Page 72 of Whispers of the Water

“What’s the matter, Bria?” Aidan taunted as she walked haughtily in my direction. “Why aren’t you fighting back? Send some flames in my direction!”

Knots formed in my stomach as I tried to gain control over my erratic breathing. My shoulder throbbed, and the amount of turbulent fear flooding my system started an all-too-familiar buzz in my palms. That was something that couldn’t happen right now, so I focused on the water and ordered it to stay calm, despite Aidan’s inability to shut up. Calling upon and using the water would only serve to put me in more danger, because it would out who I was to everyone. I’d become target number one, and this lake would become my grave.

The back doors suddenly flew open again. Rune, looking fearsome in his Fox Fae form, dashed out of the house with everyone else following behind him. Lilith and Devoss stood close by Myra, taking in the scene. My friends joined Bassel before running a bit closer in my direction, most likely feeling better about intervening since they had numbers now. Rune stopped his sprint halfway as shock seemed to stun him. His eyes went wide as he traced my trembling body from head to toe.

His features turned dark and sinister as he snarled at Aidan, “What the hell have you done?”

Aidan glared back. “She agreed. We’re playing a game, so don’t interfere.”

“You want to play?” Rune growled, low and animalistic.

One moment Rune was a few feet away and the next he was gripping Aidan’s throat, dangling her thin, struggling frame above the ground.

I sucked in a sharp breath, watching as Rune prepared to deal a final, irreversible blow. While I wasn’t Aidan’s biggest fan, I didn’t want her to die. Especially not by Rune. He’d taken enough lives, and I knew that each one stained him in its own way. I didn’t want to see him resort to that, to turn back into the murderous Fox he used to be.

“Rune!” Ardley shouted. He raced over to his cousin, and after getting help from Bassel, managed to pry Rune away from Aidan, who fell to the ground with a loud gasp.

Rune’s entire body shook with rage as his hands erupted in wild flames. Baring his fangs at Aidan, he growled, “Touch her again, come near her again, and I’ll fucking kill you.”

Even from this distance, I could see the seething hate and venom in his eyes. I’d only ever seen him so angry when talking about Water Fae. Now that animosity was directed right at Aidan.

Aidan slowly regained control of her breathing. She stared wide-eyed at Rune from where she knelt in the grass and finally nodded in understanding. Rune’s glare followed her as she retreated to Myra’s side, and once he was satisfied with the distance, he turned his cold stare on his mother, who had been watching the entire event, completely unfazed. She hadn’t even stepped in to help Aidan when Rune had been ready to kill her.

Rune’s stare lasted only a moment longer before he raced in my direction.

My limbs couldn’t seem to stop shaking as I took a small step to meet him. I wanted to run to him and feel the warm protection that I knew I would find in his arms, but it felt like my feet had weights holding them down. Terror gripped me tightly from the reality of what had just transpired with Aidan. Rune had been right. It wasn’t a game. She hadn’t been playing. She’d had every intention of killing me, and that knowledge kept me immobile.

As Rune neared the water’s edge, my eyes caught motion over his shoulder. Myra’s mask of nonchalance snapped, and suddenly, her fuming eyes were fixed to Rune’s back. She raised her hand next to her face as orange flames hovered above her pointed fingertips. Without hesitating, she flicked her hand, casting the ball in Rune’s direction.

My world seemed to stutter until everything around me moved in slow motion. Her flame was coming much quicker than Aidan’s, but this time, the target was Rune.

She was going to kill him.

Instinct took over, and every thought in my head ceased except the urge to protect him.

“Rune!” My voice had a desperate catch to it as he reached the water’s edge.

Something in my cry must’ve alerted him, because he quickly glanced over his shoulder just as the flame came inches away from searing right through his chest. I flung out my arm toward him in an effort to do something, and in the same instant, the tether on my magic snapped.

A cold jolt rushed from my core and through my limbs, and the sudden intensity of it brought me to my knees. As I crashed to the water at my calves, the lake rose up in a wall only large enough to block Rune and me. Myra’s bright orange flame barreled into the rushing wall before exploding back in a gust of steam and smoke.

Rune was safe.

I’d stopped the fire just in time.

Oh shit.

I’d stopped the fire!

My heart turned into lead. The wall of moving water glistened in the sun as it streamed upward, shielding us from any more attacks and the view of everyone gathered. Rune slowly turned from the barricade until his wide eyes fixed on me. They flickered to my outstretched arm, which I quickly lowered back to my side. Only after I did that, the water followed, crashing back down to the lake. Rune’s eyes never left me, and I watched in horror as his gaze slowly darkened and his mouth tightened into a grim line.

The air left my lungs, and my heart fractured. This wasn’t how I wanted Rune to find out. I was so close to coming clean, to laying myself completely bare for him. Now it would look like I’d been hiding it with no intention of telling him the truth. That would break him.

Water dripped from my hair and face while I remained on all fours in the lake. I glanced behind Rune, remembering that he wasn’t the only concern. Everyone stood motionless and stared in my direction. Akira’s hands covered his mouth as unease marred his features. Bassel, Avana, and Ardley stood still, darting worried glances between me and Rune. Devoss, Lilith, and Aidan watched me with furrowed brows, but as seconds ticked by, realization slowly sank into their gazes. Myra was the only one who watched me with a completely blank stare, her posture and face devoid of anything. Her lack of a reaction unnerved me more than everyone else’s shock.

“What was that?” Lilith shouted with anger seeping into her voice. “What the hell was that? Did she just control the water? Is she—”

“Sorry about that, everyone.”

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