Ash (The Elemental Series, Book 6) (3 page)

“Father, Lark was doing what she
had
to do to keep us all safe. To keep the world safe. Is that not enough to retract the banishment? Your pride is going to get us all killed, you old fool!” Bella snapped, her short temper rearing its head.

He shook his head, his eyes glittering with anger. “You push the boundaries of propriety, Belladonna. Do not make the same mistake Lark did and think you can force me to do as you wish! Your mother was the last who will ever control me!” The last was said with a roar. River cringed against her mother, but Bella . . . I had to give her credit. She didn’t back down from her father. She drew herself up, never once looking away from him.

“I am the only one you have left as an heir. You wouldn’t dare banish me.”

My feet slowed of their own accord. That was a deadly thing to say to him in his current state. But even as his face purpled with rage, I could see she was right.

He had no choice but Belladonna now. Keeda was mindless. Briar was a weak-willed child who had no head for politics or power. Raven had disappeared, and the oldest boy, Vetch, had been killed by Lark.

I looked at my king, no longer seeing the great man he once was, but the broken-minded leader we now had to deal with. Again, because of Cassava. Her manipulation of Spirit had kept my king from the greatness he could have given the world. She’d forced him to keep Lark away as if she meant nothing to him.

So for the man he could have been, I would give Basileus one last chance to make things right.

“My King,” I stepped up behind Belladonna, just to her left side, “your oldest daughter is wise beyond her years. I beg you to listen to her, and let her help you lead our people. Bring Lark back, show them that you are merciful as well as wise. That you can recognize when a mistake is made, and you are not so full of pride to admit it.”

The king’s eyes shot to mine, flashing with anger and power which made my skin twitch. The Spiral rumbled under my feet, echoing his displeasure. “An Ender thinks to advise the king? Since when do you think you could possibly understand what it is to lead?”

I tucked my hands behind my back and gave a small nod as if I agreed. “I see your children dying off one by one, and I realize that if we are going to keep our family alive and well, we need to protect those who are left. Belladonna. Larkspur. Briar. One of your three daughters will lead us next. As I see it, Belladonna is the obvious choice, seeing as you just banished Larkspur,” not to mention she’d turned down the crown when offered it, “and Briar is a child yet, unsuitable to lead.”

Briar gave a soft gasp as if I’d slapped her. But I ignored her. She was not of my concern.

His jaw ticked. “Of course, Belladonna is the obvious choice. I know that. But she is not the queen, and if she keeps on this path, she will never see the crown on her head.” But I could see he didn’t understand things as they were, not really. There was confusion mixed with the anger and frustration in his dark green eyes. The emotions warred with one another, all but humming through the air. From what I understood, his mind was broken, pulled apart and manipulated too many times by both Cassava and Raven.

Was there enough of the man I’d known when I’d first become an Ender?

The king’s next words showed my point even clearer than I would have liked. He took a step back and his eyes swept the room. I wondered what it was he looked for. Perhaps Cassava? Or maybe Lark’s mother, Ulani?

“Belladonna,” the king pointed at her but didn’t look to her, “you are the heir to the throne. But you have a half-breed child, and it is obvious to me that half-breeds cannot be trusted. Until my death and your rise to the throne, you will not live in the Spiral.” He turned his back and Bella gasped. I stepped up beside her and kept my eyes trained on the king’s back. I had to try, one more time.

“Basileus. I beg of you again to reconsider your punishment of Larkspur. She saved us. Lift her banishment and bring her home.”

Hope shattered as he spun and pointed a shaking finger at me. “You . . . one more word and I will have you sent to the dungeons. You helped Lark in her traitorous ways when you should have been stopping her from breaking the laws I have set forth.”

My jaw ticked. He really had lost it. It had not been me with Lark on her last journey, but Cactus; and he’d already been banished.

The laws of our world were not the king’s; the mother goddess had made them and then placed us, elementals, as the wards of those laws. That the king could no longer see that he was off the path was the final blow to my hope.

I held a hand out to Bella. “Let’s get you and River out of here.”

Bella nodded, bent and scooped her daughter into her arms, then took my offered hand. “Thank you.”

As soon as I could, I took my hand from hers and then led the way out of the throne room. We were silent until the doors thundered shut behind us, blocking us from the king’s sight.

“Where will I go?” Bella’s eyes were narrowed with anger and a good dose of fear. She’d never been an outcast as she’d always been the favored one of both her parents. I struggled not to recoil from her. Between us was an ugly past, one that had been orchestrated by her mother, Cassava.

The queen had used Belladonna to . . . distract . . . me, forcing me to bed her while Cassava killed Lark’s baby brother, Bramley, and mother Ulani. They were my charges, and I had failed them in the worst way possible.

I had not forgotten that day, nor the revulsion I had for Bella’s part in it. While she was as used as I by her mother, it was difficult for me to get past what had happened. I doubted that Bella had forgotten either. So it was with a stiff air between us that we walked.

“I’ll escort you to Lark’s home,” I said. “It’s far enough from the Spiral to give you the space you need, and it’s not like Lark will be using it.” The words came out harder than I intended.

I slowed so we walked side by side as we strode through the halls of the Spiral.

“You should not provoke him. Lark needs you to stay alive and keep from being banished,” Bella said as I walked with her out of the Spiral and down the main thoroughfare of the Rim. Other elementals walked here and there, going about their daily activities as if nothing was wrong.

As if they hadn’t just seen their only hope banished to the desert, sent away by a half-mad king. Their faces were drawn, their eyes downcast. There was not the laughter and easygoing banter that should have been there. So perhaps they were not so oblivious as I thought.

“I cannot stand by and watch him throw our family, and Lark, away without doing something any more than you can,” I said.

Our world was going to suffer for this day. I felt it under my skin like an itch I could not reach in the center of my back.

“Ash, do you think Lark is coming back?” Bella hitched River a little higher on her hip, holding her child tightly. River laid her head on her mother’s shoulder, clinging to her.

I looked away from her and shook my head. “I don’t know, but I’m not going to wait on her finding her own way back.”

“We need her,” Bella said softly. “Without her, I don’t think our world is going to survive.”

I didn’t like that she echoed my own thoughts so closely.

I hurried my pace. “Come, let’s get you settled into Lark’s place. Then we can discuss what we’re going to do.”

Bella grabbed my arm with her free hand, spinning me toward her. “What do you mean?”

I raised both eyebrows. “You don’t think I’m going to sit here and do nothing, do you?”

She frowned. “Just what are you planning?”

“Settle River into Lark’s place,” I said. “Then meet me at the barracks as soon as you can.”

Bella nodded, but I could see she was not convinced and that worried me. Would she fight at my side, or fight against me?

There was only one way to find out.

stood in the center of the barracks training room. Weapons lined the walls, ready to be pulled and used to defend the Rim at a moment’s notice. From swords to axes, bow and arrow to spears, there was no shortage of weaponry.

I tallied the numbers of the Enders and Rim guards.

Ten Enders, most of them new to the calling.

Twenty Rim guards.

We’d not use up even half of the weapons on the walls around us. There was a time when the blacksmiths
’
fires had burned hot all day as they tried to keep up with the need for new blades and arrowheads as they were constantly being broken in the training of new Enders and Rim guards.

The numbers of the protectors of the Rim were . . . low at best. While I’d been searching for Lark the last two years, the trainers I’d left in charge were supposed to be building those numbers up. I looked to my two replacement trainers, Elk and Dreg. “What in the seven hells have you been doing the last two years?” I snapped as I paced the room.

Elk didn’t slump, but Dreg did. “You don’t understand, being an Ender takes more than—”

“I damn well know what it takes to be an Ender. I’ve been training them for years,” I growled. I rolled my shoulders. Any of the other elemental families would have at least triple those numbers at a minimum.

“What really happened?” I spun and pinned Elk with a stare. He held my gaze, but barely, as the pulse in his throat jumped and bobbed.

“The king commanded that we stop actively recruiting. We tried to work around him, Ash. But he threatened us with banishment. The best we could do was train up those we already had in the program and hope that nothing ever came our way where we would need to truly defend our family.”

I ran a hand over my face as a soft footstep turned me around. Bella stood in the doorway wearing a deep red dress the color of blood. Suitable for the situation . . . had she guessed what I was about? Her hair was pulled up in a tight bun so not a single strand escaped it, and her eyes were lined with a pure black that only highlighted how very dark her own eyes could be in certain lights.

“Did I hear that correctly? My father has actively denied the recruitment of guards and Enders?” She stepped farther into the room, her skirts swishing along the floor, stirring up the hard packed dirt.

Elk nodded and inclined his head to her. “Yes, Princess. That is true.”

I clenched my jaw. That was all there was to it. Now was the time to act, and try to bring things in line once more.