Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3)

by Cassandra Gannon

  “I wanted you, too. You wouldn’t even touch me when I tried to help you up, but I wanted you so badly.”

  “I’m touching you, now.” Her grip got even tighter.

  “You are.” Gion slammed a hand against the mattress, his jaw clenched. “Ty, yes. Just like that.”

  Ty was really, really enjoying this. “I think I’m gonna make that my new fantasy. You saved me from the Reprisal and then you backed me up against the wall, remember?”

  “Yes.” The tendons stood out in his neck.

  “I’m just going to pretend all the rest of people weren’t there and there wasn’t any real danger.” Ty’s love of racy novels took over. “I’m going to pretend that you pin against that wall and I let you. I’m nervous, but I want you so much. I know you’re going to take me. I know you’re going claim me right there. You fought for me and protected me and now I’m yours.”

  Gion stared into her eyes. “I would fucking die for you.”

  “You’re so big.” Ty continued, spurred on by his obvious enjoyment. “And you’re going to take me against the wall, because you can. No one can stop you. I won’t stop you. You can have me whenever you want and I’ll let you. You pull off my clothes and I tell you to hurry. I know you won’t stop until you’re deep inside of me.”

  Gion swore dazedly. “Where the hell did you learn to do this?”

  Ty hesitated, coming out of the safe, more aggressive, persona that the story gave her. “I just read a lot. Not all of it’s textbooks. Do you like it?”

  “Are you kidding? Jesus, I knew I loved your brain. Keep going.”

  Ty grinned, as turned on as he was. She lowered her voice and sped up her hand. “So, you lift me up and my legs go open. I’m so ready. I can’t move on my own, because you have me trapped. But, that okay. I don’t want to get away. I need you. You’re pushing hard against me and I whisper, ‘Gion, take me. Please.’”

  “Fuck.” His hand came up to clench in her hair and Ty knew he was close. “Holy fuck, you’re incredible.”

  Learning as she went, Ty responded to that positive review. “I unzip your pants and it’s taking so long. I can’t wait. I cry, ‘Gion, please.’ And you finally tear my underwear off. I’m wet and throbbing. You watch me, seeing how much I want you. I’m pressed between the wall and you. Hot and panting and begging you to hurry.”

  His body arched towards her. “Gaia.” He was going to lose control any second.

  Ty pulled out the big guns. “Then, you pause, right at the entrance to me. Suddenly, you say that you’ll stop. You say that you’ll find me someone else, if I want. I can have any man in the universe and he’ll take me against the wall, hard and fast, just like I’m aching for.”

  “Hold on.” Gion swallowed. “Your fantasy can’t have…”

  She interrupted his complaint. “And I say, ‘Gion, I only want you. No one else will ever do for me. Only you.’” Her fingernails grazed across him in an erotic scratch and his whole body shook. “And you sink into me, as deep as you can go. So deep. I’m so tight and you’re so thick. You’re taking everything, marking me as yours. I’m screaming your name, promising you anything if only...”

  “Ty.” Gion came in a rush, his eyes squeezing shut.

  The Air energy slammed against her and Ty gasped in pleasure. The Water powers swirled under the pressure, lighting up her system like a Christmas tree. Ty felt Gion’s energy everywhere. She let out a contented sigh as his power pulled at her sensuously, whipping around her, inside and out. The problem was better with him coming, rather than her. The Water powers didn’t feel so chaotic and trapped.

  But, the block stayed in place.

  “Jesus.” Gion lay there for a second, breathing hard. “I felt it that time. When my powers reached for you, something was in the way.”

  “I know.” Ty felt wonderful despite the problems with her energy. She was utterly pleased with herself and her innate talent for sexual play.

  For once she hadn’t been too weak.

  She’d been brave enough to try seduction and it had worked. She’d just driven the biggest bogeyman in the Elemental realm to a rocketing orgasm. With Gion around, she could do anything.

  “We can fix the block.” Ty had total confidence as she smiled at him.

  Gion didn’t respond to that. He ran a palm through her hair. Ty could read the concern behind his eyes and decided to distract him, again.

  “You’re supposed to be telling me what a natural skill I have for seduction.”

  He gave her a baffled look, still trying to get oxygen. “You can’t possibly have any doubts about that.”

  Ty nodded. “Sure, I can. I never did that before. I’d like some feedback.”

  Gion gave a short, beautiful laugh. “God, you do love compliments.

  “I was an exceptional student in school.” Ty retorted. “All overachievers like to hear what a good job they’ve done. That’s why they’re overachievers. You should know that. You’re the biggest perfectionist in the world.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Of course, you are! And don’t distract me. Come on, out with the flowering praising.”

  “Alright. On a scale of one to ten, you were about a four.” He kissed her nose. “Sadly, I think I’ll have to spend a lot of time tutoring you. Don’t worry, I’m up for it.”

  “Be serious.”

  “Just think up some more stories for me to enjoy. Jesus, I can’t believe how good that was.” He wiped a palm over his face. “I never imagined you could do that. You have a gift, Ty. If you ever share it with anyone else, I’ll send a pack of tornados and they will rip him apart. I swear to Christ.”

  That was better. “And?”

  “Well…” Gion ran his hands over her body as if memorizing the feel of her skin. “I believe I already used the word ‘incredible.’”

  “And?”

  Gion arched a brow. “Very incredible?”

  Ty rolled her eyes. “Forget it.” She flopped her head back down on his chest and sighed. “You’re impossible.”

  Gion rubbed his chin against her curls. “If I could have any woman in the universe, I’d still only want you.” He paraphrased soberly. “And that’s the truth. No one else will ever do for me. You don’t need to worry about that, Ty. There’s only you. For me, there is only you.”

  “Really?” Ty drew back to stare at him.

  He gazed at her, dark, and solemn, and unwittingly the most romantic man Ty ever knew. “Really.”

  Ty realized that what she felt for Gion was growing to fill her entire soul. “Would you just lay here with me?” She asked, confused by this huge twist in her lonely, predictable life. “Would you just hold me, for a while?”

  Gion dropped his forehead against hers. “Forever.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  There has never been any great talent without an element of madness.

  Lucius Annaeus Seneca- ‘On Tranquility of Mind’

  Chason only said one word when Raiden entered his study: “Why?”

  “Ty, of the Water House is vital to our world.”

  Chason ground his jaw together. He looked over at Lansing, taking in his furious, betrayed expression. By saving Ty, Raiden had just become enemy number one on the Reprisal’s internal shit-list. Why did all the best soldiers have to be so crazy?

  “Since we plan to destroy the world any day now, I’ll need a better explanation than that.” Chason told Raiden through clenched teeth.

  Raiden’s face revealed nothing. “Another reason? I would never dishonor my Match, and kill a defenseless woman. No matter what.”

  His Match.

  Chason gasped in a lungful of air at the words.

  Inside Chason, there was an empty spot where Mara lived. His heart was gone, but he could sometimes still feel it like a phantom limb. Sometimes, he remembered his Match and the man he was with her. In those moments, Chason saw through his fog of grief and rage. It hurt like a physical blow to remember, but he could feel her
where his heart had once been.

  As the insanity pulled him further down, the small movements of Chason’s missing heart grew less and less frequent. Silence echoed, beckoning him to forget her. At one time Chason would have welcomed the stillness. Now, he knew that the tiny connection to Mara was all that kept him sane.

  When a Phase was decapitated their head sometimes stayed alive for a period of seconds afterwards. Disconnected from the body, the nerve endings in the brain still retained the impulses to blink and move. Maybe even to think and see and hear. To live for a heartbeat of time after death. To feel everything and nothing.

  It was impossible for most people to understand what the head experienced.

  But, Chason knew.

  That’s what his entire life was, now.

  He was the severed head, realizing that it was already dead, but still moving. His heart had detonated like a supernova after Mara’s death. The light and force of it lasting long after the star itself was gone. Once the remnants of the explosion faded, Chason’s heart would go completely still. The decapitated head would join the rest of the body.

  The time for that drew closer. The darkness of insanity loomed beneath him, crawling under his feet. It kept pace with him, staying out of sight, but always there, peering through the floorboards… waiting. A skeleton of bleached bones and terribly empty smiles.

  When the phantom beats of Chason’s heart finally stopped --when Mara went away-- the skeleton would drag him down into the pit.

  But, it wouldn’t be today.

  For better or worse, today Chason still felt her.

  Raiden’s blunt words caused something to happen inside Chason’s chest. Memories. His Match and Ty, of the Water House reading Ismena under a tree. Ty, so young she fit on Mara’s lap, as the pages of the book turned. Mara laughing and hugging her close. Happy.

  Fuck.

  “This is war!” Lansing bellowed. “You don’t even have a Match, Raiden! You’ve never had one.”

  “I have a Match.” The words were simple and flat. “Everyone does. I’ll never be with her, but I won’t be a man who she’d hate.”

  Chason heard the music, again. The Andrew Sisters, singing in perfect three part harmony, filled his head. I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time. Mara’s favorite song. It cut through him like screams from Hell.

  Chason’s eyes squeezed shut.

  “You disobeyed a direct order.” Lansing insisted. “Chason said that Ty was to be brought to him and, instead, you gave her back to Gion!”

  “Ty belongs with Gion. I saw that today.”

  “You deserve execution, you traitor!” Lansing turned to Chason, clearly expecting his commander to order Raiden dragged away in plastic restraints.

  Chason looked at Raiden, wondering if he even could execute him. The Radiation House certainly hadn’t had much luck. “What did you see?”

  Radioactive green eyes caught his. “I’ve seen us at a crossroads.” Raiden’s voice took on the far-away tone of someone gazing onto a vast well of secrets. “If Ty, of the Water House dies in this battle, the universe will fall.”

  “That’s the fucking plan, you idiot!” Lansing roared.

  “If the woman survives, though, you’ll have what you really want.” Raiden kept his attention on Chason. “I don’t understand the vision, but it’s there.”

  “Parald dies, if Ty lives?” Chason would spare Ty if it meant destroying Parald. He didn’t really want Ty hurt, anyway. If Raiden said they couldn’t kill Ty and Parald, then Chason believed him. Raiden’s prophesies were always right. Given a choice, Chason would rather Parald suffer than punish Gion.

  “I don’t know what happens to the Air House. Not exactly.” Raiden shook his head. “But, I’ve seen what you really want. The only way to have it is to keep Ty alive.”

  “The only thing I want is Parald dead.”

  “No.” Raiden intoned. “It’s not. Ty is vital to our world. She’s the key for you and you’re needed in the coming war.”

  “The fucking war’s about to end!” Lansing screamed.

  Raiden snorted, totally without humor. “There’s always another war.”

  Chason ignored that. The empty place in his chest pounded with some emotion he didn’t recall as he surveyed Raiden’s utter assurance. Raiden: Fucking insane maniac and the only Phase Chason listened to. “What did you see?” He whispered, again.

  Raiden met his eyes dead-on. “I’ve seen your Match returned to you.”

  Seven words that changed everything.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It is a strange thought, how many of us had been storing up the elements of this catastrophe,

  for how long a time, and with how blind an ignorance of what we did.

  Robert Louis Stevenson- ‘The Master of Ballantrae’

  Isaacs hurt and it scared him.

  He’d lost a lot of blood. The sword wounds in his side and shoulder would take weeks to heal properly without a doctor. Since medical professionals weren’t exactly lying thick on the ground in the Air Kingdom these days, there was no way he was going to have a real high standard of care. Isaacs had stitched himself up before, though. He could have handled that part.

  This was far worse.

  Isaacs couldn’t see.

  When Lansing had blown the dirt and glass particles into his eyes, it had caused real damage. That sociopathic Dust Phase had done something extra with the glass. It wasn’t coming out. It scratched and throbbed every time Isaacs blinked. A sense of panic filled him, more horrifying than the pain.

  His sight was all screwed up and, in the Air House, that meant he was fucked.

  Everything in his field of vision had an unfocused halo around it. He couldn’t possibly fight like this. And, if Isaacs couldn’t fight, then he didn’t have a place in Parald’s kingdom.

  Amarna shined a light into his left eye and Isaacs did his best not to cringe. It felt like a hat pin sinking through his pupil and straight into his brain.

  “Isaacs, can you tell how many fingers I’m holding up, right now?”

  No. He couldn’t. He saw nothing by a flesh colored blur.

  Shit.

  Shit.

  Shit.

  “Two.” He said, keeping his voice confident despite the pounding of his heart.

  Isaacs knew from her total silence that he’d guessed wrong.

  An annoyed sigh came from the doorway, telling Isaacs that Parald was still lurking around. “Gion never went blind.” He announced sourly.

  “I’m not blind!”

  “Isaacs, I think that you’re really in trouble here.” Amarna murmured.

  He locked his jaw against the string of vicious curses. Amarna wasn’t an expert. She was a fucking maid. Her uncle might’ve been the old king, Seneca, but that hardly made her an ophthalmologist.

  He needed a real doctor.

  Isaacs sure wasn’t going to call up Freya for medical attention, though, so his options were pretty damn limited. Why the hell had so many doctors died in the Fall? Why the hell didn’t the Air House have anyone qualified to help him?

  Shit!

  He got to his feet, shoving passed Amarna and heading back towards his bathroom. He tripped over something as he went. It might have been a boot. Isaacs couldn’t see it. The sink was still filled with water from his last attempt to flush out the glass. He dunked his head in the basin, again, rapidly blinking his aching eyes, praying that something would happen.

  Even before the Fall, he’d never had any faith. Not in God, or Gaia. Certainly, not in Parald. Not even in himself. But, still he prayed.

  Isaacs had nothing but his work. He was a solider and if he couldn’t do that, then he was nothing. He wouldn’t have anything left. The Air House didn’t tolerate weakness or Phases that couldn’t pull their own weight.

  And it wasn’t like anyone was going to keep him around for his damn charm.

  Isaacs pulled his head out of the water and ran a palm over his face. He tried to focus in th
e mirror. Tried to see himself. Tried to see anything except the blur of colors.

  Oh… shit.

  Ty should have let him die. If the Water energy hadn’t helped him --If she hadn’t pulled him away from Lansing’s blade-- then, this would be over. Isaacs would be dead. He’d rather be dead than useless.

  Which was pretty convenient, because his fearless leader was going to kill him.

  “Can he be fixed?” Parald demanded from the outer room. The son-of-a-bitch didn’t even bother to lower his voice.

  “I don’t know, sire.” Amarna pitched her tone at a stage whisper, but Isaacs still heard her. Maybe his other senses were already kicking into hyper-drive. “He needs a real doctor. We heal quickly, but it’s only been a few hours…”

  “I don’t want to hear fucking excuses!” Parald interrupted. “Jesus, this is the Air House! We don’t baby our warriors. If he can’t even get his eyes to work, he’s a fucking disgrace to his uniform!”

  “He needs help, sire. A few days rest might…”

  “I don’t run a fucking charity ward. If he can’t pull his weight as a soldier, he can work in the kitchens. Send him downstairs. I’ll find a way to get my Match without his bungling.” The door slammed as Parald stomped off, screaming for Saxon.

  Isaacs dropped his head forward. Water dripped from his blond hair down the line of his jaw.

  This was the end.

  Not only had Isaacs not brought Ty to Parald… not only had Job and Gion sent all their asses packing… not only had they pissed off the entire Elemental realm to an even deeper extent with the raid on the Agora… but now Isaacs was useless, too.

  Parald didn’t tolerate useless people around him.

  Sooner or later, Parald would have him killed. Until then, Isaacs would be relegated to the kitchens, serving the men who should have been following his commands.

  Humiliated, hurting, blind… And soon dead.

  In the Air House, there was no feeling sorry for yourself or asking for a timeout. You had to take the hit, stand up, and keep going. Somehow, Isaacs would regain his sight, but he knew better than to try and tell Parald that. He had to think of a way out of this all on his own.