“You know I wouldn’t leave you if I thought you weren’t ready.” Zum pulled her in for another hug. “Water emergencies are easy to fix. Find water and get in it.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She cherished the new closeness between them, the connection beyond anything she’d ever experienced with her cousins or brothers.
“You won’t ever have to know since we’ll be BFFs forevah.” Zum hooked her hair behind her ears and opened the door. “It’s your turn, EB.” She punched him lightly in the arm. “Get her Fire and Air where they need to be. It’s time to show Seanair who’s the true elemental boss.”
Elspeth grabbed the oh-shit handle as Aleron pushed the Mini Cooper to its limits.
Taming four powers was like being on a never-ending roller coaster and trying to not puke while enjoying every thrilling second of the loops, the stomach-wrenching drops, and the halting jerk at the end of the ride.
She turned off the satellite radio, unable to take any more Megadeth while racing up I-87 for Tarrytown. She understood Aleron’s anxiety about the meeting, his simmering rage at Seanair, but she patted the door handle of her poor little car in apology for having to endure a Fire’s wrath.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to check the screen.
Lach: Knew you were a legend. Had a feeling Mother N was playing tricks.
Aleron had been right. Once they’d left the building and he’d dropped his shields, the Natura rumor mill had blown up.
Where are you? Call me!
Can’t. You got this. Will teach you how to kick Fire and Air ass soon.
When will you be back in the States?
After a minute or so with no response, she sighed, wishing she could see him. With her new powers, she would be able to sense Lach’s elements and would know exactly what was going on.
“Is something wrong?” Aleron’s gaze cut from the road and back.
He’d been unusually quiet this morning, bringing her coffee and toast to the bathroom while she got ready. He’d wanted one more day to work with her, but it cost him too much energy to maintain the shields on her apartment. She had to admit that she might need Seanair’s help, and Aleron had, too, which nearly sent his temper into orbit.
“Lach texted to tell me he knows. If my Nexus news made it to Antarctica, then Seanair surely knows.”
And she could only imagine what her grandfather would say.
“Seanair misses nothing.” His gaze stayed steady on the road. “Try not to worry about Lach. If he’s with Isidora, he’s in good hands. She’s rumored to have a soft spot for rebels.” His words were meant to comfort her, but the thought of Lach so far away upped her worry.
Frustration rode her, as she needed to get up to speed with her elements quicker. She’d made progress, but not fast enough. Aleron had wanted to work with her for another twenty-four hours before she saw Seanair, but that wouldn’t have been enough time to make a major difference.
Today was the day.
“I understand why it bothers you, but I need to see Seanair alone. He won’t harm me, and it’s important to me to say what I need to say. My history with my grandfather is complicated and strained. I’m done with his half-truths.”
She needed to learn everything about the Lennox family businesses, not just the Kindred part. A foreboding came over her at what she’d discover.
The steering wheel’s leather creaked under his grip. “He’s no doubt already cooked up a plan to maximize your value to him. You’re now his most valuable asset.”
“He can’t order me around anymore. I’m strong, and I think he’ll find me much less agreeable.” Not yet as strong as Aleron, but she’d get there. “Trust me to address the situation, okay? No matter how I feel about my grandfather, I’d rather have him with me than against me.”
He downshifted and took a corner hard, the engine’s high-pitched whirr and the squeal of the tires filling the car as they raced past the statuesque, leafiness of überwealthy suburbia. Tarrytown. Thirteen miles outside Manhattan, but an hour by car in traffic, with the feel of a small town but with gated driveways, stone walls, and megamansions.
“It’s not you I have a trust problem with.” He made the turn onto her grandfather’s street.
She couldn’t have this conversation now, but they needed to talk about his father and his family. There was still so much she didn’t know about the situation, but there had to be something she could do to hold Seanair accountable.
“I’ll get in and get out.” She let go of the handle as they whipped into the drive. “My goal’s to leave the matchmaking business to do something more important. I have all the elements in me, which means I should do something for the good of all Natura.”
She eyed the two solid-steel posts standing in front of a gate flanked by two massive, stacked-stone columns, repeating her vow to herself silently. She could do this. She could do this.
She would do this.
She didn’t come to the Tarrytown house often, preferring to meet Seanair in the city. There was no call box or guardhouse, but the whole area reeked of money and mistrust with fences and security staff and cameras everywhere.
“You should know he’s had Elite One watching your brothers and cousins.” His gaze cut toward her. “There’s so much for you to learn about the true nature of his businesses. Yes, he looks after North American Naturas, but protection comes at a price. He’s had someone in California keeping tabs on Graham in the lab. He knows every move your cousins make. He’s got a team ready to deploy should Lach lose it.”
Her stomach turned at his confirmation of her suspicions. She did have a lot to learn, but her grandfather couldn’t deny her access any longer. She was counting on him wanting to keep his Nexus close, and she wouldn’t settle for anything less than being in her grandfather’s inner circle.
And keeping Aleron. Her bodyguard would not be reassigned, unless he wanted to be.
Large, obvious, stay-away cameras mounted in the surrounding majestic trees swiveled toward them. The posts lowered into the ground, and the massive, wrought-iron gate slid back slowly in its track.
“Promise me you’ll give me the time and the chance to change things.” She rested a hand on his leg, the power coursing through them both thick inside the car.
To hold my grandfather fully accountable. To get justice for your family.
“I promise.” He put the car in gear and pulled through the gate.
He stopped the car and shifted toward her, stroking a hand down her face.
“Trust me to handle my grandfather.” She slid her hand over his on the gearshift. “And trust us. I don’t care about class bullshit or Natura expectations. I’m choosing my future, and if you want to be with me, I want you in it.”
She shifted in her seat, knowing she’d fallen for him, a massive face-plant into the best man she’d ever met.
“I fully intend to take on real responsibility, and I’m counting on you to educate me.” She wagged her brows, hoping to lessen the tension she sensed whipping a firestorm inside him.
“Call me Professor anytime.” He took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “We can’t ignore the Earth and Water situation forever.”
“Later,” she whispered, not about to entertain the idea of sleeping with someone else. “Let’s get this over with.” She trained her gaze on the long, straight driveway striped by two wide swaths of green grass.
He put the car in gear, and they went straight up the drive, faster than she would have, and he eased the car into the circular turnaround with practiced ease.
“He definitely knows,” Aleron bit out, his frustration palpable in the tiny car. “The power dampeners are off.”
“What are those?”
“Relics fueled by blood to dampen the powers of those who haven’t been given clearance. Seanair likely took a blood sample from you and your siblings and cousins as babies so your energies wouldn’t be affected.”
Looked like h
er grandfather’s many homes were actually elemental fortresses.
Aleron surveyed every pebble, flower, and blade of grass as he walked beside her up the wide stone steps to the front door. As they moved beneath the portico, the knowledge settled deep inside her. The love of her life stood beside her. Aleron was…home. A home all of Seanair’s money couldn’t buy. A security she’d never had.
Looking at the doormat, she concentrated and tried to create the same safety cone around him that she sensed he’d placed around her.
Protect him, she ordered her elements, facing him and staring up into his face. Guard him like you guard me.
Light shimmered around him, a quick rainbow of red, white, green, blue that hovered, caressing him, then disappeared into his skin. She could sense the barrier, an invisible force field she didn’t think he could detect.
Thank you. He’s important. She recalled how it’d felt to commune with Water, how the honor went both ways. A zing went through her, a we-got-him elemental salute, and a surety resonated inside her.
She could do this. She could have him. She could help her people and figure out how to save Lach.
She went up on her tiptoes, clasped his waist, and kissed him.
“Might as well start this meeting on my terms.” She gave him a last quick peck, his wide eyes awash with red and white, his new Air cozying up beside his Fire. “Wait in the foyer. I’ll be fifteen minutes.”
She went to turn the handle, and the door opened.
Seanair’s longtime butler, Miller, extended his hand. “Miss Lennox. What a pleasure. What—Goddess bless me. You’re real.” He bowed like he’d walked up on a deity, his tone filled with awe.
She walked into the rotunda with its soaring, twenty-foot ceilings and its polished walnut floors. Everything had a recently cleaned sparkle, and the scent of pine perfumed the air. As Miller closed the door, she sensed his Beta power.
“I’m the same person, Miller.” Would every Natura act this way around her?
“No. No. I—he wants to see you right away.” Miller rushed down a long hallway.
“Brace yourself. He’ll be angry.” Aleron assumed his guard position by the front door.
Anger frothed inside her. Seanair wasn’t going to treat him like a second-class Natura anymore—or anyone, for that matter.
“Can you not stand like that?” she whispered harshly, keeping an eye out for Miller. “It’s not like that between us. It will never be like that between us again.”
“I won’t make things harder for you.” A don’t-test-me look darkened his expression. “When it’s just us, I’ll be myself. In public, I’ll be what others expect me to be.”
His gaze shifted to the grandfather clock.
“He will see you now.” Miller turned back, and his gaze swung between her and Aleron.
She followed the butler down the long corridor, sensing Aleron close behind.
Miller opened the door to the grand library overlooking the gardens, bowing again as if she were a queen.
She gave an I’ll-be-okay nod to Aleron, who stood at attention off the entry, and walked in.
The door shut with a sharp click, almost like a gun cocking.
Her grandfather sat at his desk, The Wall Street Journal open and shielding his face. Light streamed through the wall of windows behind him, but he didn’t lower the newspaper.
Fine. She’d play his power game.
And win.
She took a seat in one of the two chairs facing his desk. Fire crackled in the fireplace to her right, flanked by floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with books, their mustiness teasing her nose. What she wouldn’t give to shut herself in this room alone and dig through his library of ancient tomes. Surely someone must have penned The Complete Guide to Being a Nexus.
“How long?” Her grandfather neatly folded the paper.
“How long have I known?”
“Yes.”
“Since yesterday morning. I got a birthday visit from the power fairy.” She sensed the brewing storm fogging up the room but couldn’t stem her irritation at his cool treatment. “Flora and Kazumi know. They had to help with Earth and Water. I was a mess.”
His elbows on the armrests, Seanair tapped his fingertips together. No smile. No warmth.
“Who tended Fire and Air? Wait, let me guess. The man I watched you kiss outside my front door on my camera feed?”
“Yes. Aleron’s been a lifesaver.” She met his glare, not about to hide who Aleron was to her.
“I’m sure he was.” He crossed a leg and eyed her like she’d tracked mud across the carpet. “It was a mistake to not trust me first. You could have spawned a tornado as easily as a light breeze. Ages ago, Nero started the Great Fire of Rome because he thought he could shirk his training.”
“Aleron handled the situation perfectly.” Her hackles erupted. “If you’d allowed me to take upper-level training after boarding school, I wouldn’t have been so clueless.”
“It would have been cruel of me to rub your nose in your deficiencies.” He waved a hand, as if bored.
She caught the curl of Air energy teasing her nose. “If you want to know my capabilities, ask.”
She cast off his attempt to measure her strength and mentally high-fived herself at the catch. Maybe she wouldn’t be a complete failure at this Nexus thing.
Seanair pushed back in his chair, his hands still joined.
“Aleron’s crossed a line I didn’t think needed drawing. He seems to have forgotten our agreement. I’ll have to deliver a reminder.”
She gripped the arms of her chair. “He’s a good man. He’s protected me. If you try to harm him or anyone in his family—again—you will be sorry. I know exactly what happened to his father, and you will pay for what you did. You killed that man in cold blood.”
“Is that what he told you? I suppose you know everything now that you’re a legend come to life. A know-it-all Nexus isn’t what I need.”
She’d wanted to talk to Aleron before confronting Seanair, but she couldn’t keep quiet.
“Do you think I’m going to support your assassination-fits-all policy? You ruined the Foussé family. You took everything from a young boy and then condemned him to a life as a hit man because you chose power over your supposed best friend. Bill Foussé was an honest man dedicated to doing the right thing, and you murdered him.”
Red flashed in the blue of his eyes.
“I regret the event.”
She’d come with the tiniest hope she could salvage something with him, get a glimpse of the Grandie she’d once known. When was she going to stop thinking the best of people? He’d changed for the worse, and the only good thing left were memories.
“I don’t know you anymore. Mathair died, and you became a monster.” Her Fire ignited again, and her hand shook as she tried to keep from lighting up the curtains.
“You have no idea what I deal with on an hourly basis. You are, however, full of surprises.” His gaze drew down her as if seeing her for the first time. “Some of my goals may no longer be out of reach.”
Oh, please. Did he really believe his own bullshit?
“Your goals? Naturas aren’t people to you, they’re…disposable.”
His eyes turned a stormy blue. A cunning smile pulled slowly across his face, and a breeze rustled her hair.
“Do you really believe your Mathair died of heart failure?”
Her elements stilled to an eerie calm, her pulse a drum in her ears.
“That’s what you told us. That her heart stopped.”
“Guess who stopped it?” The lines at the corners of his eyes deepened. “Nothing smart to say?” His eyes narrowed, his pupils pit viper sharp. “I did it. The day she tried to puncture the lungs of your brothers and squeeze them flat like spent balloons.”
He’d loved Mathair. More than life. More than them. More than anything.
“I don’t believe you. Lach was, what? Eighteen. Graham was sixteen. They’d remember that.”
“Not after ingesting a memory tonic.” He rolled his eyes at her evidently non-poker face. “Witches are occasionally useful.”
“Mathair had the tripowered disease?” She couldn’t remember any signs or symptoms and grasped for the only thing that made sense.
“Yes, and she turned in a blink. Manageable to murderous is usually how it goes, so forgive me if I don’t lament openly about your brother,” he spat. “Every time I look at him, I relive killing my wife.”
“Grandie.” His old name slipped out, and she slapped a hand to her mouth.
“Don’t you dare pity me. That’s what leadership is. You sit here and insult me when you haven’t a clue what’s at stake. Her death was an agreement we made together should the situation turn fatally south. You should make the same deal with Lach now that you can pull it off.”
A cocktail of resignation and dread stirred and burned sour in her stomach. She got up and went to the fireplace, uneasy at the ripe, raw Fire and Air energy circling the room. Seanair came up beside her, approaching her as if she were a chessboard.
“I’m not wasting my time on matchmaking,” she told him. “I don’t know enough yet, but I can feel something’s odd with all the elements.” She’d noticed an occasional speed bump in her energies, or maybe that was her not knowing what the hell she was doing. “I’m not kissing Natura ass anymore either.”
“No, but they’ll be kissing yours. There is a better role for you. I need to bring back the Natura High Court. You can be the sole Judex.” He looked from the flames to her.
“People will not accept another Lennox acting as a dictator.”
A low laugh rumbled. “You have so much to learn about our people. Most of them are not the do-gooders you believe. They act like children trying to steal each other’s elemental toys.”
“Let me guess. Your version of justice equates to punishment.” She met his gaze and held it. “Our people sound broken. I’ll work to heal them.”
“Are you taking the role as Judex or not?”
A sense of this is it ripped through her.
“Yes.” She wasn’t about to ignore her gut.
“You cannot marry him.”
The Call of Fire: A Natura Elementals Novel Page 24
