Whirl (Ondine Quartet Book 1) (27 page)

I stopped breathing.

"You were worried for the others, for your
men."

He stared at me. "Yes. But that's not who I —
"

There was a sudden clatter and we jerked away
from each other. Someone was outside the mat room door, and in a
few seconds we saw who it was.

Julian walked in, looking as surprised to see
us as we were to see him. A knowing look I didn't like flashed
across his face.

"Well, well. I see my little protégé is
putting in extra practice time. I approve."

Rolling my eyes, I got up and grabbed my bag.
"I live to please," I muttered.

"Nice to see you again, Prince Belicoux,"
Julian said with a slightly arched eyebrow.

"And you, Julian." Tristan's voice was
formal. Without another word, he turned and left. I felt a flush
build inside me as I remembered what just happened.

"I don't know if I should be offended, sweet
iris." Julian's sardonic voice cut through my very pleasant replay
of memories. "Are you getting more tutorial help from the selkie
prince because you find our lessons lacking?"

"He wasn't helping me with my training," I
scoffed.

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I
realized how they sounded.

"Really?" He raised his brows. "So what was
he helping you with?"

"He was giving me pointers on how to deal
with presumptuous, arrogant womanizers."

I swear Julian preened. "Talking about me,
huh? I knew you couldn't get me off your mind."

"Look, your only job is to catch me up so I
can join the training classes."

"But for me to do my job effectively, I need
to know if there are any unnecessary distractions I should be
concerned about."

Good God. I was going to strangle him.

"You're imagining things. Maybe you're the
one in need of a distraction."

"What I need is your focus." Light danced in
his eyes. "There are a lot of things I want to show you."

Why did he make everything sound like some
kind of pick-up line?

"Julian?"

"Yes, darling?"

"There are no distractions. And I'll
eventually learn how to best you on my own."

He laughed. "Mmmhhh. How's the arm?"

Fuming, I stalked out of the room.

TWENTY

The
note arrived as I shoveled down breakfast in the cafeteria the next
morning. Bruised and exhausted, I'd woken up late and only had a
few minutes to eat before class.

An attendant from the main offices brought it
over.

"I was told to get this to you immediately,"
she said.

"Thanks."

I grabbed the folded piece of paper, bit the
last remnants of my toast, and headed out to the Quad. As I walked,
I opened the note to see familiar handwriting:

Dear Kendra,

I trust you've been adjusting to Haverleau.
You've been very busy over the past few weeks.

I hope you've had enough time to work
through the first lesson. Please come over after your last class
today so that we may continue.

- Nexa

P.S. I'd appreciate it if you could pick up
a carton of cigarettes from the main office before coming over.
It's a bit out of my way to walk over there.

About time. I needed some answers from that
batty woman, and I was determined to get them. That is, if she even
bothered to show up for our lesson.

Don't lose focus
.

Julian's words haunted me as I made my way to
Nexa's cottage later that afternoon. It was becoming difficult to
manage the crazy zigzag of stress and exhaustion that had become an
everyday part of my life.

The goal was to become a chevalier and
ultimately take out the Shadow. Everything I did was a step in that
direction. But I was making little progress and my angry
frustration was growing day by day.

Tucked under my arm was the carton of
cigarettes Nexa had requested. The familiar muted roar of the water
strengthened as I neared the cottage.

I half-expected Nexa to not be there when I
knocked, so I was pretty surprised when her voice called out. The
cottage was as messy as always and the persistent smell of alcohol,
salty food, and cigarette smoke lingered in the air. Nexa sat in
her usual spot at the kitchenette table, watching an episode of
what looked like a really bad soap opera.

"You'd think silly Marion would figure out
that good-for-nothing Robert was cheating on her," she remarked in
a disgusted tone.

I glanced at the TV. A busty older woman
sobbed into the arms of a much younger, handsome man.

"I'm sure Marion will eventually figure out
the truth," I said dryly, placing the carton of cigarettes on the
table.

Nexa's white-washed eyes brightened and she
clicked off the television. Stubbing out the cigarette she was
smoking, she opened a new pack from the carton.

I eyed her warily. Something about Nexa
always made me feel like I was next to an unpredictable wild
animal. I was never sure if she was going to attack or cuddle.

She scrutinized me through the rings of smoke
wreathed around her.

"You've been busy," she finally said.

"I guess." I shrugged. "At least I'm starting
to learn how to fight."

"Ah, yes," she said softly. "Physically."

Now that wasn't fair. I'd devoted as much
time as possible to improving my Virtue. I knew I needed it to make
me stronger. It wasn't my fault I hadn't made any headway.

"I've been working on the magic," I argued.
"But I don't understand the first lesson. Probably because you
weren't even here."

I glared at her. She seemed unconcerned.

"Where were you, anyway?" Tristan had implied
her work had something to do with security issues.

"I had to check on some information. It was
rather time-sensitive," she said vaguely.

"What kind of information?"

Her periwinkle eyes darkened to the color of
violet. "I'll share mine if you share yours."

It sounded exactly like something I would
say.

She watched me in silence for a few moments.
"You have accepted you are the
sondaleur
."

"And you knew my mother made the prophecy
eighteen years ago," I countered. "You didn't think that was
important enough to tell me?"

Nexa took a long sip of scotch. She didn't
seem to care how I may have come across that information. Or maybe
she already knew. "Who made the prophecy is irrelevant. What's
important is the prophecy itself."

I gritted my teeth.

"Yeah, well I
do
think it was
relevant. It had to do with me and my family."

"Tell me about your life with Naida," she
continued. "What was it like growing up with her?"

Was this a therapy session?

"Not much to tell," I said carefully. "She
raised me to fight Aquidae. And I intend to do it."

"So she raised you to be a warrior." Nexa
blew out another ring of smoke. "What about friends? Did you have a
lot of human interaction?"

This was getting too close.

"Relationships become weaknesses. Emotional
attachments are dangerous. Trust no one. Be responsible only for
yourself. The four rules mom drilled into me from day one." Now I
couldn't keep the bitterness out of my voice. "She knew I was the
sondaleur
. It was the right thing to do."

Nexa nodded like she'd expected my answer.
"And yet, here you are. Responsible for other people's lives. And
though you may not trust others, there are many who place their
trust in you."

Thanks for reminding me
.

"What's your point?"

"Why aren't you a psychopath?"

"Who says I'm not?"

Yes, it was a lame attempt at not answering
the question. But the opening was just too good to pass up.

Her exasperated expression meant she knew it,
too. "Given the way your mother raised you, it was highly probable
you would become a sociopath, someone incapable of functioning
among people."

My thoughts uneasily turned to my recent
treatment of Chloe, Aubrey, and Ryder.

She frowned. "You
didn't
turn out that
way because of your Virtue. Your Empath was strong enough to
balance the demands placed upon you as
sondaleur
."

I didn't reply. Nexa's face softened, but her
voice remained firm.

"How would you describe the power of our
Virtue?"

"We sense the emotions of those around
us."

The magic was limited by distance. I couldn't
extend it further than a seventy-five foot radius.

Nexa gazed into her glass, gently swirling
the amber liquid. "Not quite correct. As Empaths, what we sense is
the life essence of other beings. Emotions are powerful sources of
energy. They are what make us alive. They provide proof of our
souls."

It was a crucial difference that set living
beings — humans, ondines, demillirs, dessondines — apart. Aquidae
were soulless because they were incapable of truly experiencing
emotion. They approached everything with cunning psychological
strategy, analyzing, acting, and destroying based upon the power
they pursued.

It took a soul to be able to feel.

Polishing off the last of the scotch in her
glass, a rueful expression suddenly crossed Nexa's face. "Not
exactly the most pleasant feeling in the world, is it?"

"No. I guess it's not."

If my mother hadn't taught me at an early age
how to turn my Virtue on and off, I might really have gone crazy.
When the Empath was unfiltered and uncontrolled, it felt like a
hundred thousand strains of different emotions flooding into me at
the same time.

She poured herself another glass and lit a
cigarette. "Our magic is rare and valuable for a reason. The Virtue
of Empath is much like the fundamental nature of water elementals.
It's a power that deals in the realms of intuition, emotion, and
dreams. Dreams that sometimes become indistinguishable from
reality. "

My throat was dry and I swallowed hard. Her
probing gaze rested on me for a few moments before she
continued.

"It's not an easy life for an ondine with
this Virtue, but it does teach us something interesting. Being an
Empath allows us to tap into all the possibilities of magic."

She waved her hand in the air and the white
smoke of her cigarette trailed upward in wispy curls. "The future.
The past. The present. But understanding our magic requires us to
trust and open ourselves up to it."

Something in her words reminded me of Julian.
You're too afraid to let go
.

She tapped her cigarette against the
overflowing ashtray. "What happened at the Governor's Ball was an
immense tragedy, made more so by the deaths of several
ondines."

My eyes shifted to the floor, guilt washing
over me in a black wave.

"Do you know why we have chevaliers
and
gardinels? Why the selkie and demillir races both work
so hard to protect us?"

I frowned. "Because the Aquidae are so strong
and ondine magic doesn't work against them. If they succeed in
wiping out ondines and their magic, the water elemental world would
be destroyed and the balance of the Four Elementals would
fall."

Nexa shook her head. "I'm talking about
something more basic. Why is the death of one ondine at the hands
of an Aquidae so horrible? Why do we consider it more of a danger
than the murder of a selkie, demillir, or human? What is it about
the death of an ondine that strikes such great fear?"

Staring at her, I racked my brain to think of
an answer and couldn't come up with one. She was right. The uproar
and shock over the recent attack were not so much about the
gardinels, chevaliers, and demillirs who died. It was about the
deaths of Cassandra and the other ondines who'd lost their lives in
the ballroom. Priority protection was always placed on ondines,
regardless if they were Redavi or not.

I shook my head. "I don't know."

"It's because of the way our magic works."
She took another long swig. "Virtues and elemental magic flow
together, overlapping each other like a fluid river of energy. When
one ondine dies, our entire race becomes weakened. We lose more
than just a life. We forever lose a part of the very magic that
makes us who we are."

"Find yourself in the water." Something
became clearer in my mind, like a fuzzy image slowly sharpening and
unsmudging. "That's why that was the first lesson. All our magic is
connected."

Nexa blew out another ring of smoke and
looked up at the ceiling, watching the white tendrils float into
the air.

"Ondines are beings of the water. Our magical
energy is a collective source, just like a lake or ocean. You must
learn to draw upon it if you wish to strengthen your magic."

I turned this revelation over in my head.
Much of an ondine's life and magic were intertwined with bonds. The
bond between an ondine and her mate; the bond between a mother and
child; the bond among the members of a community. It was logical to
assume our magical energies were also bound to one another.

"But how do I tap into that source? How do I
find myself in it?" Impatience edged my voice. "What you told me
still doesn't help me do it."

Nexa gave me a sidelong look as she opened up
a bag of Doritos. She munched on a chip and swallowed before
answering.

"Only your Virtue will guide you to that,"
she said mysteriously.

"But—"

"Lesson's over.
Restless Passions
is
starting." Nexa abruptly turned the television back on, her eyes
glued to the soap opera blaring on the screen.

What the —

I stared.

And for the second time, I stormed out of her
cottage.

Dark shadows loomed up within me, their razor
edges sharp with rage, fear, and frustration.