elemental 05 - inferno (7 page)

“What did you do?” Dylan asked Aiden as Aira turned her back on both of them. 

“I may have given her too much energy,” Aiden admitted ruefully. 

“You idiot, now she’s going to be more unstable than ever!” 

Aira let out an indignant scream and slammed one of the cabinets shut.

“Neither of you is permitted to talk about me as if I’m not here while I’m standing right in front of you!” she said, pushing out with the force of her mind and holding both of them in her gaze. “Neither of you is to touch me without my permission. In fact, neither of you is to talk to me or about me, without my permission.” Her mind lashed out savagely, anger fueling her ability to compel, and she saw the persuasion rock both men. They both stood there mute for a long moment and Aira, not quite satisfied but somewhat mollified, grabbed an already-opened bottle of wine out of the fridge and walked quickly past both of them, pushing Aiden out of her way and climbing the stairs to her room.

C
HAPTER
6

AIDEN WOKE UP WITH HIS head throbbing in pain, his eyes dry and aching; he hadn’t had a hangover in years, ever since he learned how to hold back on drinking, but this feeling was reminiscent of that feeling. After Aira had stormed back into her room, it had occurred to Aiden that he and Dylan had gone about their strategy entirely the wrong way; Aira’s interaction with Alex had wounded her—and he had taken advantage of the easy sensuality that was part of her nature. Admittedly, his move had been to help her rather than to harm her, but in retrospect he could understand why it had made her so angry. 

The compulsion she had placed on him and his brother had made it impossible for them to discuss the issue—or even what the next steps should be. It had only lasted the night, as far as Aiden could tell; he would have to test it once he felt up to getting out of bed. He chewed on his bottom lip and looked up at the ceiling, feeling a sense of guilt and shame for what he had done. There was still work to be done, he reminded himself. Aira’s strength had to be brought up to its normal level—even with the poison out of her system mostly she was going to find control difficult until she established some balance. He heard the wind blowing outside—it wasn’t howling, but it was clearly under Aira’s influence. Aiden thought of the compulsion she had hurled at both he and Dylan at the same time and how potent it had been. It was beyond his ability to resist, and he had built up a tolerable level of self-control when it came to her ability.

Aiden sat up, rubbing at his face. He would have to talk to Aira. About everything—their previous sexual relationship, what had happened the night before. He felt the connection with her tugging at his mind—his bedroom shared a wall with Aira’s, and he was aware of her presence so close, and yet so far away from him. As he’d poured his energy into her, pushing out all of the earth-bound influence, he had pulled hers into him as well—he couldn’t have done it otherwise. It had reinforced the bond that had formed between them when he had first slept with her, making it stronger. Aiden shook his head, opening his door and staring at Aira’s, closed firmly against both him and his brother. He sighed. Something would have to happen between him and Aira. Aiden realized with a shock how easy it would be to lose his mind over her; the thought chilled him. He had never been so intensely attracted to another woman in his entire life, and yet, Aiden thought, they fought bitterly. He knew there was very little hope of anything more between them, especially after what he had done to heal her.

Aiden pulled himself back into reality and made his way down the stairs, craving coffee. He didn’t even want breakfast—he needed caffeine after the restless night he had spent, waking up every few hours intensely aware of Aira in the next room, wanting to go to her and pull her into his arms once more. He remembered the heat of her body pressing against him, the taste of her lips, and the feel of her silken skin. He remembered the sound of her faint moans, and how she had moved underneath him. Aiden shuddered, coming into the kitchen and shaking his head. It was too tempting to run back upstairs and try her door, knock if needed, and do whatever it would take to convince her to fall into his embrace once more. 

Dylan was in the kitchen setting up the coffee maker. 

“Oh man, you have no idea how much I need that,” Aiden said, sitting down on a bar stool heavily. 

Dylan glanced over his shoulder and smiled slightly.

“I’m feeling kind of bad about last night,” Dylan admitted, pressing the button to start the coffee. 

Aiden nodded. “It was kind of a dick move,” Aiden said, resting his chin on his hand. “I have a problem, also.” 

Dylan leaned against the counter, looking at him intently. “You bonded with her,” Dylan said quietly. 

Aiden nodded. 

Dylan shook his head and sighed.

“I didn’t mean to, but it was… you know, a heat of the moment kind of thing.” 

Dylan nodded, waving his understanding.

“I heard the lightning and thunder. And smelled the smoke. Are you sure nothing went up in flames?” 

Aiden smirked slightly. “Nothing went up in flames, but I was about five seconds away from going down in flames.” 

Dylan snorted. “You didn’t have sex with her though, right?” 

Aiden nodded slowly. 

“Then you’ll be able to keep it suppressed.” 

Aiden wasn’t so certain of that. They were already very close—their energies intertwining twice—if he succumbed to the temptation to try and have Aira again, even if they didn’t get to the sex, Aiden knew that he was a goner. There would be nothing, absolutely nothing he could do to fight the need to be around her, to merge his energy with hers completely. He’d have to convince her to be his mate. The bond grew stronger every time they connected on that level.

Aira came down the stairs, looking at them with an expression that Aiden realized was not quite as angry as the one she had worn last night, but was still resentful. “I have a wine hangover,” she told them, coming to sit a few places down from Aiden. “Thanks, by the way,” she said to Dylan, not looking at Aiden at all. 

“For what?” Dylan asked her, and Aiden shared his confusion. 

“Apparently the plan you and your asshole brother came up with pretty much cured me. I can kind of control the wind—though not fully.” She glanced out through one of the windows and Aiden could see her eyes losing focus as she brought her will to bear on her element. The wind decreased slightly, but not fully.

“I’m sorry for how it went down, Aira,” Dylan said. 

Aiden was trying to fight the compulsion that Aira’s proximity to him set off, and he saw her squirming, fidgeting as if she was struggling against one equally strong. “We should have told you. But you might have resisted if you were expecting it, and we didn’t know if it would even work.” Aira glanced at Aiden—barely—and he felt his heart beating faster with a mixture of anxiety and desire.

“You’re still jerks for doing it that way,” she said quietly. 

Dylan poured her a cup of coffee and doctored it the way Aiden knew she preferred—lots of milk, only a little bit of sugar—and handed it to her before serving him.

“What’s next on the agenda?” Aiden asked, taking a long sip of coffee and wishing it would work faster to dispel the pain in his head.

“We need to get Aira up to normal strength, and I know how.” Dylan smiled brightly, and Aiden felt grateful that his younger brother was able to turn the situation—any situation—so cleanly away from uncomfortable topics. 

They discussed what Dylan wanted to do in detail; there was still a residual amount of the poison in Aira’s system, even after the purge and purification Aiden had done, thanks to the lingering water energy her grandmother had given her. Dylan had found a potion and spell that, when combined, should remove the last of the energy, leaving Aira once more fully aligned with her element and freed of all poison and any lingering effects of her grandmother’s generosity. The best part of the cure—at least, as much as Aiden could perceive Aira’s feelings on the matter—was that Aiden wasn’t involved in it at all. He hoped against hope that at some point before Aira had to face her trial, he could finally have the much-needed conversation with her and clear the air. But he knew he would have to wait.

Aiden watched as his brother mixed the potion carefully, consulting a book every few moments that he had taken from Aira’s grandmother’s house. Potions were not at all Aiden’s specialty—being closely aligned with water magic, Aiden had never remotely given them a thought, other than to memorize poisons that could be used against elementals. He considered the information they had gotten from Alex the day before; there was clearly another elemental who was interested in destroying Aira’s bid to be the ruler of her element, if not killing her outright. Of course, removing her from contention would have the same ultimate effect. Who could it have been?

Aiden stepped away, moving up to his room for privacy. He would have to make some phone calls. He was relieved that he wasn’t needed for what Dylan was going to do. Aiden was hopeful that once Aira had the last of the poison and her grandmother’s energy out of her body, she would be a little more psychologically sound. 

He decided to call an old friend, Thomas—another fire elemental, in the same line of work as he was. Thomas mostly worked as a bodyguard, though he occasionally functioned as an elemental bounty hunter. 

“Yo, Tom,” Aiden said, sitting down on his bed and trying to pull his thoughts away from the infuriating, intoxicating woman downstairs. “I need information.” 

Thomas chuckled on the other end. “I heard you were on some basic bodyguard duty. What’s the situation?” 

Aiden gave Thomas a brief sketch of the details, omitting as much information as he could. Thomas would have to know it was Aira—but he didn’t need to know how close Aira had come to being utterly defeated by the poison she’d been given. He also didn’t need to know that he and Aira had been intimate. Just that she was in contention for the rule of her element, that Alex had poisoned her, and that he was under the control of another fire elemental. Thomas was a much more brutal elemental than Aiden—while he was not quite as powerful, he used his ability to its fullest extent, which was why the elders tended to call on him to deal with other fire elementals, when a strong water elemental wasn’t available.

“Ahh, that’s who you’re guarding. Hope you’re getting paid well,” Thomas said on the other end of the line. 

Aiden chuckled. “Well enough. What do you know about it?” Aiden could picture Thomas shrugging. There was the sound of movement coming through the phone, wind rushing over the microphone. Aiden wondered briefly what his friend was doing.

“I’d heard that someone was out to poison her, but not who. It’d need to be someone pretty high up in the families, though, to be able to get the poison in Alex’s hands without interference.” 

That was about what Aiden had suspected.

“Who would be on your list?” Aiden asked—thinking that with months more ‘on the ground’ as it were, not locked down into one assignment, Thomas might have some insight.

“Jeff Willis would be a likely suspect,” Thomas said musingly. “He had no love for Lorene; he wouldn’t be thrilled with her granddaughter taking up a position of power. Brigette wouldn’t balk at putting poison in someone’s hand if she was motivated and had another person in mind for the position. There’s also Oriel to consider—her grandfather is our ruler—and last but not least Ethan. He’s linked by family to earth elementals, and I understand they are, as a group, kind of upset at the idea of Aira even existing. They always hate the strong air-aligned ones.” 

Aiden nodded. He added the names to his mental list. 

“Thanks for the tips, man,” Aiden said. 

“No problem. Hey, you get off of knight duty, come out and grab a beer with me.” Aiden agreed to the prospect and ended the call. Jeff Willis, Brigette Laurent, Oriel Dylans, Ethan Haversham; Aiden thought that Paytah Jaunt and Seraphina Williams would also be likely sources for the poison. Paytah would want his cousin, another air elemental, to get a chance at the rule of the element, while Seraphina was in a position not dissimilar to Alex’s—so unstable that she could be decided against at any moment. 

Aiden made a few more calls, asking about the people in question among his connections—it wasn’t easy to get information about them without raising alarm and the last thing he wanted was to cause a hue-and-cry—or to inspire someone to take more drastic measures. He knew Oriel would likely be with the elders when Aira went to put Alex to death; he wondered who else was planning to be there. 

C
HAPTER
7

AIRA WAS FIDGETING. SHE TRUSTED Dylan—in spite of the part he’d played in Aiden’s trick to purge and purify her of the poison in her system. Aira knew objectively that she had much more reason to trust Dylan than instances where he had warranted her distrust. But he was doing magic that was beyond his comfort zone, a kind of esoteric weaving of potion and spell that her grandmother had done well, but which Dylan had barely practiced. She sat on the couch, thinking that after all the time she had spent on it—and all the bad memories she now had associated with it, thanks to Alex—she would get rid of it as soon as possible. A good couch shouldn’t be that hard to find, or that expensive. 

Dylan brought the potion, cooled and at its fullest potency, into the living room along with the book. He set the tall, thin mug on the table and read the spell one last time. Aira turned her attention outside. After the purging Aiden had given her, she had slight control over that part of her abilities, but the wind would only die down or increase in speed slightly from her influence—it was mostly still just reflecting her state. She took a deep breath, glancing into the mug to see the brackish-looking solution. Dylan had explained the components to her and how the particular mix was designed to strengthen her air capabilities. After he had performed the spell to drive out the last of her grandmother’s water energy Aira would have to drink down the entire mug.