Rootbound (The Elemental Series, Book 5) Read online

  Peta looked up at me. “That means you need to take Bella’s stone. But she will give it to you if you ask. That, at least, will be easy.”

  I grunted. “Did I forget to tell you that the longer the rulers hold the stones, the real ones, the crazier they get?”

  Peta’s eyes fluttered. “Of course they do. Why wouldn’t they?”

  From the entrance to the graveyard, Shazer snorted, drawing our eyes to him. “Someone comes.”

  The Pegasus shuddered, his head and wings drooped and his body shivered as he lay down where he was and closed his eyes.

  I leapt to my feet. “Shazer?”

  I turned, and Peta wobbled where she sat, her eyes softening as she fell asleep, slumping where she was into a lopsided ball.

  The crack of a twig to my left snapped me into action. I grabbed my spear and spun, holding the weapon out in front of me. A man stood against the wall of thorns, his arms folded over his chest, his dark blue eyes thoughtful. He had dark hair that at first I thought was short, until he took a step and I saw the long swing of a braid down his back.

  A shiver slid over my skin, the feel of something I knew rather well.

  Spirit, he used Spirit on me.

  “Why did you down my familiars? Who are you?”

  He said nothing to my questions, just watched me as the feeling of Spirit on my skin intensified and I stood, shaking and quivering under it. Wanting more of it, the feeling of Spirit tamed and soothing, the sensation of it lighting up my skin with the faint prickle of electricity.

  The flush of desire spread across my skin and I took a step toward him, wanting more of what he offered without a single word. Wanting the peace that exuded from him.

  One step and I froze, my own connection to Spirit rising in me, wiping out the control he rolled over me.

  What the hell was I thinking? Only moments before all I could think about was Ash, and now this stranger showed up and . . . manipulated me with Spirit. Goose shit, there wasn’t even a line of power on his arms. How was he hiding what he did from me?

  “You bastard.”

  He gave me a soft smile, winked, and turned away, seemingly stepping into the thick vines, disappearing without so much as a single damn word.

  At my feet, Peta stirred, giving a jaw-cracking yawn. “What happened?”

  “Someone . . . knocked you out with Spirit. You and Shazer.”

  The Pegasus snorted and rubbed his muzzle on the short grass. “Two more minutes, Mom, I’m tired.”

  I rolled my eyes and started out of the graveyard, only to be stopped by the sight of Red flying through the trees, trailing my father behind him.

  “Lark, you must do something,” My father called to me, hurrying as fast as he could.

  I raised my eyebrows at Red and he slowed as he dropped to my shoulder. “As soon as we left, he started mumbling about the truth, about it being lost, the world twisted by Cassava. Not that those are anything new.”

  My father drew close to me, his eyes intense. “I remembered what I needed to tell you.”

  I held a hand out to him. “Tell me then.”

  He batted my hand away. “Listen to me. Listen to me. Your man was not in the grave.”

  “No, he wasn’t.”

  He leaned in close, dark green eyes wide. “He is not the only one you love who does not rest in a grave.”

  CHAPTER 6

  hat was I to say to that? “Father, I do not doubt you mean well, but—”

  “Of course you don’t believe me, but that is fine. You’ll see. Come, come to the graves again. I feel them in the earth, all those I’ve lost. It is a talent I have. But one is missing and I wasn’t supposed to remember, and now when you put your hands on me things have come back, a little more, a little more.” He rambled as he hurried into the graveyard, pushing me aside in his need to show the truth as he saw it.

  I followed him to my mother’s grave. My whole body stiffened at the implication. He took my hand and pressed it downward. “What do you feel, deep in the earth?”

  Shaking, I did as he asked and delved with Spirit and Earth, feeling the body deep within. A hint of who she’d been flowed up to me and I wondered if it was because she’d carried Spirit too.

  “You feel her, don’t you? Hear her sing to you,” he whispered. “I hear her call to me. My time to be with her again is soon.”

  He grabbed my hand and tugged me to the side. “Now, your brother.”

  I closed my eyes, not in concentration, but because I did not want to feel my little brother. How many years had I dreamt of his death, how many years had I blamed myself for not saving him?

  “I don’t—”

  “Do it, Lark.” His command was that of the king I’d known, and I was delving into the earth without another thought, acting before I realized it. Deeper and deeper I went, past the depth of most burials, and then more. My eyes flew open as my power spiked, and Spirit went wild within the earth. The graves around me lit up, a perfect layout of every Terraling ever buried. I felt them against my skin, Spirit opening to me in a way I’d never experienced. But my father was right.

  “He’s not here,” I breathed.

  “I know. I know he isn’t, but I wasn’t supposed to know. I wasn’t supposed to remember. Why, why isn’t he here, Lark?”

  I swayed where I was. “Is he . . . alive?”

  Mother goddess have mercy, all these years and I’d never once doubted Bramley’s death. How easy would it have been for Cassava to manipulate my mind, to make me see Bramley dead? But that didn’t make sense. He’d been her target all along as the heir to the throne. She even admitted it.

  Yet her words, the last time we’d battled, came back to me. She’d implied he wasn’t dead and I’d chalked it up to her wanting to hurt me. To taunt me with a reality that wasn’t possible.

  Now I wasn’t so sure.

  I drew Spirit back to me, damping it down without thought. It went easier than before. Perhaps my grief kept it from being wild.

  “I don’t know,” Basileus whispered. “I don’t know. I just know he isn’t here. Will you find him, Lark?”

  Shaking, I stood and held my hand out to him, pushing all the questions to the back of my mind. “Come, back to the Spiral with you.”

  Red fluttered down from the edge of the graveyard vines. “I’ll take him. He’ll go now that he’s said his piece.”

  My father touched my face, and his eyes cleared. “I don’t know where he is, Lark. But if he’s alive, he needs you.”

  He dropped his hand, turned, and shuffled away again. I watched him go, my heart hammering, emotions tangling in my throat and belly like a writhing cauldron.

  “Peta, how can this be? I held Bramley. I felt his body as still as a doll’s.” I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes. “My mind is clear of all the tricks Cassava pulled, all the manipulation. But that scene remains. It happened. I know it did.”

  “You are sure he is dead?” Peta asked softly, as gently as she’d ever been with me.

  Tipping my head back, I stared into the canopy above us, the branches that swayed in the breeze somehow clearing my mind of doubt. “Yes. As much as I wish it were otherwise, I will not be fooled by this trick. But where the hell is he, then? Why would they put his body away from our mother’s?”

  Shazer trotted in and head-butted my back. “Because it is a distraction. You cannot chase two quests at once. You know Ash is alive. You know Bramley is dead. Who will you choose to find? The one you can save? Or the one you will never save?”

  I tightened my jaw, even though a part of me howled to go after Bramley, still seeing him as that little boy from my past. “Ash.”

  “Then let’s go. I have things to tell you that are pertinent.” He snorted and shoved me toward the archway.

  Peta leapt for his back and he shied to one side. “Claws, cat, you have claws!”

  She hit the ground, shifted and sprung again, this time tangling her much tinier paws into his mane. “Sissy.”
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  He grunted. “I’m a delicate flower.”

  I burst out laughing at their exchange, knowing that was the exact reason they did it. “You two are fools.”

  Shazer glanced back at me. “You finally have a minute to listen to me?”

  I waved at him. “Why not? Can’t make things worse, can it?” The look in his dark eyes sent a shiver through me. “Please tell me that things can’t get worse.”

  He slowed and I caught up to his shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  I waited for him to speak, feeling time slip past. If the mother goddess was right, I had to get moving and remove the stones from the other rulers; I had no doubt Blackbird would be plotting a way to remove them. Then again, that wasn’t really why I was in a hurry. Without Viv’s help, finding Ash was going to be damn near impossible and I knew it.

  So did she.

  Shazer bobbed his head. “You realize I’m not really a familiar to you? That there is a bond between us, but it is not like the bond you and Peta have?”

  I nodded. “I noticed the feeling between you and me is different, yes.”

  “It is because I was created. Peta was born. And I was never truly tied to you. I stay because . . .” His body rippled in a big shake that almost unseated Peta. She grunted and dug her claws in. He snapped his teeth at her before continuing. “I stay because I feel more loyalty to you than I do my creator. Even when you didn’t know me, you put your life on the line to heal me; to save me from the coven. That loyalty has grown, even while you were gone. The need to stay with you and protect you as best I could for your sake, and, I think, for my own as well.”

  “All right,” I said, confused as to why this was so important.

  He tipped his head. “There is more to it than that. The person who created me also created something else. The stones you are going in search of were made by my creator.”

  Obviously he’d been listening in on my conversation with Peta. Not that I minded.

  “All right.”

  “He was always hidden in a cloak when around me, not unlike the way that donkey’s ass Blackbird covers up. He was cursed, Lark. For the things he created, the things he was powerful enough to do. The Spirit Elementals saw what he was up to, and knew he had to be stopped. They contacted a powerful witch, and they created a curse.”

  “Why wouldn’t they just kill him?” Peta asked the question, beating me to it. I nodded at her in approval.

  He shook his head. “He was too strong. There was no one that could stand against him, and even then the elementals were at each other’s throats. There was no peace and he took advantage of that rather looming fact.” Shazer’s eyes went thoughtful as if seeing the past in front of him. “He created the stones first, and they were meant to control others. Out there in the world, they are able to control those who wear them.”

  I frowned and plucked at a long strand of grass as we approached the Rim. “But that would mean your creator is still alive. And from what I understand, you are rather—”

  “Old,” Peta spit out.

  Shazer snorted and laughed. “Yes, I’m old. Thousands of years, the same as the stones. And my creator is still out there, I am sure of it. Maybe he sleeps, maybe not. But he is alive.”

  My mind went to the man in the graveyard; he’d plied me with Spirit while he hid his intentions. The timing was far too coincidental for my liking. “Tell me about the curse.”

  “He’s not able to directly attack another elemental. That is why he created the stones. He could use the wearer of them to attack those he thought needed to be punished. I will say this, Lark. If he wakes, he will not be easily dealt with. He is beyond dangerous; he is the deadliest of any elemental ever born.”

  I swallowed hard. “Why might he wake?”

  “If the stones are all brought to him, together, the curse will be broken. And that would be a very, very bad thing. Because then he could attack any elemental directly with no more need to work in the shadows.”

  We stepped into the Rim as he finished speaking.

  Shazer’s words were heavy on my mind, adding to the weight on my shoulders. “One more reason then to find the stones and take them to the mother goddess for safe keeping,” I said.

  He nodded. “Agreed.”

  Peta bobbed her head too. “Agreed.”

  So many swirling pieces, it was hard to make heads or tails of what was truly going on.

  “As long as we get the five stones first, none of that will matter.” Peta swayed on Shazer’s back and he glanced at her.

  “She’s right. Deal with the stones so we can find Ash. Deal with everything else later,” Shazer said.

  “Nice, we are all in agreement,” I mumbled.

  I approached the steps of the Spiral and headed up. Peta leapt from Shazer’s back. “How are you going to get . . . it . . . from your sister?”

  I kept my face smooth. “Simple. I’m going to ask.”

  “You think it will be that easy?” Peta kept pace at my side.

  “Hoping.”

  Really, how attached could Bella be to the emerald? While the ring had been in her possession for twenty-plus years, she’d only worn it since she’d taken the throne, as the mother goddess had reminded me. Surely a few weeks wasn’t long enough for madness to begin.

  I chose not to consider her behavior earlier, chalking it up to stress. The soft gong of the dinner bell brought my head around; the day had flown by, my time in the grave taking longer than I’d realized.

  “The dining hall then.” Even better. Bella was not one to make a scene, so taking the ring would be even easier if I asked for it in a public place. I fished around in my leather pouch as we walked, finding the emerald by feel. I paused and then let it go. There was no need for swapping it out; taking the ring would be as simple as a request.

  We approached the open dining hall. Guards stood at the door, but they were relaxed and nodded to me in recognition.

  The one on the left gave me a tentative smile. “Will you start the Ender program again, Larkspur?”

  Startled by the question, I stopped and faced the guard who’d spoken. “Perhaps. I have tasks ahead of me, but when I am done, it would seem prudent to flesh the ranks out again.”

  He slipped his helmet off and held out his hand. “Name is Arb. I’d like to take part when you open the training again.”

  I took his hand and shook it once. “I will let you know.”

  Stepping through the doorway, I headed straight for Bella, my heart rate climbing with each footstep, tension mounting across my shoulders.

  “Peta, be ready.”

  “I thought you said this was going to be easy?” she whispered.

  “Well, this is my family. Who the hell really knows?”

  She laughed and I smiled down at her.

  “Lark,” Bella called to me, laughter in her voice. I looked up and she waved to us. “Come, sit with us, eat with us. Tell us what you’ve been up to today.”

  I smiled at her, noting her daughter to her right. River was as stunning as her mother, with her perfect soft curves, high cheekbones, and delicate features. Her coloring, though, set her apart among the other Terralings. As a half-breed, her father’s Undine bloodlines showed clearly in her Caribbean blue eyes which were offset by her nearly black hair. Her coloring was not far from Raven’s. I had to fight to keep my smile on my face. River waved at me. “Auntie.”

  The words slowed my feet. Damn, she was my only niece and she’d never called me auntie before. Not that she’d had much choice, it wasn’t like I’d been around a lot since she’d been born. I slowed as I approached the table. “Bella, a quick question before I eat.”

  “Of course.” She raised a spoonful of soup to her mouth, the emerald ring glinting on her third finger.

  “May I inspect your ring? I am concerned with a flaw in it.” The lie was smooth and easy. River didn’t look up from her meal; no one took notice. This was going to work.

  Bella lowered her spoon a
nd frowned at me. “A flaw? There is no flaw in this emerald. It is perfect.”

  She dropped her hands to her lap and covered the ring with her other hand. I continued to smile even while the tension grew. “But a flaw in the setting that would allow the stone to fall out would be an easy thing to have fixed.”

  “Mother, she’s right. Let her see it. You’d be frantic if the stone were to go missing,” River added absently.

  Bella’s eyes hardened as she stared at me. “You would take it from me?”

  “Of course not,” I said, feeling the air between us shift. I held up both hands, palms facing her. “Bella, I would never take it from you.”

  The moment stretched and I saw her weigh my words.

  “Lies,” she snapped, suddenly and with such force she actually spit. “You would take it for your own. You want it for yourself.” She stood and the lines of power curled around her arms in a slow deadly march. I made myself stand there, made myself allow her to sink me into the ground to my waist. I had to continue the charade that I didn’t want the stone.

  River stood.

  “Mother, what are you doing?”

  “She’s here to take the throne from me. She has been waiting for this moment.” Spit trickled from her lips and my heart clenched. Mother goddess let me not be too late. Let her not face the same fate as our father.

  “Bella, do not do this.” I shifted, pulling on the earth and pushing myself out of the ground.

  She circled me, the emerald flashing. “I will make sure there are no threats to this family, however I must. Even if it means your death, Destroyer.”

  And there it was. Inside my heart, I cried at the loss of my sister. Outside, I gripped my spear and swung it in a low, lazy circle.

  “Then come for me, if you dare.”

  CHAPTER 7

  ella lifted her hands, intent clear as the lines of power raced up her arms. I buried my spear into the ground at my feet.