Page 98 of Whispers of the Water

Her eyes glowed with contempt as she raised her arm high, and flames took shape in her palm once more. I realized that there was no salvaging this or getting through to her. She was determined to kill me, and my entire body buzzed as the water from the lake begged me to call upon it.

But, at the last second, I hesitated.

Hurting people, regardless of the circumstance, was something I didn’t enjoy doing. I’d learned that when I fought Jonah. I hadn’t felt like myself when using my powers against him. I’d felt like a monster, and I didn’t want to be a monster.

Sensing my hesitation, Myra swung down her arm, her flames barreling right at me. There was no time to react. Moving through time as though it were nonexistent, the flames erupted along my skin. As soon as the fire painted my body though, it was suddenly gone. There was no burning. No searing of my flesh. Nothing.

Not understanding what happened, I looked at Myra. Her icy eyes were locked on something past me. I snapped my head in that direction as the ring of fire ensnaring us burned away. My knees buckled when I looked past the smoke toward him. Rune raced across the yard in my direction, flames lit in his clawed hands. Akira, Ardley, and the rest of my friends were right behind him.

As soon as Rune was within arm’s reach, he grabbed me and wrapped me tightly in his secure embrace. He shoved his hand into my hair and pressed my face into the crook of his shoulder as he held me close. My breath came out on a choke as I bit back a sob. Relief flooded my body from head to toe as though I’d had a bucket of water dumped over me.

He pulled back to look me over, and his face went ashen when he saw the blood oozing from the gashes in my neck. Then all at once, he changed. I felt it the moment he changed. The air thickened with heat, and smoke slowly billowed up from the ground where he stood. His eyes darkened, and a low, deep growl tore from his throat as he turned his deadly eyes on Myra.

This was no longer Rune standing in front of me. This was a Fox Fae thirsty for blood, regardless of the prey. Even if it was his own mother.

Sensing what was coming, I quickly cupped his cheeks. “Rune, don’t.”

His feral eyes never left Myra, and I nearly tripped as he took a step toward her.

“Rune,” I pleaded, yanking his head close to mine until he had to look at me. “That’s your mother. Don’t. It’s your mom, Rune. Don’t do this.”

His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, but I refused to let up until, slowly, I saw my Rune coming back to the surface.

“Did you know?” Myra snapped. Her voice was cold and probing, and when I glanced at her, I found her narrowed eyes trained on her son.

Rune didn’t let go of me, nor did he face her. He kept his eyes locked on mine as the beast within him continued to settle.

“Did you know she’s Water Fae?” Myra demanded, her tone no longer imploring but accusatory and furious.

“I did,” Rune answered without hesitation. Again, his eyes stayed trained on mine.

“How could you?” Myra bellowed.

I couldn’t help the small jump that shook my body when she screamed, and I didn’t miss the way Rune’s jaw hardened. Something feral flashed across his eyes once more, but he quickly stomped it out and finally looked at his mother. “I love her.”

Throwing back her head in a humorless laugh, she howled, “My, my. A traitor for a son. All of you! Traitors.” She glared at our friends surrounding us. Meeting Rune’s ferocity with her own, she hissed, “You’re a failure of a Fox Fae. You’re a failure of a son.”

Flames erupted around Myra in a whirlwind of flickering rage. Her usually perfect hair flew wildly around her livid face, and her claws curled as fire ignited them.

Rune took a readied stance beside me, and our friends followed suit on either side of us.

“Stay ready,” Ardley mumbled from next to Rune. “She’s going to use fire to win. She knows she’s outmatched if she enters close combat.”

“I know,” Rune commented darkly.

Everyone was preparing for a fight, and Myra seemed all too eager to grant that request as her wail filled the skies and her wicked fire arched toward us.

In the next moment, Akira rushed forward on a beat of his black wings, and his eyes sharpened to a deadly black. He flung his arms out wide, sending a gush of wind toward the fire. The two elements met in a hot explosion. Stray flames rolled away as the wall of fire that had been heading right for us extinguished in a smoky trail.

“Don’t get in my way,” Myra screamed at Akira. She raised a fisted flame before hurtling it at him.

He quickly flapped his wings, darting out of the way at the last second. The fire towered high and licked at the ground as it tried to spread along the blades of grass.

My stomach rose up into my throat as the heat licked at my skin, but just as Rune waved his hands over the flames to extinguish them, water from the lake rose high above us, then plummeted down like a shield between us and Myra.

Gray smoke billowed into the air, and everyone hesitated a moment, casting their attention to me. Water dripped from our chins and hair, and our clothes clung to our now-soaked bodies.

Rune looked at me in silent question, but I shook my head.

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