Air: Elementalist Book 1
Page 13
My element howled around me, it’s cooling power channeling through me until I felt it leave the tips of my fingers and enter Aiden’s hand. I felt his grip on me tighten in response. The heat slowly subsided. And I took deep gulps of clear fresh air. I blinked the tears from my eyes and the room came back into focus. I looked over at Aiden. He was hunched over, breathing heavily, one hand on his knee. The other hand still holding mine in a death grip. He turned to look at me, and seemed to try to smile, but it came out looking more like a weak grimace.
The priest resumed speaking as though nothing had occurred. Maybe from the outside it appeared nothing had. It was hard to say with no witnesses besides for the priest.
“You have completed the ceremony,” the priest intoned. “You have melded your elements as one. So too shall you be forevermore.” he said it as though reading from a scripture. Weird. Maybe there was some sort of sacred elemental text that I didn’t know about. I made a distracted note to myself to look into it.
After a brief recovery period, we left the circular room, and walked down the main hall to join the guests in the reception area. My whole body felt strange, like it was attached to a live wire. My legs felt like jelly, but somehow they kept me upright. Aiden was still holding my hand. I was too shocked from the ceremony to remove it from mine. I wasn’t even sure I could let go at this point, even if he wanted me to.
We approached the large, gilded doors that led to the ballroom. Aiden stopped with his hand on the handle and turned to me saying, “Are you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
He pushed the door open, and we walked in. We were at the top of a wide ornate staircase that led down to the main room. There was noise, lots of noise. We were announced to the room, and immediately a hush fell over the crowd. I felt awkward and intimidated, and still in a state of shock from the ceremony. What seemed like thousands of eyes looked back at us from below, and most of them did not seem friendly.
As I had expected, there was a large number of people in attendance. The who’s who of the elementalist elite had all made an appearance, along with other important international figures. As we began descending the staircase, I prayed that my legs would hold out a little longer, and I wouldn't fall. We made it down the last stair and music began to play to initiate the first dance. Well shit, I had completely forgotten about the first dance. Thank God it was a slow song, and all I had to do was cling and sway.
Aiden leaned down and put his mouth next to my ear. “You won’t regret this,” he said. “I know you’re unhappy with me right now, but once you get accustomed to Elementalist society, you will see that the choices that I made were not only beneficial, but necessary for both of us.”
I turned, so that we were face to face. It was time to clear the air, and make my peace. “Aiden, you may be controlling and arrogant, but I know you are also genuinely kind and generous. I owe you an apology for sparking animosity between us.” He gave me a strange look, “you think I’m kind? You want to apologize?” he asked in confusion, searching my eyes. “Wait a second, are you dying?” “no silly,” I said, smirking up at him, “stop worrying. Lets just enjoy this dance”. “Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?” He asked in a slightly suspicious tone. I leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. At first he was too surprised to do anything, then the kiss turned hungry, and we both became too distracted to do anymore talking for a while.
I hugged Penny and Brian extra tight before we left for the hotel. Aiden held my hand and occasionally kissed it the whole way there. We got to the hotel room and I excused myself to shower. Aiden tried to shower with me, but I declined, wanting privacy.
I came out wrapped in a towel. He gazed at me, eyes darkening with lust, before hurriedly heading to shower himself. I could tell from his expression that he wouldn’t be in there long. I got out the hotel notepad and wrote a quick message. I folded my wedding dress on the bed, placing the note on top. I slipped on sweatpants and a hoodie. I could hear the water being turned off. I knew I didn’t have much time. A marriage had to be built on trust, and I couldn’t trust him. If he thought that he was right, he felt no compunction about lying or manipulating those around him to make the choices that he deemed correct. I opened the window and flew out into the night.
Aiden stepped out of the shower and opened the bathroom door. It was quiet. Too quiet. The hotel room was empty, a cool wind blowing in through the open window. He saw her dress on the bed and the note on top and he knew without reading it what it would say. He found himself walking over to the bed and picking up the paper, just to see what her handwriting looked like. The note was shorter than he expected. Just one word actually;
Goodbye.
He smiled. If she thought this was goodbye, she had another thing coming.
About The Author
Rebecca Wolf
Rebecca Wolf is a self-proclaimed book enthusiast. She likes to eat chocolate and wear pajamas. This is her first book.
She can be contacted via email: Rbcawolf@gmail.com