Elemental Hunger (26 page)

“I can help you with the chartering,” he began, each word drawn out. “But, then, the United Territories needs your help.”

“My help?” I asked. He had two dozen Councilmen—men who could call down fire from the sky and bring lava up from the ground—waiting in the hall. “My help to do what?”

“You are a girl,” he said simply, like that explained everything.

“Yes,” I said, still not getting it.

“Alex Pederson, the current Supreme Elemental, is a girl.”

“Yes,” I agreed.

“She is not a good Supremist.” He sighed when I didn’t jump in with my next step. “Gabriella, I’ve been opposing her new educational policies for over a year. I’ve been traveling to Unmanifested villages and gathering support. I’ve been training twice as many sentries as I usually do. I’ve sent messages to all the Councilmen in every region and city in the Union. All to be able to come against Alex at the right time.”

“And you think now is the right time,” I said.

“It’s the right time for a lot of things,” he said. “She is desperate to find you. She has gone from school to school, searching for you. I don’t know how she knew you existed, as you never sent in the Manifestation of your Element, but she knew.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “My sentries say she will do anything to find and eliminate you.”

I wasn’t sure if this news was supposed to make me feel better or not. “Sir, what is it exactly you want me to do?”

“I need you to go to Tarpulin and draw the Supremist out of her stronghold.” He leaned forward. “My sentries cannot attack her there, and she refuses to leave for fear they’ll bind her and bring her here. We have been at a standstill for weeks.”

I frowned, unable to make certain facts line up in my brain. “Sir, I thought she
was
here.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Well, when we arrived on the train, her personal sentry said she could feel me, could feel my firemaking ability.” I looked at him, some of the tension between us melting away. “How could she do that if she wasn’t here? I find it hard to believe she could feel such things all the way from Tarpulin.” Again, I had no idea how far Tarpulin sat from Gregorio, but Davison didn’t need to know that.

He rubbed his hand over his face. “Yes, that doesn’t make much sense. Perhaps that sentry is misinformed. Alex is definitely sequestered in Tarpulin.”

“I saw her in the Outcast settlement last week.”

“When last week?”

“Well, we rode the train for two days, and then one day here, and how long have I been asleep?”

“Just one day.”

With the day of walking… .“So five days ago. She was there. She shot out of the ground.”

“Shot out of the ground?” Davison leaned forward, his eyes dancing with dangerous curiosity. I preferred the cold indifference, honestly.

“Yes, sir. Right out of the ground like an Earthmover. She threw fire too.”

Knocking sounded on the door, but Davison called, “A moment more, please.” He focused his attention back on me. “I have a great many things to do, Gabriella. It matters not where Alex is now. I am centering the attack on Tarpulin. That is where you must go. She will come to you.”

The words rattled in my head as I tried to sort through them. “So you want me to lure her out. You want to use me as bait.”

“You will not go alone,” he said. “I have a legion of sentries already surrounding Tarpulin.”

“That makes me feel so much better,” I snapped, letting my anger rise. “This sounds like a suicide mission.”

When he didn’t protest, a heavy weight settled on my shoulders. “I’m going to die if I go to Tarpulin, aren’t I?”

“I need her out in the open,” Davison said, ignoring my outburst, as someone knocked again. He rose to his feet. “You will have the magical protection of the chartering. You will not be alone. And if we succeed, I will personally ensure that your Council is approved and apprenticed.”

Apprenticed too?
I’d get a ten-year mentorship with an established Councilman and city. Even when Councils had been chartered and had completed diplomacy training, they didn’t always get an apprenticeship right away. Or at all.

“And I don’t have to marry one of my Councilmembers,” I said, standing so I could feel like I was on equal footing with Davison.

“You are asking for a major policy change,” he said, a new measure of respect in his voice. “I don’t think I can guarantee such a thing before the chartering.”

I considered him. He seemed genuine. He hadn’t been overly excited to see me, but he’d been fair. “Fine,” I said. “I’ll sign the regular paperwork, but I want to change that law when we defeat Alex. As you said, the laws are changing. With female Firemakers, the marriage laws for Councils should be altered too. Women should have equal rights as men.”

A tight smile appeared on his face. “Very well.” He smoothed down the front of his robes. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have many things to attend to.” He did not wait for my permission before wrenching open the door and shooing me out.

I returned to my room, where I stared out the window to the city beyond. Through the glass, I felt the chill of the coming night. I thought of Jarvis, hopefully somewhere far away from here, from Tarpulin, from danger. As much as I’d wanted to run into the forest the evening of his chartering ceremony, I couldn’t. I’d wanted to be there just as bad.

So I’d gone.

He wore a magnificent suit of black, complete with a starched white shirt and a tie the color of lemons. His Councilmembers—including Liz—wore matching yellow Council robes.

I’d seen something in his eyes that night. Just a flicker, but the way he’d watched me spoke volumes. He’d shifted uncomfortably, like his clothes were a prison.

I felt like that inside my own skin. All the time.

Right now, especially. Councilman Davison’s request
was
a suicide mission. How could I do it? How could I
not
do it?

I placed my palm flat against the glass. The sprawling city of Gregorio lay before me, with hundreds of thousands of people and just as many problems. Pale yellow candlelight flickered in a few neighboring windows, but most of the structures squatted in darkness. All those people. Without familial bonds, all people looked to their Councilman for direction, for protection. Davison had been absent for only a week, and already chaos had descended.

Who was I kidding? I could never govern an entire city, even after the required two years of diplomacy training and the decade of apprenticeship with another Firemaker. The gravity of that scenario crushed me until my shoulders drooped.

“Gabby?”

I turned, my heart jumping into my throat as I lit my hands. The fire reflected off dark eyes.

I slugged Hanai on the shoulder with a smoking palm. “I’m going to seriously hurt you one day.”

He slipped his hand into mine. “What are you looking at?”

I glanced out the window again, hoping to still the frantic beating of my heart. “You think we can get a whole city of people to listen to us? We’re just kids.”

He put his hand on my face and turned me toward him. His eyes held the unmistakable quality of love. “You can. I can feel it inside you. Sure, it won’t be easy—surviving isn’t easy. But if anyone can unite people, it’s you. Besides, we’re mentored for a decade, even after an assignment. So we have time.”

The sincerity in his words rang true. His belief in me was astonishing.

“Gabby, I have to say this.” He still hadn’t removed his palm from my cheek.

“Say what?” I whispered, marveling at how time slowed into nothing when I was with him.

“My soul…can feel yours, right? Adam’s too. I can feel everyone. It’s pretty weird. I’d gotten used to the people in my settlement, but now I can’t sort out what belongs to me and what doesn’t.” He looked down at the floor, his hair falling between us in a dark curtain.

He shifted closer to me. “I have Spirit-speaker blood. I don’t have control over what your soul tells mine. I should be able to block it, but we’re too close. And that’s my fault. I let myself fall in love with you, just like I let myself become best friends with Adam. During all that, I lost myself.”

A single tear slithered down his face. “I’m not sure I should be on the Council anymore,” he murmured. Then his hands settled on my waist, and he pulled me forward.

He leaned closer, closer. Then he kissed me as if somehow I could hold him together. Or that I could tell him how to feel, or how to deal with his swirling Spirit-speaker blood. I couldn’t do any of those things, but I kissed him like I could.

Comfort emanated from Hanai’s firm touch on my lower back. My fire burned brighter than ever, sending heat from my stomach to my fingertips. Flames danced behind my closed eyes, and I slid my fingers through his hair and clung to him with my lips.

I realized I really liked Hanai. In a different way than Adam. He had a quick charm, striking good looks, an easy way with words.

But Hanai possessed something deeper. I could trust him. He offered me a safe place, a haven from the inferno that had become my life. With his mouth still moving precisely with mine, I knew that’s what I really wanted. I knew he’d do anything for me. And I’d do anything for him. The thought both terrified and excited me.

He pulled away and placed his finger on my tingling lips. “Gabby.” Sadness glinted in his eyes, like he knew I’d go running back to Adam as soon as he showed up. And he might be right. I wasn’t sure myself, as my feelings were ever confused when it came to Adam.

“I need you,” I whispered.

He gathered me in a warm embrace and placed his cheek against mine. “As much as Adam?”

I couldn’t keep the truth inside. “Maybe more. Besides, he’s not even here.”

Hanai pulled away from me, taking his calming touch with him. “That’s why I came to find you,” he said. “Airmaster Jones has just returned with Adam.”

I rushed down
the hall, my eyes switching from door to door. They were all closed. “Which room, Hanai?”

“He’s in the infirmary,” he said, keeping pace with me. “Other side of the lobby. He’s not awake, Gabby. You won’t be able to talk to him.”

“I don’t care,” I said, walking now and trying to push back tears. They spilled down my cheeks anyway. “We’re finally all together.”

“He’s not awake,” Hanai said again, but I ignored him. When I barged into the infirmary and found Adam lying on a table, naked except for a sheet across his midsection, I couldn’t ignore Hanai’s warning any longer.

Adam’s skin glistened like half-melted wax, and the color reminded me of the dirty snow in the Outcast settlement. He didn’t move, not even so much as a twitch when a doctor stabbed a needle into his arm.

The black lines of the tattoo snaked over every possible inch of his body, all the way to the bottoms of his feet. I covered my hand with my mouth as Davison pressed his fingers against Adam’s temple.

“Hanai,” he called. “Your gifts are needed.” Davison didn’t spare me a glance as Hanai crossed the room. Hanai did, his expression full of apology and agony. I wondered what it would cost him to heal Adam.

I didn’t have time to ask before a chant filled the air, and Hanai placed his palm over Adam’s chest, and then over his face, singing all the while.

Back in my room, I removed my Council robes and pulled on the pair of pants Hanai had given me in the Outcast settlement. I matched them with a black T-shirt, mourning the loss of my camisole.

I lost track of time as I stood at the window, watching life pass by. The sound of the door opening and closing registered in my ears, but I didn’t turn.

“Are you okay?” Hanai asked, making a slight noise as he settled on the bed.

I just shook my head, trying to sort through how I felt. “I don’t think Adam is who we think he is,” I said. “Where has he been, you know?”

“I know,” he said his voice full of exhaustion.

I turned and found him lying on the bed, his eyes closed as he took deep breaths. “Davison had me use my healing chant to address his wounds. He had four broken ribs.”

I crossed the room to him. “Are you okay? Does it hurt you to heal?”

“I’m just not very good at it,” he said, his chest heaving with the effort to breathe. “My father had experienced healers in the settlement. It’s not my gift, but I’m better than nothing.”