Windburn (The Elemental Series Book 4)

by Mayer, Shannon

  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

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  There are always far more people than only a writer behind the making of a book. I am so grateful for the help of my amazing editors, beta readers, proofreaders and formatters. Not in order but: Tina Winograd, Shannon Page, Lysa Lessieur, Jean Faganello (aka Mom) and my ARC Team (too many to list!).

  My two amazing boys who tolerate my wacky brain and sometimes absentminded presence as a new story runs throughly mind. They are my heart and the reason I smile every day.

  I would be remiss if I did not thank my readers. You trust me with characters you have grown to love, and I hope you continue to enjoy the rides and journeys I take you on.

  CHAPTER 1

  efiance is not a word Elementals use lightly; not when it can see us banished from the very places where we draw our strength and feed our soul. Yet the word was one I was beginning to know all too well, in theory as well as in practice.

  I stared across the table at my younger brother, Raven. He stared right back, concern knitting his thick dark brows.

  “Lark, please say you will change your mind and stay here. Stay out of the human world. The more you stray from the tenets of our father and the mother goddess—”

  I waved a hand, cutting him off as I leaned forward with a grimace. My body was still sore from the battles within the Pit, and my muscles protested even that slight movement. “You would rather we leave the king to fend for himself when we all know he isn’t in his right mind? He must name an heir . . . something he has yet to do.”

  That was one reason I needed to go after Father. While little love was lost between him and me, our people needed an heir. How each elemental family replaced their ruler was different, and this was ours. It had to be someone the previous ruler chose with the guidance of the mother goddess.

  As far as we knew, Father hadn’t chosen anyone. Which meant if he died, there could easily be civil war. Already lines were drawn within the Rim as to which sibling our people would back if it came to war.

  Worse, Cassava could return and technically, as the first wife of the king, could take over. As strong as she was, that scenario was a distinct possibility. On my lap, Peta stirred and looked up at me, her green eyes clear as emeralds.

  “You must tell me about her sometime, Lark. I sense great pain in you when you think of her name.” Her words were soft enough I didn’t think Raven heard. Most likely he didn’t realize Peta was my familiar. No one in the Rim had ever been handed a feline as a companion. Ever.

  Most of my elemental family thought she was a cat I’d picked up. A stray. And for the most part, I hoped to keep it that way.

  Peta made an excellent spy when people didn’t know she could comprehend.

  My brother tipped his head back, and his throat bobbed as he seemed to struggle for words. I, on the other hand, did not suffer that particular ailment.

  “Raven, I appreciate your concern, I do. But there really is no other choice. We all know it, but—”

  Lifting his left hand, he waved it once between us, and for a moment, I caught a glimmer of green as lines of power trickled up his arms. I could see when another elemental was about to use their power, and the intent behind the usage. A gift—as far as I knew—only I had. Rather handy in a fight. Which, the way my last few months had been going, was almost a daily issue.

  On the loaded table in front of us, a vine shot up through the cracks. A creeping larkspur vine flowered violet blue blossoms as he reached out and touched it.

  “You are stronger than we all knew, Lark. And deadly, I am beginning to think, not unlike your namesake. Do you know our siblings talk about you when they gather?”

  Snagging an overripe peach from the table, I took a bite out of the flesh. The juices—sweet with the last rays of the summer sun—dripped down my chin and onto Peta’s head. She flicked her ears and glared at me before jumping from my lap to my shoulder where she groomed herself.

  I swallowed, making him wait for my answer. “When are they not talking about me? I’m the half-breed bastard turned Ender. I’m the blemish and blight on our family tree, if you recall.”

  Raven shook his head, reached across the table and took a hunk of fresh cheese off my plate. I glowered at him in mock anger.

  “That was before what happened with Keeda.” He popped the cheese into his mouth and chewed while his words settled around me.

  The sweet taste of the peach’s juice turned to dust in my mouth, and I struggled with the second bite. Guilt roared through me like a lion unleashed on unsuspecting prey. “What are you talking about?”

  He leaned forward, his blue eyes intense as they bored into mine. “They know what you did to her. They don’t know how, I don’t know how. But they know the way she is . . . you did it. And it scares them. Elementals do stupid things when scared, you know that.”

  The peach rolled out of my suddenly numb fingers, and dropped to the table. I lowered my hands to my thighs, gripping the fabric of my pants. “What . . . are they saying exactly?”

  “That you broke her mind. That you are some sort of freak because of your half-breed status. There are rumors coming from the Pit that maybe . . . maybe you aren’t half human like we always thought. Maybe your mom was a—” His mouth clicked shut and his face paled at a rather alarming rate. Perspiration beaded his upper lip as he gripped the edge of the table.

  Raven was afraid of me.

  “What do you think she was? A goblin?” The words were light, but the tension between us was anything but.

  “A Spirit Elemental,” he breathed out.

  There, the words were finally in the open. I didn’t deny them, seeing as my mother was exactly what he thought.

  “Are you talking to the others? To Vetch and Briar?” I made myself say the words, and to not cringe as I spoke them. Raven was one of two siblings I was close with. He was of an age that Bramley—my brother, who Cassava had killed—would have been. Raven always stood with me, tried to help soften the cruelty of his mother and our other siblings. With the recent changes in Bella’s relationship with me, he was no longer the only one I could truly call a friend as well as a sibling. But the thought that he was afraid of me burned a hole straight through my heart. “Raven, please tell me you aren’t afraid, too.”

  Clutching the table, he slowly shook his head. “I don’t know what to believe. Vetch says the information about Keeda came from someone he trusted. Someone who had no reason to lie to him. And now your reaction confirms the truth in it. If you would hurt her, one of the weakest siblings, what would you try to do to the rest of us?”

  Goose shit and green sticks, I was my own worst enemy. “So Vetch, Briar, and you have been discussing whether I’m dangerous to you?”

  “And Bella,” he said softly, his eyes flicking downward.

  If he had taken one of the carving knives and jammed it into my stomach, I’m not sure it would have hurt any more than the sharp pain his words cut into me.
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  “Bella wouldn’t,” I spat out, pushing back from the table. Whatever appetite I had was gone.

  “It’s not like that, Lark. She . . . she’s the ruler right now; she has to know the mood of her people. And like it or not, any of our siblings could be in line for the throne. Bella is being smart; she needs to keep her fingers in every discussion she can. Particularly when it comes to our siblings.”

  I didn’t want her to be smart. I wanted her to tell them they were horrible and that she trusted me even though I had to make tough choices. She of all the people in my life knew the truth of what happened to Keeda in the Pit.

  Thinking she was about to become the new queen of the Pit, Keeda had attacked me. Wearing a disguise, I’d thought her to be my stepmother, Cassava. I’d used everything at my disposal to stop her, including my untrained, and wildly unpredictable, ability with Spirit.

  In doing so, I’d burned out my sister’s mind, taking away her personality and memories, along with most of her ability to speak—everything that made her an Elemental. The grief and horror of my actions were raw, oozing like an infection I couldn’t heal.

  Anger cut through the weaker emotions. Belladonna knew I had had no choice but to stop Keeda the way I had. Damn her for turning on me.

  Peta dug into my bare shoulder, jabbing me with her tiny—yet ridiculously sharp—claws. “Don’t be a fool. They are wary with reason.”

  The anger slid out of me with a slow exhale. She was right, as was so often the case. “Please don’t be afraid of me. Please. I promise I would never hurt you. You’re my favorite brother.”

  A tentative smile crept over his lips, curling up more on one side than the other. “I believe you. I’ll try to sway Vetch and Briar, but they are scared. Terrified, actually, if I am honest.”

  “Fear makes people do stupid things,” I said, repeating his words. “What do you think they are planning?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing yet. A lot of talk about how horrible you are. How much Vetch hates you and wishes you’d died along with your mom and brother.”

  “Right. So nothing new there.”

  “Nope, sorry, sis. You still suck rotten apples even though you’ve saved the Deep and the Pit. In the Rim, you’re still nothing but a dirty little Planter.” He winked to soften the words, but there was for the first time a feeling of discord in him I’d never sensed before.

  Almost like he believed what he was saying. The urge to use Spirit to discern how truthful he was snaked through me. I tamped it down. Every time I used Spirit, I lost a part of myself.

  Eventually, if I kept using it, I would end up like Cassava. A twisted, cruel version of the person I’d once been. Besides, this was Raven. Like Bella, I knew he had my back. Wasn’t he proving it by giving me the heads-up on my siblings? Yes and yes.

  “Raven, stay out of trouble while I’m gone, will you?” I stepped away from the table. A part of me wanted to hug him goodbye, but after our conversation, I wasn’t sure he’d let me touch him. Better to not reach for him and be rejected.

  He stood. “What, no hug?”

  So I wrapped my arms around him, gratitude flowing down my cheeks. I brushed the tears away with one hand. “Thanks.”

  He rubbed my back in a slow circle with one hand as he squeezed me tightly. “Nothing to it. Figured if you were going to do me in, it would have been when I filched the cheese from your plate.”

  Do him in . . . was that how my siblings thought of me? As a rampant killer out to annihilate my own family? I didn’t realize I was out of the kitchen until I was on the stairs that led up and out of the Spiral, my emotions and Raven’s words chasing me like hounds on a fox.

  Peta swayed on my shoulder. “Where are we going? To see Bella?”

  Much as I wanted to see my sister and have her reassure me, I needed to be strong.

  “To the Enders Barracks. You’re right about Bella. She’s doing her job and I have to do mine; I don’t need to bother her with silly insecurities.” I stepped out of the Spiral and looked into the swaying branches of the redwoods around us. Filtering between the trees, the morning fog rolled in as if a living entity. This was home, and no matter how far I went, no matter how long I was forced away, my heart belonged here. Hopefully the search for Father would be the last excursion I had for a long while.

  “Did you mean what you said to Raven about finding your father?” she asked.

  “I promised Bella I would go after him,” I said as I trotted down the steps, “and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  CHAPTER 2

  gaggle of children ran by me, laughing and squealing as they chased one another. Peta’s eyes followed them. “What I would give to be oblivious to the responsibilities of the world and be a kitten once more.”

  Her words triggered a thought that had been burrowing for some time in my brain. I had responsibilities I needed to check in on.

  I was in the possession of not one, but two precious stone rings. Long before I’d ever been born, the Elementals had been a bit naughty. To remind them of their place, the mother goddess went to the five nations of man. For each, she fashioned a powerful stone to be held in times of need to help rule a portion of the elemental world and keep humans safe. The humans with the stones helped keep the world in balance.

  Those stones were supposed to be legend, yet I’d found four of the five. They weren’t all rings, but they were all powerful. The two I still had in my possession controlled Spirit and Air. I’d hidden them away so those who would abuse their power would not get their hands on them. And I needed to make sure both stones were hidden still.

  I couldn’t allow that much power to fall into the wrong hands.

  Twisting on my heel, I changed direction and headed out to the Planters’ fields. As early as it was, the Planters were already doing their job, tending to the seedlings, bringing water from the ravine and working the soil for late fall planting.

  I’d spent most of my life here, struggling to make a plant even sprout. For so long I’d been blocked from my connection to the earth, but the Planters, for the most part, had accepted me as one of their own. Yet as I walked past them, not one lifted their eyes to me. I looked for Simmy, my old friend, and saw her one daughter. Waving, I caught her attention.

  “Petal, where is your mother?”

  “She died when the lung burrowers spread,” she said, her tone more than a little frosty.

  I closed my eyes and whispered a prayer to the mother goddess for Simmy’s soul. “I’m sorry.”

  “You should be.”

  I was more than a little dumbfounded. “Excuse me?”

  “I said you should be.” She poked at my chest with her hard, soil-blackened finger. “Cassava wouldn’t have done that with them burrowers if there was no interference. She would have been a strong queen. And now what do we have? A king who’s gone on a walkabout with no one to rule but his useless wife, or worse, his untested, pregnant daughter. Pregnant with an Undine’s baby. Yet another half-breed to pollute our world.”

  I took a step back. Not out of fear. At least not in the conventional sense. I was afraid I’d wrap my hands around her neck and squeeze until either she retracted her venomous words or she stopped speaking altogether. “That is your soon to be queen. I’d watch your tongue if I were you.”

  “I doubt it, half-breed.” She spat at my feet.

  Peta’s tail flicked around my neck and her cold, damp nose shoved into my ear, hiding the fact she spoke. “You can do nothing right now, and fighting would only prove them right. Ignore them and keep walking, Dirt Girl.”

  Forcing my feet to move, I walked toward Petal, forcing her either to step out of my way or get trampled.

  She moved at the last second, so I ended up thumping my shoulder into hers.

  “Half-breed freak,” Petal said before she spat at my feet a second time. The two pieces of my spear hanging at my side beckoned me with a deadly whisper. One quick twist and the weapon would be whole. I could hold the b
lade to her throat and force her to apologize.

  Before Peta could say anything, I’d already tamped the anger down. We were clear of the planting fields now. “Peta, how can they be so blind? Cassava was the one who brought the lung burrowers, then held our family hostage with the cure.”

  Peta was quiet for a moment. “The humans have a funny saying I heard once, and I didn’t understand it at the time as I was very young. But more and more I see it to be true. ‘The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.’ They knew Cassava, knew she was horrible and out of her mind.”

  Slowly I nodded, understanding what she was getting at. “And so they would rather deal with Cassava than an unknown factor. Even if it’s Bella.”

  “Or your father.” She shook her head. “From what I’ve gleaned in the last few days, he didn’t rule much. Cassava ruled through him. In his own way, he is an unknown factor to his own people.”

  “Damn.” I breathed the word out. She was right.

  “So bringing him back doesn’t really give them a measure of peace, because in their minds, you are bringing back a puppet.”

  Her words didn’t have long to echo in my ears before a new problem arose, one I’d been dreading. The blasted field section of the Rim was where the earth had died. A plague long before I’d been born had eaten away at the dirt and now nothing was left. No power to draw, no nutrients for plants and animals. And it was where I had hidden the two gemstones.

  The gray earth had footprints all around, crisscrossing back and forth.

  “Oh, this is bad, Peta,” I whispered. “How in the seven hells did anyone figure out where I’d hidden them?”

  “Hidden what?” She leapt from my shoulder and sniffed the ground. “I smell nothing. I see footprints but there is no scent. There is only one Elemental I know who can do that.”