Aira smiled slightly and Dylan felt a rush of reassurance at his sister-in-law’s amusement. “Every single earth elemental I have ever met who hasn’t wanted to either marry me or kill me is deeply concerned about how volatile I am.”
Leigh smiled weakly. “I was aware—at least somewhat—that some of my cousins were … less than pleased that you were allowed to take over the rule of your element. They wanted a less powerful ruler of air, someone who could be under Maralah’s control, who didn’t have the ability to change the balance of power.” Leigh shrugged. “We’ve done well as a group, since Maralah took over the rule of the element.”
“Expanded influence, a more conservative lean in the council, more unstable elementals … executed. At least air elementals.” Aira concluded.
Leigh nodded again, “When my parents maneuvered my invitation to your wedding reception, they asked me to report back to them on the strength of your bond—whether you had managed to attain some measure of stability. Some other members of my family were interested in finding weaknesses.” Leigh bit her bottom lip and Dylan remembered the feeling of her teeth grazing his skin the night before; a shiver worked through his spine. “If it makes you feel better, I told them …” she glanced at Dylan, “That I had it on good authority, and that I agreed, that there was no way to take you down while you were bonded to Aiden.”
“You’re damn right about that,” Aiden said. Dylan could feel the heat between his brother and his sister-in-law.
“I think they had been planning on attacking your hotel the night of your wedding, but they changed plans. I didn’t know exactly what they had in mind, or I would have warned Dylan. I knew that there was something—that they were planning some kind of attack, but I didn’t know when or where.” Leigh took a deep breath and exhaled. “When the call went out that they’d succeeded, I contacted the elders, to tell them who I’d known was involved. Before I could get through to someone with authority, my cousins grabbed me.”
“Why would they have grabbed you if you weren’t involved?” Dylan could feel Aira’s energy beginning to increase. The wind picked up outside of the apartment.
“Because I knew that it was them,” Leigh said. “They had come to my parents a few weeks before the wedding for resources. My parents refused any help that could be traced back to them, but they didn’t exactly refuse any help at all.”
“And once you were abducted?” Aira raised an eyebrow.
“My parents were in no hurry to bring any power to bear to get me free. As long as I wasn’t directly harmed, they said, they had little concern. I think they were displeased with the report I had given them. And the fact that I told them I would not take any direct action against the two of you.”
“So then, your parents are involved in this conspiracy as well?” Aira glanced at Aiden, and the look they exchanged added to Dylan’s growing sense of dread.
“Not exactly,” Leigh sighed. “They’re … they have alliances among other earth elementals, and a few fire elementals as well. They aren’t directly involved. While they aren’t interested in overthrowing you themselves, they won’t move against the people willing to do it.”
“Right. Right.” Aira ran her fingers through her hair. “What else do you know?” Leigh picked at something on the jeans she was wearing. Dylan could sense her uncertainty, the anxiety she felt.
“I heard some of what was discussed in Nevada. Not all of it—they didn’t exactly trust me—but I overheard.” Leigh took a sip of her coffee. “There will be more attacks. They are determined to target air elementals to draw you out. They want to either force you to abdicate, depose you, or kill you.”
“Sounds about par for the course,” Aira said drily.
“I don’t know the exact moves that they’re planning to make. But I want to work with you. I have some contacts among the earth elementals who are not … they don’t like you. But they accept that you have the rule of the element, they accept that you and Aiden are bonded. That there’s nothing they can do about it now.” Leigh swallowed. “I can get you more information. As long as they stay neutral—and most of them will—they may be able to tell us more. Through me.” Aira pressed her lips together. Dylan closed his eyes. There had to be more—but Leigh would need time.
“Give me a good reason why I should trust you,” Aira said flatly. “I appreciate how forthcoming you’ve been, but spying on me at my wedding doesn’t exactly start you off on the right foot.”
Leigh looked at Dylan and smiled faintly. “If I were just here to spy and subvert you,” she said slowly, turning to look at Aira. “Would I have bonded with Dylan?”
“Maybe you’re not that great of a spy,” Aiden suggested, his voice dry. “The earth elementals don’t tend to be. And besides, you’re only partially bonded. You haven’t made the full bond, you’re not mates.”
Leigh blushed. “Not for lack of trying,” she said in a low voice. “I specifically warned Dylan off when we met because I’m newly come to my elemental inheritance, and I … you know how much easier it is to bond when you’re flush with power.” Dylan saw Aira’s rueful smile and knew that his sister-in-law was too honest with herself not to admit that aspect. “But things have changed.”
“You were abducted,” Aira said.
“That’s part of it. Another part is my parents’ refusal to help me. I had made up my mind before I was abducted … most of the way, anyhow.”
“What can you offer us? We can get intelligence from fire and air and water elementals.”
Leigh leaned forward. “I can offer you some shielding from their attacks. I can give you names, I can tell you weaknesses. I can help you track them. I know the kinds of magic the people in charge are using. How they’re covering their tracks.”
“Oh god, she’s a nerd like Dylan,” Aira said, smiling slightly.
“Guilty as charged,” Leigh said, casting a shy smile at Dylan. Dylan felt himself echoing it. “I want to help you. This situation—it’s bigger than just deposing you. It’s a war. And if you need me to testify to that, I will absolutely do it.”
“I may need that, actually. Maralah and Connor both refuse to see it that way. If I can get your testimony to them, it may help.”
Leigh licked her lips. “Don’t count on Maralah,” she said quietly. “Maralah is … not exactly in on it, but she has close family ties to several of the people involved. She’s got a vested interest in keeping them safe.”
“And Connor?” Aira raised an eyebrow.
Leigh shrugged. “As far as I know, Connor is just … he wants Oriel to skate by with a slap on the wrist. Oriel was involved because she wanted elementals to come out. Part of the group thinks we should stop concealing our natures from regular humans. Part of them just wants to see you overthrown because they want the earth alignment to have its old power in the council.”
Aira glanced at Aiden, and Dylan could see that they were sharing something—a moment together, not quite a telepathic exchange, but an agreement in their emotions, their energies.
“Okay, Leigh,” Aira said slowly. “From this point forward, you’re on probation. I’m going to keep the wards in place, just because, well...” Leigh shrugged in response to the unspoken part of the sentence. “But you’ll be in on all of our conversations and investigation. We need to get to the bottom of this before more people are killed.”
“We can probably interrogate some of those folks that got rounded up,” Aiden pointed out. “Leigh could come with us.”
Aira glanced at Dylan and he saw the conflict in her eyes.
“We’ll hold off on that,” she said. “We’ve got plenty of things to look into already. No sense putting your brother’s possible future mate in danger until we’ve gotten as much information on the situation as we can.” Dylan regarded Aira with more than a little surprise; he could see his brother was shocked too.
“Dylan,” Aira said, taking a deep breath. “If Leigh betrays us, I am going to make sure that you are buried as
deeply as possible in the elders’ cells. But until then, I’m going to assume that she’s trustworthy and that you haven’t lost your mind.”
“Well, I don’t feel like I’ve lost my mind,” Dylan said with a small smile. “Why don’t we eat something and get to work?”
Dylan sat on the patio balcony, staring off into space, trying to think. He had made lunch—or more accurately, brunch—for them all. After the confrontation with Leigh, they had eaten, and then Aira and Aiden had adjourned to work on gathering information on the ongoing crisis. Leigh was making phone calls to those earth elementals she knew were against the group trying to depose Aira and bring their kind out into the open.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, remembering the night before; he had had sex plenty of times before meeting Leigh—it wasn’t as though he were a virgin—but he had never had an experience like it. Dylan smiled to himself, remembering the way she had looked. Her skin was the creamy-pale that so often went along with red hair, her breasts capped with pale pink nipples. She had been so much warmer to touch than he had thought she would be, her energy flowing through him in a cold counterpoint that sent thrills through his spine.
Dylan shivered as he remembered the moment he’d thrust into her the first time; she had been so tight, wrapped around him, her body trembling against his as they held still for a long moment. Dylan had started out moving slowly, not wanting to rush, wanting to savor every moment of contact. He had pushed deeper and deeper inside of her, kissing everywhere his lips could reach, caressing all over her body. Dylan muffled the groan that rose to his lips at the memory of Leigh’s body against his, the way she had wrapped her arms around him, her energy surrounding him, mingling with his. He had plunged deep into her mind as they moved together, able to feel her pleasure, her mounting arousal bubbling up. They had reached their orgasm in almost the same instant—Leigh crying out a moment before the first spasm of pleasure hit Dylan—and it wasn’t until the spasms began to abate that Dylan realized how low the temperature had fallen.
He opened his eyes at the sound of the patio door opening. Aiden stepped onto the balcony, dropping into the other chair. “You really threw a wrench in things, you know,” Aiden said, glancing at him briefly.
“Yeah,” Dylan said, shrugging. “I know.” He licked his lips; even if the mistake he had made had been greater, he wasn’t sure he could entirely regret it. “If I had thought for a moment that Leigh was any kind of real threat, I would never have let her get so close.”
Aiden held his gaze for a long moment. “We’ve been worried about you. About how lonely you are.”
“Yeah,” Dylan said with a sigh. “Well … mom told me when we visited that it would happen, but I had to be patient.”
“You pretend to be patient but we all know better,” Aiden said, chuckling. Dylan grinned weakly. “Is it true you’ve started getting power surges?” “I’ve only had one,” Dylan replied, glancing down at his hands. Last night.”
“Surprised you didn’t flood the apartment.”
“I might … this one wasn’t that strong. I mean, it was intense, but it wasn’t like how yours were. Or how Aira’s were.”
“Give it time.”
Dylan glanced at his brother. Watching Aiden’s transition into his full inheritance as an elemental had been like living with an involuntary pyromaniac. He knew that Aira’s grandmother Lorene had had her own troubles—that Lorene had flooded her parents’ home coming into her abilities on a regular basis, and had semi-permanently raised the water levels in a local river. He was not as powerful as Aira or Lorene, but he was more than a little worried about what was still to come as he approached his birthday and the time when he would receive his full abilities.
“I don’t really want to think about it right now,” Dylan said, smiling weakly.
“So let’s talk about the girl then,” Aiden suggested with a knowing leer. “So?” Dylan hesitated only slightly before giving in to the impulse to share his experience with his older brother. They were still talking amiably about how sex differed between flings and potential mates when Aira opened the door to the balcony.
Her eyes were red; tears were streaming down her face.
“Oh God, Aira … what happened?” Aiden rose immediately and closed the distance between them, taking her hands. Aira took a shuddering breath and looked from Aiden to Dylan.
“They’ve attacked again,” she said. “Twelve dead.” Aira sniffed, closing her eyes for a moment. “Earthquakes and fires. Another 20 seriously wounded in the wreckage. Air elementals and—and water elementals who were supporting me.” Dylan felt a cold shock hit him; it was no longer air elementals that were being killed—now anyone who supported Aira was being attacked.
CHAPTER THREE
DYLAN SAT NEXT TO LEIGH on the couch, staring at the floor in shock. Aira had managed to pull herself together—but instead of crying, she had become angry.
“I do not give a good goddamn what you think, Connor,” Aira kept her voice tightly controlled as she spoke on the phone. “We are going to have a meeting and we are going to decide how these assholes are to be punished. If you won’t stipulate that they be treated as traitors, then I will goddamn well hunt down every last one of them myself and kill them all.” Aira paced back and forth across the living room floor.
“No, Connor, I will not postpone discussing this. After three attacks that already killed 12 and injured more, exactly how many more have to die before you’d be willing to make a move? And when they start turning on fire elementals that don’t toe the party line, what are you planning on doing? Because they’re already dragging water elementals into this.”
“I’m so sorry, Dylan,” Leigh said, reaching out to give his hand a squeeze.
“It isn’t your fault, Leigh,” Dylan said numbly. He knew absolutely that Leigh had no part in the actions of the earth elementals involved; even before people of his own alignment had been killed, he wouldn’t have had anything to do with her if he’d even had the fleeting thought that she might be part of it. “You had nothing to do with this.”
“But my family was involved,” Leigh said. She sighed. “My cousins.”
“All of us have cousins we’d rather forget existed,” Aiden said, and Dylan smiled at his brother, relieved that at least some of the pressure was off for his transgression from before.
“Connor, if I do not see both you and Maralah in council in an hour and a half, I will go to the elders and I will convince them to give me the power to handle this myself without any consultation with you,” Aira spun on her heel one last time.
Dylan raised an eyebrow, glancing from Leigh to Aiden. Aira was glowing—the yellow, subcutaneous glow that he had come to associate with her moments of greatest power. She hung up, stopping just short of throwing her phone across the room in a fit of pique.
“Aira,” Aiden said, his voice sounding concerned to Dylan’s ears. “Maybe you want to calm down just a little bit.”
Dylan heard the howl of the wind outside, the rattle of the windows. He nodded slightly.
“Freak earth quakes are bad enough, we don’t need people forecasting the end of days from tornados too,” Aiden said wryly.
Aira narrowed her eyes, half-scowling at him for an instant. She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, throwing herself into a chair and closing her eyes.
“Leigh,” she said after a moment’s silence. “I’m going to need you to prove your worth very, very quickly. How can I go after Maralah?” Dylan looked at his sister-in-law in shock and felt the tension in Leigh’s body.
“How exactly do you mean, go after her?” Leigh sounded worried.
Aira opened her eyes. “I’m not going to try and kill her or anything,” she said brusquely. “But this has got to stop. She can’t hide these people even if they are hers. She has a larger responsibility to our kind as a whole.” Leigh relaxed.
“Aira isn’t quite that volatile,” Dylan murmured.
Leigh shot him
a bewildered smile and said quickly, “You may have to make a deal with her. A couple of earth elementals are already in custody—not due to this, they’re awaiting trial on other charges; endangering others, instability …” Leigh licked her lips. “You could threaten to absolutely vote against them when their trials come up. Or you could dangle the carrot of siding with them unless they’re really, demonstrably dangerous.” Dylan wondered at the shrewdness Leigh was showing—had he misjudged her after all?
Aira considered it for a moment, chewing her bottom lip. “Are any of them someone that Maralah is particularly attached to?”
Leigh nervously twirled one strand of hair. “There’s someone—extended family of mine. A distant cousin. She’s not been caught yet, but she should be. She’s been using her elemental energies to accumulate suspicious amounts of wealth, and there have been some suspicious deaths as well.” Aira smiled wryly. “You earth elementals all pretend to be about stability and home and hearth and you’re pulling crap like this,” she said, shaking her head. “I expect double-dealing from my own people, not from a bunch of living rocks.” Dylan bristled at the insult.
“We tend to be a bit greedy,” Leigh agreed easily. “Some of us are genuinely interested in the well-being of others; some of us not so much.”
Aira took a deep breath.
“Okay. Where’s this cousin of yours, and how quickly after the council meeting can we grab her?”
“Are you going to hold someone hostage, Aira?” As saddened as Dylan was by the deaths of some of his friends, he couldn’t quite agree with how ruthless his sister-in-law was apparently prepared to be.
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