Peta

by Shannon Mayer

  PRAISE FOR THE ELEMENTAL SERIES

  "I love Shannon's Rylee Adamson series . . . and I was wonderfully surprised that I loved her Elemental Series even more!"

  -Denise Grover Swank USAT & NYT Bestselling Author of the "Chosen Series"

  "I could not put it down and greedily consumed it in one sitting!"

  -Books In Veins

  "I think Larkspur aka Lark is the new heroine to watch out for . . ."

  -Coffee Book Mom Reviews

  “What a fantastic start to a new fantasy series! I love a strong female lead and we were delivered that in spades with Larkspur . . . This story is fast paced and exciting right from the start. I can't wait to see what comes next!”

  -Boundless Book Reviews

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  For my readers.

  CHAPTER 1

  oam’s death should have been hard for me. I should have grieved before reporting back to the mother goddess. Yet I found it hard to grieve for a charge who’d never truly wanted me in his life, and had made that clear on a daily basis. To him, I was more of an embarrassment than anything else. I snorted softly.

  “Twelve. Perhaps that is my lucky number and I will finally be done traipsing after fire elementals who are so prideful they can’t even see when they are walking into danger.” My feet sank into the snow all the way to my belly. I shifted from my housecat form to snow leopard and bounded up the steep slope. According to humans, the mountain was haunted by those who’d died in an attempt to ascend it. I’d never seen a ghost though, in all the times I’d climbed to the mother goddess to speak with her. The snow swirled in tight little circles in front of my nose, and then shifted and turned into a hand that beckoned me forward.

  So the mother goddess knew I was here. I wasn’t surprised.

  Leaping onto a rock ledge, I pulled myself to the front doorstep of the mother goddess. Curled in a tight circle on the bare rock, her form was that of my own mother, a clouded snow leopard. Her dark spots were perfectly laid out over her pale cream fur, and her pristine blue eyes were vibrant against the snowy backdrop. Her large, rounded ears twitched toward me.

  I went to my belly and bowed my head, breathing in the scent of the earth and ice. “Mother.”

  “Child, you have not had time to grieve. Why do you come so quickly to me?” Her voice held only the slightest rebuke.

  I kept my head down. “I wish to be set free of my charges. I have overseen the lives of a dozen of your elemental children. More than any other familiar in your care. Please. Set me free.”

  She moved toward me, laying against my side and placing her head across my back. “You believe it is freedom you seek?”

  “It is.” I lifted my head. “You know that is my heart’s desire.”

  “I know your heart, Nepeta. I know it better than you know yourself, I think.” She started to purr, the soft rumble soothing along my back and I closed my eyes. This time she would allow me to go my own way. To live out a natural life no longer tied to an elemental who wouldn’t listen to me regardless of how right I was.

  “One last charge, Nepeta. One final life to watch over. Will you do that?”

  She asked, as if I had a choice. I’d heard of familiars turning her down, but I could not be that one. The mother goddess called me to her and I would always answer her as I should.

  A sigh slipped out of me. “Yes, I will. What Salamander do you have in mind this time?”

  The thought crossed my mind that she could assign me to Fiametta. After all, we knew that Jag, Fiametta’s current familiar was barely even allowed to be in the throne room. I kept my mouth shut; the last thing I wanted was to be stuck with the queen.

  “Larkspur. That is who you will guide.”

  “Larkspur?” The name was familiar, but not a Salamander name at all. A flower, known for its beauty and deadly poison. An image of the Deep flowed over my mind, of diving into the water and fighting to keep a Terraling alive.

  “You mean Dirt Girl?” The words screeched out of me as I stood. “A Terraling? You’ve got to be joking. Their familiars are canines.”

  The mother goddess stared at me, her eyes unfathomable in their serenity. “I do not joke about things of this nature, child of mine. She is in terrible need of your help. And there is no other familiar I would assign to her.”

  “Why, because you want her to die with the bad luck cat?” I bit the words out, knowing I was being irrational and more than a little disrespectful. But a Terraling? They were weak and useless. I couldn’t understand why the mother goddess would assign me to one. Unless she thought the same of me.

  My heart sank and I turned my face away.

  “Child, that is not why I give you to her. She is as special to me as you are special to me. Trust that I would not assign you to someone who wouldn’t be—”

  “Loam hated me. So did the one before him, and the one before that. Do you know how long its been since any of my charges even listened to me? They draw strength from me without thought, they ignore my advice and treat me as if I am lower than them. None of them, except for my first, has even shared a meal with me.”

  The mother goddess padded forward and butted her head against mine. “I know all this, and I know that it tears at your heart. Yet you learned from all of them, Nepeta. You learned and you gained what you would need for this moment. I know it was hard and I wept when they didn’t love you as they should. It was all preparation for this time in your life.”

  My eyes blurred with her words. “Then why this? A final insult?”

  “A final charge, Nepeta. There will be no more after this. Larkspur will be your last. That is my promise to you.”

  A sigh slipped out of me. “Then I am off to the Rim. Perhaps a change of scenery will not be so bad. Is Griffin still there? Would you like me to take him a message?”

  “No, my consort and I are not on speaking terms right now.” She grimaced. “Besides, you are not going to the Rim.”

  I tipped my head to one side. “Is she still in the Deep?” I didn’t like the world of the Undines, but I would go there if that was where my charge was. Duty was something I understood far too well.

  “No, Larkspur is in the Pit. And she has landed herself in some rather hot water.”

  I twitched my tail but otherwise kept my thoughts to myself. Of course Dirt Girl had landed herself in trouble. How was I not surprised?

  The mother goddess licked the side of my face. “Let your heart guide you, Nepeta. That is the only way you both will survive this.”

  I stared at her. “She cannot be more dangerous to my health than Loam was. He was a fool and all but allowed the Undines to manipulate him.”

  The mother goddess’s eyes filled my vision as the icy cold swirled through my fur and I was sped away to my newest charge. “She is far more dangerous than Loam, Nepeta, both to herself and to the world. It is why she needs you.”

  I opened my mouth to ask one last question, but it was swept away in the swirl of snow melting into water, cold sliding into crushing heat, and my freedom turned into the chains of yet another charge.

  CHAPTER 2

  he Pit was as it always had been. Hotter than hell and layered with intrigue as Fiametta tried to ferret out the firewyrms without letting onto the masses that was what she was doing. But that was no longer a concern of mine, tied as I was to a Terraling.

  My lip curled up at the very thought. Already I could feel the growing bond between Dirt Girl and me. I fought it, stuffing it to the back of my head. I wasn’t about to get all tied up in emotions like a first time familiar. It had been years since I’d let a charge truly in; not that any of them had wanted a true bond with me.

  There would be no friendship here between myself and the Terraling. This was a job, and when it was done, I would finally
be free to go.

  Free to live my own life and maybe even have a litter of my own kittens. I thought about that for a moment before dismissing it. Who was I kidding? I’d been mothering elementals for hundreds of years. What need did I have for mothering more creatures who wouldn’t listen to me?

  None.

  I followed the ties that drew me closer to the Dirt Girl, and ended up in the healer’s rooms. The Terraling lay on the bed and Brand held her down while Smit put her shoulder back into its socket. Within seconds the pain that coursed through her whispered along my spine; a shadow of what she felt. I could take the pain from her, but I didn’t. Whatever trouble she’d been in before I arrived had nothing to do with me.

  She could suffer for all I cared.

  In my housecat form, I was easily missed and I sat on the edges, watching her interact with Brand and the healer. Or at least, I thought I’d been incognito.

  Smit let out a laugh. “What are you doing here, Peta? I thought the queen had you banished.”

  I glared at him as shame burned me all the way to the tips of my fur. I couldn’t even answer him. Not really. The queen hadn’t banished me, but the rumor had begun to circulate when Fiametta had publicly wondered why all my charges died. If perhaps she should banish me to save her people. That had been all it took for people to believe I’d been kicked out. That and being stuck with Loam in the Deep for as long as I was did not help the rumor.

  Looking up at the Dirt Girl, I stared into her eyes. One green, the other gold. They marked her for what she was. A half-breed. Weak and useless.

  Just like me.

  “Hello, Peta.” She slid to the side of her bed leaving room for me to leap up, but I didn’t want to touch her. I stared at her, wondering what in my nine lives the mother goddess was thinking.

  “Dirt Girl. I see you’re in trouble again.”

  Brand grunted. “Cat, you’re pretty damn mouthy for one on the edge of being booted out.”

  I let out a sneeze and wiped a paw over my face. “Please. It’s is not my fault I’ve always been assigned to idiots.”

  Dirt Girl dropped her feet to the floor. “Good luck with your next fire assignment then. I hope they are smarter than your last.”

  She started to walk away from me and I grabbed her with my claws, digging into the first layer of her calves. Enough to get her attention. Dirt Girl stopped and looked down at me, an eyebrow arched over her green eye. I didn’t like that her green eye was so like mine in coloring. Maybe I was supposed to be with her.

  No. No. No. I was doing this for one reason only. The mother goddess asked. I refused to get my heart involved with this charge. I had to believe she would make it easy for me to keep her at a tail’s length. Stupid, useless, weak. My entire life with Salamanders had informed me of those truths. So that would make it easy to not get attached.

  “What do you want, cat?”

  I let go of her, but didn’t break eye contact.

  “Dirt Girl, I’m going to need that luck. The mother goddess has given me my new assignment already and I don’t like it.”

  She threw an arm into the air. “Wonderful. Good luck. I have to go, things to do.” With that she strode away.

  Luck. I was quite sure I was going to need more than luck to get through this assignment.

  Brand led the Dirt Girl away and I hurried after them while trying not to look like I was hurrying.

  “Bad luck cat,” Smit said and I fought the cringe that curled down my shoulders.

  “What?”

  “Did you get reassigned yet?” There was laughter in his voice; yet again I was the butt of a joke.

  If I told them I’d been reassigned to the Dirt Girl, how much worse would the laughter be?

  “No.” I spit the word out and trotted from the room, following the ties that bound me to the Terraling. Gah. Who would willingly live in a dirty, noisy forest? The Pit was hot, but always clean. Of course, if I had a choice, I’d be living in the mountains, deep in the snow where I never had to worry about another elemental being stupid and trying to keep them alive only to watch them die.

  I followed Dirt Girl to the stairs that led down into the living quarters. Maybe I could look after her at a distance.

  No, child. You must be with her. Trust me. And trust her. She is not like the others.

  “We’ll see about that,” I muttered to myself. I drew in a breath and let out a meow.

  Brand looked back first and let out a loud snort. “We don’t need you following us, bad luck cat.”

  I leapt from the top of the stairs straight for the Terraling, aiming for the shoulder that had recently been put back together. Perhaps it wasn’t very nice, but I didn’t like Terralings. Not even one I’d been assigned to. I landed easily, feeling her fight not to drop away from me.

  Balancing easily, I made myself comfortable ignoring her twinge of pain. Time to spit out why I was following her. The words were like rancid meat on my tongue. “I told you I had a new assignment.” I stared hard into her eyes, willing her to understand.

  She lifted her hands and sputtered. “No, you’re kidding me, right? I don’t need a familiar.”

  I doubted she didn’t need a familiar, but all I heard was she didn’t want me. Exactly like the others. The realization shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. Even a Terraling dirt grubber didn’t want me.

  The Terraling shook her head. “Peta, you must be mistaken. You’re meant for a Salamander. Not . . . me.”

  I draped myself across her shoulders and twitched my tail down the front of her neck. It sure as hell wasn’t like I’d wanted to be her familiar. “I didn’t ask for this. If you have a complaint, get in line to take it up with the mother goddess.”

  Brand stared at us with wide eyes. “I’d get in line. That cat has lost more of her charges than any familiar in the Pit. Seriously, that cat is bad luck.”

  Damn him.

  She lifted a hand and brushed it along my back, like a child touching something breakable for the first time. Something of value even. The shiver that ran through me was very light, but I felt it from the tip of my tail to the tip of my nose.

  “She saved me twice already, Brand. If the mother goddess feels I am deserving of her then I am grateful.”

  Her words . . . the respect in her voice brought tears to my eyes and I closed them. No tears, no more tears. Not for any elemental. They didn’t deserve it. But maybe . . .no, I would not fall for this. Her words were just words, they meant nothing.

  When the time came, she would throw me under the lava flow like every other charge I’d had.

  As we walked, Brand spoke to Dirt Girl about the situation and I added what I could, as helping her was my task. Not that I expected her to listen to my advice.

  Her friend Ash had been thrown in the dungeon and was to be executed in a matter of days for crimes she had committed. Unless Dirt Girl could find a way for him to be exonerated, he would die in place of her.

  What caught me off guard though was the pain in Dirt Girl when she learned more about the men she’d killed, of the women and families they’d left behind. It stunned me.

  How long had it been since I’d had a charge who felt the consequences of their actions?

  Not since the first and even he had let his pride get the better of him in the end, believing he was capable of taking on more than he truly could.

  I butted my head against her ear, to get her attention. “You do what you must to survive. We all do, Dirt Girl. That you feel their loss . . . that is good. When you stop feeling the pain of your actions . . .that is when you must be afraid. When you no longer care if you kill, then we have a problem.”

  Slowly she straightened. “Take me to her.” Her, the pregnant wife of one of the Enders killed. Not a good idea; but I kept my mouth shut. If Dirt Girl wanted to get her ass handed to her, far be it from me to interfere.

  Brand shook his head. “No. She is crazed with her loss.”

  Under me, the Terraling opened herself to
her power and I fought not to let my jaw drop. The sensation was that of the mountain sitting up and listening to her, waiting to be commanded.

  So much for being weak and useless.

  She lifted a hand and touched one of my front paws. “Peta. Do you know where she is?”

  I assumed she still meant the wife of the one Ender, the wife who was pregnant.

  “Brand is right. Now is not the time. Later perhaps,” I said, fully expecting her to ignore me.

  She paused, breathing slowly. “All right, Peta.”

  “You’re listening to me?” Shock filtered through me, like lightning on a dry summer night.

  “That is part of your job, isn’t it? To advise me?”

  “Yes, but . . . rarely does anyone abide by their familiars. It’s why so few of us are connected to elementals now. Even the queen discounts Jag.”

  I snapped my mouth shut. I’d said too much. Despite the fact I was now Dirt Girl’s familiar, my home had been the Pit for most of my life. My loyalty was to Fiametta, even if she was a hard ass.

  Brand led the rest of the way to his home, and I mulled over what had happened as they sat at the dinner table. It had to be a fluke. There was no reason for her to trust me, or listen to me.

  Very likely she’d done it for show because Brand had been watching.

  Yet, I couldn’t help but feel her emotions as they skimmed through her body. Gratitude. She was grateful I was with her.

  I kept my mouth closed and my jaw tight. I would not feel for this Terraling. I would not.

  Brand and his wife Smoke fed Dirt Girl while I sat on her shoulder. They ignored me as if I were an inanimate object. No doubt they thought I truly was bad luck and if they ignored me they would stay safe.

  Breathing evenly, I kept the hurt at bay. It should not have been a surprise to me, yet still the snub bit at what was left of my pride. I withdrew further into myself and away from the conversation.