Chapter Fifteen

“Ember,” someone whispered.

“Huh?” I opened my eyes and turned toward Taroc.

He was fast asleep.

We were spending the night in Basarr, too tired to deal with going back after all the wild sex we had. And I'd already been tired before that.

I frowned and peered around the room. It wasn't too dark, what with the moonlight coming in through the windows. Easy enough to see that we were the only ones there.

“Must have been a dream,” I muttered.

“Ember,” the voice came again—masculine and strong, but with a tenderness to it.

A shiver ran down my spine. “Ara?”

“No. I'm not your lover.”

I glanced at Taroc, wondering if I should wake him. The last disembodied voice I spoke to turned out to be the greatest villain on Varr.

“Be at ease, Spark of the Goddess. I mean you no harm.”

“Who are you?”

“I am the cooling touch against your cheek, the fuel of your fire, that which lifts you from the ground.”

“Holy fuck. Are you . . . are you the Element of Air?”

“I am the consciousness of the element. You have called to us all, but only Death answered. The rest of us are starting to regret our silence. And then I heard your lover's song tonight, and I knew I must act. The Goddess is right; sometimes silence is abuse.”

“Sometimes silence is abuse?”

“To remain quiet now, when Death has gone against the natural order of things, would be to abuse the very magic we speak for. So, I am speaking now.”

I slipped out of bed and then out onto the balcony. After shutting the door behind me, I said, “All right. I'm listening.”

A gust spiraled around me, but it was warm.

“You have mastered Air, and yet, you do not know it as I do. To get the most out of any element, you must understand what motivates it. Once you know that, you can magnify every summoning.”

“How?”

“By giving the element what it wants,” Air said patiently. “My element can be especially tricky because although it wants to gather and spin, it also wants to be free to flow everywhere. Touch everything.” Another breeze brushed against my cheek. “Fire doesn't mind confinement, Earth wants stability, and Water just goes with the flow. But Air desires true freedom. When you summon it, it will always fight you a little.”

“Yes!” I said eagerly. “That's right. I can summon it, but I always feel a tug from Air. Like a horse that hasn't been fully tamed.”

The breeze lifted my hair playfully. “Yes, now you see. When you summon Air, do so with an image of what you want to accomplish in your mind. Make it playful. Tease it. Show it how much fun it can have with you before it moves on. And make sure to express that you are not trying to imprison it.”

“If you're the Consciousness of Air, can't you just tell Air to be nice to me?”

“It doesn't work like that. Air is an element. I am its mind. You are the consciousness of your body, and yet you cannot simply tell your lungs to process water instead of air. You can use your body as I use the magic, but you can't speak to it and expect it to understand you like another mind would.”

“I never thought of it like that,” I murmured, my mind turning to Death. “So, the Consciousness of Death can use the magic but can't communicate with it.”

“Exactly. Death can teach you about his magic better than anyone else, but he can't reason with it or force it to do something unnatural. Even more important for you to know is that he can't cast spells.”

“What? Then how does he do everything he does?”

“As pure energy, Death can summon his magic, but only physical beings can cast spells. That is why he needs Aranren. Death Magic is capable of reanimating dead flesh, but that is not in its nature. It is decidedly against the nature of the magic. Death is simply the opposite of life. A balance to Spirit. It does not seek to corrupt or even kill. Killing leads to death, but it is not death. So to accomplish the terrible things Death desired, he had to find a physical being strong enough to control his magic.”

“And Aranren is strong enough to control the magic, but not strong enough to resist the Consciousness of Death.”

“He was strong enough once, but Death seduced him and Aranren let him in. Just as you once did. Letting him into your mind gives him access to everything you are.”

“Right,” I murmured. “And in that way, Death gains power.”

“Yes, he controls Aranren and through him, he can cast spells. He has the power of a non-corporeal entity combined with that of a corporeal caster.”

“Holy shit.” I paused. “How do I know you're not Death?”

A sudden gust lifted me off my feet, taking me above the house, then over the treetops, so high that I could see the lights of the main part of Basarr. It was cold up there, but I'd gotten used to flying amid the mountains around the Wraith Lord Citadel, so I was all right with it. Or I would have been if I hadn't been naked.

“Agh!” I shrieked and covered my bits. “All right! I believe you! Take me down.”

Laughter circled me along with the breeze as I was lowered back to the balcony.

“Are you done playing with him yet?” a deep, rumbling, gravely, masculine voice demanded.

“What the fuck?” I hissed and spun around.

“Easy, Ember,” Air said. “He is the Consciousness of Earth.”

“We are all here, Spark of the Goddess,” another voice, this one sweet and feminine, said. “We were just letting Air explain a few things first. Test the waters.”

“Warm you up to the idea,” another feminine voice said, this one with more bite.

“And they are Water and Fire, respectively,” Air said.

“Look, Sparky,” Fire said, “we've been watching shit go down, and we're not happy about it. We've been feeling the heat, and usually, I'm good with heat, you know? But not this kind of heat. Death has gone too far. That fucking whacko thinks he's a god. You need to end this, kid. Like yesterday.”

I blinked, trying to process her strange way of speaking. “Uh, yeah. What do you think I've been doing?”

“We know what you've been doing,” Earth said. “We see all.”

“Creepy, Earth,” I said. “Real creepy.”

A high, tinkling laugh tickled my skin, leaving a sheen of moisture behind. I stared at my arm, bemused. The Elements were talking to me. All of them. And they called me the Spark of the Goddess. That was kind of wonderful.

“Are you going to cry?” Earth asked, aghast.

“No. I'm just . . . I'm very touched that you have all come to help me.” I paused. “You are here to help me, right?”

“I was getting to that,” Earth grumbled, sounding like a rockslide.

And then someone growled.

“Whoa, big boy,” Fire said. “Stand down. We're not that dickhead Death.”

I spun to find Taroc standing in the open doorway—naked, gorgeous, and ready to kill. “Shit!” I ran over to him and set my hands on his chest. “Hey, love. It's all right. I'm talking with the Elements. The Consciousness-es-ses-ses of them. All of them. They're going to help me defeat Death.”

“So put your male parts away,” Earth rumbled.

“Why? You feeling a little body envy, Earth?” Fire asked. “A little big body envy.”

A scoffing sound came before Earth said, “I have the biggest balls of them all.”

My jaw fell. Taroc's eyes went wide. Then I started laughing so hard that I doubled over.

“That was dumb,” Fire said.

“The human gets it,” Earth said. “By balls, I mean boulders.”

“Yes, we understand,” Air said dryly.

“Could we just get along?” Water asked. “Go with the flow.”

“Oh, shut up, you wishy-washy bitch,” Fire huffed.

I laughed harder.

“Everyone, please!” Air snapped. “They'll think we're a bunch of flighty morons.”

“Speak for yourself,” Earth said. “I and my giant balls are grounded. Literally.”

“Oh, sweet Goddess,” I gasped as I straightened. “This is unbelievable.”

“What the fuck is happening right now?” Taroc whispered, his expression a cross between shock and confusion.

“I think the Elements are arguing,” I said. “You know, some of them just don't mix.” Then I laughed again.

“Actually, young Ember,” Earth said, “we are here precisely because we can mix. You have proven that.”

“You're just not that good at it, Sparky,” Fire said.

“So, we're going to help you get better,” Water said, her tone upbeat.

“And you will then strengthen your team,” Air finished.

“What do you think, Taroc?” I grinned at him.

Taroc turned around and went back to bed.

“Huh,” I said as I watched him leave. “Not the reaction I was expecting.”