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Was she implying that the crown was responsible for the near extinction of Spirit Users? That didn’t make any sense. Spirit Users were how the Goddess talked to our world. It’s one of the reasons it was believed she lost her voice— no Spirit Users, no communication.

River was rewarded with three unbelieving, hostile glares.

“So what?” Elijah asked. “You want us to believe you read Aiden’s mind and discovered all this information?” Elijah asked, clearly skeptical.

“No. Well, yes, I read his mind. But not for that reason.” River paused, backtracking. “I read his mind because he hates it. And I wanted to be sure I could trust you before allowing him to share my secret.” She smiled mischievously. “But for this particular info, I read all your minds. You’re not shielding at—” She stopped short, giggling. “Oh! Never mind, there’s the shields! Except for you…” she trailed off, directing her focus my way even as Griffin shifted to cover me more fully.

“The king doesn’t want us to communicate with the Goddess. Everyone would know they’re all full of shit,” River answered my unasked question and cocked her head around Griffin, trying to examine me thoroughly. “What are you? I’d assume Spirit User with that block, but you clearly have Earth.” She looked me up and down. “Hmm. Weird. In all my research, I’ve never heard of a Spirit Block successfully used on another element. It’s always temporary. The Spirit User needs to be present to direct their magic. How long did it work before it broke? Can you use your whole power source now?”

“What?” I gaped at her. First, she’d read my mind. That was her responding to my internal questions about why they’d kill off Spirit Users, right? Then she throws that Spirit Block stuff my way?

“I chose to answer,” River said. “Couldn’t help to hear, though. You’re loud.”

Aiden glared at her, trying to communicate with his eyes while she pointedly ignored him.

“Ash, it’s the only way, and you know it,” Aiden said, drawing everyone’s attention back to him.

Well, everyone’s attention but mine. I was too stunned to follow along. If Aiden’s sister was to be believed, someone had put a block on my magic. I couldn’t wrap my head around that. I refused to look at the guys for their take on her revelations. That was just too terrifying. No doubt they’d have questions when we were alone.

While they argued over the specifics of the meeting Aiden set up, I internally freaked out about the repercussions of having a block over my magic, pointedly avoiding everyone’s eyes, and blocking out most of their conversation.

At some point, Elijah grabbed E.Z. by the collar, informing him that he “better not fucking touch her” while alone with me. I was too busy wondering if my powers were growing to care why. I could feel my connection to Earth clear as day, whereas before, I couldn’t feel it at all.

While Elijah told Aiden he didn’t want to hear his opinions any more than he wanted to be in his company, I wondered if there was a reason for the block— worried that it should stay in place rather than let out whatever was locked inside. I didn’t know who had done it; I couldn't know their intention. The block might have been for my own good or the good of the people around me. Someone trying to hurt me wasn’t something I was ready to consider. It complicated things even more.

I also didn’t know how it could have been placed without my knowledge. I felt like I would have noticed someone putting this on me.

E.Z. and Aiden stormed off. When Griff went after E.Z., leaving just River and Elijah to duke it out, I wondered if that was the type of girl Elijah would typically go for. River exerted confidence effortlessly, her movements fluid and sexy with perfect posture. She held her body in a way that tempted eyes to look. And she was tempting Elijah.

As they talked, tensions lowered. Elijah had taken her measure and found her impressive. He was still arguing with her— that man could argue forever— but he was enjoying the debate, and she was eating that right up. Back and forth, they passed a ball of laughter after each rebuttal.

Goddess, why did Elijah being happy make me so unhappy? I knew that made me absolutely terrible, but I couldn’t help it.

There was a time when I would have welcomed any attention Elijah threw my way. I even suffered through his snide comments and general ash-holeness so I could be around him. But eventually, he avoided me or gave me less and less attention, including the negative attention. I would watch him laugh and joke with friends while not looking at me.

He laughed so nicely… When he wasn’t with me.

Ash-hole.

At one point, my mission had been to wear down Elijah until he gave me another chance. I never knew what I had done to deserve his sudden change towards me and was determined to win back his favor. But I failed and I hated him more the more times I tried and failed.

When you hate someone enough, you want them to appear just a little bit beaten down. But there is no way to beat down Elijah, as Miss Rivers learned. You can’t win against him. He can accept you as a viable opponent, which he had done with River right before my eyes, or as family, like he had done with the guys.

He never accepted me for either of those categories, despite me thinking maybe he once had.

Chapter16

Kaia

Needing a distraction from the weird feelings I got watching Elijah and River interact, I looked across the fire to where Aiden had secluded himself. Griffin had calmed E.Z. down after his confrontation with Elijah, but no one checked on Aiden. His sister was still enchanting Elijah with no care for him.

I sat beside him on one of my apple tree roots. The sucker was one huge, sturdy tree, and the ground just couldn’t contain it. Thick roots pushed up in all directions. I was slightly proud, but I was mostly really freaking scared.

“Elijah can be hard to handle,” I said, watching Aiden effortlessly patch a net. He simply shrugged, so I changed direction. “So, what really made you leave the capital?”

There was something about the air of mystery that surrounded Aiden. I was drawn to it and was burning to know more about him— the least of which was why he’d left.

“It’s a long story.” Aiden wouldn’t look at me, keeping his focus on his work.