Chapter 15
Chapter
Ihad enough of the last few days. I withdrew from the meetings, sent Roderick to listen in my place. I didn’t want to look at them. At Dricus. At Velena. Not even at Aidenar. The Gathering stood halfway through, yet all had grown weary of it.
I couldn’t stay in my chambers. I could still smell the stench of dead fish clinging to the walls and drapes. I had nowhere to go. I hid in the gardens, by one of the fountains. That always calmed me, the rush of water, the cool marble, the scent of wet stone.
I found a secluded place where a bearded giant carved in stone watched over the stream. Father of the nymphs, or husband. You could never tell with these myths. I sat on the stone bench and stared at the water flowing from his palms.
“Are you avoiding me?”
The voice pulled me from my numbness. I looked up and saw Aidenar, arms crossed over his chest, silver gaze fixed on me.
“I needed a break,” I said, turning back to the fountain.
He moved closer, stopped right by the bench.
“Everything alright?”
There was a note of concern in his voice. I raised my head and looked at him.
“Yes.”
I sat in silence. I could still see Dricus’s face, still felt his lips on mine and the grip of his hands on my wrists when he pushed me away. Stupid girl.
“No jokes about me?” Aidenar broke the silence. “No comments about how I’m wasting my life with whores?”
“I don’t have the energy.”
He winced, as if my words had wounded him. He sat beside me, rested his head against the marble back of the bench, and together we watched the fountain. Water splashing. Wind rustling through leaves.
“Aren’t you at the Gathering?” I asked finally.
“I can’t take it anymore.” He sighed deeply. “If I hear Dorthal’s idea about new tariffs on all his goods one more time, I’ll throw myself off a tower.”
I let out a quiet laugh. He looked at me with satisfaction, pleased he’d managed to bring a smile back to my face.
“When you’re Regent, that’ll be your daily life,” I reminded him.
The smile vanished from his face.
“Maybe I should vote for Salvadore and grant him this misery.”
He took a deep breath and let a gust of wind sweep through the entire park. Leaves danced, water in the fountain rippled.
“You’re getting better at it,” I observed.
“This power. Since we started. It’s always there. Waiting for me.” He clenched his hands into fists. “But I feel that I’m only reaching the surface of it. That there is more of it, hidden.”
I studied him carefully. Maybe he was ready.
“You know what?” I stood. “Let’s do something fun. I’m bored anyway. Come on.”
I strode quickly toward the stables. Aidenar jumped up and caught up to me in a few bounds. We took two horses and rode out to the forest.
We left through a side gate to draw less attention and rode slowly along the forest path. The weather was perfect. Sunlight filtered through the canopy, the air smelled of pine needles and damp earth.
“Should I be worried, since we’re riding so far?” he muttered, one brow raised.
“Better not to take chances,” I said, smiling faintly.
We rode in silence for a while longer. Finally, I spoke.
“You’ll hardly need me soon anyway.” I kept my eyes ahead. “When I return to the islands, you’ll have to learn to control it on your own.”
“Return to the islands?”
“Yes. When the Gathering ends, after the Election. I’ll have no reason to stay.”
The words came out coolly, indifferently. But I remembered my kiss with Dricus and something inside of me twisted painfully.
Aidenar fell silent. He looked at me, then ahead again.
“You’ll just go? Run away?” he asked.
“Yes. Believe it or not, there’s a world beyond White City and your palace,” I said sharply.
“So, you’re still afraid to live for yourself,” he said quietly.
I tried to live a little more and got hit with a brick wall.
He stared at his horse’s mane, avoiding my gaze. The silence thickened between us until it hurt. All the thoughts swirled in my head: anger, shame, regret. Enough of this nonsense. I focused on why we came here.
We left the horses and continued on foot.
Aidenar still seemed puzzled by my caution.
If I hadn’t known better, I wouldn’t have understood either.
In the clearing among the trees, we began with simple exercises.
I made him break his control, then gather it again.
He was making surprising progress. The hardest part was always calming the element.
When I saw he was ready, I stepped closer and faced him.
“Now you must let go of everything you have,” I said. “Until now, we’ve practiced restraint, suppression. Now you must see what you’re truly capable of. You wanted to see what’s beneath the surface.”
He looked at me uncertainly, as if waiting for me to tell him it was only a joke.
“But remember,” I added, catching his silver gaze, “when you feel the limit, let go. Break the bond, or it will break you.”
He nodded. Closed his eyes.
“Feel the air around us,” I said softly. “Move with it. Slowly. Rhythmically.”
The wind began to swirl. The forest breathed with him.
“More.”
The gusts grew stronger, branches began to bend.
“More.”
The trees groaned under the force of the gale.
“Reach deeper. Don’t close yourself. Open to everything within you.”
The wind roared, circling us in a widening vortex. The trees bent nearly to the breaking point.
“Good...” I whispered, though I knew danger was near.
Branches snapped with loud cracks. Stones lifted from the ground.
I could barely keep my balance. But in the eye of the storm, where I stood close to him, it was almost still.
I was looking at him in full of awe at his power.
For years I’d been alone with this. And now.
Seeing with my own eyes what we could do. I was mesmerized.
But I also knew it had gone too far. That Aidenar was about to lose control.
“Enough!” I shouted.
He didn’t hear me.
“Enough!” I screamed again, but the wind devoured my words.
“Aidenar! Break the bond!” My voice cracked.
He opened his eyes, but they weren’t his eyes. They shone silver like molten light, without pupils or whites. I knew if he didn’t stop now, the power would consume him. Or worse.
My shouts meant nothing. Without thinking too much, I swung and slapped him across the face with all my strength.
His head snapped to the side, but he didn’t come back to himself.
He began to rise, weightless, suspended in the air. His eyes blazed, hair and clothes whipped in the tempest. The element was devouring him. One more breath and disaster would follow.
I had to break this. I grabbed his head and tried to sever him from the power. He fought me. I began drowning him in his own body, filled him with my power. I felt him slowly weaken. My own force poured into him, dampening the storm, sealing the well within him. Severing the element’s hold.
I didn’t know how long it lasted, moments, or eternity.
When I pulled back, the wind had died. Silence fell so heavy it rang in my ears.
We stood upon the torn earth, both gasping for breath. He stared at me with his usual eyes now, filled with confusion and disbelief.
He glanced around. The clearing looked like a battlefield. Shattered trees, torn earth, stones and branches scattered in ruin.
“Did I... do this?” he asked, disbelieving.
“Yes,” I said quietly. “And it would have been worse if we hadn’t stopped it.”
Aidenar stood for a long moment, surveying the devastation he’d caused. Finally, he turned to me.
“Do you...” He paused awkwardly. “When you use this much power, do you feel it like that too?”
“The excitement? The thrill? The ecstasy?” I nodded. “Yes. That’s why it’s so addictive. Why it’s so hard to stop.”
His eyes still glowed faintly. I could feel him slowly regulating himself, the power within him pulsing and settling.
“Have you ever... lost control?”
I sighed. I felt as if someone had placed a stone on my chest. As if I couldn’t breathe.
“A few times.” One time too many. My heart clenched with pain.
“That kind of power...” he stared at his hands. “It truly can control the realms”
Only now was he beginning to realize how much element slept within him. Before, he’d always doubted it. It had been just a small flame, barely noticeable. But now. I could feel Aidenar’s power constantly, as if something had opened in him today. It pulsed in the air around him, ready to explode.
Aidenar touched his cheek.
“Why does my face hurt?” he frowned. “Did you smack me?”
“I had no choice.”
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, “Did you like it?”