Gift from the Stone (Source of Elementra Book 2), page 14
“We’ll figure it out, princess. I swear.”
I’ll do whatever I have to, to get her, her answers.
“Well, that was a lot to process, and I’m sure there’s more to know, but for now, what’s step one in saving the world?” Willow asks, going from one extreme to the next.
I press my lips to her head, running my fingers up and down her arm, silently laughing at her persistence. I’m not the only one who has to know everything.
“I don’t believe it’s as easy as that, baby, but regardless, step one is to continue to train you. Tomorrow, we go back to our routine. You’re with Tillman in the mornings, training, and we get back to the academy. We’re going to go to the Alpha Trials here soon. They’re holding it during our break, so in three weeks, we’ll be traveling to the Terravile pack to watch the trials and scope out the Mastery members who are living there. I have no doubt they’ll try to rig this so another one of their followers takes over.”
“Like a mission? Who's all going?” she asks.
“A team from the palace, Ry and his guys, and our Nexus. Oakly can join them if she’s meeting Tillman’s standard in training by then. Our Nexus would’ve had to go anyway for multiple reasons. Tillman is supposed to be there scouting for potential recruits and for Lyker, being a former E.F. member under his command. It’s a show of support and respect. We also would’ve had to go as representatives of the palace.”
“So we’re going to watch the trial then what, arrest the suspected members of the Mastery?” She lifts a confused, questioning brow at me.
“No, we won’t approach them. Our goal is to witness who wins the trial and identify any that bear the M. Only wolf shifters can be in the running, so most of the trial will take place with them shirtless or in shifted form, giving us the opportunity to see who wears the mark. If the winner is a part of the Mastery, we’ll plan a much larger mission to take on the pack. Jarod may have been trash, but he and his father played it smart by not informing all the pack members what they’ve been up to. If we storm in attacking, the entire pack will see it as a threat, not giving a fuck that we’re E.F. They’ll see it as war and attack back.” That’s a scenario I want to avoid at all costs.
I don’t want anything to happen while Willow is there with us or go to war with a wolf pack that has many more times the number of E.F. members we’ll be bringing.
“Smart. I still can’t fight for shit, but at least now I can shift into a big-ass dragon.” She beams.
“Hell yeah, you can, kitten.” Draken shoots her a playful wink and blows her a kiss.
His nickname for her makes zero fucking sense.
We finally fall into an easier conversation, letting the weight of all our news and Willow’s Elementra lesson settle. It’s been a few stressful days, but listening to Gaster’s stories of the trouble my mom and aunt caused, followed by the trouble we caused, makes it almost feel normal, okay.
“Caspian was the biggest prankster of the lot. When his gift emerged and he got control over it, he’d hide in the pantries, jump out, and scare the poor kitchen staff. Everyone would open the doors with brooms or spatulas, ready to smack him when he jumped out.” I laugh at Gaster’s imaginary swings of a broom, a reenactment of poor Ms. Grace.
“What made you start pranking everyone in the house?” Willow asks him with a huge smile on her face.
I know exactly where he’s going with it when he grins at me and then at her.
“My emerging. I was stuck in the shadows for an entire day. I cast shadows across the entire palace, blackening every room. It took me hours to figure out how to project my voice beyond my shadows so everyone could hear me, but I still couldn’t find my way out and they couldn’t find me. Finally, Corentin managed to come up with the idea that he’d light up like the damn sun in the foyer again. It stole the shadows away and I fell out. It became a running joke after that.”
“Again?” She turns to ask me as I sip my drink rather than answer.
“Because of his emerging. He—”
I cut Gaster off with a grunt before he starts getting to that embarrassing-ass story, but Willow casts her gaze up to me, a sweet, mischievous look playing across her face.
“Will you tell me about your emerging?”
I groan as everyone else at the table starts laughing at my expense. My gift emerged with a bang, just like my brothers’ did, but it was an embarrassing bang. Completely out of control, chaotic. It was awful.
“You really want to know?” I hoped she’d say no, but I can tell by the sly grin, she isn’t going to let me off the hook.
“I do. By all their laughs, something funny happened, and I want in on it.”
Damn.
“Fine. Every year, Mom and Aunt Tilly threw huge, ridiculous birthday parties for us, but that birthday, my mom told me we weren’t throwing a party, that she was taking me somewhere special, so she sent me to go get ready and get dressed up. After I got out of the shower, I searched everywhere in my room for my favorite pair of pants and shirt. I was a little obsessive over what I wore.”
“Was? As in past tense?” Caspian asks sarcastically, raising a brow at my choice of words.
“Fuck off, was, am. Same difference. Anyway, they weren’t in my room, and I was determined that’s what I was wearing for the day. So I stormed out of my room, heading to the laundry to see if the staff had them in there. Well, unbeknownst to me, my mother and aunt had planned a huge surprise party, so when I came stomping through the foyer, my mom dropped the concealment spell and a hundred guests popped out, shouting surprise. It scared the shit out of me.
“Winds, strong enough to blow tables around the room, knocking over statues, vases with flowers, the cake, you name it, swept through the room, also snatching my towel from around my waist with it.”
Willow’s gasp is followed by hysterical laughter that causes a chain reaction and everyone at the table is in tears, laughing.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please continue.” She wipes her eyes and pats my chest. Groaning, I fall into the memory of that sheer embarrassment.
“There I was, butt-ass naked in front of all these people, my air going crazy, and I couldn’t control it. Then blinding light shot from every pore of my body. Everyone started running around, screaming. Tumbling over each other, tripping over the chaos my air left behind. I was freaking out and started running with everyone, trying to find one of my dads, Caspian, my uncle, someone to help.
“My light began shifting, making the entire foyer resemble a room of mirrors. And there I was, naked as the day I was born, on display at multiple different angles for everyone to see. Finally, Caspian figured out which me was the real me and covered me with my towel. Needless to say, there was no party, and I didn’t leave my room for the rest of the week.”
Their laughs create a sweet melody that floats through me and settles in my chest. Sure, I’m embarrassed for fourteen-year-old me, whose balls had barely dropped and was just getting to the point of wanting to impress girls, but hearing the love and laughter coming from my Nexus makes it all worth it. Feeling my Primary vibrate on my lap in fits of laughter and happiness is worth any story any of them want to share.
“Oh God, Corentin, that’s awful. I’m so sorry for laughing, but I swear I can picture your face in my mind. Running around naked…” She trails off, giggling, trying to compose herself. It’s such a beautiful sight.
“It was horrible, terrible. A kiss would make it so much better.”
“That was so cheesy,” she teases.
Beaming up at me, she cups my cheeks before pulling me down to her. I fall wholeheartedly into the kiss, savoring the sweet taste of her. Running my hands up the back of her neck and into her hair, gripping firmly, I tilt her head back and deepen the kiss, humming in approval as she instantly lets me take control. I swallow down a needy little moan she releases, just as someone clears their throat.
Damn it, old man.
A blush creeps across Willow’s cheeks, but that doesn’t stop her from cuddling back into my lap and facing everyone, not shying away from the affection she just showed me.
“Sorry, got a little distracted there for a second.”
“Huh-uh. Let’s eat before our food gets cold. Are you excited for classes tomorrow?” Gaster asks, rolling his eyes.
“Yeah. I can’t wait to see Oakly and the archives,” she answers vaguely, pushing her food around her plate.
“What about your classes?” I ask, watching her closely. The way she won’t look up from her food and the way her body tenses against mine lets me know she doesn’t want to answer me truthfully.
“My classes are fine. It’s just I’m much further ahead in my Air Element than even the second years, and Gaster’s teachings have far surpassed my Enchantments class. So I get bored, then I feel guilty because I have quite the advantage over the rest of my class.” She gestures her hand around the table to us.
When I first set her up with these classes, I didn’t expect her to take so quickly to everything Gaster taught her, or that she’d learn so much from us, and she hasn’t complained, so I didn’t realize she was bored. Now that I think about it, he’s taught her things the academy doesn’t even teach, things that come from centuries of wisdom and age.
And she’s more than likely surpassing most fourth years in air and earth, and I have no doubt her fire will catch right up, although no one can know about those two elements.
Her control is truly unmatched. You’d never know her elements were bound with no use until recently. They obey her command like she’s been using them every day of her life. It took me and my brothers years to match the level of control she wields.
“If you’d like, tomorrow, we can run a field test and see if you surpass the fourth years in Air Elemental class, and if you do, I’ll withdraw you and you can spend that extra time with me, Tillman, or Gaster. If you don’t, I’ll move you up to that class.”
“What kind of field test?” she asks skeptically.
“The fourth-year final. It’s a series of tests that’ll show your control and the strength of your air element but on a practice basis. You won’t really be graded on it, unless you pass it, then I really will document the passing grade.”
“Will I have to do this in front of the whole class?”
I shake my head, easing the worry I see on her face. “No. The four of us will be there, but we’ll have to have one unbiased instructor there to administer the test and base the final grade.”
“Oh, well, that won’t be too bad then. You’ve all seen me use my air element plenty of times. When will we do it?”
“First thing in the morning, before you go to Gaster’s, so depending on how it goes, we use tomorrow to set up your new schedule, with or without an Air Elemental class.” I decide, pulling my communicator out, letting the instructor know to meet us at the training fields first thing in the morning.
Looking at Draken then back at me, I can see unfairness flaring in her eyes, and I know what’s coming before she even asks.
“Why does Draken still have to take a Fire Element class? We all know he surpasses them.”
“Good fucking question, little wanderer.”
“He won’t stop burning people who piss him off. There have been countless complaints, so he must stay in the class until he figures out how to control that,” I tell her, rolling my eyes at his bullshit.
“Draken.” She tries to play it off as her being stern, but her giggling at the mock horror on his face betrays that notion.
“They all deserved it. I shouldn’t be punished for that.” He tries to justify. Willow and Caspian both laugh, only encouraging his nonsense, but luckily, Tillman’s on my side and backs me up that Draken won’t be getting out of his own classes.
“What about my Enchantment’s class? I’d hate to leave Oakly, but I think I just distract her when we go over things I already know, and she doesn’t call me out about it.”
“There aren’t many other options since we can’t expose your other two elements, but I was thinking you should join Draken’s shifter class, at least tomorrow, and see how it goes. He isn’t allowed to shift because of the nature of his animal, so we can say your animal is rare and on a need-to-know basis only. But I think it would be beneficial for you to learn shifter culture and how to control your dominance.” I’m fighting myself on that decision because she’d be the only female in that class.
We can’t put lower dominant females in a class full of strong shifter males. That’d just be asking for trouble. Seeing her dominance come out to play today and go toe to toe with Draken, there’s no doubt she’ll handle herself in there with the others.
“I didn’t even think about that. Oh, I think that would be good.” She smiles and claps her hands excitedly. Draken’s overprotective stare says otherwise.
She’ll be fine.
Eight
Willow
Ruthless dictator.
“You’re seriously going to make me work this hard, knowing I have a test in a little while?” I groan, rolling onto my back on the mat for the hundredth time.
After a wonderful night of sleep, sandwiched between Tillman and Draken, I feel refreshed. I woke up ready to put the events of yesterday behind me, hit training hard, and save the world. That was until his ass started slinging me around like a damn chew toy.
Now, I’m over it and want to quit.
Mirrors spread across the wall in front of us, gives me the perfect view of Tillman’s body as he tilts his head back and chugs down a bottle of water. I have no clue why he’s thirsty. I’m the only one working up a sweat, but regardless, I can’t help but stare, watching as his throat contracts and relaxes with every gulp.
The golden contours of his neck muscles, like ridges of sand dunes, move in sync with every swallow. Before tearing my eyes away so I don’t get caught ogling his body, I linger on his broad chest that expands in and out with every breath, causing his abs to flex and tighten on every exhale.
Fuck, he’s a gorgeous piece of art.
Reflected in the mirrors behind my sprawled-out body is a perfect miniature replica of the training gym at the academy. An array of differently weighted dumbbells, from itty-bitty for me to tree trunk size for ruthless gym nuts like Tillman, stretch across the back wall. Wooden weapons, punching bags, battle ropes, an obstacle course, and too much more are spread out across the whole area, sectioned off by the type of torture he intends to inflict on me.
“This is not going to affect your air element whatsoever. It’s hand-to-hand combat. Get up and get over it. Again,” he orders.
“Fine,” I whine, rolling to my stomach, groaning as I push myself up.
Heat flaring between my chest, where my Memoria stone stays tucked, steals my attention as I get into position. As soon as I call my magic forth, a dull thud beats in my head and a sharp sting starts to spread across every muscle in my body, only to fade away a second later, leaving a focused haze trying to take over my senses.
I shake my head out and look up just in time to see Tillman charging straight for me. Mentally, I want to dodge him, not willing to be flung to the mat again, but my body has a mind of its own.
He jabs out and my fist flies up, guarding my face, my body crunches to the side, and my forearm blocks his shot.
Lightning fast, I strike out, barely brushing his ribs as he expertly dodges out of the way, but enough it catches us both by surprise. Moments pass as we stand in stunned silence, the air starting to hang heavy with anticipation. His calculating eyes take me in as he starts to circle me, and I never let my gaze leave his, watching, waiting.
Suddenly, he launches a series of swift jabs, testing my reflexes. Although I’m nowhere near as graceful as him, I pair each blow with newfound agility, my muscles responding to the rhythm of his attacks. The mats beneath our feet soak up the sound of our swift movements, Tillman striking, me blocking, round and round we go.
He switches it up, yelling out boxing combos, trying to throw me a curve ball. “Right hook, left hook, duck. Jab-right uppercut, duck.” Over and over, he tosses out commands.
A bead of sweat trickles down my brow as I absorb the knowledge, absorb his guidance, and my body begins to move with a grace that belied my earlier struggles.
Memories of my stranger training me this same way in the clearing around my tree start to filter through my mind as I continue to execute every command Tillman yells out. I can remember them forcing me to train for hours in the evenings, offense, defense, hand-to-hand with and without elements, you name it. They made me work on it. I’m nowhere near the level Tillman is on. I have a long way to go before that, but I’m not as helpless as I thought.
We seamlessly fall into a sparring match as he quits calling out commands and begins delivering strike after strike. My eyes are focused on his body, the way he flows through the moves effortlessly despite his massive build. And it fills me with determination to finally grasp the techniques he’s been drilling into me.
In a moment of perfect synchrony, he lunges forward, and I sidestep. With a fast pivot, I spin around and deliver a flawless fucking leg sweep, if I say so myself.
Time seems to slow as his feet fly from under him, his body hitting the mat with a deafening crash. Clarity returns to my senses milliseconds later. The haze of the Memoria stone lifts, and the realization of what just happened boils over into excitement.
Jumping on Tillman, straddling his hips, I cheer my victory.
“Holy shit, did you see me? I was ducking and bobbing, then I actually knocked you off your—” I let out a small grunt as my back slams onto the mat, Tillman’s body looming over me.
My legs lift automatically, wrapping around him as his mouth collides with mine. I run my fingernails across the veins that snake across his forearms, letting them linger as I relish in the power of his sculpted strength, and his muscles ripple beneath my hands as I continue my exploration.
