Aira was in a final pool of four elementals, those who had passed the initial battle stage of the trials to go onto other forms of being tested by the elders. There were no real guidelines for how the next stage—or stages—would go, at least none that were clearly understood. Dylan knew when the elders selected an elemental ruler, they tended to prize the ability to make clear, informed decisions and to follow through on information to pass a judgment. Part of the ruler’s role in the elemental hierarchy was to judge whether a family or elemental was a risk to the community as a whole. If they were, they had to decide whether that level of risk was tolerable, or whether that elemental—or even the whole family of elementals—should be executed.
Elementals lived in a precarious situation. They lived among regular humans, and most of them had “regular” lives but they were caretakers of an energy and magic that regular humans could never know about. If there were too few elementals there would be an imbalance among the forces; the inheritance of elemental power was uncertain, as well. Two elementals could have five children, who were all born with the particular powers and abilities, or they could have none at all, and variations thereof existed as well. The attorney who managed Aira’s grandmother’s estate had been born into an elemental family, but had very few if any of the abilities beyond a general ability for financial affairs. Aira’s own family was a mixture of varying abilities. Her mother had latent water abilities that were not at the same strength or stability as Aira’s grandmother.
Aira’s level of strength, her sheer raw power, mingled with her flighty nature—a common feature of air elementals—was reason to give the entire community pause and no group more so than the elders. Dylan was concerned for his friend’s fate if she was not found to have the right combination of skills and abilities it took to be a ruler of the element. Whoever was decided in her place might, judging her power to be too much of a threat, decide that she should be put to death because she was incurably unstable and a risk. Even acquiring a mate would not necessarily make Aira safe, if she didn’t gain the throne.
A few days after her second trial, Aira was sleeping deeply one night when Dylan texted his brother. He knew Aiden wouldn’t be sleeping. Dylan had given Aira a tea to encourage deep and restful sleep. As she continued to struggle with her grief over her grandmother’s passing, in addition to the stress of the position she was in, Aira was getting less and less sleep—waking several times each night, the wind rising as she awoke out of agitated stress-dreams. Dylan wished on more than one occasion that her grandmother had lived long enough to give him more training on such kitchen magic—a kind of magic the older woman had excelled in not only out of her alignment with the element of water, but because she had been genuinely interested in it.
“What’s up, bro?” Aiden asked as he stepped into Dylan’s room without knocking. Dylan looked sincerely at his brother.
“I’m starting to get really worried,” Dylan said with a sigh. “I think the elders are going to force a crisis for Aira—and I don’t know how she’ll handle it.”
Aiden sat down, making a face. “I know. After her displays of power, they’ve got to be worried about her. If she can’t hold it together, they’re going to put her to death even before they make their decision on who should rule.”
Dylan groaned. He had made promises to Aira’s grandmother that he and Aiden would stay on to protect her after the older woman’s death. He had promised he would make sure she wasn’t alone. He didn’t regret easing the woman’s mind—and somehow she’d had the foresight to provide instructions to her attorney, separate of her will, to continue paying Aiden and himself for their services as bodyguards for Aira. He appreciated the gesture, since it meant that in the couple of months since the woman’s passing, he and Aiden were not without income—but it almost seemed unfair of them to continue taking money, when they couldn’t guarantee Aira’s safety.
“I don’t think the watery energy inside of Aira is helping her. I think it’s making things worse.”
Aiden looked at his brother quizzically. Dylan explained what had happened, and his thoughts behind why the old woman had done what she had.
“No wonder she’s been the way she has; the water energy’s making her moody, the air energy is making her irritable and anxious. Not a good combination.” Aiden shook his head. “Have you noticed she seems to be leaning on people more and more often? I’m scared for her, Dylan. Not just that they’ll decide to put her to death, but the way she’ll unravel before they do, if she goes that way.”
Dylan paused. He could see that in spite of the way Aiden played off his attachment to Aira, that there was a depth of emotion he hadn’t seen in his older brother before. A true concern for her—the same level of concern that Aiden would have for his own brother. He filed that away in his mind without addressing it.
“If she loses her mind, she could be incredibly destructive. I mean, you saw what she was like when she first came into her full abilities. It wouldn’t be hard to justify the elders putting her to death.”
Dylan watched Aiden start to argue the point—the look of defiance on his older brother’s face—before his bright eyes dimmed and he nodded.
“So what can we do for her?” Dylan chewed his bottom lip in thought.
“We have to get the water energy out of her. I think she’s holding onto it not…not just because it gives her an edge against her competitors who can’t manipulate water energy at all, but because it’s a part of her grandmother, and Aira doesn’t want to give that up.”
Aiden’s eyes widened. “How are we going to do that?” he asked.
Dylan shrugged. “I have no idea. I just know that she’s got to get back to normal energy levels if she’s going to have even a remote chance of survival and holding on to her sanity.”
CHAPTER 9
AIRA WAS APPREHENSIVE AS SHE walked into the building of the elders. Energy swirled inside of her, power flowed along her arms and legs, her mind ran at a million miles per hour. She took a deep breath and heard her grandmother’s voice, a litany of a lesson that she had received on multiple occasions as a child. “Your mind knows the difference between excitement and anxiety—your body does not. You have to bring your mind and body together in order to be able to control either.” Aira felt decidedly anxious at the prospect of her continued testing. The two battles that she had been involved in had been challenging in their own way, but Aira was much more concerned about the testing that would determine her stability—and her fitness to rule psychologically and intellectually.
The elders hadn’t given her any indication in the message they had delivered via Saoirse that actual testing would be going on or any kind of particular trial would be happening. The younger woman had arrived at Aira’s apartment and said simply that the elders wanted to speak with her—not that it was time for the next phase. Aira’s fast-moving mind, trapped in speculation for the entire drive to the temporary headquarters of the elemental elders, had filled with scenarios that might play out. She wished she had brought her tarot cards with her. She was finding it harder and harder to get real answers from the cards—but they might provide her with some guidance for the situation she was about to face.
Aira knew Dylan and Aiden were worried about her. Dylan had suggested the day before that the energy Aira had been given by her grandmother was not helping her as much as the older woman had hoped. Aira could sense the truth in Dylan’s words—she felt increasingly unsteady. The water energy her grandmother had imparted to her had initially helped suppress the wilder aspects of her air energy, but over time she had sensed the stronger energy of her alignment overruling the steady calm of the water energy. She felt as though she was spawning a hurricane inside of herself, an unstoppable force of nature she couldn’t quite control. However, she didn’t know how to release the water energy within her. She had thought that her creation of the storm at the first of her trials would accomplish it, bleeding the energy out of her, sending it into the world once more, b
ut it had not.
Before she, Aiden, and Dylan could come to any kind of conclusion about how to rid her of the problematic energy, Saoirse had showed up, stating that she had to take Aira to the elders. The message she had brought with her had underscored the urgency while at the same time not giving Aira any hint as to what the purpose of the meeting would be. She had asked Aiden and Dylan to follow her, and Saoirse had not—for once—even attempted to argue with them, simply saying that Aiden and Dylan would have to wait outside while Aira spoke to the elders on her own.
Saoirse led Aira not into the arena-style room where the battles had taken place in, but a much smaller space in the court building, where the solemn-looking elders were already seated. A chair sat in the center of the room and Saoirse gestured that Aira was to sit there. She swallowed against the dryness she felt in her throat and sat down in the seat, thinking she couldn’t have felt more intimidated if she was being interrogated by the FBI. For a long moment, silence weighed the room down and Aira felt each one of the elders’ intent gazes on her, watching her as if they were waiting for her to unravel right in front of them. Aira, in spite of her pounding heart and dry mouth, forced herself to remain silent, to not give in to the impulse to communicate which her air-aligned energy brought to the surface immediately. She had learned the hard way not to be the sort of chatterbox that Saoirse tended to be—although the younger woman was less talkative the more often she came up against the combined will of Aira, Aiden, and Dylan. Aira felt a stab of guilt, hoping that her attempts to subvert Saoirse hadn’t done something to damage the girl.
“Aira,” the spokesperson for the elders finally said, standing surprisingly quickly for his age. “Part of the role of an elemental ruler, as I’m sure your grandmother told you, is to determine the fate of elementals of your own alignment—and sometimes those of other alignments—when they pose a risk to the survival of our community as a whole.”
Aira nodded. She forced herself to remain quite in spite of the nervous energy bubbling through her that would normally have prompted her to speak.
“Part of your testing—not an official part, but something we feel is necessary—will be to make such a decision.”
Aira started. If she was not the elemental ruler, why would the elders require this of her? The man had said it wasn’t an unofficial part; was this a particular test for her, in light of her situation? Aira pressed her lips together and counted slowly to five to forestall the hasty and alarmed questions that came to mind.
“I am afraid I don’t understand,” she said calmly, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, as surreptitiously as possible. “I thought there were definitive rules about how such a decision could be made—wouldn’t incorporating this decision into the selection process be in violation of that?”
The elder looked at her sharply. “You are on a short list of only three contenders for the elemental throne,” he said, almost brusquely. “In any case, this particular situation has been hanging in the balance for a long time. A decision has to be made, particularly since this family—and a few elementals who belong to it in particular—have engaged in some particularly risky behaviors in recent weeks.” Aira furrowed her brow, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest.
“I don’t believe this is being brought to me in a way that I have much of a choice in the matter,” she said, hearing the flippant tone in her voice and almost—but not quite—regretting it. She took a deep breath once more to stall any further retorts that rose in her throat. “But if this is a requirement of my testing, of course I will comply with your wishes.”
The elder nodded. “Bring him in,” he called out.
Aira glanced around the room and saw a door on the other side opening up. She was not prepared for the sight of the person who came through the door. Aira truly hadn’t known what to expect—she didn’t know enough air elementals to have suspected any one person or family. But the man who walked through the door, held and steered by two other men, was Alex. He had clearly gotten the worst of a struggle, with cuts and a bruise marking his face. He was chained in iron, grimacing as he shuffled into the room. She flashed back to her brief imprisonment, the time she had been locked in iron cuffs and shackles, the victim of a kidnapping masterminded by an earth elemental who had wanted her to join his family. She saw with relief that the iron trapping Alex, zapping away his elemental abilities and probably causing him pain was at least not pressed directly to his skin.
For a long moment, Aira simply stared at him in shock. She had known the situation Alex’s family was in. Her own grandmother had explained it to her. The family was known to be unstable, to be a risk to the community. Aira’s grandmother had abstained to vote on whether or not the family should be eliminated or whether particular members should be executed while the rest of the family was left to survive. She had put off the decision, knowing Aira might be the one to have to make the choice herself, if she became the ruler of her element. Aira felt a flash of resentment towards her grandmother. It apparently would not even matter whether or not she became the ruler of her element—she was apparently going to be responsible for Alex’s fate no matter what. The resentment burned away Aira’s shock and she turned to face the elders once more.
“I am sorry,” she said, looking particularly at the elders’ spokesman. “But I do not believe that this is a good idea for a test.” She swallowed against the knot in her throat remembering her sense of betrayal. Even knowing in advance that he had an ulterior motive in pursuing her, when she found out that he specifically had wanted to seduce her and impregnate her, to force her to marry him and therefore preserve his family, she had still been bitterly angry.
“Why is that?” the elder asked in a mild voice. Aira felt her face flooding with heat as she blushed deeply.
“Because,” she said, feeling her heart pounding. “I have been romantically involved with this man. I have a history with him. I do not think I could judge impartially.”
The elder smiled slightly. “Aira, as ruler of your element, it would be rare for you to be in a position of complete impartiality. We are perfectly aware of your history with Alex—and we want you to judge him anyway.”
Aira shivered slightly. “Am I required to make my judgment right now, with no additional information?”
The elder shook his head. “You will take Alex in with you for three days, and you will make your decision upon the end of that time. You are responsible for keeping him from escaping while you are gathering information to make your choice. He may only be freed if and when you inform us that you have decided he should be, in this chamber in three days’ time.”
Aira glanced at Alex.
“I need to know what additional crimes he has committed to make this such an urgent matter,” she said firmly. “I know for a fact that I cannot count on Alex to necessarily be forthright with me.” The elders chuckled as if they knew exactly the degree to which Aira’s statement was a wry understatement of fact—and probably, she thought, they did know.
“He has been using his abilities unethically, particularly his abilities of persuasion, among regular humans,” the elder spokesperson said. “He has demonstrated an increasing instability that we feel endangers the elemental community as a whole—but if you determine that he is able to achieve stability, that he can learn to control his abilities and adhere to the ethics of your element, then he can be released with certain safeguards. If you determine that he cannot, then he must be put to death, and the question will arise whether other members of his family are an equal risk.”
Aira’s throat constricted and she decided for her own sanity in the moment, that she would have to get the meeting done as quickly as possible.
“I understand,” she said simply. “I will take him into my house for the three days and return with my decision.” Aira felt almost numb from the combination of shock and dismay, as the elders concluded the proceedings and dismissed her. She knew Aiden and Dylan would be waiting outside. She looked
at the two men who had control of Alex. “Lead him out after me,” she said to them, composing herself and assuming an air she had seen her grandmother use successfully on more than one occasion—a regal, almost haughty air that commanded a kind of instinctive obedience. Aira thought if she could avoid looking at or speaking to Alex for as long as possible, it would be easier to make her decision. The life or death of this man rested in her hands.
Saoirse rejoined Aira and they walked out of the building, followed by the guards and Alex. Dylan and Aiden stared with undisguised shock as Aira made her way to them.
“So,” she said. “We’re going to have a guest sleeping on the couch for three days.” She looked at Aiden and then Dylan. “I have to make a judgment on Alex, as to whether he is capable of being rehabilitated, or if he should be executed.” Dylan’s dark eyes were full of instant sympathy. Aira knew he understood how she was feeling. She glanced at Aiden and saw anger fill his bright blue eyes, before he shuttered the emotion, blinking and clearing it from his face.
“Who is he riding with?” Aiden asked brusquely.
Aira hesitated; she hadn’t considered that. She looked at Saoirse. She knew that she was supposed to ride with her fellow air elemental both to and from her meetings with the elders. Dylan and Aiden had driven their own car. Aira also knew while she was deliberating over the three days the unspoken rule was that she was responsible for Alex’s safety, not just his continued incarceration. She glanced at the two men who were still holding him.
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