“What part?” he asks.
I’ll skip the Fisk part for now.
“All the angry water stuff.”
“Oh, I got that fine.” He chuckles softly. “You’re not the only one with a temper, you know.”
I exhale a relived breath. “Good.”
“Anything else?”
“Oh, Fisk.”
Maxon shrugs. “Nah. You said you grew up isolated. I’ve seen his type. Makes you feel wanted. Takes advantage. You made the right call.”
I shake my head. Maxon nailed that one.
“What you should wonder about is your crown,” says Maxon. “How can you get it and help your people?”
I shoot him a sly look. “I thought you didn’t know statecraft.”
“Guess I picked up more than I thought over the years.” He gives me a chin-nod. “Talk to me. What’s your next move?”
Bobbing my head from side to side, I think through possibilities and next steps. “Well, getting crowned isn’t happening.”
“Not right now, anyway.”
“Normally, I’d worry about Zephyr coming to get me. He hasn’t showed, though.”
“Wouldn’t expect it either. Silas said some other stuff when I visited.”
“About Zephyr?”
Maxon nods. “Silas said that if Zephyr’s not hunting you, then he’s going after the Kristalli of Fire, which is hidden in Furonium. I sent Emperor Tempest a heads up. With any luck, T will be in a good mood and want to use the attack to sharpen up his troops.”
Worry zings through my stomach. “If Zephyr gets the Kristalli of Fire, then the Fire elementals will never have another monarkki. Do you think Tempest can hold him off?”
“Furor warriors are the toughest in the after-realms, and T is a great general. So, I’d say if anyone can, it’s Tempest. If nothing else, he’ll buy us some time. Maybe we can get some things done while Zephyr is busy.”
“In that case, we should go after the Kristalli of Earth.”
“Just what I was thinking. We pick up the Kristalli of Earth while Tempest keeps Zephyr busy. Where is the stone, anyway?”
“Hidden in the Philippines.”
Maxon’s brows pop up. “In the Chocolate Hills?”
“How’d you guess?”
“It’s one of a handful of demonic dead zones. No activity there and I always wondered why. Makes sense that someone would be guarding the region. Never would have suspected elementals, though.” Maxon glares at the spot where the palace disappeared under the waves. “After we’re done, can I come back and beat the crap out of that guy?”
That guy being Fisk, of course.
I grit my teeth in frustration. “Only if I can watch.”
Maxon lets out another rumbling laugh. “You’re something else, you know that?”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
Maxon
The Chocolate Hills… It’s easy to see how this place got its name. Even in the moonlight, the ground looks brown, rounded, and symmetrical, like chocolates in a box. They’re not the only sights here, either. The minute Lianna and I approached the hills, I knew we weren’t alone. A pair of Zephyr’s Air Valta got here first. They’re already looking for the Kristalli of Earth. That’s the bad news. The good news is that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. The two Valta are meandering around like they’re on a coffee break or something.
When I speak to Lianna, I make sure to talk low and by her ear. Honestly, I don’t need to be this close, but she smells like strawberries and it’s making me nuts. You know, in a good way.
“Any more than two of them?” I ask.
“No, Zephyr’s main force must still be in Furonium.”
I let my lips brush her earlobe. “Can you show me where the Valta are again?” A blush crawls down her neck.
“You’re trumping up reasons to keep whispering at me.” She gives me an annoyed look, but her eyes are too excited for it to be real. “We’re on a mission here, Maxon. Focus.”
“Hey. I’m learning how to pick out elementals from the landscape. To me, they’re all smoke and stuff. It’s tough enough during the daylight and impossible at night.” I nod to the night sky like it’s there to back me up. “Need a little help here.”
Lianna points across to a nearby hill. “Two Air Valta, twelve o’clock. Looks like they’re keeping watch.”
“Are they anywhere near the Kristalli?”
“Not at all.” She taps her forehead and grins. “I’ve got the exact location right here.”
“Good. In that case, whatever information Zephyr got, it wasn’t too specific.” I gesture across the hills. “So, lead the way.”
Lianna walks around the base of the hills, looking from one spot to another while muttering under her breath about someone called the Etevin of Water. Seems like the guy used to visit his Earth elemental buddy somewhere nearby. All this sneaking around is giving me too much time to think about my wound from the other night. The poison’s starting to hurt even more. Finally, we stop at the base of a random-looking hill.
“This is it,” whispers Lianna. Kneeling, she sets her palms against the dried-out grass of the hillside. “I am the Monarkki of Water. I’m here for Terrak.”
A small wooden doorway appears in the side of the hill. It swings open, revealing a massive eye. There’s more to the face that’s hidden inside the hill, quite possibly a whole humanoid something. With elementals, you never know. Some of those things running around Lianna’s Water Palace were nothing more than a watery squiggle with an eyeball. There’s also the obvious question about why a creature that big needs a door that small. I’m not going there, either. We’d be here all night.
Beside me, Lianna’s shoulders slump with relief. “The Etevin’s memories were right. Your name is Terrak, yes?”
“Terrak tired,” says a gravelly voice. “Need to heal.”
The big eye half-closes. As it moves, the moonlight reflects in funny ways. Turns out, Terrak is made of small brown gemstones. Interesting.
Lianna beams. “I’m so glad I found you.”
“Terrak sick. You bring thrax for new monarkki?” Terrak lets out a yawn. “I have Kristalli. We make new monarkki. Heal Terrak. Help all Earth elementals.”
I picture that sick little elemental kid back at the Water Palace. Man, that was heartbreaking. It makes sense that the other elements have the same trouble if they’re missing their monarkki. My shoulders clench with rage. What a fucker that Zephyr is.
“I’m not here with a new thrax for you,” says Lianna. “I came to warn you. Someone is coming to take the Kristalli of Earth. You must hide it somewhere else.”
“Yes, hide,” says Terrak. His large fingers squeeze through the door and set a small brown bundle onto the hillside. “You guard now.”
I pick up the little package. It’s a leathery sheath wrapped around what feels like a long stone.
Lianna’s mouth falls open with surprise. “That’s the Kristalli of Earth?”
“Looks like.” The thing buzzes with an odd energy that tickles my palm. I jam the thing into a pocket on my body armor. That helps.
“No, no, no.” Lianna turns to Terrak and goes nuts on him. “You’re supposed to re-hide the Kristalli, not give it to me.” Her skin starts lighting up, monarkki style.
“Watch it, beautiful,” I whisper. “Those Air Valta are still nearby.”
Terrak doesn’t say anything more to Lianna. Instead he slams the hillside door in our faces, which I guess is just as good as saying ‘no.’ What an elemental weasel.
Technically he found a place to hide the Kristalli. Only now, Lianna and I have extra trouble to deal with.
Lianna presses her palms to her forehead. “That didn’t work out like I’d hoped.”
“Everything’ll be fine.” I wrap my around Lianna’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. But now, you need to turn off your glow, okay?”
Lianna looks at her skin and gasps. “Crap, I didn’t even realize I was doin
g that.” She closes her eyes and returns to her regular human form. “My bad.”
“Nothing to apologize for. I like seeing you all blued up.”
Her mouth slowly rounds into a smile. “Really?”
“Yeah, beautiful.” I pull her in closer. It’s not even conscious thing, I touch her on reflex. And once she’s in my arms, it’s always a rush. Lianna’s the perfect mix of cut and curves. I slowly run my nose down the length of hers. This isn’t the time or place for this lovey-dovey bullshit, but for some reason, I can’t help it. My mouth moves closer, and she lets out one of her little bedroom moans. Those kill me.
Our gazes meet, and I know that look. Lust. Heat flares through my bloodstream.
Maybe I should kiss her once. Get it out of my system, you know? What could it hurt?
I move even closer. My lips brush against hers and damn, I’m in trouble. Her mouth is liquid soft, like I thought it would be, as well as sugar sweet. We share the barest touch and it jolts through every part of my soul. Suddenly, nothing’s more important than seeing her luscious naked body, touching her bare skin, and moving inside her. The craving in my blood is like a drug. This one kiss won’t be enough. I need more. I’m about to get some when a soon-to-be dead man interrupts us.
“Surrender the Kristalli,” he says.
No question who that is. An Air Valta. Damn. My concentration is crap. What am I doing kissing Lianna when I should be hauling ass out of here?
Thinking with my dick, that’s what I’m doing.
And I can’t even get pissed at my dick brain. The kiss really was that good.
I give Lianna one last brush of my lips, because I’m just that stupid. Next, I turn to face the Valta. They wear Roman centurion armor and are all in different shades of gray, including their eyes. They’re pretty young, too.
“Surrender the Kristalli.” Both Valta speak in unison and it definitely ups the creepy factor, but not by much. These kids give off the vibe that they’re used to scaring the pants off anyone and getting whatever they want without a lot of work.
That changes tonight.
“Let me talk to Lianna about that for a sec.” I turn to her. Somewhere along the line, I started holding her hand again. Feels good. “What do you say, beautiful?”
“Hmm,” she taps her chin like she’s really thinking this through. “I say we kill them.”
“What?” asks one of the Valta. “You’ll kill us? With what power? We are the Air Valta. Air is supreme!”
Why do they always talk down to her? It’s like that Fisk freak all over again.
“Don’t disrespect Lianna.” I raise my arms. A cage of solid lightning surrounds each Valta. I summon them to tilt backwards in their prisons. They end up looking like two bodies in a matching pair of lit-up caskets.
The Air Valta test out their prison, just like Lianna did in our first fight. I made their cages solid. No way to escape. Once they figure this out, the Air Valta howl like a pair of cats in heat, and then turn even harder to see.
“What are they up to now?” I ask.
“Changing into smoke forms,” answers Lianna. “It’s more work so they don’t do that too often.”
Which means I need to kill them when they’re solid.
“Good to know.”
And just like Lianna again, they figure out pretty quickly that their new home is one hundred percent airtight. I lean in closer to their lightning caskets.
“I got a deal for you. Promise to smoke your asses out of here, and I’ll set you free. We can forget this ever happened.”
The Air Valta howl some more and start spinning themselves into whirlwinds. I have to admit, I didn’t see that one coming. Lianna turned into a dainty mist, and mist pretty much floats around. Wind does a lot more damage.
My lightning containers get bashed around. The walls get thinner. The Air Valta keep freaking out and slamming harder.
“I can’t hold them much longer,” I say. “They only need to crack the surface and they can smoke themselves out.” I wince in pain. Imprisoning these Valta is sucking up tons of my life energy and my injury’s getting worse. The poison’s really going to town now.
Lianna kneels and sets her palms onto the browned grass. She closes her eyes and the ground starts to shudder.
I’ve a pretty good idea what she’s going to do, and I like it.
The Air Valta go crazy, slamming and spinning inside their prisons. It’s taking all my focus to keep their lightning caskets semi transparent and solid. Pain radiates out from my side.
After that, a lot of stuff happens at once. The Valta both whirl around so fast, they crack open their prison containers. The pair of them instantly speed toward us.
Before they make it over, Lianna opens up a massive water geyser in the ground, blocking them. In response, the Valta move their windstorm to a larger scale. The geyser flattens. Wind and water splatter everywhere.
“We’re going down into the geyser,” Lianna grabs my hand again. “Don’t let go.”
“No way, beautiful.”
Together, we jump into the hole in the ground. For a while, my ass gets tossed around by currents from the geyser. As long as I hold onto Lianna, I can breathe fine and nothing slams into me too hard.
We come out through the ceiling of a cavern and land in an underground pool with a splash. The water’s freezing. Even though I’m wearing body armor, it feels like thousands of tiny icicles are stabbing me all over. Lianna cups my face in her hands.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I still feel a breeze though.” I look up. “It’s coming from the hole we just fell through.”
“They’re following us.”
“Looks like.” I look around the cave. “Want to stay and fight?”
“I’d rather get the Kristalli to safety.” She shakes her head. “Plus, opening that geyser took a lot out of me. I won’t be ready for a big battle any time soon. You?”
“I’ve felt better.” The poisoned cut in my side throbs with pain. “We should go.”
The air currents turn gray and the Air Valta start to take shape above our heads. Time to make tracks.
Lianna grabs my hand again and pulls me underwater. Together, we swim through a network of submerged caves and passages. I’ve no idea where we’re going. Lianna pauses every so often and closes her eyes, accessing her powers. When she opens them again, we haul ass in a new direction.
Finally, we surface in a cave where our underground pool laps against a ledge of rock. Lianna conjures up some glowing blue mist so we can see what we’re doing. Hissing with pain, I hoist myself out of the water and onto the rock ledge.
Lianna kneels down beside me. “What’s wrong?”
“My side.”
“Is it the cut from Silas?”
“Yeah. It’s taking longer for me to heal than I thought.”
She tugs at the collar of my body armor. “Take this off.”
I shoot her a sly smile. “Are you sure this is the right time?”
“Says the guy who kissed me with Air Valta floating around.” She tugs again. “Come on, don’t be a baby.”
It’s not easy to do. Bit by bit, I peel off my body armor and whoa, I’m a mess. My chest is covered in a spider web of black poison lines.
Lianna gasps. “How long has it been this way?”
“Not long. I tired myself out containing the Valta. Gave the poison a chance to go to town.”
She slips her fingers down my torso and even though I feel like crap, her touch makes me crazy. What is it about this woman? I’m freezing cold and injured, but I’d have sex right here if she gave me the go sign.
“I can pull out the poison,” Lianna says. “It’s a liquid, after all. That okay with you?”
“Is it going to sap your strength?”
“Probably.”
“Then it can wait.”
She tilts her head to one side. “Remember how I asked if it was okay with you?”
“Yeah.”
/> “I take it back. You look like hell. I’m healing you whether you like it or not.”
A shock of hurt rips through my torso. “I won’t fight you.”
She sets her palms flat against my chest, closes her eyes, and changes into her monarkki self. Blue light moves on her skin and flares from her palms. Her power moves through me, charging every cell I have with light and life. My energy responds to hers. Her sapphire light dances across my skin.
“You’re soaking up my powers,” says Lianna. “It’s your lightning. Somehow, it’s compatible with elemental energy.”
More blue flares across my flesh and damn, it stings like a mother. “I wouldn’t say compatible. Whatever’s happening, it’s not good.”
“Should I stop?”
“No.” I grit my teeth. “Keep trying.”
“But I can’t stop my powers from hurting you.”
I picture the lightning cages I made for the Valta. Maybe they’ll help here.
“I’ve got an idea,” I say.
“Whatever you want.” Her voice is shaky, and I know her already-low power reserves are getting more and more drained.
I summon a thin sheen of lightning around my body. That does the trick. Lianna’s skin brightens once again. Her power moves through me, but in a different way. The poison disappears. Strength and life flow through my veins.
“Almost done,” says Lianna.
For the first time in hours, my rib cage doesn’t hurt like hell. “Feels good.”
After that, it feels a whole lot better.
I don’t know what Lianna’s doing now. It’s good, though. Every inch of me feels not only healthy, but downright awesome. A delicious tension builds until something inside me snaps. Pleasure ricochets along every nerve ending I’ve got.
Lianna pulls back her hands. We spend a lot of time staring at each other. It feels like a few minutes go by, but knowing our track record, we may have killed an hour that way. My skin’s all healed and Lianna’s so mellow, her eyes are half closed.
“Was that…” My voice cracks with emotion. I clear my throat to try and get a handle on it. “Was that how it’s supposed to happen?”
“No. After I healed you,” she clears her throat. “Well, I think my elemental powers went a little crazy there.” Lianna blushes something fierce. “I’m not really a pro at controlling them yet.”
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