"Why are you here, Nico?" I asked, reaching out and stroking a leaf on a nearby tree.
"Actually, I'm curious to see your Stoicheio at work. There's something about you that has Theo enchanted. I'm trying to understand."
"I'm not a science experiment."
"No, but you cannot deny you intrigue us. A Gi on Pyrkagia land. Why are you really here, Casey Eden?"
I turned to look at him. Was this the real reason for following me into my trees? He didn't believe that I'd been human once. He believed, like the rest of Pyrkagia believed, that I was here as a Gi spy and he wanted to test my strength, my command of my Stoicheio.
I wasn't sure if I was disappointed in this revelation or tired of beating my head against a brick wall. Why had I even admitted the truth to him earlier? It was clearly a waste of everyone's time.
"I might point out," I said in a deceptively soft voice, "in the fairness of disclosure, that Theo was unable to escape my vines with his Fire. You should know, that even the mighty Theo Peters couldn't better my Stoicheio."
"Ah," Nico said, starting to walk the circumference of the space under the canopy of leaves we were in. "You mistake restraint for weakness. Has it not occurred to you that he wished to keep you happy, to not alienate you by burning to the ground the one thing that feeds you on his property?"
Good point. My eyes lowered to the leaf strewn floor.
"I might point out," Nico continued, a little cockily, "in the fairness of disclosure of course, that Theodoros Petropoulos is one of our most powerful Pyrkagia. There would only be a handful stronger. He is slated for our next Rigas."
My eyelids closed slowly. No wonder everyone thought he'd lost his mind.
"So, what's the point of all of this?" I asked, waving a hand between Nico and myself.
"I have known Theo for over three millennia." I didn't blink at the unfathomable period of time. I was past shock and awe now. This was real. This was life. I can't say I had accepted it, but I had stopped being surprised by it. "We grew up together. Did all the things young lads should do. Got into trouble. Pissed off our parents. Competed for the most delicious morsels at the table." I was betting that wasn't the same type of table I grew up eating at. "Through all of that he and Isadora have remained friends."
I sat down on the ground and leaned against a tree trunk. If I had to hear this I'd do it with a little support at my back. I stretched my legs out, letting the skirt of my dress fan out across the ground. Nico's lips twitched at my comfortable appearance and lack of concern for what was, no doubt, a thousand dollar dress. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down opposite me, back against another trunk. His long legs stretched out before him, almost touching the tip of my high heeled shoes.
"She loves him, of course," he said, picking up his story easily. I kept a neutral look on my face, but held his gaze. I did need to hear this. "From time to time they would become more than friends. The length of our lives is so great, we are all reluctant to commit. Several thousand years with one partner is daunting, no?" Nico said, offering up a crooked smile. "Theo would grow restless, and Isadora would let him go. This is a cycle that has repeated throughout time for them both. She holds him for as long as he lets her, then relinquishes that hold when he starts to pull away."
I let a slow incredulous breath out.
"So, he uses her to get his jollies, then walks off to find something shiny and new when he's grown bored."
"Basically that sums it up," Nico said merrily, quite at odds to the mood on the air just then.
"Great, thanks for letting me know how it is. As I only have four weeks here, he'll be free to pursue another cycle with your girl. It did appear they hadn't seen each other for a while. Maybe it's time for a re-run."
Nico stared at me for several seconds, I wasn't sure what emotion was on his face.
"It is the way of an Athanatos, Casey," he finally said. "You are new to this life, you don't understand." Holy heck, he did believe I was human once. "Theo will never commit to anyone. Not you, but also not Dora. She has no more hold over him than you do. I thought that would ease your suffering somehow. I thought it would help you understand how we live. How we survive. Marriage is sacred to our kind. When we split the branches of the Ekmetalleftis, many marriages were torn apart brutally. Since then, marriage has been revered. We no longer have a God to pray to, but we certainly have something to place our faith within. Not many Ekmetalleftis divorce. They would undoubtedly be shunned."
"Why would you think I would harbour a wish to marry him?"
"Humans have such a limited range of thought," he said, rather judgementally. "To you, love means marriage. The full trimmings. You are still human in your thoughts, Casey. I can see it. Theo can see it. If you're not careful, so will every other Athanatos you meet. You love him, so your heart can't stop leading you to the next step. Love - marriage - babies. Isn't that how it goes?"
"You know, I don't think I like you very much," I pointed out.
Nico laughed, a full body rumble. "Sometimes the truth hurts."
"Now, you see, I would have said, 'sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind'. But I guess, I'm just a nicer person."
"I see the Fire," he murmured. "You don't show it much. You hold it inside. But, by God, when you let a little of it out, it scorches. No wonder he is intrigued."
I shook my head. Nico was not going to be any assistance in working out what the hell had become of my life. He had a sharp edge to him, I was guessing it was what Theo had been careful of that first night. He must still trust his cousin, because he wouldn't let his 'possession' go home with just anyone and he hadn't baulked when I divulged my human history in the car. But I didn't think that trust was infinite. And it certainly wasn't enough to make me trust the man either.
"Well thanks for the education," I said, settling my hands into the loose soil at my sides. "But I think I've heard enough."
He cocked his head at me, that crooked smile on his face again. It was laced with amusement, and a little incredulity, and a whole lot of cocky self-assurance. He didn't like being dismissed. I knew I shouldn't do it. The more people I alienated, the more danger I was in. But I'd had a rough night. So many hurtful things had been said. I felt stronger now. Truth did cause pain, but it was a necessity. But I also didn't need Nico Peters pushing that lesson home. I was thinking he enjoyed my discomfort. I was sick of not being able to push back.
"Now would be a good time to leave, Nico," I suggested, as the trees began to sway slowly, and the leaves tinkled delicately around us. The Earth beneath my fingers sighed; drawing from me, giving back. A low rumble sounded out, like the growl of a volcano waking up. My warning to Nico.
"Will I make it out unscathed?" he asked casually, seemingly without any fear at all. He stood gracefully to his feet, but had to keep his stance wide to maintain his balance.
"I haven't decided yet," I replied, toying with him a little.
"You may be his current pet, Casey Eden, but even he would not tolerate an attack without reason."
I blinked up at him as he stood towering above me. And I thought, you know what, I don't care. I felt my lips curve into a mischievous smile.
"You want a demonstration of my Stoicheio, Nico?" He just held my gaze, a small smattering of gold seeping into his eyes. "You want something to tell the gossip-mongers?" My hands sunk deeper into the ground beneath me. The Earth shook eagerly at my touch. "All you have to do is ask," I said softly.
His returning smile was just as wicked. "You don't have it in you," he breathed.
"Pyrkagia against Gi," I said with a shrug. "Which would win out?"
"You want a challenge? A duel?" He seemed suddenly very keen. "You don't stand a chance, little Gi. I am millennia older than you. You cannot hope to match my experience."
I laughed. It didn't really sound like me. "What I lack in experience I make up in desire. Someone once told me that humans were incredibly greedy. Well, I crave to knock that smug look right off your face. I'm ea
ger for the chance."
"Stand up," he ordered, face set hard. "I will not strike a woman when she is down."
"How very noble of you," I said, slowly shifting, taking my time. "So, you agree to my challenge?"
"Face me on equal footing and I'll answer your query then."
Oh, I didn't trust this man at all. But I couldn't help smiling at his attempts at trickery.
"Very well," I came to my feet, green washing the space before me, mixing with the gold gleam from his eyes.
He sucked in a breath.
"How long since you last faced a Gi?" I asked, stunned at his reaction to my eyes.
"It's been a very long time," he answered on a whisper. "I must admit, I had forgotten how stunning you all were. Many Pyrkagia favoured Gi before the Alchemists arrived. I see the appeal now."
And then he struck without warning. I took that as agreement to my challenge and threw myself sideways out of the blast of his flames. The crackle of the tree behind where I had been standing sent loud pops into the air as it burned. I rolled away under the bushes beside me, allowing the vines to wrap around my body and hoist me into the air. I watched from above as Nico threw a wave of flames out from his hand, turning slowly in a circle to incinerate everything in a one metre radius from his body.
Oh hell no. I hadn't expected him to be so keen to harm my trees. I'm sorry, I whispered to them. Hang in there, I pleaded.
Grasping a thorny vine at my side, I sliced my wrist deeply. The pain sent adrenaline through my veins. Smoke had started to rise from where Nico burned the forest, choking in my throat and lungs as I sucked in a gasp of air from the sharp smart on my arm. My eyes stung, my chest ached. I started coughing, a hacking sound that Nico heard over the loud hiss and crackle of the flames.
His gold eyes lifted up directly to where I hung suspended above him. His face grew impressed, and then his smile turned calculating. The flames of those trees burning beneath me licked higher and higher, until I could feel the heat scorching the bare skin of my legs. The hem of my dress caught fire in the next instant, the vines sacrificing themselves frantically to pat the flames out.
My skin blistered. My vision dimmed.
And a single drop of my blood hit the ground. It sizzled in the intense inferno, but enough of it seeped in for the Earth to hear my desperate plea.
Take him deep, keep him safe, hold him for me.
The ground rolled and a thunderous sound rang out on the air. Trees hurled against each other, the crack of branches deafening, the screech of bark against bark painful to my ears. They were not happy. My forest of trees was in pain, but the pain of burning was nothing to the pain they could feel through that single drop of my blood. My pain.
Fire licked up my legs, skin peeled painfully from my flesh. I'd stopped breathing some time ago. The vines, trying to get me out of the flames, had taken me higher, as high as the top of the trees that still stood, could allow. But the smoke and heat still found me, even if the actual flames couldn't quite reach that far.
I heard a deep rumbling sound that shook the trees and vines that held me, and then I knew the ground had opened up below.
Nico screamed, then corrected himself with a litany of swear words in Greek. The trees nearest the hole toppled over, falling against each other and fuelling the blaze, making the flames lick higher, creating more and more smoke. Slowly I was carried away from the centre of that inferno and lowered to the ground where I could escape. But my legs wouldn't hold me. I collapsed to the soil at my feet, sending more of my blood into the Earth, begging it to take Nico deep and do what was needed to save the rest of the forest from his Fire.
Within minutes those trees that burned were swallowed along with Nico, until all that was left was a large circle of charred ground. A few burnt branches and stumps here and there. But nothing else.
I sucked in the first clean breath of air I'd managed for over ten minutes and hacked up a lungful of dark muck. Disgusting. And then, with nothing else to distract me or stop me, I cried. It was the type of sobbing that took every ounce of your body's strength. It came from deep inside, somewhere no one should have to go. It was dark and lonely and ached something fierce with guilt and sadness and, I admit, regret.
Was I so proud that I would risk my trees to prove a point? Was I that weak I couldn't just turn the other cheek? My sob racked my entire frame, my tears washed the soil beneath my face. My fists gripped the dirt, trying to hold on to something, to stop myself from floating away into the darkness that encroached.
It was hands on my shoulders shaking me gently that reached me first, not his voice or kind words. I lifted my head from the dirt, my hair knotted with mud and leaves and twigs, my face streaked with ash.
"Aktor?" I choked out on a sob.
"Come, Miss Eden. Let's get you inside before the master returns."
"I want to stay here with my plants," I insisted.
Aktor shook his head, his face understanding but firm. "If he sees what his cousin did, he will... well, let's just not chance it."
I stumbled to my feet with the old butler's help. He was stronger than he looked, he practically took my full weight with an arm around my waist. I noticed my legs, although pink and shiny, as though new skin had appeared, were no longer burnt or blistered. I let a little hysterical laugh out at the sight of my immortality. I had healed from Theo's blisters at my neck before, from the King's knife at my throat. But this was the first time it truly registered.
"He won't be able to breathe down there," I said aloud, unsure if Aktor could keep up with my wandering mind.
"He'll survive, unless you instructed the Earth to behead him." He said it so casually, as though it was such a simple thing.
"Of course not!" I exclaimed. "I asked it to keep him safe."
"And I would expect nothing less, Cassandra," Aktor remarked, as we climbed the steps into the house.
"What have I done?" I asked beseechingly.
"What you had to do, dear," Aktor replied kindly, leading me into my room. A bath had been drawn, clean clothes waiting beside it.
"Did you do this?" I asked. My mind seemed to be disjointed, I couldn't complete a train of thought before jumping to another.
"When I saw the trees begin to collapse in on themselves and get swallowed in the hole, I knew you were almost through." He'd been watching and waiting for me to get it out of my system.
"What must you think of me?" I said softly, realising it was similar words to those Theo had used once.
"My dear, you have done nothing worse than any other adolescent Athanatos. Would it make you feel better if I told you Theodoros burnt his father's castle to the ground and Nicodromos char-grilled an entire heard of sheep once? Neither had intended to, they were just flexing their muscles."
A small exhausted giggle escaped my lips.
"I dare say Nicodromos was well aware you needed to get this out of your system," the old man said softly at the door on his way out. "If I were you, I'd keep him there for an hour, no more. Just a suggestion." And then he left, leaving me feeling strangely at home in this world, despite the aches and scrapes and guilt and annoying burnt flesh smell.
I was a three day old Athanatos and I'd just thrown my first tantrum. And the butler hadn't batted an eyelash.
Chapter 13
Jumping Around The Clearing As Though I Was Dancing On Hot Coals
Theo arrived home before the hour was up. I was downstairs in the parlour, looking out the window at the forest, trying to find enough courage to go rescue Nico and ask the trees for my forgiveness. I wasn't sure what would be harder to face. Nico or the plants.
Theo walked into the room, looking just the same as he did when I last saw him. Immaculately dressed in a dinner suit, face impassive and body tense. I turned my head slightly to look at him, but didn't move from my perch on the window seat.
After everything that had happened since I returned to his house, the events of the evening prior to leaving that venue seemed tame. I
didn't say a word, just held his steady gaze with one of my own.
"What happened in the garden?" he asked, voice low and even.
"Apparently I was flexing my muscles." I turned back to stare at the trees through the glass.
Theo let out a huff of breath. "Was it fun?" My lips tipped up at the edges, but there was no humour in my response.
"I wouldn't call it fun, probably more along the lines of educational."
"Was the lesson for yourself or someone else?" I could feel him walking closer. Actually feel the heat roll off him toward me. I stretched my head on my neck uncomfortably. I think I'd had enough Fire for one night.
"Please don't do that," I whispered. The heat receded immediately.
"You looked pensive, I was trying to get you to relax."
"For a thousands year old man you seem to be woefully unaware of how women think," I pointed out.
"Really?" he asked, from just behind my shoulder. "Why don't you enlighten me."
I turned to look at him, I had to tip my head right back.
"Nico and I had a disagreement," I said, not explaining my statement further. Theo's eyes lifted from mine to look out the window at the forest.
"I see," he said, ominously. "And where is my cousin now?"
"Several metres beneath the Earth." I held my breath and waited for his reaction.
He seemed to be in deep thought. A muscle in his jaw twitched. I watched it closely, as though it would be the indicator of when his temper was about to erupt.
"Is he alive?" he asked eventually, still not looking at me.
"Of course."
"And did he harm you?" Theo asked, his face finally tipping down to look at mine.
"Nothing I couldn't recover from within half an hour."
His hand came up and he let his fingers run down my cheek. "You were angry at me," he pointed out. "And took it out on Nico." I don't think he was impressed.
The Tempting Touch Of Fire (Elemental Awakening, Book 1) Page 13
