ty picked up the thick stack of papers, weighing them with her hand. “Wow.” She repeated. She flipped through the report, looking at the maps, graphs, suggestions, and categorized chapters of information. “You did all this morning?”
Gion couldn’t read her expression. In the Air Kingdom, when he’d prepared reports for Seneca or Parald, it was always a bad sign when they didn’t just accept them and dismiss him. Asking questions or looking at the report in front of him usually meant they were dissatisfied.
“It’s preliminary.” He should have made sure it was perfect before he gave it to her. He thought that he had, but, if Ty was disappointed, then Gion would do better. “If you give me until this evening, I can do a more complete job.”
“I don’t see how.” Ty glanced at him over the top of her glasses. “I am really… impressed.” She gave a breathy sort of laugh. “You did all this this morning?”
Gion blinked. “Of course.” Impressed? Why would she be impressed with a security report? He’d been doing them every day for four hundred years. Well, not counting the week of the Fall. That had been his one and only “vacation.”
“I wish I could get this much work done in --like-- two hours.” Ty murmured. “Okay, I’m going to level with you. I don’t know anything about security. Could you just,
” she held up the folder, “walk me through this?”
It disturbed Gion that Ty was putting so much in his hands. It wasn’t safe. “Well, I could, but don’t you think that would remove an extra layer of review?”
“Review?”
“Yes. I prepared that report. What if I’m plotting against you?” Gion couldn’t believe that a brilliant woman would miss the obvious. “If I’m the one who’s going over the report with you, then who will spot any inaccuracies? There should be someone else reviewing it. They can look for mistakes, whether intentional or merely careless.”
“I don’t think you’re ever careless, Gion. So, all of that isn’t really necessary.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Well, I’m the queen and I say it’s not.” Ty turned to page one. “I’m going to assume that you’re not planning to kill me. If you were, I don’t think you’d need an indexed report to complete the job.”
“That’s not the point. It keeps people on edge to know that their work is constantly scrutinized by their rivals and leaders.” It helped guarantee that no one screwed up.
“Why would I want to keep you edgy?” Ty made a face.
“Because, then I’d have more incentive to do adequate work.” He explained as patiently as he could. “Go over it with Brokk or Nia.”
“Yeah… I don’t think that’s a great idea.” Ty glanced over her shoulder towards the door and lowered her voice. “My cousins are not happy to hear that you’re here. Brokk told them and I just spent all morning calming them down.”
Gion’s jaw tightened. “Am I leaving?”
Ty’s eyebrows climbed up her forehead. “No. Not unless you want to. I told you, no one’s going to kick you out. Please don’t worry about that. This is your home, now.”
Gion didn’t entirely believe her. Sooner or later, things would go bad and he’d be out. He accepted that. He just wanted to hold on as long as he could.
“You’re safe here.” Ty continued, apparently picking up on his doubts. “Worrying constantly is a terrible way to live. Believe me, I know. I live every day paranoid about Parald.”
Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) Page 6
