Page 120 of Elemental Fae Academy: Book Three

I sucked in a breath, the air icy and cold. What?

My mouth couldn’t form the word.

I’d entered her mind?

Of course, I realized. That was how I’d seen all her pieces, the perpetual chessboard calculating her every move.

Including the one I knew she’d make next.

I engaged my fire on instinct, flaring it bright in her eyes to catch her off guard while I dove into the spirit realm and directly for the source. It was the only way to overcome her dark hold.

I needed to fight her with light.

Exos brushed my spirit as I raced past him and leapt for the white energy I craved. It bathed me in a heat that could melt the sun. But my access to the other elements kept me grounded.

My fire roared to life in a protective wave.

My air whirled me in a motion that kept me moving even while everything else threatened to stop me.

My water soothed my aching bones, filled my soul with peace.

And my earth rooted me to the reality I needed to fight in.

All four combined with the most powerful of them all, bringing me to my feet on a surge of elements that sent Elana back several paces. I cocked my head, curious by her widening eyes.

Fear, a part of me recognized, my mind oddly detached from my emotions so that it seemed like a foreign concept. Yet I knew I liked it. Craved more of it.

I wrapped her in a rope of bronze laced with fire, not pausing even as she screamed.

Evil existed inside her.

Evil that needed to be eradicated.

Spirit Fae adore life and vitality. This one craved death. And it was my duty as Spirit Queen to give her what she desired.

The source of all the elements swarmed me, lifting me from the earth and to the field above. A field I vaguely recognized as the first place I met Titus.

Filled with flowers.

And happiness.

And a blossoming sun on the horizon.

How beautiful and perfect for the burial of this foul being.

“Spirit is both the essence of life and death,” I said, not recognizing my voice at all, but hearing the power behind it, realizing that I myself somehow inhabited the core of the spirit.

No, not only spirit.

Air.

Water.

Fire.

Just not earth. Although, I sensed it waiting for me, welcoming me with flowery petals of warmth and sunshine.

How beautiful, I mused. Hmm, but not yet.

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