Page 50 of Elemental Fae Academy: Book Two

Sol

What the hell was that? I thought, bleary-eyed and dazed.

I slept like a rock—literally—but the explosion that flashed behind my eyelids had me shooting straight up in a cold sweat.

Heat raked across my skin, making my element react and crust over a protective layer of earth.

Where is it coming from?

I rushed to the source, my entire room bathed in a glow of red, and found an inferno shooting into the sky in front of the Spirit Quad.

Titus.

I knew the Fire Fae was powerful, but he roared with terrifying fury with arms outstretched and muscles taut as his element left him all at once, seeking and devouring everything in its wake.

Something pinched inside my chest, and I grabbed at it as if a needle had just pricked me. Then it struck again, this time harder, and cracks spread out at my feet in protest.

“Sol!” Vox came billowing from the house in a rush of wind that caught the inferno and sent tiny tornados swirling across the destroyed landscape. “What’s happening?” His wild black eyes with that distinct ring of silver grew wide as he took in the scene. “Sol, you have to stop Titus from whatever he’s doing. He’s going to die if he keeps that up!”

This had to be the same force that took Exos, that wanted Claire dead, and now it was after us.

“I’ll get to him,” I promised and set my feet apart. I’d never done this before, but now was not the time to fear what I was capable of. I opened the gate that I kept tightly locked on my talent. No hesitation. No fear at what I might destroy. If I didn’t stop Titus, his flames would consume him and then melt us all.

My power rushed out of me and made the world tremble, but Titus wouldn’t be deterred. His inferno lifted him up and made him throw his head back, and he pushed even harder on a scream, his skin turning white-hot and his eyes ablaze when they flung open to take note of me.

“Claire!” he roared, the name a plea.

My gut twisted that something might have happened to her, but I couldn’t help Claire right now. Titus was the one about to rip himself in half, and I had to get him under control.

Control, the one thing I feared losing, slipped over me like a breeze, and I glanced back to see Vox with his arms spread and his hair flung out around him like an ancient god of the fae. Few knew his true power, but I did. It was why he’d been assigned to me and also why I trusted him.

He wasn’t afraid to contain the earth.

The wind listened to him, swirling the fires aside and giving me the energy I needed to keep my own unruly power in check.

Bless you, Vox.

My skin took on an impenetrable armor, and the heat lessened to a manageable level. I stormed up to Titus and grabbed him by the neck. “You need to stop!”

“Claire!” Titus repeated, the name a vow.

Then I felt it.

I felt her.

That ache inside my chest grew and became a clawing need. It was coming from Claire.

My eyes went wide. She’s dying.

“Impossible,” I breathed. Claire and I hadn’t made a connection, hadn’t bonded even on the lowest level, but she was inside my soul, reaching out to me, begging me for my element.

No wonder Titus was losing his shit.

I turned to see Vox concentrating on keeping the inferno in check, as well as stabilizing my energy, but Claire could do that for me.

If I just gave in, we could help each other.

The fires loomed, building walls that crept closer to the edges of the quad and threatened to reach the trees bordering Earth Quad. These weren’t normal flames. They would consume everything in their path, and nothing would stop them. Titus had lost control, being the only bonded mate that Claire could reach out to, and she’d taken too much.

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