Chapter 71

Ellery

The air crackledwith an energy I couldn't quite place as I leaned closer to him before catching myself. I couldn't do this; we couldn't do this.

There were too many secrets between us, and while most of those secrets were mine, I was sure he had some too. And there weren't just secrets between us; there was also the fact that he was the son of a duke, an aristocrat, and someone considered far above me.

Nothing good could come from this. Nothing.

He'd hate me if he ever learned I'd robbed him and then gone out with him day after day and week after week to search for a robber who was at his side the entire time. He was too proud to take that well.

He'd think I'd considered this all a joke and was laughing at him the whole time. And I couldn't blame him if he did. I'd hate him if our roles were reversed.

Then there were the secrets I'd kept for most of my life. It wasn't obvious at birth or in our early years what our powers would be. That came as we aged; for most, we knew what our abilities would be by the time we were ten.

I didn't learn all I could do until I was eleven. Before then, my parents were pleased by my ability to wield the three weathers everyone knew about—rain, wind, and snow.

Then, a week after my eleventh birthday, I realized I could also create fog while playing hide-and-seek with Scarlet. I was so excited that I forgot about hiding, so I ran to my parents to tell them.

They were also pleased, but I'd seen the apprehension on their faces. The ability to control four weathers was a rare gift, and even though things were far better under King Leonidas's rule, they worried it might somehow lead to me being taken from them or used in some way. They made me vow to keep it a secret.

Two weeks later, my lightning bearer ability manifested as small bolts zapped between my fingers when I rubbed them together. There hadn't been concern in my parents' eyes then… there was terror.

To this day, no one, other than my parents, knew I could wield more than three weathers. As far as I knew, I was the first and only amsirah with the ability to control all five.

The fact that I could publicly control three was a blessing many amsirah didn't possess. I'd used my ability for lightning and fog around Ryker, the two powers I kept hidden from the world; if he were ever to ask what I could do, I'd have to tell him about the three everyone else knew about… and it would be one more lie between us.

I hated myself for everything I'd caused and yearned for it to be different, but it couldn't. Sleeping with him would be a disastrous idea anyway, given his status in this realm, but at least if I weren't lying to him so much, I wouldn't feel so guilty about it.

But I couldn't deny our physical connection; my desire drew me closer with a magnetic pull I couldn't resist. Maybe that pull was because we were both lightning bearers and our bodies recognized it and sought more.

Whatever it was, though my brain screamed at me to stop this, my body didn't move when his mouth lowered toward mine. Instead of trying to break away like a sane immortal whose head was on the chopping block, I tipped my head back and rose to meet his kiss.