"He was so like you, Lark. Fierce and loyal, and so determined to make things right. He wouldn't wait, and because he was so strong, Aria couldn't stop him." Her eyes locked on mine. "That is why I kept you pinned down here as long as I did. His death … his death was my fault. I should have stopped Viv."
I wanted to blame her. "His body?"
"Buried near the shoreline of the Deep. Not far from where you caused the tsunami."
A shudder slid through me. Bramley being gone changed nothing, but that belief he might be alive, for a little while, had given me hope.
I drew several slow breaths and was surprised when Cassava touched my hand and took it in her own. "You have a chance to make it all right, Lark. You are strong enough to stand in for your mother. I believe it."
My eyes went to hers. She spoke her truth clearly, and there was no hesitation in it.
I pulled my hand from hers. "Let's go. We should check on this trap Viv set here."
Cassava nodded and fell into step beside me.
"Any idea what it is?" Peta asked.
Cassava gave a brisk nod. "She's opened the fire elementals in their connection to their creator. They were not meant to carry so much power, and they are going mad with both that, and their absence from the Pit."
I sucked in a sharp breath. "A double hit on their mental stability."
"Exactly," she murmured.
We hurried through the forest, heading for the main section of the Rim where the Spiral was set. We had maybe ten minutes before we reached it. Long enough for a few more questions.
"You connected with all the elements, how?"
Cassava glanced at me, then back to the path. "I begged. I begged Viv to let me have the connection and she could open a small pathway for me, through Spirit. If I hold the pink diamond, I can manipulate the other elements, to a degree."
"I can't go begging, Viv," I said.
"No, but you can beg the elements," Cassava said. "Viv told me how she did it. She went to each of the original elementals and asked permission to use their power. Of course, this was long before she went hunting them."
I frowned. "How the hell am I supposed to do that?"
"You aren't," she said, her voice clear as a bell, "that is why you must free them. They will deal with Viv, and you will never have to carry all five elements."
"Why-"
"Because that is the real reason Vivica went wild. Not the power of Spirit, but too much power, period," Cassava said. "Too much power that was not truly hers. You don't want that, Lark."
There was a rumbling under my feet, almost as if the earth was listening. I didn't think the mother goddess agreed with Cassava, but for now I would let it slide. If I did not have to connect with all the elements, that was fine by me.
As we drew near the Rim's center, I slowed. Something was out there in the woods.
Peta shook her head and jumped from my shoulder, a snarl rippling through her as she shifted into her snow leopard form. I spun around on my knees, hands raised, and found myself staring at Griffin, the old wolf shifter who lived on the edge of the forest. He was not in his wolf form, at least, but the fact that Peta was protecting me from him said it all. She had no direct reason to not trust him, and from her mind I could feel just a steady uncertainty. Griffin had been the consort to Viv … which meant that he was tied to her too. Peta didn't trust him based on that alone.
I pointed a finger at him. "Your wife is a fucking pain in my ass."
He held both hands up in surrender.
"Not my fault, yeah? I tried to stop her. She was my wife a long, long time ago and I didn't know she was a liar until it was too late." He let out a heavy sigh. "But I see you have a new friend. Think that's a good idea, yeah?"
I didn't look at him, only held one hand out to Cassava. She gave a soft inhalation of air that told me everything. That she was as surprised as Griffin that I would choose her over him.
"I don't know who to trust anymore, Griffin. The fact that Peta immediately took you as a threat does not bode well for you. At least … at least with Cass, here, I understand her motives."
He glanced at the snow leopard between us, her hackles standing at attention and her tail lashing side to side, her ears pinned to her skull.
"Fair enough. But I'm thinking you might need all the help you can get, yeah? You see the mess Viv has made of the Rim?"
My muscles tensed involuntarily. "That is partly why we are here."