Page 45 of Elemental Hall: Nautica
I answer. “Ash has been working for the Umbrans. He destroyed at least one of the sea gates. He wanted the tsunami to wipe us out.”
A flicker of anger crosses Elemental Mistress Halan’s face. “And where is he now?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. He tried to strangle me, but then the tsunami hit. Maybe he was carried away by it.”
It’s possible that he’s dead. It’s possible that the power of the storm was too great for him and that his body is lying at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. I don’t believe that, though. Not really. Someone like Ash wouldn’t go into a situation like that without a plan to escape.
“He is the one who tried to kill Darius before, too,” I say. “He admitted as much.”
Elemental Mistress Halan’s expression is serious. “Then, if he should reappear, he will have a number of questions to answer.” She looks from each of us to the next, one by one. “You think that this test was too harsh. You’re right, it was never meant to be like this. It was more dangerous than I ever intended. But think about this: you survived. By working together, by using the skills you have learned, youfounda way to pass the test even when it became more than you expected, even when it became something beyond the boundaries of anything we planned. You should be proud of what you have achieved today. Go, return to your dormitories. Get food, rest. You’ve earned it.”
There should be a sense of triumph at having passed a test so difficult, but instead, I just feel drained. Darius leads me away from the beach to the refectory, where we grab a table in a corner away from the others, eating even though I’m not really hungry, knowing that my body needs the fuel.
All of a sudden, I’m shaking, barely able to bring a hunk of bread to my mouth. Darius is there, his hands covering mine.
“It’s all right, Sera. You’re safe.”
I don’t feel safe. It feels as though all the things I didn’t have enough time to feel while Ash was attacking me, while I was holding off the tsunami, are coming to the surface in one unchecked torrent. All the fear, all the adrenaline, is rushing through me, all at once.
Darius moves around the table, holding onto me while I shudder.
“I could have died,” I say. “His hands were around my throat.”
“I know,” Darius replies. His voice is softer and gentler than I’ve heard it before. “But you didn’t. You survived. You saved all of us.”
“Only because you were there,” I point out. “You saved my life, Darius.”
He smiles then, finding humor even in this. “It seems to be what we do for one another. Our thing.”
He’s making a joke out of it, but I know how serious the whole situation was when Ash attacked me. If Darius hadn’t been there, I would be dead now. I hold close to him, still shivering with the aftermath of the adrenaline.
I kiss him, softly, slowly, wanting to take my time, wanting to taste him.
“I love you,” I whisper, low enough that only Darius can hear.
“Do you mean that, Sera?” Darius asks.
I know what he’s asking. He’s wondering if I’m saying it just because I nearly died, just because my body is flooded with emotions that it can barely deal with.
“I mean it,” I insist. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Darius says. Some of my surprise at that must show on my face, because he raises an eyebrow. “Do youfind that so hard to believe, Sera? Do you think you’re so difficult to love? You’re beautiful, intelligent, kind. You risk yourself to save others, even people like me, who your classmates would probably toss back into the ocean. The best part is that you barely seem to notice those things. You’re the most powerful elemental student here, but you don’t act like you’re any better than the rest. You’re special in so many ways. OfcourseI love you.”
“Still pretty sure you’re describing someone else,” I murmur, leaning against him. I feel so tired now that the last of the adrenaline is gone from my system. I feel as though I might collapse without Darius to hold me up.
“Come on,” he says, helping me to my feet. “Let’s get you out of here.”
We walk from the refectory together, heading out under the starry sky. It is so clear that it seems I can see the whole universe from where I’m standing.
“Are the stars the same in Umbrae?” I ask.
Darius looks up. “A few of the constellations are the same, but they appear in different places in the sky. Umbrae is a whole other half of the world. Do you know that there’s a moon that shines only above it, never above Lumina?”
“There is?” I say. That seems so strange, the skies themselves being utterly different. It’s as if the two kingdoms are on completely different worlds, rather than merely being divided by the veil of storms.
“They say that it is held in place by the emperor’s magi,” Darius says. I feel him shudder. “Always there, always shifting. I prefer these skies. Here, with you.”
“I like having you here too,” I say.
