8. Alandra

As I blinked to regain my bearings, Aerolus left me and teleported back to the opposite side of the room, drawing most of the Netharat in his direction. Amazed, I watched him turn from a calm, together sorcerer into a savage warrior bent on destruction.

Winds howled. Mini tornadoes sucked the creatures in and crushed them into nothing. He muttered spells along with his elemental magic, and I watched as ice wraiths melted, imploded, and generally screamed bloody, murderous revenge.

Shocked at the violence pouring from the man I thought I knew, I was unprepared for a blast of blue fire from a nearby wraith.

It hurt like blazes, and I shrieked.

Aerolus turned, spotted me, and shot a funnel of sheer Light at my attacker. He shoved it into the wall, splattering wraith blood and guts across stone. He teleported to my side and teleported us away again, taking me with him into Trudy's house, for some reason.

"Are you okay?" He sounded breathless, his gaze bright with concern as he ran his hands over my side, where the blast had hit.

I saw the large, burned hole in my dress and cursed. "Do you have any idea how much this dress is worth?"

He blinked in disbelief as my skin absorbed the faint cast of blue surrounding the burn, healing as if I'd never been marked. He touched my side in wonder, and I felt the heat of him.

Blast, but the Wind Mage only had to be close to get my pulse racing. The feel of him turned me inside out. That he affected me so and didn't seem to know it irritated me even more.

"Take us back there right now." I glared and set his hand from my body. Sexual frustration, need, and anger warred for dominance, and I buried my confusion in rage. "I'm not happy with the Netharat at all. You left four of them alive." When he only stood there staring at me, I wrapped my arms around his middle to hold on. "Well? While we're young, Aerolus."

He gave me the ghost of a smile. "We're going to talk about this when it's over."

Suddenly, we stood in my refuge in the Between once more.

"You leave them to me," I ordered as I shook off the fog of teleportation from my mind.

"I —"

The remaining four wraiths screeched with outrage as they spotted us. And they had the nerve to trash my house! Before the creatures could do any more damage, I threw a spell of Shadow over them, clouding their vision.

Then I rushed them. I ignored Aerolus, shouting behind me, and took the form of an ice wraith. Entering their small group, I began sucking the energy from the two behind me, invisible wisps of their power infusing my magical core. I could see the transfer of energy, a being one with magic. I wondered if Aerolus saw anything other than Shadow.

Clearing the obscure spell from the wraiths, I watched as we all realized five, and not four of us, now stood together.

"How?" one asked.

"Trickery," another screamed as it felt its power being drained. I deliberately fed its power to the wraith across from it.

"That one," I cried, pointing to the brightest of the lot. "It is the Wind Mage's pet, an illusory Aellei! Kill it! Kill it!"

The healthy wraith in front of me attacked the accused wraith, which floundered then quickly died. I felt more than saw the creatures behind me emptying of the pitiful force we called life. I normally didn't hold the same prejudices against non-Light Bringers. I usually sided with the monstrous creatures that lived in the Shadows and Dark.

But most wraiths warranted such retaliation. Two of them crumbled into dust and faded into the Next in addition to the fallen one who'd been attacked.

Now only two of us remained. We looked at each other before shifting our focus to Aerolus, who stared at us with an inscrutable look on his face.

"The master wishes him dead."

"Can we not play a bit?" I whined, enjoying my deception. I couldn't help it. Fooling the wraith was child's play, but thoughts of tricking Aerolus made me giddy with joy.

My kind considered games and trickery better than chocolate and sex. I didn't make the analogy lightly.

Aerolus stared at us, no doubt wondering which of the wraiths was real. As the creature next to me took a step toward him, heavy winds whipped at my mage's hair and tore at his clothes, as much a shield as an awesome weapon of attack.

His defensive posture told me he wouldn't be sporting about this. So much for playing with the last one.

"Oh, hell. You can have him." I shimmered back into myself.

Aerolus wiped the remaining wraith into oblivion with a wave of his hand — right into the only unsoiled section of my room. A gross splat, noxious entrails, and rotting blood spattered the walls and floor.

"This is going to take forever to clean."

Aerolus stared at me, and the intensity of his scrutiny made me uncomfortable.

"What?"

"I think it's time you told me more about the Aellei and just what you're capable of. Because until today, I'd have sworn the only beings impervious to blue fire were the wraiths and their evil kin, the Dark Lords." His silver gaze lingered on my unharmed stomach. "Tell me again how the Aellei and the Dark Lords split all those years ago."

I didn't care for the accusation in his tone and crossed my arms over my chest. Out of habit, I reached for my Mir charm. Finding it missing, my irritation turned to anger.

This on top of all I'd done for Tanselm. For him.

"I don't have to explain myself to you of all people, Light Bringer." I sneered, glad to feel mad instead of constantly in lust with him. "What's wrong, Aerolus? Did I insult your manly pride by not needing you in here? Or is it that I'm obviously stronger than you when it comes to magic? I would never leave a trail so bright a wraith could follow it." My disdain had him clenching his jaw. "I'm having trouble reminding myself why you're worth the effort. So back off before you truly offend me."

Oh, that was nice.

I mentally patted myself on the back. Damned if I hadn't sounded exactly like the queen. Much as I loathed my aunt, Queen Lidra had her uses.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding," Aerolus said quietly, his face ominously devoid of expression. Even his body language was too still. I sensed a wallop of danger coming from my Wind Mage.

I took a small step away, disguising my subtle retreat by turning my back on Aerolus, as if to study the mess in my home.

A costly mistake.

Before I could take a second step, hard arms wrapped around me and whisked me back to Seattle. Not into Trudy's house, but into Storm Lord central next door.