Page 86 of Elemental Fae Academy: Book Three

“You know it’s true,” Elana said, astutely reading my thoughts. “They wanted to banish you to the death fields just for existing, Claire. But I’m the one who made sure that didn’t happen. I’m the one who protected you, offered to mentor you, vouched for you. Because I don’t believe in prosecuting someone just because of her birth. I value your power, Claire. I want to see how high you can climb.”

“Don’t listen to her,” my mother interjected. “She just wants to use you, Claire. Like she—” She cut off on a gurgle, water spilling from her mouth.

Fuck! Her lungs were overflowing with liquid. I focused on the element, calling it to me and begging it to bend to my control. But Elana had a firmer grasp, her age and experience far surpassing my own.

“Ophelia, you’ve well and truly served your purpose here,” Elana said, her tone holding a wicked edge that frosted the air with power. “When I present your remains to the fae, they’ll bow at my feet in worship, thanking me for finding the one who plagued their kind. Maybe I’ll do it just in time to save the Earth Fae from their fate.”

My mother’s eyes went wide, her expression a plea that slashed my heart.

No!

We weren’t finished here yet.

I needed answers.

And it seemed my mother possessed them all.

She began to convulse, drowning on the liquid clogging her airways. But the element refused me, Elana’s grasp on it decidedly strong.

An element she shouldn’t even be able to touch, I thought, frowning. Unless it’s not water at all, but something else entirely. Something like dark magic.

My gaze widened.

Shit.

I couldn’t fight her Midnight Fae side. But I could use my own gifts to fight her.

Like earth.

Roots danced beneath the concrete floor, begging for my attention. I caught two of them and thrust them upward right beneath her feet to dislodge her stance.

She tripped to the side, her concentration momentarily distracted.

I mentally latched onto two more roots, sending them upward to grab her, only she dodged and sent a flicker of smoke to encircle the limb. It immediately snapped, the agony from the ground nearly bringing me to my knees.

But I wasn’t done.

Stones and dirt and earth responded to my call, dismantling her floors and creating a bumpy terrain that threw her off guard. She fell with an Oomph.

And my mother sputtered beside me, finally able to breathe.

I knelt beside her, unsure of how to free her. The bars were iron, thick, encrusted in fiery magic. And not the element I adored, but a harsher essence that seemed to answer to Elana alone.

She leapt up with a roar, a horde of inky strands writhing around her.

Earth Fae.

They were scrambling, screaming, trying to escape.

But she was sucking on them harshly, absorbing more and more of their power.

Is Sol among them? I wondered, my heart catching in my throat. Aflora? How many others?

I had to do something, anything, to stop this madness.

It couldn’t continue.

I wouldn’t let her take down the Earth Fae as she had the Spirit Fae. Sentencing a faeling to death because of her bloodlines and abilities was wrong, yes. But Elana’s response, her torment, her violent reactions, made it all so much

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