Page 149 of Gift from the Nexus

Taking a deep breath, I raise my arms out beside me and command them to let go. Be free.

And they do just that.

Winds of a category five hurricane blow from my fingers, taking dunes and dunes of sand with it. Both my flame and element shoot out of my body like my dragon breathing fire into the sky and my waters swirl around it all, keeping it contained in a vortex around me.

As they continue to drain out of me, I realize how calm, how balanced, how free, and how full I feel. Up here in the sky, partsof myself finally click into place. In this explosion of power, I’ve never felt more myself, more alive.

Looking around me, there’s no doubt, if this were to occur on the ground, the mansion, the forest, everything around me would be destroyed. I’ve been blessed with a dangerous level of power, and I refuse to follow the generational curse bestowed on me by my father’s side. I’ll follow the path of Elementra, my men, my mom, my brother, my real family. And we’ll use this power to make this realm what it should be.

“Come back to me.” I command my elements.

Slowly, they retreat back into my chest as I’m lowered back to the ground where my men wait, both enchanted and panicked. With one small grin from me, they all break out into breathtaking smiles and surround me, passing me around and showering me in love and praise.

“You okay, little wanderer?” Draken asks as he nuzzles into my neck.

“A little tired, but other than that, I’ve never felt better.” I feel him smile against the side of my neck and I close my eyes to relish his warmth. If it hadn’t been for him, who knows if I would’ve figured out what to do in time.

“You scared me, princess,” Corentin murmurs across my lips before stealing a kiss.

“I was scared. I’ve never had an element just completely ignore me, but we’ve got it under control now,” I reassure him and smooth my hand under his worried gaze.

“Well, you were remarkable, Will. Aside from the almost dying part, you handled it all perfectly,” Tillman says with a huge grin that lights my heart aflame. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of his pride.

Bone-deep exhaustion hits me as soon as he sets me back on my feet and I sway between them. Shadows swirl around me,steadying me easily, and I’m dragged back into Caspian’s cool chest.

“Bed for us, Primary. Tell the others we’ll see them when we wake up,” he orders.

With a quick kiss from each of them, Caspian whisks us away through the shadows and deposits us into my bed. He lays a gentle kiss to my forehead and murmurs for me to sleep.

My body is obviously still his to command because I close my eyes, and together we sink into darkness.

Twenty-Three

Tillman

“Are you going to tell us how you knew what to tell Will to do this morning or just keep walking around smug?” I ask Draken.

All day he’s bebopped around this house like the realm is all roses and unicorns, and some-fucking-how, he’s completely blocking me out of his mind. When he wants to, that is. Every now and then, he whispers some off the wall shit in my head.

“Why are you two so obsessed with it? You’ll figure it out soon enough,” he says, smirking.

“You said that the other day too,” I accuse.

He just shrugs and goes back to playing on his communicator without a care in the world and I roll my eyes. I don’t know if he’s telling the truth about knowing something that we don’t or he’s just blowing smoke up our asses. Either way, he isn’t telling.

“If we let her sleep any longer, she isn’t going to sleep tonight.” Corentin sighs, giving in to the fact Draken isn’t going to spill.

Looking at my timekeeper, it’s coming up close to dinnertime and we—by we, I mean Corentin—arranged a family dinner for Will. We easily agreed, but he thought it would be a nice idea to have Oakly, her Nexus, Lyker and his, plus Gaster all join us for dinner tonight before we take off in the morning.

Everyone but Gaster is going to the Forsaken Forest, and although I have faith everything’s going to be fine, the possibility always stands that something could go wrong. History is evidence enough.

“Caspian’s been sleeping just as long. A few more minutes won’t hurt anything. She used a shit ton of power both last night and this morning,” Draken says.

“Yeah, and he’ll never sleep tonight. This is the longest stretch of sleep he’s had in how many years? He needs to wake up as well or they’ll both have to take sleeping tonics,” Corentin says, rising from his chair, but I hold my hand up to him and Draken.

“I’ll do it. You’ll just piss her off with all that bossiness and you’re liable to just crawl in bed and go to sleep with them. Why don’t you fix some coffee, Corentin?”

I walk out of the lounge before either has the chance to argue, even though they’re both already in my head, trying to tell me otherwise.

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