Total pages in book: 214
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
At my thoughts, I feel a slight warm glow through the tether, and it widens my smile.
"Is your elemental okay?" I ask suddenly. "Pyrin, right? Last I saw, he was wounded."
Raith nods, eyes closing as if the exhaustion of his wounds is making it hard for him to stay awake. "He is healing. He'll be fine. Tell your elemental thank you. He saved us. Pyrin is grateful, too."
"He is welcome," Typhon says. "I approve if you wish to mount him, angry human. He is a strong mate, and he shows an acceptable level of respect toward me."
I don't dignify that with a response, but I sense a flicker of amusement through the tether. Maybe Typhon isn't as thick as he lets on.
"Leave us," Raith says suddenly.
"Uh," Ambrose says. "No offense meant, Raith, but the four of us watch each other's backs. We're not about to leave her alone with a fire."
"Even if you're more cut up than a holiday ham," Beck adds with a severe nod.
"Unless you want privacy to… you know," Mireen asks, brows raised as she looks at me.
"You can trust him. I trust him," I add, realizing that I really do. "Malakai and Serena were trying to kill him. Raith could have let Serena challenge me the first day here and had me out of his hair. If he wanted me dead, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead already." Though the fact that my friends had the guts to stand up to him makes something warm and fierce surge in my chest.
Raith says nothing, which feels slightly unhelpful, but I give him a pass since he just nearly died.
My friends exchange wary looks, but after a little more convincing, they finally agree to wait out of earshot. They won't leave the room, but they'll at least give us the privacy to talk alone.
Once they're huddled at the edge of the room watching us with distrustful eyes, Raith speaks again. "You healed me."
"Technically, Typhon did it through me. I don't think I can take credit."
Raith nods. “Typhon. The beast from Mirror Lake. Before Confluence Day, he was a rogue elemental. Pyrin can confirm that much. Mad for centuries, exiled by his kind and feared.” he lets the words hang, the implied question clear.
"Well…" I say slowly. "People change." I try to sound more confident than I feel.
That earns the faintest smile from Raith. "Rogue elementals don't. You're unbound, aren't you?" His voice is so low I know none of the nearby patients a few beds over can hear. I'm grateful for that much, at least, but his accusation makes my breath catch all the same.
Instinctively, I shake my head. "I don't know what that means." My heart thuds so loudly I'm shocked he can't hear it.
"It's good that you are keeping it quiet. Your secret is safe with me. I'll be honest… I thought you were… something else. When you drew my power in, I was almost sure of it. But it makes more sense now. Unbound,” he says it again, as if testing how it feels on his tongue.
"What did you think I was?"
"Not important. But what you are… does anyone else know?"
I think about Bastian, and even if I don't know why he's helping me yet or even if what he's doing is helping, I feel like I shouldn't admit he knows.
I shake my head.
"What about them?" Raith gives a slight jerk of his head toward my friends at the corner of the room.
The three of them huddled there with their new water elementals are honestly kind of adorable. They look like they're expecting to have to come in and wrestle a half-dead Raith off me at a moment's notice. I feel another swell of gratitude for them. My throat tightens with emotion I refuse to show.
Even in a place like this. Even when trust feels like it might be a deadly mistake, I know all three of them are ready to lay their lives down for me. For all of Confluence Academy's faults, I have to admit the daily threat of death here does help us form tethers not just with elementals, but with some of the other students.
"No," I say. "I didn't want to put them in danger."
"Good. That's good."
There's a short pause, so I decide to ask the question that has been on my mind. "Why were Serena and Malakai trying to kill you?
Raith's eyes flash with secrets. "You haven't told your friends what you are because it puts them in danger. That's why I won't answer your question."
I let out a breath, annoyed at his secrecy but also unable to argue. Frustration may twist at my insides to admit it, but he is right. It’s like he said. I'm doing the exact same thing with the others.
"You should go. They'll be having the tethering ceremony soon. You should ask your elemental if he can take any less conspicuous forms. He's an ancient, right? It's the only way he could take such a powerful form."