Windburn (The Elemental Series #4) (30 page)

I spun. “No, I couldn’t have.”

Cactus ran from my side to where a pile of rubble shifted. He threw the rocks aside, green lines running down his arms as he tapped into the earth and moved the stones. I didn’t waste time asking more questions. I fell in beside him, digging out the Sylphs who’d not fled when the fight started. The power in me was different now, normal. As if I were the one controlling it and not the other way around.

Body after body we pulled out, none alive. Cassava was nowhere.

“I saw her go under,” Cactus said, as though reading my mind. “She’s gone, Lark.”

His words should have made me feel better. But nothing could ease the horror flowing through me.

No matter how much rage I carried, this was not what I’d wanted.

I had done the unspeakable, and whatever punishment came to me I would willingly take. Most likely death, and a part of me welcomed the thought of crossing the Veil. My father was safe, and I knew Cactus could get him home. Cassava was dead and the world had no need of me.

Around us, the Sylphs who had fled to the air dropped to the ground. Peta stayed distant from me, as did Cactus. As though they were afraid of me. I refused to consider that I’d truly given them reason to fear me.

We dug for hours until there was nothing left but to face the truth. On my own, I had wiped out nearly half the population of Sylphs. Their bodies lay in front of me broken and twisted by the mountain they had called their home.

Even if their home had hated them.

The Sylphs left stared at me as though I were a monster. And I was. I knew it.

I stumbled away from the mass grave, shaking so hard I could barely keep my feet under me. I fell to my knees and vomited until I had nothing left but dry heaves, and even then my body would not let me stop. This was not happening. This was not happening.

Peta stuck her nose into my face. “Lark.”

“Do you not fear me?” I reared back from her, anger, pain and guilt tangling inside my heart. “Do you not want to run from me? Do you not think I will kill you too?”

She looked to the Sylphs identifying those who’d been killed. “You’re being selfish, Lark. People have died, lost their lives, and all you are worried about is how you are perceived? I thought you were better than that.”

Breathing hard, I stepped back from her. “Selfish?”

“Cat, you are being too hard on her.”

We both turned to see the queen walk carefully over the rubble toward us. My throat tightened. “I did not mean to tear down your home, or kill your people. I . . .”

I knew what was coming. She would ask for my surrender and I would give it.

“Those who died,” she swept her hand back toward the bodies laid out, “you did not hear them? They cheered for Cassava. They were no longer my Sylphs. You are the bringer of change, child of Earth and Spirit. There are times for change to happen. The slate must be wiped clean.”

I wasn’t sure I liked the way her words echoed that of the mountain entity.

Aria put a hand to her throat. “For change, you need one who is brave enough to stand the brunt of death. That one . . . is you.” She held a hand out to my face and brushed it down my cheek. Her touch undid my control and the tears I’d held at bay since I’d been pulled from the oubliette trickled down my face.

“I do not want this.”

“Then the mother goddess has chosen correctly. If you wanted this power, this strength, I would fear you.” She cupped my face and turned it upward. “I will name you for what you are, and praise the goddess she has sent you to cleanse our world.” She leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “You are the Destroyer. The one who will see our people rise again in glory and strength.”

Around us, the world had gone rather quiet. She held tightly to my face, patted my cheeks and turned her back. “I name her the Destroyer. She has done no wrong here in my eyes and as such there will be no recriminations for this act of nature. The Destroyer lives outside our laws, as it should be.”

The remaining Sylphs stayed quiet. Except for one. Ender Boreas. “She killed our people and you would let her go? Where is the queen who would fight to the ends of the earth for our survival?” He strode toward her and she flicked a hand at him. The wind that hit him sent him tumbling through the air, but didn’t hurt him.

“Ender Boreas, you are young and full of piss and vinegar. Can you see the future? Do you know what would come for our family if we did not have this happen? Do you know that even now, my death creeps closer? We must have change, we must have a new queen. The Destroyer will be the one to name her.”

Aria stepped over the rubble as if she were sighted. “Hear me now, those who I love more than my own life. Those who I know have it in them to be all the mother goddess wished for her second-born. By my decree, when the Destroyer shall name my heir, I will step down.”

A gasp rippled through the crowd. Several Sylphs burst into tears, covering their faces. She was a beloved queen; why did she need to step down? Her age and lack of sight obviously did not slow her. She’d survived the attack of her own daughter with barely a bruise to show for it.

She held a hand out to me. “Those who are my supplicants, step forward.”

The moment was surreal. We stood on the grave of her people I had killed, and now she wanted me to choose an heir to her throne?

I swayed, and a soft warm body pressed against my leg. “Forgive me, Lark. I was wrong.”

“Peta,” I dropped a hand to her back, “there is nothing to forgive.”

Aria waved at me. In front of her stood the three remaining supplicants.

They were tall and slim, and with their hair hanging loosely around them, they looked like angels. If a bit wilted at the edges.

All three stared at me as though I were the devil incarnate. I couldn’t disagree with them.

“Hurry, we are running out of time.” Aria clutched the diamond I’d given her. “You have your mother’s beauty, Larkspur. She was to help me choose my predecessor before she was killed. So now it rests on you.”

Spirit. Goddess, every time I used it, another piece of my soul was eaten away. “Peta, I do not want to end up like Cassava.”

“You won’t. I have . . . someone I think can help you. But we must get through this first.” I shot a look to her. My time in the oubliette had given me the opportunity to mull over all that had happened since I’d taken up my Enders leathers.

“You mean Talan, don’t you?”

She bobbed her head. “Yes. I didn’t know he was alive. If he truly lives, Lark, he can help you. But I can guide you in this in a small way. Touch their hands, use Spirit to discern their hearts.”

My fears allayed, at least a little, I stepped up to the first woman. Her blue eyes were the color of a summer sky, brilliant in their purity. “I need to touch your hand.”

She held her hand out, palm down. I laid my hand on top of hers. Carefully, calling Spirit with as much softness as I could, I threaded it through her as Peta had said. Colors and images flickered through me. “Kindness, that is your strength. But that is not what is needed now for your people.”

I stepped back and Aria nodded. “I concur. Go on.”

The next supplicant held her hand out, trembling. I barely touched her and she flinched. “Too much fear, it will stop you from being bold in the decisions you must make.”

Again Aria backed my words.

The third supplicant thrust her hand out, fisted. I laid my palm on her, my stomach rolling with the sensation bouncing between us. “Violence and war is your desire. You wish to join with those who see as you do. That the humans should be subjected to our rule.”

Around us the Sylphs gasped. It was only then I truly looked at her. The shape of her face, the curve of her lips. She could only be another of the queen’s children. She snatched her hand away. “You know nothing.”

Aria let out a sigh. “Child of mine, you are not to be queen. Do not fight me on this.”

She stormed away, leaving no one else.

I stepped backward, but Spirit pulled me to the side, as if it were a creature I’d leashed and it tugged me in its wake. I followed, curious. I wove between the Sylphs, stopping in front of a group of Enders. They stared at me their eyes hard. Dangerous.

Holding one hand up, I walked in front of them, stopping at the end.

“Samara.” My skin itched as though tiny bugs crept along it. “Hold out your hand.”

Unlike the others, she held her hand out palm up, the blue stone in it. I took the stone and then placed my hand over hers. A crackle of electricity snapped between our hands, but she did not pull back and neither did I.

“Strength, honor, belief in her people . . . trust in her queen’s choices. Love for her home. A razor-sharp intellect.”

Lark, I do not wish her to be queen. She is not the one I choose.
Well, that made things simpler. I could see Samara and all she held in her heart. She
was
the right choice.

I grinned at Samara. “The mother goddess has chosen you to be the Sylphs’ next queen.” I bowed from the waist to her and the Enders to either side of her clapped her on the back. Her eyes were locked on mine. She stepped up to me, close enough that our bodies brushed. “Those you wiped out?”

“Yes.”

“The queen is right. Most were the ones we knew sought to destroy her. But not all.” She drove a finger into my chest so hard it could have been a dull dagger tip.

I glared at her. “You’re welcome.”

From behind us, a cry broke the air. We spun in tandem.

Queen Aria lay on the ground, her hand clutching the smoky diamond. Her remaining daughter stood over her with a long, narrow staff identical to the Ender weapons. “I will be queen here, not some lowly, dwarf Ender.”

Samara stepped around me. “I may be lowly, but I can still kick your ass, Stasha.”

For once, I would get to be a spectator and not a participant of a battle.

Yeah, that was what I thought.

Not exactly what happened, though.

amara rushed Stasha. The queen’s daughter swung the long crystal staff, catching Samara low on her legs and sweeping them from under her. Not that she was down for long. Springing onto her feet, she launched herself at Stasha and tackled her.

I made my way to the queen’s side, going to my knees on the hardened rock. The sound of the battle echoed in the newly made valley, but I kept my eyes locked on Aria. Her chest rose and fell, slowly, but still she breathed. “I can heal you.”

“Do not waste your energy on an old woman like me. I have seen too many of my loves cross the Veil. I wish to be with them.” Her hand fumbled for mine and I took it.

“Samara said not all of those who died were against you.”

A rough cough shook her frame; for a moment, I thought she wasn’t able to catch her breath.

Finally, the cough eased and she drew in a long gasp. “Her lover was one of those who fell, I saw him tumble under the rocks. She knows he plotted with Cassava, but she does not want to believe it of him.” She tightened her grip on my fingers. “She will hate you, I think. Both for his death and for naming her my heir.”

“My life matters not,” I said. “If she demands my death I will not fight her.”