Read Online Fate of Elements by M. Stratton, Skeleton Key - Free Book Online
Authors: M. Stratton, Skeleton Key
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the door? What about after their world was peaceful? Maybe if I wasn’t needed anymore, we wouldn’t feel the same.
Listening to the deep rumble of their voices and the fire crackling in the fireplace, I again felt completely at ease and relaxed. I had no idea how I could adapt so easily.
Dayna
“ I t’s time . Do you stand with me, or against me?” I asked him.
“I think you completely underestimate this whole situation,” Erion replied.
Using every ounce of control I had, I tried to keep myself calm. Over the centuries, I’d learned the best way to make him do what I wanted. He’d never responded well to anger.
“Do you really think I haven’t plotted and planned for every single outcome?”
“Oh, no, I’m sure you have. But you couldn’t have thought of everything. She’s different and brings something completely unique to the table. Things you couldn’t possibly even dream of.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re intrigued by her.”
“So what if I am? It doesn’t mean I’m not going to do what’s best for my people.”
“What is it about her that has both of you acting like her babysitter?”
Shaking his head, he turned his back to me and looked across the canyon. “You think this will be the perfect place for the battle?”
Walking over to him, I placed my arm around him and rested my head on his shoulder. “I do. You can use your wind to keep them where I want them, and I can make sure they never make it out alive. The ground is solid rock. They won’t be able to escape through the dirt this time.”
“What about Naida?”
I waved my hand away. “She’s too busy playing with her creatures to care what we do.”
“Again, you aren’t thinking things through. She doesn’t want her people harmed any more than we do.”
“Yes, but she also doesn’t like to fight.”
“While you live for it.”
“Some of us have had to fight for everything we have,” I replied.
He looked down at me. “All you had to do was look around, there were plenty of people willing to help.”
Rolling my eyes, I pulled away from him. “Can we please not talk about this again? I wasn’t in love with you.”
“This is where your downfall will be, Dayna. You always think you know everything and are so focused on your goal, you forget to look around you. I wasn’t talking about us. I was telling you before the bloodshed, when the four of us were friends, other people cared about you.”
“They cared about what I could give them. Nothing more.”
“There are times when I wonder how someone who cares so much for her own people could be so cold when it came to others.”
“Maybe it was how those others treated me and my own. Did you ever think of that?”
“No, Dayna, it’s how you perceived them. You were always ready to think the worst of everyone else. You always thought they were attacking you , putting you down. They were always wrong and you were always right. You were the one who was always getting your sensibilities hurt by some injustice or another. You were the one who was completely justified in seeking revenge for whatever someone did to you, but any time someone called you out for what you did to them, it was different.”
“You don’t understand!” I screamed at him. “You didn’t watch your people die by the hands of the other elements!”
“You forget who you are talking to. Each and every element had people die in that battle, it wasn’t just yours. All you can focus on is your people and Hallet killing your parents. But listen here; his parents died first, and from all accounts, by an Earth Element. By the old rules, he was completely justified as the new King of the Fire Elements to fight your parents to the death. Think about the fact that you two weren’t the only ones who lost parents that day. Mine and Naida’s were killed, too. Everything changed that day for all of us .”
I’d never seen him this angry. His hair was almost as black as the clouds
Listening to the deep rumble of their voices and the fire crackling in the fireplace, I again felt completely at ease and relaxed. I had no idea how I could adapt so easily.
Dayna
“ I t’s time . Do you stand with me, or against me?” I asked him.
“I think you completely underestimate this whole situation,” Erion replied.
Using every ounce of control I had, I tried to keep myself calm. Over the centuries, I’d learned the best way to make him do what I wanted. He’d never responded well to anger.
“Do you really think I haven’t plotted and planned for every single outcome?”
“Oh, no, I’m sure you have. But you couldn’t have thought of everything. She’s different and brings something completely unique to the table. Things you couldn’t possibly even dream of.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re intrigued by her.”
“So what if I am? It doesn’t mean I’m not going to do what’s best for my people.”
“What is it about her that has both of you acting like her babysitter?”
Shaking his head, he turned his back to me and looked across the canyon. “You think this will be the perfect place for the battle?”
Walking over to him, I placed my arm around him and rested my head on his shoulder. “I do. You can use your wind to keep them where I want them, and I can make sure they never make it out alive. The ground is solid rock. They won’t be able to escape through the dirt this time.”
“What about Naida?”
I waved my hand away. “She’s too busy playing with her creatures to care what we do.”
“Again, you aren’t thinking things through. She doesn’t want her people harmed any more than we do.”
“Yes, but she also doesn’t like to fight.”
“While you live for it.”
“Some of us have had to fight for everything we have,” I replied.
He looked down at me. “All you had to do was look around, there were plenty of people willing to help.”
Rolling my eyes, I pulled away from him. “Can we please not talk about this again? I wasn’t in love with you.”
“This is where your downfall will be, Dayna. You always think you know everything and are so focused on your goal, you forget to look around you. I wasn’t talking about us. I was telling you before the bloodshed, when the four of us were friends, other people cared about you.”
“They cared about what I could give them. Nothing more.”
“There are times when I wonder how someone who cares so much for her own people could be so cold when it came to others.”
“Maybe it was how those others treated me and my own. Did you ever think of that?”
“No, Dayna, it’s how you perceived them. You were always ready to think the worst of everyone else. You always thought they were attacking you , putting you down. They were always wrong and you were always right. You were the one who was always getting your sensibilities hurt by some injustice or another. You were the one who was completely justified in seeking revenge for whatever someone did to you, but any time someone called you out for what you did to them, it was different.”
“You don’t understand!” I screamed at him. “You didn’t watch your people die by the hands of the other elements!”
“You forget who you are talking to. Each and every element had people die in that battle, it wasn’t just yours. All you can focus on is your people and Hallet killing your parents. But listen here; his parents died first, and from all accounts, by an Earth Element. By the old rules, he was completely justified as the new King of the Fire Elements to fight your parents to the death. Think about the fact that you two weren’t the only ones who lost parents that day. Mine and Naida’s were killed, too. Everything changed that day for all of us .”
I’d never seen him this angry. His hair was almost as black as the clouds
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