Page 131 of Elemental Fae Academy: Book Three

She extended a crooked finger, making a shiver go through my bones with the force of her prophecy. She wasn’t a Fortune Fae, but I felt the weight of her promise just as much as any dark premonition the ominous fae could supply.

I said something.

Or thought it.

But the words were lost to sudden darkness that overcame the room.

Only to be disturbed by a scream that came from deep inside my house.

My concentration faltered as I turned toward it. Aflora gripped my wrist, trembling, all the fight bleeding out of her as fear filled her eyes. “Sol, what’s going on?”

I tried to reply.

But I couldn’t.

I… I couldn’t remember.

Wasn’t there someone here? Someone bad?

I turned again, spinning toward that dark, weighty feeling of spirit magic and wrongness.

Nothing.

Dread crept over me in a sickening wave as I took Aflora’s hand. “Let’s go inside,” I told her, the words tasting wrong in my mouth. I thought we were already inside?

My torso burned hot as if I’d been branded with fire, but I straightened as Aflora looked to me for confirmation. She felt it, too. Something terrible had happened, but neither of us knew what or why.

I scratched at my aching chest, which felt like it might split in two, as I went inside and found my mother and sister collapsed on the floor with strange, dark veins writhing under their skin.

And froze as Aflora screamed.

Because somehow, I knew, this had all been my fault.

I just didn’t know why.

Sol

I woke with a start, feeling lighter than I ever had before despite the dark weight of my memories pressing at my soul.

Because I remembered everything.

Every detail of how it felt.

It was never a Spirit Fae that scarred my soul, but the earth source itself. To protect me against Elana’s dark magic. To help me guard Aflora. To strengthen me with direct access to the element, then block me from ever taking on too much.

And then it had blocked my memory of everything that happened to hide the truth from me until I was ready to face it.

With Claire by my side.

She blinked up at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. She’d been there, revisiting my memories with me, the source as our guide. Leaving me with the full access of a royal fae, my element finally feeling balanced inside me for the first time in my life.

All because of Claire.

She was my balance, my mate who could absorb the weight of my past and guide me into the future. To help shoulder my burden, stabilize my growing power, and keep me grounded.

“Do you think Aflora knows?” Claire breathed, her blue eyes still ripe with tears.

I shook my head. “No. She has no recollection of that night.” And something told me the core of our element wasn’t ready to tell her yet.

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