Great. My brother really did want to go to a war and there were idiots who agreed with him. What did he promise them? Free elements for everyone? “If he already has his own little group, why is he still asking me to give him the presidency? It isn’t like he couldn’t jump on the stage and take the word from me.”
“I don’t know. Maybe the presidency of the Element Preservers isn’t completely worthless to him, especially if he promised to his supporters that he’d get it. Maybe it’s some kind of a test for him so everyone can see he can be a leader.” Lily’s tone was full of disapproval. I wondered whether she still loved my brother or she doubted her feelings for him.
“My brother is weird sometimes.” A crazy theory came to my mind. What if the government had hired Oliver to kill me? Ethan was working for the government, and Oliver had an agreement with Ethan’s father. The government wouldn’t have accepted to work with someone who had a carrier in the family, but maybe they made an exception for Ethan because they needed him.
Ethan’s father could only be an intermediary between the government and my brother. I knew Ethan’s father was rich, but would he really have enough money to pay for the weapons or had that money come from the government? Of course, the government would never give money to someone who planned to destroy them, but maybe Ethan’s father never told them he had another secret agreement with Oliver. Nah, Oliver would never accept to work for the government, even if the agreement was fake, and I believed he wouldn’t really kill me. So yeah, I was back to being clueless what the government and my brother planned to do.
I spotted Adrian coming toward us, his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans. The doctor had insisted to check on him, but Adrian refused. I was grateful the bullet had only grazed him.
“You shouldn’t go to the protest,” he said, his gray-blue eyes unyielding. “Paula is safe and the government doesn’t hold any of us as hostages, so you could hide somewhere until it’s all over.”
I cocked my head. “What about you? Do you plan to go? As one of the protesters?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
I threw my hands up in frustration. “Then I have to go too. Besides, I want to have a nice little chat with Ethan. The president will send him to pick me up.”
“I’ll kill him if he even looks at you.” Adrian’s tone was icier than his element.
“Aww, that’s sweet.” My lips spread into a smile.
“Do you intend to hold that speech?”
“I don’t know yet. Maybe I should listen to my brother and tell people everything about the president and the government.” I played with the strand of my hair, twirling it around my finger.
“The police will shoot you as soon as you mention the president’s name.” Adrian bit his lip. “Why don’t you just come to the protest with me? Don’t hold a speech or anything, ok?” He looked at me through his eyelashes. “For me? Please?”
“I’ll think about it. But first we need to figure out what’s going on.” I couldn’t promise him something if I wasn’t sure about it. “I know I don’t want to die. That’s for sure.”
“Then don’t go anywhere with Ethan. You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to. Go with your guards until we find out what’s going on.” His smile was more of a grimace.
“But I told you I want to talk to Ethan. Alone.” I met his eyes.
His eyebrows shot upward. “You can find him during the protest. Tell him to meet you at the square. There will be a lot of unknown people around you, but no one will be able to tell who did what, if you know what I mean.”
A slow smile quirked my lips. “Give me your phone. I need to call Ethan and tell him the plan has changed.” The government and Ethan wouldn’t fuck me over this time.
Chapter 30
In my wildest dreams, I’d have never imagined so many people at the main square, especially at the protest against the government. It was strange to be surrounded by people who didn’t have elements or whose elements were merely a weak pulse inside of them. I had my fake element-blocking bracelet on my wrist, just in case some of the carriers around me started asking questions.
Lily’s team was ready and waiting, but I couldn’t see them. I could hear them if they had something to tell me because of the fancy device on my ear that resembled an earring. A familiar element called my attention and I was surprised Ethan wasn’t blocking his element. He’d have to be extremely brave or stupid to parade around with a pure element in a place full of carriers.
The police was monitoring the whole event, so maybe Ethan hoped he’d provoke someone. It would be bad press for carriers if one of them attacked a person with an element because it would prove we couldn’t live together in peace. No one would even consider the possibility that the carrier might have been provoked.
The satisfied expression on Ethan’s face didn’t change when he spotted me in the crowd. “Ah, there you are. I was wondering how I was supposed to find you, but you didn’t give me a chance to ask earlier when you called. It’s nice to see you.”
“I can’t say the same.” My face twisted into a sneer. How could he stand in front of me and pretend everything was fine between us? How could he look me in the eye and not feel anything for what he had done to Paula?
“I must admit I’d prefer if you were dead.” The corners of his lips quirked up as if we were exchanging pleasantries. “But at least Paula was there to alleviate my frustration.”
My blood boiled and I wrapped my fingers around his arm. “You’re sick. You disgust me.”
He pulled his arm out of my grip, curling his lip at me. “I never liked you, but Paula... She’s so sweet.”
I was barely containing myself from jumping at his throat. “Never? Not even in the beginning?”
“No, never.” He breathed the last word into my face.
“So it was all a pretense.” He’d never been only a guy who was interested me and a victim of the government.
“Of course. The government sent me to feign interest in you.” He scoffed. “I’d never like someone who works with carriers. You did piss me off, though, when you refused my advances.”
“Your father works with carriers.” Oliver had pretty much confirmed it, so there was no way Ethan could deny his father was a carrier, and since he supported my brother, he was working with carriers too.
Ethan paled and his eyes widened. “Careful what you’re saying, bitch.” He grabbed me by the shoulder, his fingers digging into my skin.
“I know your father is a carrier. Don’t try to deny it.” I pried his fingers off my shoulder and shivered. His element was a wonderful and powerful pretty little thing. One part of me wanted it, but the other part was horrified by such thoughts. I didn’t want anything of Ethan’s, especially not his element... if it was even possible for me to take it.
“I won’t, but if you tell someone, I will kill you.” His dark brown eyes were like shiny daggers.
“How can you hate carriers if your father is one of them?” He’d never been chatty before, but now that all the cards were on the table, maybe he’d be more forthcoming.
“My father is not a real carrier,” Ethan hissed. “He got the disease because he fucked a sweet little painter.”
Interesting. So, according to Ethan, only the carriers who inherited the disease were real carriers and everyone else was fake or something. God. His mind was a dark, twisted place. No wonder his family didn’t like painting. I supposed Ethan’s paintings were the only real thing about him in the whole charade.
“Do you know how many times he almost killed me when I was a child?” Ethan continued, working himself into rage. “But I’ll get my revenge and destroy all carriers for ruining my life! You don’t know how happy and angry at the same time I was when I overheard a carrier talking to my father about your involvement with carriers. You were supposed to protect our elements, not work with the monsters!”
The carrier Ethan had overheard must have been my brother. I should have asked Lily
whether Oliver had mentioned me to his supporters, but he must have convinced them he’d gotten the disease from someone rather than admitted he’d inherited it. Even my family believed in that misconception. If Oliver had revealed our family’s secret, someone would have already exposed me.
“And how do you plan to get your glorious revenge?” I laughed, aware that I’d only piss him off more.
Ethan’s eyes darkened, but he looked away from me. “It’s time. You have to get on the stage.” He took a step forward, but I didn’t move. “Are you deaf?”
“I don’t feel like going on the stage right now.”
Ethan grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me in the direction of the stage, ignoring the curious looks of the passersby.
“Ria! Can you hear me?” A panicked voice pierced through my mind and it took me a second to realize it was coming from my special earring. “The whole square is surrounded by bombs! The government didn’t plan to kill you. They planned to kill everyone! Someone probably has a trigger for the bombs. Our satellite images show the army forces gathering in the suburb. They’ll be here soon. It’s a war!” I pressed the earring closer to my ear, barely comprehending what was going on as the voice continued. “Get rid of Ethan and run! We’re about to use all of our megaphones to tell people to disperse.”
I looked at Ethan, my mouth hanging open, my legs rooted to the spot. It had never been about me. I was dumb enough to think that I was the government’s sole concern when they... They wanted to get rid of all carriers and their supporters. How would they ever explain such a massacre? I didn’t have time to think about that now.
Ethan eyed me with mistrust. “Why’d you stop? Let’s go!”
“You,” I said, facing him. “You have the trigger!” I threw myself at him and tackled him to the ground before he had time to react. The megaphones sounded in the distance and people around us started shouting and running, bumping into each other, but I didn’t have time to look where they were going or what they were doing. Patting the pockets of his black jacket, I tried to find the trigger. He grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me off of him.
I rolled to the ground and quickly got to my feet, but he was already up too. “You can’t simply kill thousands of innocent people.”
“God of Magic doesn’t think they’re innocent and neither do I,” he spat. Someone shoved me from behind and I stumbled. Afraid that Ethan would run away and disappear in this chaos, I threw a fireball in his direction. He dodged it with ease because I couldn’t risk hitting anyone else. I tried to jump at him again, but a fireball came at me at a mind-boggling speed. I ducked and barely managed to avoid it. Someone yelped behind me, and the smell of singed hair told me I hadn’t gone unscathed either.
Ethan and I circled each other, the crowd thinning around us. I wondered why Ethan hadn’t used the trigger before everyone managed to flee, but I guessed he didn’t want to part with his life so easily. The bastard’s plan must have been to escort me to the stage and disappear, then trigger the bombs from a place where he couldn’t get hurt. Of course, there was always a possibility that he didn’t have the trigger and was only playing along until someone else used it, but he was the one the president trusted.
“You won’t stand a chance against me.” Ethan laughed. “I’m stronger than you.”
“That’s what you think.” He was right, but I had to stall him until everyone got away from the bombs. He moved to the left, I moved to the right. He threw a fireball, I dodged. I created a wall of fire behind his back to prevent him from running, he did the same to me. But when he formed a wall of fire in front of me, I coated myself in my fire and rolled right through his wall. My left arm hurt like hell, and I realized I had a nasty red burn right above my elbow. I swore and Ethan grinned, clearly entertained.
The screeching of tires, screams and gunfire filled my ears, but I was afraid to look away from Ethan.
“Looks like the army arrived.” He smacked his lips together in satisfaction, as if he’d just eaten a good meal. “All carriers and their sympathizers will be dead and no one will live to tell the truth about what happened. But guess who will get blamed for the whole thing? The world will hate carriers and hunt them all down.”
“That can happen only in your dreams.” I focused on my fire and created a fiery circle around Ethan, hoping to catch him off guard. Fire erupted from his fingertips and formed a long, thick sword. He held the hilt as if it was something solid, raising the sword above his head and admiring its beauty. I’d never seen anything like it. The sword looked real and it must have felt real to him, but it was all fire. Ethan cut through my circle with ease, advancing toward me.
I attacked him once again, but all my fireballs disappeared when they came in touch with his sword, so I had to jump back to avoid him. The sounds of fighting continued around us, but we were focused solely on each other. I had two more elements to use against Ethan, but I didn’t want to use them prematurely and lose my only chance of winning this fight. I had to be very careful. Reaching for the knife that was hidden inside of my boot, I tried to come up with the best strategy.
Ethan’s whole body shook with laughter, but his sword remained the same. “Are you going to fight me with that tiny thing? What is it? A kitchen knife?”
I refused to answer him and threw hundreds of small and big fireballs at him. He stumbled back, but he managed to fend them off with the sword and his own fire. How he could still use fire and keep that sword in perfect shape was a mystery. For how long had his family had a pure element? For centuries? I could feel his element as any other pure element, but it seemed like some elements were purer than the others.
I didn’t want to wait and find out for how long he could keep up like this, so I doubled my attack with fireballs, fully aware that it would be futile. As he destroyed my fireballs with his sword, I came closer.
“Is this all you’ve got?” He teased, ready to fight off my last fireball.
“No.” It was now or never. I was close enough to him, so I found water inside of me and sent it full force on Ethan’s sword. The sword disappeared under a huge splash of water, which soaked half of Ethan’s jacket and pants. His eyes went wide as he looked at his empty hand and then at me. He clearly hadn’t been prepared for my attack or his fire wouldn’t have disappeared so easily. His face contorted with fury, and he threw fiery daggers at me. I managed to stop them with water, but even my water could be swallowed by fire if it wasn’t powerful enough.
Gripping the knife in my right hand, I formed a shield of water in the other and rushed toward Ethan. His fireball melted into my shield and I was fast enough to tackle him down. Water splashed my face as I fell forward, and I had to close my eyes for a moment. My knife sliced through something soft and Ethan cried out.
I looked down between our bodies and realized I had stabbed him in the stomach. Blood seeped through Ethan’s shirt and I used the opportunity to search through his pockets. I snatched a small round device with a keypad out of his pocket and slipped it into my boot. I figured the trigger worked only if someone used the right code, so I hoped the code couldn’t be accidentally punched in.
Ethan struggled underneath me, but I straddled him and didn’t let him up. My pants were getting soaked by blood and I shivered, suddenly feeling cold. Ethan’s fire burned inside of him brighter and stronger than usual. Was I losing control or was it him? I didn’t know, but his element was so beautiful, so warm, so perfect, so... tasty.
“You missed,” Ethan said. “You couldn’t even aim for my heart, you stupid carrier bitch!”
“I didn’t miss.” My voice didn’t quite sound like my own. It was much deeper and huskier. The slow smile that twisted my lips felt odd too, but I agreed with the words that had come out of my mouth. Hitting Ethan’s heart would be difficult since I doubted my lame knife would find its way through Ethan’s ribs.
My fingers wrapped around Ethan’s throat and he sputtered, closing his hands over mine and trying to use the l
ast bits of his strength to shove me off. The fight we’d had must have drained a lot of his energy, so I wasn’t expecting him to overpower me, especially when his blood was pooling on the ground underneath him.
His body grew warm and I quickly used my water. He wasn’t going to escape me. No fucking way. I applied more pressure and admired my strength as Ethan whizzed and coughed, his eyes almost popping out of his skull, his face reddening. This was so much fun! I could feel the power filling every fiber of my body.
Ethan gasped for breath, scratching at my arms and drawing blood, but I didn’t feel pain. The chill in my bones was slowly fading away, replaced by warmth so delicious I could feel it inside and outside of me. An image of a warm home flashed through my mind. A bright fire burned in the fireplace, casting a red glow on the floor.
My blood burned in my veins as something hot spread through my fingers and shot up my arm. “This is for Paula,” I heard myself whisper. Energy filled every inch of my body, making me feel more alive than ever. I threw my head back and laughed. There was nothing more amazing than a pure element rushing inside of me.
I looked down my body and saw Ethan’s empty eyes staring at me. The burn on my arm was gone, my skin completely healed. I was a bit lightheaded, but that didn’t concern me because this was the best I had felt in my whole life.
Chapter 31
“Ria!” Adrian’s voice broke through my hazy mind and the world became clearer, a veil that covered my eyes disappearing into nothingness. I realized I was sitting on top of something and blinked. That something was Ethan’s body. I scooted back, horrified, and looked down at my hands. I’d choked Ethan to death.
Adrian and Lily came running toward me, heavily armed. Adrian crouched next to Ethan and checked his pulse. He shook his head at Lily, got up and took a step toward me, his hands outstretched. “Are you alright?” His gray-blue eyes were filled with worry.
Restless (Element Preservers, #4) Page 18
