Read Online The Chilling Change Of Air (Elemental Awakening, Book 3) by Nicola Claire - Free Book Online Page A

rain on any available surface.
    We cannot , several different voices replied. We cannot , they repeated at different resonances. We cannot , they cried with force enough to make me moan from the pain that took up residence inside my head.
    My vision began to blur, my limbs became weak. But not Theo. Whatever was weakening me was not affecting him. His hands roamed down my body, lifting me off my feet and wrapping my legs around his waist.
    No! Not like this. Please, no!
    I felt him ready to enter.
    A single tear rolled down my cheek.
    Not like this, my mind whispered desperately. He'll never forgive himself , my heart and soul cried out.
    A bright white light filled the room, so blinding it even made Theo pause. His head pulled back, his chest pulled away, just our groins aligned but no closer.
    "What the hell?" he said, suddenly aware of the state of the room, who was in his arms and just how close we were to being crushed in rubble.
    His wide golden eyes glanced down at my scorched but obviously naked body, held aloft by his grip on my rear. I saw the second he realised what was about to transpire. I waited for the anger to be directed at me. But it didn't come. His eyes had stilled on my wet cheeks.
    Then the light expanded, rushed around us in a tornado of lightning bright flashes, ozone wafted on the electrified air. Theo's dark hair rose off his head, I could feel mine doing the same.
    "What's happening?" he asked, his words sounding like static, as he removed my legs from his waist but somehow managed to pull me closer, not push me further away with that move.
    "I...I don't know," I stammered, but I was thinking that maybe I did.
    The wind picked up, although all I could see before me was Theo and the blinding white light that surrounded us, and all I could hear was his harsh breaths mixed with mine.
    Where to, Aether? a new voice sounded in my head. High-pitched and chilling, not deep and steady like the Earth, or playful and teasing like Fire. This one froze me, then ran cold fingers down my spine. Where to, Aether? it repeated.
    I shook my head.
    "What is it?" Theo demanded.
    " Aeras ," I whispered and the voice inside my head sighed, changing from chilling to calming in one breath.
    Aether, where to?
    So many things swept through my head. The look on Theo's handsome face, so close and yet still so closed off. The sound of a building about to break. The façade I'd seen earlier, driving through those gates towards the sleek mansion on top of the hill. The grass lawns, the trees.
    The Moreton Bay Fig.
    The more I thought about the gnarled, exposed roots of the tree, the one outside as well as the one in a book I used to own and the one that had appeared in my first dream visit from Gramps, the more it crystallised in my mind.
    So be it , whispered Air.
    Then the light blazed, and the wind whipped and the cool wet feel of grass met my toes. I looked down and saw a tree root, my eyes followed it until they came to the tree. The light dissipated, the wind calmed, and that ozone smell wafted away on a now non-existent breeze.
    But it still rained.
    "What the fuck was that?" Theo demanded, looking down at me with shock and I was thinking horror on his face.
    " Aeras ," I repeated.
    "Yes," he said, stepping away, putting space between us, taking his body heat, but not the heat of his gaze. His eyes roamed hungrily over my completely nude body. I couldn't look at his. It hurt too much. Because although I saw appreciation in his look, there was still no recognition.
    I was a naked woman before a Pyrkagia prince, one who was still hungry.
    I covered my breasts with crossed arms as Isadora, Nico, Aktor and Sonya came running over. They all stopped as one, taking in the sight of our unclothed forms.
    "Did we miss the party?" Nico asked, as Aktor removed his shirt quietly and walked over to me holding it out.
    I could have kissed him.
    Nico reluctantly did the same for Theo, whose eyes still hadn't left my body, this time