Not Maxon. Anyone but Maxon.
Maxon
I lie on the courtyard grounds like a corpse. Somehow, part of Zephyr’s Kristalli attached itself to my chest. Damn, it hurts like hell. Tiny prongs of stone burrow into my rib cage. Questions burn through my brain, but the pain’s too intense to really think things through. Still, I keep asking them, over and over.
Why did the Kristalli do this? Is it some trick of Zephyr’s?
Pain sears my lungs as the Kristalli digs deeper. On instinct, my fingers tear at the stone, trying to yank it out. It doesn’t budge. Somewhere through the haze of shock and hurt, my mind’s able to focus on one thing—the reason why I’m here in the first place.
Lianna. What happened to Lianna?
Wincing through the pain, I force myself to move and inspect the courtyard. Lianna slowly limps toward me. She’s safe and alive, so at least that’s going right. The two Air Valta who were holding her are now impaled on tree trunks. Their heads sag forward onto their punctured chests.
That’s about as dead as you get, right there.
I make a quick scan for Zephyr. He’s lying on his side, curled into fetal position. The other half of his broken Kristalli lies nearby. The stone keeps pulsing with light, but Zephyr’s not moving.
I hope to hell that he’s dead, or close to it.
Another jolt of pain sears through my nervous system. This time, the hurt isn’t coming from the tiny prongs driving into my chest. Instead, agony radiates throughout my body. This isn’t regular pain. I’ve been around enough crazy supernatural crap to know this is something else.
It’s power. Elemental power.
I try to think through my situation, but misery keeps me trapped without answers. Surges of hurt run through me in waves. With a low moan, I move onto my knees. My body curls forward while my hands press at my temples. Every inch of me radiates agony.
Across the courtyard, Zephyr’s arm twitches. Damn, the bastard’s still alert and alive. He grasps for the other half of the Kristalli; the stone attaches itself to his hand.
What’s going on here?
Fresh surges of power and pain careen through me. I let out an anguished howl. More elemental energy tears through my system. The flesh on my arms and legs begins to smoke and bubble. I’ve been in tight spots before. Nothing like this, though. Reality hits me like a physical punch.
I’m about to die.
At last, Lianna crosses the courtyard. With jerky motions, she kneels down beside me. She’s hurting, too. I want to ask her if she’s okay. The words can’t get past my gritted teeth.
Lianna’s voice comes out all calm and sweet. “Do you remember the cave, Maxon?”
I manage a half nod.
“You were poisoned. I tried to heal you and you took in my power instead.”
Another small nod.
“That’s what’s happening now. Somehow your powers align with elementals. Stuff got mixed up in your fight with Zephyr. You’re taking in the energy of the Monarkki of Air.” She lifts her hand to brush her knuckles down my cheek. The touch helps me focus. For the first time since this stone glommed onto me, I’m able to think beyond the torment.
Lianna’s right. I got a taste of her power in the caves and used lightning as a buffer. That slowed everything right down.
I hiss out two words. “Thanks, beautiful.”
With all my focus, I summon a sheath of lightning to surround my skin. At first, the brightness is pale and weak. Soon, the power grows. Within a few seconds, the shield is strong enough to block whatever the fuck the Kristalli is doing. The hurt lessens. My head clears.
“That’s it.” Lianna gently kisses my chin. “You’re doing it.”
The power of the air element starts to seep away from me as well. Pain drains from my body. Without the weight of agony in my limbs, I can breathe deeply again. My thinking becomes clearer by the second.
My focus immediately snaps to Zephyr. We need to kill that guy and get the hell out of here.
Zephyr lies on his side about twenty yards away. I release a relieved breath.
“He’s still down,” I say to Lianna.
“Can you stand?” she asks.
“Can you?”
Lianna chuckles. “Now, I know you’re feeling better.”
We both try to rise to our feet when shit goes downhill, fast.
Zephyr’s started to move, too.
The Kristalli on his hand glows with energy. A ripple of fear moves across my limbs. My now-clear mind can easily see what’s happening.
As I release air power, Zephyr takes it back in.
Damn.
Pressing his palms against the courtyard stones, Zephyr hauls himself up to a sitting position. Not good. The more power Zephyr gets back, the more Lianna and I are screwed. Neither of us is in any condition to fight him at full strength.
What happens next isn’t a thought-out thing, but when it comes to a battle, sometimes there’s only reaction. You just do. And now, what I’m doing is removing the lightning shield from around my body. I can’t let Zephyr get back to full strength.
Instantly, white-hot hurt shoots through every nerve ending I’ve got. This time, it’s even worse than before. Still, accepting the elemental energy does the trick. Zephyr howls in pain as his Kristalli dims.
Lianna leans forward, her gaze meeting mine. “Maxon, stop!”
I shake my head. “If I stop, he kills us both.”
From the opposite side of the courtyard, Zephyr moans and bitches as he flips over and starts belly-crawling toward Lianna and me.
Man, I hate that guy.
“I am The Eminence!” growls Zephyr. “You both will die.”
Lianna tries to drag me away, but she can barely stand up. I grab her hand.
“You need to go,” I say. “Find Tempest. Be safe.”
“I’m not leaving. There must be something else we can do.” Her face lights with an idea. “There’s something you haven’t tried.”
I see where she’s going with this. “I can store the power in the stone. See if my lightning will keep it from Zephyr, too.”
“Can your lightning power do that?”
“It can try.”
Closing my eyes, I realign the lightning shield around my body. Right away, it focuses the elemental energy into the Kristalli. My pain lessens. The Kristalli shimmers with a pale gray light.
“It’s working,” says Lianna. “Keep going. Move all the power you can into the Kristalli. Zephyr will be weak as a human.”
With every ounce of will inside me, I order more energy into the stone. The Kristalli grows brighter. I glance over to Zephyr. His part of the Kristalli has stayed pretty dark. The bastard keeps crawling at us, though. He’s only ten yards away now.
Lianna raises her hand, summoning some kind of frozen spear. The second it appears, pain racks my nervous system again. I howl in anguish.
“Step back,” I say to Lianna. “Your power’s mixing with Zephyr’s.”
Lianna moves away. That doesn’t do dick to stop the hurt. She lowers her hand. The ice spear vanishes.
“You should take him down,” I say through clenched teeth. “I can handle the pain.”
“I’m not doing that until you’ve moved more power into the stone. I don’t know what releasing my energy will do.” She runs her fingers along my neck. Her touch is soothing. “It won’t be long now, Maxon. You’re doing it.”
“No, beautiful. We’re doing it.”
Never thought I needed a battle twin, but I need her.
We’re working together, turning this shit around. Yeah, my head feels like it’s about to explode. Still, my body’s no longer screwed up in agony. And although Zephyr keeps belly-crawling toward us, he looks like total shit. His Kristalli is almost dark, and his body’s all banged up and bloody. If he’s dumb enough to keep coming, then Lianna and I can make mincemeat out of him when he gets close.
I look into her eyes.
Damn, I love this woman.
And with that, everything goes to hell.
A cool sensation pools behind my eyes and I just know my irises are flashing blue.
Lianna tilts her head to one side. “Are you okay, Maxon?”
Sadness weighs on my heart like a block of cement. I want to tell her no, I’m not okay. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I’m fucked.
“Are my eyes glowing?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“What color?”
“Blue.” Lianna’s fingertips brush beside my eyes. “What does that mean?”
“Means I’m getting Angelbound.”
“What?”
“I love you, Lianna. My powers are changing. No more lightning for me. I’ll get control over igni.”
As much as anyone can control igni.
“I don’t understand. You can’t change, not now.”
“Not my call, beautiful. It’s happening.”
After that, the crazy music starts in my head, just like Mom said it would. A pretty children’s choir for the light igni, which is the power that sends mortal souls to Heaven. Next I get the screeching voices of the dark igni, which is the energy that condemns spirits to Hell.
My abilities over lightning start to fade. I do everything I can, but it’s like trying to cup water in my hands. The droplets simply go; there’s nothing I can do about it. The reality hits me like a punch in the gut.
I’m gaining power over igni, same as my Mother did. That means I’m losing my control over lightning, which is the only thing keeping me alive right now. Without that lightning shield, Zephyr’s energy will go to town on me. I don’t stand a chance.
Bit by bit, my lightning-shield disappears. Instead, tiny bolts of sentient light—the igni—start swimming around my body. They move in little schools like fish. I’ve seen igni a million times as they move around Mom. I never seriously pictured them anywhere near me.
A thin hope sparks in my mind. Maybe these igni can still protect me from the power of Zephyr’s Kristalli.
A heartbeat passes. Then two.
At three, it happens.
Zephyr’s elemental power slams back into me. Agony like I’ve never known rips through my soul. It’s like every inch of me is being torn apart. My skin bubbles and smokes once again. Black puss oozes from my veins.
Lianna gasps in horror. “No!”
Zephyr sees his chance and makes his move. Jumping up from his crawl-mode, he body-slams Lianna. Rage overtakes me despite the agony. I lunge forward, knocking Zephyr down. Lianna leaps back towards us, wraps her hands around Zephyr’s skull, and twists the fucker’s head right off. There’s a satisfying crack as Zephyr’s spine snaps in two.
The Monarkki of Air is dead.
Fuck yeah.
With Zephyr gone, the power that was stored in his half of the Kristalli now slams into my nervous system. I grit my teeth in agony.
Lianna rounds on me. “You have to stop it.”
“There’s no way to do that, beautiful.”
More igni whirl around me. All I know is agony and their childlike voices. They sing a bunch of nonsense and do whatever the fuck it is that they want to do, just like I always said they would. More of my flesh starts to smoke and peel away.
Lianna grabs some bandages from the infirmary. She wraps the long strips around my body, trying to keep all of me together. Somehow, that’s the worst part of this. That she’s trying so hard to save me when we should be saying goodbye.
“Don’t waste your strength,” I say. “Whatever happens to me, happens.”
“No, Maxon.” She wraps another bandage around my forearm.
“Go find Tempest. Please.”
Bright blue tears stream down Lianna’s face. “I’ll find a way to save you.” Her voice breaks with grief and fear. “I refuse to let this happen.”
Once again, the igni take charge. They wrap around Lianna, pulling her away. She tries summoning all sorts of water magic. None of it goes past the heavy column of brightly lit bodies swirling around her. It seems my new Scala powers and I agree on one thing: Lianna can’t waste her energy on the impossible. This transition is going down and she needs to stay away. Most likely, I’m dead.
Who am I kidding? I’m totally dead.
The pain and process takes over. I tilt back on my knees, my arms thrown behind me. Smoke burns through my skin and digs into muscle and bone. Pain blots out every other sensation. My vision starts to dim.
This is it. I’m going down. One last thought hits me as I’m completely torn apart.
I’ll die here, but at least Lianna will live.
Lianna
Finally, the little lightning bolts release me from their hold. I stumble forward, my legs numb with shock. In my mind’s eye, Maxon’s last moments replay over and over. He kneels on the courtyard. His body curls backward. The skin on his torso turns black and bubbling. Hunks of his flesh are torn away. His beautiful face contorts in pain.
Maxon literally gets torn apart, the tiny pieces of his flesh carried off in smoke.
It can’t be real.
Losing my footing, I fall forward. It hurts like hell but I don’t care. All I can focus on is reaching the spot where Maxon last lived. I crawl across the courtyard, my chest aching. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I register that the Air Valta are carting away Zephyr’s lifeless body. It’s a hollow victory.
At last, I reach the place where Maxon fell. I sit back on my knees, just as he did. This was where he pulled his final breath. My parents and Namare are gone. Now Maxon is too. My chest aches with loss. Warm tears roll down my cheeks and off my chin. They dot the smooth brown stones beneath me like so many raindrops.
Perhaps I weep for hours, minutes, or days. There’s no telling. Time has little meaning for me. Eventually, a hand rests on my shoulder. I look up, seeing Tempest. He seems indomitable in his heavy black armor. I wouldn’t have thought he mourned Maxon, but his eyes are rimmed with red. Maxon was second in line for the Furor throne.
“He gone,” I whisper.
“I know,” says Tempest. “I’m so sorry.”
I can only repeat myself. “He’s gone.”
Tempest’s voice is mild. “They want to know if you’re leading them now.”
“Leading? Who?”
“The Air Valta.”
“Aren’t they all dead?”
Tempest shakes his head. “We just held them down until the battle was over. They’re now the released prisoners of a very short war.”
For the first time, I notice dozens of Air Valta standing behind Tempest. They should look tough in their Roman armor. Instead, their young gray faces are lined with despair.
“You’re the last monarkki, Lianna. The Air Valta want to know if you’re their ruler as well.” Tempest pats my shoulder before pulling his hand away. He moves to stand behind me, giving me some breathing room. “What should I tell them?”
“I don’t know.” It’s hard to speak through the knot of grief in my throat. “I need a moment to think.”
Silence follows. The Air Valta continue to stare at me, their all-gray eyes wide with worry. Zephyr was cruel. Their desire for a wise ruler is a living thing. It tugs at my heart.
Maybe I have the strength to lead them. Maxon might have wanted that.
Someone calls my name again. “Lianna?”
“Wait, Tempest. I need more time to decide.”
Tempest steps back into my line of vision. “I didn’t say anything.” He tilts his head. “Did you hear something?”
“Yes, I thought you said my name.”
The voice speaks again. “Lianna.”
I hop to my feet, my skin flaring blue with excitement. “Did you hear that?”
Tempest frowns. “I heard nothing.”
“That voice. I thought it was…” I shake my head.
Stop now, Lianna. You’re imagining things. How could it be Maxon?
It happens again.
“Lianna.”
A ripple of awareness
runs through the Air Valta. They exchange curious looks. I round on them, every particle of my consciousness on alert. “Did you hear it, too?”
A handful of the Valta nod slowly.
“There’s a voice on the wind,” says one of them.
Now the cry is loud and unmistakable. “Lianna!”
Before me, wisps of smoke drift into the shape of a man. The form is so thin and transparent, it could be a trick of the eyes.
But it’s not. This is Maxon. He’s alive. Somehow, he survived.
A crazy dream comes alive in my soul. I’ve seen those wisps of smoke before. How they start as winding tendrils and then transform into a human shape. It’s what happens every time an air elemental appears.
Could Maxon have become an air elemental, too?
For a fraction of a second, Maxon’s body comes into clearer focus. His arms reach out for me.
“Maxon!” I strain toward him. Our fingertips almost brush. At the last second, he turns back into smoke and drifts away. My soul aches with loss and longing.
I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know if I can ever find my Maxon again, let alone touch him. I don’t know, and I don’t care. Something that looks like Maxon is leaving and he’s not going alone.
In the blink of an eye, I transform into mist and follow.
Maxon
What the fuck is going on?
One second, I was kneeling on the courtyard in Zephyr’s compound. My body had never known such pain. The next thing I know, I’m yanked away on a vicious gust of wind.
My mind gets assaulted with so much stuff, I can’t take it all in. One place after another tumbles past me. Even worse, I don’t just see stuff. I’m part of it, too. First, I’m a summer wind that rolls down an empty city street. Then, I’m a storm tearing across the Himalayas. And finally, I’m a stream of air driving through a jet engine. This is insane.
Did I die and go to Hell?
No way. I’ve been to Hell. This is something else.
So what’s happening to me?
The answer’s almost clear when—whoosh—I’m carried away on another blast of wind. This time, I’m a gust that slams into skyscrapers. Whips through pinwheels. Touches the upper layer of the atmosphere. My mind starts to keep pace with the constant changes, and that’s when the truth gets both obvious and nasty.
Maxon Page 23
