My body felt as if it were breaking, shattering from the inside out. Every inch of me ached, burned, then cooled and heated again.
I couldn’t control the power within me. I felt as if it were trying to control me instead. I had no idea where that voice inside me had come from. Had no idea what I was going to do about it.
But I was afraid that if I didn’t find a way to release all of this excess energy and figure out how to control what was inside me, currently breaking me apart piece by piece, cell by cell, it wouldn’t matter that I didn’t know.
Because nothing would matter, and I wouldn’t be here anymore.
I looked over to where Wyn and Arwin sat on the ground, both of them bleeding. Teagan stood over them, trying to help them up.
Arwin was at least blinking now, so he was alive.
But whatever sense of relief I got from that was gone quickly.
Because all I could do was focus on the fact that I couldn’t breathe. That my hands were shaking, and I couldn’t stop the elements within me from trying to break free.
Easton came towards me, leaning in even farther, whispering to me—though he could be shouting for all I knew. “Breathe, Lyric. Just push through it. Focus.”
“I can’t,” I called out. “I can’t. I can’t do anything. Why won’t it stop? The two were working just fine. Why is three so much?”
“Because it’s different. It will always be different. They’re layered on top of one another. It amplifies the effect of all. But we’re going to get you out of this. Just breathe.”
Panic slammed into me, choking me, gripping my throat and heart until I couldn’t handle anything but Easton’s voice. “I can’t. It’s too much. The water…it’s falling from me. Why can’t I stop it?”
I was still on my knees, shaking. I looked down at my skin and sucked in a breath.
Water poured from my pores as if I were drowning from the inside out.
I could feel it dripping from my hair, but not because I’d been doused in water, because it was coming from my actual scalp.
My Air Wielding continued to puff out of my fingertips, even out of my elbows and my shoulders. My knees and toes.
I was a teapot, set on steam, and I couldn’t stop it.
The earth around me still shook, large crevices spreading out from my fingertips as I dug them into the soil.
Mud sloshed every time I hiccupped a sob. I tried to control it and spit out more water, more dirt, more air.
I didn’t know where it was all coming from. I didn’t know how to control any of it. I was choking on my own elements, on my own Wielding.
And I feared I would hurt everyone around me because I couldn’t stop it.
Easton reached for me again, and I scrambled back and shakily got to my feet. I held up my hands and shook my head.
“No. Don’t touch me. If you do, I could break. I could hurt you. Do something. I need to…I need to go. I can’t be here. I’m going to kill you all.” And then I ran.
I ran towards the edge of the Spirit territory where we had been before.
Everything looked different now, at least from this side. There was mud everywhere, broken pieces of ground where the water had latched onto it.
But we were still on a cliff. I could sense the waterfalls all around us.
Far ahead, the sea was calm as if there hadn’t been over a dozen Wielders trying to kill us moments ago. Trying to drown us.
But it didn’t matter now.
They were dead.
And I was going to die. From my own Wielding, not theirs.
They hadn’t killed me. I was going to kill myself.
The ground rattled beneath my feet, each stone starting to fall, pebble by pebble.
The water right below where I stood started to thrash, and I swallowed hard, my hair blowing in a wind of my own creation.
I couldn’t control it. Why was everything so amplified?
I had been fine with Earth and Air, even though those two weren’t connected and were of separate kingdoms.
Why was Water so much harder?
I cried out, my body convulsing.
This was it. Maybe I wasn’t the true Spirit Priestess. Perhaps the elements had been wrong. The prophecy flawed. I was going to die.
Suddenly, strong arms were around me.
Easton pulled me to his chest and ran his hands over my hair as he whispered in my ear.
“You’re fine. Just breathe. Lean into me. Trust me. I’ve got you. I’ve got you, Lyric. No matter what happens. I’ve got you.”
Easton held me as the trembling racked my body. Air slammed into him through me, and I cried out. But he didn’t move, didn’t scream. He just took the elements I gave him. Took the pounding of pain and fury.
I shook, tears falling down my face. I hated feeling so weak. But I wasn’t strong enough to control this. I clearly wasn’t the right person for the job. This was too much.
Water started to pool around us, coming from the sea as my Wielding spun out of control once more.
It slammed into Easton’s back and then into our sides, but still, he didn’t move.
“I’ve got you, Lyric. Just breathe. Focus. I’ve got you.”
He repeated those words over and over again, and I tried to hold on. I believed him. But it was hard.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t focus.
Then Easton ran his hands through my hair, despite the gusts of wind slamming into us. He pulled me closer, so close I could feel every inch of him, and I took a deep breath. All of a sudden, I didn’t sense the elements.
I just sensed the Fire within him, the Earth as well, but mostly the Fire.
And the king he was.
Just Easton.
I could breathe.
As the water slowly began to recede, and the earth quit its shaking, I let out a breath.
The air around us stilled, calming.
I let out more breath.
Easton didn’t stop speaking to me. Didn’t stop whispering.
Because he had me.
I could breathe.
As I sank to my knees, leaning deeper into his hold, he didn’t let me fall. Instead, he caught me and lowered down with me. And I cried in his arms.
It was too much.
I had killed those men. And I hadn’t even thought twice about it.
Whatever voice had surged up inside of me, whatever power had taken over, I hadn’t been strong enough to withstand or control it.
I had let the elements rule me, and I had almost failed. I had nearly hurt and killed those who were there to protect me. If it hadn’t been for Easton, if it weren’t for his calming force, I likely would have lost control of it all.
And so, I wept. I grieved for so much.
For the fact that this was my life now. That I still had no idea what was going to happen next. I wept for Brae. I cried for Rhodes, a boy I would never have. Someone I wasn’t sure I even wanted anymore. I wept for the life I once had. I mourned my parents who no longer remembered me.
I wept for it all.
And then when there were no more tears to cry, I sucked in a ragged breath and pushed away from Easton.
I shoved away because I was scared. Because I didn’t know what to say.
I rose to my feet, shaky but not as much as I had been before.
Easton stood too, in one graceful move. It was as if he had practiced it for hundreds of years. Perhaps he had.
“Lyric?” he asked, his voice softer than I had ever heard it. He didn’t look like the boy who had smirked at me. Didn’t look like the boy who had yelled at me to try and teach me.
He just looked like Easton. The one who had held me when I broke. The one who comforted me when I cried.
“I’m not the right person. How can I be the Spirit Priestess if I can’t handle three elements? How am I supposed to handle five? I’m not the right person.”
“You are, Lyric.”
“No. I can’t be. If I was, I wouldn’t have broken like that. I’m weak. I’m not strong enough.”
Easton stormed towards me, closing the two steps between us. He loomed over me, anger on his face. “Yes, you are. Now, shut up.”
And then he kissed me, so hard and fast I could barely understand what was happening.
His hands were suddenly on my face as he brought his mouth to mine. I sucked in a breath at the feeling of soft lips against my own.
He was kissing me.
Easton was kissing me.
And it felt…right. It felt like everything had been coming to a thousand times of needs, a thousand times of wants.
It was something I’d never had before, a kiss that didn’t make any sense. No, I couldn’t kiss Easton.
What was wrong with me?
I pushed him away, shaking my head. “I can’t.” I sucked in a breath. “What was that?”
I looked at him as he glowered at me. “You know what that was. What it’s always been.” Each word was uttered with a growl, and my eyes widened.
“Are you saying you’re my…?”
I couldn’t finish the sentence, couldn’t say anything more. I just looked at Easton. And I knew. I knew what he could be to me. I knew what that feeling inside of me was and had always been. Why I had been drawn to the boy with Fire. Why I didn’t understand exactly what I felt for Rhodes and why it was so different with Easton.
I looked at him. I could still taste him on my lips. Feel how swollen mine were.
And I knew.
That connection between us.
There was something.
But I had no idea what to do about it.
Before I could do or say anything more, Easton lifted his head and pulled me behind him.
Suddenly, Teagan, Wyn, and Arwin were at our sides, pointedly looking at me.
They had seen everything, had seen me break, had seen me fall, and had seen Easton kiss me.
They had seen it all.
But no one was paying attention to me now.
Because I wasn’t the important one here.
No, that was the Water Wielders coming at us, this time on a ship, surfing on a wave made from Wielding as they came towards us nearest the lowest waterfall.
I could see them in their blue robes, their strong features that spoke of ages past. I could sense the power within them.
And I had just killed others like them. I didn’t want to do it again.
“Remember,” Easton growled, “I’m just a Wielder. Don’t call me by name.” He was still under his glamour. The others couldn’t know he was the king.
I looked at him and swallowed hard.
I couldn’t think. And I needed to focus. Not on him but on the task at hand.
“Are you Lyric?” one of the men asked as he stepped off the boat and onto a rock nearest the edge of the waterfall. “Rosamond sent us. We are the guards of the Lord of Water. It’s time to take you to your friends.”
Easton stiffened ever so slightly, but I didn’t lean into him. I didn’t do anything. I just looked at those in front of us. Those with a connection to my friends.
And I knew this was why we had come. Why the Water charm on my bracelet still warmed.
This was why we were here. To get to the Lord of Water.
Rosamond, the Seer, had Seen me. She had sent for me. Rhodes had sent for me.
Now, we were ready for the next task.
I just had to push away everything that had just happened recently so I could focus.
No matter how hard it was. No matter how much my mind wanted to rebel.
Because I was the Spirit Priestess, even if I couldn’t control the power within me. Even if I might die because of it.
But others were relying on me. I couldn’t focus on feelings or connections right now. I had to concentrate on strength.
Even if sometimes I felt like I had none.