Page 111 of When Wishes Bleed

A warm feeling filled my belly.

“Fate says I can trust him,” I confirmed. Brecan uttered a curse. “Fate wouldn’t lead me into danger, Brecan. If he says Arron can be trusted, I believe him.” That much I was certain of.

Mira’s attention was fixed on the image still projecting in the smoke cloud behind Arron. Tears welled in her eyes. Without warning, she let loose a guttural cry and stomped out of the garden, straight to the lake far across the lawn.

We followed closely.

She kicked her shoes off and removed her pants and shirt. Wearing only her bra and underwear, she stepped onto the water’s surface, chanting something I’d never heard before. She commanded the water, called it her own, and demanded that it obey.

And suddenly, it did.

It lifted her high into the evening sky and swirled around her, an inverse whirlpool encasing her body in a watery gown. It crowned her its own, and when she commanded, the water sat her gently down again. Arron grinned at my side, and then knelt and put his fist over his heart.

“Priestess of the House of Water,” he said proudly.

Mira strode from the lake, robed in a glittery, watery gown.

“Brecan,” I muttered. “The position for the Priest of the House of Air is open.”

“I don’t know how to claim it.”

Mira’s eyes snapped to him. “You have to want it. You must make the wind understand that it needs you. And it does, Brecan. Right now, it really does. Don’t give it a choice to cast you aside and claim another. You are its choice. Its only choice.”

Having claimed its new Priestess, the lake sprang to life. The water that had laid stagnant, coated with leaves and scum, cleared and became like a sheet of crystal glass. Frogs began to croak, and water spiders skidded across the calm surface. Even the vibrant backs of gliding goldfish were highlighted by the rising moon.

Brecan wanted to claim his place, but was unsure of his right. I saw it in the lines that formed around his mouth. So, I decided he needed a little push.

I called on the dark magic he hated so much, calling for storm clouds to race toward me, knowing they would drag the wind with them.

“Sable, stop,” he gritted.

My lips trembled from the energy I was pulling. “Claim it.”

My eyes closed, and I felt the earth beneath my feet shift. I sensed the life force of every tree around me, where the roots plunged into the deep, loamy earth. I recognized the energy of the lake, the cloak of the midnight sky, and every star that twinkled overhead. I filled the air with turbulent clouds and drew them toward the opposite ends of the magnet I’d become.

The turbulence from the clouds streaking across the sky created wind. It filled the valley and poured over the land like a whispering caress.

Brecan sighed when the wall of air hit him, and like Mira, something in him shifted.

“Remember what she did to Wayra,” Mira demanded.

Brecan’s lavender eyes filled with rage, desiring revenge and the power to make Cyril pay for what she did to his Priestess. He spread his arms wide and called the wind to him. It poured around and through him, a violent tunnel that knocked me flat on my back. I had to shield my eyes to see him, but what a sight he was.

Brecan’s wind pulled the night clouds from Arron and took them swirling to the sky, and then gentled and soared in wisps as delicate as thin, spun sugar.

He took in the air, becoming it. And when he commanded it to calm, it listened.

Arron again knelt and held his fist over his chest. “Priest of the House of Air.” He shifted his attention to me. “Guardian of the House of Fate.”

“Why isn’t she considered a Priestess?” Mira asked, almost outraged at the title he’d spoken on my behalf.

“The House of Fate belongs to Fate, and she is his daughter. She is charged with guarding it now that she is of age. And right now, she needs to be its defender and champion.” Arron extended his hand and I clasped it. “I pledge myself to your service, Daughter of Fate, Guardian of the House of Fate.” He squeezed my hand tightly. “You told me to make a decision, and I have. I know now it is the right one.”

He hadn’t given my mother a vow, but offered it to me instead.

“Why are you pledging yourself to me? I thought you avoided such unfortunate entanglements.”

“Because you are the only one worthy, as well as the only one who can save our kind from your mother.”

---