Earth's Touch (Her Elementals Book 1), page 9
I sat up and swiped my hand upward. More roots shot from the ground, impaling the charging demon. It snorted twice, its red eyes glowing, then they went black, and his head slumped forward. But it didn't just die. Its body withered and melted around the vines until all that remained was a pile of leather-like skin and fat. What the hell?
"Quit gawking and fight!" Flint yelled at me.
I blinked and refocused. I could ponder how strange everything was later, but for now, I had to save our people.
Using my new ability, I continued to use roots from the ground to kill our enemies. It was highly effective and fast, giving us the upper hand we desperately needed. Our soldiers, spirits bolstered by the sudden turn of events, fought with increased fervor.
I'd killed over a dozen monsters when a sudden wave of fatigue rolled over me. I slumped over, gasping for air, and my chest heaving with what felt like the last of my strength. Something was wrong. It was like my earlier energy had just disappeared. Maybe I needed to recharge myself.
I stumbled a few feet away from the fighting and lowered to the ground, but this time when I touched it, it literally felt frozen, almost as if it refused to open up to me.
"They're retreating!" Drew called.
I looked up as triumphant cries filled the air. It was true. The demons were scurrying back into the forest.
"Do we chase after them?" a soldier called.
No one had time to answer him because a fierce and sudden wind ripped through the valley, picking up dirt and debris. I lifted my arm to shield my face from their sharp sting.
Flint appeared next to me and brought me to my feet, but my legs buckled. Had he not held me around the waist, I might've fallen again.
"I'm so weak," I breathed.
"It's the magic. Your body isn't used to containing it." He positioned me next to him, blocking the debris flying through the air.
Lightning cracked above us, followed by a loud clap of thunder so loud the ground beneath our feet shook. Soldiers gathered until we were all huddled together.
I glanced down at the skin on my arms, frowning. It felt like invisible particles were clawing against me as if trying to burrow inside, and it wasn't the dirt flying through the air. This pressure, these sharp pinpricks, felt alive. "What's happening, Flint?"
Flint didn't look at me. His eyes were fixed on the shadows in the trees. "Dark magic."
I looked in the same direction, towards the darkest part of the forest. The area was so black that it appeared as if the color had swallowed the trees within it. The darkness began to expand, and smoke appeared and billowed outward, smothering the grassy field.
Our soldiers stepped back, and a fearful murmur rumbled through them as they looked from me to the darkness.
"Hold your positions," Drew ordered, his voice stern.
I swallowed and lifted my chin toward the oncoming danger. This wasn't the time to show fear, especially since I'd used magic in front of them only moments ago. I'd pretended I hadn't noticed, but I'd seen how several of them had watched in horror as I'd made roots and vines escape the earth's crust.
I would figure out how to explain it later, but right now, I had to focus on this new threat, the one whose dark energy continued to press against my skin as if trying to find a way through to my insides.
I prayed my strength would recover in time to fight whatever beast was coming.
Chapter
Ten
~ FLINT ~
I clenched my jaw so tightly I thought it might break. I could feel darkness approaching, feel its energy surround Avani as if she were something to feast upon. It wanted her.
With just a thought, I drew more of earth’s magic into me, but I feared it might not be enough. Whatever was coming was extremely powerful. If only I had prepared Avani sooner, trained her on how to hold and expel earth’s power within her body, then we might be strong enough together.
Avani moved away from me, stumbling the first few steps, but she must’ve gathered some strength from somewhere because she quickly rolled her shoulders back, inhaled a deep breath, and continued forward, walking around the soldiers.
I hurried after her, whispering, “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to communicate with this new threat, as is my duty.”
I grasped her arm to stop her. “I’ll do it.”
She shrugged off my grip and kept moving. “No. It’s me it wants. I can feel it. Besides, I won’t have any more of our soldiers harmed.”
“Avani,” I urged, but she kept walking, stubborn as ever.
“Princess,” Drew called as he rushed after us. “You must return. This is no place for you!”
“This is exactly where I should be.” She stopped at the front of the line and faced the billowing smoke almost reaching our feet.
“Have courage and remain steady,” Drew shouted.
More murmuring and shifting of feet, but no one backed further away.
I came to her right, slightly in front of her. She noticed and frowned at me, but I wasn’t budging.
Drew stood to her left and unsheathed his sword, shouting back to his men, “We will not abandon our Princess! Will we?”
A half-hearted agreement shouted back. Still fragile hearts and minds, but at least they weren’t running.
A sound permeated the air just then, like a faint sigh whispering with the wind, followed by the words, “You are a special one, aren’t you?”
It was a woman’s soft voice. The smooth, melodic tone pacified me, making the tense muscles in my back relax.
“Where have you been hiding?” the woman spoke again. Her words curled around me, soft and calming, and my eyelids grew heavy. I snapped them back open.
“Show yourself!” Avani called. By the strength of her voice, this new foe's words held no power over her like they had me.
The voice from the darkness began to sing in a language I hadn’t heard in a long time. The words, sweet melody, and gentle tone of her voice surrounded me in warmth, and I grew sleepy again. I tried to fight the hypnotizing sound while a memory attempted to break through the haze. There was something familiar about this.
Avani shook me. “Snap out of it!”
My eyes flew open. I blinked and blinked again. When my vision came back into focus, I saw Drew on the other side of her, his eyes closed and his body swaying slightly. I glanced behind us. The soldiers were also doing the same.
The mesmerizing singing continued, but before it uttered too many more syllables, Avani lifted on her tiptoes and closed her warm palms over my ears. At her touch, my mind instantly cleared.
She whispered, “Stay with me. Please.”
It seemed such a silly thing to say. Of course, I’d stay with her. Always. I’d be nowhere else again. I opened my mouth to say just this, but movement from the forest caught my eye. We both turned to face the darkness.
From within a dark, swirling sphere, a woman appeared and strolled toward us, smoke spinning out of her path. She wore a long red gown, cut low in the front, exposing a good portion of her breasts. Her long, raven-black hair spread across them. A pang of familiarity raced through me. I’d once touched those breasts in a moment of extreme weakness. Rishka.
“That’s close enough,” Avani warned.
A cruel smile twisted Rishka’s countenance, then she disappeared entirely in a burst of smoke, only to reappear directly in front of Avani. Avani jumped.
Rishka lifted her hand and pressed it to Avani’s cheek. “This is close enough. Now hold still so that I might inspect you.”
Avani’s body stiffened so suddenly that her eyes widened in panic.
I sprang forward, intent on knocking Rishka away from her, but Rishka's hand flew up faster in my direction. “Quiet.”
My body convulsed tightly to a straight position so sharply I could barely suck air into my lungs. Without hesitating, I drew the power of the earth into me, but the magic slammed into a mental barrier of darkness.
Rishka smiled slyly at me as if she felt what I was trying to do. “It’s my turn, Elemental.”
Fear laced itself into my wrath, and I mentally pushed harder against her magical barricade. I knew I could break through it, but it would probably take a few minutes—time Avani might not have.
Rishka returned her cool gaze to Avani. “You are a pretty thing. This smooth skin— ” she traced her fingers down Avani’s cheek — “these pretty lips.”
Her fingers brushed across Avani’s lips, and one even slid past them, but Avani bit down to prevent it from going further.
“Feisty too, but that’s not what I’m interested in.” Rishka’s gaze roamed up and down Avani’s body. “What is this power you seem to possess? It is familiar to me.”
Unable to move her head, Avani glanced at me sideways, a nervous look in her eyes. I wished I could comfort her, but I remained immobile. But not helpless. I continued to mentally push against Rishka's hold over me, and when I felt it fracture, I pushed even more.
Rishka leaned into Avani so close her nose brushed up along Avani’s neck as Rishka inhaled. “I can smell it inside you. Like dirt and midnight air... but what else?”
She placed her face directly in front of Avani’s, then leaned in and kissed her mouth hard. Avani grimaced at the contact.
“Mmmm,” Rishka moaned, then she bit Avani’s bottom lip and pulled back, stretching it to a painful length. Avani yelped, and tears stung her eyes. Rishka let it go, smiling as she licked her lips. “Salt and embers. That’s what else I sense. But what does this mean?”
Her gaze shifted to me, then back to Avani. A tiny trail of blood ran down Avani’s chin. I would kill Rishka for harming Avani. Growling, I continued to mentally break through Rishka’s increasingly weakening barrier.
She must’ve felt the surge in my power because she flinched, then looked in my direction. With a cunning smile, she slid in front of me. “You want to hurt me.”
I snarled in agreement.
“You know,” she purred as she trailed a finger from my chest down to the front of my pants, where she hooked it into its seam, “it wasn’t that long ago that you had your cock buried inside me. Or do you not remember?”
My heart sunk into my stomach at her words, especially in front of Avani. My night with Rishka was not something I ever wanted to remember. It was a drunken moment of weakness decades ago when I’d succumbed to my loneliness.
I opened my mouth to argue, but no words escaped.
“Is there something you want to say?” she asked innocently. Her hand lowered to my crotch and rubbed it up and down. “Maybe you want to tell me how wonderful that night was. How I rode you like a wild stallion while you gripped my breasts, then how you’d fucked me against a wall, oblivious to my servants preparing for a party all around us.”
Anger threaded its way through my embarrassment. I didn’t dare glance at Avani for fear of what I might see in her eyes.
Rishka frowned and looked down. “Why do you not grow hard for me?”
“Leave this place, or I will kill you," a strong voice said.
Rishka and I both stilled and turned toward Avani, shocked she could speak.
“How did you—” Rishka asked, but she was silenced by at least a dozen brown roots exploding from the ground. She screamed as they twisted around her arms and legs and into her hair.
My gaze darted to Avani in awe. She still appeared surrounded by a magical force like me, yet she somehow found a way to use earth's magic. With a quick, downward jerk of her head, the many roots slammed Rishka to the ground. The motion must’ve surprised Rishka because her grip on the soldiers and us slipped.
I lunged to rip her heart out, but she disappeared before I could reach her. My head jerked up and searched the area, but the previous smoke and the unnatural darkness in the forest had disappeared with her.
“Flint,” Avani breathed.
The sound of her weak voice had me spinning back to her. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her whole body fell limp. I barely caught her before she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Chapter
Eleven
~ FLINT ~
I sat on the edge of a chair by Avani's bedside while she slept, but it wasn't a peaceful sleep. Her head continued to jerk periodically and her face scrunched in pain as if she were experiencing an endless nightmare. Her hand lay between mine, occasionally flexing against some unknown force. So small. So fragile. With my thumb, I stroked her pale skin across her knuckles to try to soothe her inner torment. I thought I'd die waiting for everyone to leave her room so I could finally touch her.
After Avani had fallen unconscious, Drew and I tried to revive her, but nothing worked. Not even when I secretly tried to use my healing magic, a rare gift from Mother Earth. This terrified me because there's no reason my abilities shouldn't have worked. Avani clearly still clung to life as her heart continued to beat strong, so why couldn't I wake her?
I leaned over and brushed my lips across her hand. "Wake up, beauty."
I watched her eyes expectantly, but nothing happened except another painful grimace. I groaned and lowered my head once more.
When we couldn't wake her, Drew insisted we return to the castle where the King's doctor could see her. I'd scooped her up before Drew suggested he or anyone else carry her, and then I mounted my horse and rode faster than I thought possible, even for my supernatural horse that was nearly as old as I was. Poor Drew hadn't been able to keep up, but I didn't care. I returned Avani to the castle and had her in front of the doctor in record time.
It was a whirlwind of activity as everyone rushed to help the tormented Princess. I tried to stay by her side as much as possible, but as an outsider, I could tell I wasn't wanted. I also heard several whispers about what had happened on the battlefield, which meant it hadn't taken long for the soldiers to tell stories about what they'd witnessed. Many times, I heard the word "magic" whispered from voices full of fear and disdain.
If it hadn't been for Rose, Avani's maid, I might've been kicked out of the castle for good, but Rose had reminded everyone, including Drew, that the King had ordered me to protect her.
Avani's hand fisted within mine again. I glanced up at her, my heart surging with hope, but it must've been the nightmare again because she still slept.
I squeezed her hand, rage warming the blood in my veins again at the thought of Rishka touching Avani. If Rishka had known Avani's true identity, she would've taken Avani straight to Sodon without a second thought. I couldn't let that happen. Sodon must never lay his hands on her, or it won't be just mine and my brothers' lives in jeopardy but the fate of all humanity.
"Please, beauty, my precious Avani, please wake up. Let me comfort you." My words fell on deaf ears.
For the hundredth time, I tried again to feed my magic into her, hoping a sliver of hers might latch onto it, but, like before, she was simply too drained. She'd expelled too much to fight off Rishka, but he still didn't know how she accomplished it as she was already weak from battling more than a dozen monsters.
I sighed and released her hand to trail my fingers up her bare arm. I continued up her neck, my thumb feathering across the tender flesh. The sudden image of her straddling me while she slid her wet pussy across my cock made me grow hard.
Avani's lips parted open, and she released a heavy breath followed by a moan, almost as if she'd had the same image of us. Seeing how it was her first stirring since falling unconscious, I continued thinking about that moment.
I brushed my thumb across her parted lips and leaned in close to whisper, "You felt so good on top of me. I want to do it again."
The lines between her furrowed brow relaxed for the first time since passing out.
I continued to speak heated words. "Wake up for me, and I'll run my tongue across your nipples, between your legs--"
I gasped at the thought. Lust burned through me but reached a new level when her tongue darted to lick her lips. She sighed, half moaning as if imagining me doing just that.
Moving closer still, I said, "Wake up, Princess. I'm here and waiting to give you all the pleasure and love you deserve. It's been far too long. We need to be together. We need to heal each other, heal the world. You just need to wake up. Remember. Remember us."
Her chest heaved a great breath, and her eyes flew open. I leaned back, a smile splitting my face at the sudden happiness racing through me. "Avani?"
She blinked a few times, staring at me with a blank expression, then sprung upward into a sitting position. "The witch! My soldiers!"
I took her by the arms, trying hard to ignore the heat at the contact of my fingers pressing against her bare arms. "They're okay. You saved them."
Her shoulders dropped, and her head fell forward. "Thank the Gods."
"How do you feel?"
She rubbed at her head. "Like I've been fighting for days. How long have I been out?"
"Fifteen hours, nine minutes, and forty-three seconds."
She lifted her gaze to mine and smiled slightly.
"I've been so worried. We all have. No one could help you, not even me, with all of my abilities."
"Maybe you're not as powerful as you think." She grinned, but the teasing grin disappeared a second later. She touched her head again.
"What's wrong?"
"These images going through my mind, the blood, the darkness. It's so overwhelming."
"Is it like a nightmare?" I wanted to hold her hand, but that sort of intimacy, the kind typically shared between fated mates, felt too soon. It might scare her away.
She shook her head. "I don't think so. It feels like," she paused, thinking, "like someone has poisoned my mind with memories, but I know they aren't real."
My heartbeat stuttered. "What do you see?"
"Men. Women. Children." She swallowed hard. "Their bodies. So much blood. And there's this darkness... it's coating the earth, destroying everything in its path. It feels pain, delivers pain, and enjoys the agony. But that isn't even the worst of it." She averted her gaze from mine. "I'm there with it. Helping this monster hurt others."
