by Kat Adams
“Take your breath away, do I?” He rubbed his nose along my jaw.
“Why are you talking like Yoda?” I shifted to keep him in my sights, not trusting this weirdly aggressive mood he was in. I mean, I fully trusted him, the guy. What I didn’t trust was the part of him making all the decisions at the moment. That part of him pressed firmly against my hip, straining against the zipper of his slacks, and had him acting like a man desperate for a little downstairs action. Granted, my downstairs heated in agreement, but that didn’t mean we had to race to the finish line.
“Love you, I do.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “And protect you, I will.” His smile wilted as he pulled back and stared into my eyes for a beat too long. “I mean it, Katy Reed. I love you and will protect you at any cost. At all cost.”
Joy surged through my core, blooming in my midsection, and rushing to my tingling lady bits. Those words. That look. It was all too much. An energy welled up inside me and exploded just under my skin, blasting me with so much emotion, I sucked in a breath. His lips found mine. Passion, always so intense between us, built fast, fueling our movement.
I ripped at his shirt, relishing the sound of the fabric tearing. He did the same to my clothes. Soon, both our outfits were in pieces and strung all over the room. His fingers snaked through my hair, and he made a fist, trapping me in his hold and kissing me hard, sucking on my tongue.
I panted with desire. I wanted him more than I wanted my next breath, and I really liked to breathe. I tried to roll up, position him between my legs, but moving him was like moving a mountain. He took his time exploring my mouth with his, exploring my body with his free hand, and driving me so wild by the time he allowed me up for air, I couldn’t breathe.
“I love you,” he repeated as he covered my body with his, easing his hard cock past my entrance. Just the tip.
“H-how much do you love me?” I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from crying out over the vibrations attacking me from the inside out.
“This much.” He thrust deep, burying his flesh into mine.
“Oh!” I arched my back from the quick invasion now stretching me to the hilt. “T-that much?”
“And this much.” He withdrew and slammed our hips together again. I dug my nails into his shoulders. “Ah, Jesus. Yes.”
I knew he liked it when I turned him into a pincushion during sex and dragged my nails up and down his back.
“Keep doing that. Shit, Reed.” He pumped hard, driving into me over and over, building my orgasm so fast, I barely had time to brace myself before it crashed into me.
“Rob!” I cried out and clamped down, my nails finding purchase on his shoulders once again. There was so much pleasure rushing through me, I couldn’t make sense of it all. My bones shattered, I was sure of it, as the room tilted.
He growled in his release, driving his flesh in and out of me until he finally slowed and rested his forehead to mine. Our breath mixed as we kissed slowly, tenderly, taking our time enjoying the afterglow.
He rolled to my side and slowly trailed the back of his hand down my rib cage. I jerked away and snorted, drawing a handsome grin that melted my heart. “Tell me something about yourself, something you haven’t told anyone else.”
“Is this a way for you to have a one-up on the guys or something?” I’d have nothing to do with something that could drive a wedge between them.
His grin held. “No, nothing like that. We’re all equal when it comes to you.” He continued to trace my body, dancing his fingers over my flesh and driving my senses wild. “You’re a hard nut to crack, Reed. We’ve been together over six months. I should know more about you than how many elements you can call.”
“You know enough to love me.”
He studied me intently. “That I do.”
“And we’re back to talking like Yoda.”
“You’re avoiding the question.”
I lifted my head. “Was there a question?”
“Reed, please?”
I groaned and dropped my head back down on the pillow. “Ugh. Something about me. Something about me.” I chanted that several more times before it came to me. “I think she chose the wrong guy. Clearly, she should have chosen the wolf over the sparkly vamp.”
“You’re impossible.” This time he groaned as he rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling.
Curling onto my side, I rested my head on my elbow and studied him. He no longer smiled, so, out of the goodness of my heart, I gave in to his request. “Fine, here’s something. I don’t think my mom likes me.” I focused on his chest to avoid his eyes. “Or maybe doesn’t like the adult me.”
“That’s crazy.” He cupped my face and kissed me gently. “How can anyone not like the adult you? You show that side of you so rarely.” He laughed when I smacked his chest and took my hands in his so I wouldn’t keep beating on him. “I’m only kidding. You two haven’t seen each other in almost six years and didn’t exactly part on the best of terms. It’s going to take more than a few days to find your groove. Besides, it’s been crazy with all the tribunals, magically enhanced elementals, and the barrier at the academy failing. She’s kind of been a little busy. We all have.”
“Maybe you’re right.” I rested my head on his chest and played with the coarse hair. “Okay, your turn. Tell me one of your innermost thoughts.”
“There’s only one thought that’s been on my mind.” He sighed long and hard, staring at the ceiling. “I’m just going to say it.” He looked down at me. What I saw robbed me of breath. It was more than concern swirling in his dark gaze. More than worry. It was fear, stark and vivid. “What if when they test you tomorrow, they discover the darkness?”
It was something I’d been worried about since the Council had started testing the students. I was magically enhanced, and tomorrow, that would be out in the open for everyone else to see. “I can always try to conceal it.”
“You couldn’t even control it a week ago.”
“I know, and that’s the problem.” I looked at him, searching his soul and expression for comfort. When the strength in his gaze gave me strength, I admitted to him, “When I get close to the barrier, my hand glows.”
“Like how it does when you’re about to go dark?”
“Or around a strong concentration of dark magic. It burns and throbs. Stace thinks it’s the light and darkness battling it out inside me.”
He stiffened. “You talked to Stace about this?”
“She’s my faculty advisor.”
“I’m your guy,” he countered. “You don’t keep something like this from me. From us. Look what happened last time you tried to hide what was going on with you.”
Fair point. “Do you think she’s right? Do you think it could be the two elements duking it out?”
“Maybe your light element is warning you somehow, like a beacon, lighting up when it senses darkness.”
“Maybe. Yet another mystery centered around me, I guess.” I rested my chin on his chest. “What happens to the magically enhanced elementals? Is the Council really taking them to Carcerem?”
He studied me for several seconds before interlacing our fingers. He pulled me closer, curling me to him. I rested my head back on his large chest.
“Yep.”
I lifted my head to regard him. “But they didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It’s not my call, Reed. Do I agree with it? No. Can I do anything about it? Another no. Now, get some sleep. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
Thoughts of me spending the rest of my life in prison consumed my mind as I drifted off to sleep. This time, I didn’t dream of the void. This time, I dreamt of living in a six-by-eight cell, surrounded by truly dark elementals.
I think I liked the dreams of the void better.
11
Day three of tribunals. The troubling dream of me taking up residence at Carcerem had jolted me awake and kept me anxious enough that I didn’t get any solid amount of sleep after that. Rob tried to calm me down, even
pushing his control to me as we held each other, but it wasn’t enough to sooth my rattled nerves. After our vigorous horizontal workout, coupled with my exhaustion over the first two days of tribunals, I was in serious need of slumber.
Now as I stood in front of the mirror in the cabin’s small bathroom, tightening and retightening my ponytail to keep my red hair off my face during my tribunal, applying just a touch more mascara on the left eye to balance out the lashes, then applying more to the right when I went overboard on the left, I couldn’t stop myself from trembling.
I’d skipped the coffee this morning—which, in itself, should be commended—and opted for decaf tea. I was shaky enough. My nerves didn’t need the added jolt.
“Thought I’d find you here.” Bryan appeared behind me in full uniform and nodded his greeting through the reflection. He took up the rest of the bathroom with his large frame. His hazel gaze danced, as it always did when he looked at me, and when our eyes met, he flashed that crooked smile.
I stiffened and fought the urge to turn, run into his arms, and squeal like the schoolgirl I was. Less than twelve hours ago, he couldn’t stand the sight of me. “You were looking for me?”
“Well, yeah. My girlfriend not only lives in the same house as me, she’s literally one floor above me. I went to your room this morning to welcome you properly, but you weren’t there. Figured you wouldn’t have gone back to Ventus, and you definitely wouldn’t live in Aquae again, so I made the logical leap.”
“Guess this means you don’t think I’m dark now?”
Bryan looked at me for the longest time, studying me, seeming to memorize everything about me as if this was the last time he’d ever see me. I feared the truth in that assumption.
“I came to wish you luck.”
That didn’t answer the question. I stared at the sink until I recovered from the avoidance. “Well, thank you for that.”
“Katy.” He placed his hands on my shoulders, squeezing gently. “You don’t have to be scared. Everything is going to be okay.”
I locked my gaze with his through the reflection. “How can you say that? How can you stand there, look at me, and tell me everything is going to be okay? And how do you do that so convincingly that I believe you?”
He turned me to face him, resting his arms on my shoulders and pulling me close. I rested my head against his chest. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s to not underestimate the prophecy.”
“But I’m not the prophecy, not anymore.”
“You’ll always be the prophecy to me.”
I melted at the words. He was so good at centering me when I needed it most. I definitely needed it now.
“Does this mean you’re no longer scared of me?”
“I was never scared of you.”
“You wouldn’t touch me, Bryan. You backed away from me. You had fear in your eyes. All that adds up to you being scared of me.”
“Clay reminded me what happened, that the darkness took over and forced you to do what you did. He also reminded me that I was the one who stopped you from completely losing control. I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I do know I’ll get through it if we stick together. That’s how I know you’ll get through this. We are a team, the five of us. We will get through this as long as we stick together.”
I threw my arms around him and held him tight, allowing my own fear to consume me. I had to let it out or I’d never get through this. Maybe if I faced it head on, it wouldn’t beat me when I was out on the field getting the tar beat out of me by Council members.
“I’m scared, Bryan.”
“I know. I am too, but not for the reasons you think.” He held me close when I tried to push away to look into his eyes. “Everything is changing. Rob’s a member of the Council now. Leo’s leaving. Clay is interning for the very school he’s always complaining about. I want to get into alchemy, but if I can’t get my head on straight, I’ll never pass the entrance exam.”
“I’m worried about you, about your memory. My mom’s memory spell went too far. You’re forgetting key things. Pretty monumental things, in fact.”
“The things I’m forgetting are all bad, if that helps.”
Bad. Trevor had begged me to protect him from the bad. Could he have meant bad memories? Did he want me to cast a memory spell on him like my mom had done on Bryan? Would I go too far and accidently wipe all his bad memories instead of those focused on what’d happened in that warehouse? What sort of life would that be? You couldn’t experience the good unless you had the bad to gauge it against. It kept the balance. It kept a person sane. Without both good and bad…
Well, hell. When it clicked, I really wish it hadn’t. As much as I didn’t want Bryan to have to relive any of those bad memories, we had to get my mom to reverse the spell.
I held his stare for as long as I could before breaking the peaceful silence. “Bryan, you know we have to get them back, right? We have to reverse the spell my mom put on you to mask your bad memories.”
He blew out a long breath before slowly nodding. “Yeah, we do. I don’t like these holes in my thoughts where memories used to be. They’re there, I know they are, but it’s like I can’t access them.”
“The spell is blocking you from remembering them. Once we break it, they’ll all come back at once. It’s not going to be easy.” I took his hand. “But I’ll be there with you.”
“Me too, bro.” Rob appeared in the bathroom doorframe and shoved his hands in the pockets of his slacks that made up half his uniform. “If Clay and Leo were here, they’d say the same. We’re family.”
I caught sight of a green blazer in Bryan’s hands much too small for his large frame. “Is that for me?”
“Figured you’d like to wear your house colors today.” He held it up.
I’d rather not have to wear the creepy dude’s schoolgirl fantasy uniform at all. There was no logical reason why the male students at the academy got to wear classy slacks and the females were forced to wear a miniskirt that barely covered the curve of their ass. At least the sweaters and blazers didn’t make us look as if we should all be wearing pigtails and starring in a Britney Spears video.
Thanking him and accepting the blazer, I slipped it on and checked the fit in the mirror. I didn’t hate it. It tapered at the waist, so I didn’t look like a box. The shoulders were a little snug, but I’d deal. It was so much better than the yellow and pulled the green out of my hazel eyes.
“It’s as good as it’s going to get,” I told the mirror and snagged each of their gazes. They both studied me right back. No words were spoken. No words were needed. I was about to be tested for dark magic. We all knew what that meant.
By this time tomorrow, I’d be at Carcerem.
The three of us teleported together, landing in front of Ignis, Rob’s old house. We weren’t there but a few seconds before two students hurried out and nearly collided with us. They both took one look at me and scurried off.
“What was that all about?” I asked no one in particular.
“Not sure. Let’s find out.” Rob took off after them. “Hey, you two there. What’s your rush?” When they didn’t slow, he shouted, “Do not walk away from a member of the Council.”
Whoa. That escalated quickly. He’d barely been a member of the governing body a week and already pulled the Council card.
The two skidded to a stop and turned to face Rob as he marched up. They were younger, first years maybe, and Rob towered over them. He placed his hands on his hips. “Mind telling me why you reacted like that?”
“Because of the attack. They’re saying it was her.” The one with glasses nodded at me.
“The water elementals?”
They both shook their heads. The taller one answered. “Two fire elementals. She used air on them. They said she warned them that more fire elementals were next.”
“We don’t want to be next,” Glasses said in a shaky voice.
“She didn’t do it,” Rob growled.
&nb
sp; “But—”
He lifted his hand, silencing them. “She was with me all night, so I know she didn’t do it. I’ll find out who did, I promise. Okay?”
Slowly, they both nodded.
“Go on. Get out of here.” He watched them run off before rejoining Bryan and me. “We’d better check the wards. The barrier is clearly failing. If the two random attacks doesn’t prove that, having Thing 1 and Thing 2 breech the grounds definitely does.” He whipped out the ECAD—Elemental Call Alert Device all members of the Council’s patrol had as part of their job—and held it up, checking the screen as he walked in a small circle.
He stopped and held it up higher, suddenly walking off as he followed the signal. Bryan and I exchanged looks before hurrying after him.
“What’s up?” Bryan asked when we caught up.
“There’s definitely been strong activity here, but I’m not picking up multiple hits.”
I studied the screen, expecting to see a blinking dot as we’d picked up on the hunt for Stace last week. The screen instead had some squiggly lines, but no blinking dot. “Is that why the alarm didn’t go off?”
“Exactly. No multiple calls at the same time, no battle.”
“What if they used the same elements?”
“It would still be different scents.” Rob replaced the ECAD in his pocket.
“That means there was no battle?” I didn’t know if I asked that as a question or just put it out there in the hopes it was true.
“No, that means whoever was attacked didn’t get the chance to fight back before they were incapacitated.” He traced the grounds before resting his attention on the barrier. “I need to test the barrier. Reed, text Clay. I need all hands on deck.”
But it wouldn’t be all hands on deck. We were down a man. My heart pinched at the thought of Leo stuck in that hospital bed and the reason that put him there. That reason being me. “How are we going to test it?”
“We aren’t. Clay, Bryan, and I am. You aren’t going anywhere near it.” He gave me a pointed look. Right. My hand. The whole glowing thing. Magically enhanced elemental. Got it. I texted Clay and hoped he’d actually pay attention to the message. Texting him was always hit or miss. He didn’t even have his phone with him half the time.
