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Suno clears his throat.“We’re losing sight of the matter at hand, which is determining the extent of Elsie’s power and teaching her how to control it.As a person who possesses one of the strongest powers in the kingdom, the queen makes an ideal candidate to train your mate, but if you don’t trust your mate with your mother, Gaia could be tasked with the duty.”

“Gaia’s power isn’t as strong,” Vitai says.“Elsie will make mush out of our sister—figuratively speaking, of course.”

“It’s true that Elsie has to be trained in using her power responsibly.”My father looks at Suno.“What do you suggest?”

I sneer at that.“Have any of us had training?”

My father gives me a hard look.“You were taught how to apply your power ethically as a child.”

He leaves the rest unsaid, namely that if Elsie can control more than animals, every person on Zerra is at risk.She could bring entire kingdoms to their knees if she wished.

People will fear her, and not just because she’s my mate.They’ll wish her away even more than they already do.

“I’m sorry, Aruan,” my mother says.“I’m sorry for everything Elsie suffered.I hope you’ll realize with time that I acted out of love for you because I couldn’t bear losing a son to his own power.You may not think so now, but in my own way, I also acted out of love for Laliss.”

“She prefers to be called Elsie,” I bite out.“That’s who she became.”

Though the truth is a lot more complicated now and reality much more muddled.My mate is both women, Elsie and Laliss, and it’s confusing for her to redefine herself in this new life.

“Fine.Elsie, then,” my mother says.“A different name doesn’t change who she is.I couldn’t stand by and watch someone assassinate that baby.In time, maybe you’ll be able to forgive me.”

My mother is still talking, but I’ve stopped listening to her.Instead, I focus on a deep rumble in the distance.The sound rolls like thunder before cracking down like a whip, shaking the very mountain the palace is carved into.

“What the—” Tarix says, grabbing the back of the sofa for support.

Vitai rushes over to the window.“What’s going on out there?”

“Aruan,” my mother says.“You have to stay calm.”

This storm isn’t mine.For once, my power is under control.

Like a shadow that swallows the room whole, an ominous foreboding creeps up on me.I walk to the window and look outside.

The entire mountain above the village is alive, shuddering and groaning as if it’s about to burst from its seams.I have a terrible feeling this is my doing, that I somehow set off the disaster when my power caused the sun to flare.

The top of the mountain starts sliding, a broad river of gray rocks the size of houses that rips trees out by their roots and drags them down its path, a path that leads straight to the village.

“Dear dragons,” my mother says next to me, her voice pitched with distress.

I have no recollection of her crossing the floor or how my father arrived so quickly at my other side.All I know is that hundreds of people are about to be buried under a sea of rocks.

My mother grips my wrist, her nails digging into my skin.“Do something.”

I focus my gaze on the mountain, using my mind to reassemble soil and stones, keeping the lot together before more damage is done.

The landscape stops shifting.The river of rocks filled with mangled trees and patches of grass that were plucked off the hills like tufts of hair from a scalp slows and then comes to a stop.People’s screams replace the roar of the land as the villagers flee, running as fast as their legs can carry them.

Just as Vitai blows out a shaky breath, Gaia comes sprinting through the door with her hair flying behind her.

“Quick,” she says.“There’ve been several landslides on the other side of the mountain, and half a moon cycle’s villages are buried beneath rocks.We need all the help we can get.”

Chapter9

Elsie

Destruction and chaos meet me as I step on Kian’s heels through the portal he created.Deep grooves scar the side of the mountain where rocks have torn through the soil.The rockslide has swept away trees and everything else in its way.Severed roots, mangled branches, and crushed trunks stick out between the rocks that cover half a village at the foot of the mountain, not a rooftop in sight.On the untouched half, domed stone houses line circular streets.From the vantage point of the high outcrop on which we’re standing, the layout looks like a snail shell coiling in circles from the center.

Disoriented, I look around me.People are screaming and running in all directions.