Windburn(81)

“No, Larkspur, I forbid this!” the mother goddess yelled.

I didn’t pause. “Then you should never have chosen us both.”

I thrust the spear forward and I was jerked backward, vines wrapping around my waist. They tightened and began to heat, bursting into flames.

I threw my head back and screamed, even as I shattered the remaining vines, breaking apart the molecules into tiny droplets.

Blackbird was on his knees and his blue eyes were wild with fury. There were no words between us. We’d said all we’d needed to say.

Back and forth we fought, flexing our power through the world around us.

Like a game of chess, we were careful in our choices.

I used the sapphire, drawing on its power without knowing what I was doing. I held my hands out and water condensed in front of me into a rolling ball. With a twist, I threw it at Blackbird, changing the molecules, hardening them into a ball of ice. It clipped him on the shoulder, spinning him around. He held a hand up and pointed a single finger at me.

A bolt of lightning snapped out of the sky and shot through my body. The electricity arched my back and sparkling lights danced before me. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past the pain cascading through me. Blackbird’s laughter rolled around me and I fought to find my connection to the earth through the pain. There at the edge of my consciousness it hovered. I reached for it and pulled it to me.

Held to it while Blackbird poured everything he had into me. The lightning stopped, but I was on my knees and his hands were on my head. “This is a battle I did not want, Lark. I do love you.”

His words were meaningless as he used Spirit to hammer my mind, as if he were trying to crack a nut.

It felt like he had his fingers inside my brain and was pulling it apart section by section. The screaming started and I couldn’t stop it as I scrabbled to get away from him.

He was stronger than me.

I couldn’t stop him.

Were the words mine, or his? A tiny flicker of darkness spun in my mind and black eyes blinked up at me. Good thing I made sure you kept a piece of me, Elemental.

Astrid. The darkness swam between Blackbird and me, popping the connection between us like a bubble being burst. I fell back and Blackbird was thrown away from me to the far edge of the blasted field.

My whole body shook, convulsions shuddering through me from head to toe. I wasn’t sure I could even stand. I stayed on the ground, my hands buried in the soft, dead earth.

Blackbird stared at me as he stalked forward, his blue eyes full of curiosity. Seeing him jump from one extreme to the other told me all I needed. He was as unstable as Cassava.

“How?”

“Does it matter?” I had to stall, to buy myself time. I didn’t dare glance at the mother goddess. To think she would intercede on my behalf was stupid.

Blackbird smiled, and I wondered how I’d missed the lies in him. The deception. My desire to be loved had blinded me to the truth.

With a roar he leapt at me, shifting in midair. Of course he was a shifter. Why was I not surprised?

He landed on four large, black paws as an oversized bear. He roared a second time, his blue eyes glittering through the heavy pelt around his face.

He swung at my leg with one thick paw, the claws digging deep into my calf as he hauled me toward him. Truth was he could have killed me easily, stealing my air from my lungs. But he was dragging this out.

Making me suffer.

The claws cut into my muscle and tore through it as easily as if it were a razor blade.

I grabbed at his face, driving my fingers into his eye sockets. He roared and pulled back, shaking his head. Stumbling back a few feet, he put distance between us and shifted once more.

“Now you’re just showing off.” I gasped the words as I fought a sudden wave of nausea followed by a narrowing of my vision. This was not the time to lose consciousness.

Blackbird grinned, blood trickling from his eyes. “Maybe. Maybe I want you to see how puny you are next to me.”

“Enough.” The mother goddess spoke and her power slammed into us both, dropping us flat. I reached for the strength of the earth and got nothing. By the look on Blackbird’s face, he was in the same position.

“Neither of you will fight. I have chosen you both. For different reasons, and while you may never understand fully, I do not expect you to. I expect you to obey me.” Her words grew in strength with each one until her voice hammered my head with its volume and power. Her hair was dark as the night and I knew which side of her personality we were dealing with. Yet why then did she save me? Because that was what happened.

Blackbird would have killed me if she hadn’t stopped him.

“Yes, Mother.” Blackbird bowed his head.

The mother goddess looked at me. I raised an eyebrow. “Get stuffed.”