Talan slammed a hand against the wall. "Damn it, this is not the time."
I waited for him to speak, feeling like for the first time that patience with him would be the key.
The minutes ticked by while he stalked around the room. "Damn it," he repeated, "yes, there were six, though I hadn't planned on telling you that just yet. The last born of the five original elements was myself, of course. But Mother … she had what the humans call an oops."
I almost laughed out loud, kind of a giddy laugh because it sounded ridiculous. Almost, but managed to keep my mirth under wraps. "Okay. So why do I have to stand in the place of that sixth sibling?"
He locked eyes with me. "Why do you think?"
Raven groaned. "Him and his damn guessing games."
I bit my lower lip. Dead. The sixth sibling was dead. I was taking that sibling's place.
Talan's facial features so like my mother's.
My stomach rolled and I slowly went to my knees as the understanding flowed over me, a cascade of uncertainty and surety at the same time. "My mother?"
Talan nodded. "She was the baby sister we all loved, born a long, long time after the rest of us. You carry her power, Lark. As did your brother. It had to be one of you."
He was my uncle. Talan was my uncle. Holy shit, holy shit. I didn't know how to process what I was learning.
Peta pushed herself against me. "Breathe, Lark, or you'll pass out."
I took a big gulping breath, held it, and let it out slowly.
"Again," Peta instructed, and I did as she told me until the black spots in my vision slowed.
Talan crouched in front of me. "Viv destroyed six, so it will take the six of us to put her away. She knows how to block me from using Spirit against her, as she has learned to control all the elements. We must hammer her from all sides to take her down, because she has tied herself directly to the four remaining families. She can draw on the power of many, many elementals if she chooses."
I looked up at him. "Won't that hurt them?"
He nodded. "It will kill them, taking the weakest first."
Well, that was a shitstorm just waiting to happen.
"So what next, then?" Because that was where I was stuck. All these things. My parentage being laid out. The civil war happening in the Rim, the destruction of the human world, the Deep under threat, all the Sylphs missing from the Eyrie. Vivica being who she was. Having to find the missing siblings. My missing … aunts and uncles. Weirdness did not even cover that.
"We train you," Talan said.
"That is not enough," I fired back. "We have the stones, surely that would help us?" Or at least, we had some of them. Those connected to Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water were within my possession. I reached to the small leather bag tied to my belt, running my fingers over it. Four stones with more power than anyone should ever have.
The pink diamond, the one connected to Talan's power, had gone missing, though, and in many ways, it was the deadliest of the five, giving the wearer the ability to control so much, and in the bargain, lose their hold on reality. That was what had happened to Cassava. She'd worn the pink diamond for years, using Spirit for her own gains, and in turn lost herself to madness.
"There is more to the prophecy." Talan turned to Raven. "Did you get the book from the Pit?"
Raven gave a sharp nod and left the room, his black cloak swirling out behind him.
Talan twisted around to me. He blew out a breath, and shook his head before he spoke. Almost like he wasn't sure of what he would say. "I know this is a lot to take in. But everything that has been done has been to keep you safe, and to strengthen you to this point. So that you could help me free my brothers and sisters."
I frowned at him, a dark suspicion growing in my heart. "What do you mean?" I didn't like the sound of "everything that has been done." Just how deeply did he have his hands in my life?
His eyes flicked over me, weighing me. He hesitated, though, and that only heightened the tension in the room. Finally, he spoke, slowly, as if each word were fragile.
"Your father's madness. Your mother's death. Your brother going missing. That's only a few of the things. All your life has been steps on a path where we have been trying to dodge Viv, to keep her unaware of what we are planning, to keep her from realizing who you were. She expected a princess to face her, a warrior from birth. We made you a humble planter for a reason. She would have killed you as a child if not for Cassava blocking your abilities."