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“So it seems.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead before taking my lips with his. I melted into him, so beyondrelieved that he was alive.

I pondered the possibilities of this new ability, wondering if I’d ever be able to master it. “Go to Onyx.”

With another kiss, we parted ways, leaving me to check the dead as I prayed I wouldn’t stumble across someone I knew.

After a half hour of separating the Elemental bodies from the Kinetic with my air magic, I stood beside Kodiak and Aella. They both aided with air and earth, levitating the bodies to specific sides of the lawn by uprooting the ground to hold them in a temporary, shallow grave until the funeral proceedings.

Aella worked in stoic silence, her only sounds being the sniffling from the tears she shed.

Orion was with the surviving Elementals who helped in the cleanup effort if not wounded too badly. Those who were injured were in the healing ward of the lodge before any permanent damage could set in.

We took some hard losses.

My heart cracked down the middle at the sight of River, hunched over the body of a boy in his late teens, clutching him to her chest, hoarding him from the two adults on either side of her as if to protect her baby brother from their parents. She wailed into his chest, his dark head rolling limply to the side.

It brought back my own memory of the agony that wrecked me the day Forest told me of Slate’s death, robbing me of breath. I broke away from Kodiak and Aella, strolling in the direction of my distraught friend.

I didn’t say anything as I approached, kneeling beside River and pulling her into my chest with Blaize squeezed in her arms. Her parents knelt at Blaize’s head. It was clear they tried to force their emotions back, determined not to show them publicly, but this kind of grief didn’t allow for that. Their mother’s face twisted in anguish, tears streaming down hercheeks as she fought unsuccessfully to keep them at bay. The same could be said for their father. Even they couldn’t silence the wails.

My own throat constricted as a sob was wrenched from my chest. The fire elemental would never taunt me with his mischievous ways again. Those eyes that flicked with a playful flame were forever extinguished. He was too young.

“I should’ve been there,” River forced out through gritted teeth, her voice muffled as I cradled her head to my chest.

“No.” I shook my head. “Don’t do that.”

“It was my job to protect him.”

I glanced at her parents, remembering the story she’d shared with me about when they were children. Of how much pressure they put on her. “You did your best. It was chaos, River.”

“I wasn’t enough,” she whimpered.

I trekked back to the lodge, my body caked in blood and mud. It clashed against my blue currents and gilded skin.

After the solemn clean-up effort, we departed, taking a breath for the first time since the attack. Funeral pyres would be lit for the deceased Elementals. The numbers had been too great. There were too many losses that a cloud of agony hovered suspended above the property. It would be a long night, even with everyone exhausted and mourning.

It was customary to hold pyres for the deceased as soon as possible. As the fire element burned away the old life, the wind carried it away to settle into the earth, and then it was cleansed by the rain. The longer the body sat before the pyre, the deeper the karmic debt accrued in this lifetime. The debt would then burrow into the soul’s fabric, making their next life that much more difficult to grow from.

The mass ceremony was set to begin within the next hour, giving everyone time to eat, change, and get cleaned up before the send-off. The deceased Kinetics would be included.

Before reaching the front porch of the lodge, I sensed a Kinetic presence hiding several feet away near a cove of trees. I froze, allowing my magic to rise to the surface. The energy from their energetic magic zinged off my aura, sending tingles down my spine.

Blue electricity sizzled in my palms as I took slow steps toward the hidden Kinetic. I remembered Golden disappearing when Chrome showed up and braced for an attack. Creeping closer, I kept my senses open, the voices of the mourning and downtrodden becoming distant. My heart rate kicked up, anticipating another fight I wasn’t sure I had the energy for.

I hated the squishing noise my boots made in the mud, no matter how quiet I tried to be, while a chilling breeze made my bones ache.

Shadows crept over me through the bough of the trees. The Kinetic essence drew closer with each step, but I couldn’t place the interloper yet. I wafted a breeze in a circular direction in my near vicinity and brought it back to me. Sniffing the air for a scent, I caught the smell of citrus as the odor of sweat followed.

“Princess,” a gruff male voice spoke from behind a tree. A splash of bright ruby stepped into view.

“Cardinal?”

“Look, you gotta listen…”

A dagger appeared in my hand before he could finish. Cardinal looked down at the weapon with unease. Raising his hands up in defense, he said, “I’m not here to fight. I need your help.”

I reeled back. “Help?You’re fucking kidding, right?” He couldn’t be serious. “You call all of that coming for help?” I waved a hand behind me to gesture to the massacre.

“That wasn’t me. You know your father, how he is. I had to come. I didn’t kill anyone.” He shook his head.