Page 66 of Elemental Fae Academy: Book Three

Exos chuckled. Ah, Claire, we could say the same about you.

He pulled me to him, his fingers running through my hair, or what felt like my hair, anyway. We were really just apparitions of ourselves, but I sensed him touching me back in Cyrus’s room, his body a blanket of protective heat beside my own.

Let’s try calling your mom, he suggested softly. As Cyrus said, our bloodline reaches out to us automatically, as do any of our mates. So she should be hovering nearby.

Somehow I doubted it would be that easy. How do I find her?

Think about her, Exos replied. Picture her in your mind. Call her to you.

Okay. I considered the ball, the way she’d appeared to me in that wispy form, and wondered if that resembled her current state. So elderly and frail and not at all like the photo I saw of her as a child. But nothing happened, the only souls swimming around me belonging to those of my mates. I smiled as Titus brushed my cheek, his fire leaving an ember behind like a kiss.

Sol continued to weave around me as if trying to root himself in my soul. Maybe he was, too. We weren’t yet fully bonded. Soon, I promised him. My Sol.

And then there was Vox, who continued to hover near Exos, ever vigilant.

My lips curled at how perfect they all were, my circle of fae mates. Even here they acted as I expected.

&nbs

p; Until a disturbance rumbled between us, causing them all to flicker around me in a shield of protective warmth.

Cyrus moved to my side, Exos on the other, their expressions hard.

Tell me this is normal, I said, grabbing their hands as another tremble threatened my footing.

I’m not in the habit of lying, Claire, Cyrus replied, his fingers tightening against mine. Your mother is trying to answer your call, but something is stopping her.

Something powerful, Exos added, his arm lifting as he commanded the spirit to appear. I felt it rather than heard him, the power erupting from him harsh and all-consuming. It threatened to steal my breath away, causing my heart to jump wildly in my chest.

Exos...

Let him concentrate, Cyrus murmured, his grip resembling concrete as wind whipped around us in a violent maelstrom of energy.

I sensed the fight in Exos, his dominance taking over as he broke through the binds that held my mother’s soul captive. Each mental snap made me cringe, the visual in my head one of agony and despair.

You’re hurting her, I breathed, shaking from the onslaught of her pain. Exos, you’re hurting her!

I know, he gritted back. But I have no other choice.

Cyrus wrapped his arms around me before I could retaliate, his embrace a waterfall of sincerity and love that ejected me from the spiral of anguish and into one of peace and tranquility. I blinked in confusion, his mist a cloud I didn’t expect to see or feel. But oh, how I adored him. How I needed that brush with reality, the reminder of our bond.

Ready? he asked.

For?

His mouth captured mine for a split second before everything evaporated to reveal a vapid space of white and nothing else.

I blinked. Cyrus?

Nothing.

Exos?

No reply.

I twirled in a circle, finding myself alone in a world of endless white.

Oh no. This can’t be good.

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