Date: 2014-07-13 04:00:00+00:00
Description: Casey Eden is a normal twenty-three year old woman, whose life becomes anything but normal after waking up covered in dirt. Seeking answers, but only finding more questions, she turns to the one person she believes can help. But although sexy, arrogant Theo Peters has been a constant flirt for the past year, he is definitely more than she ever imagined he was. And now she is part of his strange, powerful and seductive world. This book bundle includes books 1-3 in the Elemental Awakening Series as follows: The Tempting Touch Of Fire: Theo Peters is a flirt, and for the first time in Casey Eden'
Publisher: Nicola Claire Books
Rights: Copyright 2017 Nicola Claire. All rights reserved.

Elemental Awakening Book Bundle

Elemental Awakening Books 1-3

Nicola Claire

Copyright © 2014, Nicola Claire

All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organisations is entirely coincidental.

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

© Cover Art by Cora Graphics

© Depositphotos.com/ValuaVitaly

ISBN: 978-1-310-39129-3

Created with Vellum

Contents

About the Author

Free Download

Also by Nicola Claire

Definitions

The Tempting Touch Of Fire

Description

1. I Had A Sinking Feeling

2. Singing A Lament On The Still Night Air

3. It Was Completely Unfair

4. Oh Dear God, A Mad Scientist's Lab Flashed Before My Eyes

5. It Completely And Utterly Undid Me

6. In A Storm Full Of Rage

7. Leaving Me Panting For Breath

8. One Muttered Greek Curse From His Lips And I Knew He Hadn't Missed It

9. We Have A Gift For You

10. And She Makes The Earth Dance To A Delicate Tune

11. Time For Bed, Cinderella

12. And The Butler Hadn't Batted An Eyelash

13. Jumping Around The Clearing As Though I Was Dancing On Hot Coals

14. This Was It

15. But He Wasn't Done

16. He Surpassed All Expectations For Me

17. I Had Thought Becoming What I Was, Was The Roller-Coaster Ride From Hell

18. As Though He Felt My Dread And Pain And Fear Along With Me

19. It Was The End Of The World As I Knew It

20. It Started With Me And It Would End With Me

21. In A Delicate Dance Against My Skin

22. But I Fought It, Just As I Fought My Tears

23. And Now The Athanatos Was Coming For Me

24. Sometimes You Just Knew

25. No Matter What

26. Eternally

The Soothing Scent Of Earth

Description

Prologue

1. And It Was Never Going To Be Enough

2. In My Dark, Dank Cell

3. And The Root Incinerated Before Our Eyes

4. It Was The Flaming Rose Dream That Woke Me

5. This Was Going To Take A Shit-Load Of Luck And Superb Timing

6. Oh Dear God, Not Again

7. And The Hits Just Kept Coming, Didn't They?

8. So Much Said In One Simple Word

9. This Man Confounded Me At Times

10. Had This Been An Enormous Mistake?

11. Anywhere But Here

12. Maybe This Will Be Fun After All

13. Even If The Earth Cried Silent Tears Inside My Head

14. The Earth Made A Sound Of Sadness And Frustration On My Behalf

15. She Is Ours To Protect!

16. Leaving Me Alone With A Very Turned On, Very Determined, Very Experienced Pyrkagia Prince

17. Would It Consume Me?

18. But I Loved More, That He Loved Them Too

19. We've Been Looking For You

20. Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Fire

21. That Pit Of Despair Opened Up Before Me

22. So, This Is Aether?

23. I Needed To Remember That

24. I Was So Hoping You'd Say That

25. It Was A Completely Selfish Act

26. Holy Freaking Hell

27. Et Tu, Brute?

The Chilling Change Of Air

Description

Prologue

1. The Earth Cried

2. Could This Get Any Worse?

3. A Lot Has Happened, Miss Eden

4. Here I Am

5. Shhh

6. I Couldn't Stay

7. And All Hell Broke Loose

8. I Wasn't Fooled

9. If The Butler Was Hitting The Booze, I Was In Deep Freaking Trouble

10. And Then I Knew True Fear

11. Make Me Remember

12. Can You Hear Me?

13. Haven't You Heard A Freaking Word I've Said?

14. You Are Fire Itself

15. Let... Me... In

16. So, What You're Saying Is... What Exactly?

17. I Don't Suppose You Can Pretend We're On A Desert Island And It's Just The Two Of Us, Could You?

18. And In The End None Of It Mattered

19. How Did I Combat This?

20. They're All Gone

21. It's Not Your Fault

22. What's So Funny?

23. There Was No Freaking Way I Wanted To Argue With That

24. Take Me, Oraia

25. Come Dance, Aether

26. It's All My Fault

27. Dance With Me

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About the Author

Nicola Claire lives in beautiful Taupo, New Zealand with her husband and two young boys.

She's tried her hand at being a paramedic, bank teller and medical sales representative, (not all necessarily in that order), but her love of writing keeps calling her back.

She has a passion for all things suspenseful, spiced up with a good dollop of romance, as long as they include strong characters - alpha males and capable females - and worlds which although make-believe are really quite believable in the end.

There's nothing better than getting caught up in a compelling, intriguing and romantic book.

When she's not writing or reading, she's out on her family boat at Lake Taupo, teaching her young boys to fish, showing them the beauty that surrounds them in nature and catching some delicious trout for dinner.

Creating rich worlds with dynamic characters and unexpected twists that shock and awe has been pure bliss for this author. And just as well, because there's a lot more story yet to tell...

For more information:

www.nicolaclairebooks.com
nicolaclaire@hotmail.com

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Starter Library

* * *

Also by Nicola Claire

Kindred Series

Kindred

Blood Life Seeker

Forbidden Drink

Giver of Light

Dancing Dragon

Shadow's Light

Entwined With The Dark

Kiss Of The Dragon

Dreaming Of A Blood Red Christmas (Novella)

* * *

Mixed Blessing Mystery Series

Mixed Blessing

Dark Shadow (Coming Soon)

* * *

Sweet Seduction Series

Sweet Seduction Sacrifice

Sweet Seduction Serenade

Sweet Seduction Shadow

Sweet Seduction Surrender

Sweet Seduction Shield

Sweet Seduction Sabotage

Sweet Seduction Stripped

Sweet Seduction Secrets

Sweet Seduction Sayonara

* * *

Elemental Awakening Series

The Tempting Touch Of Fire

The Soothing Scent Of Earth

The Chilling Change Of Air

The Tantalising Taste Of Water

The Eternal Edge Of Aether (Novella)

* * *

H.E.A.T. Series

A Flare Of Heat

A Touch Of Heat

A Twist Of Heat (Novella)

A Lick Of Heat (Coming Soon)

* * *

Citizen Saga

Elite

Cardinal

Citizen

Masked (Novella)

Wiped

* * *

Scarlet Suffragette Series

Fearless

Breathless

Heartless (Coming Soon)

* * *

Blood Enchanted Series

Blood Enchanted

Blood Entwined

Blood Enthralled (Coming Soon)

* * *

44 South Series

Southern Sunset

Southern Storm

Southern Strike (Coming Soon)

* * *

Lost Time Series

Losing Time

Making Time (Coming Soon)

Definitions

Aeras - Air; one of five elements

Aether - Quintessence; one of five elements

Anaisthetikos - Anaesthetise; a Gi ability to channel the essence of a plant, in order to remove a person's sentience

Athanatos - Immortal; or near immortal

Basilissa - Queen

Ekmetalleftis - Elemental; can control one of five elements

Gi - Earth; one of five elements

Hederin - Hallucinogen; a Gi ability to channel the essence of a plant, in order to manipulate what a person sees/experiences

Nero - Water; one of five elements

Oraia - Lovely; term of endearment

Pateras - Father

Pyrgos - Castle

Pyrkagia - Fire; one of five elements

Rigas - King

Stoicheio - Element; five power-filled elements exist

Strychnos Toxifera - Paralytic; a Gi ability to channel the essence of a plant, (Curare), in order to immobilise a person

Thisavros - Treasure; someone precious, an Elemental mate

For:

My good friend Janette,
who has read all my books,
loved all my books,
and deserves a little more
romance in her life...

starting between these pages.

And…

For:

Romantics at heart.... Never stop loving.

And…

For:

Romantics at heart... Never stop craving.

Description

Oh, this was sweet torture. To be this close to nirvana and walk away because I am coy. I closed my eyes tightly and swallowed down my fears. Theo wanted me. Like this. He craved me, in any way he could get me. Even if I wasn’t his, even if this all was torn asunder tomorrow, how could I not take the chance to feel this, to share this, with him? Even if just for a moment.'

For the past year Casey Eden has nurtured a crush on handsome, confident and slightly arrogant Theo Peters. For the first time in her life she's actually been able to flirt with a man. She even believed he was about to take their delicious flirtations to the next step.

But then things changed.

A pit full of dirt.

A preternatural world she never new existed.

And a fire of passion ignited deep inside her heart.

Now, they are sworn enemies, their attraction to each other a bitter-sweet temptation that will only lead to heartache in the end. But there is more for Casey to be worried about than forbidden love. Her world has been turned upside down and inside out, and now she has to find out who and what she has become. To do that, she must walk a dangerous tightrope between desire and reality. But reality for Casey includes a calling to the Earth and a longing for Fire, not to mention those who become aware of her will do anything to get what they want. And she soon begins to realise nothing will ever be the same again.

Chapter One

I Had A Sinking Feeling

My heart thundered in my chest. I could feel every... single... beat. I thought I was dying.

Hazy images of a horror movie memory skittered across my mind, trying valiantly to hide from me. Something had happened. And it was very bad. I tried to roll onto my side, but my movements were hindered. For a frozen moment in time, I feared my attacker was still here, pinning me to the ground. A whimper rose up from the depths of my chest, a sob broke free from my mouth.

As soon as my lips parted dirt poured in. Suffocating, tasteless, gritty. It surrounded me, filled me, consumed me.

And I knew I was dying.

I struggled against the sensations of asphyxiation and entrapment. I dug my fingers into the dirt at my sides as though they were claws. I firmly kept my lips compressed in a thin line and took only shallow breaths through my nose, but the damage was done. I was surrounded with, buried in, entombed by... dirt.

I frantically tried to remember where I was, how I got here. Not that those memories would probably get me out of this predicament, but it was a survival instinct that came from deep within. I couldn't run, I couldn't fight, so I tried to out-think my captor. Knowledge was power, and the knowledge of escape lay in remembering how and why I was here.

I'd been out for an early morning run, before the store opened. I always ran through the Rose Gardens between my house and lower downtown. Then out along Tamaki Drive, taking in the sea and the gulls that swooped along the foreshore. The path for pedestrians along the winding drive is dotted with Pohutukawa Trees. I often brushed my hands across their gnarled and rough bark trunks as I jogged past.

But I didn't have a memory of touching the bark, or of seeing the gulls in the sky. I hadn't made it to Tamaki Drive, so was I still in the Rose Gardens?

I attempted another struggle against the binds that held me tight. I felt a responding tug against my limbs, then the shock of something pricking my skin, tearing at the flesh, scraping against my legs and wrists and sides. It wasn't enough that my mugger had buried me alive in the ground, he'd also securely tied me up with thorny rose bushes and vines.

Differing emotions of bristling anger and heart-stopping panic warred inside me at that realisation.

But I hadn't seen my attacker. I don't think I heard a thing at all. I simply woke to this nightmare, covered in dirt, unable to call for help. Unable to move without getting cut to shreds on thorns.

What the hell did I do now?

Relax, came a soft whisper, a rustling of leaves that somehow formed words.

What the...?

Let us in, said a similar voice, but this one held a different tone than the other. Not so much the rustling of leaves, as the creaking of branches overhead.

Oh God, I was hallucinating. There was nothing else for it. I was about to pass out from lack of oxygen and thought the rose bushes were talking to me now. What a way to go. I always enjoyed nature, but right now I'd take the concrete jungle of Queen Street over lush green lawns, that was for sure.

I waited for the next onslaught, but the roses had settled down. Instead I could hear something scratching, something stirring off to the side of my face in the dirt. I couldn't turn towards it, I couldn't turn away. The vines held me securely and any movement meant a thorn through my skin. A whimper sounded in the back of my throat. I hate insects. Creepy crawlies are the only animal life I cannot abide. Give me a rabid dog over the quivering legs of a soil dwelling insect any day.

I couldn't help it, it came from deep down inside. I struggled away from that sound with all of my might, feeling every prick of blood and tear of my skin. Every scratch and tug and pull against me. I struggled for mere minutes, growing weaker by the second. Pain radiating from every scratch, every puncture wound in my flesh. I ached from straining, and stung from the harsh scratch of thorns. I'd never been one to shy away from getting dirty, but this was character changing.

I didn't think I could enjoy nature ever again. I'd avoid parks and shun animals, and spend the rest of my life walking paved streets and living in tall buildings, far from the scent of soil.

It must have been that thought that did it, because suddenly I could smell so much. The earthy loam of dirt, the pungent smell of a budding rose, the clean scent of newly mown grass, the crisp tang of salty air, the ugly stench of diesel, the acidic bite of bile. I realised that last one was coming from me and it wasn't the taste I was responding to, but the smell. How bizarre.

My struggles had stopped while I took the plethora of scents in. As though their presence, and my recognition of them, was grounding, calming even. My heartbeat had settled, my skin no longer crawling with the sensations of insect-like feet, my nostrils no longer filled with dirt, but filled with the delightful smells and scents of the earth.

And... I liked it. I liked it a lot. For a moment I just savoured it, all of it. Even the intrusion of exhaust fumes and pollution. My nose reacted badly to those, but immediately pulled the scents of nature around me to soothe. As though a natural protection from the outside world.

I realised, from feeling trapped and imprisoned by something so very foul, I was now embraced within it, cared for by it, comforted and cosseted and protected from unnatural sights, sounds and smells. I still couldn't see, and I was no longer hearing any scratching sounds.

But, oh God, could I smell. I wanted to sit up and see what else I could scent. I wanted to embrace the earth around me, give worship, roll around in the welcoming smell of dirt.

As soon as those thoughts found my conscious mind, the earth above me shifted. Weight lifted off my body and the vines and rose bushes that had held me, parted and simply slipped away. I sat up gingerly, finding myself in a deep trench at what I presumed was the back of the Rose Gardens on Gladstone Road. Where my early morning run always took me. I hadn't made it to Tamaki Drive, I'd only made it this far. And fallen into an open pit in the early morning dark.

What a dork. Clearly I'd tripped and fallen and then the dirt, being newly dug over, collapsed on top. Somehow making the rose bushes and some nearby vines get tangled up in the whole mess. My struggles had only gotten myself more entangled in them, until I almost buried myself alive, trapped by prickly thorns. What a friggin' freak.

I shook my head and staggered out of the pit, into a brighter sunlit sky than when my self-inflicted ordeal began. I had no idea how much time had passed, but by the position of the sun in the sky I was late. Way late for work. I dusted myself down, feeling soothed by the sensation of dirt beneath my palms as I cleaned my leggings of sod.

Then I raced back up Gladstone Road and slipped my key in my apartment door. Traipsing dirt across the entranceway, I kicked off my running shoes and tiptoed towards the bathroom down the hall. My efforts were entirely wasted, as little spots of soil followed behind in a zigzagging trail. I showered as quickly as I could, but several hours in the dirt meant three shampoos and conditioning treatments, as well as half my extremely expensive Lilly of the Valley body-wash from Monsoon.

Fifteen minutes later, no doubt half a day's pay packet, and I was pristine clean, but weirdly still smelling the earth. It was as though it was all around me. In the kitchen as I downed a glass and a half of milk. In the lounge as I snatched up my latest supplier's bill off the coffee table for work. And out on the concrete driveway of my apartment complex as I hot-trotted it towards the shop.

I couldn't shake the scents of nature around me. Every blossom on a tree caught my attention, their fragrance meeting me first, calling my eyes to find out where that delightful scent came from. Crossing Parnell Road, to walk down the side in the sun, I could smell the hanging baskets several feet away, before I even registered they'd been replanted for Spring. Smells assaulted me at every corner, they were rich and delicious, making me lick my lips and smile a mile wide. After what had happened this morning, you'd think I would abhor anything to do with dirt. But I seemed to gravitate towards it, weaving along the pavement, avoiding harried mid-morning workers, just so I could walk beneath each basket overhead.

My deli came into view, the planters outside appearing fuller and brighter than those on either side. They would have been replanted at the same time as the others in the street, by the Parnell Business Owners Association, whom I paid an exorbitant fee to, so my shop matched all the rest. But they looked so much better, so much more, than those trailing the length of the street either side.

I pushed the chiming door open and glanced around my domain. The potted plants I enjoyed tending, and received many remarks of approval about, looked lush and vibrant this morning. I was sure they hadn't been as healthy last night when I left. But today their leaves were silky and smooth, unblemished and verdant. The whole place looked full of life.

Except for Sonya, whose eyes expanded to the size of saucers as soon as they met mine.

"Where the hell have you been?" she hissed under her breath as I approached.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I'm late, I'll tell you all about it later, when we're not so busy." The place was packed, and with lunch just around the corner, everyone would be wanting a flat-bread or focaccia loaf with salad and cold cuts and some decadent home made sauce.

"Late!" she spluttered. "That's a bit of an understatement. You're not just late, you're..."

But I waved her away as a customer approached and set about making a little slice of heaven for their lunch. Sonya watched me like a hawk for the duration of the lunchtime rush, but thankfully didn't get a chance to wring me out. I knew I deserved it. They'd been left to open and prep on their own, and they'd only ever had to do that when I was sick. And I always warned them, I never simply didn't turn up. But I was sure she'd understand as soon as I got an opportunity to explain.

Lunch rush zoomed by and before I knew it, Marcus and Alice were able to hold the fort, so I walked out the rear of the shop to face an extremely irate Sonya. I brushed my fingers over the leaves of the pot plants that lined the back of the shop, somehow feeling braver for the action, even if what I was about to admit would sound really lame. Who falls into a pit and gets buried alive whilst jogging through a park?

"Hey," I said, rounding to face her as we made it to the kitchen out back. "I'm sorry I'm late, but there is a perfectly decent explanation, if you'll just hear me out."

"You didn't call. You didn't leave a message. You simply didn't turn up," Sonya said, sounding more serious than I had ever heard her before. Her face was set as hard as stone, the water bottle in her hand was crushed under her fisted palm. Her pale blue eyes blazed with ire, and her rosebud lips were pressed in a thin line. I'd never seen Sonya this angry before, and for a moment I lost the ability to speak.

I reached out and thumbed the leaf of a potted palm off to my side nervously. God knows why I have so many plants in the store, even here out the back, where we bake the bread, I had a little green corner by my work desk. The smooth leaf sifting through my fingers calmed me down and allowed me to find my voice again.

"I fell into a ditch on my run. It must have knocked me out for a time and when I woke up the sun was higher in the sky," I admitted with chagrin.

Sonya stared at me for several long seconds, a shocked look on her face. Then through gritted teeth she said, "You were knocked out for two days?"

I stared back at her, speech impossible right then. She had to be wrong. Two days?

"What day is it?" I asked eventually, through numbed lips.

"Thursday," she replied, the look of anger turning to something else. Concern.

I shook my head and slumped onto my desk chair, my face landing into my cupped palms. It couldn't be Thursday. I couldn't have been in that ditch since my run on Tuesday morning. No way.

"You're kidding right?" I said in a croak.

"Oh, hell, Casey. What the devil have you been up to? Everyone has been so worried. The staff, your brother. Even Theo was asking where you had gone."

"Theo asked where I was?" Of course I'd home in on that little bit of gossip. I'd been flirting with the adorable, very fine looking Theo Peters for almost a year. He was the one man I could actually use my feminine wiles on. Or at least attempt to. I'm not sure he'd been that affected by my unskilled flirting talents, or just humouring me. But either way, since Theo started getting his afternoon snack in my deli, life had taken on a new sense of fun.

"Yes, even Theo. He was concerned as much as us." Sonya flicked her glance to a wall clock in the corner. "And he should be here any minute to ask again. So, honestly, you're going with passed out in a ditch in the Rose Gardens? Is that the best you've got?"

She started chewing on a strand of her long blonde hair, a habit I had unsuccessfully been trying to wean her from. It does not look good in a delicatessen having the staff gnaw on their hair. Dusky blonde locks or not.

"Stop that!" I reprimanded and watched in utter shock as the branch on the potted palm next to her swatted at Sonya's hand. She let out a choked, strangled sound, then reached forward to grasp the base of the pot as though she thought the movement meant it was about to fall off its stand. With two hands and a frown line marring her usually smooth forehead, she shoved the pot back a few centimetres, despite it not needing to be moved at all, and then dusted her palms off on her jeans.

I was so stunned that she hadn't realised that the plant had actually swatted her, that I stood up too quickly. And consequently made the chair tumble over backwards crashing into a tower of baking trays, which all clattered to the ground in a thundering crash.

Sonya yelped. I shushed her. Then we both started snapping at each other as adrenaline flowed.

A noise came from the front of shop interrupting our little sniping match, then pushing through the swinging kitchen doors, into the chaos and raised voices, stood Theo. Staring at Sonya who was still yelping and now swearing something unspeakable about bossy employers and even bossier best friends, and then his gaze turned to me, as I bent over trying frantically to right the baking trays with little success.

But at the sight of Theo Peters - made to measure suit, red silk tie and stunning hazel eyes - I promptly dropped the lot of them. The clang of metal on tile rang out and Sonya screamed in surprise. Then promptly stormed from the kitchen with a look of thunder on her face directed at me. I huffed out a breath at Sonya's inability to handle loud and disruptive situations at the best of times, and tried to ignore Theo's piercing gaze.

"Let me help you with that, Cassandra," he said in that deep, velvet voice of his.

For some reason Theo always calls me Cassandra. I don't know why, but he does. And although I should be annoyed by it, I am endeared. My reaction makes no sense at all. Maybe it's his slight Greek accent; Cassandra rolling off those lush red lips not only sounds seductive, it somehow connects right to that hidden spot between my legs. Every time he calls me Cassandra, I threaten to pool in a puddle of longing and desire at his feet.

"Don't be silly," I chided. "You're a customer, you shouldn't even be back here."

I started stacking the trays haphazardly, tempting fate as they would surely topple again. Theo reached over my shoulder and straightened them, his proximity almost too much. I slipped out from under his arm and placed several steps between us. It was one thing to verbally spar with the man, but anything physical still made my legs turn to jelly.

I stared up at him for a moment, enjoying the fact that he wasn't watching me, but instead concentrating on his task. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He simply stole my breath. Thick black hair, cut a little too long for fashion, but somehow setting a trend of its own. Tall, at well over six feet, with broad shoulders and long legs. His clothing, whether dressed for work in his expensive suits, or just in casual weekend wear, was bespoke. Definitely from High Street, or Smith and Caughey's on Queen. If I could afford it, I'd shop there.

His eyes were a mesmerising hazel, hints of jade and amber in amongst a deeper brown. He had a strong, firm jawline, with cheeks that cut sharp lines across his face. His lashes swept down to meet them, and I often found myself just staring at their length. There was a hollow at the base of his neck, that when dressed in a suit and tie I couldn't see. But on weekends, when he'd bless my store with his presence, I saw it. I was staring at that hidden spot now, when his attention turned back to me.

"Where have you been, Oraia," he said softly, taking a step towards me. He'd called me that before too. I'd looked it up on-line. It was Greek for 'lovely'. An endearment he surely used on every girl in town.

"I had an accident," I admitted, reaching out to smooth a leaf on the potted palm that had just caused this ruckus. The branches seemed to sway towards me and for a moment all I could do was suck in air. It was calming to touch them, but to see them move in a way that was not possibly natural, made me hold my breath.

I glanced up at Theo to see if he'd witnessed the unnaturally moving palm, but his eyes were on me. I watched as his face slowly turned completely white. That was saying something; Theo, being of Greek descent, had an all-year-round tan. Those beautiful eyes also widened for a moment and then he sucked in his own breath of air, muttering something under his breath that decidedly sounded like a swear word. But I couldn't be sure; I think it was Greek.

His gaze ran over my entire body, but unlike before when heat had pooled deep down inside whenever he'd done that same move, a chill of dread followed the path where his gaze landed. And when his eyes came up to mine they flashed. Actually flashed a different colour. And not any colour I'd seen on anyone ever before. But gold. His hazel eyes flashed gold; pure, brilliant, shining yellow-gold.

He shook his head once, hands fisted at his sides, and then spun on his heel and stormed through the door to the front of the shop. I followed hurriedly behind him, wanting to ask him what was wrong. But by the time I made it to the footpath, he was gone.

And all that met me was a wash of heat across my body, as though a fire had flared and I'd stepped too close. I jumped back inside the doors to my deli, seeking refuge automatically amongst the plants.

Something had upset Theo and I had a sinking feeling it wasn't anything that I'd like.

Chapter Two

Singing A Lament On The Still Night Air

"What do you mean he simply frowned and walked away? Didn't he say anything?" Sonya asked, grabbing another slice of pizza off the coffee table beside us.

After Theo left in such a hurry, the rest of the afternoon seemed to drag. Sonya kept staring at me with sad eyes, understanding the hurt I had felt at Theo's rejection, which even now I admitted I did not fully comprehend. Why had he been so angry? Because that's what I had felt, a boiling pit of anger bubbling up from deep down inside the man. What the hell had I said or done?

"I don't know," I admitted, trying to swallow the bite of pizza in my mouth. It tasted delicious, but for some reason my stomach churned at the thought of eating it. Finally I put the half eaten slice back in the box and leaned back on my side of the couch. My hand automatically sought out the plant at my side, fingers running softly over smooth leaves. "He didn't say a word."

"Maybe he had an appointment and he only just remembered it?" Sonya asked, shovelling another mouthful of Super Supreme in her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.

"Lame, Sonya, and you know it," I pointed out, then had a thought. "I don't suppose you saw his eyes?" Memory of that gold flash he'd displayed in the kitchen swamped me. A vibrant unnatural eye colour which hadn't dimmed when he walked back out the swing doors to the front of shop. Sonya had been watching us both intensely when we emerged. She had to have seen it too.

"What about them? Sexy, melty, delish?" she replied with a wink, then added, "or intriguing hazel with lengthy lashes that should not exist on a man?"

I stared at her for a long suspended moment. A strange sense of dread pooling in my gut.

"You must have missed it, but they changed colour. Flashed this unusual" - but alluring - "gold."

Sonya snorted into her cola. "Yeah, right. They looked angry when I saw him come out from your little convo. But they were definitely just brownish, greenish, you know, hazel."

I took in a deep breath and sank further into my seat, feeling slightly defeated and a whole lot stunned. They were gold, weren't they? Maybe I was wrong.

No. I know what I saw and Theo Peter's eyes flashed gold.

I shook my head.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Sonya asked softly. "You really think they flashed... gold?"

I nodded, worry making the pizza I had eaten sit like a lead brick at the bottom of my stomach.

"Trick of the light?" she offered, and I smiled despite my unease. Sonya trying to be supportive, trying to make sense of something that was rapidly sounding crazy.

"Had to have been," I said with a forced shrug of my shoulders. "Or I was seeing things from the bang to my head at the Rose Gardens."

"Have you got a lump anywhere?" Sonya asked, returning to her pizza and following it up with a loud guzzle of cola.

I reached up and ran my hand through my hair, but nothing hurt and no lumps appeared beneath my fingers.

"Nah, but why else would I have been out for two days?" I shivered at the thought of having been buried for two days and not remembering it. I felt violated, but I had no recollection of the initial act, simply the after effects.

The plant next to me caught my attention again, I have no idea how, but I found myself smoothing down its silky leaves. Feeling the panic, that had begun to rise at thinking of my entombment, subside.

"Are you going to call the police?" Sonya asked, eyeing me tentatively.

I felt my face flush red at the embarrassment that admitting to the police that I'd fallen into a pit on my early morning run, would cause. I shook my head and bit the side of my mouth.

"What about getting a check up at the hospital?" Sonya asked, this time concern casting a shadow across her face. "Even if you don't think you hurt your head, something made you lose two days. What if..." She paused, clearly unsure how to proceed.

"What if what?" I asked, wanting her to say it and not me.

"Well, what if you were attacked and the attacker drugged you or something so you can't remember. They can do toxicology tests to see what drug was used. At least then you'd know you're not losing your mind."

I grimaced at her choice of words, because I had begun to wonder what the hell was up with me. No one loses two days like that without a reason. And yet I could find nothing wrong with my head, making a head injury an unlikely cause. So that logically left a drug, which would prove someone had done this to me. The alternative to those options was a brain tumour. In any case, there were tests I could take, and sitting around brooding and fearing the answer was not going to change a damn thing. I needed to know.

"OK, will you come with?" I sounded pathetic and I knew it, but Sonya had been my friend for over ten years now. She just nodded her head and grabbed the keys to her car off the coffee table.

The waiting time at the hospital was atrocious. Two and a half hours after arriving, several games of Snap! and countless comments about whining patients later, we were finally escorted into a cubicle. My mood didn't improve when I realised the palms from out in the waiting room hadn't made it in here.

Sonya settled into a blue vinyl chair humming a tuneless sound and flicking through a magazine she'd pilfered from the waiting room, while I perched on the edge of the over height bed.

Minutes ticked by painfully slowly.

I couldn't stand the tension in my shoulders any longer, so forced myself to lie out on the bed and tried to relax. The light above flickered hypnotically, and with a concerted effort to release the stress in my frame, I eventually found myself sinking into the starchy covers on the mattress, and staring mesmerised at the dancing light show overhead.

There was so much for my mind to get hung up on. So many questions, so many fears. But surprisingly that's not where my mind wandered to. And a part of me wasn't entirely too surprised to see the memory form behind my drooping eyelids.

"I was thinking the opera, or would you prefer a ballet? The Royal New Zealand Ballet are performing Swan Lake at The Civic Theatre. I've always liked Tchaikovsky. What do you say?"

This memory was my favourite, and only a week old. Of all the times Theo and I had conversed over the past twelve months, this one held the most promise.

Of course my mouth went so dry I couldn't even offer a reply.

"No? Oh well, maybe you would prefer something a little less formal, Oraia. Perhaps dinner would be better. Kermadec on Viaduct Quay? Do you like seafood?"

"I..." I licked my lips, trying to moisten my dry throat.

Theo inviting me out on a date. A date!

"Cassandra," Theo murmured, moving closer. So close I could feel the heat through his suit jacket. So close I could see the weave in the luxe cashmere wool.

The deli disappeared. The noise of the afternoon crowd vanished. I didn't think of Sonya and Alice watching this exchange from the counter. Nothing else registered but the determined and slightly hungry look in Theo's eyes. I blinked up at him, swaying slightly and sucked in a shaky breath of air.

"I'd like to get to know you better," he whispered in that deep, silky voice of his. "Take the chance, say yes."

And, much to my surprise, I did. We'd been about to embark on the next stage of our relationship. Flirting had finally progressed to the promise of much more.

My breath left me in a rush, making Sonya glance up from her magazine with a concerned look on her face.

"It won't be much longer, Case," she offered. "They're just busy."

"I guess the date's not going to happen now, is it?"

Sonya sucked in a long breath of air, but clearly kept up with my train of thought. "What makes you say that? He's obviously keen on you. I mean, hell Casey, the man's been flirting with you for a year. I saw how delighted he was when you finally accepted his invitation to dinner. That's not going to change because of some strange loss of memory and pit full of dirt episode. If anything, he'll be even more determined to look out for you. That man has been crazy about you since the second he walked through the deli door. No," she said with a determined air, "he'll come around. Mark my words, Casey Eden; Theo Peters is besotted with you. The date will still be on."

I wanted to believe her. God I did. But Theo's behaviour today left a dark pall over what had been an exciting change of dynamics in our relationship.

My head hurt. My heart hurt. And the world I knew wasn't the same anymore.

I felt set adrift, lost at sea, and prayed the answers to some of my troubles could be found at the end of a doctor's needle, or behind the mechanics of an x-ray machine.

It was with that daunting thought that a doctor arrived. Tall, thick black long hair, curvy figure and perfectly tanned skin, she looked like a supermodel.

"Hello," she said, in an accent I couldn't quite pin down. "I'm Doctor Peters. How can I help today?"

Sonya's eyebrows swept up at the doctor's name, a question on the tip of her tongue. I shook my head minutely. Even if the good doctor had the same tanned skin and dark haired features, she didn't look a bit like Theo. And Peters was a common enough name.

I hedged a little in my story telling, receiving more raised eyebrows from Sonya behind the doctor's back. But admitting I'd fallen into a pit on my run just sounded stupid, so I told her I'd lost my memory from the past two days and had woken this morning thinking it was Tuesday, not Thursday. I also mentioned I might have knocked my head in a fall, because I woke on the floor, not in bed. It was as close as I was going to get to the truth, but I felt it was enough for the doctor to carry out the appropriate examination.

She was, of course, suitably worried on my behalf and ran a battery of tests. Six hours later, though, I was none the wiser.

No injuries evident. No miscellaneous and unaccounted for drugs in my blood. Nothing on the MRI to indicate a brain tumour. In other words, the doctor was as stumped as us. I bit the inside of my mouth in a mixture of anger and fear. Why did this have to happen to me? And more importantly, who did it? Because there was no way I could accept I had simply fallen in that pit and gone to sleep. I was uninjured, even to the point that the thorns which had maliciously torn my skin, left not a single mark.

No knock to the head. No evidence of foul play. But I couldn't get past the feeling that something bad had happened. Something I had no part of other than being the victim in the end. And the way Theo had reacted, none of it made any sense.

I felt so very alone in that thought. Even though Sonya was with me and had stayed by my side the entire time, and the doctor was still in the cubicle giving soothing, yet useless platitudes to ease our minds. I was all alone. Because neither of them could possibly understand what I was feeling. I wasn't bruised, but I felt battered inside. Scared and lonely. I would never run through that Rose Garden again. And that just made me mad.

I clenched my fists in my lap and tasted blood on my tongue when my teeth broke the tender flesh on the inside of my mouth. It was salty and disgusting, but right then I didn't care. I was done with this place and I desperately wanted to just go home and curl up in bed.

I slipped off my perch and did up my jacket. As I turned to the doctor to thank her for her efforts, I was met with my second white face that day - from someone who was normally naturally tanned. Dr Peters looked shocked and a little frightened, if truth be told. She backed away from me as though I was a leper, but being a doctor I thought that analogy was all wrong. Hell, everything was all wrong right now. Nothing made sense and the woman before me trying frantically to get out of the tangle of curtains behind her, while keeping me in her sights, was currently the most wrong thing in my world right then.

Including the flash of gold that threaded through her eyes.

I blinked back at her in shock, watched as she battled her unseen demons and tore from the cubicle in a rush. The curtains smoking slightly, leaving a burnt material smell on the air that threatened to choke.

"What the fuck was that?" Sonya demanded, but all I could do was gape like a fish out of water, struggling to breathe. I shook my head, feeling my knees crumble slightly beneath me. My heart pounded painfully in my chest and I noticed my limbs were shaking. I'd just had a clean bill of health from a medical professional, yet I hadn't felt this ill in a very long time.

I swallowed down my visceral reaction and decided it was best to get away from Doctor Peters as fast as I could. She'd looked frightened when I first saw her pale, but when she parted those curtains and finally ran from the room, the feeling I got was no longer fear, but something else.

It didn't make any sense.

More questions than answers, that's what I had. And now it was close to one in the morning, I was simply exhausted, faintly ill, and totally confused and at a loss. What did I do now? Forget it all happened?

Impossible, I was thinking, but getting out of here was a good place to start.

Sonya dropped me off at my apartment and after a five minute conversation where I finally convinced her I'd be OK, I watched her drive off down Gladstone Road. As I turned from the road and started up my drive I smelled him. I hadn't realised that Theo had smelt like early morning sunshine and rosebuds in Spring. Underlying that scent was all man; spicy, alluring, sending a jolt of awareness straight to my core.

I spun around and tried to spot him, but only shadows and the odd creak of a tree branch could be seen and heard. I knew I wasn't mistaken. Not that I had ever identified Theo by smell before. But something inside me told me I was right. Theo was sunshine and rosebuds mixed with the scent of Mediterranean spice.

I slowed and stood very still, knowing instinctively that I was safe even though his appearance, suddenly like this, made my heart race and my mind scramble. But despite Theo's presence on my property making my head spin with fearful thoughts, my body continued to insist that the driveway was not a dangerous place to be; I was safe as it was bordered by gnarled old Rimu Trees and thick bushes with thorny stems.

I shook my head in bewilderment at those thoughts, a soft sound of bemusement seeping out between my lips. Bloody hell, I was turning into a freak. But freak or not, I was never one to back down from a direct challenge. I might be incredibly shy when it comes to flirtations with the opposite sex, by my gut told me Theo was not here to flirt, so my confidence was rock solid - something I was sure he would not expect.

"You might as well come out," I said loudly into the still night air. "I know you're there."

There was a pause of several seconds, filled only by a sudden gentle wind brushing the feathery branches in the Rimu Trees. I could have sworn they said he was standing beneath them, but I dismissed the notion as soon as it entered my head.

"Why not strike me where I stand?" came his familiar, deep, sexy voice.

Just what the hell was he playing at?

"I'm tired of your games, Theo. I've had a hell of a day."

His sharp bark of laughter rang out in the air. I don't think he was actually amused, just acting a part. A part designed to scare me. My hackles rose up my back.

"This is ridiculous. What has got in to you?" I demanded.

"I could say the same of you," he drawled, then added, "but I do not suspect this is a sudden change. Merely a slip in the mask you have so successfully worn until today."

He stepped forward out of the shadows, his body only a darker outline from the inky blackness cast by the Rimu Tree overhead. I couldn't see his face, but I could see his hand reach up and gently brush a few of the needle-like leaves on the tree. They made a tinkling sound, that was quite unnatural, as they floated to the ground at his feet.

"What are your intentions in our city?" he asked, not taking his eyes from the still delicately floating leaves at his side. He seemed fascinated, if not a little wary.

"What do you mean?" I asked, frowning into the gloom that surrounded him, knowing he could see me clearly, but I could not see him that well at all.

"Now, now, Casey." My eyes closed briefly at the fact he was using my given name and none of his nicknames for me. "I am giving you the benefit of the doubt. Why? I'm not sure, maybe nostalgia for all those luscious feedings you provided me."

I blinked at his strange phrasing. Feedings? Did he mean the deli sandwiches he purchased from my shop?

"You paid fair and square for those," I replied, unsure what else to say.

A flash of gold was all I saw from the shadows and then he was in front of my face, his hand wrapped around my throat. Although it was not tight, it did burn. I think my skin was blistering.

"You go too far, Gi," he whispered, hot breath against my cheek. He looked in pain. His eyes clouded, even though that strange gold made them seem so very unnatural. The look of agony on his face though, was very real. "Shall I show you how far I can go in turn?" He pulled my body flush against his and heat rolled through me. But not the blistering kind at my throat, this was entirely different and completely unwanted at that moment.

Not with his hand securely fastened at my neck.

"Wh..what are you doing?" I croaked, licking my lips automatically as my mouth had gone bone dry.

He groaned into the skin at the side of my face, it sounded as pained as he looked, and completely unintentional. A soft, heated brush of his lips next to my ear followed, and then he pulled back. Releasing his hold on my throat suddenly and watching on in what appeared stunned - and could that be mortified? - surprise, as I doubled over and whimpered when my fingers touched burnt flesh at my neck.

"What the fuck, Theo?" I demanded, standing straight again and giving him my best 'back off now, buster' look.

His eyes bore into mine, his breathing, I noticed, was rapid.

"The green is stunning," he said, bizarrely. "I had not thought I would prefer any colour than the blue. But it does suit you, Oraia."

Oh, man, he was going to give me whiplash at this rate. First cold and distant, then homicidal and brutal, followed by sexy and enchanting.

"What's got into you?" I whispered, my hand still at my throat, as I took a step backwards towards the safety of my flat.

"I do not like being lied to," he said simply. And I think quite truthfully. "I should take your head for this. Our rules demand it."

All breath left me at his shocking and confusing words. Take my head?

But still he looked to be in such agony at the confession. It didn't make any sense.

"Wh..what? Why?" I croaked my demand.

"Casey." He sighed, ran a hand through his thick black hair in frustration. Then lifted pleading hazel eyes to mine. "Please. Just leave before another of my Guard does what I cannot."

The breath I sucked in scorched my lungs, my hands started shaking at my throat. He meant it. Although he seemed unable to take my head - a sentence that sounded so foreign to my ears, yet rang with resounding truth from his tone - someone else would. His Guard. What did that mean? Were there more like him? Like the doctor?

Would Theo truly hurt me? I just didn't know. But the ache and longing I'd seen mixed on his face tonight, did not correspond with his threats. I was so lost, so confused. And I admit, starting to get a little angry. What the hell did he think he was saying? Doing?

My head was shaking back and forth, my face must have shown my bewilderment. I could feel myself frowning, my heart racing, my breaths now coming in short shallow pants.

"Theo?" was all I could manage to say.

His mouth opened, then closed. That agony of before doubled, he looked almost crippled by it now.

"Oraia," he whispered, taking a step backwards. "All I ever wanted was to protect you. But you tricked me." He made a strangled sound that was probably a laugh, even though it sounded too bitter to be one. "And still I want to protect you." He sounded disgusted at himself.

My hand left my aching neck and covered my mouth, as though that would hold the sob inside. It didn't. I could feel his pain, and that made no sense. He was threatening me, had bizarrely burned my neck, it should be my pain I felt, not his. But he looked devastated. Just as confused as me.

And I felt it all as though his emotions were mine.

"I don't understand," I murmured.

"Neither do I," he whispered back. And in the next instant he was gone from sight. But I could still smell him. And as I stood there shaking from head to toe, my neck stinging painfully and tears burning in my eyes, I heard his distant voice.

"Leave the city, Cassandra. Leave before another finds you instead of me."

Oh God. He was a lunatic, he truly believed someone would hurt me. He thought he was warning me. Protecting me. I felt sick to my stomach, and was sure that I was about to puke up pizza all over my front doorstep.

I rushed inside the flat, securely bolting every lock on the door and sank down onto my butt. My knees held tightly against my chest, my breath coming in ragged pants. The tears came as my body shook.

So alone.

So scared.

So confused.

Why was this happening? Did this have something to do with falling in that pit and losing two days? Or was I actually going mad? There were no answers whispered through the leaves of the plants inside my house, but I could hear all the Rimu Trees down the driveway creaking and groaning, singing a lament on the still night air.

And the dark entranceway I was sitting in...

...was bathed in an unnatural vibrant green light.

Chapter Three

It Was Completely Unfair

I stared at my eyes in the bathroom mirror for over an hour. They fluctuated between my normal dark blue, to a vibrant, unholy green. It took a good forty minutes for me to correlate the colour change to my mood or emotions at the time. But eventually I connected the otherworldly green, that shined as though lit by a light from behind, to my anger, panic, and the sheer depth of fear I was feeling.

Something was happening to me and I didn't understand it at all.

I sighed for the fiftieth time, but just continued to stare blindly at the state of my eyes. They were blue again - for now - but they no longer looked like mine. Even though I didn't have an explanation for what was happening, I did know that I had changed. Not just physically, but mentally. Psychologically. I was not the Casey Eden I once was.

I missed her already.

Feeling entirely too miserable about this change in my life, I wandered out into the lounge of my small apartment, taking in the many potted plants and immediately feeling soothed. I frowned at the closest plant, a Chinese Evergreen. I did feel better being near it, than I had in the bathroom where only one Maidenhair Fern hangs above the bath. Now I was standing right beside a pot plant on an occasional table next to the couch. And it felt nice. Good. Right.

I reached out and traced the tip of my finger down one of the leaves.

The plant shivered delicately with my touch.

I paused, glanced across the room to an Areca Palm then lifted my hand as though to beckon the branches towards me. The Areca waved back.

My eyebrows rose up under my fringe and I slowly turned around in a circle. As my gaze swept past each potted plant in the room they bowed. Literally bent over, shook their leaves out in acknowledgement, and then stood themselves back upright again. The delicate rustling of their foliage, as they made the unnatural movement, sent a shiver right down my spine.

This was so very, very wrong. This was not normal. I wanted to believe I was hallucinating, that the bang - or as the good doctor had said, no bang - to the head was to blame for what I thought I was seeing right now. But I am a practical person, I don't believe in out of body experiences. Just what my eyes tell me, that's all. It's always been a good philosophy to have. I wasn't so sure anymore.

What my eyes saw was unnatural. What my eyes saw could not be explained away in practical terms. What my eyes saw scared me to death. I was different than I was before. I was more. And more made no sense. I felt a little like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, any moment now I'd wake up and this would all be a hazy dream.

On that note, I decided to force my weary self to bed. I didn't have an answer to what was happening to me. There would be no miraculous explanation given this eve. And as I still had the shop to open tomorrow, getting sleep was my first priority. And despite bone-chilling, life-changing alterations to my make-up, despite Theo's strange threats, I would carry on. I certainly wasn't going to let a psycho stop me from living my life. And if Theo did turn up at the deli again, spouting off about someone potentially taking my head, well, I'd call the cops.

But even as I climbed numbly between the sheets I knew that Theo, despite appearances, was tied up in what had happened to me. He understood it, or at least recognised what I had become. None of it made sense, all of it threatened to consume me with panic. But part of me acknowledged that if Theo did turn up with more deathly threats, I'd face him and not run.

Because I needed answers to what had happened to me and for now, even though the doctor certainly proved there were more like Theo around, he was all I had. And he'd been... scared of me, threatened by my appearance. I saw it in those beautiful eyes of his, a wariness and shock that spoke volumes about the man. Whatever had blind-sided me, had absolutely thrown Theo Peters for a loop. And as bizarre as it sounded, despite the strange threats, a part of me still trusted Theo. Still believed he wanted to protect me and not do me any harm. Why else would he warn me of his Guard?

So, he was my best bet, I think. Maybe together we could work this all out and return me to what I used to be.

It was a loose thread to hang on to, but I was determined to cling to it for all I was worth.

I slept fitfully, unsurprisingly, but every time I woke with nightmares of my time buried in the dirt, the trees outside would rustle, the sounds of tinkling soothing to my nerves. As though they sang a lullaby, I'd roll over and let their music lull me back to sleep. I must have woken a half dozen times throughout the night, but finally found a deep sleep at some early hour before my alarm went off.

The dream coalesced around me; vibrant and alive, a real sense of this place I stood in existing. It was an unusual sensation. I knew I was asleep. I knew I was dreaming. But the dream was absolutely real.

Despite the fact that my dead grandfather stood several feet away, running his fingers over the leaves of a Moreton Bay Fig Tree. The exposed roots making a striking pattern in the early evening sun. Reds and golds and crimsons and oranges filtered through the bending boughs of the tree, onto the dips and curves and ridges of the finger-like roots that crawled over the surface of the earth beneath his feet.

He turned when I gasped, such a familiar and welcoming smile on his slightly aged face. My grandfather had been sixty when he'd died. Lost at sea while fishing one evening in his eleven foot dinghy. For some reason, he'd not been wearing his life-jacket, it had been discovered in his empty boat. A fact that I'd always found so hard to accept from a man who taught me everything I know about personal safety.

I drank in his features, surprised at how well my mind had reconstructed his handsome face. Even if I found it hard to remember how he looked or sounded when I thought back on our times together, my dream mind hadn't forgotten a thing. At sixty, he'd looked fifteen years younger. He swore it was diet and exercise, something he instilled in my brother from an early age. Mark had followed Gramps around everywhere.

His blond hair was flecked with patches of grey, his cheeks smoothed of stubble. His intelligent blue eyes searched mine, as his thick lips twitched into a grin. Amusement laced his features. Gramps had always been laughing about something, as though only he knew the joke that was life. Before he died, Mark had started laughing along with him. I'd always felt left out because of that. My brother knew what made my grandfather smile, but clearly Gramps had not felt that he could share the joke with me.

"Gramps?" I heard myself say aloud.

"Casey, sweetheart," he rumbled. So familiar. So grounding. So right. "It's about time you visited," he added, making me frown with confusion.

I glanced around the space we were in. It was an empty field, just blades of grass swaying in a soft wind, and the Moreton Bay Fig Tree. I didn't recognise it, but I'd always been fascinated by trees, and the Moreton Bay had featured in my childhood discoveries. Not to mention in a book on fauna and flora my grandfather had gifted me when I turned sixteen.

"Why are you here?" I asked at length.

"Because it's started, sweetheart," he replied reasonably.

"What's started?" I said, feeling my stomach contract with the certainty that this had something to do with the pit of dirt and the green that flashed in my eyes.

"Your Awakening," he said softly. "How old are you now?" he asked suddenly. "Twenty-three?"

I nodded.

"Hmm," he mused. "I would have thought sooner," - he shrugged his shoulders then - "but we were never certain what would trigger it. What's happened, Casey? Are you safe?"

Safe. Was I? I reached up distractedly to touch my neck where Theo had burned me, surprised to find the blisters gone. Had I dreamed that encounter? Was this reality and what happened with Theo the fantasy? I shook my head and stared at the ground for inspiration. The only answer it gave me was that my feet were bare and I was still dressed in my PJs.

I glanced back up at my grandfather. Understanding etched soft lines on his face. I had the distinct impression that he understood more of what was going on than I did. Maybe than I ever would.

"What's happening to me?" I demanded, vaguely aware I was interacting with the memory of a dead man and believing it was real.

"What calling manifested first?" he asked, not answering my question at all.

"What do you mean?"

He turned slightly to look at the Moreton Bay and then flicked amused eyes back towards me.

"You always did like trees. Even when you were so young. I'm not surprised it started with Earth."

I felt my head shaking back and forth on my shoulders, confusion embedding itself deep inside my mind. What the freaking hell was all of this? As far as dreams went, this one was surreal. It felt like I was actually here, that my grandfather was alive standing before me. But the topic made absolutely no sense to me at all. Surreal.

"Gramps," I started. "You're freaking me out. Is this real?"

"Of course it's real, sweetheart," he replied smoothly. "Can't you feel that it's real?"

I looked around the field we stood in, listened to the leaves rustling on the tree, the swish of the grass as it swayed together. Felt the tickle of each blade as it caressed my ankles, the dwindling heat of the setting sun. Saw the vibrancy and realism in the colours of the sunset. Smelt the crisp green aroma of cut grass. So potent I could almost taste it.

Dreams were never this real.

I nodded back towards him.

"Well then," he said with a chuckle, "that's the hard part over with. Now on to what's important right now."

"Which is?"

"Believe," he whispered. "Trust your instinct. If there is one thing I have taught you, remember this. Belief is a tangible thing, Casey. If there is a part of you that recognises the truth in a thing, believe in yourself. Trust that belief."

Well hell. That didn't help much, did it?

The dreamscape flickered slightly, Gramps wavered as though he was an image on an old cinema screen. A distant, incongruous sound echoed inside my mind. My grandfather took a step towards me.

"We won't see each other until the next Awakening, Casey," he said urgently. "I thought we'd have more time."

My head swung from side to side as I took in blurry distortions at various locations around the meadow. The Moreton Bay Fig seemed to shimmer slightly behind Gramps.

"Sweetheart," he murmured, bringing my focus back to the man who had shown such patience with my inquisitive mind and constant questions when I was young. "When you wake up, remember that this is real. This is happening. You are special, Casey. Important to us all. Keep safe. Hone your skills and one day we will meet again."

The pain at those impossible words tore through me, just as the dream was torn apart.

I woke panting, sweating and in that moment, slightly delirious. My alarm blaring on the night-stand, matching the echoing sound from my dream mind. I felt exhausted, battered and bruised all over again. My body ached, my mind was sluggish and my heart was too weary by far.

But that dream felt real. So real that I staggered out of bed and collapsed to my knees next to my bookshelf. My blurry gaze taking in the shapes and sizes and titles of the many books my grandfather had gifted me over the years. Weather Patterns And The Power Of The Wind. Coastal Beaches And The Turning Of Tides. Heat And The Properties Of Fire. Space And The Bending Of Time. Until my shaking fingers landed on Flora And Fauna Throughout The World.

I sat stunned, looking at the spine on the book that I knew featured the Moreton Bay Fig Tree. It was just a dream. I knew that. But the certainty that it was also real, that I had just had a conversation with my dead grandfather, had me reaching out despite the knowledge that I'd just woken from a powerful fantasy, and grasping the book in a trembling hand.

The pages fell open to the exact right one. The very same Moreton Bay Fig Tree in the middle of a meadow of waving grass stalks stared back at me from a two page picture spread.

"Holy freaking hell," I muttered, running my fingertip over the exposed roots in the photo.

"When you wake up, remember that this is real. This is happening."

I stood up on shaking legs and walked in a zombie-like fashion to my dresser. I knew what would greet me, but still a part of me hoped I was wrong.

Green. So vibrantly bright and mesmerising.

Yes, my dead dream grandfather was right. This was real. This was happening.

Fuck.

But despite life changing realisations, I had responsibilities still. I may have wanted to stand in front of my mirror all day and reason - or not - through everything that was happening to me. But I couldn't. The shop wouldn't open by itself, and I was determined that Sonya should not have to go there again so soon after my two days forced absence.

So, I made it into work before anyone else. I fired up the ovens and rolled out the pre-made dough. By the time Sonya made it in for prep, I was well ahead of schedule. I had a fire in my gut and ants in my pants. I couldn't stand still for long or thoughts of Theo's late night visit and confusing threats of his Guard taking my head would flash before my eyes. Compounded by the 'real' dream visit and conversation with dead-Gramps.

I was becoming a freak and there was no stopping it now.

Sonya knew something was up immediately.

"So, still feeling weird?" she asked, while she placed tomatoes through the slicer.

"What makes you say weird?" I replied, a little too abruptly.

"Because missing two days and not remembering why is weird?" she said as though seeking assent.

But I noticed, she didn't mention the obvious. The fact that I thought I saw Theo's eyes turn gold. She hadn't mentioned the doctor's eye colour change last night either, so I had to assume she hadn't seen it. And if not for the forty minutes in front of my mirror watching my own eyes change from blue to green and back, I would have begun to think I was seeing things. But there was no escaping that my eyes had changed colour. And therefore, I had seen Theo's and the doctor's turn gold, but Sonya did not.

What did that mean? Logic told me that Sonya was different from me. Different from Theo and Doctor Peters.

So what were we, if Sonya was normal?

"And as for Theo, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for that," she suggested, not waiting for my reply on why she thought I was weird. "He's probably just one of those moody and mysterious types of men. Gotta admit, it's a little sexy."

Mysterious, yes, but the guy had burned my neck until it blistered by touch alone last night. Hardly a candidate for the Sexiest Man Alive title. I frowned at the dough I was kneading, remembering his mortified look when he saw the marks on my neck. Remembering his confusion and agony, all of which I felt as though it was mine. I didn't voice any of those thoughts aloud though. Theo hadn't made any sense last night, but one thing he had been was a little scary, would he hurt Sonya if she knew too much about what he was?

"Theo Peters is a jerk," I announced suddenly, a knee jerk reaction to my fear for Sonya's life.

"Well he did act a little bizarrely, but maybe you just freaked him out, that's all," Sonya offered.

Oh, he'd been freaked out. The kind of freak out that said you-threaten-my-world-order.

But then, he had said he still wanted to protect me in my driveway last night. Maybe the freak out was a little worried-for-my-wellbeing too.

Confusion, thy name is Casey Eden.

The conversation took a more 'normal' turn then, much to my relief. And before we knew it, the shop doors were open and customers began to arrive.

The day progressed as any normal Friday did. No surprises, if you count the fact that Theo didn't turn up for his afternoon snack a foregone conclusion, everything followed its set path. As I locked up the store and stowed my keys in my jeans pocket, I almost believed it was all a dream. Almost. The plants whispering warnings of taking extra care as I passed them on the walk home made the veracity of the dream idea fail.

I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take. Everything was surreal. Everything was so wrong. I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders as I placed my key in the lock of my apartment door. Sonya wanted to go out on the town and take my mind off unnatural goings-on, but I just couldn't face it. It was impossible to pretend everything was normal. I just couldn't fake it anymore.

The only thought in my head as I let myself into my flat, was curling up on the couch, surrounded by my pot plants, and eating a tub of chocolate ice cream. It sounded like a solid plan.

One step inside my door and I knew my plans were shot.

The lounge room was destroyed. Cushions slashed and stuffing strewn all over the place, the couch tipped over, the TV shattered and in pieces on the floor. Letters and papers from my writing desk in the corner were haphazardly thrown about the floor, some scrunched up, some torn, most of it beyond repair. The kitchen looked about as bad as the rest of the place, glasses broken and shattered in piles on the linoleum, drawers pulled out and tipped upside down, spilling contents all over the floor.

But none of that mattered. Not a single vandalised piece of my possessions mattered. Because every plant in the house had been yanked from their pot and stomped upon. Shredded leaves and snapped branches, trodden into piles of soil on the carpet. The flat was destroyed, but replaceable. The plants were gone for good.

A sound so pained I didn't realise I'd made it slipped from my lips. Of all the things a burglar could do, harming my plants cut the deepest. But it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this wasn't an ordinary home invasion. Smeared across the cream walls in mud was a message.

Leave the city, Gi and you might live.

Stunned, I stared at the words for longer than reasonable. Was this written by the man who said he wanted to protect me?

No. I didn't accept that. Theo could have killed me last night, but even the thought of taking my head had left him reeling. In agony, distraught, devastated. Had it only been an act?

I wanted to believe Theo hadn't done this. Part of me said there was no way Theo could have done this. But I was so confused, so lost, so out of my depth here. Not only was I doing strange, unnatural, inexplicable things. Not only was I changing in ways that made absolutely no sense at all; green eyes, soothing plants, a connection I had never noticed between them and me. But I was also fighting to understand Theo.

To understand this.

Had Theo done this? Destroyed my flat, my possessions? My plants?

If not him, who else? His Guard?

Fear skittered along my spine and left icy pinpricks in its place.

I was panting through the disbelief and pain. And without an answer, it shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. But I couldn't be sure Theo hadn't done this. I couldn't rule out the possibility, even though his words of protection kept repeating in my mind. Faced with a threat similar to what he had given last night, I didn't have enough faith to believe.

Belief is tangible, measurable. To truly believe is to encompass that which trusts. To truly believe you become one with the belief itself. Nothing short of irrefutable proof can break that promise.

I stared at the mud plastered wall, at the letters of the words written, as a warning, in my lounge. Was this evidence that Theo was not the promise I had thought him once? Did this break that trust, shatter it beyond belief?

"And still I want to protect you."

It was probably the betrayal of trust that stirred something new inside of me. Where was this coming from? The old Casey would have run a mile from this, but some instinct suddenly bursting to life within me was saying - no demanding - I meet this challenge head on. I face down my enemy and make him pay.

What if Theo had shattered his promise this night, broken my trust?

I had to know the truth.

I'm not a commando. I haven't even taken Karate lessons or any other self defence class. I wouldn't know how to throw a punch or pull the trigger on a gun. I bake bread. I make sandwiches. And I have a green thumb. But I am not entirely stupid. I may not know what the hell is going on with me, but I saw how those Rimus down the driveway acted on just a simple, nonsensical thought.

I'd wanted them to intimidate Theo, so I'd made them tinkle in a non-existent wind. He'd hardly been intimidated, simply amused. But the trees had acted on my command. Could I get them to do more?

I quickly changed out of my work clothes, noticing my wardrobe had not been missed in the mud-messenger's pursuit to threaten. All I had left to wear was my gym gear, in a bag hidden at the back of my closet; black yoga pants, black zip-up hoodie and black running shoes. If I'd had black camouflage paint, I would have used it. As it was, I had to force myself not to smear the dirt off the floor on my cheeks. I was going in by stealth, but I wasn't going to be stereotypical about it.

I contemplated grabbing a knife from the chopping board, but one thing my grandfather had always told me growing up; whatever weapon you use to defend yourself, be prepared for it to be used against you. I didn't fancy being stabbed in the gut. So I walked unarmed out of the flat.

When I came out onto the driveway I heard the trees sigh out a hello. It had been easy to ignore it at first. To pretend I was hearing things. To pretend my world had the same parameters as before. But it didn't, and I knew this now. So when they whispered, the coast is clear, welcome to the night, I listened. I heard. I stood still and acknowledged what they said.

But it sure as hell freaked me out.

A trembling started up in my arms and soon engulfed my entire body. It took everything in me not to turn around and go back through the door to my home. But how safe would I be in there? Someone had already demolished it. He could come back and finish the job off once and for all. I didn't want to do this. I wasn't sure I had it in me to confront Theo. But I knew a corner when I'd been backed into it. And I damn well was not going to leave town because some bastard smeared the demand in mud on my walls.

I needed answers. I needed to know the truth. Theo could provide both.

Sucking in a deep breath, I approached the closest Rimu Tree. I wasn't sure how to talk to it. Say the words aloud? When I heard the plants whisper, it was on the air, but also in my mind. As though they could speak directly to me.

I shrugged my shoulders, took a deep breath, and thought, can you help me?

Nothing.

I moved closer and laid my hand on the Rimu's roughened trunk. The sense of peace and harmony I felt at that simple motion almost brought me to my knees. I stifled a sob, the sensation of wellbeing too much to comprehend.

"What are you?" I whispered.

Yours, the tree answered on the wind and in my mind.

Fuck this was freaky. But I didn't miss that the tree had heard my spoken words.

"Can you help me?" I asked, feeling a little stupid talking to a tree. Even if the Prince of Wales talks to his plants, I've never done it before now.

What do you need? The tree whisper-thought.

"I need to know if it comes to fighting him, can I count on you to help me win?"

Easy, the tree breathed. We are yours to command.

OK. Good to know. Still freaky.

I flexed my fingers and willed my heartbeat to slow. It might have been comforting touching the tree's bark, but my heart refused to calm. I took another deep breath, in an effort to chill, and so many scents assailed my nose. Oh dear God, it was so invigorating. And soothing. And simply divine. Who would have thought Auckland City at night could smell so damn good?

My sense of smell had altered. Along with me. Plant whisperer and freaky-deaky hound dog as well.

I licked my lips and blinked to clear my turbulent thoughts. "Where is he?" I asked and felt the tree respond, but not directly to me.

A surge of something strangely ancient washed over me as whispers in a language that made no sense filled my mind. Answers echoed from far away, bounced off one tree, then ricocheted off another, until my tree shook its branches out and sighed.

Mountain Road. We will guide you. The trees on his property await, Athanatos.

I had no idea what Athanatos meant, but I liked the sound of the rest of it. Mountain Road was in Epsom. Too far away to walk, but taxi's trawled Parnell Road all the time. I headed off at a trot, after patting the tree to give thanks, and waved the first taxi I could see down. Within minutes I was being dropped off at the corner of Mountain and Owens Roads. The moment the taxi took off, I stepped onto the grass verge and rested my hand against the bark of a small flowering Cherry Tree.

Number 119, the Cherry Tree whispered. I muttered a "thanks" and took off quickly, keeping myself close to the trees, so they could warn of anyone's approach.

I knew which house it would be before I reached it. Many times I'd driven past and wondered, who lived behind those wrought iron gates? Who lived up that winding gravel drive? Who required such tall trees for privacy, cameras topping each side of the plinths that held the automatic gates? I had my answer now. Theo Peters. And to think, he'd crossed town to buy lunch at my deli. I should have felt privileged.

I didn't.

I stopped just down the street, across the road in the shadow of a group of Cabbage Trees. And watched my destination for a few silent moments. Getting in undetected would be damn near impossible.

Not impossible, the Cabbage Tree closest to me whispered. Far north corner, away from the gate.

Freaky no longer covered it.

I walked down the street until I was just past the far north corner, well out of sight of the security cameras at the gate. Not having any idea of what would happen when I got there, I decided to just keep going and not stop to think. Thinking was not going to aid me in any of this. If I started thinking, freaky would seem tame.

As soon as I came to rest beneath a Norfolk Pine at the corner of the property, I got my first sight of what really lay within. I sucked in a shocked breath of air. Theo had every type of plant and tree imaginable on his property. Jealousy didn't even cover what I felt, but even that emotion was smothered quickly by rage. Why would he destroy my plants when he obviously enjoyed having nature around himself as well?

I shook my head, dumbfounded, and then tried to figure out how to climb over the fence. It looked impenetrable. With nasty spikes dotted along the top of each wrought iron post. No pain, no gain. I grasped one of the iron railings, brushing my fingers against some of the leaves of the Norfolk Pine. It shivered, as though being woken up, and then slowly one of its thick branches bent down towards me in a fashion that should not have physically been possible.

It creaked and groaned and I thought it might just set off alarms inside the perimeter fence, but nothing happened, except I now had a way to clamber over to the other side. I snorted in disbelief, but didn't waste any time taking advantage of the opportunity.

As soon as I climbed a way up the branch, it moved. Making me collapse along the length of it and grip its circumference tightly with my arms and legs. Then with a finesse that was not mine, I slipped from the end of the branch and landed in a crouch on the other side of the fence. The tree creaked back to its former position.

He is inside, he is aware you are here, the tree whispered.

"Well, thanks," I said a little sarcastically. What use was a network of spying trees if they couldn't get me on the property undetected? I might as well have hit the buzzer at the gate.

He is attuned to you, the tree defended itself. We were not aware you were his Thisavros.

His what? And it hadn't failed to register with me that the trees were easily reading my thoughts. Why hadn't they before, back at my home? I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that I now believed. Doubt had still festered in my mind when I first thought my question at the Rimu Tree. I had no doubt now that the trees and I could communicate. What I doubted was my plan to confront Theo Peters.

Well, here goes nothing. I was here. He knew I was here. I might as well come out guns blazing.

Or come out trees blazing.

"Those plants closest to the building, please get his attention," I instructed, taking off at a run towards where the trees all pointed, and had to be the location of the house itself. They parted as I ran, herding me in the right direction. Without their guidance I would have gotten lost, so thick was the foliage. It was a veritable forest here. I kind of loved it.

After several seconds I heard the noise. Tree branches creaking, setting a beat that the tinkling of the leaves accompanied. A musical of nature, none ever before seen nor heard by man. It was magnificent. It was magical. It was so freaking unreal I kept shaking my head.

Lights blazed from every window of the three storey brick mansion. Lit up like a Christmas tree, but I wasn't fooled by its festive façade. Did a monster live within those walls? Prepared to kill me? Who had killed my potted plants?

I came to rest beneath the tree-line that bordered Theo's house and realised there was a rather large flaw to my plan. No tree or plant came within twenty feet of the building. And it wasn't surrounded by grass, but paving stones and gravel instead. It stood in a moat of concrete and stone, not a plant in sight. Well damn. I could hardly use pavers against the man. What now?

Theo slowly walked down the steps at the side of the house where I stood, looking composed, dressed in his suit still. Looking too bloody good, it was completely unfair. I reached out and wrapped my hand around the leaves of the closest tree, seeking courage and comfort, and maybe a hint of an idea of what I should do next.

The plant was silent. I guess my network of spies was fresh out of ideas too.

"You trespass, Gi," Theo said in that silky, accented voice of his. I felt it wrap around me, fill me with warmth, set my blood alight.

I gritted my teeth, felt the branch I was holding wind around my wrist... and then stab me with a thorn on its side.

I gasped, trying to hide my painful reaction, and watched as a drop of my blood slipped down the side of my arm and fell to the soil at my feet.

And then all hell broke loose.

Chapter Four

Oh Dear God, A Mad Scientist's Lab Flashed Before My Eyes

The gravel began to rattle where it lay, the concrete paving blocks shuddered from an unseen force. The ground made a deeply horrific groaning sound, the trees joined in, turning the miscellaneous sounds into a cacophony of unnatural noise. Some plants creaked and moaned, some leaves shattered the night air with high pitched tinkling sounds. And the earth beneath the concrete that surrounded, protected, Theo and his house, heaved.

He lost his footing, landing on his side in an undignified heap. And swore a litany of unspeakable words in Greek. I ran at him. No freaking idea what I would do, but the ground continued to move in a jerking wave that unsettled him, but somehow aided my footing, so I just kept going. I would wing it, but the bastard would pay for hurting my plants and being a git to me.

I leapt on his back and kicked and scratched and punched - ineffectually - all the while we rolled around and bucked with the movement of the earth.

"Are you mental?" he yelled in my face.

"Murderer," I shouted back and kneed him between the legs.

More Greek swear words. It was impressive.

And then a wall of fire erupted from nowhere and headed towards the line of trees.

"Call them off, Cassandra. Or the plants burn."

Holy freak. He caused the fire. Theo made fire from nothing and would barbecue the plants to get me to comply. I hated him. I really, truly did.

"Arsehole!" I spat, whacking him across the side of his head. His hand came up and grasped my wrist, the other wrist had been immobilised early on. He flipped us, somehow timing the motion to match a lull in the wave of pavement beneath us. So I landed with a thud, but was cushioned by a spring-like feeling that was impossible, in a normal world, to expect when being hurled at concrete.

"Oraia," he said between clenched teeth. "Call off your pets. Now!"

Stop! I thought and it miraculously worked. Theo's wall of fire dissipated immediately, making me think it took something out of him to sustain such an incomprehensible thing.

In the wake of such upheaval, both Theo and I were breathing heavily. In the silence that followed my mental command, it sounded so very, very loud.

"You are trespassing," he said in a way too reasonable voice.

"You killed my plants," I ground back at him. He frowned.

"What plants?"

I sucked in a slow breath, trying to get my heart to still so I could concentrate better. I searched his face for the lie. But all I saw was curiosity and a lingering sense of anger.

"My plants at home," I finally managed to whisper.

Something wasn't right here and part of me was already aching for it to be true. For Theo to not be the person who had destroyed my home.

But was he acting? I'd thought before it might have been an act. Was it now?

Oh dear God, I don't know how I would deal with the disappointment and pain if everything he'd ever done and said was a lie. Which made me realise that's exactly what he had been feeling too. Was he as scared as me of being let down?

His head tilted slightly to the side, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Your home," he said in a flat voice. Then immediately sucked in air. "Someone's been in your home? Already?"

I couldn't talk. I could hardly breathe. Please. Please let this be real. Please don't let it have been Theo.

"Casey," he said with a shake of his hands on my wrists to get me to focus. "Have you met any others like me?"

Like me. My mouth opened to answer him, but no words came out.

Was this the truth? It wasn't him? Could I dare hope?

I swallowed my fear and managed to murmur, "I did meet a doctor at the Emergency Room last night called Dr Peters."

Theo's face clouded briefly. I held my breath. "I see," he said, voice low and heavily accented. "Did she recognise you?"

Something in his tone told me this was the answer I'd been seeking. Dr Peters had recognised me, why else did her eyes flash gold and the curtains burn in her wake? I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek as I waited for his reply.

He let a long breath of air out. "Why have you not heeded my warning and left? Can you not see now, how important it was for you to escape while you still could? Xanthe's husband is in the Guard," he added, eyes deadly serious. "The next time it will be your head."

God, this was hopeless. I'd gotten what I wanted, an answer to who destroyed my flat, killed my plants. But instead of feeling relief, I was petrified. At least with Theo, I knew him. But the doctor's husband, a member of Theo's Guard, I did not know at all.

Fear skittered along my spine and I lost the ability to contain it.

"Casey?" Theo prompted, and something snapped inside.

"I'm getting a little sick of that threat," I replied, on a rush of frustrated air.

"I have your best interests at heart," he pointed out, but his jaw was set hard.

We stared at each other for a long moment. I was acutely aware he was still moulded above me; body to body, chest to chest. Hell, even our breaths were intermingling. But the sensations caused by his physical proximity had nothing on the gamut of emotions swilling inside me right then.

"I am not your enemy," I finally managed to say. It did come out much firmer than I had intended, but I was past caring how I sounded now. My body was tired, my head ached. I was about to break apart.

"What planet do you live on?" he scoffed, not helping my temper in the slightest and proving he was just as on edge as me; snapping back with equal rashness. "Since when has it been legal to enter another's territory without invitation or permission? We are well within our rights to respond with force."

"Whose permission do I need to live in my place of birth?" I demanded; the snapping had escalated into a snarl. "And who the hell are you to police this city?" That was almost shouted, the snapping was officially done; anger now fuelled every harshly spoken word.

Freaking hell, I was sick of this roller-coaster ride of confusing reactions to this man, to my life. One minute I'm desperately wanting him to be more than he appears, the next anger at his behaviour has taken root inside my mind. I was so weary of the confusion. I just wanted an answer to what I had become.

So, I started to struggle. Of course I did; it was the least sane thing to do. God knows what I thought I would achieve, but all the pent up rage and fear and confusion and incredulity at what was happening to me combined to make a boiling pit of desperation deep down inside. Like a wild, unthinking animal I lashed out.

In my efforts to get out of his grip, I writhed and bucked, threw my entire body into the battle, making my forehead come within an inch of his nose. He shifted at the last minute, avoiding a bloody scene. But the movement made his thigh slip between my legs. We both hesitated, surprised by the intimate contact. But then, with a cunning and calculated smirk on his lips he took advantage of our new position, and rubbed.

His eyes never left my face, looking for a reaction.

Thankfully, I was too pissed off to react.

He frowned and instantly a warmth rushed through me, melting all resistance and making me gasp out loud. I then, so embarrassingly, writhed beneath him in an entirely different fashion than before, seeking more friction, there.

He chuckled. I growled back. Fuck him!

"So, you are not immune to my charms," Theo purred, his voice deeper, rougher than before.

Within seconds the dynamic of our conversation had shifted and I had no hope of understanding how or why. No hope of fighting my reaction to this man. No hope of keeping up with the trajectory of our dialogue.

Theo breathed in languidly and shuddered above me as the air seeped out between his parted lips. I couldn't deny that it was the most sensual thing I had ever witnessed.

But I had no freaking idea what was going on.

The only thing that made any sense was the familiar feeling of confusion.

Suddenly thin vines crept up around our bodies. I hadn't consciously asked them to. I'd been severely unable to think clearly since that warmth invaded my body. Theo had his eyes closed, a look of utter bliss across his face. He didn't notice them at all.

I watched stunned as they wrapped around our bodies, then wrapped around his arms and legs.

His eyes flicked open. Gold washed my face.

"You are delicious," he breathed, still not registering his dire plight. The vines crept on further, ensnaring us both. I noticed a green tinge to his skin then. It wasn't his, it was all mine. "Beautiful," he husked. And despite my confusion, I was transfixed. "I like the green. I like that I can bring it out. You are so controlled, Casey. The green lets me know, I can breach that shield of yours. Make you feel. Give you passion. Light a fire deep inside."

Oh dear God. What was with this man? He infuriated me. Confounded me. And admittedly, totally turned me on. I wasn't sure which was winning right now, but it didn't matter. The vines were ready to announce their presence. Everything tightened. I watched as they shifted, stretched and gripped his muscles tight.

"Casey!" Theo shouted. "You little..." He didn't get to finish his statement, a vine wrapped around his face, like a rag over someone's mouth. A muffled sound came out with a decidedly angry gleam from his golden eyes. I think he might have threatened me with something. I was glad I couldn't make out the words.

But for once, I felt like I had the upper hand. I smiled up at him. Effected my best innocent look, and said, "It wasn't me."

A frustrated sound came out of the back of his throat, but I ignored it. "You and I need to have a little chat," I said, giving his body a small shove. The vines responded, lifting him up off my frame.

I instantly felt colder.

"Now I have your undivided attention and you can't interrupt," I said, and instantly the cold vanished, replaced by a fire deep inside, that heat I'd felt earlier washed through me again, making me moan before I could stop myself and reach out to brush my hand over his arm, his shoulder, his chest.

Then in the next second the fiery tingle vanished. Like a switch being flicked off.

Fuck!

"You did that?" I asked, amazed, turned on and freaking scared all at once.

His shoulders shrugged. His eyes held my gaze, a message clearly evident there. Theo could make me feel lust with just a simple thought. Like I could make the plants attack.

I sucked in a breath at that realisation, at the knowledge that I was well out of my depth. Holy freaking hell, what world did I now live in?

"Don't ever do that again," I scolded softly, somehow the conviction of my thoughts was not relayed in my tone.

Theo blinked once, slowly. Then maybe because he couldn't help himself, or maybe because he just didn't like being told what to do. Or, maybe because he'd heard in my voice what my words failed to portray. For whatever reason, a wash of molten heat shimmered through me, from head to toe.

My body responded, my back arched, lips parting on a sigh, fingers curling with the need to stroke flesh. It was sublime.

But it was not me.

"Stop it!" I said with force. The vines, thinking I was commanding them, suddenly unravelled.

And Theo landed in a hard splat on my chest.

Air was pushed from my lungs with a star-burst of light from behind my eyes. Theo rolled off me immediately. I was thinking for his own safety, not because he was concerned my stomach contents were about to come rushing out of my mouth. I groaned and rolled into a ball, looking up at him, as he stood several feet away. His eyes were darting around the concrete at his feet. I noticed he'd placed himself in the middle of an intact large paver. No chance of vines creeping up through that. I realised Theo Peters was indeed a little scared of me.

I cocked my head and stared at him. He looked a little rumpled, his suit not handling the earthquake and confinement of the vines too well. He had a scratch across one cheek and a rip in his trouser leg. His shoes were covered in dirt.

I had never seen him look so sexy before.

I cleared my throat and glanced away. But not before I caught his smug smile.

"What are you doing here, Cassandra? We are enemies," he pointed out, his voice though was soft. "You are in Pyrkagia territory without a pass. You must know the penalty is death." We were back at the beginning, it seemed. Full circle bringing us 'round to familiar death threats.

I sighed.

"I know nothing, Theo," I said with no small amount of frustration. "I woke up in a pit of dirt, having missed two days of my life. And walked into this mess."

He stared at me, clearly confused and disbelieving.

"You are one of the strongest Gi's I have ever encountered. The level of power you have at your command is reserved for elders. Do not lie to me, Oraia, I am..." he trailed off, the sentence unfinished. "I can tell," he said, rather weakly, instead.

"I'm not lying, Theo. I have no idea what you are. I haven't a clue what I have become. Just that you can make fire out of nothing, make me feel things that are so untrue," - and OK, so that was a lie, I did have feelings for Theo, but he didn't need to know that - "and you clearly want me to leave the city. I can talk to plants and make them do things, but obviously my control is not perfect, otherwise you'd still be hanging from vines."

"You are not an Alchemist. You are an Ekmetalleftis. An Athanatos," he concluded. I hadn't heard the first foreign word before, but the trees had whispered the second. And as to Alchemist, what the hell?

"I need your help," I whispered and watched his face shut down.

"You ask too much, Casey. Surely you know who I am. I would be within my rights to take your head. Right here. Right now."

"Please, Theo," I pleaded. "If you had any feelings for me over the past year, please help me figure this out."

He was kneeling beside me in an instant, his hand at my throat. There was no burning this time, and a part of me wanted to believe it was because he couldn't stand to see me hurt like that again. His response last night led me to think that, but could I truly believe it?

"You wish to rub in how easily you tricked me?" he growled low and soft. More threatening than if he had yelled. "For over a year I believed you to be human. I believed you to be someone you are not. You are good, Gi, why make the mistake of believing I care?"

At his hurtful words the vines wrapped around his wrists and arms immediately. He fought against them, struggled to remain at my throat. He almost won.

But with one last growl he was wrenched away. I blinked several times, sucked in much needed air, and when my eyes focused again Theo was standing in the middle of a pile of charred remains. The smell of burnt leaves assailed my nose. The sight of blackened twigs and patches of ash seared my brain. I stared at him, horrified. He'd burned the vines to a crisp to get out.

I staggered to my feet, planning on letting him have a piece of my mind. But I didn't last long, my body refused to obey my commands. My knees hit the concrete with a cringe-worthy thud.

"Crap," I muttered and frantically wiped away tears. I was just so tired of it all.

Theo watched on impassively, his face a staunch mask of blankness. The only evidence that he was affected by my sorry state was the tiniest glow of gold to eyes. Then he surprised me by saying softly, gently even, "You need to leave the city tonight, Casey. I find myself reluctant to watch idly as one of my Guard slices through your neck. Leave now and spare me that."

"Spare you that?" I asked with a choked incredulous snort.

"I am the one you have deceived," he pointed out reasonably. "You knew who you were toying with from the start. I would not have entertained you for so long, had I an inkling. I have every right to take your head."

I somehow managed to get to my feet on those last words, and advance on him before he could react. My finger thrust into his chest.

"You've already mentioned that little titbit. How about some originality? Like telling me what the fuck is happening to me! What am I?"

The trees started wailing, the branches thrashing around in the still night air. Loud creaks and moans, interspersed with the crystal-like shattering of the leaves as they agitatedly danced in the air. The earth rumbled beneath our feet, both off us losing our balance. Before we toppled over completely Theo grabbed me about the waist and leapt up on to the steps of the house. They buckled, he swore in Greek, and then he promptly threw me inside.

The door slamming behind him shut out some of the noise, but the earth was making plaster on the walls rain down. The house shifting on top of all that loose soil.

"If you destroy my house, Casey Eden, I will lock you in a concrete dungeon and feed off you for eternity. Fuck the rules! I will make you suffer my influence, I will make you beg for release. And I will never, ever let you near a plant again!" The last was roared, either in an effort to be overheard above the noises the house was now making, or just because he was fuming mad.

I cowered a little. I couldn't help it. He was impressive standing there; infuriated, beautiful. Unnaturally magnificent.

"Say please," I managed to whisper. God knows where this courage was coming from, but Theo seemed to bring out the worst - or best - in me.

Somehow he heard my strained voice through the incredibly loud noise though. He stared at me a moment, then shook his head from side to side.

"What the fuck are you?" he asked incredulously.

"That's what I'd like to know?" I threw back, but made the earth slow its movements to just a tremor. I wanted the reminder of what I could do present in this hallway we stood within.

"You really don't know?" he asked, but I think the question was rhetorical.

The earth settled once I saw he wasn't coating me in fire or doing anything else to indicate I was screwed right now. He just stared at me, as though I was a freak. A huff of a laugh came out of my mouth.

Yeah, I was a freak, but then so was he.

"What are we, Theo?" I asked.

He ran a hand down his face and then roughly through his hair. It was a move I had never seen the immaculate and controlled Theo Peters ever effect until recently.

"I don't know if I can believe you," he admitted eventually. "Athanatos are born, not created. And you would have known from an early age what you were and what you were capable of."

"I was born human," I offered and watched him suck in a sharp breath. "Now I'm not, huh?" I said, trying to sound upbeat about it, but drastically failing.

"If the Alchemists have found a way to replicate us finally, then we are doomed," he said under his breath.

"Who are the Alchemists?" I asked, but he ignored me and started pacing, clearly trying to think this all through. Good luck to him on that one. Thinking never did me a blind bit of good.

"I can't hide this sort of information from the Rigas for long, Oraia," he said, finally shifting his attention back to me. Hearing him use his familiar term of endearment gave me hope and made me hold my breath. So I couldn't ask who or what the Rigas was. "But if I tell him, he will surely order your immediate death or worse."

I found my voice on that last word.

"Worse?" My voice, unfortunately, was a squeak.

"He will want to study you, find out how they did it. Tell me now, Casey. Are you one of the Alchemists?"

"Would you believe me if I said no?" I asked, hopefully.

He shook his head. "You are right. I can't believe you, but I will not send you to his laboratory. I cannot bear the thought of you there."

Oh dear God, a mad scientist's lab flashed before my eyes. Just what my life needed.

"But we will have to convince him you are something else," Theo explained further and I got an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach at the look on his handsome face.

Whatever he'd decided, pleased him no end.

"And what exactly is that?" I whispered.

He raised an eyebrow, gave me a sexy-smug smile, and said, "Mine."

Chapter Five

It Completely And Utterly Undid Me

"And how is being yours going to help me?" I asked, after managing to break through my initial stunned reaction to his words. Theo may have said he wanted to protect me, but he also continually repeated his right to slice through my neck. And now he thinks I'd be OK with being his?

I thought the man was more intelligent than this.

"You are either our enemy, an ambassador from the Gi, or you belong to one of us," Theo explained. "You say you are not an enemy, I reserve judgement on that. But I will give you the benefit of the doubt for now. You are clearly not an ambassador, we have no ongoing relations with the Gi. Your presence has not been arranged nor was it expected. So," he said, obviously enjoying this little conversation. He was leaning against the wall opposite me, relaxed, poised, smirking slightly.

Whatever decision he had just made excited him. In fact, I could almost see his pleasure at this proposal increasing exponentially. Just what the hell was he playing at?

"In order to remain in the city and live," he concluded, "you must be of some worth to a Pyrkagia. You need a patron. I am he."

I stared at him, trying valiantly to take in everything he'd just said. It would be so easy to turn tail and run. To leave Auckland and this strange new world I'd been thrust into. To avoid that ever so slightly hungry look on this man's face. He was danger with a capital D. He could control fire, for crying out loud. How much more dangerous could he be? Apart from the fact he repeatedly threatened to chop off my head.

I'd have to be mental to consider this.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, I am not certifiable. I just don't like being bullied. I've worked hard for what I have. I was born in this city. No one was going to make me run, just because they were simply bigger, could control fire, and made me burn with the desire to jump their bones.

Besides, who else was going to give me the answers I needed? If I left Auckland, I wouldn't simply become human again. And who would I turn to for help then? As much as it pained me, confused me, and downright gave me heart palpitations to think of it, I needed Theo Peters. Unfortunately, more than he needed me.

I never did like entering a business relationship on the weaker side.

And of course, there was Theo's repeated promise of protection. Part of me was unwilling to trust it. He'd scared me last night, burned my throat. But his reaction to harming me was tangible. And when given the chance to blister my neck again tonight, he hadn't. My gut, my heart, told me he would protect me. My head warned I was too trusting and Theo Peters was not someone to trust. He wasn't even human.

But then, apparently, neither am I anymore.

An image of my dead grandfather standing beneath that Moreton Bay Fig Tree flashed through my mind. Yes, I was no longer human. And I needed to know what.

I stared at Theo now, tried to really see him. To look past the handsome façade, the powerful physique, the glittering promise in his eyes. I knew I was out of my depth here. I knew I had no one else to turn to. And I knew, so help me, that I wanted to see what that promise meant in Theo's eyes.

At my heart I am all woman. I have craved him for too long. And we'd been about to venture on to more, with the invitation to our first date. I could run from all the strange new scary things that were happening to me. I could run because of the threat from a bully for me to leave... or else. But could I run from him?

No.

The honesty in that statement made me blush bright red from tip to toe. Theo traced the progress of heat across my cheeks and down my throat with hungry eyes. Even now, even when he'd gone all alpha on me, there was that sensual promise in his gaze, on his face. In the way he leaned closer without even being aware he did so.

Could I trust that he would protect me because of the promise I saw in his eyes?

"What would you get out of this?" I asked, finally. Theo had remained patient, even as he'd eagerly devoured the reaction evident on my flushed skin with his eyes, while I battled to come to terms with reality, as it now was, according to him.

He smiled widely, the whites of his teeth standing out against his tanned skin. A predatory gleam settling in his eyes.

"It's really quite self explanatory, Cassandra," he said silkily. "You would be mine in every sense of the word."

I sucked in a slow breath and held his gold tinted gaze. I'd expected that, I'd come to the conclusion that Theo's promise would be carnal in nature. But hearing him state so openly that I would be his in every sense of the word, was a wake-up call.

I wanted to ask him to explain further, to give details, but I felt my inexperience would surely show at voicing those words. I'd never belonged to anyone. The only reference I had to go on, was visions of a slave in my head. But even though I was practically an innocent in regards to intimacy, I wasn't entirely naive. Theo looked like he was about to become the owner of a rare treasure, one he coveted, one he desired very much indeed. You don't look like that if your possession is just washing your laundry and darning your socks.

So, he still wanted the promise of more too.

A shiver shot down my spine at that conclusion. Could I actually do this?

Who was I kidding? I'd made the decision when I chose to confront him on his home turf.

"We put a time limit on it," I said, voice level and utterly controlled. I liked this new decisive Casey.

"A time limit? How quaint," he husked, suddenly appearing right in front of my face. "Sweet, sweet, Cassandra." He leaned in, his hot breath washing over the sensitive skin of my earlobe. "You won't want it to end once you are mine. You will beg me to keep you. You will be unable to imagine a life without me in it. You will do everything in your power to keep me happy, so I will not tire and throw you away. You will be mine in every sense of the word."

He pulled away, leaving me shaking and suddenly bereft of his warmth, and returned to his side of the hall. He was supremely amused at his effect over my body right then.

Oh, I think I truly hated him. I really freaking did.

But I wanted him even more.

"However," he said, pulling at the cuffs of one of his sleeves, then straightening his tie, "you need not fear. No doubt the Rigas will put a time limit on this little arrangement for us. He was never one to let me enjoy the spoils for very long."

Just what the hell did that mean?

"Who's the Rigas?" I asked, grabbing the first question that didn't show how out of my depth I actually was.

"The King of the Pyrkagia of course. You really don't know this, do you?" he asked sounding stunned. He was looking at me strangely, as though he'd suddenly seen the truth in my words on my face. I'm not sure what did it, but I was relieved he was seeing something that led him to believe I wasn't lying about all of this. How much good it would do me, remained to be seen.

"I've told you, Theo. Two days in a pit of dirt and I woke to this." I spread my arms out around me and made the house shudder by commanding the earth beneath its foundations to stir. It lasted a mere second, but Theo's delicately raised eyebrow let me know he was impressed.

"You have unreasonable control of your gifts," he admitted. "Why were you not born Pyrkagia?" he said, as though to himself. He shook his head and straightened from the wall.

Then proceeded to walk around my body. His gaze taking in every inch of me. From the skin tight yoga pants that hugged my thighs and rear, to the fitted hoodie which curved over my breasts. I suddenly wished I'd worn something else. I don't think Theo was of the same opinion.

But then again, maybe he was.

"This will not do, Oraia," he said shaking his head from side to side. "You cannot be presented to the Rigas in such an outfit. It would be a show of disrespect." Great, not only did I feel like I'd been ogled at, but now I felt woefully inadequate.

"But," Theo continued, still pacing around my body, "I have an idea." I bet he did.

I sighed, his eyes finally rose to my face, having been target locked on my rear, chest, hell, everywhere but there.

"Do we have an agreement, Gi?" he asked suddenly. "I stand between you and my King, for however long he allows it, in order for you to stay in the city unharmed."

Tense silence hung between us. I chewed on my bottom lip.

Stay. Go.

Stand up to the bullies. Leave with my tail between my legs.

Let Theo own me. Keep my independence but be utterly alone.

Find out what has happened to me. Stay in the dark and never know.

Trust that Theo would protect me. Never know what more with Theo Peters actually felt like.

It should have been an easy decision, but it was the hardest I'd made in my entire life. So many unknown variables, but the alternative was to always wonder, to live in fear due to my ignorance. And I couldn't deny I was inexplicably drawn to Theo. Always had been. From the moment he walked into my store, I had been lost.

It had crossed my mind that he'd influenced me this entire time, but never once had I seen that gold in his eyes until he'd seen my green.

God damn it, what did I do?

I wanted to know. About what I had become. About what this strange new world was that Theo lived in. About what I could do, who I could trust.

About what it would be like to belong to Theo Peters.

Dangerous, dangerous longings. It would be my downfall, I was sure. But there was a part of me that already knew, I couldn't imagine my life without this man in it. I didn't belong to him yet. But then a part of me already did.

"OK," I said. It sounded so small.

"Don't seem so unsure, Oraia. I treat my possessions well." Oh, and didn't that just make me rethink my decision.

"If you call me a possession again, I will tie you up with vines and do some serious damage."

Theo chuckled, a deep and delicious sound that went directly from his chest to my stomach, making butterflies scatter inside.

"Oh, Cassandra. You do please."

I bit back another retort. He'd only twist it to his perversions.

I watched as he pulled a slim cellphone from his jacket pocket. He swiped the screen, tapped out an instruction, and then held the phone to his ear.

"Nico!" he said when the call was answered. "I have a favour to ask. I need your tailor to come to my house with a selection of dresses suitable for an audience with the Rigas. Size," his eyes trailed over my my body, "four."

"Six," I muttered, reluctantly.

"Four," he repeated, giving me a purposeful look. Great, I was going to look like a hooker.

Theo chuckled. "Oh, you will meet her, my friend. I plan to have her on display as soon as possible." A pause, I couldn't make out what this Nico chap was saying, then Theo said, "She is delicious." The call disconnected.

"That sounded really creepy," I pointed out.

"I need them to believe I am so captivated with you, they will not doubt why I entertain a Gi." Oh, it was all an act. Creepy though it was, I had kind of liked it. Now I just felt flat.

I had to keep reminding myself that this was an arrangement. Theo had called it such. I needed to make sure I didn't forget that little fact. I needed something from him, for some reason he wanted to keep me around. But it should not be confused with anything more than curiosity and a passing desire on his part. I knew he found me intriguing, I knew he wanted me, but whether that meant anything to Theo Peters, or his kind, I had no way of knowing.

But my gut told me otherwise. Whatever Theo was, he could instil lust in his conquests. How one sided and disappointing that chase must be? How mundane and routine were his liaisons? But it proved I was nothing more than a plaything, no different from any he'd acquired in the past.

I would not forget that.

The house shook once, as though the earth beneath it agreed with that final conclusion.

"If you do that in the presence of the Rigas," Theo said reasonably, "he will be the one to take your head. Behave, Gi. Or you shall not see this night out."

"Are there rules, or etiquette, that I need to know about?" I said, suddenly feeling extremely nervous about meeting this King.

"The standard," Theo replied, starting to walk away. I stood still, unsure if I should follow him or not, but then he kept talking, so I scrambled to catch up and listen. "Curtsey on being announced. Do not speak unless spoken to. Call him, 'Your Majesty'. Never offer him your back. Be polite and show respect. You can surely manage that for a five minute audience."

"I've never been in the presence of a King," I admitted, as we began climbing the curved stairs in the centre of his house. My eyes darted from one beautiful piece of artwork to another. Sculptures, marble statues, fine paintings. It was too much for my mind to take in. I think the handrail was gold. I didn't want to tarnish it, so walked up the middle of the treads, my hands firmly at my sides.

"You have not met your own Rigas?" Theo asked, surprised. And then he huffed out a breath. "Of course, the two days in the pit thing. How could I forget?"

"You still don't believe me," I said quietly, as we entered what had to be the master bedroom. Oh, and here was that nervous feeling again.

I glanced around the room, to hide my ridiculous embarrassment from Theo. Luckily he was too busy pulling a new suit off a rack in an attached walk-in wardrobe. I scanned the little objets d'art, dotted here and there. The artwork in his most private space looked Greek. Paintings of white colonnaded structures. Gods in white flowing robes. It was beautiful and serene, the perfect accompaniment to restful slumber.

My eyes landed on his bed. I tried not to think it, but my nerves were well and truly in charge right now. How many women had he entertained in that bed? I shook my head, disgusted at myself. Get a freaking grip!

"It is an unbelievable story, Cassandra," Theo said, answering my statement of before. He was stripping his clothes off in the walk-in room, perfectly at ease to undress with me present. I turned my back and stared at the far wall, and heard him chuckle. Cursing my stupid inexperience I concentrated on one of the paintings, taking the few steps needed to bring me close enough to see the artist's name. I couldn't read it, the letters were from the Greek alphabet and made no sense at all.

"It's the truth, nonetheless," I said over my shoulder, catching a tantalising glimpse of a tanned muscular chest.

Torture. This was a slow kind of torture.

My attention returned swiftly to the picture. It was again a white colonnaded structure, but many people lounged over a wide set of sweeping steps. They were all dressed in white robes, but a mixture of men, women and children. The children were playing under the watchful eyes of the mothers. The fathers were deep in conversation, talking politics or war, who knew?

I turned around and came face to face with a fully clothed Theo.

"The Temple of Aetheros," Theo said, eyes on the painting, not on me. "It is a ruin now, but still sacred. Often our kind make pilgrimages there."

"Our kind?" Did he mean me as well, or just the Pyrkagia?

"Athanatos," he said, his eyes shifting to me. "It is the only place where disputes are ignored and peace reigns between us all."

"What is..." I didn't get to finish my question, just then the doorbell rang.

"Your dresses," Theo said, offering me his arm, like some old world gentleman.

I hesitantly took it. I may be inexperienced in this sort of thing, but I was betting most women would have looked twice at the gesture too. Sometimes Theo seemed very old indeed.

We walked down the stairs and found the tailor had let himself in. He was not alone. Two other men were with him. One about Theo's age, same dark looks, same tanned skin, same stunning hazel coloured eyes. The other had all the hallmarks of a Peters as well, but was much older and seemed more frail. He also wore what had to be a butler's uniform.

"Sir, your guests," the butler said, bowing and moving quietly from the hallway. I was stunned speechless. Theo had a servant. It seemed so unexpected, but strangely quite believable too.

"Theo, is this the lovely lady?" the man, who was not the tailor laden down with garment bags, said enthusiastically. "I can see the appeal. And the need for different attire." He beamed at me, a wide, welcoming smile, from a handsome face.

"Easy, Nico. Who said you could poke your nose in?" Theo replied, grasping the man's outstretched hand and slapping him on the shoulder familiarly. Nico did the reverse to him.

"And miss seeing your latest obsession first, I think not."

My eyebrows raised on those words. Latest obsession? I made a snorting sound, obviously incredulous in nature. Both men's eyes shifted to my face.

"She is intriguing," Theo said. "A little wild cat with claws." I gave Theo a pointed glare.

"Hmm, I can see the appeal," Nico replied, wickedly. "I'm afraid though, you may have bitten off more than you can chew with this one. She looks a little put-out."

"Nothing I can't handle, I assure you," Theo answered quickly.

"In your dreams," I muttered and watched as Nico burst out laughing, while Theo's eyebrow simply rose up his forehead.

"Oh she is amusing. I can't wait to see what your..."

"Yes, well," Theo interrupted, turning Nico and the tailor towards a side room, "we all know how he views my hobbies."

"Indeed," Nico said jovially. "By the way, are you remodelling your garden?"

Theo shifted his gaze to me, but answered Nico, "I was toying with something, it got a little out of hand."

My mouth opened to say the first thing on my mind and then Theo was in front of me, finger across my lips. He'd moved so quickly. I had no warning at all. His face leaned into my cheek, his lips rested on my ear, and he whispered one word, "Behave."

I wanted to bristle, I wanted to shove his big body back a step or two, but something in his tone made me stop. Nico seemed to know Theo well, maybe he was a good friend. But Theo was not as relaxed as he appeared. His one word warning sent a chill down my spine. I nodded, his cheek brushed mine with the movement, his body blocking our exchange from the rest of the room.

He pulled back, but not before laying one soft kiss on the corner of my mouth. It was nothing really. Just a brush of skin on skin. No different from his cheek running along my cheek as I nodded. But it felt entirely different. I could hardly breathe.

"Well, it looks bloody awful," Nico advised. "I'd fire your landscaper, if I were you."

"I intend to punish her well," Theo advised, crossing the room to the tailor. I just sucked in a timid breath of air. "What did you bring?"

The tailor went about setting the dresses on display. In all there were four. Beautiful, extravagant and nothing like I had ever worn before. The material alone would have cost a fortune, and there were swathes and swathes of the glorious stuff. But the workmanship on each dress was phenomenal; intricate stitching, hand sewn beading, crystals and gems in delightful patterns and whimsical swirls.

They were stunning.

I took an involuntary step towards them, never having been in the presence of such beauty and fine craftsmanship before. Theo watched me, an amused look on his face.

Then turned to the tailor and said, "We'll take them all."

I couldn't stop the gasp that sprang from my lips. Again every eye in the room turned to me.

"Oh, she is a delight," Nico said quietly. "We'll leave you to it, cousin. I feel we are intruding anyway."

Within moments we were alone. I heard their car start up out on the driveway, the gravel shift beneath its tyres as it pulled away. The entire time it took for that to occur, Theo just looked at me. And I was held trapped by the desire in his eyes.

It melted me.

It commanded me.

It completely and utterly undid me.

"I told you, Oraia," he whispered seductively. "I take care of what is mine."

Oh dear God, was this the most dangerous mistake I'd ever made?

Chapter Six

In A Storm Full Of Rage

I chose the green one. It called to me. It reminded me of the forest of trees out on Theo's front lawn. As soon as I slipped it on I knew I'd chosen well. It hugged my body like a second skin, the silk wrapping around my frame lovingly. I felt draped in delicate leaves right down to my ankles.

There were shoes to match. How the tailor had guessed my shoe size correctly, I don't know. But I also didn't care. I felt like a princess and for a brief moment in time, while I stared at myself in the full length mirror Theo had brought in, I forgot why I was here. I forgot what this all meant. I simply forgot.

I'm not normally a fanciful person, but I challenge anyone to don such an exquisite outfit and not lose their head. I think I lost mine a little. If it wasn't for the pale mauve Orchid in the corner of the room, waving its long stemmed head to get my attention, I may have spent longer staring at my reflection and forgetting myself.

My eyes got drawn to the plant's movement. I walked over, getting used to the heels on my feet, and reached out a hand. The flowers draped themselves across my palm. I inhaled deeply and let the scent of earth centre me again. Why was this happening?

You have come home, the Orchid whispered. We have been waiting, it added and then stroked the side of my forearm.

A throat clearing over my shoulder told me I was no longer alone. I turned slowly and met the golden eyes of Theo. They were completely devoid of hazel, entirely infused with that shining, bright yellow of gold.

I took a deep breath in and said, "You're glowing," waving my hand in the direction of his eyes.

"Because you look stunning communing with my plant." It was a compliment of sorts, I supposed. I would have preferred that he thought I looked stunning in the dress, but if the Orchid hadn't woken me up from the fairytale moment, his words certainly did.

This was an arrangement, nothing more.

"Time to leave?" I asked, walking as casually as I could manage across the floor toward him.

He shifted his body so he could watch every step I took. When I came abreast of him, I stopped and forced myself to look him in the eyes. The gold had vanished, it might as well have not been there at all. I wondered if I could ever turn off the magic that makes my eyes change colour as easily as he just did.

It helped to think like that. To remind myself I had much to learn and Theo Peters could teach me. I needed him, even as I tried to tell myself I didn't want him. I still needed him.

He offered me his arm again, this time taking it didn't feel so foreign. I was learning already it seemed.

Theo drove us to wherever it was we were going. It soon became obvious it was out Howick way, the Eastern suburbs. I was betting the Rigas had a house on the cliff overlooking the Tamaki Strait. Some of those places rivalled Malibu or Beverly Hills. I wasn't disappointed.

Guards stood at the gates and waved us through as soon as they got a look at Theo. They all bowed their heads in respect as we passed.

"Is everyone this courteous, or are you special?" I asked, just to fill the silence. I was thinking Theo's silence was because he was preparing himself to face the King, but unlike my terrifying reasons for preparation, his were probably just getting into the mindset to bow and scrape.

"A little of both," he replied, manoeuvring the car up the winding driveway until an enormous structure came into sight. "Welcome to Pyrgos, Gi," he said, as the car came to a stop in front of the impressive white steps.

The whole place reminded me of the artwork in Theo's home. Greek colonnades, white marble stonework and sweeping, wide steps. I could picture the inhabitants wearing white, flowing robes. I sincerely hoped they didn't. I was freaked enough as it was.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," I admitted, as another guard came to open my door.

"You're probably right, but he's already sensed your presence. To leave now would mean your death."

"To stay might as well," I pointed out, as the door swung open and the guard offered a hand to help me step out.

Theo rounded the car in a flash and took my arm from the guard's grip. The guard bowed, like those at the gate had, and stepped backward until he was several feet away. It was unusual seeing the never show your back rule in practise. They must use it for all dignitaries or guests, I supposed.

"Ah, but Cassandra, here I can at least attempt to protect that beautiful neck," Theo said, leaning in to whisper the words in my ear as we ascended the stairs. "Out there, you would be alone."

"So, the arrangement doesn't stand if I run now?" I asked, lifting the skirt of my dress so I wouldn't trip.

"The desire to do so, Oraia, would still exist. The possibility wouldn't however." I didn't understand what he was saying, and chanced a glance at his face. It was set hard. He had fortified himself for whatever lay ahead. It didn't calm me in the slightest, his preparedness. It made my heart rate escalate and small panting breaths escape clenched teeth.

The ornate double doors to the building were opened then and we stepped through to another world.

Marble everywhere, in all manner of creams, golds and whites. Palms and ferns, that soothed my soul and made it possible to breathe without panting. Statues and sculptures that made Theo's house seem ordinary. High moulded ceilings, enormous gold framed paintings. And the smell of the Mediterranean Sea.

Time seemed stalled here for some reason. A pocket out of the modern day world. But it could never be considered stagnant. This was vibrant, alive. Life. Pyrkagia life. It pulsed with it. I could actually feel its presence. My body flushed with heat, as I swayed on my feet and gripped Theo's arm tighter. His free hand came over and covered mine, a gesture to calm me, or warn me, I wasn't sure. Something very unnatural was enveloping me right then, it was all I could do not turn on my new heels and run.

It wasn't evil, it wasn't even wrong. It was just so jarring in its blatant attempt to get me to react, that I panicked. The pot plants around the room began to sway. Theo stiffened.

Luckily, the butler who approached didn't notice. "Welcome back, sir," he said. "The Rigas is in a meeting, but asked for you to wait in the parlour. He shouldn't be too long."

"Of course," Theo said, pulling me almost frantically from the hallway and into a side room. He shut the door in the butler's surprised face as soon as we crossed the threshold and then turned angry eyes on me. "Control yourself. He will sense your energy. He will know you are calling on your Stoicheio."

I nodded, too freaked out to question what the hell a Stoicheio was right then. I walked over to another nearby plant and wrapped my sweaty palm around its leaves.

Please, don't react to me here. Stay hidden, help me hide.

Theo made a growling sound behind me and then two strong hands on my shoulders tugged me back from the plant, but not before I heard its whispered compliance. My back met his broad chest and his angry instruction was breathed in my ear from behind.

"Behave."

"I can't get enough air," I complained, the panic not evaporating under his reprimand.

"Casey, you must," Theo insisted, turning me in his arms and lifting his hands to cup my face. His head ducked down to look me in the eye. I frantically tried to look away, too scared he would see me when he looked there. "Oraia," he whispered across my lips. "Look at me."

I shook my head, my eyes still averted. Theo swore in his customary Greek, then ran an all too tender hand across my jaw until he wrapped it around the back of my neck. He pulled me closer, lay a soft kiss on my forehead, and then pressed my cheek to his chest.

"Just breathe," he instructed. And held me until breathing was all I could do.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but it was long enough for the King to finish his meeting and storm into the room. We jumped apart, Theo as surprised as me, I think. Had he lost himself in that embrace too?

"What have you brought for me, Theodoros?" he boomed, his voice deeply accented and commanding. I wondered if they trained all Kings to sound like that from birth.

"Pateras," Theo said respectfully, bowing at the waist. I quickly curtseyed awkwardly. I think they both missed it entirely. I hoped they did anyway.

"Well, is this the trespassing Gi or not?" the Rigas demanded, walking over to a drinks trolley and pouring himself a glass full of Scotch. He grabbed a second glass and poured a couple of fingers in that, then turned and handed it to Theo.

I felt a part of me relax. How bad could it be, if the King was prepared to share a drink with Theo?

My eyes trailed over the Rigas' features. Again he looked related to Theo, but then every single one of the Pyrkagia I had met did too. Were they one big happy family?

"This is she," Theo said, nodding his thanks as he took the drink in his hand. "Compliant, as you can see."

I was too freaked to even contemplate the falseness of his words. I stood stock still, gaze cast to the floor, and watched the entire exchange from the corner of my eyes.

"I felt her Stoicheio before. Was she attacking one of my guards?"

I stopped breathing.

"I made the mistake of kissing her, Rigas," Theo boldly lied. "She cannot help her reaction to that." The last was said smugly. The King chuckled.

"You always did live life on the edge, Theo. Whatever possessed you to do that?"

"She intrigues me," Theo admitted and I watched, from my lowered lids, as the King straightened his back.

"Please don't tell me you have more than a passing interest in this creature," he said, his voice firm and harsh with disdain.

"I am sorry, Rigas, but I do." Theo didn't sound apologetic.

"Tell me why she is in our city unannounced and I may spare you the Bull."

The Bull? Theo sucked in a slow breath at the threat, which made no sense to me, but obviously was dire.

"She has been outcast from her Gi," Theo started, his fingers pressed so firmly into the glass he held, I thought it may shatter. "Wandered into our territory seeking asylum."

He hadn't warned me that this was the excuse he'd use. I wondered if it was chosen in the heat of the moment, due to the King's unusual threat. I had the impression Theo was floundering slightly and it made me, strangely, want to shake up the earth.

"You believe she poses no immediate threat?" The King asked, then downed the last of his whiskey.

"I do, Rigas. However, I would like to claim her as mine."

The whiskey the King had just swallowed caught in his throat. He coughed a few times, making gagging sounds that alerted a guard who ran into the room ready for battle. The King waved his hand regally, indicating he was all right, and the guard reluctantly backed out.

"Have you lost your mind?" the King ground out eventually. His voice was raspy from the alcohol burn. "This is not how you were raised."

"No, Pateras," Theo admitted. "But it has been many aeons since anyone has captured my attention so. I have been bored and disgruntled, you knew this. I require a distraction. She distracts nicely."

The King chuckled. It sounded so like Theo, I lifted my head.

"And here I thought more responsibility would do the trick. Your mother did warn me, you just needed to get laid." I choked out a sound and the King glared at me. "But really? A Gi? What will the elders say?"

"They can say what they like, she is already mine."

"You have claimed her?" the King asked, sounding half-shocked and half-revolted.

"Yes," Theo answered, straightening his spine.

"And it was good?"

"I'd rather not divulge details, Rigas. If it does not offend."

"You always did have a strange sense of honour. But, son, a Gi?" I didn't even have it in me to suck in breath at the term, son. Was it just an endearment he'd use on any of those under his rule? Or was it actually real? "Please, tell me, she is not your Thisavros?"

There was that word again. The Norfolk Pine on Theo's property had called me that. Had said I was Theo's Thisavros. I had no idea what it meant, but I would find out. Theo had a hell of a lot to explain after all of this.

"No, of course not," Theo lied. I worked on keeping my face blank. Theo's eyes darted to mine briefly, as the King turned to pour another drink. He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow in question.

Yeah, I'd recognised the word, but Theo didn't know I was still confused by it. His lips twitched at the edges, a slight flash of gold seeped into the hazel. I was mesmerized and that's why I didn't see the King move.

A knife appeared before my eyes, light glinting off the shiny blade, the sharp edge sinking into the flesh of my neck painfully. I screamed, the King's hand wrapped around my hair tightly and he jerked my head back.

And Theo sent a bolt of fire directly at his monarch's head.

The fire blasted into a wall of fire from the King. It crackled and expanded around us, I felt the hair on my skin begin to singe. Heat washed my body, threatened to rush down my throat. I firmly held my lips shut, so as not to inhale it. This wasn't the heat Theo could use to evoke such delicious sensations from me though. This heat was designed to kill. It licked the ceiling and curved over the top of us. I was unsure if it was doing the same to Theo on the other side of the wall of flames. I wanted to shout out to him. To make sure he was all right. But it wasn't as though I could stop this. One potted plant in the corner of the room was hardly an arsenal, was it? I just had to trust that Theo had this and considering this was the King he was battling, someone I assumed was all powerful, Theo was impressively holding his own.

There was no shout of pain or agony from his side of the room. All that sounded out was the crackle of fire, all I could feel was the heat of flames and all I could smell was the scent of burnt carpet as the fires evaporated as quickly as they came.

"So, my son has fallen for a Gi," the King said slowly, removing the knife at my neck. My hand came up and wrapped around my throat. I felt the warm trickle of blood seep between my fingers. My eyes raised to look at Theo.

He looked devastated, crushed and a little scared. He held out his hand to me, and said one word, "Come."

I didn't need to be asked twice. Stand by the crazy knife wielding Rigas, or next to the Pyrkagia who'd just exposed his feelings towards me by saving my life.

"This will not end well," the King said, throwing the knife across the room so it landed with a twang, hilt deep in an expensive piece of artwork hanging on the wall. "Mark my words! You have no idea of what you have done."

"She is mine," Theo whispered, unable to speak at full volume, I was guessing, out of true anger. The earth trembled, but I was the only one who noticed it. Theo's complete attention was on the King, even as his arm wrapped around my shoulder protectively.

"I could have you exiled for this," the King pointed out, fingering the bottle of Scotch before him. I think he was contemplating drinking from the bottle. Only his upbringing held him back now.

"I ask for this not as a subject, but as your son," Theo said and I guess that answered that question. Theo Peters was a Prince.

"Four weeks," the King whispered. "Play with her, feed from her, enjoy her. Then she must go, or you both do."

With those words Theo's father, the Rigas of Pyrkagia, left the room in the same fashion he had entered. In a storm full of rage.

Chapter Seven

Leaving Me Panting For Breath

I didn't say a word as Theo ushered me outside and helped me into his car. I was too shocked to open my mouth, to form a sentence in my head. To think at all. The King, the Rigas, was scary. And he was Theo's father. How did I get myself into this situation? What had I done in my life to deserve this mess?

Theo slid behind the steering wheel with fluid grace and started the car. He looked remarkably relaxed. Completely unfazed by what had just happened. Not even a thread on his expensive suit was scorched. I stared at him, dumbfounded. He had been out of sorts in there, rightly so, but now he seemed... pleased.

"Seatbelt, Cassandra," Theo chided, not even looking in my direction at all. I fumbled with the buckle, but managed to secure it before he hit the gas.

The car smoothly glided down the driveway, but I couldn't shift my gaze from Theo's content mask to take in the immaculate scenery around us. I'd missed something in that room. I tried to play the scene over and over in my head, but all I could come up with was fire, the King's rage, and Theo's distress.

"OK," I said, "why are you so happy?" Happy may have been a stretch of the word. I mean, he wasn't even smiling, but he did look at ease. And he shouldn't have.

"That went remarkably well," Theo replied easily.

"If that was what you call 'remarkably well' then I'd hate to see bad," I pointed out.

"I dare say, you would," Theo said softly. "But we achieved what we desired, did we not, Cassandra? You have been given leave to remain in the city for four weeks. In that time, I am sure, you will remember your history and know where to go when you leave."

When I leave. He expected me to work this all out, as though I'm suffering from an inconvenient bout of amnesia, and then go on my merry way.

"And did you get what you desired?" I asked, a little numbed by his callous suggestion.

"Absolutely. For four weeks you are mine." And obviously four weeks was sufficient.

What the hell was wrong with me? Why was I even upset by this? I now had four weeks without Theo or anyone else threatening to take my head, so I could prove I belong in my city. Then, when the King realised I was a victim he'd let me stay. Or, and this is by far the preferred option, I could find a way to become human again, to get myself extricated from Theo's bizarre world. In none of those scenarios did it include falling for Theo Peters.

Just an arrangement. It's just an arrangement. And every little reaction, every little crumble in his façade, in that room, was Theo acting out a role to conclude that arrangement. It meant nothing. He was fooling his father the only way he knew how, by acting besotted with me.

Oh, I was the fool. An incredibly naive and gullible fool. I needed to slap myself awake. This was not a fairytale. It was a nightmare.

"I'm tired, Theo. Just take me home," I said, sounding way too defeated. But I couldn't even be alarmed at that. Once I got home, I'd refortify myself. I'd strengthen my resolve, so tomorrow I could face Theo and get some answers. Right now, I just needed a little distance and solitude.

"Of course," Theo said reasonably. "The guest room has been prepared for you."

The what? "Um, no. My home. I meant my home," I said, now sounding nothing like defeated, more like frantic with fear.

"Casey," he said, sounding frustrated and a little angry. "Do you even have a bed to sleep on?"

I made a sound. It was filled with frustration and anger and incredulity. It was stunningly good. I felt infinitely better having made it. So I did it again.

Theo turned his head slowly to look at me, one imperious eyebrow lifted in question.

"You are the most infuriating man I have ever met!" I announced. He smiled. "Do all Pyrkagia carry out threats to the nth degree? Is that why you know my bedroom has been destroyed as well?"

"It was a guess," he replied, evenly. "I gather it's accurate."

I made a growling sound at the back of my throat. "Did it not occur to you, though, that I could just move in with Sonya?"

"Do you really wish to involve her in this?" Oh, no. He knew my worst fear. "Until now, you were considered a human, even by those Pyrkagia who have seen you with me. It will be all over the city now. You are Gi. I am with a Gi. My father may have given you four weeks, but that does not mean all of his subjects will."

What? Did the Rigas have so little control? I wouldn't have considered that, what with the way he ruled with rage in that parlour alone.

"They will, at the very least, come calling to view you," Theo continued. "I cannot protect you at Sonya's. I cannot protect Sonya. But the sooner I show you off publicly, the sooner their curiosity will be met. Perhaps then you can return to your flat."

I put my head in my hands and just breathed. It felt painful, as though my lungs were straining, or I was drowning in water. I couldn't inflate them fully. A pressure existed on my chest I simply couldn't budge.

This was truly a nightmare. Not only was I a freak now. But I escaped one executioner's axe for a mob lynching instead.

My head buzzed with so many fears. My heart fluttered in my chest like a dying moth. So many unanswered questions left me reeling. Left me feeling wanting, lacking. I wasn't sure what I needed to fill that void, but I needed something. I searched my brain for the answer to my unquenchable desire. No, it wasn't just a desire, it was a necessity. If I didn't figure out what I needed soon, I was going to die.

I heard Theo call my name, it sounded so far away. I think he swore again. In Greek. I liked that, it sounded so musical, so beautiful. So him. But even that couldn't fill the emptiness that suddenly existed inside my soul. And it was my soul crying. I don't know how I knew this, but it was. My very essence was calling out for what it needed to be complete.

Sitting here, in Theo's car, I couldn't find it. I was strangely bemused by that fact. Theo had, inadvertently, given me so much before now. Attention. Belief in myself. Encouragement. Joy. Excitement. Life. Thrills. Challenge. Adventure. Sweet happiness. Protection. Why was he not giving me what I needed now?

"I have you," I heard him say in my ear. I was out of the car and he was carrying me. I don't remember that. How had I got here? Where was I?

Darkness enveloped us, blocking out the city’s lights. Cocooning us entirely within welcoming walls. Maybe I was blacking out, but I felt better, not worse. Theo shifted to his knees, me securely held in his arms still, but quickly that sense of safety disappeared. The scent of earth surrounded me instead, enveloped me, wrapped me up and welcomed me home. Letting me know the hard surface I'd been placed on was grass.

"Feed, Oraia," Theo encouraged. "You have been under stress and not fed properly for several days. Feed."

What? My eyes flicked open and tried to take in the scene. I could tell Theo was leaning over my body as it lay on the grass, but I couldn't really make him out above me. My head shifted first to one side and then the other, but all I registered was vague outlines of trees. The only thing that truly made any sense was the earth's smell. I inhaled deeply, received an encouragement from Theo that I didn't understand. Maybe it was in Greek? I don't know, but my confusion and strange sense of desolation made comprehension impossible right then.

"Casey," Theo urged. "Pull what you need from the plants."

"I...I don't know how," I admitted, sounding weak and stuttering obviously. Even I could hear the panic in my tone.

Theo moved, my eyes hazily tracked his motions. His jacket came off, then his tie was removed. Then suddenly he lay down beside me, his length along mine, and wrapped me up in his arms. Both of us lying in the grass under a canopy of trees.

"You really have no idea what you are doing, do you?" he whispered in my ear. I think I nodded. He shifted closer, his body practically enveloping mine. "Relax, Oraia. Let me hold you, let the trees do the rest."

I shuddered as his hot breath washed the side of my face. Heat from his body - normal heat, body heat - seeped into mine. The beat of his heart sounded through his chest into my ear, his pulse fluttered in his neck where my face was nestled. My heart was bounding, trying to race itself right out of my chest. His was steady and true.

I'd never been held like this before. It was intimate, but not erotic. It was comforting, but also frightening. It filled a part of me up that had been empty for so long. As that part of me unfurled, another part, a deeper part, opened up and let the sounds, scents and sensations of the forest of plants around us, sink in.

I took a shattering breath in. It was so encompassing that my body arched off the ground and a gasp tore from my throat. Theo growled a sound out beside me, crushed me closer to his hard body and began nuzzling his nose in my hair. Was he smelling me?

And then, all of a sudden, the embrace I was in was more sensual than before. My senses burst alive. Every sound around me felt like it was blasting through high quality stereo speakers. The trees whispered their relief. Their concern at my weakened state palpable, but they were appeased. I had fed, they said. They had given me what I needed, and returned to them what they craved. It didn't make sense, but it sounded beautiful. I breathed in more and more of their scent in order to make them happy, to fill me up with that divine sensation. My body again lifting off the grass and making Theo groan.

The groan sent shivers right through me.

Then all I could feel was him.

His strong arms around my shoulders and waist. His large palms spread across my naked skin. One on my bare shoulder, the other, alarmingly, wrapped around my bare thigh. How had he got his hand under my dress? When had he done that? And then I felt his chest rising and falling too quickly, the pressure of it against my side making me want to writhe. I fought the urge, dug my fingers into the soil at my side and felt the earth wash through me, surge through me, making me moan a sound out I had never in my life made before.

"Oraia," Theo breathed into my hair. "You are sensational."

I wasn't so sure about that, but this, whatever it was, was sensational. I'd give him that.

"Theo, what's happening?" I breathed, sounding just as husky as he had.

"You are fuelling your Stoicheio, and by God it's fuelling mine." His fingers on my thigh flexed, then shifted marginally higher. I felt them slip under my panties. His thumb brushed the curls between my thighs.

And suddenly he was suspended in a tree. Wrapped up in vines, several feet above me.

"Huh," he said, sounding amused and not at all put out. "Was that you or your pets?"

I scrambled to a sitting position, returning my dress to my ankles and making sure every possible inch of skin that could be covered, was covered. I realised, belatedly, that the dress, although long, didn't nearly cover enough flesh.

"I don't know," I admitted, cursing the breathless sound of my words.

"Well, we know not to do that again," he announced, as though quite happy to forgo copping a feel whilst under the branches of trees. "Care to let me down?"

I smiled up at him, I was guessing it was pretty calculating, because he reacted with that one eyebrow lift.

"I'm not sure. I rather like having you contained."

"Oh, Cassandra." He shook his head. "Must I remind you, that you are playing with Fire."

"Don't burn them!" I shouted, jumping to my feet with my hands outstretched beseechingly. Strangely, I still didn't ask the vines to let him go.

"I wasn't talking about burning them," Theo said in a silky, smooth voice. "I was referring to what I am capable of doing to you."

"Oh," I said, confused. He started chuckling, which looked a little ridiculous in his current position.

"Sweet, innocent, Casey Eden," he crooned and I gave him my best glare. Not nice pointing out my shortcomings. "Already you have proven how rewarding this arrangement will be."

And there was the arrangement thing again.

Release him, but make him fall, I instructed the vines. They tittered happily and suddenly unravelled, making Theo's body spin like a bobbin on a sewing machine and then plummet to the ground.

"Temper, temper," he said, blithely jumping to his feet and dusting himself down. "And I thought Pyrkagia women were a handful," he muttered, reaching for his jacket and tie. "Gi are meant to be so relaxed and accommodating. What the bloody hell are you?"

"Your worst nightmare," I shot back, falling into step beside him as he strode out of the forest. I soon realised, it was the small forest of trees on his property. He'd brought me home to his house as planned, and then rushed me out into the trees. The same trees I could have used to harm him. The same trees I had used to get on his property and cause a landscaping mess.

"All things can be moulded to compliance," he answered swiftly. "Some just take more force to break than others."

"Is that supposed to be a threat? Because I'd like to point out it was you tied up by vines, not me."

"And it was incredibly enjoyable. You are introducing me to new delights every day, Cassandra. I cannot wait to see what you will do in our bed."

I stopped in my tracks. Theo just kept walking, chuckling loudly, highly amused at himself. He bounded up the stairs and didn't look back. I was standing on the edge of the tree-line, just before the half destroyed pavers that surrounded his house. Going any further seemed like a really bad idea. So I sat down on the edge of the grass and just sighed.

I did feel better, there was no denying it. Whatever that was in amongst the trees had done it. Whatever I now was, obviously needed that, and that's why I was so weak. Theo had said I was stressed and needed to feed. Had I just fed? I felt full, but that was just bizarre. Feeding off trees.

Oh God, I needed answers and the only person in this world willing to give them had just walked in that house. The only person I could turn to, even if I couldn't trust him, enjoyed making me squirm. I wanted to be angry at him. I wanted to find that hatred I'd felt from before. But Theo had rushed me to what I needed. He had stayed with me when I continued to panic. He had placed himself in a compromising position, well aware I should think, of what I could do whilst surrounded by nature. Yet he didn't walk away, he held me closer and closer still.

He was an anomaly. A contradiction of himself. I was meant to be his enemy, and I truly believed that hadn't entirely changed, but still he invited me into his house. He risked... something; pain, ostracism, to get his father to let me stay. That couldn't have endeared me to him, yet when he held me, in amongst those trees, I could have sworn I was held by someone who cared.

Who was I kidding? This was an arrangement, nothing more, and Theo intended to collect payment for all of this. And payment involved his bed.

A bubble of hysterical laughter erupted from my mouth. Oh, he was going to be disappointed on that one. Not that I thought I could fight him off, I wasn't stupid. Theo had a hold on me stronger than anyone had managed to have in the past. I swear all he would have to do was look at me in that way he does, with hunger and desire and intent, and I would melt. To hell with his ability to make me feel lust, I wasn't sure I could deny him if he hauled me to his bed, even right now.

So, he would get his payment, there was nothing I could do to prevent that. But I sincerely believed it wouldn't be payment he was used to. How could it be? When I was completely and utterly inexperienced in that department. He was going be so disappointed. It almost made the whole thing worth it.

But then, no one likes to be the worst experience someone's ever had. Not only was I a hated Gi, I was also going to be a let-down. I wondered if he'd brag about it. I wondered if, after all this was over, Pyrkagia in the city would come to my deli just to point and whisper harsh words.

My fingers absently ran through the blades of grass at my sides, soothing me, making it impossible to get nervous about probable embarrassments to come. I glanced down at the beautiful dress I wore, saddened to see dirt smeared across the delicate material, ruining it beyond repair. I'd have to remember that, if I needed to feed again. I wondered how often I did. I wondered how it actually worked. If I fed off plant life, what did Theo feed off? His father had instructed him to, play with me, feed from me, and enjoy me. So, could Theo feed off me?

It sounded a little creepy, at least the way I replenished involved nature not humans. He was sounding more and more like a vampire, but without the blood.

Suddenly a shadow fell over me. I looked up expecting to see Theo and hearing some smart comment about taking too long. Instead I met the compassionate looking eyes of his butler.

"Miss Eden. Your bedroom is ready. Would you care for a meal before you retire?"

"What's Theo doing?" I said, getting to my feet and stretching. I really had wallowed enough for now, might as well get some answers.

"He has already retired, Miss Eden. He will be dining in his room tonight."

Ah, no. I had questions for the man, he wasn't going to get out of it that easily. I eyed the butler, he seemed to be waiting on my instructions. He'd also prevent me from doing what I wanted to do, I was sure. He looked somewhat frail, but I could see steel glinting in those hazel eyes.

"Thank you...?" I left the sentence open.

"My name is Aktor," he said with a small bow.

"Thank you, Aktor. My name is Casey." I offered a smile.

"The master has requested I call you either Miss Eden, or Cassandra. Which would you prefer?"

"Well," I said frowning. "Neither."

"Oh," the butler looked shocked. "Shall I choose then?"

"My name's Casey," I insisted.

"And the master has already voiced his preferences," Aktor shot back, a little of that steel coming out at last. I sighed loudly, clearly showing my disgruntlement.

"Then by all means call me Cassandra. Heaven forbid I get addressed as some nineteenth century maiden." Aktor smiled, something about what I said amused the man. He nodded his head, and swept out a hand toward the building.

"After you, Cassandra." I humphed but started walking across the concrete.

"Dinner in my room would be fine, Aktor," I instructed, trying to sound authoritative and decisive at the same time.

"That is excellent, Cassandra," he replied, pulling the door open for me to precede him inside. "I shall take you to your room and retrieve your meal." I nodded and followed him up the grand staircase to what looked like a delightful guest bedroom on the same floor as Theo's. In fact, only one door down. I was thinking it might even have a door between the two, but my attention wasn't on that, it was on the butler, hoping he'd leave soon.

He bowed, smiled and left without another word. Very efficient.

I waited a few minutes, then when I thought the coast was clear walked down the hall to Theo's door. I could have knocked. I could have run away as my heartbeat demanded. But Theo was being imperious and I needed answers, so I wrapped my hand around the door handle and opened the door, pushing my way inside.

He was shirtless, standing in front of a blazing fire. The light of the flames reflected off every ridge of muscle on his torso, a small sheen of sweat coated his skin and made me lick my lips. His dark hair was ruffled, as though he'd only just run a hand through it, and his eyes were entirely golden, staring at the flames in a trance.

I sucked in a breath at the glorious sight of him and his gaze came up to my face.

"Your room not good enough for you?" he asked, voice deep and way too smooth for the look on his face right then.

"I have questions," I said, forcing myself to keep my eyes on his face and not his chest, which was hard to do because he'd turned when he heard me gasp. I now had an unfettered view of heaven.

"Well," he said, striding towards me with purpose. I almost jumped on the spot and let out a squeak. "If you insist on doing this here and now." He reached past me, his naked chest within inches of my lips, and closed the door at my back. I heard a key turn in a lock, the click indicating I was trapped, and then he backed up and walked away, leaving me panting for breath.

I watched as he opened a window and then threw something out onto the concrete two stories below. It made a tinkling sound, which somehow carried over the crackle of the flames in the hearth. I realised, with a sinking heart, that it was the key to the door. He'd locked us in and thrown the key away.

"Um," I said, dawning comprehension slamming into me, letting me know I was way out of my league here.

"Come, Cassandra. We might as well start your lessons now." Theo walked towards the bed and I had the resounding realisation that these lessons had nothing to do with what I was.

But instead, with what I could be for him.

Chapter Eight

One Muttered Greek Curse From His Lips And I Knew He Hadn't Missed It

"Ah!" I cried, then frantically looked around the room for an escape.

Bathroom door. Walk-in wardrobe door. Door back to my bedroom.

I ran for it, jerked the handle, rattled it in its frame. It was locked and there was no key. I think I was about to start sobbing.

"Shhh, Oraia," Theo purred behind me, his hands wrapping carefully around my shoulders. "I was teasing," he whispered against my cheek. I didn't think he was teasing. I think he chose to pretend he was now, once he'd seen the depth of panic on my face.

A small sob escaped my lips.

"Casey, relax. I will not make you do a thing you do not wish to. God, what you must think of me. Come," he said gently, pulling me away from the door, the door which meant escape despite being locked, towards the fireplace. "Sit in front of the fire and just breathe."

He settled me in one of the two wing-backed chairs which stood angled to the hearth. He watched me for a second, then deciding I wasn't about to bolt, took the seat opposite.

"I see I am going to have be more careful with you than I realised," he announced quietly. "You are like a delicate little bird, flitting delightfully from branch to branch, but as soon as something scares you, you delve into the thick foliage to hide." I could tell he was studying me, but I was resolutely staring at the flames. "Tell me," he asked, in a deep, but utterly gentle voice, "is it just innocence or have you been harmed by someone?"

I felt the blush rise up my cheeks and prayed, uselessly, that he'd think it was the heat of the fire. I had no experience. None at all. Wanted or unwanted. My reactions were entirely due to my inability to get close to the opposite sex. Nothing else.

"Can we just concentrate on my questions, on what I have become, and not talk about what I used to be."

Theo sighed, but didn't push me. "All right. Ask away."

My eyes flicked up to his, but didn't quite make it. He was still bare chested. I stifled a groan.

"Can you please put a shirt on?" I asked, prepared to embarrass myself further to hide all that tempting skin.

Theo barked out a laugh and then said, "Of course." He rose in one swift motion and disappeared towards his dressing room. I used the moment to suck in a deep breath. The smell of charred wood met my nose. Not unpleasant, rather comforting in fact. Of course, that's because it reminded me of Theo.

I was a lost cause.

He returned too quickly, a shirt hastily thrown on and buttoned up. It was still untucked. I don't think it improved the vision. Well, at least, I don't think it was enough to stop me drooling anyway. He settled himself into his seat and carefully watched me. My eyes had returned to the fire.

"Have you had something to eat?" he asked.

"Aktor was bringing me dinner to my room," I said, then thought of something. "You said I needed to feed from the plants earlier, so did I? And does that mean I don't need real food to live?"

"Your body still requires nourishment, so yes, you must eat real food. But your soul also requires nourishment, and no amount of calories will manage that. You must commune with your Stoicheio for at least fifteen minutes each day. You can use the forest while you stay here. It should provide all the sustenance you need."

I nodded. "OK," a deep breath in and out, "what exactly is a Stoicheio?"

"Your element. What makes you an Ekmetalleftis."

A frustrated groan escaped my lips. Ask a question, receive an answer that leads to only more questions. This was like a never ending circle, I was stuck in a loop in which I'd never find the end to allow me back off.

"An Ekmetalleftis," Theo said, no doubt registering my frustration and kindly deciding to put me out of my misery, "is an Elemental. Someone who controls an element, or Stoicheio."

"And my element is?"

"Earth, or Gi. Mine is Fire, or Pyrkagia."

"Earth, Fire, Air, Water. So, four?" I asked, finally feeling like some answers were making sense.

"Five actually, but don't fret about that. The fifth element is extremely rare and no Ekmetalleftis alive today has command of it. Concentrate instead on the main four; Gi, Pyrkagia, Nero, and Aeras. Nero for Water and Aeras for Air."

I ran a hand through my hair and started playing with the strands. I almost wanted to start chewing on them, like Sonya does, but I just couldn’t bring myself down to that level yet. I did have some standards left. I stared at the dark blonde between my fingers. I wondered if all Gi looked like me. All Pyrkagia seemed to look a little like Theo, so it stood to reason.

"Do I look like a Gi?" I asked, meeting his eyes.

"Your eyes are the same shade, but your hair is not. I attribute your hair dye to helping cloud my judgement. Had your hair been dark brown, I would have recognised what you were sooner."

My eyebrows rose up at those words. "Two things," I said, anger beginning to replace the fear and overwhelming panic of before. "First; I became this Gi thing less than forty-eight hours ago. I was completely, and utterly, human before then. So stop going on about me pulling the wool over your eyes. I'm not that Machiavellian." Theo's eyebrows rose on that. "Second; I don't dye my hair. This is natural."

He sat up in his chair. For some reason that was more convincing than my repeated insistence that I'd been human until yesterday morning. "Prove it," he whispered.

My head pulled back. How the hell do I prove that?

"Um, how?" I lifted my hair off my shoulder and stared at it again. "I don't have dark roots," I suggested. His eyes rolled to the ceiling and then back to me. When they settled they were alight with gold flecks.

"There is one way," he husked, voice deep and deliciously silky. I stared at him, confused, then watched as his gaze slid down my body, leaving a wash of heat in its wake, and came to rest at the juncture between my thighs.

"No freaking way!' I said with conviction. "First you cop a feel and now you want a peep show?"

He gave me a lascivious smile.

"You'll just have to take my word for it," I announced.

"Oh, Oraia, you will show me. Maybe not today, but I will have my 'peep show' as you call it. And you will love giving it to me."

"You are so full of yourself," I declared, astounded at his confidence.

He shrugged. "I am Pyrkagia, it is what we do."

I stared at him for a moment. "OK, explain that," I demanded.

"You feed off nature. Plants, animals." Animals? "The life that surrounds humans. I feed off Fire." His hand swept out to indicate the flames in the hearth. "I must sit in front of a fire for at least fifteen minutes everyday. I choose night time. Aktor always has the fire in my bedroom blazing when I retire. I get what I need here."

Well, that made sense. I started to relax.

"But, my kind is different from all other Ekmetalleftis." And here comes the tension again. "We can also feed off other forms of heat. Such as," his voice lowered, his eyes began brightening to only gold, "passion, desire, lust. It is all a Fire of some description, is it not?"

I blinked back at him. And I thought I'd become a freak.

Theo wasn't nearly done with freaking me out though. "You are the most delicious meal I have ever partaken." I squirmed in my chair, his eyes blazed only gold. "You are bubbling over with unfulfilled passion, yet it is so contained. You are contained. You offer a glimpse, now and then, a tempting, tantalising taste. And then deny me further. I find myself addicted to that next glimpse. Craving that next delicious morsel of Fire from deep inside. For some reason, I can't seem to stop myself trying to pull that passion out. You intrigue me. My reaction to you intrigues me."

The crackle of the fire in the hearth was all that met the end of his words. Poignant, I think.

"No witty comeback? No scathing put-down? Casey," he murmured, "give me something to go on here."

I couldn't help it, I smiled. He was just such a tease, even when discussing otherworldly, freaky things such as this. He returned my smile with one so natural it made my heart sing. I wasn't meant to let him do that to me, but Theo had a way about him that made me melt, made me want something I couldn't identify, but knew I'd be missing if I never got the chance to try.

"There it is," he breathed, his eyes closing slowly as he sank languidly back into his chair. My mouth dropped open as I stared at him.

"Did you just feed off me?" I asked, incredulously.

"Ah-ha," he nodded, not even bothering to form words right then. How dare he? I wasn't prepared to offer up anything like that? Had he tricked me? His eyes were gold. Did I taste nice?

Oh, shut up.

"Well, you can stop right now!" I commanded.

"Can't," he answered, eyelids still closed. "Even the Fire of your temper tastes sweet."

"Theo!" I shouted and he started laughing.

His eyes opened and beautiful, stunning gold stared back at me.

I felt like a gazelle looking into the hungry eyes of a lion. "Behave," I said slowly, using his favourite reprimand on him.

"Why couldn't you be Pyrkagia?" he whispered. I don't think he wanted an answer. Well, at least, not from me.

We stared at each other for minutes as the gold slowly seeped from his eyes. When nothing but hazel looked back at me I felt I'd lost something precious and rare. I felt bereft.

"It is late, Cassandra. We both need sleep." I nodded, I did feel tired, but strangely very much alive. "I have work to do in the morning, but we can continue your education tomorrow afternoon," Theo suggested.

"I'll be at the shop until six."

"No," he said firmly. "You have starved yourself for the past two days, maybe longer, I'm really not sure anymore." He did sound a little lost saying that, as though he still refused to believe I'd only been a Gi since Thursday morning. He shook his head to clear it of those confusing thoughts. "You need to spend the morning in amongst my trees, replenishing. Let Sonya handle the store, you will commune with nature. Tomorrow afternoon we'll resume this conversation, and then tomorrow evening I will show you off."

"Show me off?" That seemed to be the only note of worth from his entire speech.

"The sooner my people get to see you, quell their curiosity, the sooner I will know how much security you will need. You are in enemy territory, Casey. Whether by design or chance, it is still enemy territory to you. You must act accordingly. Despite that, my protection should be enough to keep you safe."

"You are a Prince," I offered, a little sarcastically. He could have told me that titbit sooner.

"Indeed," he replied smoothly. "But even then, there are disgruntled subjects in my father's realm. I wouldn't have a job otherwise."

I cocked my head at him and raised my brows in question. He sighed.

"Casey, I need sleep, you have worn me out." I laughed outright at that, he smirked. "Can we cover your unending questions tomorrow afternoon, please?"

I grumbled out a yes and stood to leave, then stared at the locked doors.

"You threw the key away," I pointed out, my heart deciding it needed another workout on that little remembered fact.

"Yes, I did," Theo said frowning. "Well, you can take the bed and I'll sleep in one of the chairs by the fireplace," he suggested.

I just stared at him. Was he mad? He started laughing, thinking it was all a very amusing game no doubt. He crossed the space to the door that separated our bedrooms, wrapped a hand around the door handle and I watched as heat made the locking mechanism melt. It took a few seconds, but when he pulled his hand away, the brass knob was glowing and the door stood slightly ajar.

"I won't be able to lock it again," he admitted, looking over his shoulder at me. "I'll have Aktor fix it tomorrow. Is that all right?"

An unlocked door between our rooms. It was going to be bad enough that I knew he slept on the other side of the wall, shirtless I was picturing, but now the door wouldn't even remain closed. I'd probably hear him snoring. He'd no doubt hear me toss and turn from panic at his proximity. I struggled to maintain my composure at those thoughts.

Theo let out a long breath of air.

"I can be trusted, you know," he said softly. "I have never, in my entire existence, forced myself on a woman."

I flicked my eyes up to his face. He was so sincere and I suddenly felt incredibly bad. Despite his misgivings he was helping me. Despite the cost to him, the risk, he kept doing it. I nodded my head, then dipped my face to walk past.

Just as I came abreast of him I whispered, "Thank you." His hand came up, hovered over my cheek for a moment, and then rested on my shoulder instead.

"It is a pleasure, Oraia. Please know that."

I wanted to believe him, and in a way I could. He was certainly getting something out of keeping me around. If half of what he had admitted earlier was true, he enjoyed feeding off me to some degree. So, I was paying for this arrangement. But I should never, ever forget that was what it is.

An arrangement and nothing more.

I found my dinner waiting on a small table by the window, where I could sit and look out over the trees in his front yard. There were so many. Why did he surround himself with plants when his Stoicheio was Fire? He didn't need them, so why? It was another piece to the puzzle that was Theo Peters. Or what had his father called him? Theodoros. I smiled at that. So old world. So Greek.

I ate what I could stomach and then forced myself to have a bath in the attached ensuite room. That had a lock so, at least, my heart rate wasn't galloping. Just at trot for now. Aktor had laid out nightwear on a stand to the side. He must have sourced it while we were at the King's. I slipped the nightdress over my head and noted it came to mid-thigh. My guess, Aktor had been given strict instructions on what to purchase. This flimsy number hardly left anything to the imagination at all.

I slipped my underwear reluctantly back on. No way was I traipsing about the place, with an open door to Theo and a bare arse sticking out. I opened the bathroom door and glanced across the room. The dinner plates had been removed. How the hell did he know I was finished? I shook my head and noted the lights had been dimmed, to just one bedside lamp, and the covers had been pulled down.

Oh, I could get used to this. I ran across the soft carpet, my feet making no sounds at all, and launched myself onto the high mattress of the bed. I sank into the feathered comfort letting out a small whimper of delight. I heard Theo chuckle through the opening of the door and cringed. Fire coursed up my cheeks and I prayed he couldn't feed from where he was right now. I ducked under the covers and pulled them up to my ears. Then waited for sleep.

Two hours later I was still staring at the shadows of branches dancing along the walls of my room. So many unanswered questions filled my head. So many fears made my heart too fast for me to ever hope to sleep again. This world was so strange, yet I felt comforted by it. I'd always loved plants, maybe my grandfather was right, and that's why I was a Gi and not a Pyrkagia. Maybe my predilection for nature was the impetus for what Stoicheio I could command. But why had this happened?

Did it really matter how, if I still didn't know why?

Something told me that was the crux of the matter. Because I was not born, like Theo was obviously born, into this life. I became this creature I now am from spending two days in a dirt covered pit. Who put me there? And why did they do it?

So many questions. So few answers. And with only four weeks grace from the Rigas, so little time. I curled up in a small ball and prayed that Theo could in fact help me find the answers. He was my only hope. He was my only chance to make any sense of this world.

With thoughts of him on my mind, when sleep finally claimed me, I assumed I'd dream about Theo. But at some stage in the night my nightmares returned. It seemed strange to me that I still had them, because I'd come to feel safe and protected by all the plant life in the city, and the scent of Earth soothed like nothing else could. So why did a pit full of dirt make me break out in sweat, tangle the sheets, and cry out in my sleep?

I woke abruptly to Theo's softly murmured words in my ear. To the realisation that I was wrapped up in his arms, still in my bed, still in my room. And that Theo was, indeed, shirtless when he slept.

Heat rushed through my entire body, setting it alight with flames. It was all mine. It wasn't Theo's. But one muttered Greek curse from his mouth and I knew he hadn't missed it.

And, of course, his lips crushing mine kind of gave it away too.

Chapter Nine

We Have A Gift For You

The taste of Theo met my tongue. It was delicious. Sweet, yet spicy. A combination of flavours I was sure existed somewhere exotic and warm and full of sunshine. I moaned into his mouth, felt his body shudder above me and his lips press firmer into mine.

This had to be a dream. A beautiful dream come to chase the nightmare away. If I had to endure being buried alive every single night simply to experience the delight of this dream afterwards, I would gladly. I would give anything to taste Theo in the wake of such panic and fear. Like the Earth, he soothed me. Like feeding from the trees, he fuelled me. My body arched, my nerves ignited, and flames licked up my centre burning brighter and brighter, and hotter and hotter. I thought I might just explode.

I was sure I might just explode.

And then his thigh pressed between my legs, forcing his way closer to the hottest part of me. Oh dear freaking God, I was dying here. This... sensation, could not be real. Could not exist in actuality. It was a figment of my mind, that's all. Something my subconscious dreamed up to chase away the fear.

I had a very clever subconscious.

"Theo," I murmured and received a husky, "Oraia," murmured back.

For some reason I hadn't expected my dream to be so realistic. Actually, I would have preferred Theo didn't talk at all, then I couldn't associate this fantasy with reality. Theo talking felt too real.

I blinked my eyes open, aware I was no longer sleeping, I wasn't awake in a delicious dream. I was awake in reality, and reality was the nightmare, not my dreams.

I screamed. It was loud. Theo swore just as loudly and promptly fell backwards off the side of the bed. The swearing intensified when he hit the carpet. I sucked in air as though I'd been suffocating for the past five minutes, not kissing Theo Peters senseless in my bed.

Oh no.

How many times had I daydreamed about exactly this? How much more... disastrous could I have made the experience? My first real kiss with Theo and I blew it. My fingers came up and traced my lips, feeling the sensation of heat he'd left behind. They tingled.

He still hadn't stood up, he wasn't making a sound. So I crept to the side of the bed and tentatively peered over it. He was lying on his back staring at the ceiling, frowning.

"Hi," I croaked out above him.

He blinked and then let a heavy sigh out.

"Are you all right?" he eventually asked. Huh, the first words out of his mouth aren't condemning, but concerned. I nodded.

"Are you?" I asked, softly.

"I think I strained a muscle," he admitted with a shrug. "And burst an eardrum. But it was worth it." He smiled then, it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said, whisper quiet.

His face softened, ever so slightly.

"Casey. It was my fault, not yours. And here I was, just telling you last night, that I have never forced myself on a woman before. It seems, where you are concerned, I lose all reason and control."

Oh, I think I liked that, but I couldn't let him go on believing I was coerced.

"I had a dream. A nightmare," I said, he nodded for me to continue. "I thought you were my reward for getting through the time in the pit again." His mouth opened, but no words came out. "I thought you were a good dream, to wipe away the bad." A blush stole up my cheeks. "I actually liked it."

He let a relieved breath of air out, then ran his hand through his hair. He was still lying on the carpet on his back. It was kind of amusing.

"Well, anyway," I mumbled. "Just didn't want you to think it was all you."

"I appreciate that."

I didn't know what else to say. He just kept looking up at me. His hands now lying across his stomach, fingers laced. He looked perfectly at ease and in no rush to shift positions or leave. Minutes passed. I'd stopped looking at him, instead staring at the carpet to his side. Because to look at him would give too much away. I was aware his eyes were still on me, and that I was half hanging off the side of the bed. But I couldn't find the willpower to move back. To be the first to shift away.

He broke the stand-off first.

"There are four different Ekmetalleftis. Four branches of the same. At our birth, when our Creator made the first elders, we lived in harmony. Inter-racial marriages were the norm. Mixes of our Stoicheio did not diminish our numbers. Our children are always the same Ekmetalleftis branch as their fathers. So, no reason not to follow your heart and marry the one you desired. The only caveat Aetheros, our God, placed on us, was not to mix with humans. We could entertain them, but not keep them. To keep them was to waste our chance to procreate. And we do not procreate easily."

I wasn't sure why he was telling me this now, but the steady sound of his deep voice was lulling. It washed away the last of my embarrassment, the last vestiges of panic from the nightmare, and allowed me to relax into the covers on the bed. I lay sprawled across the surface on my stomach, one arm hanging down the side of the bed and tracing a pattern in the carpet beside Theo's hip.

"Then the Alchemists came. Their constant search for further universal knowledge led them to our kind. At first, we allowed them access to some of our history. It only seemed fair. We'd lived amongst the humans for centuries, and for the past several, our God had been silent. Without his guidance decisions were made that perhaps would not have been if we still held his ear. But we wanted to give something back to humans who unwittingly supported us. The Pyrkagia, in particular, wished for this, and rightly so. We are the only ones who can feed directly off them.

"This led to arguments and disagreements between all Ekmetalleftis. Squabbles broke out, skirmishes erupted. Until finally, the Alchemists seized their chance. We'd given them so much knowledge, but humans are greedy creatures. They always hunger for more. And there can be no more greedier creature than an Alchemist, who is passionate about furthering their kind."

He paused, flexed his fingers and then abruptly moved the hand closest to mine so it brushed against me. I jerked, but didn't pull right back. He took a deep breath and then laced his fingers with mine. I stopped breathing. To feel so connected to him by such a small amount of flesh was miraculous. My eyes lifted to his and he smiled. Then shrugged, as if to apologise.

He pulled my hand across to his chest and lay it gently over where his heart would be, still laced with his fingers. I wondered if the placement was significant, or if it was just a comfortable spot we could both reach easily. I wondered if he'd planned to do it for a while, my tracing next to his hips a temptation he could no longer resist. I wondered how long he'd continue to touch me. I wanted it to last the entire night through. I wondered...

Theo interrupted my thoughts by talking again.

"They stole some vital information. When we were falling apart, they simply walked in and took what they needed. But for one thing. They have the required make-up of the four main Ekmetalleftis. Our DNA, if you will. Each branch is significantly different from the next, but only so far as our Stoicheio. However, Aetheros placed a lock on our DNA, a key that only he can use. The fifth Stoicheio. Quintessence, or as we call it, Aether, named after the God who wields it. It resides in each of us, but remains dormant until our God calls it forth.

"Without it, the Alchemists cannot replicate us. But they can borrow some of what we do. They have made themselves hardier, they live longer lives, and they can manipulate the elements. Not as well as us, but enough to cause damage. They hunger for more. They will always hunger for more."

He squeezed my fingers, maybe to make sure I was still paying attention, I'm not sure. I blinked at him and nodded, letting him know I was fully awake and hanging on every single word.

"Can I come up there?" he asked, sounding way more tentative than I'd heard him sound before.

"Oh, yeah, sure," I said, pulling back my hand reluctantly. He released my fingers too quickly. It made me frown.

I moved back on the bed and sat against the headboard, my legs curled beneath me, ready to hear more. He rolled to his feet and turned and looked at me. Then sucked in a deep breath.

"My turn to ask for a shirt," he muttered and stormed out of the room.

My frown deepened, but then he returned wearing a T-shirt, moulded to his body and sinfully thin. So, he didn't want me drooling over him. I could understand that, we were talking about heavy Ekmetalleftis history here. Suddenly, he threw something soft at my chest. I stared down at it in my hands for a second, trying to puzzle through what it was.

"Put it on," he instructed. "I'm having trouble concentrating," he added, and waved his hand to indicate my clearly ridiculous nightwear.

"You chose it," I said smoothing the T-shirt out - one of his T-shirts - and then pulling it over my head. My arms slipped in as the collar gave way, letting my face emerge from within. Theo looked pained, standing there at the side of the bed.

He swallowed thickly and muttered, "Better." Then climbed on the bed and sat with his back to the headboard beside me. "Where was I?" he asked, immediately taking up my hand into his. Fingers laced as though they'd done it a million times before, not just once.

I found my voice and breathed out, "The Alchemists borrow our elements."

"Yes, that's right." He shifted himself down in the bed, getting comfortable with my pillows behind his back. "The squabbles over our divulging of secrets to the Alchemists led to a fall-out we couldn't repair. It was decided that all four branches of the Ekmetalleftis would separate. It caused," he hesitated, a haunted look crossing his face, "immeasurable pain. Families torn asunder. Children taken by their fathers, leaving their mothers bereft. Some chose death. This time in our history was so agonising that it is ingrained in us all to avoid contact with any Ekmetalleftis other than our own."

Well, that explained the over-the-top reaction when he found out I was a Gi.

"The Temple of Aetheros was destroyed, because how could our God abandon us to this?" he murmured.

He looked down at where our hands were intertwined. Staring blindly for a very long moment.

"You're Gi," he whispered eventually. "I'm Pyrkagia," he added. The mood had shifted, I wasn't sure why, but instead of fire, I felt ice. "Please don't get attached."

What?

He withdrew his hand and slipped from the bed, taking what little warmth had remained with him. His back was to me, his shoulders rigid. I was stunned and hurt. Why was I so hurt? Because he'd opened up, been nice to me, held my hand. How dare he hold my hand and then bruise my heart.

He cleared his throat.

"You shouldn't dream of me, Casey. This is an arrangement that benefits us both. You need protection and an education. I need," he paused, "to get you out of my system."

Then he was gone.

I couldn't even cry, because the door between our rooms wouldn't shut. I knew he'd hear every pain filled sound. So I held it in. I rolled up in a ball, on top of the covers, so the chill in the air would make me shiver, make me stay on guard and not break down in tears. And I spent the remainder of the night waiting for the first hint of dawn.

I heard him rise and move about his room once the sun had kissed the horizon. I heard his shower turn on. Listened to the water falling and tried not to imagine it against his perfectly tanned skin. I didn't move while he chose his outfit for the day. I hardly breathed as his cologne reached me on the air. I held myself rigid as he crossed the room to my door and stood there for several seconds. Then finally he used his Stoicheio to release the lock on his own bedroom door.

I allowed myself a few slow tears then, but couldn't really let go for fear he'd return or Aktor would appear. Forcing myself to dress, I found my yoga gear, cleanly laundered and folded neatly in the wardrobe. I dressed, tied my hair up in a messy knot, then watched through the parted curtains, sure to keep out of sight, as he walked to his car and got in.

He didn't even look my way. Not one glance up to our floor.

As soon as his car turned onto Mountain Road and disappeared I flew down the stairs. Past a stunned and strangely worried Aktor, and tore out of the front door and across the broken paving stones to throw myself into the cocoon of Theo's forest.

I would have gone elsewhere. But it wasn't these trees fault that they lived on a cold hearted bastard's property. Besides, I don't think I would have made it. I barely made it to the protection of their canopy. Falling to my knees, I let the vines wrap around me, let them carry me tenderly further inside the safety of their darkened world, let them envelope me, care for me, and I suppose, feed me.

They whispered sweet nothings, comforting words aimed to soothe. The smells of the plant life and Earth surrounded me, lifted my spirits but couldn't lift the ache from my heart. I'd told myself I wouldn't fall for him. I'd made myself promise to remember what this actually was. But I hadn't been as strong as Theo. He'd remembered. He'd caught himself last night and reminded us both.

Because I saw it. Just a glimpse. He'd dropped his guard and let me in. For one brief moment in time it had been heaven. It had been everything I had imagined it could be.

But he was right. We were enemies. Maybe his God hadn't intended it that way, but clearly his God no longer cared. So, this was the world of the Ekmetalleftis. This was the world I now walked in. And in this world Theo Peters was my enemy, part of the branch that gave our secrets away to the Alchemists.

God, I still had so much to learn. The Alchemists were greedy and wanted to further human race with knowledge of Theo's - my - kind. But who were they really and what threat did they pose towards me?

Theo had wondered if I had been an Alchemist. Then when he realised I was truly a Gi, he had wondered if the Alchemists had made me. Had they? Were they the ones who put me in that pit of dirt?

So, I had enemies everywhere. The Pyrkagia, and in particular Theo Peters, and every other Ekmetalleftis branch. Because I could hardly call the other Gi's, wherever they were, friends. They'd look at me the same way Theo does, sure I was an Alchemist mole. And now I had the Alchemists, because if they were responsible for creating me, for making me suffer two days in a pit of dirt, then I would use every ounce of my strength to repay them the kindness.

The trees around me shifted restlessly, their branches creaking and groaning, sounding out a warning on the still morning air. Not a warning for me to be careful, but a warning to anyone who wanted to do me harm.

You are ours, they whispered. We are yours to command, they added. We will fight with you, they promised. It is time.

Time for what exactly? Something was missing from my mental picture and I couldn't put a finger on what. I had to face Theo again, and how embarrassing would that be? I rubbed both hands over my face and cringed. I was a big girl and it's not as though Theo hasn't seen me squirm before. I'd just ignore my body's reaction and get on with this. Four weeks to figure out what this all meant and what I could do about it.

Four weeks to be with someone who wanted only one thing. And I'd given that one thing to no one before in my life. It was precious to me, but I was about to have to hand it over to someone who didn't really care. I could have sobbed for that injustice. I could have caved right then and there. But the plants held me closer, the Earth shifted to make a comfortable bed, and I finally fell asleep some time before Theo returned.

I woke to a grunting sound. A gargled, angry noise from the back of someone's throat. My eyes sprang open. I had to wait several seconds for them to adjust to the lowered light. It was darker in my tree cave. The sun, if it was still up, should have peeked through the leaves. But I was guessing the stars were out now. I'd slept the rest of the day here, missed my afternoon lessons with Theo - if they had been still scheduled that is, and I was guessing not - and woke to this.

Theo hanging upside down in vines, tied up so tightly he couldn't lift a finger or open his mouth to speak. Every so often he'd incinerate them, but the speed with which more vines entrapped his body meant the effort was a waste of time. I wondered how many attempts he'd made to escape. How many vines had perished to hold him captive. For me.

An incredulous sound sprang from my lips.

"What the fuck?" I announced to the plants and man alike.

We have a gift for you, the vines whispered. How would you like him to die?

Chapter Ten

And She Makes The Earth Dance To A Delicate Tune

"Ah," I said, scrambling to my feet. I realised I was covered in dirt. It was on my face, in my hair, under the nails on my fingers. I must have looked a right sight. "Don't kill him," I instructed aloud, thinking Theo would want to hear my side of the conversation at least. He thrashed a little, set the latest vines alight and then garbled out a sound of disgust when he found himself trapped again.

I frowned. Was Earth really that much stronger than Fire?

"I still need him," I admitted on a sigh. "He's the only one who can help me."

The trees complained, they groaned and scraped their branches together. It was entirely too creepy, but I understood their anger. He'd hurt me. They didn't like it.

"You were a real arsehole," I pointed out to him and received a grunt and full body thrash in return. "What the hell are you doing here?"

His eyebrows rose, a clear indication that he couldn't speak.

"Release his mouth, but keep him contained," I added.

The vines crushing his lips unravelled and he spat out a leaf or two.

"Casey! Let me go."

"It's not me, it's them."

"They use your energy to do this. I have never been attacked by my own garden until you arrived." He did not sound happy about that.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.

"I was asleep, so I guess my hatred of you is so deep that even in my sleep I can command them to trap you."

"I guess," he replied casually.

"Why are you here, Theo?"

"I was concerned." I scoffed at that. "Aktor said you hadn't come inside since early this morning. You must be starved."

My stomach chose that moment to grumble. Traitor.

"Let me go and we'll head inside for dinner. I haven't eaten yet either."

"Why would I want to eat with you?" I demanded, angrily, if not a little immaturely. I didn't even want to be talking to him, even though I needed to. It hurt. I wasn't a masochist.

Theo sighed. "I know I was harsh." I laughed. It wasn't pretty. "But surely you realise I am right. We can't let our feelings for each other grow. It will lead nowhere."

"So you admit you have feelings for me?" And did that sound as desperate to his ears as it did to mine?

He stared at me. Time stretched. I was so sure he was going to deny it. He looked rigid, face impassive, a mask in place to shut the world out. I braced for it. I'd have to accept that Theo wasn't ready to risk more than his life for me.

"Oraia, I visited you for a year in your store," he said softly, after so much time had passed, I was getting ready to sit on the grass and have another snooze. I was awake again now. Completely. "I didn't even use my Stoicheio on you, I wanted you to take the next step when you were ready. Of course I have feelings for you. I have too many."

"Ah, crap," I whispered, because now he'd gone and done it.

I sat down on the dirt and felt tears pool in my eyes. This was a strange kind of pain. An ache so poignant that I felt hollow inside, completely emptied out and filled up with grief.

"What do we do now?" I asked, my throat constricting so tightly I had to swallow several times to get all the words out.

"We have four weeks to enjoy each other, then we go our separate ways."

"That's going to hurt," I pointed out.

"Why do you think I freaked out last night?" he replied, making me smile, because 'Theo Peters' and 'freaked out' were just words you didn't see in the same sentence. Ever.

"Let him go," I whispered, then mentally added, gently. He'd seen enough of my heart laid bare for now.

The vines unravelled and lowered Theo to the ground. He looked around stunned at their retreat. I was guessing it was the manner in which it was performed. He had just crispy-crittered several of their branches.

"You need to apologise to them," I said, still not getting up from my lotus style position in the dirt.

"Ah," Theo said, glancing around at the trees. "I was trying to protect her. Sorry."

I found it amusing that his apology was for hurting me last night, not for burning them to a crisp. They seemed happy with that though, waving gently and singing a tuneless sound on the air that was quite divine.

"You really have a delightful touch with them," he said, walking over and offering me a hand.

I stared at it for a moment, wondering if I could do this. Be with him and then walk away in four week's time.

"You can't hurt like that again, Theo," I said, still staring at his outstretched hand. It was immaculate. No dirt under the nails.

"I can't promise you that, Oraia. But know I am hurting myself as well."

What a strange statement. If it hurt him too wouldn't he avoid it?

I sighed and took the still outstretched hand. I needed answers, he could help me get them. And along the way I was going to lose my heart. There wasn't a thing I could do about it. Just wait for it to happen and hope I survived.

"I am sorry," he whispered, brushing a kiss against my cheek. When he pulled back to look at me, dirt smudged his lower lip. A smile tipped up the edges of my mouth. I couldn't help the little huff of a laugh that escaped. He cocked his head and gave me a questioning look.

"I think I need a shower," I advised instead of explaining.

"Now, what a splendid idea," Theo quipped, returning to the teaser he'd become before last night.

"And I'm hungry," I announced, as we began to wend our way out of the forest.

"We could combine the two," Theo suggested. "You lick the honey off me and I'll..."

"Theo!"

"OK, chocolate. But I bags licking the ice cream, it'll melt too quickly on my skin."

I shook my head. How could I stop this, when he could be so full of light and fun? He made me want to fall for him. He made me not realise I had already handed him my heart.

"You're very dangerous," I whispered. If he heard me, he chose not to remark.

Aktor was pacing when we walked through the side door to the house. He took one look at me and burst into a flurry of activity.

"What's he doing?" I asked, as we followed in his slipstream.

"Probably running you a bath and then creating a masterpiece for your meal. He's rather fond of you."

"He only met me last night."

"Yes, well, you must have made an impression."

"Hardly, I argued about what he should call me."

"He always did like a girl with spirit," Theo pointed out. I just laughed. "That," he whispered in my ear, "is so much better. I missed it. I'm so..."

"Stop!" I insisted, turning to face him. We were on the landing near our rooms. "It happened, it's passed. If you keep apologising, it'll make me nervous. And if you keep being nice to me, I'll..." Now it was my turn to not complete the sentence.

"We are a fine pair," Theo announced, brushing some loose tendrils of my hair back off my face. "Shall we make a promise to each other? Despite what happens, where we both end up, we try to enjoy this for as long as we have it."

I nodded.

"I want to show you off tonight. Bathe, get dressed and meet me downstairs for a quick bite to eat."

So, the plans were still on track. For some reason that made me feel sad. I don't know why. I guess it was the reality it brought to the front of my mind. Theo may have declared some sort of feelings for me, but I had more pressing matters to be concerned with right now. I couldn't enjoy the sensation of believing he felt the same way as me, I didn't have that luxury. And with reality, came doubt. In front of his kind how would he act? Alone he could show he cared, no one would judge. Out there, with Pyrkagia watching, I was thinking things would be different.

I needed to stay strong. To hold on to the knowledge that I meant something to him, more than just the arrangement we had, even if I wasn't sure what that something yet was. It was all I had, so I'd hold it close and ignore everything else. Even if in my heart I knew that something was not enough to overcome centuries of mistrust.

I wore a blue dress. It matched the colour of my eyes. It hugged my body like the green one did, but rather than leaves encasing me, it felt like water wrapped around my frame, shimmering in the lights. When I moved, the dress moved. Not with me, but against me. But not in a way that felt wrong. Just in a way that made you notice. My body beneath the waves. Every single curve.

I hadn't chosen it. Theo obviously had. It was waiting for me when I exited the bathroom. Along with shoes and a small jewellery box. My hand shook when I opened the velvet lid, not because I was worried about what lay within - well, not really - but because I'd never received a gift like this before. Inside were sapphire stud earrings. So plain, but their simplicity complemented the simplicity of the wave dress.

It also was a small enough gift for me not to freak out over. I think Theo knew me pretty well.

I walked down the stairs and into the parlour. I hadn't explored Theo's house yet, but the smell of something delicious was coming from there. Theo stood by the fire, it was roaring. He clearly felt the need to feed before we went out. And I wasn't referring to the food in the domed dishes off to the side.

He also looked like he was talking to himself, not exactly muttering, but having a full blown conversation.

"Are you OK?" I asked, as I approached.

He straightened, said something in Greek, which made the flames flare brighter in the hearth and then turned around to look at me. There was a smile on his face. It grew once he took in the sight of me in the dress.

"I am now," he husked, reaching out a hand for me to take. I slipped my fingers into his palm and let him pull me closer. His face nestled into my neck, a move so familiar it stunned.

I shouldn't have been so relaxed about this intimacy. I'd never been this relaxed with a man before in my life. But Theo was chipping through my walls, slowly worming his way inside. Even last night, although it hurt me, strangely made me feel closer to him. How is that possible?

"Were you just talking to yourself?" I asked, in an effort to change the course of my thoughts.

"Communicating with one of my Guard." Huh. Communicating through the fire. Very cool.

"There will be some powerful Pyrkagia in attendance tonight," he whispered, moving on from supernatural tom-tom drums and running his lips up my neck, taking advantage of my compliant state, I think. His breath washed my ear for a suspended moment, then his teeth tugged gently on my lobe.

Oh dear God. What was this?

His arm slipped around my waist and pulled me against his body, chest to chest, hips to hips. I sucked in air at the intimate contact. I liked it. It scared me. I wanted more.

"I need to be at full strength should any strike," he whispered. I stiffened in his arms and his tongue lay a trail down the side of my neck, around past my collar bone, and then dipped between my breasts.

"Are you trying to distract me Theo, from what you just said?" My words were entirely too breathless.

"Absolutely. Is it working? It's working for me." He groaned and shamelessly buried his face between my mounds.

My legs gave out.

He scrambled to catch me.

"Bloody hell. Am I that good?"

I laughed feebly and worked on locking my knees.

"Ah, Miss Inexperience here," I said, waving my hand as if to say hello. Heat washed not only my face, but my entire body, I think.

He gave me a wide smile. Then it slowly fell. His forehead came and rested against mine. He didn't say anything, but I knew what he was thinking. Why was I not born Pyrkagia? It was the same look he wore every other time he wished for that.

He cleared his throat.

"A few things you need to know." Businesslike, if you ignored the huskiness at the edge of each word. "Do not go all green on me. Keep those beautiful peepers contained. You may have permission to be here, you may be on my arm, but to a Pyrkagia, any sign of your Stoicheio will still be considered an attack." Oh, boy. "Stay close to me. Do not wander off. If I get into an argument, do not come to my aid. I am more powerful than most, and those that I am not as strong as, will have only gotten that way by politically playing it safe. I am the Rigas' son, to harm me, would be to draw his wrath. Even if I am out of my father's favour right now."

"You are?"

He pulled back and stared at me with a strange look on his face.

"Oraia, he threatened me with the Brazen Bull."

I laughed. "The what?"

"It is not a laughing matter. It's an ancient Greek torture device that boils its victims alive. Being an Athanatos we can endure it for a very long time before even we pass out."

I stared back at him, horrified.

"He'd do that?"

A look passed over his face that I never want to see again. My hand came up and cupped his cheek. He would have seen the mortification in my eyes. Hell, he probably saw the green.

"See," he whispered. "This is what I'm worried about. You lack control over your reactions. Green." My eyes. I was right. "You have such delicate command of your Stoicheio, but you wear your heart on your sleeve, Oraia. You need to be more careful." He hadn't said any of that harshly, if anything, he'd said it with a look of infinite pain on his face. He leaned forward, when his speech was done, and kissed me softly. A chaste kiss that I felt right through my lips and into my heart.

"Then stop making me care," I whispered back, meaning anything but what I said.

"Before the night is through, sweet Cassandra, you may well have your wish." He pulled away and turned to the domed lids of the food.

Ominous words indeed.

I was too nervous to eat. I picked at the offerings, knowing they were delicious, but not tasting a thing. I was too scared. Too panicked about what would face us at the event we were about to attend. Theo had gone silent too. But he ate more than me. Obviously made of sterner stuff. With a father like that, I could see why. He'd had to be.

Aktor saw us off at the door. Pleased to see me dirt-free, I think. He really was quite a sweet old man.

"How old is Aktor?" I asked, as we drove down the driveway. I needed something other than impending doom to think about.

"Oh, I don't know for sure," Theo said, thinking about my question for a moment. "I guess, he served the elders. Somehow he was handed to me. From the look of him, I'd say at least twenty, maybe twenty-five."

I huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, right. Twenty-five years old." I snorted. Then hiccuped, trying to pull the snort back in. It sounded ridiculous.

Theo smiled through it all, then calmly said, "Twenty-five millennia, Oraia. We are Athanatos. Practically immortal."

I froze in my seat. My mind just went completely blank. What? What did he just say? Street lights blurred and strobed outside my window, the chaotic sounds of Auckland city at night felt like they came to me from down a very long tunnel. The pressure in the air, inside the car, crushed. I struggled for breath. My hand shook when I raised it to my forehead.

The car began to slow, but my breathing didn't. I'm not sure how much time had passed since Theo had answered my question and sent me spiralling into what was obviously a decent panic attack. But enough for us to make it from Mountain Road to Parnell.

"What?" I finally managed to get out between stiff lips.

And received a muttered swearword in Greek from Theo, who had parked the car and turned to look at me, getting his first real view of my uncontrolled state.

"I should have gone over this sooner," he muttered to himself. His hand gripped the steering wheel tightly, as though he wished to break it. Then his gaze scanned my face, lingering on my eyes. Whatever he saw made him frown; his brow furrowing and his lips dipping down at the edges.

"OK, Casey Eden," he said, suddenly sounding like a drill sergeant. It didn't help the swirl of shock and anxiety inside my head, right then. "We don't have time for this now, we've arrived at the venue and have already been seen. Dig deep, sweetheart, and push it from your mind. We'll talk about it when we get home. For now, get rid of the green and stop making the Earth shudder. I can feel it through the tyres, so I should think the guests will be quite aware you're throwing a tantrum."

I stared at him, vaguely aware that the vehicle did have a greenish hue.

"Oraia, please," he pleaded. Swore in Greek again, and then cupped my temples with both hands, his palms shielding some of the glow from my eyes.

But, no doubt, not all of it.

I gasped, I'm not sure if it was from the sudden proximity of Theo or just the realisation finally that I needed to get myself under control.

Before I could manage to deal with either of those thoughts, though, the car door sprang open at my side.

"What the hell, Theo!" Nico's voice sounded out over my shoulder. "Way to make an entrance. Control your Gi. Pyrkagia is watching."

Control your Gi. Pyrkagia is watching.

I sucked in a deep breath, closed my eyelids and willed my body to relax. Theo kept his hands cupping the sides of my head, his thumbs gently stroking over my cheeks. Seconds passed. Maybe as long as a minute, and then I pulled free of his too comfortable hold and turned to look at Nico.

He didn't seem angry, as I had expected him to be after that announcement. If anything, he looked concerned. For Theo? Or for me?

"I'm new to this," I said haltingly, still reeling from the latest information dump; how old - or should that be ancient - Aktor was. "I was human only a couple of days ago," I defended.

I have no idea why I said that. I'm not even sure if Theo trusted Nico enough to be divulging this secret at all. But Theo didn't correct me, or stop me, he just met Nico's gaze over my shoulder.

Something flashed in Nico's eyes. Not colour, not gold, but more an emotion; a reaction to what I was or had been, or to the confirmation he saw in Theo's face.

He sucked in a slow breath of air, scanned my face briefly, then murmured, "And she makes the Earth dance to a delicate tune." His eyes coming back up to lock on Theo's. "Just what have you uncovered, Cousin?"

And gone was the concern of before. Now he looked positively frightened... laced with a little awe.

Chapter Eleven

Time For Bed, Cinderella

"She is mine," Theo reminded Nico, then slipped out of his side of the car.

"Touchy isn't he?" Nico said, offering me his hand and lightening the moment with his witty remark.

I took the offered palm and slipped mine inside. His fingers wrapped around my smaller hand. It felt... like nothing. One hand in another. How could Theo's touch bring out such delicious sensations and Nico's do nothing to me at all?

Theo gently pushed Nico aside and offered me his arm instead. My lips quirked up. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Theo was rather protective of me and he saw Nico as a threat. Nico caught my eye and winked. He'd not missed the possessive action either.

"What should we expect in there?" Theo asked under his breath, his eyes taking in the curious gazes of those people still standing outside the venue. It was a restaurant. One of those fancy, big ones, that could be used for private functions. A sign off to the side of the double doors read, Welcome, Peters Corporation. Enjoy your night.

"Curiosity, mainly," Nico whispered back. "But be warned, Leon and Mikkos are here." Theo sighed. "They've been asking pointed questions. They suspect your Cassandra is an agent. Having just returned from Athens, I can understand why."

Theo turned narrowed eyes on his cousin.

"And you? What do you suspect?" he asked darkly. I was thinking if Nico had any sense he'd say exactly what Theo wanted to hear.

"Theo, I know you. You would not risk Pyrkagia." I wasn't sure how to feel about that statement. Was it a good thing that Theo still wanted me here, when his loyalty to his race was so staunch? For some reason the logic that said that was a good thing, wasn't in me. The young, innocent woman inside wanted a declaration of love above all else.

I wasn't ever going to get it. Even if Theo had deeper feelings for me. He was prepared to let me go in four weeks time. Pyrkagia held his heart, not me.

Theo nodded to his cousin and turned his face to me. He smiled. I could see the mask of an actor slipping into place. In there, we would be on a stage. In there, I would be on show. Just what did they want to see? I smiled back, hoping my acting skills were going to be as good as Theo's.

We started heading toward the entrance but didn't make it inside. From out of nowhere, people approached. Some blatantly staring at me. Their gaze taking in my attire, how Theo held my arm in his, and my eyes to see if they were green. And then confusion crossed their faces briefly when they registered my dark blonde hair, not brunette. I could see the question flash on their faces. One after the other. But like Theo, they seemed to put my difference to a Gi's normal appearance down to hair dye.

It was obvious when they came to that conclusion, because the mask of inquisitiveness was replaced with wariness instead. The next time their eyes assessed me, from head to toe, the looks were calculating and guarded.

I didn't think the story of being a refugee seeking asylum in Pyrkagia was going to cut it. They'd all assumed, like Theo, that I was a spy. Why else would I hide my appearance? Until they were told, or my eyes flashed green - or a plant did something untoward in my presence - they would think me human. The hair colour was an obvious ploy to throw them off the scent.

I understood then, that Theo had only been acting as any Pyrkagia would. Threatened by my duplicity. But I wasn't deceitful and I had no way of making them understand that.

Instead I held my head high, looked them in the eye and dared them to challenge me.

Where on earth had this courage come from? It's not as though I couldn't hold a conversation with my customers or people on the street before. My reticence had always been when interacting in a social setting with the opposite sex. But despite that distinction, I was not what I would call brave. But somewhere along the line, somewhere between falling in that pit of dirt and being buried for two days, to here; facing off against these opinionated people, I'd found a spine. I straightened it. And faced the growing circumspection from the crowd.

Theo shook hands, spoke easily with a few more talkative of those to approach, and slowly pushed us forward until we entered the restaurant itself. Inside were so many more dark haired, tanned skinned, hazel eyed Peters. The Peters Corporation enjoyed nepotism, it seemed. I worked on breathing steadily, on smiling when those in the room approached and on ignoring the obvious whispers circulating the room.

"What have you here, Theo?" a man, slightly older than Theo, asked as he approached. Of course, I had no hope of guessing his age. I stifled the almost-sob that wanted to escape on the reminder of what these creatures were. I couldn't, as yet, categorise myself in with them. It was hard enough to think of immortality being a reality, there was no way I'd except that I was now a member of that exclusive club.

The man had a stunningly gorgeous woman on his arm. She wore the typical Pyrkagia traits, but she carried herself in a regal fashion. I wondered if she was a princess to Theo's prince.

"Damon, Sophia," Theo replied, shaking the man's hand and leaning in to kiss the cheek of the woman's. "How have you been?"

"Nothing of note to report, but you, on the other hand, are the talk of century." That phrase had so much more literal meaning now. "Who is this delightful Gi?" he asked, reaching forward and clasping my hand. He lifted it slowly to his lips to kiss my knuckles, his eyes on mine. I was thinking to see if he could make them turn green.

Heat. Fire. A burn so deep that it threatened to set my blood alight, ran through my body. Goosebumps rose up my arm. His now gold-flecked eyes shifted from my face to the hand he held, noting the physical response to his Stoicheio. The woman watched on with mild curiosity. Her partner's behaviour was not a surprise, he'd already warned her. She knew he was testing my control.

"Tell me," I said, cocking my head to the side to hide the frantic beating of my pulse at the base of my neck. My words were slightly breathy. "If it is considered an attack for me to use my Stoicheio, what am I to make of this?"

The man, Damon, stood upright and released my hand as though it was something foul.

"If you choose to entertain such a creature, Theo, do not be alarmed if your position is challenged. Many here believe you have lost your mind with this enterprise. The Rigas has refused to pass comment, letting the masses decide your fate. You would risk all you have worked for with this impertinent Gi?"

I expected Theo to defend me, but he didn't.

"The dare is to tame her, Damon. The prize is defiling one of their most treasured possessions." I told myself it was an act. I knew in my mind, that is was an act. But I couldn't stop my heart from plummeting. I caught myself before a reaction could show.

It was an act.

It was an act.

No, repetition didn't work.

The man returned his now hazel eyes to my face.

"She is royal?"

"She has not confirmed it, but her control of her Stoicheio would lead me to believe such."

Why would he say that? Surely it would cause more speculation, increase the chance of danger for me. What would making them believe I am royal do? I couldn't fathom it. It made no sense. Theo made no sense at all.

"Well, then. I shall await with eager anticipation your success."

"As do I," Theo said with a bow, moving us past the couple.

I didn't get a chance to whisper a query or to figure that last interaction out in my head. We were assailed by another equally judgemental couple. This time Theo didn't repeat I was Gi royalty, he just blatantly said I was worth every moment of discomfort, as my performance was unparalleled.

Oh sweet agony. It was an act. It had to be. But with another and then another disparaging comment, I felt the weight of all Aktor's millennia on my shoulders and in my heart. I'd known that I would need to be strong to endure this evening, I just hadn't realised that I wasn't strong enough. I'd tried. I'd held my head up high, I'd made that pointed comment to Damon, but as the evening progressed, and one after another, after another, after another of Theo's equals brought out more and more snide remarks, fuelling Theo's heart shattering responses, I was drowned.

I took my last breath in and felt only crushing water in my lungs.

My eyes blurred with the need to shed a tear, or turn green, I'm not sure. To not be able to fight back, when countless Pyrkagia tried to push my buttons with their Stoicheio, was sheer hell. I wasn't sure if I could forgive Theo for putting me through this. Was it really necessary to bring me so low? Is this what he meant by breaking me, moulding me into compliance? I was agreeable, shattered but standing beside him without any fire in my belly at all.

This was a cruel world. And I did not like it.

"Theo," someone called and I didn't bother to lift my head from its angle, staring blindly at the floor. "Theo!" the woman shouted out again. A breath of air escaped through my noise forcefully. Even when numb I was capable of differentiating a female's voice from a male's.

"Isadora? When did you get back?" Theo sounded happy. I lifted my head.

My eyes rose in time to see a woman lean in and kiss Theo on the lips. His arm left mine and he gripped her shoulders, returning the kiss briefly.

"Why didn't you tell me your were home?" Theo asked.

She laughed in answer, obviously pleased to see him. When she pulled back her eyes ran over his face, chest, then she leaned back further and let her gaze take all of him in. Gold flashed across her hazel eyes.

The numbness receded.

"I've only just landed. Came straight here to see everyone. Tell me, what's been happening while I've been gone?"

Theo glanced at me. What was that look on his face? Regret?

"First you," he said, returning his attention to the woman, who on closer inspection, was utterly gorgeous. Of course she was.

"I'll be giving my update to the council tomorrow. I gather you'll be attending?" she said, her eyes having never left him yet. I wasn't sure if she knew I was even there.

"Ah," Theo said. "I'm taking a break from politics right now."

She frowned delicately. "Why? You're the Rigas' right hand man. You need to be there for this brief. Things are progressing much faster than we predicted."

"Tell me," he said, sounding entirely too caught up in the conversation now.

"Not here," she replied, "and besides, I can't divulge anything until the Rigas is made aware. Even to you, my love."

And if I had any belief I'd survive this evening, it just shattered beyond repair.

"Well," Theo said with a smile that I knew was false bravado at its best. It seemed I'd gotten to know Theo in a short amount of time too. I searched to see if the woman could pick up what I had seen in that smile. She hadn't, her eyes were now on me.

She interrupted Theo by asking, "Who is your plaything?" Ouch.

"Isadora, this is Cassandra," Theo said, a little awkwardly I thought.

"You didn't tell me you were entertaining a human while I was gone." Isadora didn't sound awkward, she sounded hurt. She also hadn't heard the rumours.

My eyes flicked to Theo's, his were on Isadora’s face. He looked a little sad.

"Dora," he said, voice soft and barely audible. His nickname for her so intimate. I didn't need any Stoicheio to make my face heat. Her gaze shifted back. A smile as false as the one Theo had worn graced her lovely lips.

"It's all right, darling. I understand. I was gone for such a long term, this time. When you have had your fill, you know where to find me."

I blinked in shock. No way in hell could I be so forgiving of someone, who was obviously very close to me, cheating. Not that Theo was cheating on her with me. Well, he kind of was, but not entirely, not all the way. We'd only kissed. And I was living in his house. And he had been ostracised by his father, the King, for four weeks in order to have me. Nothing really.

Right.

"What is your name, child?" Isadora, Dora, said, a brave countenance on her face. She'd obviously not heard Theo's introduction, I decided to stick with his name for me, he seemed to want everyone to call me that.

"Cassandra," I said, surprised to note compassion in my voice for the woman.

She blinked slowly. "You know some of our world, if Theodoros has brought you here this evening."

I nodded.

"Isadora," Theo tried to interrupt, but she held a delicate hand up to stall him. I noticed it shook slightly.

"Enjoy him while he enjoys you," she advised, "but do not think he can give you more than his body."

Oh, now this was awkward.

"Dora!" Theo persisted, this time in a tone that made her head jerk up. "Cassandra is Gi."

Holy freak out. Gold glowed fiercely from her eyes, I was so sure she'd blind me. She turned her shocked face towards me, and I felt the heat of her Fire, before I saw it. Theo suddenly stepped between us and took the blast of her righteous anger instead of me. He staggered slightly, but didn't retaliate. I could see smoke wafting off the shoulders of his suit jacket. His fists were clenched at his sides, but I couldn't see his face, or hers. He was too tall and broad in the shoulders for me to see past. And I admit, I was making myself as small as possible right then. All eyes had turned to us. No one spoke a murmured sound throughout the room.

"What have you done?" Isadora whispered harshly. "What the hell have you done, Theo?"

I expected him to come back with some cutting remark about how good I was in bed, or how much he enjoyed the idea of bringing a Gi to their knees, or any of the number of other responses he'd had on his lips tonight. But he didn't. He said nothing. As though speaking an untruth would harm this woman more. She meant something to him. And I felt myself retreat a little further inside myself at that knowledge.

This was good. This is was I needed to hear and see. Theo was never to be mine anyway, and pretending he was, being hurt when I had no right to be hurt, were luxuries not available to me.

For some reason I felt stronger in the face of this insurmountable truth. It gave me the courage I had been lacking in order to face the rest of the next four weeks. I needed Theo for answers. No matter what, I could not need him, want him, for any more.

This was good.

"Isadora, let me explain," Theo finally said, his voice infinitely soft and caring.

"No. I see now why you will not be attending the meeting tomorrow. We should not be conversing at all. I will not have you bring me down too, Theo. I have worked too hard for the position I hold."

"Have we not been friends for millennia?" he said quietly. I pushed the evidence of his vast age aside for now. One calamity at time was enough to handle. "Have I not been a good friend in all of those long years?"

"You have been a true friend," Isadora admitted, I think she had leaned forward and placed a hand on his chest. "So, this is why I speak freely. Get rid of her, before it's too late. For all of our sakes."

"It already is," he whispered back. He had leaned forward, his hands clasping her shoulders again, and whispered those words in her ear. He jerked, when he said them. I was thinking because she did. A full body spasm against his chest.

Her pain-filled response felt like a blow to my heart, because I knew it would hurt Theo.

"Good-bye," she choked out, and then she extricated herself from his stiff arms and walked away, head held high, gold washing out before her.

Theo stood still for so long, I thought he might have forgotten me. When he finally turned back to look down at me, he wore a mask. No emotion, whatsoever, graced his fine features. His eyes flicked over my shoulder and he nodded to someone I couldn't see. Then he turned on his heels and walked away. In the same direction that Isadora had.

I wasn't sure if I should follow. Part of me wanted to comfort him so badly, the other part, the intelligent part, did not want to see him beg her to take him back. I stood immobile, breathing too quickly, in the centre of that horrid, horrid room. With so many accusing eyes on my body. So much prickly heat threatening to do me harm.

I was about to turn around and run from the building when Nico appeared at my side.

"Time for bed, Cinderella," he murmured beside me. A little subdued from his earlier self. He offered me his arm, like Theo does, and said, "Your carriage awaits."

So, he was to be my escort out of here and I was going home to Theo's house alone.

Chapter Twelve

And The Butler Hadn't Batted An Eyelash

When I was a little girl I dreamed about being a princess. Who doesn't? My prince would be tall and handsome. He would be rich and carry himself well. He would fight for the weaker and for justice. And he would love me like no one had ever been loved before. It was a sweet childhood daydream.

And it's not as though I thought I had found my prince in Theo. A prince, certainly, but not mine. But nowhere in that child's dream did I consider the prince would love someone else.

The depth of my confusion astounded me.

I barely heard a word Nico said on the drive back to Mountain Road. When the tyres crunched on the gravel driveway I woke as though from a hazy nightmare. And I knew I would never consider being a princess ever again. Hell, if I made it out of this mess alive, I was going to be ahead of the game.

"Thank you," I murmured as I opened my door and climbed from the car. I didn't walk toward the steps of the house where Aktor was waiting. I rounded the bonnet of the car and headed towards the trees.

I heard Nico's door close behind him and his footsteps cross the gravel in my wake. I stopped on the edge of the grass that led to my forest.

When had I started calling it mine?

"Do you want to know about them?" he asked from over my shoulder.

I shook my head to say, no.

"It might help," Nico offered.

I turned slowly to face him, searching for the truth in his face. I sighed. He looked embarrassed for me. I was embarrassed enough on my own without knowing he felt it on my behalf too.

I resumed walking toward the forest. It took the whispering of the trees to inform me that Nico had followed. He was either a very brave man to enter my domain, or utterly ignorant of what I could do here.

I stopped in the small cave that I had spent time resting in that day. Where Theo had hung from the vines and incinerated them earlier. Where he had laid on the ground when I was so desperately needing to feed. Holding me. I thought I could get away from him here, obviously I was fooling myself.

"Why are you here, Nico?" I asked, reaching out and stroking a leaf on a nearby tree.

"Actually, I'm curious to see your Stoicheio at work. There's something about you that has Theo enchanted. I'm trying to understand."

"I'm not a science experiment."

"No, but you cannot deny you intrigue us. A Gi on Pyrkagia land. Why are you really here, Casey Eden?"

I turned to look at him. Was this the real reason for following me into my trees? He didn't believe that I'd been human once. He believed, like the rest of Pyrkagia believed, that I was here as a Gi spy and he wanted to test my strength, my command of my Stoicheio.

I wasn't sure if I was disappointed in this revelation or tired of beating my head against a brick wall. Why had I even admitted the truth to him earlier? It was clearly a waste of everyone's time.

"I might point out," I said in a deceptively soft voice, "in the fairness of disclosure, that Theo was unable to escape my vines with his Fire. You should know, that even the mighty Theo Peters couldn't better my Stoicheio."

"Ah," Nico said, starting to walk the circumference of the space under the canopy of leaves we were in. "You mistake restraint for weakness. Has it not occurred to you that he wished to keep you happy, to not alienate you by burning to the ground the one thing that feeds you on his property?"

Good point. My eyes lowered to the leaf strewn floor.

"I might point out," Nico continued, a little cockily, "in the fairness of disclosure of course, that Theodoros Petropoulos is one of our most powerful Pyrkagia. There would only be a handful stronger. He is slated for our next Rigas."

My eyelids closed slowly. No wonder everyone thought he'd lost his mind.

"So, what's the point of all of this?" I asked, waving a hand between Nico and myself.

"I have known Theo for over three millennia." I didn't blink at the unfathomable period of time. I was past shock and awe now. This was real. This was life. I can't say I had accepted it, but I had stopped being surprised by it. "We grew up together. Did all the things young lads should do. Got into trouble. Pissed off our parents. Competed for the most delicious morsels at the table." I was betting that wasn't the same type of table I grew up eating at. "Through all of that he and Isadora have remained friends."

I sat down on the ground and leaned against a tree trunk. If I had to hear this I'd do it with a little support at my back. I stretched my legs out, letting the skirt of my dress fan out across the ground. Nico's lips twitched at my comfortable appearance and lack of concern for what was, no doubt, a thousand dollar dress. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down opposite me, back against another trunk. His long legs stretched out before him, almost touching the tip of my high heeled shoes.

"She loves him, of course," he said, picking up his story easily. I kept a neutral look on my face, but held his gaze. I did need to hear this. "From time to time they would become more than friends. The length of our lives is so great, we are all reluctant to commit. Several thousand years with one partner is daunting, no?" Nico said, offering up a crooked smile. "Theo would grow restless, and Isadora would let him go. This is a cycle that has repeated throughout time for them both. She holds him for as long as he lets her, then relinquishes that hold when he starts to pull away."

I let a slow incredulous breath out.

"So, he uses her to get his jollies, then walks off to find something shiny and new when he's grown bored."

"Basically that sums it up," Nico said merrily, quite at odds to the mood on the air just then.

"Great, thanks for letting me know how it is. As I only have four weeks here, he'll be free to pursue another cycle with your girl. It did appear they hadn't seen each other for a while. Maybe it's time for a re-run."

Nico stared at me for several seconds, I wasn't sure what emotion was on his face.

"It is the way of an Athanatos, Casey," he finally said. "You are new to this life, you don't understand." Holy heck, he did believe I was human once. "Theo will never commit to anyone. Not you, but also not Dora. She has no more hold over him than you do. I thought that would ease your suffering somehow. I thought it would help you understand how we live. How we survive. Marriage is sacred to our kind. When we split the branches of the Ekmetalleftis, many marriages were torn apart brutally. Since then, marriage has been revered. We no longer have a God to pray to, but we certainly have something to place our faith within. Not many Ekmetalleftis divorce. They would undoubtedly be shunned."

"Why would you think I would harbour a wish to marry him?"

"Humans have such a limited range of thought," he said, rather judgementally. "To you, love means marriage. The full trimmings. You are still human in your thoughts, Casey. I can see it. Theo can see it. If you're not careful, so will every other Athanatos you meet. You love him, so your heart can't stop leading you to the next step. Love - marriage - babies. Isn't that how it goes?"

"You know, I don't think I like you very much," I pointed out.

Nico laughed, a full body rumble. "Sometimes the truth hurts."

"Now, you see, I would have said, 'sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind'. But I guess, I'm just a nicer person."

"I see the Fire," he murmured. "You don't show it much. You hold it inside. But, by God, when you let a little of it out, it scorches. No wonder he is intrigued."

I shook my head. Nico was not going to be any assistance in working out what the hell had become of my life. He had a sharp edge to him, I was guessing it was what Theo had been careful of that first night. He must still trust his cousin, because he wouldn't let his 'possession' go home with just anyone and he hadn't baulked when I divulged my human history in the car. But I didn't think that trust was infinite. And it certainly wasn't enough to make me trust the man either.

"Well thanks for the education," I said, settling my hands into the loose soil at my sides. "But I think I've heard enough."

He cocked his head at me, that crooked smile on his face again. It was laced with amusement, and a little incredulity, and a whole lot of cocky self-assurance. He didn't like being dismissed. I knew I shouldn't do it. The more people I alienated, the more danger I was in. But I'd had a rough night. So many hurtful things had been said. I felt stronger now. Truth did cause pain, but it was a necessity. But I also didn't need Nico Peters pushing that lesson home. I was thinking he enjoyed my discomfort. I was sick of not being able to push back.

"Now would be a good time to leave, Nico," I suggested, as the trees began to sway slowly, and the leaves tinkled delicately around us. The Earth beneath my fingers sighed; drawing from me, giving back. A low rumble sounded out, like the growl of a volcano waking up. My warning to Nico.

"Will I make it out unscathed?" he asked casually, seemingly without any fear at all. He stood gracefully to his feet, but had to keep his stance wide to maintain his balance.

"I haven't decided yet," I replied, toying with him a little.

"You may be his current pet, Casey Eden, but even he would not tolerate an attack without reason."

I blinked up at him as he stood towering above me. And I thought, you know what, I don't care. I felt my lips curve into a mischievous smile.

"You want a demonstration of my Stoicheio, Nico?" He just held my gaze, a small smattering of gold seeping into his eyes. "You want something to tell the gossip-mongers?" My hands sunk deeper into the ground beneath me. The Earth shook eagerly at my touch. "All you have to do is ask," I said softly.

His returning smile was just as wicked. "You don't have it in you," he breathed.

"Pyrkagia against Gi," I said with a shrug. "Which would win out?"

"You want a challenge? A duel?" He seemed suddenly very keen. "You don't stand a chance, little Gi. I am millennia older than you. You cannot hope to match my experience."

I laughed. It didn't really sound like me. "What I lack in experience I make up in desire. Someone once told me that humans were incredibly greedy. Well, I crave to knock that smug look right off your face. I'm eager for the chance."

"Stand up," he ordered, face set hard. "I will not strike a woman when she is down."

"How very noble of you," I said, slowly shifting, taking my time. "So, you agree to my challenge?"

"Face me on equal footing and I'll answer your query then."

Oh, I didn't trust this man at all. But I couldn't help smiling at his attempts at trickery.

"Very well," I came to my feet, green washing the space before me, mixing with the gold gleam from his eyes.

He sucked in a breath.

"How long since you last faced a Gi?" I asked, stunned at his reaction to my eyes.

"It's been a very long time," he answered on a whisper. "I must admit, I had forgotten how stunning you all were. Many Pyrkagia favoured Gi before the Alchemists arrived. I see the appeal now."

And then he struck without warning. I took that as agreement to my challenge and threw myself sideways out of the blast of his flames. The crackle of the tree behind where I had been standing sent loud pops into the air as it burned. I rolled away under the bushes beside me, allowing the vines to wrap around my body and hoist me into the air. I watched from above as Nico threw a wave of flames out from his hand, turning slowly in a circle to incinerate everything in a one metre radius from his body.

Oh hell no. I hadn't expected him to be so keen to harm my trees. I'm sorry, I whispered to them. Hang in there, I pleaded.

Grasping a thorny vine at my side, I sliced my wrist deeply. The pain sent adrenaline through my veins. Smoke had started to rise from where Nico burned the forest, choking in my throat and lungs as I sucked in a gasp of air from the sharp smart on my arm. My eyes stung, my chest ached. I started coughing, a hacking sound that Nico heard over the loud hiss and crackle of the flames.

His gold eyes lifted up directly to where I hung suspended above him. His face grew impressed, and then his smile turned calculating. The flames of those trees burning beneath me licked higher and higher, until I could feel the heat scorching the bare skin of my legs. The hem of my dress caught fire in the next instant, the vines sacrificing themselves frantically to pat the flames out.

My skin blistered. My vision dimmed.

And a single drop of my blood hit the ground. It sizzled in the intense inferno, but enough of it seeped in for the Earth to hear my desperate plea.

Take him deep, keep him safe, hold him for me.

The ground rolled and a thunderous sound rang out on the air. Trees hurled against each other, the crack of branches deafening, the screech of bark against bark painful to my ears. They were not happy. My forest of trees was in pain, but the pain of burning was nothing to the pain they could feel through that single drop of my blood. My pain.

Fire licked up my legs, skin peeled painfully from my flesh. I'd stopped breathing some time ago. The vines, trying to get me out of the flames, had taken me higher, as high as the top of the trees that still stood, could allow. But the smoke and heat still found me, even if the actual flames couldn't quite reach that far.

I heard a deep rumbling sound that shook the trees and vines that held me, and then I knew the ground had opened up below.

Nico screamed, then corrected himself with a litany of swear words in Greek. The trees nearest the hole toppled over, falling against each other and fuelling the blaze, making the flames lick higher, creating more and more smoke. Slowly I was carried away from the centre of that inferno and lowered to the ground where I could escape. But my legs wouldn't hold me. I collapsed to the soil at my feet, sending more of my blood into the Earth, begging it to take Nico deep and do what was needed to save the rest of the forest from his Fire.

Within minutes those trees that burned were swallowed along with Nico, until all that was left was a large circle of charred ground. A few burnt branches and stumps here and there. But nothing else.

I sucked in the first clean breath of air I'd managed for over ten minutes and hacked up a lungful of dark muck. Disgusting. And then, with nothing else to distract me or stop me, I cried. It was the type of sobbing that took every ounce of your body's strength. It came from deep inside, somewhere no one should have to go. It was dark and lonely and ached something fierce with guilt and sadness and, I admit, regret.

Was I so proud that I would risk my trees to prove a point? Was I that weak I couldn't just turn the other cheek? My sob racked my entire frame, my tears washed the soil beneath my face. My fists gripped the dirt, trying to hold on to something, to stop myself from floating away into the darkness that encroached.

It was hands on my shoulders shaking me gently that reached me first, not his voice or kind words. I lifted my head from the dirt, my hair knotted with mud and leaves and twigs, my face streaked with ash.

"Aktor?" I choked out on a sob.

"Come, Miss Eden. Let's get you inside before the master returns."

"I want to stay here with my plants," I insisted.

Aktor shook his head, his face understanding but firm. "If he sees what his cousin did, he will... well, let's just not chance it."

I stumbled to my feet with the old butler's help. He was stronger than he looked, he practically took my full weight with an arm around my waist. I noticed my legs, although pink and shiny, as though new skin had appeared, were no longer burnt or blistered. I let a little hysterical laugh out at the sight of my immortality. I had healed from Theo's blisters at my neck before, from the King's knife at my throat. But this was the first time it truly registered.

"He won't be able to breathe down there," I said aloud, unsure if Aktor could keep up with my wandering mind.

"He'll survive, unless you instructed the Earth to behead him." He said it so casually, as though it was such a simple thing.

"Of course not!" I exclaimed. "I asked it to keep him safe."

"And I would expect nothing less, Cassandra," Aktor remarked, as we climbed the steps into the house.

"What have I done?" I asked beseechingly.

"What you had to do, dear," Aktor replied kindly, leading me into my room. A bath had been drawn, clean clothes waiting beside it.

"Did you do this?" I asked. My mind seemed to be disjointed, I couldn't complete a train of thought before jumping to another.

"When I saw the trees begin to collapse in on themselves and get swallowed in the hole, I knew you were almost through." He'd been watching and waiting for me to get it out of my system.

"What must you think of me?" I said softly, realising it was similar words to those Theo had used once.

"My dear, you have done nothing worse than any other adolescent Athanatos. Would it make you feel better if I told you Theodoros burnt his father's castle to the ground and Nicodromos char-grilled an entire heard of sheep once? Neither had intended to, they were just flexing their muscles."

A small exhausted giggle escaped my lips.

"I dare say Nicodromos was well aware you needed to get this out of your system," the old man said softly at the door on his way out. "If I were you, I'd keep him there for an hour, no more. Just a suggestion." And then he left, leaving me feeling strangely at home in this world, despite the aches and scrapes and guilt and annoying burnt flesh smell.

I was a three day old Athanatos and I'd just thrown my first tantrum. And the butler hadn't batted an eyelash.

Chapter Thirteen

Jumping Around The Clearing As Though I Was Dancing On Hot Coals

Theo arrived home before the hour was up. I was downstairs in the parlour, looking out the window at the forest, trying to find enough courage to go rescue Nico and ask the trees for my forgiveness. I wasn't sure what would be harder to face. Nico or the plants.

Theo walked into the room, looking just the same as he did when I last saw him. Immaculately dressed in a dinner suit, face impassive and body tense. I turned my head slightly to look at him, but didn't move from my perch on the window seat.

After everything that had happened since I returned to his house, the events of the evening prior to leaving that venue seemed tame. I didn't say a word, just held his steady gaze with one of my own.

"What happened in the garden?" he asked, voice low and even.

"Apparently I was flexing my muscles." I turned back to stare at the trees through the glass.

Theo let out a huff of breath. "Was it fun?" My lips tipped up at the edges, but there was no humour in my response.

"I wouldn't call it fun, probably more along the lines of educational."

"Was the lesson for yourself or someone else?" I could feel him walking closer. Actually feel the heat roll off him toward me. I stretched my head on my neck uncomfortably. I think I'd had enough Fire for one night.

"Please don't do that," I whispered. The heat receded immediately.

"You looked pensive, I was trying to get you to relax."

"For a thousands year old man you seem to be woefully unaware of how women think," I pointed out.

"Really?" he asked, from just behind my shoulder. "Why don't you enlighten me."

I turned to look at him, I had to tip my head right back.

"Nico and I had a disagreement," I said, not explaining my statement further. Theo's eyes lifted from mine to look out the window at the forest.

"I see," he said, ominously. "And where is my cousin now?"

"Several metres beneath the Earth." I held my breath and waited for his reaction.

He seemed to be in deep thought. A muscle in his jaw twitched. I watched it closely, as though it would be the indicator of when his temper was about to erupt.

"Is he alive?" he asked eventually, still not looking at me.

"Of course."

"And did he harm you?" Theo asked, his face finally tipping down to look at mine.

"Nothing I couldn't recover from within half an hour."

His hand came up and he let his fingers run down my cheek. "You were angry at me," he pointed out. "And took it out on Nico." I don't think he was impressed.

"Oh, I assure you, Nico deserved my wrath too."

His eyebrow quirked. "Really? And what did Nico do that was so treacherous?"

"Spoke the truth."

Theo stared at me for a very long time, then surprised me by saying abruptly, "He saw your eyes." I nodded slowly. "I don't want anyone else but me to see that green. Do you understand, Oraia?" I nodded, slower still. "How long will you leave him there?"

And I think that was the most surprising revelation of all. Theo had just demanded I not flash green eyes at anyone but him. A very imperious command. But he wasn't going to tell me to release his cousin, he was leaving that decision up to me.

"I was about to retrieve him when you arrived," I admitted. "You distracted me."

His face softened, it was incredible to watch. All of a sudden tension eased from his frame at those words; a small glimpse inside of me. I was thinking Theo believed I wouldn't be distracted by him ever again. I got the impression he thought tonight had caused irreparable harm. I wasn't over it, not by a long shot. But Nico had been telling me the truth, and I needed to accept that. I was a passing interest in Theo's life, but then so was Isadora. Although she was a little more recurring than I would be. Still, after taking my anger out on Nico and seeing the incredible force of Pyrkagia Stoicheio, I realised more than ever that there were worse things to fear than losing my heart to this man.

It was a harsh lesson. I felt bruised and battered and exhausted from it all. But I had my priorities right now. Learn everything I could about what I was, then find a way to live with it, preferably here in Auckland. I still had no intention of being bullied from my city, but I did understand the dangers better now. I understood the risks. And they did not revolve around my heart and Theo Peters.

"Would you like some company?" Theo asked. "I'd be interested to see how my cousin fared."

"Certainly," I replied, standing up and taking Theo's arm as though it was quite a natural thing to do.

We walked out of the parlour and down the front steps towards the forest. Theo's gold tinged eyes taking in the devastation as we came closer to the centre of the fight. A small frown appeared on his lips, a crease across his forehead. But he didn't say anything, he just took it all in.

"I might need blood for this," I warned Theo. He turned, releasing my arm and looked down at me.

"How did you know to use blood?" he asked carefully.

"The night I came here," I explained, "the vines pierced my skin. The moment my blood hit the soil the paving stones and gravel around your house erupted from beneath. I put two and two together. When I touch the Earth, it feels stronger. But when my blood touches the Earth, it is invincible."

A strange look crossed Theo's face. A mixture of wonder and surprise... and an aching sense of sadness.

"Cassandra," he said on a sigh, his eyes closed slowly as though in pain. But if there was an explanation for his sudden sorrow, he didn't divulge it.

When his eyelids lifted, I held his gaze for so long I think I got lost in there. It was worse than the look he has when he wishes I was born Pyrkagia. This one felt like he was letting me go.

I couldn't handle the level of loss I felt at that strange expression on Theo's face, so I turned, like a coward, and instead looked out over the blackened mark where my trees had died. There was no end to this roller-coaster of emotion. No depth deep enough that it couldn't reach. I felt like I had been flayed, stripped bare of all defences. And there was no amount of mental preparedness that could shield me now.

This was a sweet hell. I longed to stay here. I wanted out. Being close to Theo was like feeling alive. But I was beginning to wonder if he was poison to my heart and soul. Because how could I desire him so much and know it was so very, very wrong?

I think a tear escaped, because his finger gently brushed my cheek and left wetness behind. He moved around me until we were face to face. His hands came up and cupped my cheeks, tilted my head backwards, lifting my face to the stars, to his gaze.

"Time is but a fleeting thing, Oraia. It is over in the blink of an eye. One month to an Athanatos is nothing. But to our hearts it can mean eternity."

How was I meant to take that?

I said the first thing I could think of, that wouldn't show him how his softly spoken words had cleaved my heart. "Why did you leave me to go home with Nico?"

He took a deep breath in and let it slowly out. I felt the heat of it wash my face, my lips. They tingled, as though he'd kissed them.

"You will be mad," he said, and I just raised my eyebrows at him. Angrier than I had been? Impossible.

"You went after her," I concluded, before the stretch of silence was too long.

"Yes," he admitted softly. "But not for the reason you believe."

"She's an old friend, Theo. You can have feelings for her, I'd understand." I'd want to claw her eyes out, but I was trying to move past that visceral reaction now. Yeah, right. "Nico explained everything," I added, so he didn't feel he had to as well.

"I can see that," he replied, purposefully glancing around the destruction. "And I must say, I rather like this jealous side you've displayed." His eyes returned to mine, gold hinted in the corners.

I huffed a breath out. "This wasn't because I was jealous. This was because I was sick of not being able to defend myself and strike back. I asked Nico to a challenge, he accepted. And I kicked his arse."

Theo's lips tipped up into a glorious smile. "Oh, Cassandra. You do please."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"I had a suspicion," he said softly, wrapping his palm around the nape of my neck. His thumb started stroking tenderly under my hair. "That what Isadora had uncovered on her latest mission would involve you."

"Oh?"

"Her reaction was too strong. I have had other women in the time I have known her," he pointed out and I crossed my arms over my chest to show how I felt about that little piece of information. He chuckled, leaned his face forward and rested his forehead against mine. "She is also a very calm person for a Pyrkagia, that's probably why I have entertained her for so long." I started frowning. His smile widened. "She has never reacted to any Ekmetalleftis like that before, regardless of branch. Her behaviour, despite the awkward situation, was out of character. So, I followed her and cornered her and demanded to know what was wrong."

"And?" I was holding my breath again.

"She wouldn't tell me. She is loyal to the Rigas and Pyrkagia. So, I went to my father."

The air I was holding rushed out and my heart began to hammer in my chest. His thumb swirled in amongst my hair at the back of my head, his other hand wrapped around my back, splayed flat on the rise of my rear, and pulled me flush against him.

"Theo?" I breathed out.

"You were too far away," he explained.

Oh, OK.

"My father has consented for me to attend the council meeting tomorrow. At least we'll have an understanding then of where Isadora has been and why she reacted so bizarrely to a Gi being in Pyrkagia territory."

"Do you think she's been wherever the Gi are? Where are they, anyway?"

"The Gi territory is in Brazil. They moved to the Amazon when we separated branches. Prior to that we all lived in and around Athens. And yes, I suspect she has been spying there. She is our top agent. Similar to what my father believes you to be. Ironic, no?"

"I don't find it very amusing," I said, shoving against his chest. He just held me tighter, pulled me closer, and started to lay kisses down my face, across my jaw and around to my ear.

"I would rather you were an agent of the Gi than..." he bit his words off and moved away. A frustrated hand ran through his hair.

"What aren't you telling me?" I asked.

"Nothing, but I do find myself rambling when you distract me so. How about we bring Nico back to the land of the living?" He clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

I recrossed my arms over my chest and started tapping my foot.

"How about you finish your last sentence, and then I release your cousin."

He turned and stared at me, a small smattering of gold in his eyes. Then he shrugged.

"He deserves to stay there overnight, how about we just leave him and I ease that stiffness in your shoulders with a massage?" He stalked towards me and I took an uncertain step backwards, my arms coming undone and instead lifting up between us to ward him off. He looked immensely pleased with himself.

"That's unfair," I complained, taking another step back as he stalked closer. "You know I can't fight those sorts of battles."

"Oh, but Cassandra. Think of the joy we would both have while I teach you how."

"Theo, behave!" I instructed, but it came out breathless instead.

He shook his head at me. "No, no, that warning has done its dash. Time to switch it up a bit."

He was still stalking me, we'd practically done the circumference of the scorched mark. I lost my footing on a charred stump, and when I righted myself, my back was against bark. And Theo was pressed into my front. He looked incredibly wild and untamed and... beautiful.

"Now," he breathed across my lips, then ducked down and licked the bottom one. "First lesson." I was panting for breath now; excited and scared and out of my mind right then. "Never run from a predator, Cassandra. Stand your ground, call their bluff, if you must. The 'behave' worked on me once, because I wasn't expecting it. This time you'll have to dig deeper to make me stop."

What?

"Think," he instructed, his tongue swiping across my top lip and then his mouth suckled on the bottom.

Think? He wants me to think now?

"You can do it. Surprise me. Scare the predator off."

His hips rocked seductively against me, evidence of his arousal obvious as it pressed against my lower belly. I stifled a groan.

His face nestled into my neck next, I felt him inhale, taking the smell of me in. I wondered what he scented. I wondered if he liked it. Then his hand slipped under my T-shirt and stroked up my bare skin to just below the curve of my breast. And all thought was lost, replaced by a nonsensical whimper slipping out between my lips before I could stop it.

"Come, Cassandra. I do believe you're not even trying."

His thigh pressed firmly between my legs until they gave and he wedged himself against me, snug in the V there. He let a sound out, it was distinctly male. Even though I had never heard it before, I knew only a man could make it. It called to me, green flashed against his skin when I opened my eyes.

"Oh, you are making this too easy, sweet, little Gi. Try," he whispered across my lips. "Try," he whispered against the soft skin beneath my ear. "Try."

My fingers were simply fluttering on top of his shoulders, needing to do something, anything, to feel his skin, like he was wantonly feeling mine. All manner of strange sounds were slipping out of my mouth now. My body ached for more, but I couldn't exactly identify what. He licked and nibbled around my face and neck and ears. He sucked and lavished attention everywhere. Each touch of his tongue, his lips, his fingers sent electricity shooting through my veins.

I knew he was playing me, I knew he was trying to get me to respond. And I was responding, but not the way he wanted me to. And despite all that he hadn't used his Stoicheio. I could tell. And I couldn't imagine what I'd be like if he did. I was so lost to these sensations he was creating. I was floating on a cloud of bliss already. Would I simply disappear in a puff of exquisiteness should his Fire envelope me now?

God I wanted it to. I wanted it so much. Please. Please.

My mouth opened on a sigh and his lips found mine, his tongue delved in with a fervour that seemed to match what I was feeling. I gripped his shoulders, opened up a little more of myself for him to taste, and sank into the ecstasy he was creating.

It was Theo who pulled back, not me. No miraculous words from my lips to stop him. No command that caught him off guard and halted proceedings from advancing. I wanted more. I didn't want him to stop. I hadn't even been thinking of getting him to, so how could I have thought up a surprise or shock to make things stop?

He placed his hands on the bark of the tree beside my face and hung his head in front of me, forehead pressing against mine. He was panting. His big chest rising and falling at an alarming rate. I wondered if he'd hurt himself.

"Are you OK?" I breathed out.

He let a strangled laugh out and fisted his hands next to my face.

"I guess you win after all, Oraia," he whispered.

"How?" I asked, genuinely intrigued to hear his reasoning.

"I am so lost to you, I refuse to take you here like this, against a tree." His voice sounded pained. A shaking hand slowly eased out of the tight clench it was in and lifted to cup my cheek. "The first time I bed you, it will be with fine linens at your back, a soft cushion to cradle your head, and all the time in the world at our disposal to discover each other's bodies."

Oh, that sounded good. Still crimson washed my neck and cheeks. But I did smile, I couldn't help it, and I think it was probably blinding in its sheer happiness. Theo let a small chuckle out and traced his thumb across my jaw.

"And, sweet Cassandra, it will not be with my little cousin using his Stoicheio beneath our feet."

I made a squeaking sound, pushing past Theo and suddenly realised how hot the soles of my shoes actually were.

"How long has he been doing that?" I demanded, jumping around the clearing as though I was dancing on hot coals.

"Ever since I started using mine to shield your response to my touch from prying ears," Theo admitted.

"But I couldn't see any gold in your eyes," I said, shocked that he'd used his Stoicheio and I hadn't realised.

"I am of royal blood, Casey," Theo explained. "I can do simple acts without disclosing what I am doing with the colour of my eyes."

I stared at him, I think my mouth was open. But my mild horror at Theo using his element when I was not aware, was nothing compared to my response to his next words.

"And so can you."

Chapter Fourteen

This Was It

Theo regretted saying it immediately. An angry look crossed his face, then he shut it down. I was picking the anger was at himself, not me. He turned away and started pacing. That aggravated hand ran through his hair again. I watched him, stunned at his admission, equally stunned at his obvious faux pas, and also entirely stupefied that I think he slipped up because of me.

If Theo distracted me, I also distracted him something fierce too.

"Explain," I demanded softly, finally finding at least one word to voice right then.

He stopped pacing, just stared blindly at the charred remains of a bush near his feet.

"I started noticing things." His voice was low and soft. "At first, I think I only suspected subconsciously. I hadn't really connected all the dots. Then at the event tonight, it just came out. What my mind had been trying to tell me. What I'd seen but not comprehended."

His eyes came up and he stared at me. I tried to decipher the expression on his face. He looked at me as though seeing me for the very first time. There was no hint of familiarity, no remembered or lingering look of tenderness. It wasn't harsh and judgemental like the Pyrkagia at that restaurant tonight, but it wasn't my Theo either.

"Your control is phenomenal. No plant has denied you once." How did he know that? And why was it important? He must have seen the puzzled look on my face, because he clarified his statement further. His hand waved out around the clearing. "They died willingly to follow your command. And since we arrived here those that survived have offered only welcome. There is no sense of residual anger."

I blinked slowly, taking that all in.

"It wouldn't surprise me, with your level of control, if you could channel essence as well," he added.

"Channel essence?"

"A Gi's ability to use aspects of a plant's toxin. Only a select few Gi can master the skill required." He studied me for a moment, then asked, "Can you?"

"I don't even have a clue what that would do," I admitted, chewing on the inside of my lip. Another Ekmetalleftis power I would rather not know about.

"There's several different plant toxins the Gi can channel," Theo started to explain. "Strychnos Toxifera; a paralysing poison derived from South American plants. Humans know it as Curare. Anaisthetikos; removes the sentience of a victim, by hindering their perception of the environment. Hederin; an hallucinogenic..."

I held up my hand to stop him. There were obviously many, too many plant essences the Gi could channel. It was making me feel a little sick. I rubbed my stomach and swallowed to clear the bad taste that had accumulated in my mouth. I think Theo realised that was an ability I hadn't yet mastered. He looked as upset by the conversation as me.

"Well, anyway, your control is one thing," Theo went on, thankfully dropping the topic. "But it is your strength which truly proves the point. You made the Earth assault my house. My house, Casey. Most Gi can command plants to do impressive things, but the Earth itself? Only those born of direct descent of an elder."

"An elder?" I asked, feeling a little numbed and entirely too confused. All of this was stretching the practical side of my brain to its limit. I was teetering on the ledge of a mental overload ravine.

"One of the original created by Aetheros. My father is an elder. All four current Rigas are elders. Your strength matches mine and in some regards, even surpasses it."

I shook my head. He took a step closer and then stopped, eyes still trained on mine.

"Control, strength, but then there is also the fact that you constantly commune with your Stoicheio without affecting a colour change in your eyes at all. When I shielded the sounds you were making just now" - and oh, did those words compound the tumult of emotions inside me right then - "I was communing with my Stoicheio, asking it to distract those who could hear you with lustful thoughts instead. I did not affect a colour change, because the action is a simple one, for me; a prince of Pyrkagia."

And one I do constantly when I talk to the Earth.

"How do you know I am talking to my Stoicheio if my eyes don't change colour?" I asked, trying not to let these new developments drown me. The water was rising though, in my mind it was lapping at my chin.

"I have seen the plants do things that would have required a command from you, but you showed no signs of making it. Sometimes, you get a peaceful look on your face, and I just know you are communing with the Earth. You are beautiful when you do it, even more so than normal. If that were at all possible." The last words were spoken in a whisper.

And he'd somehow crossed the last distance of space that separated us, but I hadn't even realised. He was now standing almost chest to chest with me. My eyes were trained on a button on his crisp white shirt. I watched as the button rose and fell with his breaths.

"I think you are Gi royalty," Theo whispered. "I think you have forgotten, lost your memories. I think we may need to contact Gi and get you home."

My eyes flicked up to his to gauge his reaction to that idea. But there was nothing there to tell me he was saddened at the news. Just his blank mask, the one he wears occasionally to hide the pain he feels inside. But I couldn't be sure there was pain, I could only guess at it being there. Because if the level of pain I felt was enormous, then some of it had to spill over to him.

"But I was human," I insisted, shaking my head.

"You think you were," he replied, softly.

"No. No!" Firmer, stronger in my conviction. "I was born in Auckland twenty-three years ago. My parents names are George and Anne Eden. I have an older brother. We lived in Pakuranga while I grew up. I went to school with Sonya. We've been friends for ten years. I have never owned a passport. I have never been out of the North Island of New Zealand. I remember my childhood. I remember it all."

Theo's hands came up and held my shoulders, just like he had held Isadora's. It wasn't in any way intimate. And although it was familiar, I had been happy he hadn't been more so with his ex-girlfriend. But with me, that lack of intimacy now hurt.

"These are memories your brain has fabricated in order to understand the present. Without them the uncertainty could be too much for your mind to handle without breaking down."

"Theo," I insisted. "I have blonde hair."

He looked like he had forgotten that little fact for a second. His gaze washed over my head, taking in the dark blonde strands.

"There has to be an explanation for that," he said, sounding a little uncertain.

I frantically tried to find a way to convince him that shipping me off to the Amazon was not a good idea.

"OK," I said, grasping at straws. "Say you're right." I didn't believe it, not at all. "Say I am some long lost Gi princess." I wanted to laugh at that, but nothing here was humorous. "Why has it happened? Why are the Gi not looking for me?"

"Maybe they are."

"Wouldn't they suspect their enemies first? Have a spy here checking the Pyrkagia out? Who would recognise me," I said purposely.

Theo frowned.

"What if the reason I am here, and still going with your bizarre lost Gi princess idea, is because something happened in Gi that I needed to escape. Sending me back could be the worst thing of all to do."

That did it. That fabricated, stupid, idiotic reasoning to his suggestion, did it. Theo stiffened, his face showed a plethora of emotions for the first time in long minutes.

"I won't let them harm you," he vowed.

I let a breath of air out, relieved he wasn't going to speed-dial Brazil, but still at a loss to convince him it was all lies.

"You know," I pointed out, reaching for a vine in which to scratch my wrist for a drop of blood. "Athanatos are extremely paranoid beings. I know it's a little illogical to believe I have just become what I am now, from whatever transpired in that pit." I pressed a thorn into my vein and watched the blood well. I didn't even flinch at the sharp sting it had caused. "But it is equally as implausible that I would be suffering from amnesia and be a princess." The blood dripped slowly off my arm and to the ground. "Do I really look like a princess to you?" I finally demanded, my eyes raised to his.

And OK, calling on the Earth using my blood and flashing green from my eyes was probably not the best time to ask that question. But I was dressed in my yoga pants and hoodie, I was standing there as the girl who had stuttered and stammered in reply to every flirtatious remark Theo had made in my store over the past year. I was inexperienced and to some degree naive. I was wandering around this new world clumsily and gauchely. There was not a single piece of evidence to show that the person beneath the power and control and green eyes, was in fact regal.

The Earth shook and rumbled, a beast rising from a deep, deep sleep. Theo took a step backwards and leaned casually against the bark of a tree. He crossed his legs at his ankles, making himself comfortable, as though settling in to watch a good TV show, and then laughed. It was a gorgeous laugh. A rumble in his chest that matched the presence of the rumble in the Earth.

"You have always appeared as though a queen to me," he said, voice deep and smooth, but I could easily hear it above the noise the Earth and plants were now making.

A strange mix of elation and disappointment washed through me. He thought that? But, I wasn't convincing him. At least I'd managed to make him hesitate before announcing my presence to the Gi. Something told me that was not a good move at all. Better the devil you know, and although I didn't know the Pyrkagia well, I knew them enough to feel safer here than out in the big wide world with a branch of Ekmetalleftis that I actually had no connection to at all.

I didn't have an answer to the question of how I became what I am now. But I knew I was not born Gi.

The ground shook and the Earth opened up. Theo's casual stance had stiffened slightly at the magnitude of power on display before his eyes. It was impressive, I couldn't deny it. But I'd thought the Earth was in control, just following a request from me. Obviously, from the look on Theo's face right now, that was not the case. I was doing all of this, just using the Earth as the conduit to achieve my goal.

I took a shuddering deep breath in, trying to still my rapidly beating pulse at that realisation. Heaven help me, I was something entirely not of this world. The depth of panic at that knowledge was astounding. I thought I was going to be sick. I concentrated on what the Earth was spewing out of its innards instead.

Soil roiled away from the centre of the charred circle Theo and I stood on the edge of. Like water it washed over itself; a fountain of dirt rolling away and under, rising up on a wave and then disappearing into itself again. But from where it erupted a hole began to emerge. Slowly the hole got bigger and bigger, until crouched low, gold brimming his lowered lashes, Nico rose from the depths of the hell I had placed him within; unscathed with barely a smudge of dirt on him. Somehow he'd been cocooned in a cell, protected as instructed, kept safe on my command.

The Earth gave a few more small tremors, as the soil settled flat beneath Nico's feet. Even the charred evidence of our fight had been swallowed by that magnificent performance. Nothing was left to indicate a battle had occurred where Pyrkagia Stoicheio had destroyed my trees and plants. In its place were new bushes and vines, saplings, lush grass and verdant green leaves.

"Fuck," Theo muttered, under his breath. "Do you not see it now, Oraia?"

My eyes took in the sight of a perfectly safe and well Nico, and the picture of calm, quiet, and peace the alcove made.

It should have appeased me. Death had been replaced with new life. But all I could think was, I was about to be sick. I turned from a stunned looking Nico and awed looking Theo, and ran like the wind back to the house without saying a word.

Aktor stood in the hallway when I tore through the front door. His ancient face let me know he was aware of what had happened. There was compassion there, a sense of sadness, but also, I was unhappy to see, a perception of what I was. He was awed too, but in a way that told me he'd been in the presence of such unfathomable power before and he knew how to act.

I slowed my pace at the sight of him bowed, head low in respect and deference. I stared at Theo's butler unable to make a sound, my heart pounding in my head, my lungs screaming for air and my stomach contents demanding to be let out.

I muttered an incoherent word or two, God alone knows what I said, and bounded up the stairs to my bedroom. Slamming the door, I was relieved to find the entrance between Theo's and my rooms fixed and locked. I threw myself on the bed, pulling a pillow to my face and screamed my frustration and fear into its stuffing.

What the hell was I? No longer human, but also no longer simply a Gi; an Ekmetalleftis like those Pyrkagia who had glared at me. I was more... and it frightened me. It scared me so much that I contemplated things I should never have contemplated at all. Fear can be crippling, can make you into someone you are not. Add confusion and exhaustion into the mix, and you've got a volatile cocktail of emotions that rock your soul and shatter your resolve.

I saw no end to this nightmare. The longer I remained in it the more terrifying it became. What would I find out next? What would happen to make me break completely? I was teetering on the edge of a sharp knife and I wanted that knife to slice me. Because surely the pain of actual injury was better than the pain of what I now felt.

I realised I was shaking, my body was violently shuddering as though I was having a fit. I guess, in some ways, I was. My mind was rebelling, my body was manifesting that rebellion in uncontrolled movements that left me spent. I had screamed and screamed when I grabbed that pillow. No tears. There were not enough tears to ease this. I was beyond crying. I was in a place that was bereft of the ability to weep. But I was not beyond mourning yet. And that mourning left me utterly exhausted.

I dozed off at some stage, my mind numb, my body aching in a strange way that let me know I was alive, when I'd really rather not be. I wanted to pretend this hadn't happened to me. I wanted to stop the desperate, yet useless questions to seek answers to how, why, what.

There were no answers. Not that I could see. And accepting that was a lot harder than I had thought it could be. I'm a practical person, but this... problem, was beyond my capacity to practically take. I had searched for meaning in something that was not meant to be. I was not meant to be.

I knew when Theo had come for me. I knew when he entered the room. He didn't use his Stoicheio, he didn't need to in order to elicit a response from my body. Simply walking into a room was enough for my senses to come alive. A sobbed laugh sprang to my lips, before he'd even reached the side of the bed where I was curled up in a ball; back to the door he'd used. Even when the rest of me had shut down, Theo Peters was able to make part of me feel alive.

The bed dipped at my back, letting me know he'd sat himself down there. A warm, large hand fell on my hip, the other brushed hair from my face.

"Will you eat something?" he asked, quietly.

I shook my head to say no.

"You must keep your strength up," he insisted.

"Why?" My voice sounded raw from the screaming.

"Because you used significant effort to retrieve Nico from the Earth. Plant life will boost your Stoicheio, but the part of us that is in human form, is taxed beyond reasonable measure when we call on our powers to that degree."

I did feel drained, despite having spent a good twenty minutes with my trees prior to retrieving - as Theo put it - Nico. But stomaching food right now was an impossibility. Nausea would make me feel worse, would make me remember what I had become. A freak. More of a freak than your average freaky Ekmetalleftis. What I needed was to forget.

"I don't want to eat," I said, forcing myself to speak the words. Words that I knew would lead us somewhere we hadn't yet been.

Theo's hands continued a soft, tender dance on my body. One on my hip. One in my hair. He didn't touch me anywhere else. But I craved for him to.

"What do you want, Oraia?" he whispered.

Heat rose up my cheeks giving me away. So familiar and usually so unwanted, but right now, the colour said more than my vocal cords could achieve. Theo made a low, hungry sound in the back of his throat.

"Tell me, don't make me guess," he persisted, moving closer, so his hip rested against my rear. I rolled to my back, making his hand at my hip shift. It now rested on my thigh, high up near the V of my legs. His fingers flexed, digging into the flesh slightly. His eyes stared at where he touched my body.

"I want to forget," I whispered, the words barely making it past my throat.

Theo's eyes lifted to my face and I almost lost all courage. How could someone look so desperate, so eager and yet so pained? With a shaky hand I reached up to run a finger along the edge of his firm jaw. He breathed heavily above me, but leaned a little closer to my touch.

"What do you want, Casey?" he asked, using my actual name, making this... real.

This was it. This was the moment I did something I had never been able to do before. Maybe, because of everything that had happened, I was able to face up to it. Find the necessary courage to ask for what I wanted, instead of running away with pink cheeks and a heavy heart. Had I not become this creature, would I never have found that bravery to reach for what I desired most in this world right then?

"You," I whispered, watching him close his eyes languidly, swallow visibly and inhale deeply through his nose. "I want all of you."

Chapter Fifteen

But He Wasn't Done

"Are you sure?" Theo asked, his face tipped down to look me in the eyes.

My heart beat like bongo drums, my throat felt so dry I had to lick my lips and try to swallow to soothe it. My breathing was choppy and I think I may have started sweating. But despite the obvious nervous reaction to the situation, I knew I wanted this. I wanted it so much that I was shaking with the desire to have my wish fulfilled.

"Yes." I breathed the word out. His lips tipped up at the edges, his eyelids grew a little heavy and he made a sound of contentment at the back of his throat.

"Come," he said, standing upright from his position beside me on the bed. He held out his hand to me. "We'll take this very slowly, Oraia, I promise you that. But from the moment I laid eyes on you I have wanted this beyond all reason. Once we start I will not want to stop."

The honesty in his words was jarring. He held his hand out, palm up in invitation, but once I accepted the offer there would be no going back. Oh, I was sure, if I freaked out, he'd stop. But he was letting me know that this was the line drawn in the sand, and if I chose to cross it, there was no pretending that I hadn't wanted to anymore. There was no denying that I had chosen this path, he hadn't pushed me into it. I think it was important to him that I understood that before we proceeded further. I think he had always wanted me to be the one who made the first move.

I suddenly felt extremely liberated by that fact. Theo could have used his Stoicheio to achieve what he desired, but he'd respected and cared for me enough to let me choose.

My hand slipped into his and a brief flash of relief washed his handsome face. His eyes sparked gold and his fingers gripped me tighter, as he pulled me to my feet.

"I want to see you," he murmured, huskily. "All of you."

Oh dear God, I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to refuse the request. I had never been naked with another man before and it thrilled me and terrified me at the same time. What if he didn't like what he saw?

He walked backwards towards my bathroom, his hand still wrapped around mine, his eyes never leaving my face. There was a glint of anticipation evident in his gaze, mixed in with a hell of a lot of hunger and desire. I had the sudden image of a lamb being caught by the lion. But this lamb wanted the lion's touch. This lamb walked willingly into the lion's den.

Once we crossed the threshold into the tiled ensuite, Theo reached over my shoulder and gently pushed the door closed at my back. He moved backwards, dropping my hand and leaning against the vanity. His eyes trailed slowly over my frame.

"Do you think you could strip for me?" he asked, voice low and sexy.

I shook my head emphatically to say no. He smiled reassuringly.

"There is much delight to be found in giving your lover something he desires, Oraia. Even when that something seems so very hard to do."

He reached up and undid a button on his jacket, his fingers deftly slipping the dome through the buttonhole. The next button followed suit. I was captivated, mesmerised. And they were only freaking buttons, what would I do when faced with a naked Theo before my eyes?

The jacket slipped down his shoulders and he gathered it up and lay it on a seat in the corner of the room. He was still overdressed when he turned back to me, but didn't pause before he began to undo his tie. It was a black bow-tie, it unravelled to reveal short wavy ends. He tugged it free of his collar and tossed it in the chair.

"Are you enjoying watching?" he asked, hesitating at the top button of his white shirt.

I nodded, and then felt such hot flames lick up my cheeks that I was sure all Pyrkagia could sense my embarrassment.

"Then do you not think I would like the same?" he asked, cheekily I thought.

I let a small amused breath out and felt my shoulders relax, ever so slightly. My shaky hands reached for the zip on my hoodie. I could do this. One layer, just to not appear like a frozen dork. The zip sounded way too loud in the small confines of the bathroom.

Theo undid the top button of his shirt. The hoodie came undone and hung open, still on me. A second button on his shirt came undone, then he paused, eyes on mine. I worked to keep my breathing at least a little regular, I had no hope of him not seeing his effect over me, but I was valiantly trying to control it somewhat. I slipped my arms out of the hoodie and tossed it over the same chair his jacket and tie lay on.

A third button on his shirt came undone. He stopped.

I was wearing my yoga pants, a fitted singlet top and my black sneakers and socks. As well as underwear, but I was trying not to get too far ahead of myself right now.

"I've seen you with your shirt off already," I said, rather boldly and bravely I thought.

"Your point?" he asked, still not moving to undo a further button on his shirt.

"Well, it seems cruel to torture me like this, when it's something I have already had the pleasure of seeing."

"You think, because my chest is not foreign to you, that I should simply strip down to my trousers and not make you reciprocate, or pay for the privilege each time you wish to view it again?"

Huh. What did I say to that?

"Cassandra. Every single time I get to see you naked, I want you to make me work for it. The honour of viewing your perfection should not be received without due regard. I would never take advantage of your beauty, simply because you once let me see you bare. I will always show you how much I value the moment, regardless of how familiar we become."

He spoke as though this experience would be repeated, as though he had every intention of seeing me naked again and again. Not as though we had a time limit placed upon us. Not as though I was his kind's enemy and we would never be able to be this intimate again. But as though this was the start of something special, something he had every intention of pursuing indefinitely from here on in.

It was a lovely feeling. But it was merely a ruse. Still, for now, right in this second, in this moment, I would accept the artifice, because I could no further deny myself Theo, than I could believe I was human still.

I reached down and grasped the edges of my singlet, then before I could think better of it, lifted my arms and pulled the flimsy material over my head. Cold air hit my bare stomach, then wrapped around my taut nipples through the lace of my bra.

Theo was breathing heavily and wasn't even trying to hide that fact. I crossed my arms protectively over my breasts and Theo growled out a sound of annoyance. I took a step back as though he was about to attack and watched as he battled to make the gold, that had suddenly appeared in his eyes, dim. That muscle along his jaw flexed and his breathing became even more rapid.

"I will not harm you," he rasped. I wasn't sure I could believe him right then. "But never hide yourself from me." His fingers went to the remaining buttons on his shirt and he made quick work of releasing them. The shirt slipped off his arms, once he'd removed the cuff-links and undid the cuffs, and he tossed it to the floor by the chair.

He paused, eyes sweeping my still covered frame, and then started to work on his trousers. I wasn't sure whether he was speeding things along because he couldn't stop himself from having me now - and that unfortunately did scare me, even though I didn't want to be scared - or whether he was speeding things along so that he'd be naked, and I would feel better about my nudity in front of him. I was hoping it was the latter, but my skittish heart was sure it was the former.

Within seconds I had my first view of a fully naked man.

Oh my God. He was glorious, but in a way I wanted to hide from all that beauty. It didn't make any sense, he was the one fully naked, but I was the one turning crimson from head to toe. My eyes ran over his body and even though I told myself to look away, they wouldn't obey me. He had muscles in places I didn't know people had muscles. One particular spot was so intriguing I stared at it for a full minute, I think. Just above his hip bones, beneath where his abs began. And the abs were pretty impressive, but what was that muscle called, that dipped down on either side of his pelvis, framing the perfection of the man?

I bit my lip and forced myself to look elsewhere, but there was just so much to take in. I thought I'd be caught in a trance looking at his arousal, but my mind seemed to be blanking on that part of his body and taking its sweet time to catalogue all the rest of him instead. His thighs were impressive, I think both of mine together weren't quite as wide as one of his. I'd seen his chest before, and I took my time to reintroduce myself to that stunningly gorgeous stretch of flesh as well.

He was a bronze Adonis, no tan line evident, his colouring was all natural, seamless, beautiful. I had the sudden desire to taste all of that magnificent golden skin. Lick it. Bite it. Suck it.

Theo, clearly seeing my reaction, said in a deeply silky voice, "What are you imagining doing to me, Oraia? Please, put me out of my misery and tell."

My eyes flicked up to the amused hazel of his. I licked my lips and he cocked his head, a smirk beginning to form on that lush mouth.

"Sweet Gi," he murmured. "Did you want to taste me?"

Oh good Lord, how did he know that? He started chuckling, a deeply arrogant sound to my ears right then. He reached out a hand and flexed his fingers.

"Casey," he said, when I didn't respond after a moment. "Trust me."

Could I?

Yes. For some reason - and I guess I wouldn't be considering losing my virginity with the man if I didn't - I trusted him.

I stepped haltingly towards him and took the offered hand. He brought my fingers to his chest, laid my palm flat with his above it, pressing slightly to make sure I didn't move away.

"Here?" he asked. Oh dear.

He shifted my hand, making my palm rub over his flesh, making me feel every... single... muscle and ridge.

"Or here?"

He had stopped just above his belly button, directly between the rise and fall of his abs. I was drowning. But strangely wanting the sensation to continue, even though my heart was frantically beating in a world all of its own.

"Maybe not," he murmured, shifting our hands down further.

I thought he was going to make me grasp him there. I thought he was going to bypass the spot I had been drooling over and that I wanted with ever fibre of my body to touch. But he knew what he was doing, he probably knew from the very start where I had been fixating my gaze and mind upon. Our hands shifted sideways until he wrapped my fingers and palm around the ridge of one of those delicious, enticing, absolutely mind-blowing muscles on either side of his hips.

"Little Gi," he whispered, leaning forward so his breath could wash the hair at the side of my face. "Please kiss me here."

A strangled sound left my lips. It would have been amusing if I wasn't desperately trying to breathe right then. His hand felt so hot against the back of mine, his skin, under my palm and fingers, felt like velvet which had lain in the sun for too long. A jolt of something primal shot up my arm, down my torso and landed directly between my thighs.

I was dying. There was no other word for what I was feeling. But before I died I'd damn well kiss that spot.

I was on my knees before him without realising I'd moved. My hand still resting over that muscle, the ridge of it marking my palm for all eternity, I was sure. He removed his hand from mine and laced the fingers of it through my hair, then ever so gently pulled my face towards my hand. Somehow he knew I needed a little more encouragement, and he knew not to delay in offering it up, because I was sure I was about to freeze.

My hand moved and wrapped around his hip, fingers digging into his flesh. My other hand had somehow made the necessary motions to bring it up on the opposite side, so both hips were grasped by me. I studiously ignored his straining erection, even though it jerked with every new movement I made. If I gave it purchase, I would stop. And nothing was stopping me from tasting Theo right there.

"What's this muscle called?" I asked, from out of freaking nowhere. My voice sounded strange to my ears; husky, low. Foreign.

"Oblique," Theo rasped above me, sucking in air as I shifted a finger to run along that ridge. Oblique. I liked that.

I chanced a glance up his torso to look at his face. I don't know why I did, I just needed reassurance that what I was doing wasn't anything wrong. Oh sweet heaven, that was a mistake. He looked... lost. In a way I had never seen Theo look before. Lost and at home at the same time. In awe and desperately pained simultaneously.

"Should I stop?" I asked, unsure how to feel about that.

"Dear God no," he breathed, running a hand softly down my hair, cupping my face. "Please," he begged and that's all it took for me to find the last little bit of courage I needed.

I kept my eyes on him for a suspended moment and dipped my face towards that beautiful looking and sounding muscle, then leaned in and kissed his flesh.

It wasn't enough. I shifted closer, gripped him more tightly at his hips, and licked a line up the length of the muscle's ridge.

"Oh Aetheros," Theo breathed out above me. I think that meant I was doing this right.

So, I went back for more. This time, ignoring the shape of the ridge, how my tongue rolled over the side and slipped into the dip the muscles created, and instead let the flavour of Theo reach my tongue. He tasted salty, I was sure that was his sweat. Despite its origin, I liked it. It was him; all Mediterranean spice. I expected to taste his scent then. To me, Theo is sunshine and rosebuds, mixed with that Mediterranean spice. But his taste, although complementary to his scent, was not exactly the same.

But I liked it. I liked it so much I let a little moan come out from the back of my throat, licking and tasting, nibbling and nuzzling his skin. I tried not to think about what I was doing, I just tried to sink into the moment and let my body dictate the pace.

Once I'd had my fill of that muscle, I moved back, so I could taste the other side. He did have two of them, after all. But before I could move around his erection, which I think may have gotten bigger and angrier looking than before, he reached down and grasped me under my armpits then hauled me up his body so his lips could claim my mouth. Luscious skin rubbed against my skin the entire trip up to his lips. Ooh.

Kissing, though, I could do. We'd done this already. It was familiar, but also still so new to me that I felt like I was riding a fairground ride, spinning around and around, letting the world pass me, making me dizzy and light headed and wanting to smile.

"Never" - Theo breathed into my mouth, then kissed me deeply again - "have I" - kiss, tongue swirl around my tongue - "been so" - mouth crushed against mine, teeth pulling on my bottom lip - "turned on" - he groaned, my body pressed firmly into his, my head tipped to the side, so the kiss deepened - " by a kiss to a bloody muscle," he managed to finally finish.

I was smiling through the onslaught of his erotic and amorous kiss. Theo made me feel like a seductress, made me feel so sure of my effect over him. He made it all seem so natural, so beautiful and sensual. So right.

"Oraia," he breathed, pulling back and resting his forehead against mine. His eyes were shut, he had one hand wrapped in my hair at the back of my head, the other pressed firmly into my spine, pressing me against his hard body. "You stun me," he added. "You simply take my breath away."

His head came up and I saw it. That look. The one where he wishes I was born Pyrkagia. He quashed it quickly, banished it from his face and no doubt his mind as well, and kissed me passionately again on the lips.

"I need you," he moaned against me. "Please, Casey. Let me see you now."

And despite that look, or maybe because of it, I'm not sure, I let the last of my reserve go and I embraced the man before me, who I'd almost brought to his knees with just my touch. And I stepped back, letting him see me, while I slipped out of my shoes and socks, lowered my yoga pants and quickly removed my underwear completely.

For the first time in my life I stood before a naked man, completely naked myself.

We stared at each other. I'd already got a fine look at him, so my eyes were on his face as he took my body in. Wonder and reverence, gave way to a desperate hunger that matched my own. His eyes scanned my upper chest, taking time to note the painfully erect nipples stretching tight across my skin, then worked their way languidly down my frame. Over my flat stomach, my hips, my thighs, until he allowed himself to look at the curls between my legs.

His eyes shot up to mine and he smiled.

"Blonde," he said, licking his lips.

"I wasn't lying," I pointed out. Probably not the most romantic thing to say, but he'd obviously still doubted me so I felt it needed to be mentioned.

"No," he whispered, eyes back down on my most private place. "I don't know what you are, Casey Eden," he huskily announced. "But I want you."

My eyes closed briefly at his admission, but he wasn't done.

"And I'm afraid I may never want to give you up."

Chapter Sixteen

He Surpassed All Expectations For Me

Such honesty at that moment was simply... astounding. And I had thought we'd laid ourselves bare by being naked. Nudity had nothing to do with baring your soul. It was simply removing an outer shell, nothing more. To truly see inside the person's heart, you needed a key. And Theo had just given me his.

His eyes came up to mine and I saw the pain that admission carried with it. I was not his to keep, as he was not mine. Even if I wasn't born Gi, I was Gi now and he wasn't. He may wish for me to be Pyrkagia, but that was a blind hope that could never be met. We were enemies, and we didn't want to be.

"Oh, Casey," Theo murmured. "I wish this wasn't so."

I could feel my tears threatening, my throat was constricting, any moment now I'd be a blubbering mess. Yet I had never experienced such a romantic moment as this in my entire life. Theo took the steps necessary to wrap me in his arms, he laid a kiss in my hair, his hands running in soothing circles across my skin. His warmth enveloped me in a welcoming blanket.

"Shhh, " he crooned, as a hitched sob escaped. "Please don't cry, Oraia. We have now, we have this moment. Would you pass up this chance to protect your heart? Or would grasp it with everything you have, so you don't miss an opportunity to feel... alive?"

I swiped at my eyes and looked up at him. He was right. There was no stopping this now. I wanted him. I needed him. Dear God, I was already in love with him. This was going to hurt so much, but I could not walk away.

"Make love to me," I whispered, in awe of the woman I had become.

"With pleasure," he husked, abandoning the idea of a shower and lifting me up in his arms to carry me from the room to my bed.

He lay me down as though I was a priceless treasure. For a moment, he just looked. The need to cover up under his perusal no longer existed. I watched him openly watching me, and I realised that I had absolutely no desire to thwart this moment. His moment to look at me unhindered by the covering of my arms.

"You are beautiful, Oraia," he murmured above me. "So beautiful I could stare at you all day."

My breaths picked up in pace. I think I'd spontaneously combust if he just stood there looking at me all day and didn't touch. I needed his hands, his body, his lips on me. But how to ask? My eyes searched his, begging him to see my desire in my gaze, but he was too consumed with other aspects of my body. His preoccupation made me smile. A sound escaped my lips, bringing his attention back to my face.

"Are you amused?" he asked, shifting to place one knee on the bed beside my body. The movement made me hungrily take in the way his muscles dipped and flexed. The skin smooth and tight across the ridges, the shadows between each rise making his body a sculpted work of art.

"I see what you mean," I said, absently. Theo cocked his head and arched an eyebrow at me. "I could look at you all day too." His smile was blindingly beautiful.

He lay himself down beside me and began running a finger lazily up my thigh, across my hip bone and over my stomach, to come to rest beneath my breasts, then go back down again. Every action he made was slow and purposeful, when my body was craving hard and fast. I'm not even sure what hard and fast meant, but I knew I wanted more than he was teasingly giving.

I squirmed beneath his touch and watched eagerly as he lowered his lips to my skin, kissing each one of my ribs from the bottom up to my breast. His finger was drawing circles just above my pubic hair, while his tongue and lips lavished attention on my chest. I wanted him to touch my breasts, my nipples. I arched my back without thinking, offering myself up on a platter for his tasting.

He made a sound so like purring it surprised me. My eyes flicked open and I saw the hungry look in his gaze just before his lips wrapped around one nipple.

Oh sweet heaven, nothing compare to this. Then his free hand wrapped around the neglected breast, full hot palm over its entirety. I moaned, it was an extremely erotic sound. And all he was doing was touching and kissing me. What would I do when he did more? His palm squeezed my breast, then his thumb and forefinger found my nipple and he rolled and pinched the peak. I cried out and rocked my hips for something I wasn't sure of, but needed.

"Shhh," he purred above my nipple. "I'll take good care of you, Oraia, but I have to get to know these two beauties first."

He shifted his weight so his upper chest was over mine and his lips could reach the nipple he'd been palming. His tongue swirled around the edge, soothing the sting of the pinches he'd made and then he sucked the tip into his mouth hard. I felt the firmness of his erection pressing against my hip, letting me know he was as into this as much as me.

I think I was going to fall apart from this alone. My hand snuck down my stomach and reached between my legs before I could stop it. My mind was misfiring, working on automatic pilot. I was so turned on and craving contact at my core, I was prepared to embarrass myself to get it. I didn't realise he'd replaced his mouth with his fingers again. I didn't realise he'd lifted his head to watch what I was doing with my hand. Until it was too late.

Just as I was about to come apart his hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled it away from my centre.

"For shame, Cassandra," he chided with obvious amusement. "You would deny me your first orgasm in my presence? I will gladly watch you play some other time, but tonight, my first with you, your orgasms are all mine."

Heat washed up my body, turning everything pink. His eyes came up to my face and he growled.

"You misunderstand me, Oraia. If I see you come apart from your touch right now I will spill myself right here. I am barely in control as it is." His face dipped down and he kissed me soundly, making my body relax with each swirl of his tongue, nibble of his teeth, moan from his mouth.

By the time he broke the kiss I was languid and his hand was between my thighs, stroking one solitary finger up through my wet folds.

"I need to prepare you for me, little Gi. I'm going to taste you here. Drink you down. Are you ready?"

Was I ready? For him to kiss me there?

I nodded, noticing my eyes felt as wide as saucers in my face right then. My heart thundered like a freight train in my chest. I felt alive, but as though at any minute the world would stop... and me with it.

Theo shifted himself between my legs, gently nudging my thighs apart. I felt so exposed to him, so bare. So needy. His hands ran up the inside of my legs, as he knelt between them taking all of me in. Gold splashed the room from his half lidded eyes. A snarl of hunger reached his lips and then in lightning speed he settled himself down on his stomach and dipped his face to the apex of my thighs.

The first stroke of his hot tongue sent a bolt of exquisite bliss right through me. I'd been wrong before. Nothing compared to this. I lifted off the bed and felt his hands grasp my hips firmly and pull me down the sheets onto his face. His palms wrapped around each butt cheek as he raised me for the perfect angle to devour my core. Without conscious thought my legs lifted to lie above his shoulders, making my thighs spread further apart for easier access.

I had never considered I'd be so immodest. In all my daydreaming - and I admit, Theo had appeared in them exclusively over the past year - I never, ever saw myself as the woman who openly begged for more. I could hardly flirt with the man, but then, he'd been the only one to ever make me flirt at all. I realised, I'd always been taking risks with Theo, I'd always been stretching beyond my preconceived notion of who and what I was. Theo made me want more, gave me courage to seek it, and then rewarded me whenever I did just that. I had trusted Theo for a long time, and I hadn't even realised I did.

His tongue lay a wet trail up my centre, then flicked around my sensitive nub. I writhed back against him, rocking my hips, telling him I wanted more. The sounds he was making were encouraging, delicious and entirely wicked. He was savouring me. There was no other word for it. He was tasting and licking and devouring me in a way that made me believe he would remember it all. Savour it all for eternity.

I'd had orgasms before, of course. Self induced and well enjoyed. But this was something entirely different. This deserved another word. Orgasm was too perfunctory, and appropriate for what I'd given myself. But what Theo was building in me now was a tsunami, a perfect storm brewing inside. The power of its release was going to shatter me. I knew it. I was slightly in awe of it already. But, by God, I couldn't wait for it to come.

I sought it greedily, lifting my hips and rubbing against his mouth and chin, seeking the delicious friction, that little bit extra, to send me over the edge. Just when I thought I'd never make it with his tongue and teeth and lips alone, he slipped one finger inside.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

His finger pumped steadily, swirled to widen my channel, flicked at a certain spot inside that I assumed was the infamous G Spot, and then pulled back just as I was about to unleash an ecstatic wave of joy.

"You're so tight, Oraia. So delightfully tight," he murmured against my thigh.

"Theo," I begged, it sounded utterly breathless. "More," I pleaded.

He muttered something in Greek, then started moving his finger in earnest. Thrusting as I imagined his erection would thrust inside of me. I wanted him, his arousal not his finger. I wanted more than he was giving, I wanted what he was promising me, but I didn't have breath enough to ask. The tsunami was getting closer, his encouraging sexy, but so dirty words against my thigh fuelled the wave, made it grow to impossible heights, threatening to tear me apart at any second.

The orgasm washed through like the tidal wave I'd imagined it would be. I called out Theo's name, thrashed beneath his tongue and mouth, rode his finger as though I'd done it a million times before, and distantly heard my whimpered cries of release.

It was... unbelievable. I shook with endorphins, I shuddered beneath his delicate kisses as he rose up my body. Every inch of skin his fingers brushed sent waves of delight coursing through me. I panted for breath, desperate to fill my lungs and slow my heart, but unable to control my reaction at all.

"I'd wait," Theo murmured against my ear, making me concentrate reluctantly on something other than the bliss that was slowly fading from my core. "But you are so very tight, Oraia. Although I did prepare you as best as I can. Even so, this may hurt a little. I am sorry."

The last of the bliss faded completely, as Theo settled his hot body over mine. My hips had to spread wider still to allow him adequate space between them. My heart leapt into my throat and Theo paused, his erection at my entrance, his muscular arms flexing slightly at the side of my head as he held his body aloft.

"It will be worth it, sweet little Gi. Do you want me to influence you through the first few moments?"

He meant use his Stoicheio to make me feel no pain at losing my virginity. I appreciated that he asked, that he held off from taking me to offer me a panacea to the coming pain. But I wanted to feel this. To feel the moment I gave Theo Peters something precious to me.

"No," I said, reaching up and running my fingers across his brow, moving the dark hair that had fallen forward, back. Brushing his face clear so I could see him. "I want to feel everything."

He made an erotic sound, wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me flush against the heat of his skin, while resting his upper weight on that elbow. Then he ran his other hand over my thigh, lifted my leg higher and wider and eased himself inside, just a little. I felt stretched beyond what his finger had done, but nothing my body didn't crave more of.

His head dipped down and his mouth claimed my lips in a kiss I soon was lost in. Then without warning he thrust his hips forward and broke through my barrier, sinking himself as deep as my body would allow. I cried out against his lips, but he kept kissing me through the pain, remaining buried, but unmoving.

Within moments the kiss claimed my attention again, all thought of the sharp stab, when he had seated himself fully, gone from my mind as I hungrily devoured his lips and mouth and tongue. My body started rocking on its own, my hips lifting to encourage movement from him. I needed friction, I needed something to ease the sweet ache that had replaced the pain of before.

"Oraia," Theo breathed above me, finally rocking his hips, starting a slow rhythm that made me moan and writhe beneath him. "Oh sweet Oraia," he murmured, kissing my cheeks and jaw and neck. "You are full of such beautiful Fire. I could live inside you, never want for anything more."

"Then don't stop," I begged beneath him, my hands devouring every inch of skin I could reach on his back, just as my lips were doing the same of his chest.

Theo moaned a pained sound, then pulled me closer, lifted my hips higher and started moving faster and faster. His hips grinding against me, as I lifted mine back to seek more and more. My body seemed to know what to do, even if I hadn't consciously known it. And whatever my body was doing, was feeding Theo's passion as his was feeding mine. We seemed to be fuelling each other; every movement we made created a hunger in the other so fierce it could not be denied.

"Harder," I moaned and he swore softly in Greek. But did what I requested, pumping harder than I think he would have, should I not have requested it. And still I wanted more.

I wanted to feel Theo everywhere. Inside and out. I wanted him to claim me; body, heart and soul. I wanted more than I had a right to ask for, but I didn't care. Right then, as Theo lost himself in me and I lost all possible chance to think reasonably, I didn't care. That we were enemies. That he was not mine and I was not his. In that moment, when our bodies came together, I could fool myself into believing our hearts and souls did too.

Sweat pooled between us, making every glide of his skin against mine pure bliss. Heat rolled through me, but although Theo's eyes bled a little gold, I was sure his Stoicheio had not been unleashed. Like me, he wanted this to be honest. Just him, just me, just our bodies, just this moment. Nothing else, but an honesty that can only be found when you give yourself completely to another.

I cried out as an orgasm slammed into me. It rocked my body and made me clench in places I had no idea I could control. Theo groaned above me, muttered something about me being so tight and then thrust one more time, seating himself so very deep, deeper than he had until that moment, and groaned out my name. His face dipped down into the curve of my neck and before his release was through, his teeth clamped down on the skin at the base there and held tight.

I had the distinct impression he was claiming me. Inside and out.

Our heartbeats were erratic. I could feel his bounding against his chest wall, thrumming through his skin into me. I think it matched the pace of mine. He held me so close, so tenderly, so possessively. I felt safe and wanted and... home. Slowly he released his hold on my neck with his teeth and pulled back. I watched as his eyes took in what was no doubt an obvious mark of his claiming, and surprise wash his face.

He hadn't even realised he'd done that.

He stared at his mark for several long seconds and I wondered if he regretted what we'd just done. But his face was shut down, closed off to me, leaving me strangely disturbed and confused. We'd just experienced, what I believed, was the most beautiful intimate exchange. But I had no way of knowing if he felt it too.

"I'll get a wash cloth to clean you with," he murmured, as he pulled away, taking his warmth, and slipping from between my legs.

An ache took up residence in my heart, only matched in its wretchedness with the ache between my legs. Muscles I hadn't even known existed flared to life with a vengeance. Letting me know I'd probably walk a little funny tomorrow. I wanted to smile at that image and the reason why it should be true, but my heart felt heavy from watching Theo's reaction.

I think he regretted it. I think I wasn't what he'd imagined I'd be. Which was ironic, because he surpassed all expectations for me.

Chapter Seventeen

I Had Thought Becoming What I Was, Was The Roller-Coaster Ride From Hell

Theo returned to the bed and carefully wiped away all evidence of what had happened. I didn't make a sound or move throughout his tender ministrations. He disappeared to the bathroom again and then when he came back, moved me beneath the covers and then slipped in beside. I was slightly shocked when he wrapped me up in his arms and laid a kiss against my temple. I had expected him to freeze me out further, hadn't dared hoped for an embrace after seeing his reaction to biting my neck.

"Are you OK?" he whispered into my hair. "Are you in pain?"

I shook my head to say no, finding my voice right now was impossible. I was confused and deeply scared that he hadn't enjoyed it. That I'd ruined it all somehow.

"You're not talking, Cassandra. What's wrong?" He pulled me closer, lifted my leg and draped it over his thigh, pressing himself into my groin, sending a signal I couldn't decipher.

I frowned and ducked my head to his chest so he couldn't see my reaction. Why did this have to be so confusing? Didn’t I have enough in my life to be confused about?

"Casey," Theo persisted, pulling back and tilting my chin up with the tip of his finger so he could look in my eyes. "What have I done wrong? I thought you wanted this." He looked worried, concerned, and surprisingly, confused. As confused as me?

I let a breath of air out and blinked at the emotions washing over his face. There was no hiding now. Why had he hidden before?

I opened my mouth twice, before I found the words I needed. He waited patiently, the same look of concern and confusion on his face as before.

"Why did you bite my neck?"

His face shut down.

I tried to push him away, but he just held me tighter. He muttered a long string of words in Greek and then admitted, "I hadn't intended to. I'm sorry."

He was sorry we did it. He did regret it.

"Oh," I said, lowering my head and staring blindly at his chest.

"Casey," he said on a sigh. "I'd hurt you enough already, I was angry at myself for hurting you more." I didn't believe him. He must have seen the scepticism on my face.

"It didn't hurt," I blurted, to distract him from my facial reactions.

He paused, stiffened just a little, and then asked, voice low, "Did you enjoy the bite?"

Of course I did. It felt like he was marking me, claiming me. My heart and soul sang when the realisation of what he was doing sunk in. I couldn't say that though. It was too revealing.

"Casey," he persisted, shifting down in the bed until his face was nose to nose with mine. "Sweet little Gi. Tell me what you felt when I bit you?"

Why was he pushing this? He'd regretted it, I saw. Why rub his reaction in my face now? I glared at him, but he only smiled.

"You liked it," he said, rather arrogantly.

I pursed my lips together and stared him down. He started laughing, threw back his head and let a loud bark of unrestrained laughter out. If I was confused before, it was nothing like I was now.

"Oh Aetheros, what are you playing at?" he announced to the ceiling, some of his smile diminishing.

"What has your God got to do with any of this?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest, which was difficult to do with him still pressing me firmly into his side.

He shifted suddenly, moving above me, covering me and surrounding me with his body and arms. His eyes flashed a brilliant gold. His hips wedged themselves between mine and my traitorous body reacted to the intimate invasion. I wriggled beneath him, so he settled in just the right spot. A blush tore up my cheeks at my blatant display of arousal.

Damn the man. He was the most confounding person I had ever met.

"Ekmetalleftis claim their Thisavros with a bite to the neck during release," he explained, his voice low and seductive. "If the bite is not well received, then the recipient is not their Thisavros. It is... revealing to expose oneself at that most vulnerable time. Most will not endeavour to do so unless sure of the reaction they will receive. I didn't think. My body acted apart from my mind. I assumed you did not enjoy it, because my mind kept telling me you could not possibly be my Thisavros. I still find the notion unbelievable, so tell me now, Casey, did you or did you not enjoy my bite?"

What? I stared numbly up at him, my mind racing to make sense of his words. The trees had told me I was his Thisavros, I just didn't know what a Thisavros was. But Theo wasn't sure, despite his body going through the motions to claim me. What was the safest response to give? What would protect my heart?

I went with, "What is a Thisavros?"

"It literally means 'treasure'. Our most precious treasure. Our mate."

Oh. Oh, dear God. Oh.

"You didn't regret having sex with me then?" I asked, before filtering my mouth, it seemed.

Theo's face pulled back, stunned. "Why on earth would you think that?"

"You seemed upset, after you bit me, when we both found release. I thought..." I couldn't finish the sentence. Way to go revealing myself.

"Oraia," Theo murmured, his hand coming up to cup my face. "I loved it so much I want more." His hips rocked, letting me feel his erection against my centre; the evidence of his continued desire for my body.

All tension left my frame, my heart beat a little triumphantly and I breathed out a relieved breath of air.

He enjoyed it.

He wanted more.

I started smiling.

"Now, little minx. Tell me you enjoyed my bite. Tell me you want more of the same. Deny convention, appease my heart, and tell me what it was like."

What answer did he want to hear? Not that I would lie now, but it puzzled me still. He seemed so reticent to believe I could be his Thisavros, but conversely he seemed to crave a positive answer to his question as well.

"I loved it," I breathed out. "I felt complete, I felt desired. I wanted more." I watched for his reaction, absolutely at a loss to guess what it would be.

He blinked, a slow smile forming on his lips.

"Sweet Casey Eden," he murmured, hand still cupping my cheek, eyes golden and staring into mine. "What a wicked web we have weaved." Ah, that was telling. His eyes scanned my face, searching for something, or just trying to commit every aspect to memory. "This complicates things," he whispered and I couldn't argue with that.

His face dipped down and he kissed me sweetly. A tender touch of his lips to mine. It was over too briefly, leaving me tingling and desperate for more. I would always want more from this man, but my heart told me, it would always be more than he could give.

"So," I said, as he pulled back to stare at me some more. He seemed to want to just take me in, to just look at me and do no more. I felt a little bereft at that thought, despite the heaviness in my heart dampening my mood and desire right then. "This isn't a good thing, I gather."

He shook his head sadly. "It is not impossible to have a Thisavros from a different branch. But as we no longer mix, it is uncommon. And," he sighed, it was weighty, "also now unaccepted by the Rigas; regardless of kind."

"Oh," I said, understanding crushing me beneath its weight.

"The more time I spend with you, the harder it will be to let you go," Theo admitted softly. "And now, to know you are mine. Truly mine in the eyes of Aetheros, and to not be able to keep you." He swallowed, buried his face in my neck and kissed the spot he had bitten. "It tears my heart apart," he mumbled against my skin.

I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight. He might have felt like his heart was being pulled asunder, but to me, his admission, his confirmation of what I had felt in my heart for so long, gave me bliss. Gave me encouragement. I couldn't think about being parted, because I was not going to be forced to leave. We'd find a way to stay together. We'd find a way to convince his father and all of Pyrkagia that I am not a threat and should be allowed to stay in Auckland. With Theo. If their God allowed this in the past, it wasn't wrong. It wasn't evil. There was a precedent there for us to argue with. We had a case to make, we just had to convince them.

I fell asleep feeling happier, lighter, brighter than I had for days. Theo wanted me. He'd claimed me. He may be in shock at what he'd discovered, but he couldn't deny it was the truth. He'd see we could do this. He'd begin to believe, like I do, that all was not lost. Because it couldn't be. Not now that we'd found each other.

It just couldn't be. Love conquered all. Right?

I woke to warmth and a delicious male scent surrounding me. I let a small sigh slip from my lips and snuggled down further beneath the blankets and against Theo's chest.

"Good morning," he mumbled from beside me, his hands starting to run across my skin in delicate waves.

"Morning," I said cheerily, stretching like a cat in the sun.

"Mmm," he murmured, ducking his head beneath the covers and wrapping his lips around a nipple.

He licked and sucked for several seconds, then allowed his hand to slip down my side, across my hip and between my thighs. My legs parted immediately. Where had the innocent, stuttering girl gone? His finger dipped into my centre, rubbed my wetness around and around and then pulled out to coat my little nub. He swirled and pinched gently, as he nibbled and sucked firmly on my breast. My body arched, my hips seeking the exact right angle and my breasts pushing into his mouth. I was a glutton, there was no denying it now.

"Are you hurting?" Theo breathed against the sensitive skin of my nipple.

"No," I breathlessly replied. The ache was there, but in the background. I wanted him inside.

"One this way first," he announced, intensifying his attempts to bring me to orgasm.

The idea he wanted me to come this way, from his touch alone, before I came with him inside, was enough to bring me tumbling over that edge. But with his lips and teeth on my breast, and his finger steadily pumping inside, while his thumb rubbed against me, I wasn't prepared for the type of orgasm that hit me. It rocked through my body, made me cry out my release loud enough to startle birds in the trees outside, and made me shudder against his hold.

Theo growled, shifted so he was on his back and pulled me up to straddle his hips. Oh. This was new. Then in one swift plunge he seated himself inside. He groaned a sound of complete abandon when he pulled me down firmly against his groin, then without warning he started rocking his hips, guiding mine so I rode him fast and hard.

Oh dear Lord this was different and awesome and almost too much.

Then he lifted his lips to my breast, sucking my peaked nipple into his mouth and all thought vanished in a cloud of desire. His movements were hungry, every single thing he did was as though he was losing control. And I was right there with him. Wanting more, needing more, greedy for more. I rocked back against him, found my own rhythm and rode him harder still.

I had no idea this was in me. How could I have known? But part of me truly believed that only Theo could pull this reaction from my body, could elicit this wanton response. My skin sang with each touch of his hands. My moans escalated, becoming more desperate, making his movements falter, his breaths come out in ragged huffs and an animalistic sound creep up his throat.

In a blindingly fast move he picked me up and flipped me to my back, his body never breaking contact with mine. His rhythm increased and I met him eagerly; rocking hips to rocking hips. We were both panting, sweating, making all manner of erotic demands and sounds. And then as I crested that wave of ecstasy he had created, I watched as he crumbled with me and then nestled his face in the crook of my neck and bit down hard.

I cried out as the orgasm washed through me and his bite sent adrenaline pumping in my veins. Whether he consciously made the move to bite me, I don't know. But the moment his teeth claimed my neck his release exploded inside. He groaned into my skin, his hips still rocking, but with smaller and smaller thrusts, as he eked his orgasm out. Eventually, he collapsed on top of me, letting me take his full weight for a moment, before he slipped to the side.

My body rolled with him, so we remained connected, as his arms wrapped around my frame and his forehead rested against mine. It was at least a few minutes before he could speak.

"I am lost to you," he murmured, eyes still firmly closed. "Utterly lost." I couldn’t be sure, with his eyes closed, but I think he sounded sad.

We stayed like that for too long, neither of us breaking the silence that stretched between us. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was contemplative. And the reality that the sun brought with it, pushed the last of my elation aside. He was right to be sad. This was not going to be easy.

A knock sounded on the door and Theo immediately moved to cover me with the sheet, before calling out for Aktor to come in. I couldn't prevent my body's reaction if I had tried; heat danced provocatively across my skin. There was no denying the ancient butler knew what we had just done. Hell, he'd probably been waiting outside the door for the past fifteen minutes to be sure we were through. And I had been so vocal. Oh God. I buried my face into Theo's chest, unable to meet his servant’s eyes. Theo's hand came around my head protectively and held me in place, giving me permission to hide.

"Sir. The meeting has been brought forward to this morning."

"Bugger," Theo muttered, but didn't move. I could tell he wanted to, his body was poised to leap from the bed, but he simply continued to protectively hold me, to give me that comfort in front of the other man. "Did they give a reason at all?" he asked.

"No, but I sensed urgency in the Rigas' aide's voice. Something has happened to cause them alarm."

"This is not good."

"There is more," Aktor said, sounding a little upset. I hadn't heard that tone in Aktor's voice before. Not that I knew the man that well, but it still sounded a little off. Something he wouldn't normally show.

"What is it?" Theo growled, the vibration of the sound reaching me through his chest.

"They have requested Miss Eden's attendance," Aktor said solemnly and Theo swore loudly in Greek.

"This is not good," he repeated, as though his mind was stuck on that fact. His butler murmured agreement.

"Shall I send for Nicodromos?" Aktor eventually asked.

"Yes. How long have we got?"

"An hour before the meeting starts." I breathed out slowly, the speed with which the meeting had been rescheduled seemed like a very bad sign. Both men obviously agreed with me, because the tension on the air, as my head came up to glance at Aktor, was acute right then.

Aktor wasn't looking at me though, he wasn't even keeping an eye on Theo. I think it was all for me and not his boss. I was sure Theo was not embarrassed to be found naked in bed with his lover, but Aktor, the sweet old man, knew I wouldn't want to be seen like this. I felt an immediate sense of affection for him. He was a good person, a good friend to Theo, even if he was just considered a butler and nothing more.

Theo sent him on his way and swiftly rose from the bed.

"Wear the red dress," he instructed. "Pyrkagia favour that colour."

"OK," I muttered, sliding to the side of the bed and feeling every decidedly naughty thing he had done to me last night and this morning.

"Do you need me to help you?" he asked and I realised he'd placed that distance between us again. I glanced up and knew what I'd see before I saw it. The mask. The impassivity. Not my Theo anymore.

I sighed. "I'm fine, Theo. I'm a big girl, I can get myself washed and dressed."

He hesitated by the door to his room and just looked at me, but if he had something to say he chose not to voice it. And in the next instant the door was clicking shut at his back.

I had thought becoming what I was, was the roller-coaster ride from hell. But I was beginning to think loving Theo Peters was even worse. The only problem was, that even though my heart felt battered, I knew that I would walk this treacherous path again and again, for just a glimpse of the real man.

The Theodoros Petropoulos he presented to Pyrkagia was not the Theo Peters he showed me. I resolved to cherish that. To accept it as the gift that it was. And to hold it dear when the going got tough. Because there was denying, the going was about to get very tough indeed.

Chapter Eighteen

As Though He Felt My Dread And Pain And Fear Along With Me

Nico arrived within half an hour, looking just as anxious and on guard as Theo and Aktor had. I wasn't sure how Theo's cousin would act around me. I mean, the last time I had seen him, I'd just released him from an Earth prison I had placed him within and left him in a rejuvenated clearing created by my Stoicheio. I was certain there'd be some sort of awkwardness.

But as I walked into one of the front rooms, following the murmur of deep male voices, his only greeting was a smile. It wasn't quite beaming, the tension in his shoulders prevented him from achieving that, but it was welcoming. More so than I deserved.

"Hi," I said meekly at the doorway.

Aktor bustled about pouring me a cup of coffee and pulling out a chair at a little table in the corner. He obviously wanted me to eat. But it wasn't Theo who came over to take my hand and lead me to Aktor's meal, it was Nico. I sucked in a deep breath and just told myself to keep doing it; to keep breathing.

"I'm to be your escort," Nico announced, leading me to my chair. His eyes darted over Theo's bite mark on my neck, a flash of gold was the only indication of a reaction at all, and even then, I wasn't sure what it meant. "It is expected that you will not be called until later in the meeting. While you wait, I'll entertain you." He said that last with a wink.

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him why he was being so nice to me, when Theo stepped up and brushed Nico's hand from my arm. Then he purposely settled me in my chair and kissed the top of my head. The move was possessive, not loving. So I just glared at him.

Aktor fussed around the table, filling my plate up with more food than I could possibly eat, but at least giving me something to look at other than Theo. I needed the distraction, his aloofness was pissing me off right then.

I noticed the fire was roaring and both Nico and Theo retreated to stand beside it, a sure sign they wanted to fuel themselves before they faced the Pyrkagia council and Theo's father. I wished I could spend some time with my trees, but at least Aktor had placed a potted palm on the table beside me. I momentarily thought, if I did have to leave Auckland, could I convince Aktor to accompany me?

I scoffed softly at that notion. If I couldn't convince Theo to come with me, then how could I make an old man? And then as I swallowed my mouthful of decidedly delicious, but barely registered food, I realised I was on the cusp of giving up. And I shouldn't be. No one was going to make me leave my city. No one was going to bully me around.

I swallowed a few more mouthfuls of sausage and egg, sipped my coffee and then rose from my chair. I'd been in the room five minutes. Theo stiffened and pushed off from the fireplace hearth.

"Do you need something?"

"Just five minutes," I replied and swiftly left the room.

"Was it something I said?" Nico's joking voice wafted out after me.

"No," Theo replied, evenly. "It's me."

I didn't stick around to hear more, I ran down the front steps and across the gravel, seeking refuge in my trees. My dress today was flowing, it flared out behind me in various shades of red; a glorious sunset of scarlet. The graduation of colouring was like watching the end of a long, hot day. I came to a standstill in the middle of my alcove, breathing the soothing scent of Earth into my lungs. The empire line of the dress accentuated the rapidity of my breaths. My breasts rising and falling, making the sunset undulate in waves.

I wanted to cry. I don't know why and that just confused me. I lost my virginity last night. No, I gave it away willingly. It had been beautiful, magical even. But today made yesterday seem surreal. I'd always thought I'd feel differently when I finally did 'the deed'. I hadn't realised I'd feel this different though. Life changing in a way that was not necessarily good. I should have been happy, floating on a cloud of bliss left over from the sensations Theo had created.

But I felt flat. My heart heavy and my mind a mess of conflicting thoughts. I reached out and a vine wrapped lovingly around my wrist. The Earth sighed when the vine's thorn broke my skin and a drop of my blood fell to the ground.

Why do you do that? I asked, a little annoyed it took advantage of my touch to steal a drop of my blood.

Because you will need us, and we are not strong enough yet, the trees replied without apology.

I didn't like the sound of that. The meeting this morning already left a bitter taste in my mouth. And the now trees were warning of something more ominous. I was about to ask what they feared, when Theo's voice found my ears.

Time to go. The vine unwrapped and stroked my arm comfortingly. Take care, the plants whispered. We watch and wait. For what exactly I didn't know.

I walked out of the clearing feeling full in my soul, but empty inside. Even the sight of Theo standing at the edge of the gravel driveway, arm outstretched to take my hand, immaculately dressed ready for political battle, did not soothe the ache that had started inside. I took his hand and stopped before him, my eyes searching that impassive face.

"You're very good at this," I murmured. Even I could hear the disgruntled sound to my words. He leaned back and frowned.

"Good at what, Oraia?"

Good at what indeed. I shook my head and pushed past him to the open rear door of the car. I slid in without another word and purposely avoided Nico's gaze. It was several seconds before Theo joined us.

The ride to the Rigas' Pyrgos, where the council meeting was being held, was inordinately quiet. Theo and Nico had obviously discussed all they needed to prior to the big show. I wondered if Theo was nervous. I gazed at his strong profile and tried to see a smattering of nerves. There were none, but I could hardly blame him for hiding them. He was about to face his father. I hoped when I was called on, I wouldn't have to do it alone. Would Nico come? Would Theo stand beside me? His present behaviour indicated not.

When we arrived Theo left without a parting word and Nico guided me up the stairs, down a corridor and into a spartan room. I sat down in the chair he offered and wondered how long these things were meant to go on for. A full thirty minutes later Nico broke. I found it amusing that he did before me.

"This is utter crap!" he announced bounding up from his chair and starting to pace. "God knows why they insisted you be here, but if they suspect you to be Gi royalty then they are hardly treating you appropriately."

"That's because I'm not Gi royalty and they know it," I replied steadily, crossing my legs.

Nico scoffed. "Don't delude yourself, princess. They want you to be royalty, then they have sound reason to exile you, politically correctly, from our land. How do you think the Rigas is coping with the knowledge you're in his son's bed?"

I refused to give in to the discomfort of Nico's words.

"Then what are they discussing, if it is a foregone conclusion, and why am I here?"

"Exactly!" Nico said with a finger pointed towards my face. "This is crap. A lynching, not a discussion. And if they are about to pull you to pieces without you even being present then I denounce all allegiance to the realm." A bit melodramatic I thought.

I cocked my head at Nico. He was player, an actor, a little bit of a court jester, I think. But he was deadly serious now. Why? I'd given him no reason to back me, not that I believed his words just now. He was angry and rambling, he'd regret it later.

"Just relax, Nico. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," I said, leaning back in my uncomfortable chair trying to get comfortable.

He breathed deeply for a few moments and then forced himself to sit again. His fingers tapped across the top of the table next to him.

"You were amazing, you know," he said softly, out of nowhere. I felt my eyebrows rise up my forehead. "I was cosseted in that cell you placed me in. When I used my Stoicheio the Earth did not retaliate. The roots I singed would have hurt, but it still did not fight back. You told it to keep me safe, didn't you?"

I nodded, unsure what else to say.

He flexed his jaw, eyes staring unseeing at the floor. I had no way of knowing what he was thinking. And then he surprised me by standing and announcing, "We're going to watch."

"What?" I said coming to my feet, because he seemed about to storm out of the room.

He grabbed my hand and walked toward the door, confirming my suspicions, but not easing my mind at all. He peered around the exit and checked that the cost was clear, and then pulled me out behind him.

"We used to spy on the council meetings when we were kids," Nico whispered in my ear as we walked swiftly and quietly down several more hallways and up a flight of stairs. "Of course, this isn't the same building as that which existed in Greece back then, but the original Pyrgos was replicated; stone for stone. I would hazard a guess, that it mimics to perfection the Pyrgos of old. Right down to where Theo and I used to watch council meetings when we were young."

"Is this wise?" I asked in a whisper.

Nico flashed a mischievous grin at me and just kept walking.

Finally we came to a deserted hallway and Nico stopped in front of a larger than life tapestry on the wall. He took a look over both his shoulders and when convinced that we were still unseen, lifted the bottom right edge of the fabric and dragged me behind it. Dust wafted up and tickled my nose, but I forced myself not to breathe it. He fumbled around blindly for several moments and then I heard the click of a door releasing.

Nico leaned into my ear and whispered, "Not a sound from here on in."

My heart leapt into my throat. I was an enemy of these people, already suspected as a spy, and here I was about to eavesdrop on a council meeting. Oh, this was not going to end well. I knew it. But, damned if I was going to stop now. I wanted to know what they were saying about me. This meeting was about me, I was sure. So I deserved to be there. And obviously Nico agreed.

The little space he pulled me into was covered in dust. Inhabited New Zealand's not that old. But I'd guess this building to be several centuries in age. Perhaps the Pyrkagia came here before Abel Tasman, maybe even as early as the first Māori settlers in the thirteenth century. Looking at this dust, you'd think the new Pyrgos had been here that long, and this room neglected not long afterwards. Nico was very careful not to disturb too much of it, creeping along between crates of God knows what and perching himself at the very end, on a dusty upturned wooden box. There wasn't enough space for another makeshift seat beside him, just the one he sat on in front of a tiny peep hole in the wall. I stifled my gasp as Nico pulled me onto his lap, and pointed at the opening for me to view.

I had to duck down to get my eye level with the hole, I was sure from Nico's position he could have just leaned forward and been at the right height. But I was higher, sitting on his lap, which was disconcerting and distracting and felt wrong. I pushed those thoughts aside and peered through the gap.

A large white room surrounded by tall white columns sat on the other side. Several white robed people, both male and female, sat across a long table, that stretched from one side of the room to the other. The council, I was betting, and in the centre on an ornate throne, sat the King. Our vantage point showed us their faces clearly, but only the top of the heads of anyone who stood before them, giving their reports or answering to crimes. I was only guessing, but the room held the feel of a tribunal. And the person on trial right now was Isadora.

I breathed out a slow breath and Nico pushed me gently aside to take a peek. He pulled back and stretched up to whisper, "Perfect timing." My heart sank into my shoes.

I leaned forward to have another look and a voice sounded out, the first we'd heard since arriving, and almost made me squeak. Nico squeezed my waist in warning and I bit my bottom lip to ensure I didn't make a sound.

"Are we ready to proceed then?" A man on the council, two down from the King on his right, said. Murmured words of agreement ran along the line of council members.

"Isadora Petros, please give your report," the man announced in a ringing voice.

I watched as Isadora straightened her spine and lifted her head, mentally and physically preparing herself for her moment.

"It is with grave regret that I must bring the Pyrkagia council dangerous news," she said, sounding every inch the regretful messenger that she portrayed. "The Gi have, until several days ago, been quite settled. Had I left last week, I would not have uncovered this development. I thank Aetheros that I remained long enough to bring this change in circumstance to you."

"On with it," one of the women on the council snapped, clearly not enjoying Isadora's grandstanding. Isadora shifted nervously when the woman spoke, but pulled herself together to deliver her 'dangerous message'.

"The Gi became suddenly distressed. The forests uneasy. A sense of something big... no momentous" - she corrected herself with a nod of her elegant head - "occurring became obvious, but no one would divulge what it was. Council meetings were called on days they didn't usually meet and then, last Tuesday, they started to send out scouts. First a couple, then by Thursday the numbers escalated to their entire regiment."

"How many in a regiment?" a man on the council asked, sitting forward in his seat.

"Twenty-five," Isadora replied and several murmured words were shared amongst the councillors in response. I couldn't make out what they were saying, Greek not being a language I spoke.

Thankfully they returned to English for the next question.

"What are they looking for?" a man on the end of the table asked.

"It took some effort, but I finally managed to obtain the information from an informant of mine. Unfortunately I had to... dispose of him afterwards. I fear I may have given myself away, had I not."

"Understandable," a woman said, sitting next to the King, who so far had not spoken a single word. Isadora seemed relieved to get that dispensation. It clearly wiped her conscience clean.

I wasn't sure what to make of all of this. But the fact Isadora had killed a Gi to find out the next bit of information, did not sit well. I pressed a hand into my stomach to stop the nausea that was threatening to grow. I couldn't explain my reaction, but a death of anyone, Gi or otherwise, should not be dismissed with just a single word.

"They have discovered a lost treasure, at least, the knowledge that the treasure survives. They search for it, in the hopes of bringing the treasure home."

Isadora's words rang out in the stillness of the room Nico and I sat in. I felt his shoulders slump. He knew what she'd say next. I think I did to, but I hoped I was wrong.

"And do we know what the treasure is?" the King finally asked, entering the conversation, or inquisition, at last. His voice was steady, deep and resonant, but entirely devoid of emotion. He'd perfected the impassivity that Theo used. In that spilt second I saw the son in the father and it left me feeling scared.

"I believe it is a lost daughter, Rigas," Isadora announced. "They search for a princess of Gi."

I made a sound, but thankfully it was muffled and couldn't be heard over the exclamations of alarm in the council room. So many voices rose in disharmony, that nothing could possibly be gleaned from what was being said or shouted or cried.

Nico held me tightly, rubbing a hand up and down my naked arm. Goosebumps had appeared when Isadora had spoken, and he was trying to soothe them away; calm me, settle me. I didn't deserve his comfort and I stubbornly wanted someone else's than his.

"Quiet!' the King shouted and all voices ceased on his command. His eyes bore into Isadora's and to her credit she held steady under that penetrating stare. "Tell me, do you have any idea where that princess is now? Do they?"

The wait for her to answer was interminable. It was one of those moments, that you know the outcome already, but you hold out hope, desperately and uselessly, for it to end in another way. I didn't want her to confirm something that couldn't possibly be true. It was a lie, but if she said it, they would think it a truth. How could I fight this? How could Theo? I was determined not to be bullied out of my city, but reality was a harsh leveller, it seemed.

"I do, Rigas," she replied and Nico actually rested his forehead against my back. As though it was him they were talking about, as though it was his life about to be destroyed. As though he felt my dread and pain and fear along with me.

"I believe she is here," Isadora announced, her voice gaining in strength as she spoke each false word. "I believe her to be the Gi that Theodoros Petropoulos has taken under his protection. I believe he has been duped. She is not an asylum seeker, she is an escaped princess and will be sought by the Gi at all cost."

"Unacceptable!" a councillor cried.

"We must return her at once," another added.

"To fool our own Rigas' son," one woman exclaimed, shocked, as though I'd committed a most heinous crime.

"They will attack us, if they think we harboured her knowingly. This will lead to war!"

And on that last loud, portentous statement all voices fell, realisation of impending assault by the Gi, because of me, hitting hard.

The Rigas stood. Silence reigned for several moments and then he declared in a dark voice, "Bring in my son."

Chapter Nineteen

It Was The End Of The World As I Knew It

My heart couldn't take any more. I was sure at any minute it would simply falter and stop. How fast can a heart beat without failing? Mine was thundering, pounding, racing. So many different emotions ran through my body, making me tremor on Nico's lap. I rested my head against the wall, my breaths sending little puffs of dust to rain down on my beautiful dress. None of it mattered; Theo was about to be interrogated because of me.

The Rigas had appeared so angry when he summoned Theo to the council room. His eyes had blazed gold and even from our vantage point, elevated and behind a thick wall, I could feel his Fire. His rage manifested in heat. Theo would burn when he stood before them, before him. He couldn't stand where Isadora had stood and not be affected by the King's fury.

Was he angry with me and just taking it out on Theo? Or was he angry his son had placed him in this embarrassing - and potentially damaging to Pyrkagia - position? I didn't know, but I was sure I would soon find out. Theo had just walked in the room.

I couldn't see his face, but he held his head high and strode across the floor like the prince he obviously was. I watched as some of the council members frowned, a few averted their eyes and only two offered small consoling smiles. The Rigas glowered.

I held my breath, my fingers pressed into my mouth to prevent me from making a sound. They would hear it, because silence met Theo's arrival. A heavy, ominous silence that threatened to drown.

Finally, the King spoke. I watched as he swallowed several times, clenched and unclenched his fists, until he was able to eventually speak to the man who was his son.

"You will tell us everything you know about the Gi?" he ordered, then sat abruptly back in his chair.

"There is not much to tell," Theo replied steadily.

A movement off to the side of the council table caught my eye and I shifted to get a better view. Isadora had remained in the room and was watching the entire proceedings. The fact that she had stayed left an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Theo had not been present for her statement, but she was obviously considered valuable enough to remain for his. Why?

A councillor speaking brought my attention back to the table. For now, they were the dangerous creatures in the room.

"Theodoros, we must hear all there is to know about the girl. Please indulge us." She spoke kindly, but I sensed her unease. She was giving him due respect, but I gathered it would not last. Her finger tapped repetitively on the top of the table; a beat to match her increasingly angered mood.

I flicked my glance across the entire length of the room. All the councillors were agitated, upset, on edge. There were gold flecks in the eyes of more than one. I ached for Theo to be anywhere but there, facing off against their wrath. But, selfishly, a part of me was consumed in worry for when I would have to face that level of ire. I was not trained in this sort of confrontation as Theo obviously was. I was not as experienced in political discussions as he no doubt is. I wasn't even a fraction of their individual ages. Scared didn't even cover what I was feeling right now. Petrified would be more accurate.

"I have known her for a year," Theo replied slowly. "I became aware of her Stoicheio on Thursday. Before then she had appeared human to me."

It was all truth. No falsehood, no lie. But I felt like he was betraying me.

"She had hidden herself from you? A prince of Pyrkagia?" a councillor asked, an obvious tone of doubt in his voice.

"She did not know what she was," Theo replied immediately.

"Ridiculous!" another councillor exclaimed. "She duped you." He was not impressed. The look he threw Theo was one of contempt and scorn. I wondered if he had ever been given such a look before. Theo didn't retaliate. He remained silent, stance relaxed, but not casual. Eyes staring straight forward. I couldn't be sure, from the angle I watched the scene at, but I think he wasn't even looking at the councillors. I think he was looking at a spot on the wall at their backs.

"Theodoros," the same woman from earlier, the table tapper, leaned forward to say. Her tone was still politely reverent, but her mask was slipping; her patience wearing thin. "How exactly did she fool you?"

"She didn't fool me," Theo answered and I breathed out a relieved breath of air.

"Son," the woman said condescendingly. I wondered if the term 'son' was literal and this was his mother, or just a random endearment she'd give someone much younger than herself. "She is a woman and you are a man. Of course she fooled you." A few of the councillors sniggered their agreement. The Rigas ground his teeth.

"Casey isn't like that," Theo replied and I detected a note of desperation in his voice. I mentally willed Theo to hold it together. He was better than this. He could hide behind that mask. If ever there was a time I wanted that mask to be on his beautiful face, now was definitely that time.

"Tell me then," the woman persisted, taking on the role of chief interrogator for the council, "why you believe she isn't Gi royalty."

Theo stiffened. Just a little. They may not have noticed, but I did. I knew that body so well, even after only one night against it. He now knew what Isadora's report had entailed. I watched his head turn slightly to bring his ex-girlfriend into his line of sight. I could see her reaction to whatever look he was giving her. It was a plea. A plea to cut himself free of me.

In that moment I knew Isadora would do whatever she could to get rid of me. Maybe, part of it was because she wanted him for herself. But, unfortunately, part of it was definitely because she saw me as a danger to Theo. She was protecting him, because she loved him. That kind of love makes you do almost anything. It was dangerous and could be deadly.

I knew, because I felt it too.

"She has no memories of a time with the Gi," Theo said, returning his attention to the council table. "She only knows a life here in Auckland since she was a child."

"It could all be a lie," a councillor explained from the far end of the table. "An intricate ruse to cover who she is."

"She is practically unskilled in wielding her Stoicheio," Theo persisted, ignoring the councillor’s argument. "She is completely unaware of the basic parameters of our world. She is naive." I blinked several times at the word 'naive'. I knew, in this context, he was referring to my knowledge of Ekmetalleftis, but I had been called naive before. And I didn't like it.

"Again, an act," the councillor replied evenly, leaning back in his chair as though it was a foregone conclusion; I was not who I portrayed myself to be.

"She is dark blonde, not brunette," Theo said, his voice softer, as though he hadn't wanted to walk this path, say these words.

"Hair dye," a woman councillor threw in. It was no use, Theo should stop now, because their minds were already made up. No amount of evidence or argument would change it. I just prayed Theo didn't say too much.

"Then it is an extremely thorough dying of her hair," Theo bit out.

Silence met his statement, but only for a moment.

"Did you enjoy her?" the Rigas said with a bitter twisted smile on his face. I closed my eyes briefly and hung my head. "Was it worth it? Sleeping with an enemy, getting your fill from a woman like her?" My head rose on those words. What did he mean, a woman like her? Just what did Theo's father see me as, some sort of Jezebel?

"Casey is not like that," Theo repeated his earlier words, but I heard the defeat in his tone. He knew. There was no stopping this now.

"I'm intrigued," his father continued, ignoring his son's pain. Instead I was pretty certain he was enjoying it. "Did you have to use your Stoicheio? Or was she so free with her affections she willingly fell into your arms?"

Oh dear God. This was a nightmare. And to top it off, Nico had tensed. If anyone knew how Theo would respond, it was his cousin and closest friend.

I started panting, little breaths of air that weren’t quite enough.

Theo didn't answer his father, so the Rigas just kept on pushing.

"You have your pick of Pyrkagia, but you choose a Gi. Why is that son? Do you rebel against your elders or do you wish to taint this throne?" Theo was rigid; a statue about to shatter into a million pieces.

I'd always known his loyalty was to his people. Nico had said it before, Theo would never willingly harm Pyrkagia. His father was insinuating that's exactly what he was doing by sleeping with me.

"She is one woman, Theodoros," the Rigas said, his intense gaze on his son. "And you would send our brethren to war over her?"

I expected him to deny that I was royalty. He couldn't deny that I was Gi, but I thought he'd come to understand that I wasn't a Gi princess at least. But then, he had never said as much. All he'd admitted was he didn't know what I was, but that he still wanted me anyway. I closed my eyes, my shoulders slumping in defeat. To expect Theo to stand up for me, was too much. I was asking too much of a man who had spent centuries protecting his kind.

You do not change your allegiance that easily, not after three thousand odd years of putting Pyrkagia first.

I was indeed very naive.

The Rigas hadn't finished tormenting his son though, and I couldn't help feeling that the man wanted to break him. Which reminded me of Theo's earlier words to me. "All things can be moulded to compliance. Some just take more force to break than others." The King was moulding his son, breaking him with force in order to seek his compliance.

A muted sob escaped my lips. Nico hugged my waist tighter, a friendly reminder that I was not alone, even though I knew in my heart that I had never been more alone than right now.

"You will hand her over," the Rigas announced, imperiously. "We will detain her until Isadora can inform the Gi of her location. Preferably outside our territory. We'll deport her to that location in time for the Gi scouts to find her. They will never know we had a hand in this at all."

Nods and various murmured sounds of agreement came from the row of councillors either side of the King.

"She will tell them," Theo said, his voice a little rough on the end of the last word.

"She will do no such thing if she wishes you to remain unharmed," the King replied, a hard look in his eyes as he surveyed the man before him; his own son. "It has been some time since you visited the Bull, maybe we will show her your punishment prior to her release."

I was crying in earnest now, soft sobs I muffled in my hands. Tears streaming down my cheeks and landing in the dust at both Nico's and my feet. This was torture, and it wasn't even an ancient Greek device such as the Brazen Bull. It was just an ancient Greek tyrant.

Theo shuddered, I was sure it was at the image of what awaited him. I'd seen that depth of remembered agony cross his face when he'd spoken of the Bull before. I couldn't imagine what thoughts were going through his mind right now. The need to avoid that torment would have been extreme. I could only guess he would do anything to escape that fate.

"Father," Theo pleaded, and all eyes in the room turned to the King. He stared back impassively.

"There is nothing you can say to change my mind, Theodoros. You have only brought this on yourself."

"Time to leave," Nico whispered in my ear, but I refused to budge. I had to see this through.

"She is not a threat," Theo insisted, imploring the man to believe.

"She is not yours!" the Rigas shouted, standing to his feet and blazing gold from his angry eyes.

Theo let out a choked sound and in a voice that barely reached my ears, he said, "She is my Thisavros."

"Oh fuck," Nico muttered behind me, but if he said anything else it was drowned out by the gasps of shock from the room through the hole.

"What?" the King yelled, but it wasn't his reaction that surprised me, it was Isadora's.

"Theo!" she exclaimed. "That is a lie!"

All eyes turned to her, including Theo's.

"It is not a lie," Theo said evenly. "She is my..."

"How can you?" Isadora interrupted him. "How can you say that, when you told me I was your Thisavros."

I sucked in a breath of air and heard Nico mutter a few Greek curses behind me. Was it true? Had he bitten her neck, like he had mine? Did he already have a Thisavros? One better suited to his life, his world, his kind. I rested my forehead against the wall, my eye still at the level that allowed me to see through the peep hole, but I could no longer hold my head up high.

"Where is she?" the King bellowed.

"Now it's really time to leave," Nico instructed.

"Bring her to me now! I will see this woman, I will hear from her lips that she has duped my son. Or I will take her head right now!"

Murmured words of agreement swept over the room as Nico forcefully pulled me to my feet. I swayed and he had to wrap an arm around my waist to stop me from toppling.

"We're getting out of here," Nico insisted in a hiss. "Nothing good can come of you facing the council now."

I wasn't sure what was happening, everything was spinning out of control. Was I ever in control? Since I woke up in that pit of dirt my world was not mine to command. And now this? Accused of deception, branded an enemy, about to either be killed or cast from the only place I have ever called home.

And Theo would pay for wanting me, for trying to keep me within his arms. He would pay dearly and it was all because of me. But there was nothing I could do to stop it. One Gi against the might of Pyrkagia elders. All those on the council were surely direct descendants of the original Ekmetalleftis created by Aetheros. Or worse still, the original casts made. How could I fight that?

I couldn't. It was over, I had to run. I had to leave Theo. Leave my shop and Sonya. My family, my brother. Leave my home. My world.

Nico quietly opened the door to the storage room and cursed under his breath at the noise of rapidly approaching feet. They sounded heavy, like they wore boots, and were moving in a synchronised fashion that led you to believe they were guards on the march. He shut the door and spat out a few more curses.

"We wait," he whispered. "We wait until they have searched Pyrgos and then we sneak out."

"Won't they search here?" I whispered back.

"No one knows of this place, no one visits it. Look at the dust."

"Someone must know," I pointed out, patting a stacked pile of crates. They had been stored here by one of the King's staff. It couldn't be that well unknown.

"Let's hope that person has forgotten," Nico murmured and headed back to the wooden box and our vantage point over the room. I stood frozen for a moment, but I wanted to see what would happen to Theo, so I forced myself to return to Nico's lap and peer through the hole.

"Your majesty," a deep voice rang out.

"Yes," the Rigas said, turning from a muted conversation with the councillor at his side to face a guard.

"The Gi is not in the waiting room. We are sweeping Pyrgos now. We will find her." Oh, dear God, I hoped not.

I watched as the King turned blazing eyes of gold on his son. I would have flinched, Theo just met his look stoically.

"You sent her a signal. You told her to run. What have you done?" The last sentence was spoken so slowly, in such a low, threatening voice, I felt a chill wash down my spine.

"I did no such thing, Rigas," Theo defended.

His father stared at him for a long silent moment. The room was frozen, well aware of the fury that was about to be unleashed. They could see it, feel it, as easily as I did. As easily as, I was sure, Theo did too.

"If I cannot lock her up to keep her away from you, then I will lock you up to keep you away from her," he announced.

"Fuck!" Nico whispered and my heart agreed completely.

"Arrest my son!" the King ordered, to the shocked and saddened looks on the faces of the council.

"No!" Isadora cried out and I immediately felt a deep seated sense of jealousy toward the woman. She could announce her reaction to the King's demand openly. But I could not.

Guards stepped forward and stood on either side of Theo, waiting for further command from the King, or just unable to carry out the one already given. How hard would it be to arrest their prince?

"Do it!" the King roared. "Take him from my sight and find... that... bitch!"

"Oh Aetheros," Nico murmured, lowering his head to my shoulder. "This is really bad."

No, it wasn't just bad, it was the end of the world as I knew it.

Chapter Twenty

It Started With Me And It Would End With Me

"Where will he be?" I whispered to Nico. It had been hours since the guards began their search, and still too many people roamed the hallway outside our room for us to escape undetected.

"The cells are located on the lowest floor," Nico whispered back. The council room was empty, but we weren't risking raising our voices to a normal level for fear of being overhead still.

"Like a dungeon?" I asked and Nico lifted his eyes to mine.

"Don't do this to yourself," he said evenly.

"He's there because of me," I pointed out as explanation. "Is it bad? The cells?"

He shook his head. "Not what you're envisaging. He'll be comfortable. Have amenities, food and water. But no fire."

No fire to fuel his Stoicheio. It was only early afternoon, but Theo would need Fire by this evening. I frowned at the dusty floor and contemplated how cruel this world was they all lived in.

"How can he do this to his own son?" I asked the dust motes surrounding my feet.

"He is Rigas. All Kings are cruel."

I shook my head in denial.

"Casey," Nico murmured. "We are Athanatos, we have had to develop a thick skin to survive. Eternity makes all of us a little ruthless."

"Theo is not like that," I pointed out, unable to imagine my Theo doing anything as merciless as this.

"Don't fool yourself," Nico muttered. "He is just as capable of condemning a person as the King. It's his job, it's what he's been raised to do. Theodoros Petropoulos is one of the most brutal scouts we have."

I stared back at Nico, searching for the lie. He held my gaze, forcing me to see the truth in his words.

"What exactly is a scout? And what has Theo been raised to do?"

Nico sighed and shifted his weight on the crate he was sitting on. He looked uncomfortable. "Scouts are our peacekeepers. Although that's a euphemism for what they really do. They hunt people down, usually people who have broken our rules. And then they mete out punishment. Theo has been trained to take an Ekmetalleftis life if the crime warrants it."

"So, he's like a policeman," I said, trying to put some meaning to what Nico was saying. Theo had mention the Guard, but never this scout word.

"Not just a policeman, Casey. He is judge, jury and executioner. All he requires is a tip-off that someone has broken the rules and he carries out the rest. The trial - if you can call it that - the sentence. The end."

When Theo had first suspected me of being a Gi trespassing in Pyrkagia territory he had threatened me with his right to take my head. I suddenly realised how close I had come to losing it. Theo had been exercising his position as a scout, not just a member of the Guard.

I shook my head and rubbed a hand down my face. Now, it wouldn't be Theo who came after me, but another scout. One who hadn't befriended me over the course of the previous year. One who had no feelings for me at all.

And it wasn't just me the scout would hunt.

"Nico, you need to hand me over."

"What?" he hissed. "No way!"

"They will already be wondering why they can't find you. How long before they put two and two together, and realise you are harbouring a criminal. Do you want a scout to come after you too?"

"Casey, Theo would kill me if I hand you over."

"Theo is in no position to do anything, but we are. Do you really think we'll get out of here? And what then? How do I leave the country? How do I hide? Not only have I got Pyrkagia hunting for me, but I now have the Gi. I don't want to hand myself over, but I also don't want either you or Theo to be harmed because of me. You've done enough. Risked enough. Both of you."

"You're his Thisavros," Nico said, as though that was reason enough to risk their lives.

"Am I?" I asked, eyebrow arched. "What about Isadora?"

Nico scoffed. "That was a scorned woman trying to cling to something that is no longer hers. Theo would have told me if Dora was his. And I have never seen his bite mark on her neck." His eyes scanned my neck then, I had a sudden urge to hide Theo's mark with my hand. To protect it, which was silly. Nico wasn't threatening Theo's claim. Or denying it.

"What if she is, though? She'd be better for him than me," I insisted, clearly not punishing myself enough yet.

Nico sighed, but didn't answer. Because, I was certain, he agreed. Isadora would a better Thisavros than me.

We sat in silence for several more minutes. Every so often Nico would get to his feet and softly open the door to listen for foot traffic. It was getting less and less, but still too many passed for us to feel at ease enough to chance escape.

I was at a crossroads. One way led to my capture, possible death, or at the least deported from New Zealand. But it did mean Theo would be safe. The other was where my heart lay, where I longed to remain despite logic. With Theo, near Theo, fighting for what was rightly ours. It all boiled down to one thing in the end though. Theo. What would keep Theo safe?

If I stayed hidden and tried to remain beside him, he would be in danger. I loved him too much for that.

I stood up with renewed resolve and watched Nico stiffen.

"What are you doing?" he asked, as I dusted myself down as best I could.

"I'm walking out of here," I answered calmly. More calmly than I felt.

"Don't do this," Nico pleaded. "You hand yourself over and Theo will be distraught."

"I hand myself over and Theo will walk free."

"Casey," Nico started, but I held up my hand to stall him.

"It's my decision. Mine." I blinked through the sudden onset of tears in my eyes. "Just tell him..." I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. "Just tell him this is for the best."

Nico made a strangled sound behind me, but my hand was already on the doorknob. I turned it, pulled the door open and stepped out without checking if the way was clear. What did it matter? I wasn't going to hide anymore.

As soon as I lifted the tapestry and stepped out, I knew I wasn't alone in the corridor. With my hand on the door still, I swiftly shut it in Nico's face. Leaving him inside the room and praying he'd remain there. I readjusted the tapestry and turned to face who I presumed would be a guard.

Several feet away a man in uniform stood, but it wasn't the uniform of a guard. It was the uniform of a butler.

"Aktor?" I said, uncertainly. He spun on his feet and blinked at me. Then started striding towards me with purpose.

"I knew that wretched hiding place was somewhere on this floor," he said, in a low voice. "Come, Miss Eden. The master is waiting."

He grasped my arm and pulled me several metres down the hallway, constantly looking over his shoulder for pursuers.

"Are you taking me to the cells?" I asked and was hushed immediately with a frown.

Time ticked by as he pulled me down corridor after corridor, ducking into rooms or alcoves or another tapestry hidden spot, as footsteps approached. For the entire journey he didn't utter another word. We swept down narrow stone stairways, that curved in on themselves. We ducked under low lying ceilings and at one stage even crawled through a laundry chute. Aktor knew Pyrgos like the back of his hand.

I was bursting with the desire to ask questions. Where was Theo? Was it Theo he was taking me to? How did Aktor know of all these hidden passages? Why was he even here? Where were we going? Was Theo safe? The questions swirled around in my head causing an ache to start up behind my eyes. I was hungry and thirsty and scared out of my wits, but I remained silent and simply followed wherever the butler led. I trusted him, but the longer it took, the longer the silence, I was beginning to doubt. I didn't want to doubt Aktor, but the man was ancient, had been an Athanatos for so long. What had Nico said? Eternity makes all of us a little ruthless.

I eyed him carefully, looking for signs of betrayal. I couldn't see any, but then I was now aware of how good Ekmetalleftis were at hiding behind a mask of nothing. Aktor was no different from Theo in that regard. All that met my eyes was a blank, but focused face.

We spent twenty minutes in a shadowy alcove behind a statue as guards congregated no more than a few feet away. Their conversation was in Greek, so I didn't understand it. But their words were clipped, angry and quick. They were not happy, but I had no way of knowing if they were unhappy because they hadn't located me, or for some other reason.

My heart hadn't stopped booming in my chest since I opened the door to the room Nico and I had been in. I wondered if Nico had escaped. Shown his face somewhere and was being questioned at this very moment. I hoped no one would have considered he'd betray Pyrkagia. But my head told me, that was a naive wish.

A more paranoid bunch of people I had never met.

Finally the guards moved on and we slipped from our hidden location and quietly ran down the corridor until Aktor opened another tapestry hidden door. This one led to a darkened set of stairs, leading down to a dirt strewn tunnel. There was no light, but remarkably I could see shadows, slightly darker areas that depicted the corner of a wall, a jutting beam, or fallen piece of masonry. I stopped and immediately crouched low so my fingers could touch the soil.

Earth washed up and through me, sending a jolt of recognition and welcome through my mind.

"We don't have time," Aktor hissed urgently.

But the Earth was whispering something to me, so I waved Aktor off and tilted my head.

They are here. They have come. Beware.

"Who?" I whispered back, too wound up to think the words, but speaking them aloud instead.

The ones who seek you. The ones who mean you harm.

Well, hell. That could be any number of people.

"Not helpful," I whispered back. "Be more specific," I demanded softly.

But a noise on the other side of the door, at the top of the stairs we'd just come down, let me know my time was up. I could get answers from the Earth as soon as we were safely away. I stood and nodded to Aktor, who grasped my hand and led the march down the narrow tunnel.

It became smaller and smaller, until we were doubled over and squeezing our shoulders through gaps that larger bodies would not have been able to pass. There was no way Theo used this passage. Which led me to believe that it wasn't Theo who awaited at all. I stared at the hunched form of Theo's old butler in front of me and I prayed with all my heart that he hadn't abandoned his friend; his employer. That the betrayal I suspected was not true.

I had no choice but to continue to follow him though. Going back would lead to whoever had discovered the door at the top of those stairs. Going forward was taking a leap of faith. One I wasn't sure I could manage. But the choice was made for me now, so I had to keep moving ahead.

Finally, after suffering through spider's webs and dripping, smelly water from the ceiling, we made it to a grate behind thick brush. I pushed my mucky hair back off my face and steadied my breathing for what or who lay on the other side. Aktor looked back over his shoulder to me, his familiar face helping to soothe my nerves, even though doubt of his loyalty still remained.

He banged twice on the grate with his fist and we waited.

Seconds later the brush was pushed aside and a shadowy figure grunted as he removed the grate, sliding it sideways, with a sickeningly loud creak and groan.

It was the muttered curse words in Greek that made me launch past Aktor. Directly into Theo's waiting arms.

Heat washed through me, no doubt at all in my mind that it was his Stoicheio. I'm sure he didn't mean to. He was exhausted and as dishevelled as me. It was a slip, a moment of weakness in the face of enormous relief. Because he wasn't alone. My Stoicheio was making the trees and bushes around us move protectively to offer cover. Surrounding us with an impenetrable wall of defence against the outside world.

Aktor cleared his throat at my back, causing Theo to pull away reluctantly from the kiss he'd been giving me.

"At least Cassandra uses her Stoicheio to hide you both. Theodoros, you should be ashamed of yourself."

Theo offered a rueful smile and ducked his head to kiss my lips lightly again.

"Are you hurt, Oraia?" he asked, hot breath washing over my face delightfully. I shook my head to say no, words impossible right then.

My hands were brushing over his arms, his chest, down his back. Everywhere I could reach to ensure he was unharmed. He didn't wince or pull away, so I assumed where I touched he was fine. But he must have realised what I was doing, because he whispered in my ear, "I am unhurt, as well." I sagged against him, fatigue finally catching up.

Theo swept me up in his arms and began leading the way out of our enclosure. He paused at the edge of our hidden spot and glanced in all directions, then crossed a short space to slip both of us into the rear seat of a sleek car. The windows were heavily tinted. Aktor rounded the bonnet and slid into the driver's seat, starting the car with practised ease.

I glanced around the surroundings, trying to work out where we were. Still near Howick, but a street I didn't recognise. Not the street that led to the Rigas' house.

"Where are we going?" I asked, resting my head on Theo's chest. He'd placed me in his lap, holding me about the waist, refusing to let me out of his clutches. I felt wanted and treasured... and loved.

"A house Aktor has kept for many years that no one knows about," Theo murmured, his lips brushing my head through my hair. I couldn't imagine what nasties had fallen into it, but he didn't seem to mind.

"How did you get away?"

"Aktor was waiting on the cell level. Once the guards imprisoned me, he chose his moment well. Only two guards were incapacitated in order for me to escape."

Incapacitated. Was that a euphemism or not? I didn't have it in me to ask. I knew it was weak, I should have found out. Because it was important. If Theo killed Pyrkagia guards to escape, then things were beyond repair.

Not that I truly thought this could be fixed, but I had hope Theo would not become a fugitive like me. Still, I remained silent.

"He got me out through the passageways and then returned for you. We could only guess where Nico had taken you. I described our former hiding place to Aktor." Theo let out a huff of a laugh. "Who apparently wasn't aware of it at all."

"My memory is not as good as it once was, sir," Aktor apologised.

"Your memory is more than good enough, my friend," Theo replied. I could see Aktor's smile in the rear vision mirror.

Several seconds passed before anyone spoke. It was me who broke the silence.

"What happens now?"

Theo leaned his head back on the seat and let a long breath of air out.

"I'm not sure, Oraia. For now all I can do is protect you, hide you. We'll work this out with time."

It wasn't an emphatically positive response. Theo's uncertainty matched my own. He had to know what doing this would mean. The consequences of betraying Pyrkagia. I closed my eyes and stifled my own reaction to his words. Theo was a wanted man. So was Aktor. And God knows what was happening to Nico right now. And all of this was because of me. You'd think, at least, I'd know why. But I didn't. Everything still made absolutely no sense. There was no explanation for what I had become, why I had become it. I didn't have any more answers than I did the first day I crawled out of that pit of dirt. If anything, I had more.

And on top of that, I had pulled the one man I had ever loved into the pit of confusion with me.

The guilt was a weighty blanket that settled on my shoulders and made the world turn a little darker outside. And despite being held tenderly in Theo's arms, despite knowing he was right there beside me searching for the answers to all of this as well, I felt so very alone.

Because I knew, God knows how, but I freaking knew, that I would have to fix this myself. No one else. It started with me and it would end with me. Of this I was resoundingly sure. And yet, I had no idea why.

Chapter Twenty-One

In A Delicate Dance Against My Skin

The drive to Aktor's property took another forty minutes. The roads were quiet, but winding as they headed further east, out towards the shore and away from suburbia. We finally pulled up outside a single storey gated house, right on the water's edge at Beachlands. Nikau Palm trees lined the short driveway, mixed in with low lying shrubs and a few ferns. The lawn was immaculate and well cared for. I wondered how often Aktor came out here to get away from city life.

The car pulled to a stop under a portico and the sounds of waves gently lapping the beach replaced the hum of the engine as Aktor switched it off.

"It's beautiful, Aktor," I said as I stepped out of the car, Theo climbing out behind me and placing a hand immediately on my hip, pulling me against his side.

"Thank you. This is my refuge when I need a little peace and contemplative silence."

I glanced at the old butler; his words held more meaning than they should have.

"Sometimes we need solitude, Cassandra," Aktor explained, obviously seeing the question on my face. "When you are as old as me, you crave moments of privacy and isolation. Too many memories can clog our minds, and for some, seclusion is all that keeps us from crumbling under their weight."

"Yet for others, distraction works just as well," Theo offered and received an arched eyebrow from his butler.

"Tell yourself that, Theodoros, but wait until you reach my age. You begin to lack the desire to seek out diversions for the sake of amusement."

"Ah, Aktor," Theo teased, "we are more alike than you realise."

"Really?" the butler muttered and headed toward the front door of the house. "Could have fooled me."

"But that's the point," Theo said as he pulled me after Aktor. I wasn't sure if there was much of a point to the conversation, other than reminding me how very old both men actually were.

I ducked out from under Theo's arm and received a frown for my efforts.

"I need to talk to the Earth," I said, slipping out of my shoes and walking backwards, keeping my eyes on Theo's. "I'll be in shortly. I promise." Solitude sounded good about now, I think Aktor was on to something.

"Is everything all right?" Theo asked, taking a step after me.

"I'm fine. Really. I just want to check on things." Theo cocked his head and arched his brow, but refrained from asking the obvious question on his mind. He just nodded, thrust his hands in his trouser pockets and took a step toward the now open front door to Aktor's house.

"Call out if you need anything, Oraia," he murmured and I could have sworn there was a vulnerable look on his face. But if it was there at all, it was gone too quickly to be sure. I nodded and turned around to skip across the grass to the largest Nikau on the property.

My hand reached out and ran over the layered trunk of the tree, my fingers tracing the ridges. I had always been intrigued by the regularity of the segments to a Nikau Palm's trunk. Like stacked cylinders, they rose up the body of the tree creating a perfect sculpture of nature. I walked around the girth of the plant and just breathed for a time. Allowing the scent of Earth to calm me.

"Who are they?" I whispered eventually, when I'd settled my nerves enough to ask the one question that had been on repeat in my mind since escaping Pyrgos.

They are coming, the palm whispered back.

"Yes, but who is coming?" I pushed.

Those who mean you harm. Since when had they started to talk in riddles?

I stopped my trek around the circumference of the trunk and frowned down at the ground. Why weren't the trees being more forthcoming? They had been honest with me in the past. Told me things without having to be asked, but whoever they were referring to now, was obviously not something they could divulge. Which didn't make any sense at all.

It was getting late and I was tired and hungry, having only eaten a few mouthfuls of breakfast and nothing since. I felt filthy, grubby and emotionally wrought. Trying to work out the Earth's riddles right now was beyond me. I needed a shower, food and sleep. Preferably in that order.

I patted the trunk, muttered a thank you, and then turned to go inside Aktor's house. Within a couple of steps I saw Theo's shadow outlined on the porch. He'd been watching me, or keeping guard, I wasn't sure. I hesitated, wondering if I should feel annoyed at the intrusion, but then how often had I seen him feeding his Stoicheio by the fire? It was hardly a private thing and I did sense his worry. He'd been worried since he pulled me into his arms outside that tunnel. Hell, he'd been worried since the meeting had been shifted to this morning and I'd been summoned along with him to Prygos.

I pasted a smile on my face and walked up to the steps, stopping on the bottom one, so Theo was two above me. He looked down at me and then with a tender touch, brushed his fingers over my cheek. Gold flecks danced in his eyes.

"You like to touch," I said quietly.

"All Pyrkagia enjoy touch," he murmured. "Gi enjoy scent. Nero enjoy taste. Aeras enjoy sight. Pyrkagia enjoy touch."

"Oh," I said, understanding dawning. The Earth's scent always soothed me. Obviously Theo felt soothed by the touch of heat from Fire. I could see those senses would offer enjoyment elsewhere. I knew that I loved Theo's Mediterranean spices, sunshine and rosebud scent, in any case.

"Who are you trying to find through the Earth?" Theo asked, the question taking me by surprise.

"I'm not sure," I replied, walking up the remaining steps until I was on the same level as Theo. "The Earth warned me, while Aktor and I were escaping through that tunnel, that they were coming. I was trying to find out who they were."

Theo frowned. "And the Earth wouldn't tell you?"

"No."

"That is odd. When has the Earth denied you anything before?" He had a point. I started to furrow my brow in consternation. Theo reached out and ran a thumb across the wrinkles forming there. Smoothing them out with just his touch.

I leaned into his hand. It was automatic, my body dictated the move. In the next second I was wrapped up in Theo's arms his lips crushing mine, his hard body flush against me. His heat embracing me, engulfing me, surrounding all of me. I made a sound and he lifted me up off my feet and carried me towards the house. But he didn't take us through the door, he pushed me against the side of the building and continued to devour every inch of my mouth.

I craved his touch, his scent. Him. There wasn't an ounce of embarrassment in admitting I was lost to this man. To everything he did to me, everything he made me feel and desire. In Theo's arms I felt safe and wanted and perfect. There was no nervousness now. Not when he kissed me, anyway. The more we did it, the more I wanted. And that longing drowned out all other emotions with ease.

Heat washed through my body, but it wasn't his Stoicheio, it was my lust for him. Oh, he stoked it, but not with an element. He didn't need to do that. All he'd ever needed to do was just be him, be near, and I was gone. Lost to the sensations I was feeling. Yearning for more of the man.

"Casey," he murmured against my lips, then started kissing over my cheeks and down my neck. His hot breath fanned across where he had bitten me, a shudder racking his body when he pulled back to see his mark. "I want you," he whispered and all thoughts of exhaustion and hunger left me. I wanted him too.

But despite that desperate desire I hadn't forgotten the dusty room I'd spent the day in, or the dirty tunnel coated in cobwebs and streaming with foul smelling drips of water. My dress was filthy, my hair was matted and streaked with muck. I was sure my face was a mess, even though Theo continued to look at me like I was the most beautiful thing he had laid eyes on in this world.

"I need a shower," I admitted, but soothed the brush-off with a kiss to his throat. He smelled earthy and sweaty and all male, a combination that made my stomach flip delightfully, despite some if it being because of his own adventures today.

"A shower sounds perfect," he murmured, his nose nuzzling behind my ear.

What? Did he want to shower too? With me? And here I thought I'd passed the point of blushing.

"Sweet little Gi," Theo teased. "There is a water shortage, you know. We would be doing a service to the district by sharing a shower."

I pushed back against his chest playfully. "I shower alone," I insisted, even as my stomach continued to flip with images of a water soaked Theo before my eyes, ready for my lips and tongue to taste.

"Not anymore," he husked against my throat, his teeth dragging deliciously over my skin. "You are mine, Oraia. And I want to care for you, clean you, pamper you. You cannot deny that you want this too."

Part of me did want it, but that was a very new part of me. The old part of me who couldn’t even flirt with a man, was terrified of being naked under a spotlight and not live up to how Theo saw me in his mind. I chewed the inside of my bottom lip and ducked my head, unable to meet Theo's eyes. The warmth in my cheeks mocked me.

Theo sighed and pulled away slightly. The loss of his body heat was acute.

"All right, Casey," he said, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "I'll show you to your room and I'll shower in the guest bathroom next door. Aktor is fixing us something to eat, so we shouldn't take too long, anyway."

He wasn't going to push me, he wasn't going to do a thing unless I wanted it. I felt relief course through me, immediately followed by regret. And disappointment. Why didn't he push? If he really wanted me that much, wouldn't he try a little harder?

I followed numbly after Theo as he led me through a light and airy interior, past the main open plan lounge, dining and kitchen - where Aktor was busy fussing away creating a masterpiece no doubt - towards one side of the house that led to bedrooms, running off a long hallway.

"This is where I'll shower," Theo said, indicating the first door on the left. "And here is your room, there's an ensuite bathroom attached. Aktor has laid out some clothes for you to wear."

I nodded and wrapped my hand around the doorknob, pushing it open so I could step inside and think through my tumbling and conflicting emotions. I looked back over my shoulder at Theo, who was watching me with a longing in his eyes that almost made me stop dead in my tracks. How could he look at me that way and not push for more? I needed that push. Couldn't he see that? I wanted him to push me to take the next step. But Theo had never pushed me. He had only ever shown me infinite patience, only following my lead and not presuming to take any more than I offered.

I shut the door as he began to turn away, unable to watch him go.

The room Aktor had prepared for me was lovely. White linens and blue accents, reminding me of a sunny beach. The curtains were gauzy and the window was open, allowing a salty breeze to lift the material and make it dance. Small knick-knacks dotted the room; shells, a starfish, brightly coloured ornaments depicting fish that couldn't possibly be found in New Zealand waters, but somehow they all worked. It was a bright and cheerful room, and I had to admit I was surprised the butler had such a delicate decorating hand.

I glanced over to the bed where Aktor had laid out some clothes. They included an oversized man's white button down shirt and soft white drawstring cotton pants. They'd be a little big on me, but at least they weren't Theo's size. I could roll up the sleeves and cuffs, and tie the shirt around my waist to not be completely lost in them. They were a damn sight better than the now terribly dirty dress.

I stripped off my clothes and folded them neatly in a pile beside the clean ones, then slipped into the bathroom and took a look at myself in the mirror. Bad move. I looked pale and had shadows forming under my eyes, and that was if you ignored the smears of dirt. I washed my hands and face in the sink, even though I was about to step in the shower. I needed to see myself first in the mirror. I needed to ground myself and look in my eyes to make sure I was still me inside.

So much had happened. So much was still happening and threatening to happen. I'd come a long way since I woke up in that pit of dirt, but that didn't mean I was OK with it all. I had so many questions and so few answers. But take all of the Ekmetalleftis developments aside, I had still experienced some important life changing moments these past few days. Of course, losing your virginity to a man you had harboured a crush on for a year, was nothing compared to becoming an immortal. But it was all enough to make me stare blindly for several minutes and just force myself to breathe through the enormity of it.

I had to ask myself if Theo hadn't walked into my shop and shown an interest in me, whether this would have happened at all.

I sucked in a deep breath and placed a hand in the middle of my stomach to stop the plummeting feeling I suddenly felt. Oh God, I hadn't thought of that before. What if this was all happening because of Theo? What if none of it would have happened if he hadn't decided to try out a deli on Parnell Road and been served by me? Was there a connection? Or was it just fate, a mere coincidence?

I wasn't sure there was an answer to that question, like so many of the questions I had in my head. And I decided adding more useless questions to the pile was a really bad move. But I'd thought it now, and I couldn't simply pretend it wasn't there; stuck in my mind, screaming to get out. What if?

What if?

I closed my eyes and lowered my head. The sound of Theo's shower being turned on next door, reached me through the wall. He was about to step into it, I really needed to step into mine. I took a deep breath in and raised my eyes to the woman in the mirror, immediately catching the marks of Theo's teeth on my neck. They were fading, by tomorrow they'd be gone. Why weren't they more permanent? Was that because I wasn't his Thisavros after all?

I didn't like that idea. I mean, I really didn't like that idea. I frowned at the mark and ran a finger over my neck, trying to feel the indentations. I let a sharp, short breath of air out. It didn't matter whether my connection to Theo made this all happen. It didn't matter at all, because if I had the choice to do it all over again; to avoid Theo and never become what I am or to repeat it and be standing here confused, but having loved the man - I wouldn't even hesitate. I'd do it all again exactly as it was.

Getting to know Theo over the course of a year. Learning to flirt with him, the first time I had ever been able to flirt with a man in my life. I may not have enjoyed the pit of dirt and the questions that still remained were pretty heavy. But I'd face it all, every single confusing bit of it, to lie with Theo, to feel his touch, his kiss, him. To have him love me like he did in my bed last night and this morning. To have him crave my body, want me, claim me, call me his.

I looked at the wall that separated my bathroom from Theo's and I knew what I wanted to do. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around my body, then ran across the bedroom to the door that led into the hall. Peering out, I made sure Aktor was nowhere about, then crept down the hallway and before I could change my mind, turned the handle to Theo's bathroom.

Steam billowed out and wrapped around my ankles. The warmth of it inviting me further. I was getting used to heat. In my cheeks. In my veins. In my body. I took a shaky breath in and stepped inside, closing the door softly behind me. The water sounded loud as it pounded against the glass of the shower stall. It had condensed, but through the mist I could see him. One hand stretched out above his head, forearm leaning against the cool tile of the shower. His head was bowed low, the water pummelling across his broad shoulders and back.

He was incredible.

I had to just stand there for a moment and stare. Take all of him in. No, I would definitely do it all again. Every. Single. Moment.

My hands shook as I released my hold on the towel and let it slip from my body. It's not as though he hadn't seen me naked before, but in the heat of the moment you could pretend your imperfections were overlooked. This was different. But it was strangely liberating. Taking the plunge off the edge of the cliff and letting yourself free-fall.

Oh dear God, I was going to do this, but nothing was going to stop the small tremors that racked my entire frame. He'd be able to tell. I'd be laid bare. In more ways than one.

Taking in one last fortifying breath I reached forward and pulled the shower door open, then slid inside. Little droplets of water cascaded around me and a fine mist washed over my body the moment the door closed at my back. But I could have been anywhere. In a desert full of sand. In a concrete bunker or a field of wild flowers. Because nothing else registered but the look on his face when he turned at the feel of my body behind his.

He sucked in a deep breath and swept his eyes over my frame, gold flashing in them in a way I had never seen before. When my hand reached out to run over his shoulder, he made a delicious sound in the back of his throat and closed his eyes.

"For a moment I thought you were a dream," he whispered, his eyes slowly opening again, showing me the hunger that consumed him right then.

"I'm real," I managed to say, despite the dryness of my throat.

Theo turned to face me completely, his hands running up my sides, then back down again in a delicate dance against my skin.

"Real or not," he husked, stepping closer, placing his body flush against mine. "You are my dream."

Chapter Twenty-Two

But I Fought It, Just As I Fought My Tears

Theo didn't stop running his fingers across my skin, although I think he may have stopped breathing. Water danced between us, splashing off his arms, coating my chest and breasts, allowing him a slick surface to touch. He revelled in it. He drank the sensations in through his fingertips alone. If I needed evidence of a Pyrkagia's affinity to touch, this was it. He didn't do anything else but stroke, brush, caress... feel. And I could tell he loved it.

His pupils dilated, gold rimming the edges. His eyelashes lowered, his lips parted and a pulse beat erratically in his neck. There was power here. My power over him. I was giddy with it. With the knowledge that I brought Theo Peters to his knees. I wasn't naive enough to believe that I was the first woman to do so, but for me, this was a coup. The blush-ridden, tongue-tied innocent making the confident, enigmatic and slightly arrogant Theo Peters pant.

It was almost too much to take in. But I'd come this far, I wasn't stopping now. I mirrored his movements with my own fingertips. Where he touched on me, I reciprocated on him. It was slow and unhurried, despite Theo's earlier comments that Aktor would be expecting us for dinner before long, neither of us rushed this. When Theo cupped body wash in his hands and smeared it over my skin, I did the same. Washing away evidence of today's trials. Replacing it all with the sweet scent of vanilla and raspberry.

It made me smile to think Aktor had this lotion in his bathroom. Theo's lips twitched when mine did and he murmured, "What's so funny, little Gi?"

"Why do you think Aktor has this girlie smelling soap?"

Theo's rumbling laugh in the confines of the shower stall sent a shiver down my spine that ended directly between my legs. He had a very sexy laugh. Deep, luxurious, hinting at what delights he was capable of giving. I'd never realised so much could be said with a laugh, but Theo Peters told a novel's worth of mystery and intrigue with each vibration through his chest.

I'd known I was well out of my league with this man, but I no longer gave a damn.

"Should I be embarrassed that when I leave here you'll be thinking I smell like a girl?" Theo asked, his voice an octave deeper than before. I don't think it was the topic of conversation that did it. I believe it had something to do with where his hands currently were. He had obviously decided my nipples needed extensive soaping.

I moaned and arched my back when he tweaked both nipples at once. The soap making his fingers slide off the peaks smoothly, a direct contrast to the sharp pinch I had just received.

"You like that," Theo announced, a smug note entering his voice. Clearly he'd moved on from his last question to more important things. "How about this?" he asked softly, lowering his head to my breast and lifting one mound up so he could lick around the areola. "Hmm," he murmured, "soapy."

A giggle escaped. How could he be so sensual and still make me laugh?

His lips trailed up from my breast and he started laying kisses over my collar bone and neck. His hands replaced his tongue on my nipples. Heat coursed through me and I had no way of knowing whether it was mine or his. But experience told me Theo wouldn't use his Stoicheio. Not unless I asked.

He pulled me closer, chest to chest, his arms wrapped around my torso. One hand cupping the nape of my neck, the other firmly gripping a butt cheek. His hips fitted against mine like a missing puzzle piece and I groaned at the feel of how very large he'd gotten since I stepped in here. Evidence of his arousal currently pressed into my stomach demanding my attention.

My hand slipped down over smooth but hard skin, and wrapped around his muscles. I could run my fingers over those ridges endlessly, but I did have a goal in mind. I cleared my head of everything, save the sensation of his hot flesh under my fingers. If I stopped to think of what I was doing I'd falter for sure. Theo guessed my destination easily and pulled back his hips to allow me better access. I swallowed passed the knowledge that he knew, that he could read me, and that I was so damn obvious.

Pushing thoughts of being a bumbling guileless girl aside, I wrapped my hand around his erection and received a low growl and rock of his hips in reward. Oh sweet heaven he felt divine. I wanted to see what I was touching, but Theo dragged his lips across my cheek to my mouth and started kissing me senseless again. There was no way I could do two things at once. Kiss Theo and play with Theo. It was one or the other, and although I was dying to see how much I could make Theo lose control with my hand alone, there was no way I could ignore or pull away from his kiss.

His tongue swept expertly inside my mouth, flicking against the roof, tangling with my own tongue, making me hot and hungry and bordering on shameless. I think I demanded more, I'm not sure if I thought it or said it, but Theo understood anyway. He pushed my back against the slightly cooler tiles of the shower stall and slid a leg between my thighs, offering something for me to rub back against. I didn't think, I just acted. Seeking friction, desperate for sensation, clinging to his frame while I brazenly sought release against his upper leg.

Oh dear freaking God, when had I become this wanton woman?

It didn't take long, which was entirely too embarrassing to think about. But within seconds I split apart into a million pieces, and he swallowed my cries of release down with his mouth. My body shuddered against the tiles, against him, and he held me up and softly kissed my cheeks, my closed eyelids and then my lips. It was so very tender and gentle, a caring caress of his lips against my feverish skin.

Theo made me melt with a look alone, but Theo like this was an inferno inside my heart and soul.

He pulled back and looked down at me affectionately. I had trouble lifting my eyelids to look at his face. My head was resting back against the shower stall wall, my hands lying ineffectually on his biceps.

"You are so delicious, Oraia," he murmured.

The reminder that I fed him, when the heat of lust coursed through my veins, made me wake a little from the delightful fog he'd wrapped around my mind right then. My eyes flicked fully open and there was no stopping the scarlet that heated my cheeks. His lips tipped up at the edges and he sucked in a slow, languid breath.

Then to my surprise, he reached over and grabbed a bottle of shampoo off the shelf and poured a good portion in his palm. Without another word he washed my hair, taking his time, massaging my skull, making sure I closed my eyes when he rinsed the suds out. I followed suit and washed his hair, the entire time his eyes didn't leave mine.

There was something incredibly intimate about this. Caring for each other. Cleaning, pampering, petting. It was a different kind of intimacy from sex. I could imagine that sex would come in many varied fashions, but that allowing someone to wash you was an invitation not many gave. This was personal in a way that sex wasn't always.

And I loved it. And I had never known that it existed until him.

Once we were clean a nervousness settled in my lower stomach. I didn't want this to end. I didn't want to step out of this shower and go eat a meal with Aktor. I hadn't had my fill of Theo yet. He looked down at me, the spray of the warm water still ricocheting off his chest and onto mine. His muscles sleek and shining in the lights of the room. Every single definition standing out and framed with stunning clarity. My eyes ran over his body, hungry, wanting, needing more.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, voice low and sensual.

I nodded agreement immediately, not even having to think about the question anymore. Gold flashed in his eyes and his lids lowered. A sexy half-mast look that melted my insides.

He stared at me for a very long moment with those hooded eyes of sun-glow yellow. His delicious looking chest rising and falling a little too rapidly. Then he said, in a voice that went directly to my core, "Turn around and place your hands on the wall, legs spread, back arched."

Butterflies turned into a tornado in my belly. I just stared at him, unable to respond or move or even blink.

He leaned forward and whispered, hot breath across my lips, "Trust me, Oraia."

I sucked in a breath and turned around, Theo's hands running softly over my skin, helping me into position. He lay a trail of kisses up my spine, as the warmth of his body slowly seeped into my back and his hands worked their way around to my chest. He palmed my breasts, a torturous massage that made me bite my lip and stifle a moan. His lips kissed along my neck and then nibbled on my ear, a hot tongue flicking out and wrapping around the lobe, then a gentle suck that seemed to pull on other parts of my body.

Slowly, so very slowly, one hand ran down over my stomach and cupped me suggestively between my legs. His lips remained at my ear as he whispered, "I'm going to make you come again, like this." A finger slipped down the track of my folds, then slowly slid inside. I felt my walls tightening, trying to pull him deeper within. He growled in my ear, his erection jerking between my butt cheeks. "Then I'm going to slide into you from behind," he rasped, "and take you hard."

My body jumped. I couldn't help it. The image he created with his words, mixed with the sensations he'd already elicited with his touch, made my body convulse involuntarily. But a small sound of distress left my lips, belying my eagerness to have him do every single thing he promised. This was so very erotic, so much more than I had the ability to partake. I wanted it, dear God in heaven, I wanted it. But I was also so very shy about putting myself there. Being taken like that in a shower stall. A shiver dashed down my spine, not missed by Theo.

"Shhh," he crooned. "I'll take care of you. But, Oraia, there is much pleasure to be gained when you push past conformities. Test your own boundaries. Trust me. Let me help you stretch to new heights. I promise you will enjoy it."

Oh, this was sweet torture. To be this close to nirvana and walk away because I am coy. I closed my eyes tightly and swallowed down my fears. Theo wanted me. Like this. He craved me, in any way he could get me. Even if I wasn't his Thisavros, even if this all was torn asunder tomorrow, how could I not take the chance to feel this, to share this, with him? Even if just for a moment.

"O..Okay," I managed to breathe out.

"That's my little Gi. So fearless," Theo murmured against my skin. I wanted to tell him to stop teasing, but his finger had started sweeping through my centre, dipping in a fraction, then back out and swirling around my nub. The ability to talk was immediately lost and the ability to think quickly followed.

Theo moaned out a sound in my ear as his finger pressed deeper inside. My hips bucked against him, starting to rock in a rhythm as old as time itself. I felt him grind back against my rear, seeking friction of his own, all the while giving me what my body craved with just his hand. He teased and tormented the flesh between my legs, he rubbed and pinched and then soothed with a soft stroke and tender sweep of his finger through my wetness.

I moaned and threw my head back on his shoulder and then he slipped two fingers inside. Stretching me, teasing me, making me want more, want him. He started pumping harder, the palm of his hand resting against my mound, while his fingers thrust in and out, over and over again. A crescendo built, a delicious sensation from deep down inside, which spread unmercifully throughout my centre and rushed me, consumed me, made me buck and writhe and cry out.

I was panting and could barely hold my weight up on my shaking legs, but Theo wasn't done with me yet. His hands gripped my hips, he pulled my butt back towards him, away for the wall and then I felt the tip of him resting right there. I was swollen and sensitive and utterly wet. And I wanted him inside like I had never wanted a thing before in my life. He didn't thrust hard as I expected, he did exactly as he promised. A slow glide between my folds, until he was seated deep inside.

"Oh Oraia," he breathed out above my shoulder. "So good. So... bloody... good."

And then he started to rock.

The pace increased, his hands holding my hips exactly where he wanted me, and the hardness of him filling me, then leaving me bereft, only to punch back in again with force. Hard. He'd said he'd take me hard. And he was. My hands were slipping on the wet tiles, trying to hold my upper body steady as he thrust into me repeatedly from behind.

I had never thought I'd experience anything as basic, as animalistic as this. And I decided nothing could ever compare again. I didn't want to think about what lay ahead. The fact that my time with Theo may be limited. I didn't want to think I would never experience this sort of abandon ever again. No one but Theo could give me this. To allow me to stretch, to reach new heights, and yet feel so safe and protected while I did so.

His hands left my hips, running up my sides, sending delicious shockwaves over my skin. It felt different, without his grip to steady my rear. But I also realised I was meeting each thrust with a rock back of my own. Just as eager for that deep, hard penetration as he was to give it to me. His fingers suddenly wrapped around mine, entwining with my own as they rested on the tiles in front of me. He held the majority of his body off my back, the only connection was through our hands and where we met; him thrusting in, me rocking back to take everything he offered.

It was unbelievable. It was mind-blowingly good. It was... everything I thought Theo would be.

I felt his body tighten, he grew larger inside me and then as he let out an erotic sounding roar on his release, I followed. I hadn't expected to come again, but Theo was simply too sexy, too virile, to ignore. The orgasm rocked through me and I cried out his name as I came. Shuddering beneath his body as he lay himself down my back, hot skin to hot skin. He kept murmuring words in Greek, which I had no hope of understanding. His lips interspersing each muttered sound with a kiss along the back of my neck.

I felt so sated, so relaxed and yet so very, very alive. I could do this forever and never tire of it. I would crave this for the rest of my life.

"Sweet little Gi," Theo murmured, English finally finding its way into his vocabulary. "You are a dream; a delicious, addictive dream." He kissed my neck softly, trailed his lips around to the side and rested his head on my shoulder. I think he was exhausted. I think I'd worn him out.

A smile graced my lips as one of his arms wrapped around my stomach and held me tight. Then slowly, as though reluctant to do so, he pulled back, slipping out of me and sending an additional shiver through my body. He turned me in his arms and ducked his head down to look me in the eye. The gold had receded, but the hazel was still more gem-like than normal, a shine that did not exist in humans' eyes, but looked perfect on this man.

"So," he said, a cocky look touching the corners of his lips. "Do you like stretching yourself, Cassandra?"

I huffed out a breath, but there was no way I was up to playing games with this man. He'd just reached down into the very heart of me and seen everything there was to see. I lifted shy eyes to his and smiled. I couldn't deny what he already knew. I couldn't deny it even to myself.

"Yes," I whispered and watched as his lips parted slightly to suck in a deep breath, and as his eyes closed for a brief moment, savouring my answer.

"The things I could show you, Casey," he murmured, eyelids slowly lifting to hold me in a heated gaze.

It was a simple statement, one that should have excited me with the promise it held. But there was a note of sadness to his tone. As though he only wished for it, but couldn't believe it would actually happen. Oh, I was sure he wanted to show me all those delicious things, but he knew, like I knew, that our time was not our own.

When had we both started to doubt this could last? When had we begun to give up?

The elation of moments before was replaced with a fearful sorrow. He caught the shifting emotions on my face and reached forward to cup my cheeks with both hands.

"Nothing is set in stone," he whispered, lowering his lips to rest on my forehead. "Dreams can come true."

But if he thought that, if he truly believed we could go against all the opposition to me being here, against his centuries of defending Pyrkagia, against those who mean me harm, then he would have proven it. Nothing would have stopped him from claiming me again.

I wasn't sure, I certainly had a lot more to learn about Ekmetalleftis, but something told me that if you held your Thisavros in your arms and feared you'd lose her, you'd mark her again and again. Cling to that claiming, show the world she is yours. I couldn't see an Athanatos not doing that, if they felt their claim was being threatened at all.

And yet Theo hadn't bitten me again.

The need to reach up and touch his fading mark on my neck was atrocious in its desire. But I fought it, just as I fought my tears.

Chapter Twenty-Three

And Now The Athanatos Was Coming For Me

Theo left me to dress in my room. He'd attempted to lighten the mood with little teases and his now familiar touch, but although I'd tried my best to hide my unease at what lay ahead, I was sure he'd sensed it. That didn't stop him from kissing me mindless before he left the room.

In a perfect world, Theo Peters would be perfect. But my world was far from being as good as it could possibly be. There were still too many unanswered questions. Still too many people wanting me either gone from Auckland or just wanting me. Who were the trees whispering about? Who meant me harm? The Pyrkagia Rigas? The Gi? Or the Alchemists?

And underlying all the uncertainty was the one question that meant everything. Why had I become what I am now? Why?

I sat down on the bed once I'd donned my borrowed clothes and stared numbly at the floor. Aktor had been in the room while we showered and taken my dress. No doubt to wash it for me. It was a lovely gesture, but it also meant he'd been aware I was showering in Theo's bathroom and not the attached ensuite. Strangely, I didn't have it in me to react to that revealing thought.

Fear encased my heart and sent icy tendrils throughout my body. But there were no answers to quell the angst. Only more questions to fuel that dread. And to top it all off, the palms outside were restless. Their whispered words of warning making no sense at all. I couldn't even depict a language anymore, just nonsensical sounds that left me feeling raw with apprehension and alarm. I wrapped my arms around my body and stood up from the bed, heading out to the main part of the house.

Aktor had the fire roaring and Theo stood resting an arm along the top of the hearth. Despite the feeling of impending separation, I immediately crossed the space and tucked myself into the front of his body, making him wrap his arms around my frame so we could both stare at the flames. I heard him chuckle behind me, clearly amused at my sudden boldness. But if time was running out, I sure as hell was going to take every opportunity I could to touch the man, to be in his embrace.

"You smell of vanilla and raspberry," Theo murmured in my ear.

"So do you," I whispered back.

"We make a fine pair," he murmured, making my heart flip over painfully and my eyes sting with wretched tears. He couldn't see them and the fire soon burned them away, but I wondered if he knew they had been there anyway. Theo seemed to be able to see right through me, to the deepest parts of my heart and soul.

"Ah, Cassandra," Aktor announced. "You look refreshed."

I smiled at the old butler and watched as he brought a tray of dishes into the room. He set them down on the table, which was just off to the side of the fireplace where Theo and I stood. The scent of roast pork, tomatoes and tzatziki reached my nose. Aktor returned to the kitchen and then reappeared with a plate of toasted pita bread.

"Gyros," he announced. "One of Theodoros' favourites."

"Don't tell me you cooked this especially for me, Aktor," Theo announced, pulling me closer to the table. "You just want to see if Cassandra likes the same foods." He leaned down and nuzzled my ear to whisper, "He's such a matchmaker."

I huffed out a laugh and took the offered chair he pulled out for me to sit in.

"I'm sure it's lovely," I said, looking at Aktor, who was giving Theo a dark look.

"Now she'll never give an honest response," Aktor muttered, serving up the Gyros and offering me a pita from the plate.

I couldn't help smiling at their little dispute. I could imagine they continually teased each other, probably had done for centuries, both men so relaxed in each other's company. A part of me wondered what it was like, to be alive for so long. Aktor had hinted at the weight of so many memories. But this affable atmosphere hinted to something else as well. Something precious, yet familiar. They were family, these two, and even the stretch of millennia did little to hinder that.

I wanted to ask, but I wasn't sure I was ready to accept the eternity, or near eternity, of an immortal life. Asking seemed like that line in the sand again. If I did it, I crossed it, and there was no going back. I realised I wasn't ready to place myself in that category yet. Maybe once I had some answers to the bigger questions, the immediate questions, then I could work on admitting I was one of them.

Instead I said, around a mouthful, "Mmmm, delicious."

Aktor huffed, clearly not believing me, and Theo just outright laughed. It didn't take long for me to join him, despite my efforts to insist the meal was lovely. In the end we were all laughing, enjoying our food, sipping good wine and just forgetting, for a moment, that we were fugitives.

When Aktor served up a Baklava for dessert and we retired to the fireplace with after dinner drinks, the mood shifted. The brief reprieve was over. We had serious things to discuss.

"Have you decided your next move?" Aktor asked, sipping a clear anise-flavoured drink. I was sticking with my wine.

Theo's eyes shifted from the fire to my face, he just gazed at me for a moment, making my cheeks heat in a different manner than the flames had been doing.

"My first instinct is to try diplomacy again, but in my heart I know it would fail," Theo finally admitted.

"We can get you both out of the country," Aktor suggested. "It wouldn't be easy, but not impossible either."

I let a disgruntled breath of air out. This was exactly what I had wanted to avoid, being bullied out of my home, my life. What would I tell Sonya? My family? Could I even tell them anything, or would that put them all at risk? Sonya must have been wondering where I was, I hadn't been in touch since asking her to run the shop for a few days. My family could go a week without contact, busy with their own lives. But Sonya was different. She was my best friend, my colleague. She knew I had been trying to work out what had happened to me, but she didn't know the latest. I wanted to phone her, I desperately wanted to hear her voice, to know she existed and confirm that she had been my friend for ten years. Even if I denied the accusations, I still needed to prove my side of the story - to myself.

But part of me was too scared to pull her further into this. The less she knew the better. And if I disappeared, Sonya would still be cared for. The building was on a lease, and there was money owing on the business, but I'd made sure that Sonya's name was on everything as well. She'd be OK, she'd still have a job and she'd get on with her life. Even if she cried a tear or two for me in the process, Sonya was a survivor. More so than I had ever been.

The conversation went around and around in circles, we ended up in the lounge, sitting on more comfortable chairs. And at some point, I drifted off to sleep, my head resting on Theo's chest.

I'm surprised he didn't shift me to the bedroom, but I woke some time later, my head in his lap, my body covered in a blanket and the television on, volume down low. I blinked a couple of times to bring the screen into focus and sucked in a breath of air at what I saw.

"You're awake," Theo said in a flat voice. "I wanted you to get some rest before you faced this."

I sat upright and shifted to look at the TV. Aktor was sitting in an armchair, the bottle of Ouzo empty at his side, a glass still hanging between his legs in his hands as he leaned forward to catch the announcer's words.

"Turn it up," I whispered and Theo reached over and hit the button on the remote to bring the volume up.

The announcer was halfway through a news report, Breaking News, scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

"The fires seem random, but evidence suggests they are the work of arson. The Fire Service is at a loss to explain how they have started, but in some situations there were witnesses who have suggested the flames erupted from out of nowhere."

"Oh no," I whispered, my fingers pressing into my lips, one arm wrapped around my middle.

"Pyrkagia," Theo said evenly. "Fighting for their lives."

Oh no.

"The largest concentration has been in the Eastern suburbs near Howick," the announcer calmly explained. Pyrgos, it had to be the Rigas' home. My head turned so I could look at Theo, his face was set, jaw firm, lips in a thin tight line.

"Not only have fires been reported, but minor earthquakes have been felt throughout the city, making several large trees on Mountain Road in Epsom, collapse in on themselves."

I stood up from my seat and clenched my fists. My trees. Theo's forest on his property. The ones who have my blood. I felt sick to my stomach. The Pyrkagia were fighting the Gi. There was no other explanation for it. Fire against Earth. Because of me.

"What do we do?" I whispered and felt Theo smoothly glide to his feet at my back. He didn't reach for me, he didn't offer to hold me. No soft touch to soothe my ragged nerves.

"I'm heading back in to see what I can do to help. You'll remain here with Aktor." Aktor looked pained at that suggestion, no doubt wanting to be there to defend Pyrkagia as much as Theo did, but he didn't offer up an alternate plan.

"But I can help," I argued and received a chilling stare in return.

"You will be safer here," Theo said, already walking toward the front door.

"Theo," I said, taking a step after him and inordinately relieved when he stopped at the sound of my voice. "This is because of me, I need to help."

His eyes scanned my face for several seconds, but there was no softening in his.

"We don't know how many there are, Cassandra. If it is the full Gi scout regiment or even more. If I take you with me and they get you, then what point is the sacrifice my people have made?"

"But that's..."

"No! You will stay here, I will find out what we are up against. Await my call." The last was said to Aktor, effectively dismissing me even before he'd left the room.

I watched stunned and I believe, infuriated, as he walked out the door.

The news presenter kept on speaking in the background about the fact that luckily no lives had been reported lost, but that even as he speaks more and more fires were erupting and a rumble could be heard through the earth.

"Aktor," I said, but he shook his head, returning his now empty glass to the table.

"He has given me an order, Miss Eden," the old man said. I was beginning to understand when he used my surname and not called me Cassandra. That realisation was not well received.

"Well, I'm still going to talk to the Earth," I said through gritted teeth and headed to the door.

"Do you think that is wise?" Aktor replied, making me turn around to look at him. He was standing, several feet closer, as though he was getting ready to launch himself at me to keep me inside.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"If the Gi are controlling the Earth here in Auckland, then communing with your Stoicheio could give your whereabouts away."

Oh freaking hell. He had a point. My shoulders slumped and I started to breathe too quickly, feeling trapped and helpless and full of guilt.

"Perhaps a fresh bottle," Aktor said softly, walking across the room to the a drinks trolley in the corner. He picked up another full bottle of Ouzo and a clean glass and returned to the lounge, pouring the liquid as he walked. Then holding it out to me.

"I'm not sure I like aniseed," I admitted.

"This will change your mind," the old man promised.

I took the offered glass and sat back on the couch feeling a little defeated. The first sip was jarring, but the heat that rolled down my throat and made me feel anything but numb, was welcomed. So I took another. And by the time I'd had half a dozen sips I found Aktor was indeed correct. Ouzo, and aniseed, rocked.

The TV report became more and more alarming. Lives were now being rumoured as lost. Aktor looked devastated at the news, downing a full glass in one shot when a particular location was mentioned where unidentifiable bodies were allegedly found.

"If they're Athanatos then they won't be dead," I pointed out.

"If they are fighting another branch of Ekmetalleftis then their heads will undoubtedly be lost." He turned his saddened eyes to mine. "You learn to use a killing blow from an early age, because your opponent will do the same. Aim for the neck, Cassandra. Sever the head before they sever yours. Do you understand?"

I nodded. What else could I do?

We sat in silence as fires burned out of control and trees toppled over and crushed houses and cars and anything else that happened to be in their way. And just when I couldn't take it any longer and I was about to risk everything to talk to the Earth, there was a loud banging on the door. I jumped up, but not as quickly as Aktor, who was already sparking the odd flame from his fingertips.

"Theo wouldn't knock," I whispered and Aktor shook his head, showing his agreement.

"Stay back," he ordered quietly, straightening his shoulders and adjusting his uniform. The flames had retreated, but I felt a heat roll off his body as he walked stiffly passed.

There were no pot plants in the house, nothing for me to reach out and calm my nerves with a soothing touch. Aktor may have maintained the outside of the property, but I was guessing he paid someone to do that and didn't actually come here often. In which case, indoor plants would not survive. I understood their absence, but I cursed it all-the-same.

One look over his shoulder at me and then Aktor reached for the door, just as the banging started up again. He pulled it open swiftly, his hand behind his back already alight. I couldn't see who stood across the threshold, but the fire on Aktor's fingertips snuffed out just as the old man muttered, "You could have announced yourself."

"The less of a scene I make the better, right now. Trust me," Nico said, pushing past Aktor without an invitation and immediately letting his eyes connect with mine. "Theo's OK," he added, making me collapse to my seat on the couch.

I hadn't realised I needed to know that, and yet I couldn't form the words to thank Nico right then.

"At least he was when I left him last." Well, small mercy I didn't make a fool of myself by gushing my thanks out loud.

"What's happening?" Aktor said, glancing out into the darkness of the night and then closing the door and locking it. That simple motion of flicking the deadbolt seemed ridiculous to me, when the Gi could make the house crumble to the ground with a single thought and the Pyrkagia could send a bolt of Fire to burn us to the ground instead.

"It started unexpectedly," Nico said, walking straight across the lounge to grab a clean glass from the trolley and pour himself a Scotch. "We were in peaceful negations and they gave no warning at all. Hell," he muttered, downing most of the glass in one go, "their ambassador was still in a room with the Rigas. Clearly they intended to sacrifice him all along. They have always been heartless bastards."

Great, not only am I one of Theo's enemies, but the type of enemy I am is apparently heartless in the eyes of Pyrkagia or, at least, Nico. I glanced across the room at Aktor and saw him frowning. A look of confusion on his face that I was sure he would normally never wear. Something wasn't right.

"Who exactly are you talking about, Nicodromos?" he asked. "We were under the impression it was the Gi."

Nico scoffed. "If only. No it's much worse than just the Gi, although their involvement is a foregone conclusion now."

I had a sinking feeling about all of this, and the way Nico looked at me, as though what he was about to say would harm me most, didn't help at all.

"No, Aktor. It's not the Gi, not yet. It's the Alchemists."

Aktor swore a litany in Greek, Nico smiled tightly in response.

"Just how bad are the Alchemists?" I asked, wanting to clarify that question with an in compared to the Gi tagged on the end.

Nico downed the last of his drink and grimaced.

"Alone, they are bad enough, but threatening to bring in another Ekmetalleftis branch makes them an enemy we have little hope of beating."

"Surely you've come up against them in the past?" I asked, my throat incredibly tight making swallowing painful right then.

"They've threatened to bring in the Gi?" Aktor asked, interrupting any answer Nico may have had to my question. "What have they got that the Gi would want?"

Nico's eyes flicked to mine. I knew the answer, but it still didn't make any sense. They didn't have me, I was here, not in the Alchemists' clutches. They could bluff, but would the Gi go to war without proof?

It happened so quickly I didn't even get a breath in to scream. Nico's hand flicked up and a ball of fire shot from his fingertips, incinerating a wooden beam above Aktor's head. The house shook, even as Aktor fired a bolt back at Nico, who deflected it easily. And then the ceiling collapsed on top of the old man's head, burying him in rubble.

I fell sideways to avoid flying debris, but couldn't quite miss being hit in the shoulder by a sharpened end of the beam. I felt the tip pierce my skin and the pain radiate through my body, as the air got punched from my lungs. I was pinned and the weight was crushing my chest and I was frantic to make sure Aktor's head was still attached. I hadn't seen if the falling beam had made clean work of it, but it was obvious Nico had been going for a killing shot.

Just as Aktor had said; Nico had aimed for the neck, severing Aktor's head before Aktor could sever his. And now the Athanatos was coming for me.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Sometimes You Just Knew

I pushed against the weight above me, but I couldn't get any leverage from where I lay. One hand was across my chest, crushed by part of the beam that had impaled me, the other was uselessly tucked under my side. I could still feel my toes and my fingers. I could feel everything. The pain made it hard to concentrate, but the Earth was calling, whispering encouragements, pushing me to keep trying harder before Nico made it to my side.

If I was lucky, he'd been caught by the fallout of the ceiling collapsing. If I wasn't, this was going to be over soon and I'd at least be able to get a full breath of air in my lungs.

I tried to wriggle on my back, but that pulled at the spot where the sharpened piece of wood pierced me. I felt blood well below my shoulder on my chest. A trickle of it held my attention and blocked out the pain for a suspended moment.

Then it hit the floor.

Nico must have done more damage than just to the ceiling and that beam, because somehow the drop of my blood seeped through a widened crack and found the soil beneath the floorboards. Earth washed through me and welcomed its daughter home.

Where have you been? it asked. We have been waiting, it said. They are here.

No kidding. Now what?

Do they know where I am? I asked and received a tremor in response to the Earth hearing my voice at last.

No, but they search for you. They mean you harm.

How many times did the Earth have to say that? And still it wouldn't elaborate further.

It was no use, the only answer it would give was that it just knew that they were looking for me and would do anything to get their hands on me in the end.

Let us help you, the Earth said, whispering words of making the house collapse from the tremors it could create. The description was stark. The house would collapse around me so I'd be free, but there would be collateral damage. Nico I wasn't so worried about anymore, but Aktor may still have a head attached, so any further harm to him was unacceptable.

No! I commanded, before the Earth could act to free me. There had to be another way.

I struggled for several pain-filled moments and managed to shift a millimetre in the process. Even if the Earth were to rattle the foundations of the building, I'd suffer through the entire ordeal, before being let free. I decided to conserve energy. When Nico - I was assuming it would be Nico - found me, I'd attack once we got away from the house and therefore avoid the chance of hurting Aktor more.

It surprisingly didn't take much longer. I heard a grunt and then the weight was lifted off me, bursting into flames and turning into ash above my head. I closed my eyes and held my breath, not wanting to inhale any of it. A hand brushed the still slightly hot embers from my face, the touch was careful, not harsh.

I flicked my eyes open expecting to see Aktor, what with that gentle brush of fingertips across my eyelids, but Nico stared back. Looking distraught and dishevelled.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, working to free more debris from my stomach and across my legs. "I had to do it. There was no other choice."

"Theo's going to kill you," I pointed out, finally able to get the arm from under my side up to check on my shoulder. The piece of sharpened wood had fallen out and already my body was trying to mend itself. I was certain, to manage the task completely, I'd need to have my hands or feet in the soil of the Earth.

"Yes," Nico replied evenly, "he's going to try. I know. But think how many lives I save by doing this. He won't be able to deny that in the end."

"He'll still kill you," I snapped, as the last bit of rubble was lifted from my frame. I sat up gingerly and stared at Nico, waiting for him to strike. My ears were straining for any signs that Aktor lived. I was desperate to go to him and check, but turning my back on Nico seemed wrong.

"Theodoros Petropoulos has lived a long time, Casey. He knows what is required to keep our kind safe and protected. He will understand in the end."

I didn't particularly want to argue with Nico, but a part of me was despairing that he was right.

"He'll still kill you," I repeated, because despite any arguments forming in my head, those seemed to be the only words I could utter.

Nico looked at me with pity in his eyes. If I could have scratched them out of his face before he could retaliate, I would have. In the end I settled for a glare and climbed to my feet.

"Theo has lost those he treasures in the past," Nico said steadily. "He knows how to survive and move on. He will also understand that this was the only way to defend our people from destruction. Ultimately, he will see the sacrifice of losing you to the Gi as a justifiable loss."

I had no words to counteract his. There was a truth in the depth of them that shattered my courage and heart. Theo was millennia old. Of course he would have lost people precious to him in the past. To forsake me for Pyrkagia was not a hard conclusion to make.

"There has to be another way," I said, almost to myself.

"Casey," Nico said softly. So softly that I knew what he was about to add would ruin it all. The hopes, the dreams, the futile desire to keep Theo as mine. "You are Gi. You don't belong here and Theo does not belong with you."

"I thought you supported us," I said, knowing I was sounding more and more desperate with every word.

"I will always back my cousin, but only if Pyrkagia does not suffer for it. We are what we are, Casey. And to survive that we have had to become hard."

"But I don't know them," I almost wailed, like a child who wasn't getting their own way. "This is my home."

"The Alchemists were aware of you. They know things about the other branches that we do not. Our spies can only infiltrate so far, but the Alchemists, they have ways. Means we don't even understand. We are the Athanatos, but they are not without skills themselves."

"What are you getting at?" I said, taking a furtive step towards where I thought Aktor lay.

"They asked the Rigas outright if he was harbouring the lost Gi princess. Casey," he said at the look of disbelief on my face, "can you honestly say you aren't her?"

"I have parents. Human parents. And friends I've known for years."

"They said you'd been missing for over twenty years. Stolen from your crib in Gi."

The world spun around me. The stars shone in the night sky overhead. But all I could see were my parents' loving faces, so proud when I opened my store. My big brother as he went off to Australia to make a name for himself. Sonya when I met her in our year nine science class. Auckland as it grew and grew. Parnell as the seasons changed. This was the world I knew.

But what if he was right? What if my life was the lie and this was the truth?

Holy freaking hell. I couldn't deal with this. I couldn't work it out in my head. Nico watched on with a look of pain on his face, as though he shared some connection with me he had no right to. I hated him. For doing this. Harming Aktor, possibly killing him. Hurting Theo, because this would hurt him, I knew it. I just knew it. And ruining me.

This ruined me. It utterly, completely ruined me.

I stumbled, but righted myself with an outstretched hand on a pile of rubble. Then promptly collapsed to the ground on my butt. I took a shuddering breath in and when that didn't help, took another and another. Until I was stifling sobs and shaking from head to toe.

"I don't remember any of this," I insisted, as Nico crouched down at my side. He didn't touch me, I was relieved for that. But heat rolled off him in an obvious attempt to calm me down with his Stoicheio. "Damn you, Nico," I whispered. "I became what I am three days ago, after spending two nights in a pit full of dirt."

Nico sighed. "Whoever took you, could have bound your Stoicheio somehow."

I arched an eyebrow at him. Really?

"It's possible," he defended. "I have no idea how, but if the Alchemists can steal our elements, they can sure as hell find a way to lock them up." I closed my eyes. "You know what I think?" I really didn't want to hear it, but my throat had closed completely and I couldn't make a sound. "I think the Earth found you and did what it had to do to make your Stoicheio return."

"Why now?" I managed to say on a whisper. He heard me though.

"Because the Alchemists want you for something. Why they've waited, I have no idea. But I'm telling you, Casey. They are serious. They are sacrificing their numbers to get you to come out. And in doing so, they are killing my people." He took a deep breath in. "I have no right to ask this of you, but I'd rather we did this amicably than... well, you can guess what the other way would entail."

His eyes flicked over to where Aktor lay beneath the debris. A look of remorse and agony crossing his face.

"You don't belong here. He doesn't belong with you," he repeated. "Please, do the right thing. I can hand you over to the Alchemists, but that would be a fate worse than death. The Gi are undoubtedly on their way. News of what's happening here is on the international channels. When they arrive, please, please, just go home with them."

I sat numbed to the bone and stared bleakly across the rubble strewn floor towards the sea. I could hear it, but not really see it. I just knew it was there, through the sounds of the waves washing up on the shore and the scent of salty brine on the air.

Dear God I didn't want this. Here was where I knew and loved. Brazil? The Amazon? A bunch of Ekmetalleftis I didn't even know - or had memories of? A single sob escaped my lips.

What if this was the lie?

And Theo. Could I leave Theo? Could I stay and watch the Alchemists and Gi unite to get me... and then kill him?

It should have been an easy decision, but when your heart's involved, there's absolutely nothing easy about it at all.

"I want to see Theo one last time," I said feeling utterly spent.

"No. Not a good idea," Nico shot back.

"Because he'd talk me out of it?" I asked. "Or because he'd kill you before you could hand me over?"

"Take your pick, either works. But the only correct solution to this disaster is you leaving Pyrkagia. Don't tell me you don't see it. Because even though I've only known you a couple of days, you're a good person, Casey Eden. You care. You love. You wouldn't seek a selfish result at the cost of so many lives. And they are dying, Casey. My people are dying because of you."

Oh, and wasn't that enough to make me hiccup and sniff like a pathetic wimp. This was all my fault. This had started with me and it would end with me.

But to never see Theo again? Ever?

The ache was too much, too deep. It was a part of me that would never get eased. It didn't matter that he wasn't mine to keep. My heart didn't care about little trivial details such as that. I was a woman and he was a man, to hell with what branch we belonged to. In my heart we belonged to each other and no one else.

But, did he feel the same way? Truly love me as deeply as I love him. He'd never said the words. But then, neither had I. However, I couldn't even console myself with his actions, because Theo Peters was the most confounding, confusing man I had ever met. One minute so very tender and loving, the next a blank mask and hard stare.

"OK," I said, seeing the relief settle on Nico's face. "But, we have to avoid the Alchemists. Because, Nico, he will kill you if I end up with them."

Nico swallowed thickly and nodded.

Then out of nowhere a voice said, "Not before I do."

Aktor's bolt of fire was precise and beautiful in its terrifyingly accurate strike. He was aiming for the neck, whilst making sure I didn't get caught in the crossfire. The skill required to execute such a manoeuvre was astounding. If I'd had longer to appreciate it, I would have. True talent, exceptional ability, no doubt because of his vast age.

But all I could think, whilst somehow managing to be impressed at the same time, was that Nico - even though he was betraying me and hurting Theo in the process - did not deserve to die. He wanted to save Pyrkagia lives and his argument had been sound, even if my heart wept at the notion I was Gi royalty and could never be Theo's or he be mine.

My bare feet found the soil through the rubble and my blood dripped off my fingertips, where it had made its way down from my shoulder wound, into the Earth.

Take him deep. Keep him safe. Protect him for me.

Before Aktor's strike could connect with Nico's skin the ground opened up and swallowed him whole. It was fast. So fast, I hadn't thought it through completely. Everything I did was a gut reaction; an action coming from deep inside, apart from my mind and the comprehension of what I was seeing...

Aktor launching the bolt of Fire, the Earth swallowing Nico up at my command.

When the tremors settled, I stood staring into the stunned eyes of the old butler. Neither of us said a word for several seconds. Then he smiled, let out a little huff of a laugh, and bent over at the waist, bowing low with respect.

"Please," I said, unable to face him acting differently around me. "Please don't."

He stood upright again and tilted his head, surveying me carefully.

"You are more than just a Gi, Miss Eden." I shook my head to deny it. "I don't know what you are," he continued, ignoring my defiance. "But you are something more."

"I don't want to be," I whispered.

"My dear," he said softly, gently. "When is life ever what we want it to be?"

I started crying, I couldn't help it. Even Aktor knew I didn't belong here. Oh, my heavy heart. How did I survive this? How did I go on knowing Theo lived in this world and couldn't be mine?

Aktor wrapped his arm around my shoulder and helped me across the last of the rubble to the driveway where Nico's car sat. He opened the door and gently, but purposely placed me inside. I wished for his soft touch, but I needed his direct approach. I didn't want to do this. A part of my very core, what makes me me, was crying out in desperate agony for me to stay where I was, to not get in the car and face my destiny.

But it was a destiny, in a way. It was something I couldn’t avoid now. Even if lives weren't at stake, Theo was. And if I stayed, his father would punish him. And if I stayed, the Pyrkagia would shun him. And if I stayed, the Gi or the Alchemists would attack, and Theo would surely be killed in the fall-out.

How bad could it be? Living in a forest. I'd grown attached to the Earth in such a short amount of time. I could find solitude there, I was sure. A vast forest, a dense parcel of land which rivalled no other in nature. Even if the Gi didn't feel like home, part of me knew the Amazon would.

I stared blindly out of the side of the car as Aktor navigated the windy road back towards town. I didn't have it in me to ask him where he'd take me. I knew he wouldn't take me anywhere the Alchemists would likely be. He had to have a plan, somewhere we could hide until the Gi showed up and I could be handed over. I trusted Aktor. I trusted him to do what I could not do alone.

I tried not to think about the specifics. Hell, I was incapable of thinking about much right then. Just breathing. Just holding back the tears and stopping my body from falling apart in the front seat of that car. I hadn't even left the country yet, but I was already pining for him.

Would he miss me? I think he would. I think he genuinely cared. Theo had grown fond of me, but Nico was right. He was thousands of years old. This would not be new to him. He would survive.

Me. I wasn't so sure. But perhaps the memories would sustain me. See me through until I developed a thick skin like the rest of the Athanatos. Learned to be a little ruthless too. I wouldn't forget though. Even if he did. I would remember for us both. Because Theo had set my world alight. Had set my heart afire. And there was no way a boring Earth-loving Gi, or any other man for that fact, could compare.

I would always love a Pyrkagia. Always.

The buildings were coming closer together and I recognised our surroundings at last. Whitford, just south-east of Howick. We coasted past suburbia, the lights in the windows of houses flashing by. Smoke was evident on the horizon, towards where Howick would be. I craved to visit my trees again. I longed to check up on them, to make sure they could survive whatever the Alchemists had done. But either Howick or Epsom were out now. The Alchemists would be there.

I sighed, defeat a weary passenger in my heart. I wasn't ready for this, I didn't want it. But Aktor was right. When was life ever what we wanted it to be?

I sniffed unattractively as Aktor drove through the gates of the Pakuranga Country Club. I glanced around, mildly intrigued. I guessed, if there was a place to wait out the arrival of the Gi, a golf course near Howick, but covered in trees and grass, would make sense. At least for me. Even now, Aktor was trying to soothe me, by giving me a place to rest and wait where I could commune with the Earth for support.

I wanted to say thank you to him, but my tongue was stuck to the roof of my dry mouth. It meant a lot to me that he cared enough to do this. Despite the gravity of what was about to happen, Theo's butler showed how much I meant to him. Even if I was to be but a fleeting visitor in his life.

The car rolled out onto the course itself, just like a golf cart, but no doubt doing more damage. I smiled at Aktor's lack of consideration for the golfers, who'd go to play a round tomorrow and frown at the tyre treads down the fairway. I shouldn't find it amusing, but really, what were a few tyre tracks when compared to Pyrkagia dying and my heart being broken?

We came to a stop on the seventeenth hole. I tried to decide where on the course it would be as we stepped out onto the green, surrounded by trees and bush and nature. We were hidden from the road here. We were as safe as we could get for now.

"The very centre of the course," Aktor announced, coming around the front of the car to where I stood. "Hopefully it won't be too much longer."

Part of me agreed with him. Get this over with fast, so we can all move on. But part of me broke at those callous-to-my-heart words. Soon I would be a memory. One to add to the multitude that Aktor and Theo have in their minds already. Aktor will seek seclusion and quiet to digest it.

And Theo will seek a diversion, to distract instead.

Why do I do it to myself? I shook my head. It's not as though I'm a glutton for punishment, but my mood was not helping out in the keep-positive-thoughts department right now.

I leaned back against the car and stared up into the night sky. It's hard to see stars in the middle of Auckland normally, but the smoke from the fires made it even worse. I knew they were there, just like I'd known the sea was there when I couldn't see it, but only hear and smell it instead. And it's not as if I could hear and smell the stars, I just knew. Sometimes you just knew; no explanation, no reason why. You just did.

Just like I knew when Theo had arrived.

Chapter Twenty-Five

No Matter What

I turned slowly and watched him stride across the grass towards us. His face was set in hard lines, his eyes blazing gold. I shifted uneasily, a frown forming on my brow. Why was he here? Things were obviously pretty bad, if the news reports and smoke in the sky hadn't given it away, his apparent mood did. He was angry and had retreated inside himself, placing that mask of blankness on his face. But it wasn't impassive, although still a mask, this time it was irate.

"What news?" Aktor asked, pushing off from his lean on the car when Theo came within hearing distance. Acting as though seeing Theo here was totally expected as well.

"One moment," he shot back at Aktor, his eyes on me.

Before I could take evasive action his hand came up and cupped the nape of my neck and his lips crushed down on mine. He pushed me back until my rear met the door of the car, and then his other hand wrapped around my frame and he really let the kiss go.

I was so startled, so relieved, so surprised and yet so elated, that he was kissing me, I actually kissed him back. And just as I realised what I was doing and was about to push hard against his chest, he pulled away.

Then stole my anger by resting his forehead against mine and closing his eyes as if in agony. My hand came up and cupped his cheek without thought. I couldn't stand seeing Theo in pain.

"Are you all right?" he asked. I nodded against him and watched as he withdrew, gave me one last long look and then turned his attention to Aktor. "What happened? I tried the house, but when there was no answer came straight here."

I stared at him. How did he know we were here?

"Nico happened," Aktor said, voice dark, but pain lanced across his face. Part of that pain was for Theo.

I don't think I ever expected to see such a devastating look on Theo Peter's face. It was as though Aktor had punched him in the stomach. Blood left his cheeks and he even doubled over slightly; eyes wide, mouth open in shock.

"Why?" he whispered.

"For Pyrkagia," Aktor said softly. "He tried to reason with her." At least Aktor wasn't telling Theo about the fact Nico had aimed to kill. Theo had enough to digest for now.

Theo's eyes shifted to mine on Aktor's last words, I held his gaze, saw the question in them, but didn't offer an answer straight away. Instead, I said, "He really was sorry. He just wanted to stop his people from being killed."

"Where is he now?" Theo demanded, the hard look back on his face.

"Cassandra has buried him in the Earth," Aktor replied.

Theo suddenly smiled at me, it didn't quite reach his eyes, but it did banish the dark haunted look for now. "Well done, little Gi. Such talent." He reached out and stroked my cheek, his face softening further with every glide of his thumb across my skin.

"So, once she dealt with him we came here as planned," Aktor said, finishing his side of the story.

"You planned for us to come here?" I asked, looking between the two men.

"A back-up plan, in case things went south quickly and we lost contact with each other. We would rendezvous here, regroup and decide our next move," Theo explained.

Oh. I'd been expecting Aktor to hand me over to the Gi. I'd almost resigned myself to not seeing Theo again. I was suddenly very mad.

"And you didn't think to let me in on that plan?" My hands had made it to my hips as I glared at him. Receiving a small tilt of his lips at the edges in return.

"There's that Fire," Theo murmured. I made a growling sound and resisted the urge to stamp my foot. "But tell me, Oraia. Why are you so angry?" He stepped closer, fully intending to touch me or embrace me or make me melt, I was certain. But I sidestepped and kept space between us. Why? I'm really not sure. Considering this may have been the last few moments we'd have together I was being an absolute fool. But I was a disgruntled one.

"I thought..." I couldn't say it. I couldn't voice my fears. They'd been too real. They'd cut too deep already.

"Casey," Theo murmured, somehow reaching me before I could dodge, and cupping my cheeks in both hands. He bent down and looked me in the eye. "How could you doubt that I would come for you?" He seemed genuinely hurt that I had.

Damn the man, but he confounded me. I sighed and leaned my cheek against his chest, letting him pull me closer and kiss the top of my head. His hands ran over my body, seeking that touch the Pyrkagia crave. And I noticed that I wasn't above Ekmetalleftis quirks. I'd already inhaled deeply to capture his scent.

We stayed like that for several seconds, but it was obvious Aktor was desperate for any news.

"All right," Theo murmured, squeezing me comfortingly, but refusing to letting me go. "This is what I know. The Alchemists have called our bluff and contacted the Gi."

Aktor swore profusely, but Theo just waited for the older man to get it out of his system before he went on.

"It is purely out of spite. The negotiations broke down."

"Negotiations?" I asked, pulling my head up to look at his face.

"From time to time the Alchemists approach and try to convince us to share information again. We can usually handle these attempts to entrap us, but this time they had ammunition."

"Ammunition?" I asked, voice flat. I was guessing exactly what ammunition they had.

Theo shifted slightly, as though uncomfortable about what he was about to divulge.

"Yes," Theo acknowledged my unspoken statement. "They knew about you. I don't know how, but they threatened the elders. And the elders attempted to plead ignorance, but something pushed the Alchemists over the edge."

Aktor stopped pacing and lifted his head to look at him, eyebrow arched.

"I truly believe they are becoming more unstable," Theo said, directing his words to the older man. Aktor frowned. "With time and exposure to our elements anything is possible."

Aktor nodded. "It is a frightening thought," he agreed.

"In any case," Theo continued, never stopping his soft caress of my side as his arm wrapped around me. "They have alerted the Gi to our 'duplicitous involvement' in hiding Casey for over twenty years."

It wasn't true. It just wasn't true. It couldn't be true.

"Casey," Theo murmured, his head dipping down to look directly into my eyes. "Oraia." That one word held such a depth of agony in it. "They truly believe you are this princess." I shook my head back and forth, it was all I was capable of doing. "There is a chance that they are right."

"No!" I managed to gasp and pulled back, escaping his warmth and touch.

Theo looked distraught, but didn't make an attempt to follow me. I started pacing behind Aktor, placing the old man between me and Theo. Which was ridiculous, because one look at the butler and you knew he was in full agreement with his master. I chose to ignore that, just needing some space from Theo's heat, in order to think.

This couldn't be true.

Theo spoke in low words to Aktor, but I heard every thing he said.

"Now we face off against the Alchemists, who are appearing more and more deranged, as well as an enraged Gi regiment, who believe we stole their long lost princess."

"Bloody hell," Aktor muttered. "What now?"

The all important question. Did this news change things? How could it not?

I stopped pacing and raised my face to look at Theo. Who was looking at me with such longing, such desire, and yet such incomprehensible pain. I sucked in a breath at the emotions flowing across his face. There was no mask now. He was open, raw with intense feelings that were slowly crushing him in their weight.

Oh hell. This changed everything. Didn't it?

"Casey," he said softly. The space between us disappeared, even though he hadn't taken a step towards me. I was held captive by that look in his eyes, on his face. I was his in that moment, despite anything that had passed.

My hand came up to his now faded mark on my neck. I hadn’t meant to. It just did. Theo tracked my movement and I watched as his chest rose and fell with each evermore harsh breath of air.

"You are my Thisavros," he said quietly. "I will lay down my life to keep you at my side."

I closed my eyes feeling a type of pain I never knew could exist. Bitter-sweet, so very bitter-sweet. He hadn't marked me again, but he didn't need to. I was his in his heart and I'd wear his mark on mine; on the inside.

His hot breath washed over my face letting me know he was standing before me. I opened my eyes and stared up into the face of the man I loved, who seemed to love me. His hand wrapped around the back of my neck and he lay a sweet, chaste kiss across my lips.

"Nothing can change that," he whispered, eyes flashing gold like jewels in the night. "Not the rules. Not the fact that you are Gi and I am Pyrkagia." He paused for breath. "Not even distance."

My eyes closed again on those last words. He'd die to keep me, but if he failed and I was taken to Gi, I would still be his.

"Oh, Theo," I murmured.

"Never forget," he whispered into my ear. "You do not need to wear a mark of mine, just know it in here." His palm rested over my heart, the heat seeping right through my skin and wrapping around it. I lay my head on his chest and sucked in a breath. It was shaky.

"What do we do now?" I managed to ask.

Theo wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my head.

"If we run, we could draw them away from Pyrkagia."

"But they would never forget Pyrkagia's role in all of this," Aktor pointed out, being the unwanted voice of reason. I felt Theo nod above my head.

"If we run, we confirm Pyrkagia's involvement and set my people up for a very long battle ahead." He shifted and lay a kiss in amongst my hair.

"What’s our other option?" I asked, heart heavy.

"We go and talk to them," Theo said, voice low, but definitely not even. "We explain your side of the story, we seek their understanding and permission for you to stay."

Aktor made a sound and Theo stiffened. I guess his sound was the equivalent of a scoff. I had to agree with the butler. We were screwed.

I couldn't, in all good conscience, ask Theo to run with me. He and Aktor were right. Pyrkagia would suffer for our betrayal. I couldn't live with that. But the chances of talking the Gi out of reclaiming something precious they thought lost for twenty years, were slim. You didn't need to be a mathematician to work out those odds.

And we couldn't stay here, on the golf course, and plead ignorance. Fires burned. Trees were being crushed. The Alchemists would only entangle themselves further creating a war the Pyrkagia couldn't win.

The right thing to do was go to the Gi. But I felt like I was sticking a knife in my gut by doing it. I was just waiting for that blade to twist.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"You would know better than us," Theo murmured his reply into my hair.

I took a deep breath in at his words and then pulled gently from his arms. It took a little effort to look up at him, uncertain what visage of pain would greet me. But he was trying valiantly not to show any concern. Not his complete impassive mask, but a faux expression of calm that I knew underneath he didn't feel at all.

I crouched down and dug my fingers into the soil, letting the Earth wash over me, soothe me with its scent and touch.

They are here, it said softly, sadly. Why it would be sad the Gi, its Gi, were here, I did not know. They are angry, the Earth advised. They are reaching deep, searching for something. We cannot stop them. You must try.

"Do you need my blood?" I asked, more than a little alarmed at the Earth's request.

Yes, it whispered, but not yet. Save your essence until it is truly needed. I breathed a sigh of relief, which was short lived. They have found it.

"What?" I said, glancing around the course-way expecting to see Gi jump out from behind the shrubbery at any moment. Theo and Aktor sensed my distress and started looking for threats as well. Heat warmed the small space we were standing in, their Stoicheio ready for attack.

Be ready, the Earth whispered. Once it starts, we cannot stop it without you.

Oh hell no. That did not sound good.

"Once what starts?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

But the Earth didn't need to reply, even if it would have, or could have, because Theo and Aktor sensed it first.

"What is that?" Theo demanded, jumping from where he stood and staring at the ground as though he could see through the grass and soil to beneath.

"It's hot, extremely hot," Aktor returned, walking in a circle and looking at the ground. "And deep." His eyes lifted to Theo and there was horror written across his face. "Oh, Aetheros. They wouldn't."

"They fucking have," Theo exclaimed.

"What?" I shouted, frustrated that neither of them had told me what they'd sense.

Theo turned to me and took the few steps necessary to clasp my upper arms in his hand. "Auckland sits on a volcanic field. Over fifty extinct volcanoes in a twenty kilometre radius of the city centre." He stopped, staring intently at my eyes, waiting for me to get it.

It didn't take long.

"They're heating the volcanoes up, making the Earth unstable enough for them to erupt."

"Yes," Theo said bluntly. "The result could be cataclysmic."

I felt sick to the stomach at that thought. Who were these people to act in such a way? Had they no conscience, or was it simply a threat to get me to come out of hiding? Have those who supposedly held me, hand me over to them.

Oh God, this was bad.

I pulled free of Theo's grasp, feeling tainted by my association, albeit an unwanted association, to the Gi. I hadn't asked for this, but it had landed in my lap and here I was. A part of their world, connected to a group of Ekmetalleftis who would use their Stoicheio to get what they wanted, to hell with the consequences.

I knelt down on the ground and dug my fingers and toes into the soil, reaching deep, searching for what my people had done. There. One kilometre beneath the surface, a sense of burgeoning power was growing. Theo and Aktor could sense the heat of the molten magma, I could sense its awesome strength through the Earth itself. A potency that was threatening to burst to the surface and decimate everything in its path.

How do I stop this, stop them? I asked the Earth. It groaned and shook beneath my knees. I could hear Theo swearing and Aktor crying out in alarm.

The ground shifted, piles of dirt erupting in geysers all around us, destroying the pristine look of the golf course. It was happening and I wasn't sure I was strong enough to stop what the Gi had done. How many did it take for this chain reaction? Twenty-five in a regiment, Isadora had said. Theo mentioned a regiment being here that the Pyrkagia had to face. Could twenty-five Gi do this? And if so, how the freaking hell was I supposed to stop it?

They are here, the Earth whispered. Turn around, it urged and I felt a foreboding chill wash down my spine.

Through the swell and buckle of the ground beneath us, we had all missed the obvious. The Gi had us surrounded. Long brown hair billowing out in waves down past their shoulders, bright green flashing from what I assumed was normally a dark blue in their eyes. They seemed familiar to me, even though I had never laid eyes on them before. A part of me wailed at that knowledge. I did not want to know these people, remembered or just bizarrely connected by a strange sense of familiarity. I didn't want this desire to greet them as kin. They were my enemy as much as Theo's, yet my body, my Stoicheio, told me otherwise.

I stood up and turned in a circle, taking in the thirty or so who made up their numbers. Their gazes were on me, but I wasn't fooled. They were keeping a wary eye on Theo at my back and Aktor off to my side. How did they know I was here, on this golf course?

I let a long breath of air out at the conclusion to that question. The Earth had told them. The Earth whom I trusted above all else had let me down.

Sorry, it whispered, regret evident in its tone. They are too many to deny.

I understood. Together the Gi were too strong. Which meant they were too strong for Theo and definitely too strong for me.

I glanced over my shoulder to catch Theo's eye. He flicked his gaze to mine at the movement and smiled a tight smile. He knew.

"Promise me," I whispered, reaching out to clutch his hand in mine. "Stay alive. No matter what. Do not die."

"Oraia," he murmured.

And then they struck.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Eternally

It was so fast, faster than I had been when Aktor threw the bolt of Fire at Nico's neck. So fast, I registered Theo's hand slipping from mine before I realised what it meant. Saw what they did. In a split fraction of a second he was thrown from my side by the sudden appearance of a root breaking the soil at our feet. It was thick and strong, and swatted him away as though he was nothing but an annoying little fly.

My reaction was wrenched from deep inside my heart. The Earth erupted in a concentrated burst of soil, severing the root in half before it could impale Theo through the chest. He landed in a cushioned wave of the ground undulating, timed to minimise his injuries. He was on his feet, gold glowing in his eyes, Fire spreading out around all three of us, in the next moment. I was sure his response was instinctive. But he held back from sending that wave of power toward the Gi.

But the Gi weren't so hesitant to fight back. The Earth beneath our feet began to bubble and boil, roll and buck, then spew out burning lava from its core. We weren't on a known volcano, but it didn't matter. The Gi were creating a new cone in the middle of the Pakuranga Country Club.

We scattered, to avoid the inferno rising to the surface and spreading lazily outward from a three meter hole that was expanding with every passing second. Aktor ended up on the far side, with Theo and I still within reaching distance of each other. He started toward me, his intention to protect me clearly evident on his face. But before he made it, a geyser of liquefied heat burst from the centre of the hole and headed straight for his head.

He met the blast with a wall of Fire, but it was obvious the Earth's internal heat out-did his own. Before his wall crumbled I sent a spray of soil up and over the geyser, sealing it briefly, but only long enough for Theo to move further away from me and the former projected path of that boiling liquid jet.

In my effort to save him, I'd placed more space between us. No doubt exactly what the Gi had wanted.

Another shot of molten lava spewed forth, directly towards Theo's neck this time. The angle looked perfect, the finesse with which it was wielded let me know the strike would be true. The Gi, like Aktor had warned, were obviously aiming to kill. Severing his neck their only goal. Not just incapacitate, but annihilate. Completely.

I scrambled to smother the blast of liquid fire; the Earth responding to my command, but immediately seeking Theo's death in the next instant. For every directive I gave it, the Gi worked to circumvent my attempts. If it wasn't for Theo's own abilities, he would have succumbed by now. But at least my efforts were not making it easy for the Gi either.

Still, neither Theo nor I could prevent the onslaught completely; there were simply too many Gi to fight. I needed to do more than just command the Earth.

I rounded to face the closest of those Ekmetalleftis surrounding us and screamed, "Stop!"

The Earth groaned and protested, but didn't cease its assault on Theo and Aktor. I couldn't reach the old man, but he was somehow holding his own. I think that was because the Gi knew he wasn't the greater threat. I shouldn't have reached for Theo's hand when they arrived. I shouldn't have shown them how close we were. It had been a tragic mistake. They were relentless in their attacks on him now. Because of me.

He managed to dodge a few more blows and block others with his Fire. I succeeded in diverting those roots that shot unexpectedly out of the ground with a harsh blast of concentrated soil to break or divert their projection. But if I was tiring from the effort each counterstrike cost, then Theo probably was as well.

Sweat coated his brow and ash covered his clothes. He was stumbling, and retreating, purely on defence and nothing more. And slowly, torturously, being taken further and further away from me.

I fell to my knees, grasped the soil beneath my hands and pounded the Earth desperately. Stop! I commanded and a brief interlude of peace followed my words. Only to be shattered by a brightening glow of green from the Gi's eyes and recommencement of the ground rolling beneath us.

I needed to use my blood, but I didn't have a thorny vine or sharp blade to slice my skin. I dug my fingernails into the flesh of my forearm, but they just left small crescent moon shapes and a minimal amount of red that refused to drip. And as soon as I started to call on the Earth for a thorny vine to aid me, the Gi struck again.

And again.

And again.

And suddenly... they succeeded.

Theo got swallowed by the ground so swiftly, all I saw was a flash of gold from his eyes as he disappeared. I couldn't breathe for fear. But adrenaline coursed through me, speeding my heart rate, escalating my respirations, and making panic become a friend. I reached deep inside myself, using the fear and adrenaline to focus my concentration. To command the Earth to bring Theo to the surface again. It took everything in me, and left me panting for breath and coated in sweat. But despite my effort, despite the adrenaline flowing through my veins, my attempt was still harried and therefore too unskilled. I was so desperate to save his life, my execution was less than perfect.

Twice more he crawled out of the soil and clambered up the sides of a still deep pit.

Twice more I had to pull on empty reserves to get the Earth to bend to my will.

I was shattered and beaten. And so was Theo. How long had we been fighting? Seconds? Minutes? It felt like hours. We were losing and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

I didn't even have time to wallow in that fact.

A geyser erupted a foot away, just as Theo successfully - and miraculously - emerged from the pit. I screamed in utter defeat, as my command to the Earth, to push Theo in the opposite direction to safety, left him more harmed than saved. In my rush to avoid that lethal spray, I had injured him. The realisation of that almost hurt me as much as it surely did him.

He looked terrible. Awful. Utterly exhausted in his own efforts to fight off attacks from magically appearing branches and vines, while he avoided the lethal spray of a geyser, or the boiling liquefied heat of lava. He managed to incinerate those branches and vines that I couldn't reach quickly enough, as they wrapped around his ankles trying to pull him beneath the ground, or towards the lava, again and again.

And my attempts to rescue him were just compounding the effects.

I wanted to cry. I wanted it all to end. But my desires meant absolutely nothing. I was a pawn, a chess piece, an insignificant part of a greater thing.

And to top it off, all I could think, all I could repeat inside my head, was that my Earth, the Earth that talked to me and followed my commands, was trying to kill my Thisavros. I felt strangely abandoned in my hour of need. A desolate feeling that had no right to exist when we were fighting for Theo's life.

I pleaded with the Earth to stop.

I shouted aloud and in my head for an end to this madness.

But still the Earth returned after each command, with renewed effort and a deathly presence to finish Theo off. The Gi were bloodthirsty in their attempts to separate me from Theo. They ignored all of my pleas. They hounded him in a wave attack, one after the other commanding the Earth in groups of ten or more at a time.

The level of power they wielded when combined was unfathomable, neither Theo nor I had a hope of fighting them off. But still we both tried. Still he fought to get to me, laid down his life again and again to keep me at his side.

It was like watching a piece of you get ripped away, ripped apart. Slowly destroyed. I used every ounce of energy I had left to battle them. To protect him. To save his life.

But I was failing.

Please don't die, I pleaded in my head, no longer able to cry the words aloud. Stay alive, I begged. For him. For me. Don't give up. But he couldn't hear me and even if he could, it wasn't enough. I wasn't strong enough to defend him and summon something suitable to cut my skin and spill my blood. The Earth had told me it needed my essence to fight this number of Gi. But I couldn't save Theo and give the Earth blood at the same time. It was too much, too many, they were too fast.

They knew what they were doing; wearing me down, keeping me occupied, and ultimately, killing Theo in the process. I was so mad, but so tired, I couldn't even sob in distress.

I don't know how much time passed, it had already felt like hours when Theo battled his way out of that pit, only to face a lethal geyser. And since then we'd fought thick roots and sharp vines, boiling mud pools and sulphuric smelling water fountains. And the rolling, groaning, tumbling soil of the Earth. Split asunder, moaning in pain, as though the Earth itself was being destroyed, not just the man I loved with all my heart.

I'd already acknowledged Theo would die. I hadn't accepted it, but the kernel of that thought had taken root inside my mind, and like the insidious deathly branches that shot from the soil towards my Thisavros, it dug deeper and deeper into my psyche, threatening to suck me down into a bleak and dark abyss.

But at some stage, at some point in amongst the dark thoughts and bleak world my mind was submitting to, a bright flare of light pierced the black of night... with a most welcomed ray of promise.

The Pyrkagia arrived.

Called by all the destruction and Fire. Maybe just aware that their prince was slowly dying. It didn't matter, their appearance meant one thing. Hope.

Whatever had happened with the Alchemists, the Pyrkagia had survived. And their success couldn't have been better timed. Still, I glanced around expecting to see some strange humans wielding stolen Ekmetalleftis power, but none sprang out behind the dark bushes and trees. Just the Pyrkagia. No one else.

I didn't have energy enough to be thankful for that fact.

Silent tears were streaming down my cheeks by now, but the sight of the Pyrkagia at least filled me with the warmth of hope and promise. They immediately began to surround Theo with their own Stoicheio. Dozens of Pyrkagia protecting my Thisavros better than I was able to do.

I turned my attention to the Gi, finally managing to concentrate enough to demand the Earth produce a thorn laden vine. With it grasped painfully in my hand I sliced my wrist, without delay, and then held my arm aloft.

"Stop!" I shouted above the noise of bubbling lava, the groaning of the Earth and the crackle of Pyrkagia Fire. "Stop now, or I..." Or I what? Kill you all? Feed the Earth and miraculously save the day with my blood alone? I had absolutely no idea what giving my blood to the Earth would do. It had insinuated that with it, the Earth would be strong enough to deny the Gi, but it had never said it would be strong enough to do more than that.

"Daughter," a Gi said loudly then, voice level and entirely devoid of emotion.

He walked out of the row of Ekmetalleftis that faced off against us. I don't think they included me as their enemy, as their efforts had solely been focused on Theo, until reinforcements made them stop. But they should have.

"Calm yourself. We mean you no harm," the Gi added.

"You harm what is mine," I panted through gritted teeth, and watched as the collective Gi sucked in a simultaneous breath, then glanced at each other with ill concealed shock and mild disgust.

"He is not yours," the man pointed out evenly. "You do not belong here with them. You are Gi."

If one more person used that excuse to convince me of something I did not want, I was going to scream. But conversation was better than the battle we had just had, than the battle Theo had just barely survived. So I held the frustrated shriek inside.

"I don't even know you," I said instead, staggering to my feet, better to confront him. The man had taken several steps closer, I wanted to be prepared.

"Don't you?" he asked cocking his head to the side and flashing the most alluring shade of green in his eyes.

I felt the Earth's call immediately. I felt the deep seated sense of familiarity that I had glimpsed upon the Gi's arrival. I felt the connection that made me believe I was tethered to a rope that led directly to this man. A pull that I was finding harder and harder to deny.

"Who are you?" I whispered, lowering my arms finally and feeling the blood begin to trickle back down towards my fingers.

"Child," he said, voice softening, but his face remaining that detached impassive all Athanatos seem able to do. "I am your father."

The words meant something, I knew they did. But in that second I just felt numb.

My blood finally made it to the tip of my index finger and dropped to the waiting soil below. The Earth breathed out a soothing sigh, settling beneath us finally, quelling the inferno that had threatened all of Auckland city.

Is this true? I asked it. My voice inside my head sounded hollow.

He is the Gi Rigas, the Earth replied.

Is he my father? I pushed, but the Earth remained ominously silent. Answer me? I demanded, at last feeling something other than numb; an almost frantic need to have this denied.

"It will not speak out of line," the Gi Rigas said, well aware of the questions I'd been asking the Earth, it seemed. I had no idea what he meant by that threatening statement though. And it was threatening, I just knew.

"I don't know you," I insisted, searching for something more intelligent to throw up as argument to this impressive, yet slightly scary man.

"No. But that does not change the fact that you are Gi."

And that argument was not one I could deny any longer.

Heaven help me, but this was actually happening. My world was slipping away.

I may not have fully accepted what I had become, but I had accepted that of all the Ekmetalleftis, I was Gi.

I looked around the half destroyed golf course, taking in the sight of a battered, but still hanging in there, Aktor. The angry, but strangely quiet Pyrkagia, watching this unfold with wary eyes. And a mud covered, exhausted and defeated looking Theo.

What should I do?

I didn't want to leave Auckland. I knew this with a certainty that rocked my soul. I didn't want to leave my home, my city. That was a given from the start. But this ache, this agony of impending separation, was not for that. But for Theo.

My Theo.

"I don't want to leave," I said, voice and heart broken, but somehow the words reached his ears.

His gold flecked eyes flicked over to the Gi Rigas and I watched as he straightened his back and held his head up high.

"I request permission to speak to the princess," he said in a strong, level voice.

My head jerked back at his petition, at the finality of those words. What they acknowledged. What they said to all those present; Pyrkagia, Gi... and me. I forced my eyes to leave the face I had come to know so well, and take in the response on the face of the man I knew not at all. The Gi Rigas surveyed Theo with mild intrigue. It had to be an act. He'd just been trying to kill him moments ago, almost succeeded, and now he was being civil?

"Very well, Prince of Pyrkagia," he said regally, as though gifting Theo a boon. "But try anything and we will attack your city."

Theo's eyes shifted to my face, a question there that I couldn’t quite decipher. Was he asking me if I controlled the Earth? I didn't. I had stopped the eruption from happening, but I had the feeling that the Rigas held more sway than any of us could ever know. The fact that he'd listened in on my mental conversation with the Earth earlier was enough to let me know he was powerful. Very powerful indeed.

Theo nodded, reading something on my face. Maybe my inability to answer the question was answer enough. He walked the short distance to where I stood and looked down at me. I could tell he wanted to reach out and touch, to seek comfort through that sense. But he just clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides and stared at me.

Several seconds ticked by.

Finally, he found his voice. "Sweet little Gi," he whispered. I was unsure if anyone else could hear him, but the Earth rushed through me and put my mind at rest.

We will shield your words, your blood has strengthened us.

I glanced down at my hand, noting that I'd actually been bleeding this entire time and all that blood had been soaked up greedily by the Earth. I breathed a sigh of relief. The Gi hadn't noticed, I was sure, otherwise they would have done something to prevent it. The more of my blood the Earth had, the stronger it seemed to become. I wondered if it would become strong enough to banish them, to win a battle against its own people.

I knew, though, that was wishful thinking.

"They can't hear you," I said softly back to Theo, and watched his eyebrow arch in that familiar way it always does.

"But you're not in control here, are you?" he queried.

"No. There's too many of them for the Earth to fight back." And why would it? The Gi belong to the Earth. I saw the same conclusion on Theo's face. I breathed out slowly through the pain of defeat. Because this was a defeat, wasn't it?

"I don't want to leave," I whispered again. The one sentence shouting to be let out in my head.

"And I don't want you to go," he admitted, shifting closer, letting the heat of his body wrap around my frame, the only part of him which could openly embrace me right now.

"But you're letting me go anyway," I replied, through a tight throat.

"Casey," he said, and I watched stunned as tears welled in his eyes. "I will never let you go. Do you hear me? You are mine. My Thisavros." The words were a vow, but I sensed a 'but' in there all the same. He closed his eyes, fists clenched tightly still at his sides and let a ragged breath of air out. "I will find a way for us to be together," he said when his eyes opened, covering me in a golden glow. "I will find a way back to you. One that they can't fight against. I promise."

Oh heavy, heavy heart. How could this hurt so much? I was fighting back the tears, but all that did was create more and more of them, making Theo appear blurred and my throat close completely, while my body sunk in on itself.

"Dear, sweet Casey Eden," Theo murmured, his Stoicheio finally unable to resist soothing me. "No matter what, they are your kin. They mean you no harm. All they desire is you home, safe."

"I'm not one of them!" I insisted.

"Oh, but Cassandra. You are."

I didn't care about the Gi watching. I didn't even care, in that moment, about the Gi Rigas' threat. I launched myself into Theo's arms and sobbed against his chest.

This was really happening. God help me somehow to survive the pain.

"Think of it as an opportunity to learn, Casey," Theo whispered in my ear, his voice cracking even as his hands smoothed a path down my back. "Learn the Gi Ekmetalleftis history. Hone your skills. Stay strong." He ducked his head down and lifted up my chin with the tips of his finger and thumb. "Because I will come for you. We will be together one day. I promise you that."

One day. One day in the future to an Athanatos could mean decades, centuries away. Hell, Theo was over three thousand years old. I couldn't find solace in his words. The length of time available was too much for my mind to comprehend and accept.

I was losing Theo.

And he was letting me go.

"There has to be some way," I pleaded, swiping at the moisture on my face. Theo's thumbs came up and wiped across my cheeks, helping to smooth them dry again.

There were more tears, I knew it, but I was fiercely trying to hold the rest of them inside.

"I would lay down my life for you, Casey. You know this," he whispered. "If you were to ask me, I would lay down my brethren's lives as well."

A strained silence stretched out between us. He was offering to force the Pyrkagia to go to war for me. Against the might of the Gi, who had already proven they weren't above total destruction of a city in order to get what they wanted. Who had already proven that they were a match for Pyrkagia, and more than a match for Theo.

And I wasn't strong enough to stop them either. I'd halted proceedings tonight, barely, but the Rigas scared me. I could feel a depth of power to his Stoicheio that had no comparison. We would not win this battle and that was even before the Alchemists regrouped, returned and decided to join in as well.

This was my city. For Auckland and its people; my parents, Sonya, even the Pyrkagia, I would not cling to what I wanted to be mine, by sacrificing them.

Turning away from Theo to face an unknown future with people I didn't recognise, but strangely felt connected to, was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. Nothing would ever come close again, I was sure. But this was a battle that Theo and I would lose. There was no denying that.

And although Theo had made his promises to find a way back to me, I vowed to myself to do the same right then. I would find a way to be with Theo. No matter how long it takes.

Hope still existed, even as I felt imaginary chains wrap around my body, pulling me away from those I loved. And with that resolute hope came something else just as miraculous.

A line had definitely been drawn in the sand now, and with one last deep intake of fortifying breath, I crossed it. Until that moment I had not truly believed. But I did now. I chose to believe the dream conversation with my grandfather. I chose to believe everything that I could do now was because of what I had become. Two days in a pit of dirt, four days connected to the Earth. And now this.

Acceptance of what I had become felt... liberating. I was a Gi Ekmetalleftis. And I had the rest of my very long immortal life to get what I wanted.

And I wanted Theodoros Petropoulos. He would be mine.

"I love you," I whispered in answer, seeing the comprehension of what my declaration meant mixed with the joy of hearing my words wash over Theo's face.

I didn't say it to hear him say it back. Theo Peters was a hard Athanatos, bred to handle loss and sacrifice, styled to never show his inner thoughts. Oh, he slipped occasionally, but he was very good at what and who he was. Powerful, arrogant, princely.

But then, Theo Peters was also the most confounding man I had ever met.

He reached forward and wrapped me up in one final embrace. I savoured it. I closed my eyes and prayed I'd never forget his warmth, his Fire, his scent. Never forget this moment. His lips brushed across my ear, his breath washed down my neck and his Stoicheio reached inside the very core of me, and touched my heart and soul.

And he rasped, "And I love you too, Casey Eden. Eternally."

Dear sweet heaven, he'd said it. He'd said the words. So beautiful, so bitter-sweet, so heartbreakingly poignant.

A sobbed breath hitched in my throat, an ache so real I felt it in my blood, in my bones. He loved me. And I loved him.

Theo reached down and cupped my chin with his finger and thumb, tilting my tear stained face up to his. With an unimaginable depth of pain and sadness, he leaned in and touched his lips to mine. Softly. Tenderly. Too briefly.

Then he was gone. Walking away and taking a part of me with him.

How did I survive this? How?

My knees gave out first, then my breath, my heart, as pain tore through my chest. My fingers digging into the soil at my sides automatically, seeking comfort, desperate for relief from the ache.

And as the Pyrkagia prepared to leave the golf course I heard a hardened command inside my head, sinking barbs right into my heart.

Anaisthetikos, now! the Gi Rigas' voice echoed in my mind. I don't think he knew I could hear him. My fingers dug further into the Earth, determined to catch his next words. And kill her Thisavros.

My mouth opened in a scream, but only I could hear my warning shout. The last thing I saw, before my world became an insular bright white haze and nothing else, was a thick vine wrapped around Theo's neck. Blood pooling on his collar as skin was torn.

My screams never stopped; an aching, heart-wrenching accompaniment, as the vision of my beloved fighting for his life was seared on my mind...

His gold blazing eyes on me; a final message of love staring out of a terror-filled face.

Theo.

Oh God, no!

Theo.

Description

'Birdsong was the first thing I registered. The sharp caw of a parrot, but there was more than one. And somehow they overlapped to make a beautiful symphony out of what should have been an unmusical sound. I grinned; the feeling of my lips tipping up was foreign. How long had it been since I last smiled?'

Casey Eden has had her life turned upside down and inside out, just when she thought it was going somewhere. Thrust into a new and dangerous world, and not knowing who to trust, Casey has to push herself to be stronger, harder, and better than she has ever been before. To top things off, she's now battling with her new Elemental powers alone, and living thousands of miles away from home.

A forest wreathed in power.

A dangerous world full of predatory beings.

And a passion for Fire even the soothing scent of Earth can't calm.

Faced with a corrupt and rotten group of powerful beings, in an environment which calls to her soul, but lashes out unexpectedly to trip her up, Casey must dig deep to traverse the hurdles before her. But to do that, she has to embrace an old lesson of belief. A lesson her dead grandfather taught her, which now carries an entirely different and ominous meaning. But she soon begins to realise anything is possible when you choose to believe.

Prologue

And Another Day In Hell Had Begun

Mist curled around my ankles and stretched hazy fingers up my legs, making it look like I floated through clouds, not walked through a rainforest. But the sensation of being cut off from the ground beneath my feet felt real. Earth, my Stoicheio, no longer talked to me.

A bone deep sense of loneliness settled within my heart. But it wasn't just the feeling of abandonment that caused such immeasurable pain. My losses went deeper than being separated from the Element that was meant to sustain me.

Theo.

His name echoed through my mind, made a whimper rise up my throat and an ache so unfathomable pierce my heart, cleave it in two. Theo was dead, so why was I walking through a mist shrouded forest in search of something I knew could not exist?

Floor dwelling animals scurried away from my path, the sound of their claws scratching over dirt and fallen leaves sent a bolt of familiarity through me. But it had been weeks, possibly months, since I'd actually touched a creature of the Amazon and felt my soul cry out with joy. They ran from me now, as though I was the devil.

The boughs of the vine laden trees flanking the trail I walked - no floated - on leaned in closer, blocking out what little light was available overhead. Darkness edged in from the corners of my eyes, my vision dimming, but not yet succumbing to the void I so often found myself in these days. I pushed on, forcefully expelling the desire to give in.

They had taken so much already, too much already, they would not take my mind too.

But that argument was debatable, as I ducked under a branch, the hiss of a snake entwined around it reaching my ears, and stepped out into a clearing, that in normal circumstances would not exist in this dense parcel of flora and fauna.

I sucked in a deep breath through my nose seeking the soothing scent of Earth, but it was always just outside of my reach. A temptation that gnawed at my psyche, threatened to suck all reason from my mind, while all life was slowly seeping out from my soul.

The emptiness was excruciating.

Separating reality from fantasy was so hard. For a moment I just stood there and took in the scene before me and tried to see reason where there was none. But one thing reminded me that this was not real, as conversely one thing insisted it was.

The fact that I could not scent the Earth was a clue. I knew that when awake the Earth's calming scent alluded me. Yet when I dreamed it should have been there. A dream is something you can create subconsciously. My subconscious was crying out for Earth's cool scent.

Real.

Then there was the fact that I had not walked amongst Earth's creations for too long to count now. Locked away in a room without windows. A room without plants. A room without access to the Earth. And yet here I was surrounded by nature, not quite embraced by it, but close enough to remember what that sensation actually felt like.

Fantasy.

For several seconds I swayed between the two.

Real.

Fantasy.

Real.

Fantasy.

But like every night for the past six weeks the argument was made moot as soon as my eyes landed on the rose.

A scarlet red newly budding rose on a long green stem lay across a flat stone. My breath hitched in my throat. I'd known it would be there, but the pain of that knowledge did not surpass the pain of seeing it again. It meant one thing; this... this mirage was false. A fantasy. Not real.

I stumbled a step forward, making the mist swirl and retreat, and then regroup at mid shin. Blanketing the Earth beneath my feet, reminding me I was on my own. As if I needed that reminder.

I curled my hands into fists at my sides and stared at the perfect, beckoning flower that had taunted me unmercifully for so many nights. I knew this rose. I'd seen it many times in the Parnell Rose Gardens on Gladstone Road when I went for my early morning run. It was called Millennium. Or more commonly: Everlasting Love.

That should have been enough to break me, but it was by no means all there was to crush my dwindling strength and shatter my broken heart beyond that which is reparable. This rose was bred in New Zealand and was not native to South America.

Fantasy.

But knowing this and being able to stop what always happened next was impossible.

I staggered across the clearing, my hand outstretched, reaching for the impossible. Reaching for Theo. Because no matter what I told myself I always believed this rose was from him. Impossible. Theo was dead. Had been for three months. This was a fantasy, a dream, a useless desire and nothing else.

The rose was not from Theo, but then why did I dream of it every night?

My fingers wrapped around the thorny stem, a prick of my flesh and blood welled in my palm, coating the stalk. The petals quivered, my breath was sucked in; preparation for what would come. A sense of anticipation invaded the clearing. Animals ceased all movements, branches stilled in the humid breeze, leaves floated to the ground without so much as a whisper.

And the rose burst into flames in my hand, burning, searing, licking the flesh away from my wrist, up my arm, until my whole body was ablaze.

I screamed, sucked in more fire, which felt like Fire - that's with a capital F - and sat bolt upright in bed.

My room was dark and devoid of personality. The air stale. The floor concrete. A prison fit for a Gi.

Real.

And another day in Hell had begun.

Chapter One

And It Was Never Going To Be Enough

Ice cold water splashed over my face making me splutter and choke on inhaled droplets. I coughed to clear my clogged lungs, and struggled to lift my head from where it lay defeated, chin to chest, lolling slightly from side to side.

I was so tired.

Another bucket full of the frigid liquid aimed directly at my face, followed by the clattering of the metal container as my 'interrogator' threw it across the room.

"How many more will it take?" the man's voice purred next to my ear.

He enjoyed this, there was no denying the thrill he got out of torturing me each day. I had no way of knowing if the sun had crested the top of the trees by the time he walked into my cell, but I guessed it was only just on dawn, as he couldn't possibly wait any longer.

"It's simple," he said from behind my other shoulder, "tell us what we want to know and we'll set you free."

"Liar," I murmured, knowing freaking well that even if I could tell them what they wanted to know, I would be killed, not freed. They saw me as a threat, why else would they lock me away in a windowless room, cut me off from the Earth which fuelled me, and question me unmercifully?

"Tsk, tsk," he admonished, as he finally made the circuit of my chair to appear before me.

Long brown hair floated unnaturally around his shoulders, piercing dark blue eyes which constantly flashed a vibrant green, blinding in their intensity, and a physique that screamed strength, menace, superiority.

His long, thick fingers reached out and cupped my chin, forcing my face up to his. I closed my eyes, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing my fear.

"Must we do this everyday?" he asked reasonably, as though what would come next was avoidable. It wasn't, I'd tried various responses to his questions over the past three months and always I ended up doused in Gi essence.

"Give it your best shot," I spat weakly, receiving a chuckle for my pathetic attempt at rebellion.

"Very well, but remember, this can all end. You need only tell us what we want to hear."

But that was the problem. To tell them what they needed to hear, I'd have to lie. And even though it would be a falsehood, they would believe it.

His fingers stroked my jaw, my chin, almost tenderly. But the sensation they created was not one of comfort, but a rolling wave of increasing dread.

"Hederin," he whispered, his lips so close to mine I felt the wash of heat as he spoke.

For a brief moment I was suspended in the beauty that is the Earth, as Gi Stoicheio flowed through me. This was one of the only times now, that I felt any connection to my Element. And it was borrowed, false, a trick. A glorious sensation hiding the evil beneath.

I sucked in a deep breath of air, floating on the bliss the moment gave me. Hearing the Gi interrogator's humourless laugh. And then the world shifted around me as the dank, dark cell we had been in disappeared.

I didn't want to open my eyes. I didn't want to see what trickery the Hederin toxin had created. Only once had it given me something bitter-sweet. Every other time had been gut wrenching.

Warmth embraced me, wrapped around my body, kissed my skin. Seeped beneath the thin layer of clothing I was wearing and tempted me with a sensual wash of heat. Fire. Pyrkagia Fire.

Theo.

Without a second thought my eyes sprang open. How could I not look when Pyrkagia Stoicheio coated my flesh, teased my senses and lured me out of what little protection I had left?

It didn't matter that I had no control over this hallucination, I always told myself that if I just kept my eyes closed I wouldn't have to see. Nonsense, of course. The Gi who channelled the Hederin essence was entirely in control of what happens next. Not me.

I no longer had any control at all.

The Earth shook beneath my feet, as Fire raged all around us. Shouts and cries of alarm were interspersed with barked orders and the crackle of flames, the groaning of trees, and the thunder of the Earth breaking apart before me.

I lay crumpled in a heap on the grass, ten feet away from the horror that met my mortified gaze. A haze of green light filtered through the smoke of Pyrkagia Stoicheio, entwining with an unnatural shine of yellow-gold.

Theo knelt, hands clawing at the vine that wrapped around his neck, breaking skin, causing blood to dribble down his collar, pool in the dip of his throat. His gold blazed eyes were on me, just as they had been on me the day I was taken from Auckland. Just as they appeared each night in my mind when my eyes closed for the day and wretched sleep took over.

There was no escape from that image. There was no respite. And now the Gi interrogator was making me relive it all over again. But not just what I had seen, no that would be too simple, too lenient. This time I got to see the ending.

This time I got to see Theo die.

The first time the Gi made me witness this I lay frozen in shock. The next time I cried. The time after I pleaded for it to stop. Despite the repetition, I never truly become desensitised to the experience. I have tried just lying limply and facing my sorrow head on. I have tried to close my eyes, but the images flicker inside my head instead. I have tried to fight back.

And because it is cruel to give me hope and then dash it, they have let me.

My fingers dug into the soil beneath me in a futile effort to conjure enough Stoicheio to protect my love. The Earth responded with a joyous sigh, a rumbling crossed the space between my body and Theo's; still struggling to pry the vine from his flesh. It had dug into the skin by now, burying itself deep in the tissue. But the Earth urged me on, promised it could help. Teased me. Tempted me. Trying to entrap me.

I shook my head softly, my eyes still held by the rapidly defeated look on Theo's face. I could try to use my Stoicheio to command the vine to unravel. I could try to use my Stoicheio to make a concentrated burst of soil sever the vine from its root, and therefore its source of power. I could do either of these things, and I have done them before today. But it would be useless.

I am useless here. As useless as Theo was on that day.

The sense of futility was astounding. The acknowledgement that I had to watch this again, watch Theo's last moments before all life and Fire was snuffed out, turned the world a bleak black. Theo was so full of passion and the essence of what it means to be alive. He embraced life, he loved, he celebrated living. He was the epitome of what being an Ekmetalleftis is.

And I loved him, more now than I did when he was alive. The memory a strength that distance could never diminish. Shadowed by the fact that the type of distance that exists between us is as basic and deplorable as life and death.

Theo Peters no longer lived.

But I did.

In a desperate attempt to shatter the vision before me, the vision I knew was false, but conversely true. I sent my Stoicheio not towards the vine at his neck and Theo, but out towards the Gi who created this hallucination.

I'd never tried this before, and part of me already knew the physics behind this actually working was impossible. This was an essence induced poisoning, creating an illusion that only worked in my mind. The Gi interrogator was never present when these visions occurred, leaving me to experience their horror alone. Just as I am alone in reality, he ensured I felt the same solitary experience in the fantasy he created.

But I was tired and worn out. Beyond the ability to sit through another moment of Theo's death. My only other option was to curl up in a ball and admit defeat. It was tempting. It beckoned with its easy answer to my predicament. But I'd done that before too. And it didn't work.

The images just swirled inside my head, the sounds closing in on my foetal position.

So, I'd try this and weather the storm - or disappointment - afterwards.

The swell of Earth, through the contact of my fingers in the dirt at my sides, flooded me. It felt so real, despite me knowing this was all a product of a powerful toxin. I put everything I had left in me, into that final push of power from deep below the soil at my fingertips. I poured myself into the command, I willed my being into every part of it. I let myself believe.

I'm not sure if it was that; the belief. Belief is a tangible thing. To truly believe you become one with the belief itself. I became one with the belief that this would work. That I actually had the ability to connect with my Element and use it against my captor. I didn't allow a shadow of doubt to enter my mind, I just believed.

And the vision, the hallucination, shattered, with a curse in Greek and a muffled cry of pain from my interrogator.

The cool, dark room coalesced around me, including the panting, sweating, angry face of my Gi tormentor.

He was several feet away, hunched over, hands to knees, breathing too rapidly. His green blazing eyes on my trapped form. Tied to a wooden chair, no hope of escape should he lash out.

"How did you do that?" he demanded, straightening up and attempting to hide the grimace of pain the movement caused.

I had no answer, and I thought silence was my best defence right now.

He tilted his head and studied my blank face. Then in a rush he was on me. His arm pulled back before I even registered what he was doing. The smart of the slap making me cry out in pain. He didn't stop. Another backhanded slap across my cheek and jaw. Another scream of agony, followed by splatter of blood arcing through the air, to the side of where I sat trapped, and up the wall.

Again and again he struck, making my head whip from side to side as he put every ounce of his physical strength into beating me. I counted thirteen strikes before I lost consciousness. Thirteen screams, which became cries, and then finally whimpers.

I'd succeeded in something today. Something I had not managed to do for three months.

I broke a Hederin induced hallucination.

And I broke my Gi interrogator’s composure.

I woke back on my hard bed, a cool cloth wiping carefully against the skin on my neck. Without windows I couldn't tell what time it was, how long I had been out. From the ache in my body, not just my face, my tormentor had progressed on from cheek slaps, to full body punches. I sucked in a shallow breath and realised I probably had broken ribs as well as a bruised jaw now.

I whimpered as the cloth was dragged across sensitive flesh, then wrung out in a bowl of water to my side. I hadn't yet opened my eyes. I don't think it was intentional. My lids felt a little too puffy to be normal right now.

"Sorry," my carer whispered. "He made a mess of your face."

A sliver of light appeared along the bottom of my vision; the gap my swollen eyelids allowed me to see through. The Gi doctor sat on a chair beside my bed, gently tending to my sorry state.

"I pissed him off," I mumbled, perhaps incoherently.

"You shouldn't do that," he replied neutrally, but didn't stop cleaning up the blood with tender strokes of the cloth.

"How long was I out?" I asked, a little more light seeping through my half closed lids. I could make out the broad chest of the doctor now, not quite his face. But I knew him. He'd tended to my injuries in the past.

"It's late afternoon," he surprised me by saying. "I've only just now been called in and you were still unconscious when I arrived. I'm uncertain when Davos left you, but he wasn't seen in the hallways until one hour ago."

It was the most the doctor had ever spoken. Usually his answers were oblique and short. He hadn't even called my interrogator by name before, and as the doctor and my tormentor were the only two Gi I ever saw, my conversations had been limited. Until now.

I'm not sure why he was in a talkative mood, but despite the pain of my injuries I decided it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

"Will he back?" The most important question.

The doctor grunted. It was an unamused sound he'd never made before. "Oh, he'll be back, little one. He's feeding his Stoicheio so when he returns he can really let you have it. What were you thinking?"

Another surprise. The doctor had never asked me a question before.

"I couldn't watch him die again," I admitted, not in the slightest ashamed to own up to that fact. Davos knew already. The doctor probably knew as well. I wasn't admitting to anything that wasn't already common knowledge.

"You have to promise me not to strike back," the doctor whispered, moving the bloodied water bowl away to the sink in the corner to wash it out.

I turned my head with effort and watched his back for a moment. My eyelids allowed further vision as time past. The strange healing abilities of an Athanatos. I could already feel my ribs reforming and the bruise on my jaw getting smaller. But those unusual abilities were not what was making me feel unsettled.

The doctor was acting a little too differently today than I would have liked.

He returned to my bedside, all the while I watched him closely, and unscrewed the lid of a smelly ointment. Dipping in two fingers he pulled out a dollop of the foul stuff and proceeded to lather it on my face and jaw. I kept my lips sealed, even though I wanted to breathe through my mouth, not my nose. But fear of tasting the vile medicine kept them firmly shut.

Once he was satisfied with the state of my face, he moved on to my ribs. Lifting my thin cotton shirt to expose my naked chest. He didn't bat an eyelash at the mess Davos had made or the glimpse he was getting of my breasts.

He finished his task, lowered my shirt and then finally met my eyes. Green danced hypnotically across their normally blue depths.

"How much more can you take?" he asked quietly.

I stared at him for a long moment wondering what the best answer would be. Wondering why he would ask the question in the first place. I had no answer to either dilemma. As with everything else, I was out of my league.

"I don't know," I whispered, finding it hard to lie to the man, despite knowing he was one of them and shouldn't be trusted. He'd cared for me, shown mercy where Davos had given me none. I didn't trust him, but I hadn't categorised him as yet, either.

He sighed and ran a hand though his long brown hair, resting his palm at the nape of his neck.

"It's too soon," he mumbled, not making any sense. "We're not ready."

"What's not ready?" I asked, voice quiet in the hopes he'd not be startled by my query.

But I needn’t have worried, because he didn't have time to answer, even if he'd intended to. The door banged open and Davos stormed in. Green flooding the darker space before him, stealing all natural light and banishing any momentary relief from rest I'd just had.

"Is she fit for another round?" he demanded, coming to stand over the doctor's shoulder and glare at my supine form.

The doctor met my eyes, a message there that I couldn't determine. Then he stood from his chair and turned to face Davos.

"Too bad if she isn't," he snarled, making Davos chuckle wickedly.

"You wanna stay and watch?" the Gi interrogator asked. "I plan on being inventive this time."

My stomach lurched as my heart picked up speed. Davos had received too much enjoyment in my pain, to the point that I think he craved it, desired it. A sick kind of fear took root in my belly and spread through my numbed limbs.

"I wouldn't want to get in your way, Davos," the doctor murmured, taking a step toward the door, his shoulders rigid.

"Too bad," Davos said, effectively dismissing the retreating doctor. "All the more for me to relish."

"At least let me have a short break before I have to return to heal her again," the doctor said at the door, his eyes on Davos, I think he no longer could look at me. Guilt? Or just a survival mechanism, knowing what was in store for me and switching off his emotional reaction to my plight. "I have an appointment in Manaus this evening."

Oh freaking hell. The doctor wouldn't even be here if Davos got out of hand. A sense of foreboding and sudden all-encompassing clarity swamped me. I was truly, truly alone.

Had the doctor just been another ploy to give me a slither of hope and then smash it? Make me open a little to his tender care and softly murmured words, and then cut me off completely from that line of support. Reinforcing my desolation.

Davos laughed, it slithered along my spine and left sickening pinpricks all over my skin. A small amount of sweat had broken out across my upper lip, threatening to spread at an alarming speed.

"Enjoy yourself, Doctor," he murmured. "Perhaps by this evening we both will have satisfied an itch."

Bile coated my tongue, as the door clicked shut behind the physician.

My eyes met the feral green of Davos' and an ugly smirk graced his lips.

"Are you ready, Princess?" he mocked, emphasising the title the Gi had never acknowledged, even though it appeared they had that day in Auckland. I was not their long lost princess, and they'd known it.

What they hadn't known was what I actually was.

I had an awful feeling that despite what perverse and evil things Davos had in store for me this afternoon, I'd never be able to give them the answer they sought.

I sucked in ragged breath after ragged breath, as he stepped closer and closer to my bed. Just before he reached out a large hand to grasp me, I screamed.

It was the only weapon I had.

And it was never going to be enough.

Chapter Two

In My Dark, Dank Cell

"It's just you and me," Davos murmured in my ear, as he clasped a metal bracket around my wrist. "Cosy, eh?" he whispered, letting his sickeningly hot breath wash over my still healing cheek.

He bent and fastened two more chains to my ankles, the metal already digging into my flesh. I was strung up and defenceless. My arms pulled taut above my head, my back to a cold concrete wall, and my feet braced slightly wider than shoulder length apart. He adjusted the tension until there was absolutely no give at all. I couldn't even rattle the chains they were so tight.

I settled for a glare at my torturer, the only defiance I could spare.

He stepped back and held my gaze, a twist of his lips at one side letting me see his amusement at my ridiculous show of strength.

"With the good doctor gone, there's no one in this building to hear your screams," Davos pointed out, enjoying the reaction that must have shown on my face. "I don't have to consider word of our fun reaching the Rigas," he added, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied me.

His green tinged eyes coasted over my exposed frame. He hadn't stripped me, but the shirt I wore was so threadbare he'd see every outline, every dip and curve of my breasts. And the trousers, although still clinging doggedly to my hips, had been ripped early on in my captivity, until now they were more shorts than long pants. He made sure I could see his hunger with each bile inducing caress of his gaze. I was no longer certain if it was hunger for my pain or something else, though.

And that made the bile surge up my throat.

"Before we get started, I have obligations I must meet," he said, in a tone that suggested he'd rather bypass this part and head straight for the fun. "What are you?" he asked, the question that was repeated daily, several times a day, during my sessions with this man.

"I've already told you," I replied, swallowing down the acrid taste on my tongue and almost gagging. "I don't know."

"Not good enough," he shot back. "The Basilissa wants the truth."

The Basilissa was the Queen of the Gi. And I was sure these interrogations were carried out on her orders and not, in fact, the King's.

"I can't tell you what I don't know," I supplied, a truth I had repeated since the start.

"No?" Davos queried with an arched brow. "Then maybe I can force it out of you. Perhaps it is buried deep inside and you just require the right stimulant to extract the knowledge."

He smirked. It made me physically sick.

"I can be very stimulating," he pointed out with a sneer.

Vomit pooled in my mouth. I was tempted to spit it at him, but the consequences would be too painful, even if the disgust he'd surely show would offer a minute measure of satisfaction. I gagged as the acid burned my throat on the way back down.

Davos frowned. Then took a step closer, dismissing my unusual behaviour.

"Last chance," he whispered, just as his big frame stopped within half a foot of mine. "What are you? You are not one of us. You are not one of the Pyrkagia you love so much. Then, what. The. Fuck. Are. You?"

My mind scrambled to come up with an answer, any answer, it didn't have to be the truth, just something to stop what would happen next. To throw him off the scent and give me a chance to prepare for my painful death.

But nothing could prepare me, I was sure. And no miraculous answer sprang to mind to rescue me from my dire situation.

The only thing I could think to say was, "What do you believe me to be?"

"An imposter!" he shouted, spittle coating my face, as a fisted punch to my stomach accompanied the cry.

Air burst from my lungs and I couldn't suck it back in again. I curved, as much as my body allowed in its current chained state, in on myself, trying to protect my burning muscles. The vomit I'd swallowed earlier churned and clawed at my insides. I ached, but without air in my lungs I couldn't even scream through the pain. Just a grunt and tears streaming down my cheeks was the only outlet I had at my disposal.

"Can you breathe yet?" Davos asked conversationally. "Suck it in, Princess. This isn't even the end of round one."

Another punch to my stomach, which surprisingly, although still hurting like a bitch, didn't make my lungs scream for air anymore than they already were. I grunted, coughed, and watched horrified as blood splattered the front of Davos' shirt. That punch had done some serious damage.

My vision blurred, blackened, and by the time the world stopped dimming and the room again formed in front of my eyes, Davos had removed his top completely. And stood bare chested in front of me, arms crossed, angry glare on his face.

"That wasn't nice," he pointed out. "Do I get my blood on you?" he asked, bizarrely expecting an answer from me. "Well? Do I?"

"You don't bleed," I forced out between still gritted teeth. "Your heart is made of stone."

"That's it, Princess. Show me what made you so delicious, a Pyrkagia Prince forsook tradition and bedded what he thought was a Gi."

Theo. Pain, that outshone the agony still burning in my midsection, speared through my chest. In a knee-jerk reaction I reached for my Stoicheio, to soothe the ache or lash out at the cause of it, I don't know. But all that met me was empty space. A void so deep and dark it was fathomless.

Frustration flushed my body, made me stretch against the binds at my wrists and feet, and then scream in the face of my tormentor. Ear-splitting, heart-wrenching, from-the-deepest-part-of-my-soul type of scream.

My throat, already so hoarse from the bile and vomit earlier, was raw by the time I was through. I hung limply by the cuffs above and panted for much needed air, while tears rained down on the floor between my feet.

"Are you quite finished?" Davos asked, unimpressed with my little display.

I spat at him, wishing my saliva was still mixed with my blood. His hand rose slowly to wipe the spittle off his face and he growled, low and threateningly.

"That will cost you," he promised, reaching into his trouser pocket and pulling a device free.

He flicked his wrist and the small thin object doubled in size, then trebled, until it was long and whip-like. Which he then propelled through the air making a swishing sound vibrate around the room.

"I think you need a little softening before we get down to business," he announced, ominously. "Make sure you know your place."

He cracked the whip against the wall within inches of my right cheek, making me jerk and suck in a surprised breath of air. He laughed at my reaction, then did the same movement again on the other side. This time closer. I could feel the displacement of air as the whip passed within millimetres of my flesh.

"Imagine what this will feel like against your skin," he whispered, running the device through his fingers lovingly. "Imagine the marks it will leave. Some, unfortunately, may be permanent."

He waited for me to see the falsity of that statement. Athanatos could heal from an injury such as that. When he saw the question on my face he leaned forward, a hairbreadth away from my lips.

And whispered, "I'll infuse my Stoicheio into the tip, just as it enters your flesh. Channel essence to coat it in toxin. But I won't do it each time. You'll never know if the sting you feel leaves a permanent scar or not. You'll ask yourself, as the excruciating pain spreads out along nerve endings through your entire body, will I remember this when a lover strokes his hand down my spine?"

"Fuck you," I ground out. "You wouldn't know the touch of a willing lover, so try a different line, Gi. One I might just believe."

It was useless to be defiant, but even now, faced with the reality of a beating that could leave permanent marks, I couldn't go quietly into the night. Even without my Stoicheio to encourage and boost me, I still felt a demand from deep inside, telling me to never give up. To never give in.

It was futile, but I clung to those words, that whispered through my mind. I clung to them even knowing they were a fantasy.

His free hand wrapped around my throat and he pressed hard, making me gurgle and struggle for air. His lips crushed against my cheek, followed quickly by his tongue licking the salty taste of tears from my skin.

"I taste your fear, Princess. I smell your defeat. I can feel the thundering of your blood through your veins. I hear your pants for the last of your breaths. And I'll watch the light leave your eyes in the end."

He squeezed one more time, an unbelievably painful tightening around my throat, and then released me. I coughed and spluttered and attempted to draw in much needed air, unable to reach the bruises he'd formed on my neck and soothe them.

"One last time," he gritted out between a set jaw. "What are you?"

I shook my head, but my throat hurt too much to even answer. He knew what I'd say, I didn't need to cause myself more injury by voicing it.

Davos spat on the ground at my feet and then reached down and undid my ankle cuffs. He made quick work of those and with a snarled, "Don't try anything stupid, Princess. I'm just craving a chance to fuck you up more than necessary, right now," he undid the wrist cuffs and turned me around to face the wall.

If I'd thought I felt exposed when facing him and the room, it had nothing on the sensation of having him at my back. He ground my cheek into the concrete, re-bruising the recently healed flesh, and then re-established my binds, top and bottom. He then stood back and did nothing.

My face was turned sideways, so I could only see a partial glimpse of him watching me, watching his handiwork. Enjoying the moment before he stepped things up and let that whip fly. Several long drawn out seconds passed, no sound to indicate how much he was getting off on this, just the pressure of waiting, of knowing, what would come next.

Three months of captivity and it comes down to this.

I knew the moment the Gi Rigas had ordered Anaisthetikos back in Auckland, that things were not going to go as Theo and I had planned. In the space of seconds my world, already turned upside down, was simply blown apart. Although I didn't see him die until Davos started using Hederin on me, I watched Theo battle with the vine at his neck. I watched the blood drain from his handsome face and coat his collar. And I watched the love he felt for me blaze from his golden eyes as the terror of his plight took over.

I woke briefly to the sound of birds in the trees some time afterwards, the humid feeling of a jungle forest wrapping around my body, and from then only the dank enclosed space of my cell.

I saw the Rigas that first day in my barren room. He asked the question I have been asked every day since.

"What are you?"

Even then, having had my world destroyed, knowing that the Gi were not friendly, but enemies instead, I still didn't get it.

Three days of nothing. No food. No water. No Earth.

And then Davos, my Gi interrogator walked in. I got it then.

I was not a Gi Princess. I was never one of them.

The interrogations were interspersed with visits from the doctor, when Davos had really gotten out of hand. But no one else visited my prison.

And now this. The next stage of my captivity. The progression of my demise.

My shirt was brutally ripped off my shoulders, exposing my naked back. Davos' hand pressed firmly, purposely, against my spine, hot against shivering skin, making sure to grind my naked breasts against the rough concrete.

He gripped my upper arms, brought his face up to my ear and whispered, "Feel good?"

"Fuck off!" I snarled, attempting to throw my head back against his nose. He moved too swiftly for me to connect, but his laughter let me know he enjoyed my failure.

"For that, you'll get an extra dozen," he murmured, walking a short distance away and spreading his legs to steady his stance.

I closed my eyes, sucked in one last breath of air, and then held it. Waiting.

"Any last requests?" he taunted, dragging the moment out as long as he could. "No? Pity," he murmured. "Well, I have one anyway. Scream for me, Princess. Scream loud and long. I want to hear how much I hurt you. I want the sound of your agony ringing in my ears for days to come."

I bit my lip and swore to myself I wouldn't make a sound.

Miraculously I managed to keep my promise on the first stroke of the cane. The sting brought tears to my eyes, which spilled unrestrained onto my cheeks. My body jerked against the binds, the chains rattling only ever so slightly. My back bowed, scraping rough concrete over sensitive flesh.

I blinked back tears to see Davos had moved to stand before my face.

"So brave," he whispered. "It's a fucking turn on."

Then he was gone and the cane smacked into my flesh unmercifully, strike after strike after strike.

The sixth or seventh switch made me cry out a noise so pained it sounded animalistic.

"That's it," he encouraged, adding another slash across my skin. "Let me hear you, Princess. Fuck! Let the whole complex hear you scream."

The next strike was different. I knew intrinsically that he'd infused it with Gi. The sting was piercing, as though the cane had entered to bone, slashing through flesh and muscle, severing nerves and blood vessels, and embedding itself on my soul.

The scream that time was a wail of undignified defeat. I think I pleaded for him to stop. I think I told him I was an Alchemist spy. I may have promised to do anything for him. I don't know. It's a moment I would rather not remember. But I knew I'd never forget. Because whatever essence he channelled, while making that last swipe of the whip across my back, would ensure the permanent reminder was there. A scar that told the world I'd been whipped, beaten. Brought down to this.

A snivelling, grovelling mess of whimpering flesh hanging from chains on the wall in a concrete cell.

There was no coming back from this. He'd won. Davos, the evil, bastard interrogator, had won. I couldn't give him the answer he sought, but I now knew my place.

"You're mine," he murmured in my ear, his chest pressing hard against the slashes across my back, making me whimper.

I felt his hand stroke down my side, then slip between the wall and my stomach to haul me back from the concrete. He pressed himself into my behind, leaving no doubt in my mind where this was going. Then ran his calloused palm up my stomach, over scratches and aching bruises that were in various stages of healing. Until he could cup a naked breast and squeeze hard.

Another whimper followed, this time by a mewl of distress mixed with a feeble cry of defeat.

"Whose are you?" he asked, his free hand coming down to the waistband of my cut-off trousers and panties.

He started tugging them lower.

I closed my eyes and closed my heart. Cutting myself off the only way I knew how. Letting my body become numb.

"Whose are you?" he repeated, his hand moving from the band of my trousers to cup my butt cheek instead.

I sucked in air, felt a solitary tear trickle down my cheek and whispered, "Theo's."

Davos stilled, clearly unsure of what he'd heard. Maybe considering that I was an absolute glutton for punishment to defy him.

Then he withdrew his hand from my pants and punched me in the kidneys. Hard.

Pain lanced up my back and brought sick to my mouth. I spat the vomit out immediately, panting for breath and unable to see through the wash of tears in my eyes. I tasted blood.

"I'm going to make this hurt now," Davos promised, and all I could muster was a half-hearted laugh.

Hurt? More than my body ached now? More than my heart ached? Impossible.

He growled, pulled back to undress I think, and then all I heard was a grunt, an explosion of surprised air, and the heavy weight of his body as it collided with the back of mine.

I screamed. A door slammed shut. And Davos collapsed down the length of me to land on the floor. From my head turned position I saw the beginnings of a spreading pool of blood.

"Shhh," a voice said behind me, as hands grasped the clasps at my wrists and started to undo them. "You'll bring in the Guard."

My ankles were freed next and then I was falling into the open arms of the doctor, his eyes blazing green as he looked at my tear stained face, and then glanced down at a clearly out of it Davos.

"I have to decapitate him, Casey," the doctor said, as though apologising for what he was about to do.

I nodded, stunned at the turn of events. Stunned at the doctor calling me by my name. Stunned I wasn't being violated against the wall by an evil piece of shit right now.

He helped me to the bed, wrapping a sheet around my torso and then pulled a sharp serrated knife from his belt.

I made myself watch. Davos deserved to die a thousand deaths. I would be sure to witness this one.

It was over before I'd settled my heart or regained my breath, and then it was just me and the Gi doctor, staring at each other in my dark, dank cell.

Chapter Three

And The Root Incinerated Before Our Eyes

For several moments neither of us spoke. My body was battered and bruised, scraped and pummelled. I ached inside and out. My mouth tasted bitter, the after effects of too many mouthfuls of vomit. My head spun with multiple images of Davos. His words taunting me even after he was gone from this world.

My eyes swept across the silent room to land on his crumpled form. His head had rolled several feet away and lay on its side beneath the sink in the corner. A pattern of blood was left in a trail from where it landed back to his body. The metallic taint of blood scented the air.

I'd always associate evil with that smell from now on.

I flicked my gaze back to the doctor, who hadn't moved from his spot standing over Davos' headless corpse. He looked wary and a little uncertain.

I sucked in a deep breath and made myself talk.

"What happens now?"

The Guard would surely come and investigate when Davos didn't return to his quarters later tonight. Who would the Basilissa send to interrogate me next? What would happen to the doctor, the only Gi to have shown me mercy since I arrived?

The doctor let out a slow breath of air and then ran a bloodied hand through his long hair. He looked relieved that I hadn't fallen completely to pieces. Or relieved that I wasn't trying to attack him.

"We need to leave," he murmured eventually. I frowned in confusion. "Unfortunately I couldn't get in touch with my contact in Manaus, and things had progressed in here that moving the plan forward was the only option. But," he shrugged his shoulders almost apologetically, "because of the sudden turn of events we're basically on our own."

"Who are you?" I asked, tilting my head to study the Gi before me better.

He shook his head. "We don't have time for explanations, Casey. Davos is not known for skipping dinner. He will be missed."

He walked to the door and carefully opened it a fraction, listened and then peered out into a slightly brighter lit hallway. Turning back to face me, his eyes scanned the sheet and then flicked to where Davos had discarded my torn shirt. I had still been dressed in the clothes Aktor, Theo's butler, had given me in Auckland. I didn't have anything else to wear.

"Can you make that sheet work?" he asked, making a huff of air slip out between my lips.

If this was a rescue mission, and I was beginning to think that just maybe it was, the doctor hadn't come prepared. I guess that explained his we're on our own statement. Things hadn't gone the way the doctor had planned.

Three months I'd been here. Three months I'd been tormented and tortured. I wasn't going to waste a second on worrying over my state of dress. If this was my only chance to escape, I was freaking going to take it.

I stood up, my legs shaking only slightly as adrenaline flooded my system, and ripped the sheet in half. My aches flared to life on the simple, but strenuous, movement. The doctor realised what I was doing and came over immediately to offer his superior strength. The ripping sound echoed in the room, but before long I had a more appropriate sized piece of material to wrap around my frame like a halter-top. I tied two corners of the sheet at the centre of my spine above my hips, and the remaining two behind my neck.

Runway chic I was not.

But the doctor nodded his approval and headed back to the still opened door. I stumbled after him, a dizziness setting in that I stubbornly ignored. I'd have time later - hopefully - to wallow in self pity, now I needed to focus, or I would die.

"Where are the Guard?" I asked, as we stepped out into the desolate hallway, the temperature rising slightly from the cool, dampness that invaded my cell.

"Three floors up," the doctor replied, leading the way down the hall. "None of them want to be near Davos when he works."

"Not so stupid then," I murmured to his back.

He glanced over his shoulder and offered me an encouraging smile, his hand resting on a door at the end of the corridor. He'd never smiled in my presence before. It transformed his appearance to something quite human. Normal even.

For a moment I just stared back, and then he said, "Ready?"

I made myself nod, even though my mind was screaming, No!

The door opened and a wash of humid heat met us, almost making me collapse back on the ground in a crumpled heap. I'd vaguely been aware that Brazil had a hot climate, but obviously my cell was below ground and shielded from the heat. I felt it now, but as we climbed the stairs, one tread after another after another, I realised it was getting worse. Hotter. Heavier. Sapping what little energy I had left and making me sweat within seconds of feeling that moist, roasting air.

By the time we'd made it up three flights of stairs I was panting for breath, dripping in perspiration and feeling nauseous. My hand reached out and pressed against the wall at my side for support, as I bent over at the waist and tried to suck in more air. My ribs and back still hurt. My throat felt raw. And the air, although a pleasant wetness to it, felt suffocating due to its soaring temperature.

"Take it easy," the doctor said beside me. "Rest for a minute then we have to move."

I nodded and just continued to suck in what I could of the humid air.

I'm guessing exactly a minute later the doctor cleared his throat, placed a hand on my shoulder and then with a hard look on his face opened the door.

Birdsong was the first thing I registered. The sharp caw of a parrot, but there was more than one. And somehow they overlapped to make a beautiful symphony out of what should have been an unmusical sound. I grinned; the feeling of my lips tipping up was foreign. How long had it been since I last smiled?

"Fifty meters to the perimeter fence," the doctor was saying. "Guards on two lookout posts one hundred meters either side of us, with clear line of sight to this door."

We hadn't stepped outside yet, and I could see that the front of this building looked like a bunker, the door slightly recessed under concrete eaves. I was guessing the entire building was underground, with only this small portion, the top tier, above soil.

The irony of being buried in the Earth for three months, and still not have been able to commune with it, was not lost on me.

"Concrete pathways surround the building for ten meters on all sides," he added, the significance of the statement lost on me for a moment. His eyes searched my face. "I can't get you to the Earth until we pass the buffer, until then you will be vulnerable and weak. But if we can make it that far undetected, then you can call on your Stoicheio and use the Earth to shield us from view."

I blinked. Several concerns warring for attention inside my head. In fact, too many to separate them initially. I tried, but it was useless. As the doctor said, without my Stoicheio I was vulnerable, below par. I couldn't even work through what set my nerves on edge from what he had just said.

"We'll duck along the building's outer wall for ten meters to where the shortest route to the trees is," the doctor suggested. "If we can hide ourself in the shadows 'til then, and make a dash for it when the Guards are looking away, we might just make it."

I nodded. We had no other choice.

"Ready?" he asked again. I wasn't, but my head just kept on nodding.

He sucked in a deep breath of air, his eyes scanning the visible space before the doorway, then lifted his hand up, in a palm up motion, to make me stay still while he took a small step away from the threshold. He took a quick glance towards the left, upward - making me believe he was looking at the Guard post, probably a tower - and then again to the right. Then stepped back into the relative safety of our hidden doorway.

"Now," he whispered, without further delay.

Grabbing my hand he pulled me left out of the overhang area, sliding our bodies along the wall as though attempting to make us small enough to blend in with the concrete. The bright light of sunshine blinded my eyes, wiping all possibility of vision. It had been months since I'd seen the sun, since I'd been doused in natural sunlight. I stumbled, clasping the doctor's hand tightly in mine, while I blindly followed in his footsteps.

Despite not being able to see, the world seemed to be spinning around me, making me dizzier by the second, and making my sense of balance disappear. I fell forward, thankfully into the doctor and not out from the wall where I could be seen, and gripped his arm for stability. The Macaws kept singing, if you could call their screeching a song. But other noises invaded my ears, melding the birdsong with the click of a beetle, the chirp of a grasshopper, the buzz of a wasp, and the scratch of little, tiny feet in soil.

I let go of the doctor and covered my ears. I hadn't realised how silent my cell had been, but with the reintroduction of nature's sounds I was losing grip on reality.

"Breathe," the doctor encouraged, as his hand came up to cup my own over my ears. "In through your nose," he added. "Scent the Earth, Casey. Centre yourself."

I shook my head, the noise climbing to a cacophony of sharp edged sounds. A whimper escaped my lips, followed by an indrawn breath through my nose to compensate.

Oh sweet Lord in heaven. The pungent odour of rotting leaves. The sweet scent of an orchid. The fresh smell of rain dampened air. I sucked in breath after breath and felt the world settle; the sounds of the rainforest changed from a drumbeat to a background soothing hum.

I opened my eyes and stared into the dark blue of the doctor's. Concern coated his fine features, a crease of a frown marring his perfect face. Athanatos were truly beautiful beings.

"Better?" he asked, and I offered my rapidly becoming signature nod. "Good," he said simply, clasped my hand in his again and moved us further along the wall.

The sun was high, but its position was in our favour. A shadow existed along this stretch, that despite me wearing what was once a white sheet and white shortie trousers, managed to hide us enough to reach the designated spot the doctor had chosen. I looked out across a small expanse of concrete to a large Kapok Tree, its seed pods already bursting open with fibrous cotton.

It was tall and the trunk massive, the wide spread boughs offering shade, but little protection from the Guards in the towers either side. However, the exposed roots, reminding me of a Moreton Bay Fig Tree, were almost high enough to hide an upright adult in between. Our first task would be to reach one of those alcoves created by the roots and hunker down.

If I approached this one step at a time it might just be achievable. Thought of what would follow was too debilitating.

"Ready?" I said to the doctor, making his face jerk towards me. Yeah, I wanted out of here. There was no stopping me now.

He nodded, a small amused - or impressed - smile gracing his lips. We both checked the Guards, waited several torturous moments while they looked away simultaneously... and then ran.

I expected shouts of alarm to sound out immediately. Maybe even the sharp retort of a gun. What I had forgotten was, that I was inside a Gi compound. And while my feet still touched concrete, those guarding the area had access to the Earth.

A sense of burgeoning Stoicheio was the only warning we got, before we were both thrown sideways by roots projecting from the edge of the concrete, like some supernatural-nature security alarm system triggered to attack. I had nothing to defend with. No power, no Element. Just my forearm raised to protect my neck. I lost sight of the doctor and went flying several meters across the concrete, feeling a vine wrap around my ankle and start to haul me across the rough surface towards what was definitely going to be a trap.

But they'd forgotten something too. Three months of being separated from the Earth, only tasting it through the sadistic power of my interrogator, had made my body crave contact. My soul cried out for communion. The moment the vine touched my flesh my Stoicheio flared to life.

I was no longer defenceless, but a little power drunk.

I moaned with abandon, rolled over the concrete neglectful of the rough surface scraping my skin, and forced the vine to break flesh, to sever a vein and touch my blood.

Tingling rippled through my body, as finally shouts of alarm sprang up from either tower and more Stoicheio filled the air. But it was too little, too late. The Earth had been denied my touch, my blood, for three months also, and it sang with joy at the first crimson drop.

You are here, it whispered on the wind, in my mind. We missed you, it complained, and sighed out in bliss as more of my blood flooded down the vine until it reached soil. Run, it commanded, a sense of urgency replacing the euphoria. She knows you escape, it added, sending a wash of chills down my spine.

I sprang to my feet, the vine already releasing my ankle, scanned the ground for the doctor, but couldn't spot him, and so, with one regretful breath in, I bolted for the fence behind the Kapok.

The Guards commanded the Earth to attack, but with a swipe of my arm before me, those vines and roots it sent my way fell uselessly to the ground. My bare foot touched down on grass, dirt sifting between my toes.

The Earth cried its happiness.

The Kapok Tree started to groan, its boughs swaying in the still, thick air, the leaves rattling and the cotton from the seeds flying free. White fluffy clouds rained down, creating a fibrous haze of cotton-candy-like feathers wafting in the non-existent breeze. I soon became engulfed in it, but somehow not suffocated.

The Earth was shielding me from sight, giving me a fighting chance to escape unseen. Oh, the Gi Guards knew I was there. The Basilissa, according to the Earth, also knew I was here running for my freedom, for my life. But none of them could actually see me. I was coated in, surrounded by, Kapok cotton balls of fluff.

The fence loomed before me and I ordered a vine to rise from the soil at my feet and pierce my wrist. Blood dripped down my fingers, splashing in the dirt and being absorbed by the Earth.

Make a gap, please, I asked it, my breath coming in ragged pants as the delay in escape made my blood pressure rise.

A massive branch from the Kapok slammed down over my head, crushing the chain-link and creating a path over its fallen limb. I clambered across tattered leaves and scraped bark until I made it through the opening and only the dense forest met my eyes.

I turned back slowly and took in the wall of cotton fluff that hung suspended unnaturally in the air between where I stood and the bunker I'd been imprisoned in for three months.

Hurry, the Earth urged. She comes, it added. We cannot hold her off like the Guard, it whispered ominously in my mind. She is too strong.

I nodded, wished the doctor was still with me, and then ran.

The forest opened up before me, a beckoning treasure trove of scents. Branches parted, providing a makeshift path, leading me further and further away from the chaotic shouts and commands of the Gi. I ran until my lungs were fit to burst. Until my legs ached and a trembling had started up in my frame. Until I had to stop and vomit surged up my mouth.

It had been hours since I'd eaten my meagre meal of bread and cheese, but within seconds my stomach was emptied. Sweat coated my brow and I wiped it frantically, feeling the stinging bite of salty water in my eyes. I blinked, sucked in heavy, hot air, and tried to catch my breath.

The dizziness was back. The trees moving in a warped fashion that had nothing to do with my Stoicheio and everything to do with the fact I was about to pass out. I staggered, laid a supporting hand against the rough bark of a nearby tree and felt my fingers dig into the trunk seeking relief, seeking a solution to my compromised and extremely dangerous situation.

Help me, please, I pleaded with the Earth, knowing that any moment now it wouldn't - couldn't - follow my commands. Once the Basilissa was close enough she'd take control and my weakened Stoicheio would be no match.

Take me deep, I pleaded, thinking a cell within the Earth was surely better than a cell surrounded by concrete.

No, the Earth replied, confirming my worst fears. Someone approaches, it added.

Those final words rang out inside my mind, stealing all my recently returned confidence, sealing my fate. I sunk to my knees in amongst fallen leaves, feeling the coolness of the rotting vegetation seep into my clothes, as the scents tried to ground me.

I sucked in a shattered breath of air. Three months imprisoned. What felt like only three minutes free and in touch with my Stoicheio. And now I would have to return.

A frustrated, defeated sound escaped my lips as my fingers dug into soil. Grounded. Surrounded. For this brief moment in time, safe.

The branches of the thick foliage before me quivered, shook and made a tinkling sound similar to those I'd made the Rimu Trees at home bordering my drive achieve... and then they parted.

I closed my eyes, prolonging the moment of capture, for what it was worth, and heard the footfalls of my captor approach.

One last blast of Stoicheio. One last reminder that I am like them.

I opened my eyes as the command formed in my thoughts, and watched as a root emerged through the leaves and soil three feet in front of my face and sprang directly at the doctor's neck.

Aktor had told me to always aim to kill. "Aim for the neck, Cassandra. Sever the head before they sever yours. Do you understand?"

I screamed at the horror of my mistake, as the doctor yelped, and then raised both hands to protect his vulnerable throat.

Too little, I thought.

But then his eyes, which were usually dark blue like mine, and flashed green when he called on his Stoicheio, flashed... gold.

Pyrkagia gold.

And the root incinerated before our eyes.

What... the freaking hell... was that?

Chapter Four

It Was The Flaming Rose Dream That Woke Me

"You're...you're Pyrkagia," I stammered, unable to get my head around what I had just seen.

"What?" the doctor replied, stunned. Whether it was stunned at my question, or still stunned from being attacked by a root because of me, I'm not sure. But he was stunned.

"Um," I murmured, suddenly doubting what I had seen. Then my eyes landed on the charred remains of the root. I pointed a shaky finger toward the evidence. "Pyrkagia," I said simply, then flicked my eyes to his.

He stared down at the root for several moments and then smiled. It was an amused smile.

"Oh," he offered and pulled a lighter from his trouser pocket, flicking the flint-wheel ignition and making a burst of tall, robust flames flow from the top. More powerful than normal lighters.

"Oh," I replied, noting the disappointment in my tone. For a brief moment he'd been a connection to Theo.

A heart-aching blink of my eyes and I pushed forward, dusting my hands down my pants and stumbling to my feet. Remnants of the dizziness determinedly clinging to my mind.

"We need to keep moving," I suggested, suddenly wanting to put as much space between me and the Gi stronghold as we could.

"Definitely," the doctor agreed. "Are you able to run?"

I wanted to laugh, but I lacked the energy.

"Maybe walk, I'm not so sure of running."

"Have you fed?" he asked, cocking his head to the side to study me, as though he'd see evidence of the fuelling of my Stoicheio on my face, or in my frame.

"A little, but time's not on our side. It'll have to be enough."

He nodded and then replaced his lighter with a compass from his pocket. He check the direction and then nodded off to the left, indicating the path we needed to take.

I was too tired to argue or question his plan. He obviously had one, and right now I was not in a position to complain. Without him here I'd have to rely on the Earth to guide me, and although that was a pretty solid plan, it also had a major downfall. If the Queen's Guard, or the Basilissa herself, got too close, the Earth could be compromised.

I hated doubting my Stoicheio, but for now I had no choice. I was still in enemy territory. I needed the hell out.

So, that left me with the doctor, whose name I didn't even know.

We'd been hiking several minutes by the time that realisation hit. Taking a short pause under the canopy of a Seringueria - or rubber - Tree, I turned to my unexpected ally and asked, "So what's up, Doc? Got a name?"

He laughed, a deep chuckle, and swung to face me. "Noah," he said, surprising me with its un-Greek like sound.

"Noah?" I queried. "That's..."

"Not Greek," he supplied.

"Yeah."

A shrug of his shoulders. "Just because the Athanatos are centuries old, does not mean we must all conform to time's traditions." Now that sounded more like an elitist immortal.

"OK," I said with a small smile.

His eyes studied me closely for several long, and rapidly becoming uncomfortable, seconds. I shuffled my feet under his intense stare.

Finally he gathered himself enough to murmur, "It's still another two hour trek from here, so let's get to it."

Two hours. I wasn't entirely sure I could do two hours.

One hour in and my clothes were soaked with sweat and moisture from the humid air. My lungs were straining for breath, my heart was beating a cardiovascular workout fit for an aerobics instructor, and my feet had actually become numb.

I wondered if I could get gangrene after so short an amount of time barefoot in a jungle. I dreaded to think of what diseases and infections I was subjecting myself to. But the Earth seemed to make each footfall gentle and soft, protecting the tender flesh of my soles. Even though I couldn't trust its direction and compliance when still so close to Gi land, I could trust it to show care. The Earth was rejoicing in my return.

I should have been too. But so much had happened to weaken my resolve. I gained what sustenance I could from Earth's delicate touch, but my mind was replaying my captivity relentlessly, like a horror movie that just wouldn't stop.

Davos was dead, but I couldn't take solace in that fact. He got what he deserved, but I knew there were a hundred more Davoses out there, ready to step into his evil shoes. I'd never met the Basilissa, but Davos had mentioned her once or twice. From what he'd said, I'd gathered he answered to her and her alone. And if it was her instruction that led to my captivity and torture, then meeting the Queen was the last thing I wanted to do.

And yet I couldn't help thinking she was hot on our tails, breathing down our necks. About to burst out of the foliage, scattering small creatures in her path, and blazing green from her eyes as she brought me to my knees. She was a shadow, a threat, that wouldn't go away.

So, I kept putting one foot in front of the other, accepted what the Earth offered in support, and followed behind Noah the Doctor with ever increasing drooping lids.

The sun set at some point, turning the forest into a foreboding and darkened place. Noah became a little edgy, but even without light to mark our paths, I felt at ease. My natural affinity to Earth, and all its abundant plant and animal life, setting my nerves to rest. Strangely Noah didn't share that same affinity. I wondered if he was a weaker Gi. Theo had said I was exceptionally gifted. Something like the direct descendant of an elder. Noah was probably nowhere near as old as Theo; probably only a fifth, sixth or further generation of Athanatos.

By the time we'd come to a vine covered opening, in what appeared a rock face surrounded by tree life - something that simply appeared out of nowhere before my eyes - I had stopped thinking and was only operating on automatic; one step in front of the other. I was exhausted. Battered and bruised still. My body succumbing to fatigue, my mind already lost some time ago.

"Here," Noah said, lifting the branches of the vines and ushering me inside. "This is far enough away from the compound for us to be safe. It's also shielded against Gi detection. Make yourself comfortable while I gather some food." His eyes flicked over my weary body. "I suggest you feed your Stoicheio," he offered.

"What about yours?" I mumbled, as I shuffled past.

"Mine's fine," he said dismissively, and then let the vines fall once I'd crossed the threshold.

Inside was damp and musty, a sweet cloying smell that I associate with vegetation mixed with the clean scent of spring water. I heard the trickle of a stream come from the back of the cave, and watched, mesmerised, as the light from fluorescent algae along the back wall, above the running water, gradually brightened.

I sank to my knees gratefully on the edge of the stream and dipped my hands into the clear liquid, splashing my heated face and then drinking cupped palmfuls to slate my thirst. I felt a million times better immediately. So didn't waste any time using the water to wash the dirt from my hands and feet, and with a quick look over my shoulder to determine Noah was not yet back, proceeded to give myself an impromptu bath.

I'd had to hand wash myself for the past three months, never knowing if Davos would storm into the room while I performed my ablutions. I'd gotten very good at carrying out my daily hygiene routine in the thick of the night. Davos tended to leave me alone during the darker hours. He was a creature of habit, which thankfully worked to my advantage until today. Where he took things one step further.

After completing my task and feeling infinitely better for it, I moved my aching body across the dirt and leaf strewn floor to rest again a wall of the cave. The moment my back came in contact with what I had assumed was rock face, I realised I'd misjudged our shelter. It wasn't a cave, but a hollow. Inside an enormous tree. The algae was lichen on the bark of the massive and intricate internal trunk and root system. The stream somehow existing beneath the plant and not hindering its structure with rot. I guessed the types of trees that existed in a rainforest were more adaptable to wet environments, but on closer inspection the roots had managed to grow around and above the trickle of water, drawing hydration when needed, but avoiding any adverse effects by its proximity.

Nature, or the Earth, is a very clever thing.

I settled into my spot, feeling the tree accommodate my position, softening its trunk to cup my back and provide a snug seat to rest in. I sighed, closed my eyes and finally succumbed to the doctor's suggestion. Stoicheio rushed through me as the Earth hummed in contentment, surrounding me with comfort and sustenance, fuelling my starved soul, attempting to repair the hideous damage my isolation had created.

I was sure it would take multiple feedings to bring myself back to anywhere near normal Gi capacity, but I took what I could and the Earth gave me what it could spare. By the time the doctor returned, I was almost asleep, weary beyond compare.

Big meals can do that to you, but the part of me that is human also needed to feed.

Noah pushed through the vines at the entranceway and glanced in my direction, a large fish hanging from the fingers of one hand. You'd think being in tune with the Earth, its plants and animals, I would baulk at eating its bounty. But I was hungry and I was not born Gi, so although the fish was still whole, its bulging dead eye staring back at me, my mouth watered and my stomach growled.

The doctor chuckled at the sound. "Arapaima," he said holding up the fish. "The most popular food fish in the Amazon. I'll start a fire and we'll eat well tonight."

I didn't offer to help prepare the fish, my body was beyond movement and thankfully the doctor could tell. Twenty minutes later a small fire had been set beneath a gap in the tree above us, to allow the smoke to escape, and Noah was gutting and cleaning the fish. The smell of cooking meat filled the hollow not long after, and for the first time since our drastic escape I began to feel my body truly relax.

Still, I had to ask, "Are we really safe here?"

Noah sat across the space, leaning against the tree's trunk, turning the fish over the fire on a long twig. I noticed the tree hadn't adjusted itself to make his back snug. Maybe I'd subconsciously used Stoicheio to achieve it, and the doctor didn't feel the need. In any case, he shifted several times trying to get comfortable before he answered my question.

"I scouted this hollow several months ago, before you arrived. I always thought it would be a good place to go if war broke out, so I reinforced it with some shields and have kept an eye on it since. No Gi has ever come close. I believe we're safe."

I supposed the war he talked about was between the Elementals, something similar to what had happened in Auckland when the Gi came to take me. It could easily happen here too, from what I understood of the dysfunctional relations between Athanatos. But being here now made me realise, if the doctor was aiding me, maybe I could finally get some questions answered.

But first, the most important.

"Why are you helping me?"

He turned the fish over twice before answering.

"The Basilissa believes you to be the answer to their plight."

"They have a plight?" I asked, when he seemed to stall.

"Of course. Deforestation of the Amazon is something we all should be concerned with."

"And how does she believe I can help them with that?" I could see no correlation between myself and the drastically reducing size of the world's largest rainforest.

"You have to understand the effects of deforestation on a group of people in tune with the Earth."

My stomach roiled nauseatingly at that thought. How close to the forest the Gi were, both physically and elementally. Could they feel the Earth's cries of pain when swathes of the forest were culled? Did it make them as sick as the thought alone was making me?

"You understand," Noah murmured, bringing the fish out of the fire and beginning to break off the cooked flesh for us to eat. "Deforestation has been going on since the Gi moved here from Greece in the 16th Century," he added, while he distributed the pieces of food onto two large sized leaves. "In the past forty or so years it has increased exponentially. To the point where hundreds of thousands of square kilometres have been destroyed. The effect on the Gi has been devastating."

I suddenly didn't feel hungry for the fish.

"They first noticed that their Stoicheio was not as efficient as it had been before," he continued to say, while he handed me my 'plate' of dinner. I picked at the fish, its smell succulent and flavourful, but nausea making it impossible to eat. "Then they realised their connection to Earth was spasmodic. At times it would refuse commands from the strongest of the Gi."

"The Rigas?" I asked, managing to swallow a piece of fish out of necessity. We'd have to move on tomorrow, I needed all the strength I could get.

"Yes, and the Basilissa. Both have had their command of the Earth tested over the past few decades."

"I hadn't noticed," I murmured, remembering how powerful the Rigas had appeared in Auckland. How inconsequential I felt when he overrode my commands to the Earth and listened in on my conversation with it too. He'd seemed omnipotent.

"Yes, even so, they mask it well." Noah ate a few mouthfuls of fish before going on. "But the real problem began thirty years ago. They stopped procreating."

A chill of foreboding washed down my spine.

"What?" I whispered. "None of you have had children in all that time?"

"Not one," the doctor confirmed.

Oh freaking hell, it was all starting to make morbid sense.

"So," he said, finishing off his meal and wiping his hands on his trouser legs. "You can see the Gi's interest in you, when they found out a young female Gi had been discovered in New Zealand, consorting with Pyrkagia. The idea that one of their own had produced a child and handed that child over to an enemy, destroying a chance to further Gi, cut deep."

In times past the Ekmetalleftis had married between branches. Gi and Pyrkagia couplings were not unusual. If they produced offspring, the child would follow the father's Stoicheio, becoming his branch of Elemental. But when the branches broke apart, interracial - for want of a better word - marriages were banned. That's why Theo and I were considered enemies.

And that's why the Gi would believe their chances to further their race were lost, because Theo and I would always have Pyrkagia children. Not Gi.

I pushed the last of my meal away and stared at the doctor across the dimly lit space. He was watching me closely again, like he'd done back at the compound. I'm not sure what he was looking for, I couldn't see past the blank, neutral look on his immortal face.

"So," I said, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling I had when he stared at me like that. "If they thought I was a Gi child, why have they treated me so poorly?"

"There is a finite number of Gi left in the world," he explained. "It didn't take long, after word of your existence reached the Gi, to determine that none claimed parenting a child in the last three decades. And once they brought you here, blood tests revealed the rest. You are not Gi even though you appear to be."

I wrapped my arms around my torso feeling violated all over again. I'd been out of it on several occasions since arriving, courtesy of Anaisthetikos. Blood could have been taken at any of those times. Hell, almost anything could have been done to me when my sentience was stolen.

The fish decided it wanted to come back up. I gagged through the onslaught of bile in my mouth and crawled over to the stream to wash the taste of it away. It couldn't wash any of what I felt away though. I'd always fear what they'd done when they'd channelled that particular essence.

The doctor watched on impassively while I got myself under control. Finally when I sat back in my position against the tree trunk I forced myself to ask, what I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

"What else did you do to me when I was out?"

A reaction then. Shock. He frowned at me and said, "Just your blood. I just took your blood for the scientists to test. That's all."

Relief was a cool balm after such horrific possibilities.

Several long moments later it was me who broke the awkward silence.

"So, how exactly does the Basilissa plan to use me?"

Noah looked uncomfortable then. "The scientists are looking into your DNA hoping to find a cure for the Gi's fertility problems."

That didn't sound so bad, but the doctor wasn't finished.

"However," I sucked in a shallow breath to prepare, "it was on the Queen's instructions that Davos take the interrogation to the next level. She ultimately hopes your DNA is the solution, but she is not opposed to creating more Gi the traditional way."

My mouth fell open with that abhorrent news.

"She wants to use me as a breeding cow?"

"In a manner of speaking," Noah confirmed, looking uncomfortable again. "It also provided a good incentive for you to divulge what you are."

"But I don't know," I argued, meekly. I was still too horrified to be forceful.

"She doesn't believe that. And Davos was keen to use whatever method necessary to be sure you were telling the truth. When you fought back this afternoon, he approached the Queen to seek permission. He was following orders when he tied you to that wall."

I put my head in my hands and tried to breathe through the enormity of what the doctor had divulged. If I was caught again by the Gi someone else would take Davos' place, tying me to that wall and forcing me to produce a Gi 'the traditional way.' Knowing what lay in store for me if I was caught was almost too much to bear.

For a moment I had absolutely no idea what to do to get myself out of this predicament. Suddenly my escape seemed tenuous at best, and just a false hope in reality. Sooner or later they would catch me. And with one of their own 'helping' me, how long would it really take?

I lifted my head and looked at the doctor. Why had he aided in my escape?

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, a semi-repeated of my question before, but now the answer was so much more important.

"I'm a doctor, Casey," he said, voice level, face softening slightly. "I took an oath to do no harm. Testing your DNA did not encroach on that oath, but what Davos and the Basilissa planned, most certainly did. I could not stand by as instructed and watch. I had to pick a side. I picked yours."

Could I believe him? Did I have much of a choice? He had just turned his back on his kind to assist my escape. He risked his life, his immortal life, to aid me.

Because I would be harmed if the Queen of the Gi had her way.

"Why don't you get some sleep," Noah suggested quietly. "You look beyond exhausted, and for us to make it to Manaus and my contact on foot, it will take several more days trekking through the forest."

I sighed, felt my body give up all fight, and nodded my agreement silently. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep, curled up on my side, the tree cocooning me with its curving trunk, cupping roots beneath, and the gentle fall of leaves to cover me.

It was the flaming rose dream that woke me. But it was Noah's whispered words that froze me to the spot. I pretended to still be sleeping, my eyes opened only a sliver, my mind though on full alert.

Noah was leaning over the fire carrying out a conversation with another man. Just like Theo did. Just like Pyrkagia do. Conversing through flames.

The doctor was not a Gi. How the freaking hell had he covered that?

Chapter Five

This Was Going To Take A Shit-Load Of Luck And Superb Timing

"I have the girl," Noah whispered into the flames of the open fire.

Smoke swirled in a dizzying pattern on its slow climb to the hole in the roof of our hollow. It hid me from his sight. I made sure he couldn't hear a change in my breathing as well. I needed to know what I was up against, before I took flight.

But oh Lord, keeping my heartbeat steady was impossible and I was too scared to call on the Earth to help, out of fear the doctor could tell.

"This is a severe breach of protocol, Noah," the disembodied voice replied from the flames. It sounded slightly distorted, not helped by the crackle of wood as it burned.

"I understand, but I couldn't allow her to be used in such a way. She is ours to protect."

I struggled to comprehend meaning from his words, but it was useless.

"Her creation was allowed under strict guidelines," the voice answered and my heart leapt into my throat threatening to make me gasp and choke.

I was created?

By who?

For what?

"You have effectively ruined decades of work," the voice continued, and despite Noah's duplicity, I mentally urged him to defend himself. "It will take us that long to get another agent into Gi land. This cannot be forgiven."

"What is the point of her creation if she is harmed beyond repair?" Noah finally hissed back.

"She is strong enough to cope and the bigger picture is all that counts."

Silence as both men fumed mutely. The flames continued to crackle, and I'm unsure how I knew, but the other man was still there. Waiting for Noah's next admission.

"What's done is done," Noah finally murmured. "Will you arrange an airlift out of Manaus?"

"How long until you get her there?" the voice asked.

"She's weak," Noah offered. "It'll take us two, maybe three, days."

"I'll have tickets and documents waiting at the usual place."

"Thank you," Noah said, but the man talked over him.

"And prepare to answer some very demanding questions on your return to CERN."

What? What was Surn?

"Understood," Noah replied, shuffling in his crouch, as though uncomfortable with his reprimand.

"May gold and silver line your pockets," the voice said.

"May your life be blessed with longevity," Noah murmured.

"May Fire flow through your veins, and Air sustain your lungs."

"May Water provide sustenance, and Earth ground your soul."

Then both together they intoned, "And may Quintessence bind them all in harmony one day."

I expected to hear an Amen after that, but the fire continued to crackle, a slightly different pitch that let me know the man had departed and the conversation was over. Noah sat back on his heels and let out a long quiet breath of air.

I couldn't decide whether to continue to pretend I was asleep and escape sometime on our trek tomorrow. Or whether I should just confront him, knowing the tree we sat in was completely mine to command, despite Noah having found and shielded this place. It spoke to me. It moved for me. Since we both arrived, it had done nothing for Noah.

In the end the decision was taken out of my hands, as Noah sat his back against the far wall and said, "I know you're awake, Casey. I know you heard most of that."

He didn't sound angry. He actually sounded relieved.

I slowly sat up and and copied his stance, back to the wall, the only escape halfway between us through the vine covered entrance. My eyes flicked there briefly, but Noah only smiled. It didn't reach his eyes; he looked tired.

"You have questions?" he suggested.

"Why don't you just tell me everything," I answered, heart in my throat, breathing a little too rapid.

Who could I trust? Not the Gi. And now I wasn't even sure what Noah was. How could I trust him either?

"OK," he said, running a hand through his hair and looking ten years younger. He'd always appeared around thirty-five, fit and healthy, but due to my assumption that he was an Athanatos I couldn't be sure of his exact age.

I still didn't have an answer. But I was about to.

"I'm an agent of the Alchemists," he said without further preamble.

My back stiffened, my fingers automatically found the dirt at my sides. Earth washed through me and whispered it was ready.

For a moment I couldn't reply. The Alchemists had always appeared a shadowy figure in the back of my mind. Apparently they'd been in Auckland and had fought the Pyrkagia, distracted them enough so that the Gi slipped in and attacked Theo, Aktor and myself at the Pakuranga Country Club. But I'd never seen them. I had no idea what they looked like.

Until now.

I tilted my head and took a good look at the man before me. He had the dark blue eyes of a Gi, whether they were contact lenses or natural colouring which defined which branch of Ekmetalleftis he would spy on, I don't know. His cheeks were rounded softly, like Gi, his shoulders broad and muscles thick, like all Athanatos. His hair; the right shade of brown and grown long to blend in. His features fitted those of the Gi, right down to structure and height.

But I was sure his DNA did not. Being the doctor, he would have been able to hide or alter those results, had the Gi even tested them.

He also wielded some Stoicheio from at least two different branches; Gi and Pyrkagia. That was not an Athanatos trait. How hard had it been to hide his eye colour when he touched an Element? The gold had flashed there when he burned that root, which I now realised he'd actually done elementally, not with a Zippo lighter at all. But he'd been careful to only show green at the Gi stronghold.

He looked and acted Gi. But then maybe all the Alchemists looked and acted like one of the Ekmetalleftis branches; Aeras, Nero, Pyrkagia, Gi. If any were as successful as Noah, they were a cunning and devious lot. I was not the only one to have been duped, I was certain.

"How long did you trick them?" I queried, unable to stop myself from asking.

"I introduced myself as a young Gi thirty years ago. They were in turmoil, having just discovered their fertility problems. It was easy to fabricate a connection to a recently exiled and deceased family of Gi. In their desperation to cling to new Gi life they accepted the ruse willingly."

"And you looked the part, acted the part. How could they really tell?" I offered.

"Indeed." He didn't look ashamed at the fact that he had deceived them. "My instructions were to train as a physician, thereby I'd have knowledge and access to my medical records to keep the secret safe."

"How old were you when you got here?" I asked, a little surprised that he hadn't already been a doctor and looked only thirty-five now.

"Eighteen."

That would make him forty-eight. He didn't look forty-eight. Which meant Alchemists had indeed found the answer to a longer life. Isn't that one of their philosophies? Noah and the voice in the fire had said, "May your life be blessed with longevity." Even Theo had mentioned briefly in Auckland that the Alchemists had learned to use aspects of Ekmetalleftis Stoicheio and increased their lifespan, I think.

I sucked in a breath of humid air trying to clear my mind. This was a lot to take in. I wasn't sure if I could reason it all out, but what I did know, was right now my safety was the most important thing. My continued escape from the Gi came first. But not at the expense of being handed over to the Alchemists to study.

I needed a plan. I needed to separate from Noah, whether he was on my side for now or not. Eventually I'd just be trading one prison in for another. The Alchemists were greedy, their only concern was furthering humankind. How much could they learn from me? From my DNA? From my body?

I most definitely did not want to find out.

"All right," I said resolutely. "You're an Alchemist. Do you know what I am, then?"

"You're important," he said, in an almost awe-filled voice. "One of a kind," he added. "We don't even know if someone like you has existed before. There are stories, but they could just be legend, fairytales the Athanatos tell their young when they put them to bed."

His eyes had glazed over; a zealot's response to a topic they worshipped beyond all reason. I didn't want to be anyone's object of veneration. It all sounded a little far-fetched and creepy, truth be told.

"Does my kind have a name?" I asked, trying to get Noah to focus again.

"Aether," he whispered, as though the word held power.

I was struck dumb. No other description for it. My mouth hung open, my eyes bugged out a little and my mind reeled relentlessly. Aether. I was an Aether, whatever that was. But to have a name at all was unfathomable.

I'd accepted I'd become a Gi, but I wasn't a born one. All Athanatos are born, so Theo had said. So how could I be one of them? Maybe this was the answer. Maybe Aether were something else entirely.

A scary open-ended thought. But still I was numb from the sheer wonder of having a name to call myself at last.

What if I had told Davos that was what I am? What would the outcome have been then? I needed to know more about what I was, what being an Aether was. Before I ever told another soul. But how to get that knowledge?

I stared at Noah, who still looked like he was in the presence of a deity inside a sacred place, not in front of a deli shop owner in a hollow within an enormous tree. Could I trust him? Could I use him for the trek through the forest, pump him for information, and then ditch him when we reached Manaus?

Not my usual modus operandi, but nothing was usual in my life, was it? I needed to adjust, to move with the circumstances. To adapt. On that thought, I decided my plan would be just that. Use the Alchemist doctor, then escape him. And decide what next to do then.

God alone knew what would come after Manaus, but one step at a time was my limit. I was still so weak, replenishing lost Stoicheio and recovering from my torture and mishandling under Davos' care. I needed a moment to regroup. Hopefully by the time we reached the city I would be fully healed and my Gi Stoicheio all topped up.

"Wow," I said, in way of offering at least some verbal reaction to his statements. I didn't want him knowing I was scheming mentally. "I'm not quite sure what to say, Noah."

"I guess it's a bit of a surprise for you," he reasoned. "We can talk more about it tonight. Now, I think we should get going. There are some berries over by the stream for you to eat. I'll let you have some privacy while you freshen up, and wait outside the entrance."

I nodded and watched him stand, kick dirt over the fire to smother it and then slip through the vines at the entrance, out into the waiting forest. I wished I had someone to confide in. I wished I could ask the Earth what it thought of all of this. But being so close to Gi land still, knowing the Queen's Guards wouldn't have given up yet, by any chance, I couldn't risk it. The Earth was there to sustain me, to tap when I needed the strength, but relying on it for more right now would be careless.

For the time being, like it has felt for so long it seems, I was on my own.

Thoughts of Theo coasted through my mind as I washed myself awake and prepared for the long walk ahead. What would he have said if he'd heard what I was? Would he have known what an Aether was capable of? Would it have made a difference, made it possible for us to be together and not be enemies? Would the Pyrkagia Rigas have approved?

A huff of a laugh left my lips. As nice as it was to dream, it also was a waste of time and effort. My heart ached at the possibilities, knowing I was an Aether back in Auckland, could have brought. If I allowed myself to believe it would have made a difference, all that left me with was bitter-sweet agony.

Theo was dead, and finding out what I was called wouldn't change that fact.

I sat back on my heels, kneeling in the soft leaves at the side of the stream and stared at the fluorescent lichen almost blindly. My mind slowly emptied, as my body entered a numb kind of hypnotic state. I had some answers. I'd been seeking them from the day I woke in a pit of dirt. But there were still so many questions.

And now I had enemies on all sides of me, and no one to trust. No one like Theo.

I brushed a tear away before it could travel too far down my cheek. Feeling morose would only lead to depression. I was not safe enough to crumble yet.

I stood up, dusted down my forlorn looking baggy trouser-shorts and straightened my sheet top. Walking the streets of Manaus looking like this would be interesting. I'd stand out like a sore thumb. Making a change of clothes the first thing I needed Noah to source me. Blending in on the streets of the city until I could figure out what to do next was essential.

I'd have the Gi Guards after me and the Alchemists. I would have to hide.

The enormity of the task ahead hit me as I emerged from the hollow. My hand brushed the bark of the tree giving thanks, as my mind whirled in terror of what was coming.

One day at a time. Hell, one step at a time. It was all I could do for now.

Noah was leaning against the multi-layered trunk of a Banyan Tree. He pushed himself off as soon as he saw me. With a business-like nod of his head he checked his compass and then indicated the path we needed to take.

I was stronger today, so we made good progress. But probably not enough to alter Noah's estimation of how long it would take us to reach Manaus by foot. We stopped by a little tributary to a larger river and ate berries and nuts for lunch. The Earth whispering which foods were safe and which were not. Practically handing over the nutritious fare with a swish of a branch or the parting of bushes.

I spent the time thinking of questions. Tonight I would hound Noah and find out all I could. I didn't want to scare him off, make him clam up, so I needed to ensure my questions were pertinent and didn't give my motives away. Asking outright what the Alchemists had in store for me was not going to endear him to an inquisition. Plus I needed my breath for the hike, even partially recovered and having more strength didn't mean it was an easy walk.

The Earth helped where it could, making the ground beneath my feet soft, devoid of sticks or stones that could cut my skin. It parted bushes, moved branches, but the rainforest is a dense place to be. Even the Earth couldn't change that, nor would I want it to. So, most of our time was spent climbing over fallen logs, ducking under hanging vines, navigating streams and wider rivers. Pressing through those parts the Earth was reluctant to unsettle.

The odd snake hissed at us, the Macaws squawked. Insects scurried, spiders spun their webs. And all of it we had to avoid. Even being Athanatos did not make us immune to poisons. Hell, Gi had learned to channel the multitude of toxins in many of the plants and animals of this forest to use as weapons.

By late afternoon I was exhausted. All over again. And this time Noah didn't have a hollow scouted out for us, shielded with Stoicheio to hide us from those who undoubtedly searched for our trails. We opted for a copse of mixed trees, some palm-like Oenocarpus and Babassu. At least we knew we'd have some fruit with our meal this evening.

Noah went in search of some fish in a nearby river and left me in charge of collecting the stone fruit from the trees. He'd given me a knife to cut the bunches down, but he'd forgotten how in tune with the Earth I actually was. If I was an Aether, why was Earth so familiar to me? What did Aether command?

The fruit fell soundlessly to the leaf strewn floor where I gathered it in seconds next to our makeshift camp. With little else left to do I decided to prepare wood for a fire. Finding dry kindling is an enormous undertaking in a rainforest, but if you know where to look it's not so bad. Off the ground twigs sheltered by overhanging leafy branches work best, and with the Earth guiding me I had a pile of dryish firewood ready to burn.

But no way to light it.

I set the kindling and dried lichen from a tree in position and sat back waiting for Noah.

Seconds turned to minutes, which turned to half an hour. And then, worryingly, a whole hour had passed. He'd been quick getting fish the night before. An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. I stood up and started to pace, my fingernails finding themselves between my teeth.

I'd made four circuits of our camp when I knew we were in trouble. Surprisingly, or not, the Earth hadn't whispered a warning at all.

Six burly Gi Guards entered the clearing from all directions. My heart stopped beating. I couldn't see Noah, but I was sure he was being detained - or worse - somewhere else. This would not be the entirety of the Guard sent to retrieve me. The Queen wanted me too badly to send only half a dozen. Bile rose up my throat, and my heart kicked back into gear with an adrenaline rush, on the thought of why she needed me so much and the consequences of her desire.

They were dire consequences. Horrific. Appalling. Unacceptable.

I sucked in a shaky breath of air as the Guards and I stared off at each other, me turning frantically in an almost circle to keep them all in my line of sight. Them standing there, hands on pistols, green glowing from their eyes. The message crystal clear: Don't fuck with us, Princess.

Why no warning? I whispered to the Earth, but didn't get a reply.

Even below par, like I am now, I am a force to be reckoned with. The Earth and I are a tight team. For it to ignore me now, would take the Basilissa herself, or a large number of Gi. I was so screwed.

Panic made my body tremble, my breaths coming too quickly to be healthy. I couldn't go back. I just couldn't.

I moved closer to the fire, thinking some of the wood could be used as a weapon. Then remembered the knife Noah had given me, over by the fruit. I glanced towards where it lay, and watched defeated as a Guard reached down and picked the weapon up casually, flipping it over in his hand. The others chuckled darkly.

My mouth went dry.

Firewood. I'd use the firewood, then. And hopefully some confusion with the help of the Earth.

I managed to hold the nearest Guard's stare, none of them having said a word as yet, their presence enough to let me know why they were here. Reminding me what horrors lay in store.

Instantly my mouth pooled with saliva; the precursor to my sudden need to vomit from fear. Maybe one of these Guards would step into Davos' shoes and be the one to tie me to the wall. I forced my whimper back down with the bile. The Guard only frowned back and crossed his bulky arms over his chest. His Stoicheio reached out to brush against me, the sweet rot of dead leaves meeting my nose.

Oh, freaking hell, this was going to take a shit-load of luck and superb timing. But I could not allow myself to be caught. That was an essential fact. That was all I could focus on. My need to avoid that bunker and the horrendous plans of the Gi.

My foot edged closer to the pile of wood waiting to be burned. My heartbeat thundered. I sucked in a deep breath, centring myself with the scents of the forest. This was it, the only chance I'd have to escape. Holding my head high and praying inside my head that this would work, I pulled with all my might on every ounce of Stoicheio I could muster.

Except it wasn't Gi Stoicheio that responded to my call for help.

It was Fire. Pyrkagia. And it was out of control.

Chapter Six

Oh Dear God, Not Again

Oh God, oh God, oh God, I cried out in my mind, as flames erupted from the set dry wood and spread out in an erratic fashion, catching nearby bushes alight, blistering the skin of several Guards, all within a few seconds. The small clearing Noah and I had chosen for our camp was ablaze and yet I couldn't feel anything more than a welcoming heat.

Flames licked up the trunks of the Oenocarpus and Babassu Palms that ringed the area, the Guards shouted and raised their arms to protect their faces. Their commands to retreat turning to screams of pain as their clothing caught alight.

The smell of burning flesh met my nose and I gagged.

Smoke billowed overhead sending a visible signal to any other Guards who cared to look above the canopy of the forest. More would come soon, but I had no idea how to fix this.

I tried a command, "Stop!" but the Fire just flared hungrily, the crackle of flames a deafening roar on the air. It sounded like a freight train coming. The rumble getting louder and louder as the Fire grew to an incomprehensible size.

I stood in the middle of hell and watched the forest, the Earth, that I loved burn to cinders. Several Guards had fallen where they stood, overcome before they could even retreat a foot or more. Some had made it out of the clearing, but had been chased down by the ravenous flames. I stared as Fire flicked out and struck the back of a running Guard, hurling him to the ground in a sickening sound of fractured limbs.

The Fire pounced on his crumpled form, engulfing him in bright yellow and red flames. It took only half a minute for it to consume him.

Freaking hell. This was happening because of me. Because I called on my Stoicheio out of sheer desperation to avoid a fate worse than death. And Pyrkagia answered. Why?

I took a tentative step away from the still burning wood I'd set for our dinner and the flames of the Fire immediately swirled around me. Touching, stroking, welcoming.

You have come, it crackled in the fires and whispered in my mind.

A scratchy sounding voice that could never be mistaken for that of the soothing Earth. Pyrkagia's tone was excitable, alive with desire and eager to play. The Earth's, which I hadn't heard since this horrible scene started, was smooth as silk, soothing, nurturing like a mother's. I missed its comfort.

Stop, I whispered to the Fire. Please, enough.

No, it crackled back, but I detected a note of sorrow. You are Awakening, it added. We must guide you now.

The flames flared brighter, hotter, as though they burned in a kiln, thousands of degrees Celsius. Ready to harden ceramic or produce charcoal from wood. A transformation that I knew intrinsically I could not escape. I collapsed to my knees, unable to carry my own weight.

Smoke began to clog my nose, slip uninvited down my throat. I coughed, choked on the superheated vapour, and fell forward onto all fours, panting for breath, knowing I couldn't find a clean lungful in amongst the fury of the flames.

And it was a type of fury. Not necessarily full of malice, but wild all the same. Tendrils of flickering bright flames wrapped around my body, as smoke filled the air before my face. I tried not to breathe. I tried to hold my breath as long as I could. But my chest began to ache and my limbs began to shake and bright white lights flickered at the edge of my vision.

A searing pain brought a gasp, making me suck in polluted air. The Fire kissed my naked back, stroked heated fingers down my spine, traced the scars left by Davos' whipping. It curled golden yellow fingers around my wrists. I looked down stunned as the pain of its touch melted skin, struck bone, and then began a slow, inexorable trek up my arms, singing fine hairs, grasping, tugging, pulling, consuming.

I screamed, unable to stop myself even though in my mind I kept repeating, lips shut, lips shut, lips shut. Fire tore down my open throat, seared my upper palate, reached inside my lungs, and branded itself on my soul. It sang its joy to the world with loud explosions of sap from nearby burning trees. One after the other after the other. The Fire made a musical of flames and overheated seed pods and detonated stone fruit. I could hear how close the projectiles came, they whizzed past my bent head, rebounding off the charred ground and ricocheting up into overhead burning branches.

The Fire laughed in delight. A wild and abandoned sound. A carefree and happy noise.

It hugged me closer. I realised it actually felt like an embrace; the flames wrapped around my body, stroking my back still as though it couldn't get enough of touching my skin, my scars. It relished the contact. It fuelled itself through the searing of my skin.

I crumpled further, rolling into a little ball, hoping to protect something of myself. But by now I was fully aflame. Inside and out. Burning brighter and brighter by the minute. Heating up until surely I too would explode... or transform.

A small sob escaped my lips, the Fire rushed to touch them, as if it could catch my whimper on my skin. Caress it. Kiss it. As though it was kissing me.

And then I felt it. That heat that Theo had used. That unimaginable burning that would start deep down inside and spread lazily at first. Through my chest, down my body until it pooled between my thighs.

I sighed.

The Fire urged me on, tempted me further. Turned the lazy licking of heat into a sensual simmering of passion. I rolled over onto my back, vaguely aware the trees in the clearing had stopped burning, all that continued to blaze was just me and the original pile of wood set to cook our dinner.

I moaned.

The Fire hissed in satisfaction. Aware that it had created this reaction in my body, in me. Pleased with itself, like Theo was always pleased when he'd made me respond to his touch.

I lifted my hand and stared at the flames flickering from the tips of my fingers. They danced and hopped from one to the next, the heat bearable now, familiar, wanted. I played with the Fire and it cried out in joy, sending sparks up into the air to drift slowly back down to earth in celebration.

I let my body relax further, allowed myself to sense all that the Fire willingly gave me. Let it take me further and further on the wave of euphoria it created. Embraced the sensations, savoured the feelings of bliss.

One last sudden flare of the flames around me, up into the smoky sky, and I shuddered, shook with endorphins, heat washing my skin and setting my body alight.

Welcome Athanatos, the Fire crackled. Welcome Pyrkagia, it added. Welcome home.

I blinked away tears, feeling a little overwhelmed, and heard the Earth finally sigh. I had been so worried it would forsake me. My Pyrkagia Stoicheio had done such damage right here in its most precious rainforest. How could it forgive me?

But it sent a wash of Gi through my body, fuelling my Stoicheio, lifting my back off the ground and making another moan escape my lips. Almost as though showing the Fire it was capable of getting a response from me too.

Welcome Athanatos, the Earth whispered in my mind. Welcome Aether, it added and the Fire hissed its approval.

Aether, they both intoned. Welcome home.

I lay still as the flames retreated until my body was my own again, and only the fire in the set wood continued to burn. I checked my hands and arms, noting normal looking skin, no seared flesh, no gaping burned wounds. I was whole, but in an entirely different way than I was whole before.

I was more. Again. Holy freaking freak show, when would this stop?

Not only had I become a Gi by being buried in a pit full of dirt for two days, but now I had taken out a contingency of Guards and a small section of the Amazon rainforest while I lit up like a firecracker and burned from within. Gi and Pyrkagia. Is that what being an Aether meant? Two Stoicheio, not just command of one. Like Noah, I thought. An Alchemist agent who could use elements of both Gi and Pyrkagia. But I wasn't an Alchemist, I was something else again.

Aether. I needed to know what it really meant, but as I slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position, I noted that I was, for now, truly alone. No one to ask. Six Gi Guards lay in various forms of disarray. A polite way of saying, dead. Or at least, I thought they were, but none had been decapitated, so as Athanatos they would survive. Albeit painfully as they recovered.

I frowned at that thought. Harming someone did not come naturally. Yet the Fire, which was responding to my call, hurt these men.

They would have hurt you, it defended itself, hearing my thoughts clearly.

And yes, they would have, or at the very least, taken me back to the Basilissa and allowed her to order my continued torture, captivity and... Yeah, well, I didn't really want to spend too long envisaging what Davos had started and the Guards would finish; maybe one by one.

A sound of disgust mixed with horror escaped my lips and I scrambled to my feet. I needed to get moving. I had no idea where Noah was or if he was still alive. But staying here was out of the question. More Gi Guards would come looking for their men. They'd find them, and hopefully care for them, but if I was still here, the same considerations would definitely not be given to me.

I checked the sorry state of my clothing. Now not only threadbare and dirty, but also slightly singed in places. I looked like a vagrant who'd rolled in the dirt and come too close to a barrel of fire. I reached around my back, as well as I could, to feel my skin where it had been whipped and the Fire had lovingly touched. No blisters, no peeling of flesh from bone, and only one raised mark. The Scar. The one whip Davos had channelled essence into. Even Pyrkagia had not been able to remove that.

But it had healed everything else, and I realised thankfully, I felt the strongest I had felt for months. Two Stoicheio feeding me made for a hell of a packed lunch. I stretched my arms above my head, easing the tension in my shoulders and taking a moment before the enormous trek ahead would begin.

Care for the Guards, please, I asked the Earth. And accept my apologies for what happened here. A deep seated sense of pain washed through me, I wasn't entirely sure it was all my own.

From Fire grows new life, the Earth whispered quietly. And although it didn't suggest that an apology wasn't needed, I felt it had accepted my words of regret.

"Time to get going," I said aloud, about to ask the Earth to give me some guidance. I had no choice. Noah still held the compass, I was as good as lost in amongst the dense trees of the Amazon.

But I didn't get a chance to voice that command in my mind, because the fire crackled and spat, hissed and popped and then a sound, like men talking, came out from its depths.

I jumped back, startled and full of fear. Was someone nearby? Had the other Gi Guards appeared already. I swung around, trying to spot the origin of the voices, but already knowing the answer. I turned slowly back towards the fire, which still licked flames up into the air in a lazy burn.

My heart beat painfully fast in my chest, my skin felt too tight over my bones. I clenched my fists, took a small tentative step towards the flames, and leaned in closer to hear what was being said.

"Has there been any news out of Manaus?" voice one said and I collapsed to my knees in heart-aching pain.

"Not yet, sir. But have some faith, we will hear something soon."

Tears started trailing down my cheeks. This was cruel. The Fire was teasing me. What a wicked joke to play.

"Stop," I whispered, and the first voice in the fire said, "Did you say something?"

A whimper escaped my lips. Please, just stop!

"No. It wasn't me. Is someone contacting you through the Fire?"

"Hello?" voice one said, and my hand cupped over my mouth to hold the sob inside.

My head shook from side to side, my eyes blurred with the copious amounts of tears that accumulated. My heart ached. Oh, good Lord how it ached. I gasped through my fingers, my free hand pressing into my chest to stem the agony that was unfurling deep inside.

This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. I was hallucinating, which meant only one thing. Gi were near and were channelling Hederin.

I struggled to my feet, the world spinning in a hazy array of different colours. And ran.

I didn't even extinguish or smother the fire, just left it burning and prayed the Earth would work with Fire and put it out. I just ran, no idea where I was running to, only conscious of where I was running from.

They were close. Too close. I had grown complacent with the after effects of Pyrkagia burning through my veins, my body, my soul. Drunk on Stoicheio and had made an almost fatal mistake.

Minutes ticked by as my feet pounded the ground, the Earth somehow matching my rapid and frantic footfalls with a softening cushion beneath each one. My heart thundered, blood pounding through my temples, making a headache start up behind my eyes. I panted for breath, each exhalation a grunt, each inhalation a wheeze of forced air.

But I still couldn't shake the thought that the Gi were just over my shoulder. I turned, while still running hell for leather through thick bush, to see if I could spot a Guard. And crashed through an oversized spider's web I'd failed to see and dodge. There was only so much the Earth could do for me, but if I didn't pay attention I was on my own.

I danced around the narrow path I was on, flapping my hands at my head and hair, trying to dislodge the sticky web and certain I could feel the tickle of spider feet all over my body. I slapped at skin, scratched at my face and sobbed, feeling more and more unhinged by the minute.

Breathe, the Earth urged. Let us ground you, it suggested. Inhale the soothing scent of Earth, Gi.

I stopped struggling with imaginary creepy crawlies and took a shattering deep breath of air in through my nose. Sweet orchid blooms, rich succulent fruit, sharp pungent excrement of animals. A sob of relief replaced the cries of fear from earlier. I leaned my hand against the bark of a tree and allowed the Earth through my shaken frame, settling my heartbeat, comforting my soul.

I'd covered a lot of distance. A glance at the sky let me know I'd been running longer than I had realised. Half an hour, maybe more. The sun had shifted lower, almost beneath the horizon of the tree tops. Night was approaching and I didn't have a safe harbour to rest.

And rest I needed. Despite my recent refuelling of both Stoicheio I'd burned a lot of juice just now, not just physically, but mentally. Fleeing for my life and dodging rainforest hazards in a zigzagging line.

When I could actually hear my own thoughts I checked with the Earth to see how safe I was. It wasn't necessarily a sure-fire way to find out. The Earth could be controlled by Gi in enough numbers to override me, and I wouldn't even know. But what choice did I have?

Am I safe here? I asked, crossing my fingers for good luck.

This way, the Earth replied, parting branches and opening up a hidden path from the more obvious one I'd just run on.

I let out a slow breath of air and having no other option but to trust my Stoicheio, took off at a gentle trot down the track Earth showed me. Twenty minutes later I came to a clearing in amongst some beautiful Banyan Trees.

Here, the Earth said. This will be hard for them to find.

I stared around the enclosure and wondered how true that statement actually was.

Use your Pyrkagia, the Earth suggested. Together we are stronger.

I hoped that meant strong enough to combat a horde of Gi.

I gathered firewood and dried leaves for a fire, then set about collecting berries and nuts for my dinner. I didn't have it in me to search out a stream and attempt to capture fish. And although, should I have requested, the Earth would have provided further nourishment in the form of some other edible animal for me to cook, I thought I'd asked enough of it for one day. Berries and nuts would have to do.

I set the wood in an appropriate fashion for a fire and stared at it for a long minute. This was it. The moment I actively accepted I was part Pyrkagia as well as part Gi. It took an awful lot more courage than I had expected. So much had happened today. Hell, so much had freaking happened in the past few months, I was on information and transformation overload.

But I needed warmth, about as much as I needed Pyrkagia to help the Earth keep the Gi away. I couldn't afford to be hesitant, to be unsure of what I could achieve. I may question what I was becoming, but I didn't have the luxury to question what I could do.

My life had altered beyond recognition, with me along with it. I just had to do what I needed to do to stay alive.

I stretched my hand out over the wood pile and watched as it shook with tiny tremors. Nothing happened, just an increase in trembling, now rising up my entire arm. I sucked in a deep breath, rolled my shoulders and muttered, "Here goes nothing," under my breath.

Burn, I instructed the Fire and a spark flared from the tip of my fingers and lazily drifted down into the twigs and dried leaves at its base. Within a second the fire roared to life, so much more impressive than had I attempted to light it with a Zippo.

A laugh escaped my lips, a smile spreading them wide. "Way cool," I murmured into the flames.

Heat washed up my face, Pyrkagia congratulating me on my first command.

"Thanks," I whispered, settling in to stare hypnotised into the flickering yellow-red glow.

A hiss. A crackle. A change in pitch, and then...

"Casey? Oraia, is that you?"

Oh dear God, not again.

Chapter Seven

And The Hits Just Kept Coming, Didn't They?

"Don't run!" Theo's voice sounded out from the flames of the fire I had just lit.

"This isn't real," I whispered, backing away from the warmth of the glow and staring blindly into the darkened forest that surrounded my makeshift camp. "Where are you!" I shouted, my fists clenched, my breathing ragged.

I couldn't run again. I didn't have it in me. I'd have to stay and fight. But the thought of what had happened last time, sent my stomach rolling and my head spinning. I was too tired for this. Too beaten down. Too damn alone to go on much longer.

"I don't know how you're doing it," Theo in the fire said evenly, "but you're communicating though Pyrkagia flames."

"No," I shook my head from side to side, staring accusingly at the fire as though it was its fault for tricking me in such a harsh fashion. "It's Hederin," I explained, to myself, to whoever was channelling the essence and making me believe this cruel joke was real. "I know what you're doing!" I shouted. "It won't work. He's dead."

"Casey?" Theo sounded distressed. My heart broke again for the millionth time.

"I can't do this anymore," I whimpered, a sob following up that wretched acknowledgement.

"Oraia," he murmured. "Please tell me you are safe."

I glanced around the clearing. Still no Gi Guards. Why were they waiting? Why weren't they chuckling in dark humour, enjoying the mortification and angst on my face? Cowards!

My eyes automatically came back to the flames of the fire, which licked higher and higher into the air, as though responding to my stress level.

Are they here? I asked the Fire.

You are alone, it replied. We shield you. You are safe from physical harm.

I sank back on my butt astounded. So much to take from those simple words. The Gi Guards weren't here. Weren't close enough to use Hederin. Fire and Earth protected my clearing from detection. All good news, all welcomed.

But I couldn't help notice the choice of words Fire had used. You are safe from physical harm. Mental? Emotional? I was on my own, there was nothing my Stoicheio could do about those.

A breath of air escaped me as dawning comprehension entered my frame. I started to shake. A full body tremor. Uncertainty and excitement duelling inside my stomach, making for an acidic cocktail in my gut. I rubbed it absently, as I continued to stare almost blindly into the flames.

Theo. Was it possible the Hederin, Davos had used to make me see Theo's death, was an actual illusion, not just an hallucinated vision of what had transpired?

"Theo, is this real?" I asked the flames and heard his distinctive rumble of laughter.

"Sweet little Gi, this is real. I don't know how you've done it, but I'm standing in front of my fire in the parlour of my home, carrying out a Pyrkagia communication with you."

"I watched you die," I said, my voice beyond shaky.

"Cassandra. I am a Prince of Pyrkagia, it takes more than a spindly vine to sever my head."

Ah, there was the Theo I had come to love with all my heart. Arrogant, princely, superior.

I started to cry. Full body sobs that racked my frame, wrenching achingly poignant sounds from deep inside, pouring copious tears down my cheeks, and threatening to consume me.

"Oraia, please. I'm fine. I'm healthy. I'm safe." A pause, his voice stronger, harder. "Are you safe?"

I couldn't answer him at first. Too far gone in my convulsive sobbing to stop it now. Theo waited. The flames continued to crackle and hiss. Heat from Fire wrapped around me, the soothing scent of Earth centred me, but it took several long seconds for me to finally gain some semblance of control.

"Theo," I murmured, my voice cracking on his name, my throat so raw, my heart not much better. "I'm in trouble, Theo," I added, my words barely audible above the sound of the wood burning.

The fire flared brighter for a second and then Theo's voice urgently demanded, "What sort of trouble?"

Oh, freaking hell. Where to begin?

I still couldn't quite comprehend that this was real, that Theo was talking to me through the flames of a fire. But what had I just been thinking? Don't ask why, just trust what I can do. And I could command both Gi and Pyrkagia Stoicheio. Therefore I could potentially communicate through the flames of Fire like I'd seen Theo do back in Auckland city.

I still had no idea how this had happened, but similar to the unanswerable question of why, I just had to push past the confusion and doubt and do. It had to be related to Noah calling me an Aether, but for some reason I felt it necessary to abbreviate my story for Theo right now. Fire was new to me. I'd been let down by the Earth, could I fully trust the ability of Fire to keep this conversation secret?

I couldn't chance it. Not yet.

But there was some of what had happened I felt safe in divulging. And this was Theo, my Theo, I needed him like I needed air to breathe. Distance would never halt that desire. He'd said the same thing back in Auckland to me. "You are my Thisavros... Nothing can change that. Not the rules. Not the fact that you are Gi and I am Pyrkagia. Not even distance."

And he was my Thisavros too.

The rules had changed, the world Theo and I thought we'd lived in had altered. Gi were after me. Alchemists were after me. Pyrkagia was not the safe harbour it had once been. But Theo was mine. And somehow we'd been given a second chance. When I'd thought him dead for three months, mourned him for three months, and then had him returned to me through the flames of a camp fire in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.

My heart hadn't stopped racing, but now it swelled with joy instead of being cut to shreds with pain.

"I'm in the middle of the Amazon, trying to make it to Manaus on foot," I started, somehow feeling his anxiety through the lick of heat from the flames. "The Gi thought me an imposter." He swore in Greek. "I've been their prisoner for the past three months."

Holy freak fire show. The flames roared up to the treetops, crackled and hissed with Theo's outrage.

"What did they do?" he demanded.

I didn't reply. The absence of my answer was answer enough. I heard Theo's shout of unmitigated anger. I felt the heat of his rage. Over all of it another voice sounded through the flames.

"Miss Eden, keep the fire burning. He just needs a minute and he'll be back."

Aktor. Theo's sweet old butler, there to help calm his irate master and soothe my frayed nerves.

I nodded, aware he couldn't see me, but unable to voice my compliance aloud. I dug my fingers into the soil at my sides and let the Earth wash through me. And waited.

The flames continued to fluctuate with whatever was happening on Theo's side of the world. They flickered differing colours of red, yellow, orange, scarlet and gold. Truly beautiful in their splendour, despite the reason for their unusual colour combination.

Minutes ticked by, longer than Aktor had suggested. But I had nowhere else to be. No one else to turn to. So I waited, eventually standing up and stretching my muscles, and pacing around the edge of the fire.

The flames had settled at some point and I was aware it was just an ordinary fire burning through wood. I gathered some more dry kindling and added that to the flames, ensuring the fire would burn for as long as Theo and Aktor needed it. Fully prepared to forgo sleep in order to keep this tenuous link to Theo alive.

My stomach growled out of hunger, even world altering, life changing events, couldn't keep the need to find sustenance at bay. I nibbled on nuts, sucked the sweet juice from berries and continued my march around the camp fire.

Exhaustion came half an hour after Theo had flipped out. I settled in a ball on my side, letting the Earth cup me and Fire keep me warm, and waited with half closed eyes. My wait eventually paid off, the flames flared briefly, the crackle of wood burning changed pitch, and I sat myself back up rubbing my blurry eyes.

"Cassandra," Theo said out of the flames. "Oraia, are you still there?"

"Yes," I breathed, a sense of incomparable relief washing through me.

"I'll be in Manaus in just over one day."

Simple words. A short sentence. And my world suddenly shone so much brighter.

I wiped at stray tears and forced myself to reply.

"I should be there by then," I said to the flames.

"I'm sorry I have no way of offering you more support. Are the Gi tracking you?" he asked.

"They've caught up once already." My stomach flipped at the memories of that encounter. "The doctor who helped me escape was captured, I think. So far, I've kept hidden from them." I offered a small smile he wouldn't have seen, but hopefully heard in my voice. "I'll avoid them. I have my talents."

"Oh, sweet Gi, don't I know it," he purred, making heat lick up my cheeks at his sensual tone. Silence as we both reminisced. Then, he added, "Are you injured, Casey. Has your Stoicheio replenished?"

I couldn't risk talking about the Alchemists calling me an Aether. And although anyone listening in would know I'd tapped into Pyrkagia Stoicheio to talk to Theo right now, confirming I'd had an Awakening experience, similar to my Gi Awakening in that pit of dirt, was a chance I couldn't take. For now, all communications via this method needed to be vetted, carefully phrased, not to give any enemies material to use against me.

Theo wasn't an enemy. Never was, although at times we'd been set on that course unwillingly. But full disclosure of what had happened would have to wait until I met him in Manaus. Keeping my lips sealed was one of the hardest things I'd done to date. The desire to shed the load, to share the burden with my Thisavros, was intense in its pull, in its temptation.

But I was not safe, and the more I dragged Theo into this, the more unsafe he would become too.

"I'm recovering from injuries," I finally admitted truthfully. "My Stoicheio is making a difference every day I am back in touch with it."

"They cut you off from Gi?" he asked incredulously. He shouldn't have been surprised. He'd once threatened to do the very same, when he first found out I was Gi. Athanatos are very paranoid creatures. He worked through that urge, once he'd realised I wasn't an imposter or agent of the Gi sent to Pyrkagia to spy.

I chose not to remind him, instead I said softly, "I'm free now, Theo. Let's just concentrate on the next few hours until I can be in your arms again."

A sound so pained came through the flames, as though he had been suffering this entire time along with me. It made a corresponding burst of pent up agony slip from my lips. The Gi, and in particular the Basilissa, had done a lot of damage. But I refused to let them win.

We would get past this.

"Very well, Cassandra," Theo said finally. "Stay safe and get some rest. This time tomorrow light a fire and Aktor will communicate with you. I'll undoubtedly be landing not long after. But in case I'm held up, Aktor will be there to talk to you in my stead."

"OK," I murmured in reply, not wanting to end our fire talk, wanting to stay up all night and listen to his voice, hear him speak, feel closer to him than I had done for months. I wanted to know what he'd been up to. How he'd managed to recover from the Gi attack. How the Gi had escaped retaliation from the Pyrkagia. There were so many questions to ask, which he could have answered easily through the flames of this fire. But there was one question that kept springing to the forefront of my mind, wiping out all the rest.

How had Theo drowned his sorrows? I knew him, even though I'd only known him intimately for a few days before I'd left. I'd crushed on him for so much longer than that. Watched his every move. Fallen deeper and deeper with every interaction. Until in the end I had a pretty good idea of how the three thousand year old Theodoros Petropoulos behaved.

And unlike Aktor, his much older servant, Theo chose distraction to deal with the hurdles that arose during his long life. Who had he used to distract from the pain of losing me?

So, I didn't ask any questions, for fear that one would burst free before I could stop it.

"Safe flight," I wished him instead, praying the next few days would go quickly.

"Oraia," he murmured. "I have missed you, my sweet little Gi. You have no idea how much."

If it was half as much as I had missed him, thinking him gone from me forever, gone from this world forever, then it would have been too much. At least he'd known I lived, and had thought I was being cared for by kin.

I was picking he was going to have a sleepless night, dealing with the knowledge of my reality.

"I've missed you too," I said softly in answer. A simple statement which I could have ruined with so many more words of the heartache and pain I had suffered. I clamped my lips shut. Theo didn't need to hear them. He probably already knew.

"My Casey," he whispered as the flames flared briefly and began to wane. The communication about to be terminated. "I love you, Oraia. Eternally."

I didn't get a chance to reply, the flames settled and crackled, changing tone and letting me know he had gone. He'd done it on purpose. Maybe fearful I didn't feel the same anymore and wouldn't return the sentiment. So much had happened, I couldn't blame him that doubt. But was infinitely grateful he'd worn his heart on his sleeve and said the words I so needed to hear.

I promised myself, they would be the first words he heard from my lips when I saw him again.

I watched the fire burn slowly for a few more minutes and then fatigue took over. I'd experience a gamut of emotions today. From fear and terror, to shock and surprise. To an unbelievable amount of wonder and relief. And now, after such a roller-coaster of a day, I needed sleep, and the only emotion that really counted.

Love. My love for Theo. Which was no longer a fool's love, no longer a love never to be requited. But a true love of two souls meant to be together, despite hurdles, despite rules and the parameters of the world they were stuck in. Love that transcends all.

And hopefully, conquers all.

I fell asleep with a smile on my face, vaguely aware that the battle ahead for both Theo and I was not yet won. Not by a long shot.

I became aware that fireworks were exploding in the sky in a multitude of iridescent colours. Electric blue. Dazzling white. Flame red. Sunburst yellow. Vibrant green. Laughter from an invisible source sounded out in my mind, as the dreamscape coalesced around me. A huge bonfire sat in the middle of a farmer's field, sparks floating up in dizzying patterns into a blackened night sky.

I'd seen this bonfire before. In a book my grandfather had given me when I was young. A book titled, Heat And The Properties Of Fire.

I spun around searching for my dead grandfather, knowing instinctively that he'd be here. That he'd appear real and alive. And that he had a hell of a lot of questions to answer. I may not be able to trust the sanctity and security of my Gi Stoicheio right now, but something told me these dreams were entirely different, and entirely true.

An impossibility, but then much in my world now days was impossible, yet true.

"Gramps," I said when I saw him walk out from behind the larger than life bonfire. He looked the same as he did in the last dream, when he stood beneath the boughs of a Moreton Bay Fig Tree. Much the same as he did the day before he died.

Greying blond hair, swept back off his almost wrinkle free face. Smooth, stubble free cheeks, blue dancing eyes, and a wide, amused grin on his lips. At sixty, he'd appeared forty-five. Never ageing the same way my grandmother did. A fact she continually bemoaned, until he was lost at sea and she realised image was never as important as life.

"What's happening to me?" I demanded, not waiting for him to speak.

He chuckled, a rumble from deep inside his chest. A sound so familiar from my childhood it brought back sudden memories of sitting in his workshop, playing with his wood carving tools, as he told my brother and I stories to pass the time. I realised now, with dawning comprehension, that those stories were about Elements. The Earth and all her beauty. The Fire and all its magnificent power. The Air and all its complex controls over the environment. The Water and its essential part in the world's balance.

My whole life I'd been trained for this moment and never knew it was coming.

My hand found my mouth, covering the sad horror of realisation as it slipped through my lips in a groaned sigh. My grandfather knew about the Athanatos. Knew about Ekmetalleftis. Knew what I would become.

I felt my knees buckle and the ground rush up to meet me. Gramps took several quick steps towards me, hand outstretched, but when he saw whatever was on my face, stopped in his tracks. He looked in pain, regret tracing the only lines I'd probably ever see on his handsome face.

"You're an Alchemist," I accused, and watched as his head slowly nodded. Oh, sweet hell. This was just not fair.

No one should have to confront the reality of their loved one betraying them to such a degree. I wasn't sure how to swallow this bitter pill. It was choking me, killing me slowly. Destroying what little solace I had left in memories.

"Go away," I blurted, unthinking, uncaring right now. The pain of deception stabbing me right through the chest. "Just leave," I ordered, my voice rising. "How could you do this?!" I shouted, my hands digging into dirt at my sides, the ground in the dreamscape rolling and rumbling to life.

My grandfather looked shocked, his eyes scanning the surroundings and then flicking back to me with mounting surprise.

"Casey, sweetheart," he begged. "You need guidance. Until we reach you, I cannot visit again. It takes an Awakening to allow this to happen. Your next Awakening may not be for months."

"Reach me?" I cried, staring daggers at the man I had once loved so deeply, trusted so much. "You've already reached me. Noah the Doctor got me out of that hell hole, no thanks to your little group of power hungry mortals allowing me to be there in the first place. Because," I added sarcastically, "it was for the greater good!"

"Oh, sweetheart," he murmured. "There is much at stake."

"No!" I shouted, and with a wave of my hand made the wood in the bonfire explode.

Sending searing hot, flaming charcoal down all around my grandfather. His image wavered as he made a sound of shock mixed with pain, and then the dreamscape followed suit... and exploded.

I woke up sweating, panting for breath, and trying to get my bearings. I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.

And the hits just kept coming, didn't they?

Chapter Eight

So Much Said In One Simple Word

I had loaded the fire with more wood before I fell asleep for a second time. Making sure Fire was present in the clearing the Earth had led me to, combining its strength to help keep me hidden. I should have been able to sleep soundly, knowing I was safe. The Gi might be able to commandeer my Earth, but they couldn't touch my Pyrkagia. I was a stronger enemy now, but I had one enormous failing.

I was an emotional wreck.

Three months imprisoned had nothing on the turmoil of spinning feelings vying for attention inside my head and heart. Theo was alive. I couldn't even begin to assimilate that knowledge without tears streaming down my cheeks. I kept going back to the Hederin hallucinations Davos had subjected me to. How real they felt. How I thought I was seeing what had transpired after my sentience was stolen on the Gi Rigas' command.

For three months it had been a truth, and I was finding it surprisingly difficult to accept what had happened last night as real.

Even my grandfather's old words of belief being a tangible thing didn't help. All they did was make me relive my bonfire dream.

Fuck. There was no other word for what I was having to deal with right now. Nothing else could come close. My world had been blown apart before yesterday, but somehow it felt like it had detonated all over again last night. Explosive, shattering, shocking, violent in its consequences. My mind couldn't take much more, and even the numbness of sleep didn't help.

I tossed and turned, and before the sun rose I was up and staring blindly into the flames of the fire. Drawn to it, probably because of my Stoicheio, but all I could think, as my eyes kept swinging back to the licking yellow-red glow, was once-thought-dead Theo had talked to me through this fire, and my once-thought-dead Alchemist grandfather had stood next to one similar in my dream.

I let out a wounded sigh, weighted by my confusion. Was Gramps alive and really visiting me in the dreams? I had to assume he was. His body had never been found after the fishing accident. He'd faked his own death. God, another hit.

I pushed thoughts of Gramps aside. I just couldn't cope with the questions and anger that were festering inside. Instead, as I waited for light to brighten the horizon, I let myself dwell on Theo. Another day and I'd have irrefutable proof that Davos had been an evil, lying, piece-of-shit Gi, with his use of Hederin to make me believe Theo was dead.

I presumed Theo had already boarded a plane by now, but just in case, I crawled closer to the flames, as close as my face could get without singing eyebrows, and whispered, "Theo?"

The flames crackled and hissed, flared a little brighter, I was guessing because I'd used some Pyrkagia Stoicheio, and then changed in pitch.

"Miss Eden," Aktor replied through the fire. "Is everything all right?"

A wash of conflicting sensations swept through me. Happiness at hearing Aktor's sweet, familiar voice. Disappointment that it wasn't Theo who answered my call. Regret that I hadn't stayed up last night and insisted we continue to talk. Guilt that I'd allowed my fear of the truth and cowardice rule my decision to let him go.

"Aktor," I said on a rush of air. "How are you?"

He laughed, a small humorous sound. "I am fine, Miss Eden. Are you?"

"Exhausted," I admitted truthfully. Emotional turmoil can do that to you. Not to mention running and fighting for your life.

"No doubt," the old butler agreed. "But you will keep going, won't you, my dear?"

"Because there's no other choice?" I offered, knowing exactly how Aktor thought.

"Because he'll be waiting for you in Manaus, Cassandra."

A small smile crept onto my face, making my lips twitch unfamiliarly. He was right. Nothing would stop me from reaching Theo.

"How has he been?" I asked, at length.

There was a long pause, then Aktor, voice quiet and subdued, replied, "It has been a very difficult time for all involved."

"Was he hurt badly?"

"Nothing he couldn't heal physically from."

There was that distinction again. Fire had told me I would be safe from 'physical' harm. Both my new Stoicheio and Aktor's choice of words were telling.

"How did the Gi get away?" I asked, settling in to have at least some of my questions answered. "I would have thought the Pyrkagia wouldn't have liked them attacking their Prince."

"No," Aktor murmured. "We were not amused. But surprisingly the battle that ensued was short lived. As soon as the Gi Rigas had you under control, they attempted to restart the volcanic activity beneath the city. Only to realise they were outnumbered when our Rigas turned up with Alchemists at his side."

Alchemists siding with Pyrkagia? Just whose side were the Alchemists really on?

"They abandoned their attacks on Auckland and on Theodoros, for a quick and painless retreat. Unfortunately, our Rigas was not concerned with your safety, Cassandra. I am sorry," he added. "There were many Pyrkagia shocked that Anaisthetikos had been used on you; their long lost Princess."

A small unamused sound slipped out on that.

"Yeah, not so much their Princess, I'm afraid. And they knew it."

"So it seems. But we were not aware of this until last night."

I frowned. It was obvious Aktor and Theo had been talking about getting information out of Manaus in the first fire I'd heard their voices in. But it hadn't occurred to me that they didn't know the Gi were aware I was not their Princess. I'm not sure why, I just assumed the Gi would have made a fuss about that publicly. Obviously not, as far as the Pyrkagia are concerned, anyway.

"I thought you guys had spies in amongst the Gi?" I asked.

"They had been recalled when the battle began. As far as we knew, the Gi were helping you acclimatise to your new environment. We had no reason to believe you were being mistreated. Even after the Anaisthetikos command. It was decided by the council that the entire episode was particular to the Gi and, as such, expected behaviour."

"Then why were you and Theo talking about news from Manaus?"

"Because Theo and myself are, by no means, of the same opinion as the council. He needed to know you were safe, Miss Eden. He was using every contact he had to find out. But our efforts had been blocked at every turn."

"The Gi," I offered.

"We suspect so. They like to keep things in house. It has been notoriously difficult to garner intelligence from their village. And now we have no agents in the area at all, we must rely on human allies, which is never foolproof."

The sun had risen while we'd been talking, and the temperature in the small clearing had begun to climb. Not helped by my proximity to the fire. I was sweating slightly and needed a drink, but I didn't want to stop talking to Aktor, nor did I want to extinguish the flames and be vulnerable to the Gi Guards' detection again.

Pyrkagia was new to me. I had no idea how I would wield the Stoicheio when not staring into the welcoming glow of flames. I knew Theo did it, he used other forms of heat. Such as passion and anger, and differing human emotions that still, after everything I had been through, made me blush.

"You should get going, Miss Eden," Aktor said, breaking into my musings. "I should think daylight has arrived by now."

"What time is it in Auckland?" I asked, starting to prepare myself for the trek ahead; stretching, breathing deeply to settle my nerves.

"Nearly midnight," Aktor answered, surprising me for a couple of reasons. It was about seven in the morning here and I hadn't got my head around time zone differences.

"Why have you still got a fire going, Aktor?" I asked.

"Miss Eden," he chided gently. "I have kept a fire going since we first heard your voice. You are alone in the Amazon rainforest, connected to Pyrkagia somehow, so I will sit by this fire until the master reaches you, in case you need my guidance at any hour."

Tears welled in my eyes again, however this time the emotion was not laden with heartache, but overflowing with sweet love for this old man, who had simply accepted me in Theo's life from day one.

"Thank you," I whispered into the flames. They flared briefly. Either from Aktor or from me, I couldn’t tell.

"Don't thank me, Cassandra. Get to Manaus safely and find Theodoros. He plans to stay on the outskirts of the city, as close to the rainforest as he can get, in a hotel called The Tropical Manaus. If we don't get to talk again before you reach there, a room has been booked under your mother's maiden name from tomorrow onwards, with instructions to allow a bedraggled young woman, meeting your description, access should you arrive before Theodoros does."

They'd thought of everything. Except how the hell I was going to find the place and walk there barefoot from out of the forest wearing threadbare and filthy cut-of pants and a ripped sheet for a halter-top.

No one said this was going to be easy, and first I had to evade capture. But, suddenly the idea of having a hot shower and slipping between crisp laundered sheets on a proper bed had me eager to get this show on the road.

"OK, got it," I said, standing up and stretching for real this time. "I'll try to get back in touch with you this evening when I set up camp. Thanks for everything."

"You are most welcome, Miss Eden. I wish you the best of luck."

The fire flared, then settled with its change of pitch, and I sucked in a breath of air in preparation for what I had to do next.

Delaying for just a moment longer, I asked the Fire, Are there any Gi nearby?

None, it confirmed, thankfully. They seek you elsewhere.

Well that was reassuring. And that also meant there was no reason to hang around here. I thanked the Fire and kicked dirt over the flames to make it go out, feeling the distance its absence created between me and my new Stoicheio. It was an unusual feeling. With the Earth, the only time I had felt any distance, which ended up being a complete severance of contact, was when I was in my concrete bunker prison. Otherwise, even when walking on footpaths, or inside a house, I could still feel it somewhere a short distance away. Pot plants helped when indoors, but even with a few feet separation, I could feel the Earth calling.

Now with the embers of my camp fire extinguished I felt no call to Fire. Strange didn't even cover it. I wondered if it was like this for all Pyrkagia. For Theo. Did he feel cut off at times like this too?

It was a question that would have to wait. I still had at least a day of trekking ahead of me. For now, with the Fire having helped strengthen my Gi Stoicheio, I could trust any answer the Earth gave regarding direction. As the day progressed though, its guidance would have to be taken with caution, in case Gi Guards or the Basilissa managed to get within commanding distance.

I thought it best to get a few things out in the open before we set off.

How quickly can we get to Manaus? I asked, dusting myself off and sucking on a few left over fruits, following that up with a nibble of nuts. I could have done with something more substantial, but my appetite was not one hundred percent, so the trail-mix of sorts would have to do.

By tomorrow morning, after a rest tonight, the Earth whispered in my mind. We can show you the shortest route.

Is it safe? I asked.

For now, it ambiguously replied.

OK, time to get moving.

I found a nearby river and had a drink to soothe my throat. It was still so raw from sobbing yesterday, the reminder of why it ached only made it constrict again. I pushed through my topsy-turvy emotions, and washed my hands and face and as much of my body as I could manage, with the dire need to get going blaring inside my head.

I didn't stop for lunch. I drank when a stream presented itself. I rested for a minute or two when my legs shook so much my cut-offs threatened to fall down my hips. But otherwise I pushed on, and on, and on. Over fallen logs and bypassing ant hills. Under hanging vines which looked like tinsel decorating a Christmas tree. Through natural clearings where animals scurried as I approached. Across water ways, feeling soothed and refreshed and invigorated. Only to be sweaty and dirty again within metres of stepping out on to dry land.

I listened to the Macaws and tried to find meaning in their different noises. I watched vibrant blue butterflies flit lazily around my head and talked aloud to them, telling myself they understood every word. I stared back at the bulging eyes of a large Amazon Horn Frog, as it camouflaged itself in amongst dead leaves. I picked the odd berry or stone fruit as the Earth presented them to me, more conscious of my energy levels than I was, I think.

For the last two hours before sunset I was silent and every step was made with an ear out for approaching threats. At some point the Earth had ceased aiding me, other than to urge me in the same direction we seemed to be going all day. Then a tree appeared, which seemed familiar. The same spider's web, that I was sure I'd passed half an hour ago. And finally, a stream I had crossed where small tadpoles had been swimming, and I'd slipped on a moss covered rock, scraping my knee.

I slipped again in the exact same place, my heart thundering awake and my mind jolting with awareness. I don't how long the Earth had been sending me in circles, but I knew then I'd not been as careful as I had hoped.

I slowed down on the other side of the stream, coming to a complete halt next to a outcrop of Banyan Trees. My hand rested against one of the multi-layered trunks and I listened. Really listened. To the forest of animals, to the wind in the trees, to the leaves beneath approaching feet.

I knew I was in danger, but the animals still scurried so for a moment I couldn't trust my instincts. But then it dawned on me, as the Earth let out a saddened sigh, that Gi could control the animals too. And had been. Making me believe the forest around me was bare of threats, as animals are usually the first to scatter upon approaching danger.

I swore under my breath, reached down to the ground and lifted a twig with dried leaves up from its hiding place beneath some bushes, and called on Pyrkagia. Flames burst to life at the top of my makeshift torch, Fire flaring powerfully throughout my body. It still felt like an erotic flush, I was hoping I'd get used to it. Because I moaned before I could stop myself, giving my location away.

They are here, the Fire said urgently. Head to the right. Run.

I didn't wait to question my Stoicheio. I took off without a backwards glance and thrashed through the underbush. Adrenaline set its own flames of terror alight inside my veins. My heart pumped unmercifully, making an ache take up residence inside my chest.

Heavy footfalls sounded out over my harsh breathing, loud enough to let me know the Gi Guards were close. Close enough I could feel the reverberations through the soil beneath my bare feet. They'd been playing with me. Like a cat does a mouse. How long had they watched me go around in circles? How much amusement had they gained at my incompetent attempts to reach Manaus?

I'd known the Earth could become compromised, yet I had failed to register when my Stoicheio had stopped aiding, but instead started to hinder my escape.

I knew I was close to the outskirts of Manaus. I'd pushed myself harder than the Earth had anticipated. Its calculations on how long it would take me to reach the city had been inaccurate, even with half an hour or so of making me walk in circles. I was guessing that was the reason why. I'd walked too close to victory, and the Earth had been commanded to never let me reach Manaus.

A sob tore from my lips as the Fire, still burning at the tip of the branch I held, hissed in agreement. I got the feeling it was annoyed at being duped alongside me.

How powerful was the Basilissa to have achieved such a command?

I didn't want to hang around and find out.

I'm sorry, I said with feeling in my mind, sending my thoughts out to the forest that surrounded me. I really am, I whispered to the Earth, already feeling its own defeated acknowledgement of what I had to do next.

Now! I ordered the Fire, and watched as sparks leapt from the tip of my torch and sailed off through the air in several directions.

I ran on, knowing fires would be starting in my wake. Praying the rainforest would recover. Begging forgiveness, even as I pleaded with Aetheros, Theo's God, to make this work.

A crackle and a hiss flared behind me. Heat washed down my bare back. Pops and explosions rang out above me. And with one quick glance over my shoulder I saw the devastating beauty of Fire following my command. A wall of flames spread out between me and the startled, mortified faces of a dozen Gi Guards. I slowed down my pace until I was ten metres away from the inferno I had created. And just stared back at them.

"Don't follow me," I shouted above the cacophony of wood burning and seed pods popping. "I will burn your entire forest if you follow me!" I added, putting as much sincerity as I could muster into each forbidden word.

My stomach clenched. My heart ached. But I would not return to the Basilissa.

With tears streaming down my face I turned away and started running. The Fire encouraged me, fuelled me, urged me on. The sounds of the Amazon burning became indistinct, until finally I could no longer hear the frantic cries of the Guards as they attempted to extinguish the flames.

I ran on. The Fire kept pushing me. When I stumbled, it licked about my frame, righting my balance. When I slowed, it whispered words of encouragement. When I made a sound of distress, filled with my increasing belief that I would never make it, heat and warmth coursed through my body, making nerve endings fire back to life, giving me a moment of strength.

I was sure it wouldn't be enough.

But then the Fire said, He's close, when I started seeing houses in amongst the greenery of forest. Not much further, it added. He awaits his Thisavros, it whispered, knowing I'd dig deeper and deeper still on those words.

I don't know how I made it. Running on empty, bare feet, clothes torn and falling off, dirt and ash smeared on my tear streaked face, a still burning branch in my hand, making locals stare strangely at me. I really don't know how I made it, knowing the forest burned behind me, even though I'd asked the Fire to stop.

It protected me. It held me up when I could not. It pushed me on when I could go no further.

Until I stood at the entranceway to a surprisingly beautiful hotel complex, the words 'Tropical Manaus' standing out brightly across the arched portico above my head.

My sore feet were now on rough concrete, a feeling I had forgotten in just over a day of freedom. But my bruises and scrapes meant nothing, when out of the front doors ran Theo. Alive! Here already, but obviously only just landed. Because his trousers and shirt were crumpled and his gorgeous thick black hair was sticking up at odd angles, as though he'd pulled at it, or run hands through it, or slept sitting up in an airline seat.

I sobbed out a sound of disbelief and unending happiness, not caring that tears continued to fall unchecked. And watched him stride towards me, a determined look on that stoic immortal face.

It seemed to take forever for him to reach me, but I couldn't reduce the distance. Once I'd stopped moving even Pyrkagia couldn't get me to lift my feet again. My knees buckled, just as he wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me tight against his hard chest.

I inhaled deeply, feeling like I'd finally made it home.

"Oraia," he breathed. So much said in one simple word. Heartache. Joy. Fear. Relief. Wonder.

I opened my mouth to say the words I'd promised I'd voice as soon as I saw him, my eyes searching his face, taking every little detail in.

Then, as though she'd somehow called my name, but I don't think she actually did, my gaze swept away from Theo, over his shoulder and landed on a Pyrkagia I had hoped never to see again.

And instead of saying, 'I love you', I said, "What the hell is she doing here?"

Chapter Nine

This Man Confounded Me At Times

"Cassandra," Theo chastised, although his voice was strained and low. "We need Dora."

"Isadora," I corrected him, not wanting to hear the nickname for his on-again-off-again ex-lover fall from his lips. "Don't call her that."

He pulled away slightly, searching my face. But my eyes were on the haughty, superior, smug look on Isadora's. She was enjoying this. My discomfort. My obvious disapproval of her being here. No doubt, enjoying the sorry state of my dress. She, in comparison, was moulded into a designer skirt suit, six inch heels making a mockery of my bare, bruised feet.

"Little Gi," Theo said softly, trying to get my attention. "You have changed."

That brought my eyes back to Theo's face. Yes, I had changed. How could I not? I was no longer the innocent, naive young woman he'd known in Auckland. Would he still want me?

It was too much to process. Too much to deal with after everything I'd been through. My eyes filled with stinging tears, my bottom lip quivered, I sniffed and tried to bring a hand up to my face to cover what was surely going to be a horrendous meltdown.

"Casey," Theo murmured, pulling my cheek against his chest. "Sweetheart," he added, voice so tender, so full of emotion it made my heart ache. "I have you. I'm here."

And then the tears fell. I hadn't thought I'd have more. But they kept coming as he scooped me up in his arms. They kept coming as he brushed past Isadora, her face and reaction to my blubbering thankfully blurred behind the waterworks. And they kept coming while we ascended to a higher floor in an elevator, while Theo marched down a carpeted hallway, deep, silky voice giving the other woman a command at the door to a room. And they continued falling when we crossed the threshold and he shut the door in Isadora's face.

Theo walked me directly to the bathroom, my tear-filled eyes unable to take in the splendour of the hotel room, but I could smell orchids. The room was filled with them. They settled a little of my heartache, soothed my soul.

A shower was turned on and then Theo began to undress me. I flapped at his hands ineffectually, trying to stop the disrobing. But as I didn't have much in the way of clothing on, and all it took was a gentle tug from Theo and they fell to shreds on the tiled floor, my attempts to stop him were futile.

"Shhh," he murmured, his hands steady and careful; not trying to elicit a sexual response, just doing a necessary task while attempting to soothe and comfort me. "I'm not going anywhere and you need to get clean."

I sniffed at the reminder I was covered in filth and God alone knows what else, and pushed the embarrassment at that fact away. I had good reason to smell like a vagrant.

Theo pushed me gently under the spray of water and for a moment, when the liquid touched my bare skin, I forgot where I was, who I was with. A sound of utter contentment left my lips. I lifted my face to the shower head, and closed my eyes, revelling in the sensation of clean, flowing, hot water. I'd had to bathe in a sink full of cool water for months. And while free of my prison, it had miraculously not rained in the forest. The threat had hung heavy in the air, but never eventuated.

But this. This was heaven.

Theo stepped under the spray, joining me and making me realise he'd stripped naked too. My eyes flicked up to his face to gauge his intent, but only saw tenderness and concern etched in the fine lines marring his forehead. He reached past me and picked up a soft sponge, poured liquid soap on it, and while still holding my gaze, began to run the soapy softness over my skin. So carefully, so sweetly, so tenderly. So very slowly, making the moment seem suspended in time.

The odd tear still slipped from my eyes, travelling down my cheeks and melding with the water from the shower. I felt completely wrung out, completely scoured empty. Yet so many emotions were swirling inside me right now.

I kept my eyes locked on Theo's, noting the small smattering of gold that shone every now and then when his fingers brushed over a bruise making me flinch, or he found a scrape. As yet he hadn't seen the scar on my back. I knew his reaction would overshadow all of these when he did. But for now I just held on to his eyes, to his touch, to him.

Being here with him changed everything. The tears that fell were no longer bitter-sweet, pain-filled, and desperate. They were beautiful. Filled with so much love. Filled with such wonder and pure, unadulterated happiness. He was alive. He was with me. Oh God, nothing could compare to this.

And with every stroke of his hand, every brush of the sponge that washed evidence of the past three months away from my skin. With every flare of his nostrils and flash of gold in his eyes. With every single sensation he wrought, I felt like I'd come home.

Theo Peters was my home.

And no matter what had happened, no matter where we'd been or what amount of distance had separated us, being with him made me feel full, alive, whole again. The filth of the past few months wiped clean. The heavy weight of imprisonment and mistreatment lifted. And only his touch, his love, his infinite tender care was left in their wake.

I had no idea what lay ahead, I knew realistically that our battles were not won. But I also knew that whenever I was with Theo I'd always feel free, home, and loved.

He turned me slowly, his hands on my shoulders, kneading slightly, guiding my body to where he wanted it next. I held my breath, let the falling water soothe my nerves in preparation for the moment that was about to come. His movements stopped when his eyes must have landed on my back. He didn't make a sound. Just that brief moment of stillness. And then the sponge was washing my back, flowing down my spine, trailing across the scar.

I hadn't breathed for what felt like a full minute, maybe more. He'd washed my back and down my legs and turned me to face him again before I sucked in a breath of air. And I only did it out of surprise and shock. And a deep seated sense of agony.

Theo was crying. Tears ran unchecked down each glorious cheek.

He lifted gold blazing eyes to mine and said, voice cracking slightly, "I will kill whoever did this." A vow. A promise. But he was too late.

"He's dead already," I whispered, my hand automatically coming up to run along the muscles of his chest, to touch his perfect body, to feel. Pyrkagia Stoicheio flared through me, taking the last of my breath and making Theo grunt in surprise.

I looked up at him, a small amount of fear slipping into my psyche. He was bathed in gold, which I knew must be coming from me. What would he think? Do?

"Oraia," he breathed, and wow! Gold flashed back at me, but not any shade I'd seen before. This was all-consuming. Vibrant. Full of passion and desire and something else.

I watched, stunned, as Theo's fists clenched at his side, his eyes trailed over my body, differently than they had before. No longer filled with pain, or angered at the injuries that marred my body, or saddened at the tears that coated my face. This time there was hunger and possession. And if I wasn't mistaken, elation. The type of satisfied, vindicated euphoria a person has when all their most sacred dreams come true.

"Gold," he groaned. "Pyrkagia gold." He took a step closer, his massive frame looming above me in the small shower stall. A predator's stance, staring down at his prey. His tongue flicked out and licked along full lips. His eyelids drooped, as a feral growl emanated from the back of his throat.

I'd seen Theo with a hunter's glare in his eyes. I'd seen when his big body readied itself for that final pounce. But I'd never seen Theo like this. He... was... mesmerising. Beautiful. Exquisite in his heated Pyrkagia fuelled desire. Hungry. Ravenous. And, I was thinking, perhaps a little out of control.

I should have been scared. But I wasn't. I should have said something to bring him back to the moment, and out of the visceral reaction he'd just had that was dictating his every move. But I didn't. I should have done something other than reach up a steady hand and stroke the beast before me. Offering invitation, when I should have been backing away.

But I'd thought Theo dead for three months. I'd suffered the cruelty of watching him die almost every day. I'd hurt more emotionally, than Davos had ever been able to make me hurt physically. I wanted this Theo, this uncontrolled, animalistic predator. I wanted him more than sanity should have allowed, faced with his incomparable desire right then.

"Theo," I murmured, watching the gold that blazed from my eyes sweep over the droplets of water that clung to his bronzed skin. So many sparkles; jewel-like yellows flashing back at me. He groaned, his own hand coming up to touch my feverish skin.

"You're fuelling your Pyrkagia Stoicheio," he murmured. "It is -" A pause. "- fucking fantastic. How has this happened, Oraia? How are you now my kind?"

I shook my head, closed my eyes, and let the sensations of touching his body wash through me. Fire. Heat. An electric shock of pure molten desire. My lips parted on a gasp as an orgasm flowed through me. Not like the climaxes Theo has given me, but unbelievably fulfilling all the same.

"Oh, Aetheros," Theo moaned, pressing my back against the wall of the shower and moulding his frame to my front. Evidence of his arousal was half way up his stomach, practically covering the length of mine. "You have to stop, Casey," he murmured, as his face nestled into the crook of my neck, his lips pressing eagerly against my skin, his teeth grazing over flesh, teasing me. "I can't... I.." A groan, a rock of his hips. "I can't deny you, sweet little Gi. Fuck," he murmured. "I want you so much."

I couldn't see a problem with that. I wanted him. He wanted me. Why was he fighting it?

"Casey," he groaned again. "Oraia, you're swaying on your feet. You need food and sleep. In that order. Not me staking my claim on you against the shower wall."

Oh.

"I kind of liked the shower wall idea," I complained and received a rumble of laughter back. He pulled away slightly, managing to win his battle of wills. To take back a small semblance of self-control.

"Oh, Cassandra," he whispered. "Where has my little bird gone? The one that flits from tree branch to tree branch, and then hides in the foliage when she gets scared."

His hand cupped my cheek, his thumb stroked gently across my skin.

"I think I like this new attitude." His face fell briefly. "But not the reason why you've had to grow so much, in such a short amount of time. Please, Casey," he pleaded. "Let me care for you tonight. Let me hold you, feed you, protect you. Tomorrow we'll investigate this new Pyrkagia dynamic between us." I pouted, his lips twitched. "Thisavros, I will claim you again. Mark my words."

Another vow, that sent a shiver of anticipated delight through my frame.

"Cassandra," Theo warned. "Stop throwing your Pyrkagia Stoicheio around." This time said in a low growl. "I am only capable of so much restraint in one night, and your heat is scorching, begging for me to entwine it with mine."

I chewed the inside of my mouth and lifted my eyes to his. He murmured a few words in Greek which had a decided air of cussing about them, and then ran his fingers through my wet strands. Without another word he finished what he had started. Washing my hair with shampoo and conditioner, rinsing the suds away. Cleaning me. Caring for me.

He was right of course, not that I'd tell him. But I was beyond exhausted. A physical and emotional wreck. I needed his tender, caring touch, as much as I needed him. But Theo had recognised what was more important right now. His ability to sense what I needed and to give it to me, was perhaps the sexiest thing I had ever witnessed in my life.

The shower was switched off and Theo spent several minutes drying me with a fluffy white towel. So carefully, to make sure he didn't press too hard against bruises, or rub roughly over sensitive scrapes. He spent several moments on the scar alone. I knew his attention was not to dry it, but to absorb what had been done to me.

With a frown line back on his handsome face, he wrapped me up in a robe and led me back into the main room. It was grand. Rich furnishings, plump cushions, and deep, dark coloured, extravagant fabrics. He led me to a table where a domed plate sat waiting. It may have been there before, I wouldn't know. My eyes had been blurred when he carried me through here. I had missed everything. But my gaze eagerly took in the entirety of the room now, unhindered by those ridiculous tears.

"Are we safe here?" I asked, as he pulled a chair out and helped me sit down. He lifted the lid on the plate and fussed with the place setting before he answered. An obvious delay tactic that sat heavily on my heart.

"Isadora has had Stoicheio shields on this hotel for years. It's as safe a place as we can have in Gi territory."

Of course. Isadora was an agent of Pyrkagia sent on missions past to spy on the Gi. She'd have a safe bolt-hole to go to, if things became treacherous. The knowledge didn't soften the blow.

"Is that why she had to be here?" I asked, noting the bitchiness of my tone.

Theo took a seat opposite me and leaned over the table to place two small club sandwiches on my plate. They looked to contain eggs, ham, lettuce and thin slices of tomato. A very simple fare, but considering my lack of nutritious meals lately, an appropriate choice to begin with.

"No," he said at last. "Isadora will be needed if we plan to make it out of Gi land alive."

I closed my eyes briefly, but was not able to stop my mouth from digging a deeper hole.

"And we couldn't do that without her?"

Theo just looked at me for a long moment. Then, "I will do whatever is necessary to protect what is mine. Even if what I deem necessary infuriates my Thisavros."

"I'm not infuriated," I argued, taking a small bite of a sandwich to prove I was capable of being reasonable.

"Casey," Theo murmured with a smirk gracing those kissable lips. "Your Pyrkagia is singeing me with its ire. You are infuriated. Suck it up."

Suck it up? I glared at him, feeling a rush of something unfamiliar wash through me, urging me on, raising my temper, just as it was raising the temperature in the room.

"Cassandra," Theo purred, his eyelids doing that sexy droop thing. "Oh fuck." He shifted in his seat, as though trying to get comfortable. "You need training," he breathed, as his hand slipped down the front of his robe, making my mouth gape open at where it was blatantly heading. "A sledgehammer has more finesse than you do right now."

His hand slipped into the gap of his robe and wrapped around his hard length.

"Oh, Casey. Oraia, you're going to make me come."

"How do I stop it?" I squeaked, more than just a little horrified to be using Pyrkagia to make Theo a wanton mess. He'd used his own on me in the past, but never to this extent. It felt a little wrong, if not a whole lot wicked.

"Hmm," he mumbled. "I'm not sure I want to teach you right now."

"Theo!" I demanded.

"Casey!" he shot right back, flashing me gold from his eyes. He was panting slightly, a vein on the side of his temple set an erratic beat to match his heart. "Perhaps the lesson is in watching the result," he murmured, and then made quick work of undoing the robe's tie, and opening the two flaps to reveal his stunning glory.

His impressive sex sprang free, making me gasp and begin a pant of my own.

"You want to touch it, Thisavros?" he asked, a wicked gleam to his eyes. "Wrap your hand around it, like this?" He encased his thick length with his palm and began to pump slowly. "Or your lips? Milking me of every drop."

I moaned, he threw his head back, spread his legs wider and let himself go. I thought he'd given himself over to the pleasure, but several beautiful seconds later his head tipped back down and hungry golden eyes landed on me.

"Uncontrolled Pyrkagia Stoicheio can be overpowering." Each word was interspersed with a stroke of his hand and a groan. "For some it will render them unconscious."

Oh freaking hell. He must have seen the mortification on my face, because he chuckled, a sexy sounding noise from deep within his chest.

"I am a Prince of Pyrkagia, I can handle a little Fire. But Cassandra," he purred, "Your Fire blazes like none I have touched before."

With that, his hips rose off the chair, his back arched and a sexy, deep groan spilled from his lips, as his release shot into the air followed by a roar that rattled the nearby glass in their window frames. His whole body jerked with each ejaculated pulse, that seemed to go on forever. Finally, several erotically magical minutes later, he collapsed against the chair and muttered more words in Greek.

His eyes found mine. A sense of wonder, and that possession that never seemed to leave, staring back at me.

"How has this happened?" he whispered. "How the hell could I be so fortunate?"

I shook my head, but his words dampened my own arousal, despite the erotic show he'd just put on. There was so much to tell him. So much that had happened, that was still to happen. How did I put any of it into words?

"Sweet little Gi," he murmured, straightening himself up, but not breaking eye contact with me. "Come here."

I blinked.

"Come here," he repeated. Then again, softer, lower, "Come... here."

I scrambled off my seat and crossed the small space to him, climbing up onto his lap with the sure guidance of his hands on my hips. His lips brushed softly against my temple, then started to lay a trail down my neck, up to my jaw. His hot breath washed over my cheeks, his eyes holding mine trapped. A prison I gladly succumbed to.

"However this plays out," he murmured against my lips, his hands smoothing down my back, over my arms. "I will always love you. No matter what comes next. I will always love you. Whatever you become." He knew. He already knew I was changing, and the transformation wasn't done. "I will always love you."

For the love of God, would the tears never end?

He picked me up, cradled me against his chest, as he walked the short distance to the bed. Reaching down and whipping the covers back, he gently lay me on the surface. Unravelled the tie to the robe at my waist, slipped my arms out of the sleeves, and then repeated the process with his own. Then he slid into the bed beside me, wrapped my body up with his, and lay a tender kiss against my lips.

It occurred to me, as my lids grew heavy, the sensation of lying in a comfortable bed stealing all tension from my frame, that it was the first touch of his lips to mine since we'd reunited. I wanted more. I wanted to deepen the kiss, to take and give in equal measure. But he stroked my hair, offered soft, short caresses with his mouth, and then settled us both into a more comfortable position under the covers.

His self restraint amused me and surprised me. This man confounded me at times, but I'd never complain again. I needed rest, I needed his unconditional love. I needed this.

Just as sleep stole my last conscious thought, he murmured in amongst my hair, "I will always love you."

And I realised, belatedly, that I still hadn't said those words aloud to him.

Chapter Ten

Had This Been An Enormous Mistake?

I woke to warmth. To crisp clean sheets and the smell of laundry detergent. To a soft, feather filled mattress and the sweet, sweet soothing scent of the Earth through the delicate fragrance of orchids. For a brief, confused moment, none of it was familiar.

But then the soft touch of a heated palm, the wet, hot lick of a tongue along the seam where my thigh meets my pelvis, and the rush of Pyrkagia Stoicheio that burst into an inferno of Fire deep down inside, brought it all back to me in a thunderstorm of emotions.

"Oh," I managed to breathe out on a sigh. Joy and elation taking over from fear and anxiety. "Ohhh," I moaned, as Theo's wicked tongue delved deeper between my thighs. "Theo," I pleaded, unsure what I was pleading for.

"Hush," he chastised gently against my leg. "I have a debt to pay."

A debt? "Wh...what?" I stammered, as my hips jerked off the bed when his lips nibbled on my most sensitive part.

A heavy palm came down on the flat of my stomach to ground me.

"Be still, I'm concentrating," he advised, then blew hot breath across my moist folds.

"Oh God, Theo!" I cried out.

"There it is," he purred. "Oraia, you are so beautifully full of Fire. It drives me utterly crazy."

A long finger swept down the middle of me, coating itself in my juices. I lifted my heavy head and watched as his gold-filled eyes came up to mine. He slowly slipped the digit between his lips and sucked.

"You taste divine," he murmured. "You feel divine," he added. "I can't get enough of you."

A growl followed and then several seconds of bliss took all cognitive thought and reason. My head fell back on the pillow and I gave myself over to the sensations he was creating. Delicious, fiery, passionate, lustful. Without an ounce of shame I ground myself against him, lifted my hips and sought more.

With such a devotion to his task Theo ate me with relish. The sounds that came from the back of is throat mixed with the erotic groans I was making, filling the room up and reverberating inside my head. I writhed beneath him, his hot hands holding me up off the mattress and firmly in place for him to feast. His tongue delved rhythmically, forcing himself as deep as he could go. Which would never be enough. I wanted more of him. I wanted all of him.

I felt my Stoicheio reach out and wrap itself completely around his own. His ecstatic groan drowned out all other sounds. He began to rock his hips against the bed, seeking his own release. But still he didn't stop what he was doing and give me all of him as I sought.

"Ah-ah," he chastised, as I ramped my influence up further. "My debt must be paid in full first."

"What debt?" I demanded, feeling frustrated and bursting with the impending need to explode all at once.

"Your Pyrkagia last night stole all my reason," he said, lifting his head, denying me his tongue, but quickly answering my mewl of protest with two fingers sliding inside my core.

I groaned, rocked my hips and for a while forgot what I had asked him. When his lips and tongue returned to aid his pumping fingers I practically fell apart, only to be denied when he pulled back.

"Theo!' I scolded.

"Delayed gratification is well worth the pain, my sweet little Gi."

"What has got into you?" I complained, collapsing back on the bed, realising I was at his mercy completely.

"I only wish to fully pay what is due."

Oh, freaking hell. What was he going on about?

"Theo," I almost whimpered.

"Soon, Cassandra. Feel the build of your Pyrkagia, feel it calling to your soul. Calling to mine. Can you?"

I ached in places I hadn't ached for months. Delicious, delectable, decidedly naughty places. It was hard to see past the fervent desire to climax, to find that release and shatter into a million pieces. But he waited for my answer, offered a flick of his thumb or a soft sweep inside every few seconds. Reminding me of what he alone could give me.

Time stalled, as the world closed in to just me and Theo. His hot breath right there, centimetres away from where I longed to have his lips and tongue. His fingers teasing, but never quite delivering on the promise.

"Theo," I complained.

"Feel it, Casey," he urged. "Feel your soul's desire."

Frustrated, I shook all over with unfulfilled longing. I had him, but then I didn't. Because in all reality, he had me.

He muttered a few words in Greek when it was obvious I wasn't able to see meaning in his words. Then with one dip of that glorious head of midnight dark hair, his tongue flicked over my nub, lips wrapping around it securely and he sucked hard. His fingers pumping, his teeth nibbling, I broke apart in a beautiful array of glorious colours. Fire surged within me, curled around my heart, flushed my entire body and then stretched out its arms and beckoned Theo.

Oh.

Now I got it. His Stoicheio blended with mine, his gasp and guttural groan let me know I'd caught him, and then in a move so quick I couldn't track it, he rose above my body, all flexing muscles and sleek shining bronzed Adonis. His arm wrapped around my shoulders, as a hand landed on my hip and lifted my rear off the bed's surface.

Then with golden eyes holding my heavily lidded ones, I felt him brace at my entrance. The hot, pulsing, hard tip of his erection straining for entry.

"Good?" he asked, panting for breath and fighting his control.

"Fantastic," I replied, meaning every word.

"Debt paid," he murmured and rocked his hips sinking himself deep inside.

I stretched to accommodate him fully, he worked himself a few times in and out to ensure he was as deep as he could go, and then his lips came down on mine in a bruising, possessive kiss.

He never stopped the rhythmic pump of his pelvis, piercing me completely with each hard thrust in, adding to the sensation of being consumed with the synchronised thrust of his tongue inside my mouth. I groaned and he swallowed it down. I writhed beneath him and he met each movement with a corresponding rock of his hips, thrust of his hard length inside, press of his chest against mine.

He pulled back to let us suck in much needed air, but never faulted his movements where we met. His lips trailed over my slick skin, licking, sucking, teeth grazing.

His mouth reached my ear and he whispered, "You stole all reason last night. I have never, ever taken and not given in return. Your Stoicheio owned me. You owned me." His pace increased as his words became moans, from either frustration or mounting desire. "The things we can do together, Thisavros. The things we will make each other feel."

A groan, a circular twirl of his hips and then a grind in exactly the right spot and I detonated.

Theo shouted out, then his Stoicheio wrapped around mine, fuelling me, fuelling him. Mine rose to meet it in a dance that burned brighter than the stars, hotter than the sun. It consumed us. It melded us into one. It made us become something else, together.

"Oh yes, Casey," Theo groaned in abandon, his hips pumping in an erratic, entirely out of control way. Hard, fast, possessive.

I felt him strain; his entire body from his sweat slicked back, to his strong, thick thighs, to the hard, enormous length of him buried inside. His eyes met mine, gold intertwined with the gold. And he bared his teeth in a predatory warning.

"I claim you, Thisavros," he growled and dipped his head down, sinking his teeth into the soft flesh at the side of my neck, right where it meets my collarbone.

Fire coursed through my body, through our bodies, out into the room. A blaze of flames flared up around us, the sheets of the bed catching alight, as the smoke alarms in the ceiling started to wail and we both teetered on the edge of the abyss, and then fell over.

Theo shouted his release to the heavens, the feel of where he had bitten sinking deep into my bones, my being, my soul. I screamed as my orgasm matched his, my fingers digging into his flesh leaving curved marks of my own on his skin.

"Mine," I growled, unsure where that insistent and urgent demand came from.

Theo's movements slowed, his eyes came down to meet mine again and a smile spread across his beautiful, sated looking face.

"Oh yes, sweet little Casey Eden. We are Thisavros to the other. Nothing can ever sever this bond. Mine," he said with a purposeful rock of his hips. And then he added, as if it was just an afterthought, "Call the Fire off, Casey. You're going to burn the hotel down."

Me? I did this? I stared around the bed, noting the scorched sheets, and burned pillows, and smoke darkened ceiling above our heads. Sucking in a deep breath I concentrated on pulling my Stoicheio back towards me, which was easier than anticipated. I felt Theo shudder above me, still inside me, and then the various fires in the room snuffed out and the alarms went silent. Pyrkagia swirled around us briefly, then dissipated into the heated air.

Theo chuckled at the look of shock and wonder on my face.

"Lesson number two, my little spitfire," he whispered, bracing himself above my body, but not retreating from inside me just yet. "Pyrkagia Thisavros couplings can get a little out of hand. If you intend to give yourself over completely to the moment, choose your location well."

I stared at him for a long second and the only thought that unwillingly entered my head, was that we'd never experienced what we had just shared before; when I was just Gi and he was Pyrkagia. Yet he must have felt the same abandon with others of his kind... such as Isadora.

My face fell and I watched as he began frowning.

"Casey?" he queried softly.

"Will someone come to investigate the alarms?" I asked, instead of revealing the pain that settled in my heart.

"I shielded us from most," he replied, a smattering of tension setting up throughout his frame. I had the distinct impression it wasn't from my sudden change of mood, but more to do with what he'd just said. Or tried not to say.

"Most?" I asked, my body now made of stone, not flesh and blood and the after effects of heated passion.

Theo swore in Greek, ran a frustrated hand through his hair and then braced himself above me again, elbows on either side of my head, chest and body blanketing mine. He'd made a cage of himself around my much smaller frame, determined I wouldn't escape what he admitted next.

"I can hide us from humans and other Ekmetalleftis branches, but a Pyrkagia would have felt our Stoicheio." He hurried on when he saw the mortified look on my face. "They may not have determined that we entwined, but they will be aware one of their own lost control of their Element."

I arched my brow at him, refusing to acknowledge the softening of the blow he'd just attempted, and said, "Just as well there's only one other Pyrkagia in the vicinity then, isn't it? Shame though, that she's your ex-lover." I spat that last.

"Cassandra," he said firmly, only to be interrupted by a loud knock on the door. He growled, pulled out of me suddenly and proceeded to don his robe. I lifted up the sheet, with all its various scorch marks, to cover my body, but still felt entirely too naked right then.

Theo cast one last annoyed glance my way and then crossed to the door. He opened it only slightly, so whoever was on the other side couldn't see the destruction which had taken place in our room.

"Is everything all right, Theodoros?" Isadora asked, innocently. Too freaking innocently.

I scrambled off the bed and grabbed my own robe, wrapping it around me in short angry movements. Theo flicked a look over his shoulder at me and his frown deepened.

Well, fuck you too, I thought, and stormed into the bathroom, determined not to hear his explanation to his ex.

Why the friggin' hell was she here? Did he really have to bring that wretched woman? For crying out loud, she sold him out to the Pyrkagia Council. To the Rigas, Theo's uptight, tyrant of a father. How could he even look her in the face and not want to punch her? I sure as hell felt the desire to give her a slap or two, mar that perfect beauty, bring her cocky smug smirk down a peg or two.

And whoa? Where had this anger come from? I mean, I understood why I was angry, but I'm not normally the sort of person to burst into an uncontrollable rage. I'm more the seethe-silently type, or most of the time, when of sound mind, the go-with-the-flow type.

Right now I was the volcano-about-to-erupt type.

I angrily turned the taps on in the shower and waited with arms crossed over chest for the water to heat up. My foot tapped agitatedly on the tile floor, the room heated up with every beat of my sole to ceramic. I realised, with a small smile of bemusement, that it wasn't just the heat of the shower that was causing the temperature to rise. It was me. The Pyrkagia me.

I let a long breath of air out and worked on loosening the tension in my shoulders. There was a potted plant in the corner of the luxurious room, so I crossed to it and wrapped fingers around the smooth, silky leaf of the palm. Earth soothed me, whispered soft words to settle the inferno that still threatened to blaze inside.

God I was a freak. A soft, gentle Gi mixed with a hot-headed Pyrkagia. I started to laugh. At this rate I was going to have a personality crisis.

"Casey?" Theo asked through the closed bathroom door, surprising me that he hadn't just barged on in. "Are you OK, Oraia?"

I walked to the door and opened it, my eyes connecting with his as if drawn by magnetic pull. A force neither of us could deny. Isadora stood in the far corner of the room, glancing around entranced at the damage we'd caused. Any sense of quiet I had achieved communing with the pot plant was blasted with a surge of pure fury.

"You let her in the room?!" I demanded, hands fisted on hips.

Theo jerked back slightly, his eyes scanning my face, searching for something that clearly was no longer there.

"Do you have no sense of self preservation?" I asked, and a small twitch appeared in the corner of his lips. Which only infuriated me further.

"Dora brought breakfast," he actually said. Obviously quite incapable of reading the atmosphere right then.

"Dora brought breakfast," I repeated, pronouncing each word carefully, as though the effort required was almost too much.

"It's quite late," he pointed out. "You slept for twelve hours. We need to get a move on," he added, as though all of this was relevant.

It wasn't.

What was though... "And this is on the advice of Dora?"

"Casey," he said, trying unsuccessfully to smother a laugh. "We are still in Gi territory." The laugh increased in rumble when I growled out loud.

"Shall I come back later," Isadora asked pleasantly over Theo's shoulder, her stunning hazel eyes catching mine. She smirked.

Oh, hell no! "Not at all," I said, attempting to sound reasonable and unaffected, just as Theo muttered, "Perhaps it would be best."

His eyes flicked to mine, he seemed confused.

"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner she crawls back into her little hole and dies," I hissed, taking a step back and slamming the door in his face.

My body shook, my hands trembled as they covered my face and the groan of mortification that escaped my lips sounded wounded. What the hell was wrong with me?

I heard some indistinct voices from out in the hotel room, and then a door shutting firmly. I hadn't moved an inch, other than to cover my face with my hands. The door to the bathroom opened and Theo stepped in.

"She's gone," he announced, taking a long look at me behind my spread fingers.

I sucked in breath after breath feeling like I didn't know myself anymore.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked in a plaintive whisper.

"Oh, Oraia," Theo murmured, crossing the space between us and wrapping me up in his arms. He placed a soft kiss in amongst my hair. "Athanatos are predators. Even the steady Gi. I am yours," he whispered. "You felt your possession threatened." His lips curved up against the skin on my head. "It was really quite sweet."

"Sweet," I grumbled against his chest, sounding defeated.

"Sexy," he replied.

"Make up your mind, Theo. I'm either an incompetent sweet thing, or a confident sexy thing. I can't be both."

He laughed outright at that, his whole body shaking as he tightened his hold on my frame.

"Casey," he said between chuckles. "You have always been the sweetest, sexiest woman I have ever met. Well before I knew what you were."

"Do you know what I am?" I asked, somewhat mollified by his admission.

"An Athanatos, " he answered simply. "My Thisavros," he added with a kiss on my lips, when he tipped my face up to his.

Oh Lord. Here goes nothing.

"Apparently," I started, watching his head tilt at the uncertain tone of my voice. "I'm a little more than that."

"What have you found out?" he asked steadily.

I sucked in air and took a good hard look at the man who held me in his arms. He was my Thisavros. There was no denying he was mine and I was his. If I couldn't share what I had learned without fear of rejection from him, then I had no hope in hell of surviving what lay ahead.

I crossed my fingers behind his back where they rested, and said, voice quaking slightly, "Ever heard of an Aether?"

Holy freak golden glow. Theo lit up in a blaze of burnished jewel-like yellow from his eyes, his arms tightened further and he pulled me hard against his chest. His head tipped down and a line creased his forehead.

"Aether," he growled.

Oh, God. Had this been an enormous mistake?

Chapter Eleven

Anywhere But Here

"Oh fuck, Casey," Theo breathed out in a burst of air. "Who told you that?"

He hadn't released me, he still held me tightly in the circle of his arms. But his face had pulled back, creating a sense of distance between us. Which my mind, compounded with the angry tone of his words, interpreted as a chasm.

"An Alchemist," I admitted, reluctantly.

"What?" he shouted, which sounded too loud in the enclosed space. My body jerked in reaction, the need to cover my ears and take a step back was too great.

I felt his hands cover mine and gently tug them down from the sides of my head.

"Shhh," he murmured. "I'm sorry. You just surprised me. Alchemist?" he sucked in a breath and then urged me back into his embrace, tenderly placing my head against his chest. "Why didn't you mention this earlier?" he asked, albeit softly.

"We've hardly had time to breathe," I pointed out.

"You're right," he agreed, stroking a hand down my spine. "And the danger, if we don't leave soon, is real. Making a heart to heart on all that has happened hard to accomplish. But let's start with the basics, shall we?"

He reached into the shower and turned it off, then bundled me under his arm and took me back into the main room, settling us at the small table and chairs where breakfast had been laid out. Reminding me of who had brought it and just left.

"I don't like her," I admitted sullenly, as Theo proceeded to place croissants and cheese and fruit on my plate. "I don't trust her. She's betrayed you once already. She hates me."

Theo's eyes sparkled with humour.

"Sweet little Gi, you have nothing to worry about with Isadora." I'm not sure in which capacity he meant that. "She is a means to an end and nothing else."

"A couple thousand years of to-ing and froing, and she's just a means to an end?" I asked, incredulously. Theo and Isadora had somehow reunited their love affair though the centuries, with frequent bouts of time apart when Theo grew bored. It didn't paint either of them in a particularly good light. Theo; the unsettled, spoiled playboy. And Isadora; the pathetic hanger on.

Theo sat back in his chair and crossed his legs, staring me down.

"What's in the past stays in the past, Cassandra. Do not contend yourself with her."

That put me in my place, didn't it? I bristled, but worked on containing the heated fury that stole up my cheeks.

Then, without conscious thought, said, "If she lays a finger on you, I will kill her. If you entertain her in any capacity that can be misconstrued, I will make your life a living hell."

Silence.

Then, "Fuck, you are delicious."

I lifted my eyes to his and found only hunger and desire staring back. I'd expected righteous fury. I was laying down the law to an alpha male who had made his own rules. And yet I'd turned him on.

I offered a small smile, feeling a sense of wonder at what I'd pulled from this usually carefully controlled man.

We stared at each other for a long moment and then Theo adjusted himself in his seat and let out a long breath of air.

"So," he said at length. "Eat, and while you do, tell me about the Alchemist."

I stared down at the food before me, gathering my nerves. I'm not sure how much time passed, but Theo's hand reaching over and breaking off the corner of the croissant shattered my frozen gaze. He spread a little butter on it, placed a slice of cheese on top of that and then lifted it to my mouth. He hadn't said a word, and his movements had been precise and unhurried.

I held his gaze and let him place the food on my tongue. Neither of us smiled, just kept eye contact while I chewed my mouthful. A second piece was presented to me, followed by a slice of pineapple. Then when I started picking at the food as well, he turned his attention to a coffee pot and poured us both cups, topping them off with milk and two sugars. He pushed my drink towards me and sat back in his chair, fingers steepled in front of his lips, as he watched me nibble on my food.

"Why don't you start at the beginning," he suggested softly. "What happened when you came to?"

Came to. He meant after the Anaisthetikos in Auckland. My eyes lifted from the plate in front of me to meet his again slowly. He wasn't going to like this.

"I was in a concrete cell," I said softly, somehow thinking my tone would soften the blow.

Theo flinched, only slightly, but otherwise made no obvious move in response. He knew now that things had not gone as the Pyrkagia had expected. But how bad it actually became would be the shock.

"The Gi Rigas was there, and another Gi who ended up being my prison guard." And torturer, but we'd build up to that. "He asked me what I was, I couldn't give him the answer he desired. Things pretty much declined from there."

Theo's body was stature stiff, his fingers steepled in front of his thinly pressed lips, hadn't moved an inch. His eyes had started to blaze gold.

"Theo," I said in warning.

"Is this upsetting you?" he asked, voice low and if I was someone else, I'd think threatening. But I knew the dark tone was not for me.

"No," I said shaking my head, I'd had time to accept what had happened. "But I don't want you to be upset either."

"Does it help to talk about this?" he asked, in that same tone.

I had to think about that for a moment, but there was really only one answer. "Yes. I want there to be no secrets between us."

His eyes closed slowly and he nodded. When they opened again he'd managed to control his golden glow.

"Go on," he encouraged softly. Managing to get a handle on his tone too, it seemed.

I sucked in a deep breath and went on. Describing the repetitive questioning, the consequent torture, both physical and with the use of Hederin to make me watch Theo's death again and again. I told him about my meals; bread, occasionally some cheese and overripe fruit, and water. I outlined my daily routine of washing in the sink before Davos arrived, of resting on the hard mattress with only an old, dirty sheet for cover, of being cut off from my Stoicheio and how it weakened me both physically and mentally. I talked about Noah the doctor, who turned out to be an Alchemist, saving me in the end from a fate worse than death. Helping me to escape, killing my tormentor. Which brought me to his revelation that I was an Aether, but not what that actually meant.

I described the terror of running from the Gi fortress, of knowing the Basilissa would send out every Guard she could spare to get me back. I explained why she thought I was the answer to their fertility problems, brought on by the massive scale of deforestation right on their doorstep. I told him I felt the effects of the Amazon's pain, the Earth's pain at what was happening.

I said I understood what the Basilissa was trying to do and why. But her methods were frightening.

I told him about the confrontation with the Gi Guards, my fervent desire to escape them, to never go back to their stronghold and the Basilissa. I fumbled over the words of what it felt like when my Pyrkagia Stoicheio Awakened. I clenched my fists in my lap when I described my grandfather’s dream visit and my realisation that he was an Alchemist too, and that he must have known what I would become.

Anger warred with shock, mixed with abandonment and worry and dread and anxiety and fear. Theo finally moved, reaching across the table's surface and gripping my hand in his. His intense hazel eyes held mine for a long moment and then, having felt like I had spoken uninterrupted for an eternity, he said, "We'll work this out, Oraia. We'll figure this out together."

I bit the inside of my cheek, fighting back the tears, angry that they were still so close to the surface.

"Cassandra," he said softly, a caress of his voice over my name. "Remember what I told you last night?" I blinked back at him, but couldn't find my voice through the constriction in my throat. "I will always love you. No matter what. Nothing's changed. Nothing can change that."

I sucked in a shattering deep breath and felt my shoulders sag, not realising how tense I had become while I relayed the last three months of my life. Theo moved from his chair, and came to his knees before me, making me spread my legs so he could pull me hard against his chest. Arms wrapped around my waist, one hand up into my hair, kneading softly. He held my gaze, his head at just the right height, level with my face.

"I only know what I have been taught of the Aether," he whispered, stroking soft, tender caresses down my back, while his hand continued to massage my head. "Quintessence, as it is otherwise known," he added. Quintessence. I remembered now, he'd mentioned it when we first discovered what I was. He'd told me of the four Stoicheio and brushed over the fifth. Was it because he hadn't known enough about it to explain?

Theo continued to run his talented fingers through my hair as I thought. I sank into his touch, felt a tiny flaring of Pyrkagia inside, and hoped it didn't blaze uncontrolled and inappropriately right now. I was still so new at managing my delicious reaction to it.

"And in all honesty," Theo added, "I cannot be sure what I know is correct. Much has happened in New Zealand since you left also. Enough to make me realise my father and the council have manipulated our knowledge of Ekmetalleftis history. I have begun to doubt what I think I know."

A furrow appeared on my forehead, I could feel the crease of the frown as I stared into those liquid pools of whiskey and jade. His thumb came up and rubbed gently over the lines, trying to press my skin smooth again.

"What about Aktor?" I asked, knowing his vast age must have allowed him some insight into Ekmetalleftis history.

"That's just it," Theo answered, returning his attention to my head and hair again. "He has always argued some of the lessons Nico and I'd learned as adolescents, but he is a lower class than I. Destined to serve from the beginning. Often what we learn as royalty is quite different from that which those beneath our class have been taught. Initially, we both had no way of knowing who actually knew more of the truth. But with the way my father and his cronies have been behaving, we are both in agreement that what we do know cannot be trusted."

I nodded slowly, hearing his disappointment at his father's behaviour in his tone. Theo has had his world order shaken. Had his belief systems shattered. His father had always been a tyrant, but with my life in jeopardy from the Rigas, Theo had been forced to realise his father's actions were not as he had always seen them. It must have come as a surprise and a huge let down, to know the man who ruled your kind was not the man you had thought him to be.

"Nico," I said abruptly, wondering what had happened to Theo's cousin after I left. The last time I had seen Nico, he had been trying to kill Aktor and I had retaliated by sending him deep into a prison of the Earth.

Theo gave me a crooked smile and then smoothly stood to his feet. He glanced at what I had managed to eat, which was actually a fairly acceptable volume, and offered me his hand. I took his palm in mine and let him pull me to my feet.

"Ah, Nico," he said, starting to lead me to the bathroom again.

"What are you doing?" I asked, getting distracted by the anticipation of showering with Theo that had suddenly consumed my body and mind.

"We are still pressed for time. We need to leave, so we'll continue this conversation while we freshen up."

"Oh," I said, a little disappointed I'll admit.

Theo chuckled, leaned down and whispered huskily in my ear, "I said we're pressed for time, Oraia, get those wicked thoughts out of that beautiful head."

I humphed as he presented me with a clean toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. He just rumbled with amusement and fished out his own from a toiletries bag on the bench.

I started brushing my teeth as Theo went on - such a domesticated scene.

"Nico was retrieved after you left and paid for his... treachery."

I spat foam into the sink and rinsed before I spoke.

"Paid? How?"

"I burned him to a crisp and destroyed every single piece of property he owned."

He'd said it so casually, without any inflection in his tone at all. Then followed it up by brushing his teeth, as though the toothbrush in his mouth would stop me from demanding an explanation.

"You what?"

He spat, rinsed and then wiped his face with a cloth. Then turned to face me, hip to the bench, arms crossed over his chest.

"He tried to kill Aktor. He harmed you. He was going to hand you over to the Gi."

"I ended up with the Gi anyway, and he was only trying to save his beloved Pyrkagia. They were dying," I pointed out. "Because of me," I added, mirroring his stance.

He growled. Gold flashed.

"He betrayed me, Casey. I do not accept betrayal lightly. And besides," he added, with a negligent wave of his hand. "I only burned him, I didn't decapitate him. He survived."

He moved to the shower and angrily turned the taps on. I couldn't help the smile that curved my lips. I knew he wasn't angry at me, but at Nico. Watching his temper fly though, was a beautiful thing. Feeling his temper fly, was impossible not to respond to.

His robe came off his shoulders and he threw it in the corner of the room, then he reached in and tested the water. I slipped out of mine and stepped closer to his back, reaching up and running a delicate finger down his spine. He shivered. All over.

"Cassandra," he purred. "We are on a deadline here, little Gi."

"So?" I queried. "We can do two things at once."

"Yes, talk about what we're going to do next and get clean," he offered, but I saw the Fire light in his eyes.

I shrugged my shoulder, as he turned to look at me, taking a step backward to bring him under the spray of the shower. Water cascaded over his very fine body, running in rivulets down his broad chest, dipping into the ridges of his muscles, making sure my eyes were brought to every dip and curve, every expanse and hollow.

"Like what you see?" he asked with a sexy smirk. I nodded, unembarrassed by my hunger.

Good Lord, I had come a long way in such a short amount of time. But Theo did that to me. It was all him.

"Then come and get it," he husked, bracing himself against the shower wall, hands spread either side of his hips, palms flat against tile. He spread his legs and let me take my fill. His sex lengthening and thickening under my hungry perusal.

I licked my lips and took the necessary step to bring me under the spray with him.

"I'm not going to touch you," he whispered. "If I touch you, we'll never leave Manaus and we both know we cannot stay here."

I nodded, my eyes not leaving his erection. It jerked.

"Do what you must, Thisavros. But do quickly. The longer we stay, the more chance of the Gi finding us."

My eyes reluctantly flicked up to his. "Where are we going to go?"

His face softened, he'd been holding himself rigid, probably in an effort not to reach for me. But the concern in my voice affected him too greatly.

"To start with," he whispered, "away from here."

"Anywhere but here," I offered. He nodded.

The future was definitely uncertain, and once we walked out of this hotel, with its carefully placed Pyrkagia shields, we'd be vulnerable. Who knew when we'd get the chance to taste each other again.

"On your knees," Theo commanded, in a sexy, deep voice.

"I thought I was in charge," I argued.

"Oh, Cassandra," he murmured, his lips lifting into a sexy, smug smile. "I'm going to show you just how much you are. Now," he growled, then huskily whispered, "On... your... knees."

I was on my knees in front of him before he'd finished the command.

Me, in control? Not a freaking chance.

Chapter Twelve

Maybe This Will Be Fun After All

"For the love of Aetheros, Casey. Lick it!"

A huff of a laugh burst up my throat. I'd been staring at Theo's erection for some time, enjoying the droplets of moisture as they ran down the thick, raised veins on either side. Each time a drop of water landed on the flared head it jerked, and Theo groaned. He probably thought my hesitation was due to inexperience, and I admit, there was a flutter of nerves inside my belly. But it was a delicious mix of anticipation and desire. I wanted to taste him, and my body's natural needs were outshining any reservation I had because of my lack of know-how.

I licked my lips greedily.

"Minx," he muttered. "Suck it."

My hands lifted to his hips and fingernails dug in, making Theo inhale a sharp breath of air. I blew slowly across the surface of his heated and distended flesh, letting my body dictate the pace.

"Casey," he pleaded, a sound so wretched I'd never expected to hear Theo Peters use it.

My eyes flicked up to his. He was watching me, gold brimming his eyelashes, heat - Pyrkagia heat - reaching out to caress my body and urge me on.

"Are you using your Stoicheio, Theo?" I asked, reasonably. My voice steady, but a trembling had started through my frame.

I was determined though, to delay giving him the contact he desired where he desired it most. A natural borne instinct to tease, which I hadn't even known I had until now.

"I never said I wouldn't touch you with my Stoicheio," he explained, voice straining. "I had been inferring I wouldn't touch you with my hands." He made a show of slapping his palms against the tiles at his side, in case I didn't get his meaning.

I raised an eyebrow at him and felt his touch, through his Fire, as it caressed down over my breasts, my stomach and delicately stroked the flesh between my thighs. As though it was his finger, his tongue, not just the manifestation of his elemental power.

This was new, and decidedly wicked. I closed my eyes, rocked my hips and moaned. Theo must have thrust his pelvis forward, because the next second his arousal was butting up to my parted lips.

"Open wider," he rasped.

I flicked my tongue out instead, tasting his pre-come, making him moan in delighted shock.

"You're teasing, Casey," he pointed out correctly, returning his sex to my mouth, and then making the broad tip stroke across my lips with a sideways sway of his hips. "Two can play at that game," he added, just as his Stoicheio flicked my little nub, then somehow managed to rub.

My head fell back, my lips parted on a moan, and then his 'touch' was gone.

"You want more, vixen. Then take me in your mouth and suck hard."

My head fell forward and I lifted heavy eyes up to his. This was a Theo I hadn't yet met. Hungry, demanding. He wasn't sheltering me from his fervent desire, he was letting me taste the real him. And seeing if I flitted away, like a little bird, and hid in amongst the trees. A small moan of arousal escaped my lips. He groaned. The look he gave me told me just what he wanted to be doing right then, and it would have definitely involved his hands touching me.

"We're wasting time," he pointed out in a whisper. He shook his head, looking saddened. "Sweet little Gi, you distract me with such delicious ease. We need to leave here, find somewhere safe to contact Aktor and decide what we're going to do next." I understood what he was saying, but his ability to turn off the lust and return to matters of dire urgency, was infuriating to say the least.

So, what was a girl to do?

I leaned forward, eyes still locked on the tormented ones of his, and licked the length of his shaft.

"Casey," he warned, shaking his head still.

"Hush," I chastised. "I'm concentrating," I added, in a mimic of his earlier words.

His fists curled against the tiles and I slipped the rim of my mouth over the tip of his sex, and then sucked as I brought him in deep.

"Oh, Aetheros," he murmured, rocking his hips slowly, matching my movements, increasing the depth he went with each thrust. "Spread your legs," he ordered, already breathless. "If we're to do this, it must be fast."

I nodded, made him growl with the unexpected movement, and renewed my efforts, trying my best to get him to lose control under just the touch of my lips and tongue and teeth.

Pyrkagia swirled inside the small shower stall, stroked down my back, fisted metaphysical hands in my hair and held me still. Theo pumped himself into my mouth, taking back control the only way he was allowing himself to right then. But the fact he was doing it at all, let me know I had won. His hands fisted so hard at his sides on the shower wall tiles, his knuckles had turned white. He was groaning and muttering words in Greek as he succumbed to my touch. I don't think he realised what he was doing. He'd fallen into the moment so completely, that the water had turned to steam. Heat engulfed us, and with a small amount of my attention, I searched inside to ensure it wasn't from me.

Miraculously I was containing my Stoicheio, but Theo was not.

Knowing I did this to him, made him lose control to such a degree, felt heady, powerful in a way my Elements did not. I gladly let him hold me still with his Pyrkagia, I moaned with abandon as he thrust again and again across my humming lips. His moans mixed with mine, as he let his Stoicheio reach further, down my back, over my rounded butt cheeks, stroking lovingly across each curve, and then moving on further to start a rhythm of its own between my moist folds.

"Casey," Theo murmured, increasing his pace, softly banging a fisted palm against the tile with each urgent thrust. "You are fantastic," he breathed. "Utterly beautiful."

My eyes came up to his face, finding him watching avidly as his hard length pierced my lips, breached my mouth.

"Mine," he rasped, making me feel him everywhere. Making my muscles clench and an orgasm begin to build inexorably. "Come for me, sweet little Gi," he murmured, as his Pyrkagia coaxed me closer and closer. "Come for me as I spill for you." He groaned, his eyes closed, his hold in my hair firm, but also tender, even as his palms slapped the tiles at his sides.

It was a strange feeling, knowing he wasn't touching me with his fingers or hands, but he was touching me everywhere it counted. I loved the sensation of him losing himself in my mouth. I loved the sensations he was creating between my legs; deep, down inside. I loved that he was driving me as crazy as I was driving him.

I was determined to get him to relinquish that last little hold of himself. Unsure exactly what I was demanding, but knowing I craved it all the same. A small spark of my Fire directed straight into his heart and he spasmed, cried out my name in surprise and then cupped my chin with his hand and pulled himself free.

He'd touched me, with his hand. He'd lost that last control, but not in the way I had intended. A mewl of protest spilled from my lips, over the tingling loss of sensation he'd left in his wake.

"Shhh," he murmured, then voice slightly rasping, he said, "It's too soon for that, Oraia."

He hadn't forgotten my inexperience, and for a moment I wasn't sure if I should be angry at his protective instinct or pleased. Theo would never push me too far too soon, but I knew when he deemed the moment right, he would push me. I lifted shy eyes to his face, and was rewarded with a searing look of utter hunger.

"Like this for now," he husked, reaching for my hand and guiding me to his straining erection. He wrapped his hand over mine and started to stroke. Squeezing my palm around his circumference, showing me how hard he needed to be held.

I started panting again, breathless with awe and my own need. He groaned, bucked his hips into our hold and then after only a half dozen pumps, exploded with an ecstatic roar of release. I was utterly mesmerised, and totally turned on.

When he finally released his hold on my hand where it wrapped his slowly softening length, he returned his fingers, shaking, to under my chin, lifting my face back up to his. His eyes blazed gold and he rasped, "How the hell could I be so fortunate?"

Then he was on his knees, his lips on mine, his hands - real hands - fisted in my hair, as he kissed me with utter devotion. Letting his Stoicheio finally finish what it had started, stroking, flicking, rubbing and then consuming me, as the orgasm crashed and rolled and carried me away. For several blissful moments I was floating, surrounded with Fire, caressed from the inside out.

My eyelids flickered as I came back to awareness, cradled in the circle of his arms as his lips trailed light kisses across the curve of my neck.

"Utterly beautiful," he murmured against my skin. "Do you see now, Cassandra? How much you control? How much of me you own?"

I nodded, panting for breath still, clinging to him for fear I'd float away again.

"About as much as you control me," I finally murmured, receiving a chuckle from deep inside his chest.

"That is what being Thisavros means." He kissed me again, ran hands through my wet hair and over my sensitive skin. "I'm in heaven," he murmured against my lips, lifting me to my feet smoothly, and then beginning to spread liquid soap all over my body. His heated gaze watched as the fine hairs on my skin lifted, and my frame shook with tiny trembles.

He looked fascinated as he washed me. Totally absorbed in what he was doing and how it was affecting my body. Completely lost to the moment, even though it was simply a moment to show he cared. To clean me, with me returning the favour and cleaning him. Nurturing each other, loving each other in a non-sexual way, but sensually nonetheless.

We towelled off in silence and then with robes on again we returned to the main room. Taking in the disarray of the sheets on the bed, the smoke marked ceiling and scorched furnishings.

"Not even twenty-four hours together again and we're destroying the place," Theo quipped, as he delved into his suitcase and began taking clothes out to get dressed.

He surprised me by having an outfit for me to wear. Obviously he'd not thrown my small wardrobe of clothes out after I'd left Auckland. He presented me with my familiar yoga pants, singlet top and hoodie, all in black. Not necessarily appropriate tropical wear, but mine. All mine. I hugged them to my chest and dipped my nose in amongst them, smelling Aktor's laundry detergent. A smile graced my lips when my eyes came up, meeting the amused hazel of Theo's.

"It's all I could grab on such short notice."

"It's perfect," I replied, grabbing the underwear he'd also provided and getting dressed quickly.

I hadn't realised Theo was just watching me, wonder and that ever present hunger in his eyes.

"You have grown so much, little Gi," he murmured, when I raised questioning eyebrows at him. "You would never have gotten dressed so casually in my presence before."

I offered a smile and small shrug. "Some things don't seem so important anymore," I admitted. Then suddenly thought to add, "But don't think I won't still make you work for it."

He threw back his head and laughed, mirth flashing in his eyes as he slowly slipped the robe off his shoulders and made a show of stripping what little he had on for me.

"Will this do as payment?" he queried, seductively.

"Theo Peters," I chastised. "Do you wish us to get out of Manaus or not?"

He continued to laugh as he picked up speed, dressing in a more normal fashion. I returned to the bathroom and brushed my hair out, searching through his toiletries for some moisturiser for my face. I heard the main door knock again, making me frown at who would be on the other side of it. I couldn't find the cream I wanted, so with defeated eyes stared at myself in the mirror, wondering if I passed the Isadora test. Knowing I'd fail in comparison to her well put-together image.

I sighed, straightened my shoulders and walked back into the room.

And immediately came up short at Isadora in trim linen pants and a fitted blouse, wedge-heel sandals and sunglasses. But that's not what made me stop in my tracks. She had a brown long haired wig on, and when she removed her glasses, her eyes were dark blue. Gi wannabe.

I snorted. She turned an imperious arched look at me.

"Something the matter?" she queried.

"You don't even look Gi," I pointed out, a little snottily. She did bring out the worst in me.

"And you do?" she shot back.

"Dora," Theo warned.

"Isadora," I corrected through gritted teeth, making her smile triumphantly.

Theo let out a frustrated sigh. "This is going to be a very testing day."

"Only if you forget to call her by her full name," I growled.

"Your Gi has grown claws," Isadora murmured, almost a purr in itself.

"You have no idea, lady," I shot back.

"Casey," Theo warned now. My eyes flicked to his and he shook his head. Just a small movement, but it relayed so much. He didn't trust her. He didn't want her to know I was Pyrkagia now too. That I was Aether.

I gave him a beaming smile, which made him shake his head for a different reason. I was quite happy to keep Isadora in the dark, and more than happy to see that Theo didn't blindly trust his ex-lover.

Take that, bitch!

I blinked at the unusual-for-me sentiment.

Everyone shuffled slightly on uncomfortable feet, until Isadora decided to get the show on the road.

"So, has your pet regained her strength enough to travel at last?"

Pet? My hands fisted and Theo took a step forward, his eyes blazing gold and sending a message to Isadora I don't think she wanted to see.

"My Thisavros has recovered nicely. Thank you for your concern." He emphasised Thisavros, which made it forgiveable that he was talking about me as though I wasn't there. I understood his message, even if Isadora chose to ignore it.

"Well, while you've been amusing yourself, Theodoros, I've been catching up with a few of my informants."

"And what have you found out?" he asked, ignoring her jibe at what she considered his hobby.

"The Basilissa is no longer in the Gi fortress."

I sank onto the side of the unmade bed, not even caring that Isadora had seen it and could work out how it had gotten that way. News that the Basilissa hadn't just sent her Guards after me was not good. I concentrated on breathing, until tension eased from my frame when Theo's hand started to rub gentle circles on my back.

Isadora pouted.

"What else?" Theo asked, not taking his concerned eyes off my face.

"Two Gi Guard regiments are also missing since the day before yesterday."

"How many in a regiment?" Theo asked, voice low and level.

"Usually twenty-five for a Scout regiment, but these are the Queen's Guards. Highly trained, extremely efficient. So, a dozen per regiment instead of the normal amount."

"So, twenty-four Guards in total on our tails. Plus the Queen," Theo surmised.

"Eighteen," I corrected, absently.

"Excuse me?" Isadora demanded, as though my speaking was an indiscretion right then.

But Theo talked over her. "Of course," he said with burgeoning pride. "You took out six the first day of your escape."

"Really," Isadora remarked, sounding unimpressed. "That would be with the help of your Gi doctor. Just how did you win him over, Cassandra?" she queried. "Offer him a little something on the side?"

Theo growled, gold flashed, but it was my Stoicheio which reached out to slap that smug look off her face. Theo pounced on my mistake. With a sweep of his arm he pushed me back on the bed, making me lose my concentration.

Then placed himself between me and Isadora, and shouted, "Enough!"

His own Stoicheio filled the room, masking mine and washing us all in its heated Fire.

"I may be exiled from Pyrkagia right now," - What? Exiled? Someone hadn't divulged all their secrets, had they? I stared daggers at his back, for all the good it would do me. - "But I am still your Prince," he added, in a feral growl. "Do not test me Isadora Petros."

Silence met his statement, thick with the weight of unsaid words. I glanced around Theo's stiff frame and watched Isadora stare him directly in the eyes. Defying him openly for a moment. Letting him know we needed her, more than she needed to kowtow to royal titles.

But then she slowly lowered her head and with a small nod said, "Your Highness. Forgive me."

Theo nodded in return and turned back to me. His eyes held mine, letting me know what he'd risked by throwing his position in her face. We were on thin ice and we needed Isadora's guidance to avoid capture in Gi land. I had to improve my attitude. I had to work on my control when angered by her smug, smarmy smirks. I couldn't let Theo step in like that again; covering for me. One more time and Isadora would lift that defiant, superior pointed chin of hers and stomp away.

We needed her.

I sighed, my eyes no doubt letting Theo know exactly how I felt about that.

He offered a small smile, then with a brief touch of his fingers to my cheek, turned back to the room at large and said, "Well, I guess we should get going. Any ideas on which route you plan for us to take?"

Isadora straightened her spine, seeing that the theatrics were over, and then settled into the persona she loved best. Self-satisfied know-it-all.

"The airport is out," she announced. "Gi are crawling all over it. So I've organised a vehicle and we'll head east to Belém, then attempt an airline there."

Theo whistled. "That's a hell of a journey by car."

"Yes," Isadora replied, shrugging her shoulders and somehow managing to stare down her nose at me at the same time. "Three thousand and eighty-eight kilometres on the BR-230. We'll have to head south-west in a dog leg and then east towards the coast and Belém. Unless you'd like to take your chances in the rainforest? Then we could try Santarém. But the Gi have a stronghold there as well. They are extremely territorial and guard the Amazon as though it were their lifeblood."

"It is," I pointed out. "It thrives, they thrive. It suffers, they suffer."

"How primitive," she remarked.

"How over opinionated," I shot back.

"Being of a superior intelligence does not necessarily mean I am over-opinionated," she snarled.

"Doesn't mean you're not a bitch either," I argued, forcing a pleasant faux smile, with a flash of teeth.

Theo sighed.

"Two days in a vehicle with you two sniping at each other. Somehow I think my luck has run out."

"Oh, Theo," Isadora purred. "Just think, you can take your pick at the end of each night. Mix it up a bit, compare notes. I'm sure you remember how inventive I was."

She did not just say that.

Theo growled and said warningly, "Casey." Casey? Not Isadora? Not even Dora? What the...?

"I'm not the one being a bitch," I finally settled on as answer.

"Little Gi," she said, the diminutive term sounding like a derogatory one coming from her lips. "It takes Fire to hold Fire. Of which you severely lack."

"Theo, can I please? Please?" I begged, standing up to glare at the woman and fisting my hands at my sides. "Just one shot, that's all I ask. That's all it would take. Just one."

The bastard started laughing, took the necessary steps to bring himself in front of my face, cutting off all vision of the witch. He tipped my chin up, let me see his amusement - and could that be pride? - flashing in his eyes. And then dipped his head down and kissed me hard. On the lips. Tongue and teeth and all. In front of Isadora.

"Delicious," he murmured, hot breath across my face. "Maybe this will be fun after all."

I seriously doubted that. I really, truly did.

Chapter Thirteen

Even If The Earth Cried Silent Tears Inside My Head

Isadora left us in a huff to get her luggage and rendezvous in front of the hotel in fifteen minutes. Barely enough time to round on Theo and have it out.

"I don't trust her." A repeat of my earlier statement.

"So you have mentioned," Theo drawled.

"You don't trust her either," I reasoned, one hand resting on my hip, the other pointed at his infuriatingly amused face.

"This is true," he said, reasonably.

"Then why is she here?"

"Also something we have gone over, Cassandra. Must I repeat myself?"

I let a frustrated sound out and threw my hands up into the air.

"Theo!" I said with meaning. "I'm new to this. How am I going to hide that I am now Pyrkagia too?"

His eyes scanned the hotel room briefly, taking in the Fire damage, and then came back to my face. Concern and understanding traced shadows across his façade.

"Is that what you're worried about?" he asked, softly.

"Among other things," I said, in a more volume appropriate voice.

"Oraia," he whispered, walking closer to place a hand on my cheek and one around to the small of my back. He pulled me slowly against his chest. "I will protect you."

"But what if she finds out?"

"Then we deal with it, like we deal with anything else that arises."

I wished it was that easy, but something told me Isadora finding out what I was becoming would not be a good idea. When I said I didn't trust her, I meant I really didn't trust her. That woman had only one goal in mind. Eradicating me and having Theo all to herself again.

I sighed as my cheek came to rest on Theo's chest. His hand had moved from my face to up in my hair, stroking. Softly. Lovingly.

"What's this about you being exiled?" I asked, rubbing myself against his shirt, feeling the hardness of muscles beneath.

"Ah," he said, making me pull my head back to catch the meaning in his eyes. He looked a little contrite. "I didn't mention it sooner because it doesn't help our current predicament." He hadn't mentioned it at all.

"Really," I said, imitating Isadora's earlier tone, which only made me frown.

"Casey," Theo said on a sigh. "My father is not the forgiving type. I have been ostracised due to my involvement in what happened the night you left. Pyrkagia do not take kindly to being attacked and having their land invaded." I snorted. Who did? Theo raised one eyebrow at me. "I was allowed to remain in Auckland, but not be involved in Pyrkagia politics. Unless," he added, voice lower conveying the magnitude of what he was about to say, "I followed you. In which case it was made clear I could not return to Auckland. Ever."

My heart sank. We'd always known, from the moment we discovered I was Gi and he was Pyrkagia, that we were enemies. But somehow, stupidly, when my Pyrkagia side had Awakened, I'd thought we'd be able to return to our home city and be together, at last. On the same side. Of course, even though the Pyrkagia Rigas didn't know I had transformed into something else, something that brought me under their branch of Ekmetalleftis, I would always be Gi, an enemy, to him. Corrupting his son. Defiling his bloodline.

"How did you convince Isadora to come then?" I asked, feeling numb all over.

Theo started to rub his hands up and down my bare arms, clearly aware I had paled and was retreating.

"I offered a favour," he whispered into the hair on top of my head. He followed it up with a soft kiss. "One she can claim at any time in the future. And there will come a time where she needs my help. We live very long lives, the odds are she'll have need of my aid eventually."

"Just your aid?" I asked, voice quiet. Could Isadora ask for something else? Something I would not be prepared to let Theo give her.

I felt his lips spread as they rested on top of my head.

"Yes, sweet little Gi. Only my aid. No need for you get all territorial just yet. Although," he murmured, bringing his lips down to my ear, "If you want to punish me for my transgression, please don't hold back. I'll willingly take anything you offer." The last was said in a seductive purr.

I gave him a light playful shove; he let me.

"I gather a favour of aid is not something to sneeze at?" I said, lifting my eyes to his.

"An offer of my aid is not something to sneeze at," he countered. "It was the only thing I was prepared to bargain with. And fortunately something Isadora, an operative of Pyrkagia, values. I dare say she has strategic favours documented in a ledger somewhere and caresses each one lovingly before she goes to bed at night."

I let a chuff of laughter out. Theo smirked.

"It's probably the only thing she gets to caress at night," I said, then promptly covered my mouth with my hand, mortified I'd said that aloud.

Theo let out a bark of laughter, his chest rising and falling with the chuckles that followed.

"You really have gotten under her skin, you know," he finally said, moving to finish packing his suitcase, aware our fifteen minutes were nearly up. He finished his task and turned back to me, face serious again. "But Oraia, she would not be a good enemy to have."

"She's already an enemy," I remarked, crossing my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling exposed.

"No," he argued. "She's a rival, nothing more. But once you cross that line into enemy territory, she would be a formidable opponent."

"I can't see the distinction," I admitted. Because I couldn't. Isadora would drop me in it, at the very first opportunity. How is that different from being my enemy?

"Then you had better learn," Theo pointed out, rather harshly I thought. "Athanatos are capable of much cruelty to gain what they desire. Especially when pushed too far. Our very long lives offer little in the way of a challenge at times; we greedily grasp any chance to alleviate that boredom. Isadora is over two thousand years old, do not make the mistake of assuming she is human in any way. She gave up what humanity she had after one hundred years of life. She is Athanatos, and sooner or later she will tire of the entertainment you provide and consider you a challenge instead."

I held his gaze, letting the gravity of his words sink in. After a lengthy pause I nodded my head. I still had so much to learn about this new world I now lived in, but the most obvious lesson was the potential for danger. I seemed to be walking a tightrope strung between survival and the jagged edge of death. With death glaring back hungrily. Isadora was just another landmine to navigate, but right now I lacked the experience to see the signals before I stepped on the bomb.

"Will you help me?" I asked, and received a scowl in return.

"That is a given, Thisavros. You are mine." The last was said in a low growl, which should have made me jump, but instead sent awareness coursing through my body, flaring my Pyrkagia alight. Theo slowly closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. His hands fisted at his sides, and his chest rose and fell steeply. "Casey," he continued to growl. "Grab what you need and get out that door, before I strip you bare and taste you."

I did jump then, followed by a squeak when his gold flamed eyes opened and target locked on me. I reached for my hoodie, not planning on wearing it in this heat, and then ran to the door. Before my hand was even wrapped around the handle, Theo was at my back. His fingers cupped my throat from behind; carefully, not tightly in any way, but definitely possessively. He tilted my head up and back, as his body pressed into my spine, imprisoning me.

"Too late," he whispered. Then his lips crushed into mine, stealing all thought of escape, making my knees go weak and my blood pump furiously through my heart. "Ah, sweet Thisavros," he murmured against my lips. His tongue licking, teasing, tempting the corner of my mouth. "You own me."

I shuddered, he groaned, and then with one last deep, consuming kiss, he slowly pulled back. I could still feel his heat down my spine, still feel the touch of his lips on mine, the sensation of his possessive fingers at my throat. I'd never felt so wanted before, never felt so desired. I didn't own Theo, he owned me. And I loved it.

"Open the door," he said, voice rough. "If we stay here a moment longer, we'll never leave."

I gave him a smirk over my shoulder, letting him see that I thought that idea was a great plan. He shook his head slowly, closed his eyes again and pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering several words in Greek under his breath. I turned back to the door and opened it, then before I could change my mind, stepped through into the empty hallway beyond.

As soon as Theo closed the door to our room behind him, I felt the world shift slightly. Maybe the Earth sighed in sadness. Maybe it was just me. Our brief reprieve in the Tropical Manaus Hotel was over, and now we were running for our lives. Again.

"What will happen when we leave the shields behind?" I asked, as we waited for the elevator to reach the ground floor.

"If any Gi are nearby they may spot us. But unless we use our Stoicheio they won't detect us."

"Is that why Isadora wears a disguise?"

"It helps to blend in and be overlooked."

"But you're not," I stated, glancing at Theo in all his natural glory.

He offered me a wide toothy smile. "I am too well known to hide that easily. And now, so are you. We take our chances and run. Hoping no Gi happen to be walking by."

I thought about that as the lift came to a halt on the ground floor.

"I guess if anyone has to use their Stoicheio it had better be my Gi," I suggested. "That way they won't be able to tell if I'm one of them or a trespasser."

Theo turned slowly to look at me as the doors chimed and swished softly open.

"Clever," he murmured, reaching up and tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Beautiful and intelligent. There could be no better combination."

I offered a small smile, feeling shy for the first time since we'd reunited. A once familiar sensation, that now felt out of place when it was just Theo and me.

"I've missed the blush," he whispered, as someone cleared their throat on the other side of the still open elevator doors. Theo turned his head to face the offender and gave him his most imperious arched brow look.

I thought, for a moment, that he might do something over the top. Like tell the guy who stood there waiting to use the lift, that this one's taken and then close the doors in his face to do wicked things to me. But he must have realised we had to get going, because he made a low growling sound in the back of his throat, grasped my hand and walked us out past the unamused gentleman at the lift doors.

I was still smirking at his behaviour when we came out under the portico and found an impatient Isadora leaning against a large SUV.

"Finally," she muttered, rounding the front of the car and going straight for the driver's side door.

"You're not going to drive?" I asked, astounded at her audacity. Theo was not the sort of man to be blithely driven around by someone other than Aktor, his dedicated chauffeur.

"Isadora knows the back roads better than I do, and we may well need them." It made sense, but I saw the firm set of his jaw.

Theo was a dominant alpha in every sense of the word. He was not comfortable handing over the reins to someone else. Or maybe it was just Isadora. He was uncomfortable with her, just as much as I was.

He opened the rear passenger door for me and helped me inside, then once he'd stowed his luggage, slipped into the seat in front, next to Isadora. Her steely eyes lifted to the rear view mirror and pierced me.

"Now would be the time to pray to any human God you believe in, Cassandra," she announced. "The moment we leave the protection of this building, you'll be a beacon to every Gi out there."

I slunk down in my seat, taking in the darkened tinted glass of the rear windows hiding me pretty much from sight.

"Why don't you lie down and get some sleep, Casey," Theo suggested. "You still look exhausted, Oraia."

I wanted to offer a quick witted comeback, something about him keeping me up most of the night. But my confidence was taking a hammering. Both Theo and Isadora were in danger because of me. The least I could do was hide my very wanted face from sight. I nodded to Theo, as he looked at me over his shoulder. He offered a smile, and then when I settled myself under a blanket in the back of the car, turned to face the front windscreen.

I felt about an inch tall, as the car pulled out of the driveway. Banished to the back seat, instructed to sleep because I looked exhausted - which sounded like a euphemism for awful - with the weight of guilt weighing on my shoulders. I tried to suck it up. Just because Theo got to sit up front and converse with the bitch and I didn't, shouldn't have been something I desired at all. But the back seat felt miles away from the two of them, even though I could hear their soft voices and reach out and touch them both.

The mind is a terrible trickster, especially when you're so worn down. Maybe Theo was right, and sleep would help. Even if the idea of driving down Manaus streets left my heart thumping and caused sweat to break out all over my skin.

I lay looking blindly at the ceiling of the car, while Isadora and Theo talked about the route she planned to take, which would lead us on a round about path out of the city, avoiding all the known hotspots for Gi, using all the most human popular roadways.

"The most treacherous part is this side of Manaus," Isadora was saying. "The further we are from the actual forest, the safer we'll be. But nowhere is one hundred percent secure. The Gi own this city and can appear anywhere."

"Maybe I should be in the back with Cassandra," Theo suggested, and for a brief moment my heart swelled and my confidence lifted.

"They won't be expecting you, Theodoros," Isadora argued swiftly. "Who would believe the Prince of Pyrkagia would give up his life for a Gi? I sure as hell don't understand it."

"You've made that perfectly clear, Dora," Theo murmured, and my teeth ground together at his choice of name to use. Would the man never learn?

"This is not you, Theo," she insisted, her hands curling tightly around the steering wheel. "You have been hypnotised into believing she is yours. She is not!"

"Don't start this," Theo warned. "Not here." Not here? Then where? Somewhere I was not?

"Theo," she begged. "Wake up, please! This will only lead to your exile or worse, your death."

He was silent, staring out the side window, trying to ignore her. Or thinking her argument over inside his jumbled head.

She lowered her voice. God knows she must have been aware I was still awake and could hear every word, but she made the effort to look the part of a concerned friend, and not the wicked witch.

"What if she has channelled essence and used it on you," she whispered. Then her hand moved over the space between them and landed on his thigh. "Influenced you," she added, giving him a consoling squeeze.

I stared, absolutely astonished she'd be so blatant, so forthright in her attempts to get him back. In front of me. I felt the temperature in the back of the car rise, and there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it. To hide it.

"Isadora," Theo said, wrapping his hand around her own, and starting to lift it off his leg.

She didn't like that. She made a frustrated sound, then said under her breath, "You're a fool."

Silence, as Theo purposely placed her hand back on her own leg and released it. Then in a voice so soft, it made me feel every word alongside Isadora, he said, "But I'm no longer your fool."

"Theo," she breathed on a burst of saddened air, and oh now I wished I really wasn't bearing witness to this conversation. I felt my anger fold in on itself, my Pyrkagia Stoicheio soon followed.

The large SUV seemed too small for the awkward silence that blanketed it. I kept my eyes shut, avoided looking at either of them, and willed our journey to be over.

The beautiful streets of Manaus flashed by, whether there were Gi walking them or not, I didn't know. But at some stage I felt comfortable enough to open my eyes, and let them drift over the tops of the buildings that I could see from where I still lay, as they whizzed past my rear window. Lush greens of the rainforest were slowly overcome by concrete and brightly coloured shop awnings. The odd church spire and then a rash of bright yellow, blue and red houses one after the other.

The road widened and tall palm trees lined the central island of a multi-lane highway. I sat up when the struts of a large bridge started to rhythmically flicker past the windows, indicating we'd made it onto the Manaus-Iranduba Bridge. No one spoke until the tyres ka-thunked over the final section, signifying our successful escape out of the Gi's most populated city.

"We've made it," I said, sounding as surprised at our near miss as I felt.

Theo turned and offered me a smile, while Isadora tapped her finger on the steering wheel and announced, "Just three thousand and eighty-eight kilometres left to go."

But her agitated and clearly unhappy mood couldn't dull the excitement at having evaded Gi capture. The more distance between me and that beautiful rainforest, the better. Even if the Earth cried silent tears inside my head; a sensation of loss, more than a sound of heartache.

It won't be forever, I promised, not sure if it could hear me when I wasn't touching the soil with bare feet. "I'll be back," I whispered, unaware I'd say those words, that vow, aloud until I did.

Theo twisted in his seat again and searched my face, an obvious question in his intense hazel eyes.

I gave him a small smile and a shrug of my shoulders, then said, "I just have a feeling I'm meant to come back, that's all." And I did, deep down inside I knew my role here had not been fulfilled.

He held my gaze for several seconds and nodded, just when Isadora made a disgruntled sound. Theo ignored her completely and reached for my hand, giving a soft squeeze as soon as my fingers slipped in to his.

Giving me, without request, what Isadora had tried to force. I hadn't meant to raise my gaze to the rear view mirror, but I did it all the same.

And watched the hatred bleed into the gold haze that coated Isadora's eyes, as they sent a clear message of challenge back at me.

I think Theo was mistaken. Isadora wasn't a rival anymore. She was a full-fledged enemy.

An enemy helping us traverse another enemy's land. But was she dodging the landmines with us, or was she going to plant them?

Chapter Fourteen

The Earth Made A Sound Of Sadness And Frustration On My Behalf

"You should eat something," Theo said gently, bringing me out of my daze. I'd been staring out of the roadside diner’s windows we were at, watching the rush of traffic as it zoomed past in the twilight. Muted colours that the low setting sun turned into softly shining jewels instead of cars.

I lifted my eyes to his and nodded my head in agreement, but the mouthful of feijoada that reached my lips failed to taste as good as it smelled. The fork clattered back onto my almost full plate.

"Casey," Theo said, reaching for my hand across the small table. "What's wrong?"

I glanced up towards the bathrooms Isadora had just gone to use, and frowned. For the past day she'd behaved herself. Never overstepping the mark again since we left Manaus. She'd been courteous, pleasant and even contained her smirks. I absolutely did not trust her change of mannerisms at all.

But that wasn't what had put me off my food. We'd taken a route away from the rainforest to begin with. The first part of our journey today had gone without mishap. But now, the BR-230 had brought us back towards the Amazon, nearer still to Santarém and the Gi. That alone should have been enough to keep me on edge. But it was more than that. So much more.

"I can feel it," I whispered, my voice cracking through the dryness of my throat. I licked my lips and then reached for the glass of water on the table, swallowing twice before I could go on. "The Earth is calling to me," I admitted, a shiver of disquiet tracing down my spine. Theo frowned.

"What do you mean?"

My hand left the glass and settled over my chest, right above my heart, and rubbed.

"It's in pain," I said, my tone relaying the agony I could feel through Earth's call. "It says I'm the only one who can save it. Theo," I said on an almost whimper. "I don't know if I can ignore its call forever."

"How long has this been going on?" he demanded, as though I'd been hiding vital information from him and he felt let down.

"The past two hours."

"Cassandra," he chastised. "Why didn't you say something?"

I glared back at him, matching his increased anger with ease.

"Maybe because of the company we're keeping?" I said a little sarcastically.

"This is not something that we can keep from Isadora. It affects all of us. It could be a trap."

I hadn't thought of that, but he was right. The Gi could use the Earth to trick me. Hell, they'd done it enough in the past. I wondered if I were to use my Pyrkagia Stoicheio, if I could tell whether this was true or not. But using my Pyrkagia Stoicheio in front of Isadora brought me back to the reason why I hadn't said a thing about the Earth's constant pull until now.

"I can't be sure it's not," I admitted reluctantly. "But I might be able to tell if I use my Fire."

Theo raised a brow, surprise etching itself on his face. "Well," he said. "That is interesting. Have you used the two Stoicheio in conjunction like that before?"

I nodded, just as I saw Isadora emerge from the toilets at the back of the diner. Theo followed my gaze, then returned intense eyes to mine.

"We say nothing for now," he murmured, somehow making it easier to breathe. "We'll be finding a place soon, to stay at tonight, and once alone we'll see what we can do." He squeezed my fingers and then withdrew his hand as Isadora approached the table.

I realised, uncomfortably, that he'd been doing that all day. Maintaining a distance between himself and me whenever Isadora was watching. His way of keeping the peace. Her way of placing a wedge between us.

I sat back sullenly in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest, my eyes boring into Theo, ignoring Isadora completely. He refused to look back at me, just returned his attention to his meal. Ignoring us both.

I hadn't taken Theo Peters for a coward. But right now I was astounded to see that's how he appeared.

Isadora made a fuss of sliding gracefully into her chair, but didn't comment on Theo's behaviour, or mine. She was behaving herself, all right. Which only made me fume more. I had a horrible feeling that she was winning this battle, and I couldn't even identify the target in order to fight back.

I played with my food, the silence at the table deafening. And all the while the Earth cried out for me in my head, in the trees outside the window, on the sweet scent of the air.

Aether, it called. We need you, it stated. Save us.

A single tear trickled down my cheek and I turned away from the table to brush at it. I did not want Isadora to see me crying and think it was for something else. Familiar feelings of isolation welled up inside me. Feelings I hadn't felt since I fell into Theo's arms back in Manaus. Feelings I thought I'd be able to forget, never have to experience again. Yet here they were; taunting me, terrifying me. Alone.

The Earth continued its plea inside my mind, the noise of the diner filled the space around us, as Isadora started up a casual conversation about Pyrkagia issues with Theo, leaving me out in the cold. I tried to concentrate on what she was saying; I was Pyrkagia now too, and a small part of me had a whimsical hope that I would be accepted in their society one day. So I should pay attention. But the Earth's call escalated, as the noise in the diner became a throbbing beat, and Isadora's voice provided the high pitched string section of an orchestra hell bent on making me break.

I stood up abruptly from the table, making the conversation stop and the Earth hold its breath. The diner noise continued, giving me some relief that I wasn't losing it just yet.

"I'm going to freshen up," I advised, sliding out of my seat.

"I'll come with you," Theo suggested, standing up as well.

"No," both Isadora and I said in unison, but for entirely different reasons. I needed to be alone, ironically. God knows she didn't want Theo alone with me.

I stared at Isadora as she stared at Theo, a mask of friendly concern on her face.

"Women always go together to the bathroom, Theodoros," she stated, getting to her feet as well, so now we were all standing around the table staring at each other. I think my mouth had fallen open.

"You went on your own before," Theo pointed out.

"I'm not being hunted by the Gi." Good point, bitch. "And you can't follow her into the women's bathroom," she added with a delicate laugh. "But I can."

"There's no need," I said, sure I could handle myself for a few minutes of solitude.

"I insist," she replied, casually. "Or had you forgotten, Theodoros," she added, steel suddenly coating each word. "That I am the expert in this territory."

Theo considered her words for a moment and then to my horror, turned apologetic eyes to me.

"She's right, Casey," he said, cajolingly.

Oh God, crap, freaking hell.

"Safety first," he added. I stared at him, utterly dumbfounded. Safety first. What the...?

"Whatever," I said without much conviction. "Stay, come, go fuck yourself for all I care." Then I stormed off towards the bathroom, hoping I could lock myself in a fully closed-in stall and block the wicked witch out.

I didn't wait to see if she was following. I tore into the ladies toilets and came to an abrupt halt at the cubicle style stalls. Even when I locked myself inside one, she could peer over the top, look in from underneath the sides, or just plain listen to me do my business. Which meant...

I locked the stall as Isadora's voice reached me through the too many gaps.

"You really have gotten yourself quite an attitude, Gi. Did they teach you that at the fortress? Harden you up? Condition you to snap and snarl like a child, wear your emotions on your sleeve."

I sucked in a fortifying breath, determined not to reply, and sat down on the closed lid of the toilet, head in hands, elbows to knees.

"I expected more from Theodoros' Thisavros," she murmured. "He deserves someone who knows how to play the game."

Oh, it was tempting to ask, wasn't it? I bit my lip, tasting blood.

"Of course, with you he could just mould you into whatever he needs. A blank canvas. It's early days, he's probably only just started. Coaxing you to reach beyond your comfort zone, but never going so far you can see what his ultimate goal is. He hides it behind a façade of tenderness, making you think he's holding back to protect you, but he's just setting the trap."

Oh, what an evil woman she was.

"False sense of security," she added on a laugh. "Has he started yet? Tempting you, but not letting you fall too far? It's one of the things I admire most about him. When you let go, he handles the rest. Your place in his world. Your place in his bed. His needs become your needs, and before you know it he's defiling your body, your mind, your soul, and making you think it was your idea."

My hands fisted so tightly in my lap I felt the skin break and blood begin to well beneath my nails.

"Take it from someone who's been there, Cassandra. Let him. It's worth it to taste his hunger without restraint. Oh, how he must still be holding back with you; his sweet little Gi." How dare she use his term of endearment. How dare she know it. "But of course," she added, casually. "You can never completely be what he desires, what he needs. A Pyrkagia Prince with a Gi... what? What are you exactly? You're not royalty, so I hear. You're nothing to the Gi but something to torment and torture. An imposter to their eyes."

If that's what she thought, she didn't know half of the truth yet. A relief I'd cling to.

"You are so far out of his league, little girl, you might as well admit defeat now. He needs a woman with Fire. Someone who could match his passion with a Fiery passion of their own. You lack in every way it counts, poor thing. In experience. In the boundaries that lack of experience imprisons you within. Even in your Stoicheio. Earth and Fire, how do you really think that works? You are grounded in the soil of life itself. He's free to float on the embers of Fire. To your settled, controlled mind he is but a too hot spark, forever just outside of your reach."

The longer I sat mute in that stall the worse it became. I thought silence was the way to go. Ignore her, she'd eventually give up. But the woman was tenacious. Hell, two thousand years of taking what he gave and then accepting his retreat, again and again, only to offer him open arms whenever he returned, was definitely the epitome of not giving up. This woman would never give up on Theo. To her, I was a blip in the long eternal road map of their lives.

I had to play this carefully. Losing my temper and showing her just who I was now, would be a disastrous mistake. I had thought silence was the answer, but like Theo had mentioned, Athanatos are predators, and at the moment my silence was making me look weak.

I stood up, smoothed down my hair and then my singlet top, and opened the toilet stall. My green blazing eyes met Isadora's. They immediately flashed gold back at me.

OK, I couldn't blast her with a wall of Fire, but I could remind her just how powerful a Gi actually is.

"Is that the best you can do, Isadora?" I asked, fingering a small pot plant that rested on the bench between two sinks. Gi Stoicheio surged through me, welcoming me, soothing me, lifting my spirits up. "Reminding me of the differences between Theo and myself. When it's those differences he's told me he craves."

And all right, so I was stretching things slightly, but so was she. Two could play at this game.

She sneered at me, but I felt no swell of Fire, just the glare of gold from her eyes as she tracked my movements, watched the plant sway in the still air of the bathroom. Took in the vibrancy of green in my eyes.

"Has it not occurred to your very old mind," I said, enjoying her small grimace at my reference to her age, "that Theo has tired of the burn? He seeks something more soothing, less temperamental, to settle with permanently. Someone he can envisage caring for throughout the rest of his life. Or are you so stuck in your ancient ways you cannot understand the needs of a man like Theo? His natural instinct to protect what is his."

"What would you know of our kind?" she snapped back. "You're just a baby. You haven't even lived yet."

"You think knowledge is restricted to experience? It's not," I replied, keeping my voice steady, making sure all she saw was a Gi at complete ease. "From the moment I woke up in that pit of Earth I felt it," I whispered, making the leaves on the pot plant tinkle as they brushed their edges together.

It was a light, ethereal sound, all I could achieve with such a small object. But Theo had told me my touch was so delicate, so exquisite, compared to most Ekmetalleftis. I was counting on Isadora seeing my talents for strengths instead of the party trick it felt like right now.

"I felt the power that thrummed through my veins, fed my soul," I continued to whisper. "I felt what it was capable of. And I felt Theo's desire to claim it as soon as my Stoicheio brushed his. I didn't need thousands of years to see in his eyes the hunger, the need. All it took was one look at his face to know he'd stop at nothing to have me."

Oh, this was uncharted territory. I could feel the blush of my audacity and embarrassment rising up my chest. I prayed it never reached my neck, where Isadora would see the ruse for what it was. Yes, Theo wanted me, but I'd initially never thought I was anything more than just a passing intrigue. Every word out of my mouth was my own desire, my own reaction to him. Not his for me. I made it sound real, because I felt it. But I was not the recipient of that fervent hunger, I was the hunger itself. For him.

"You play a dangerous game, Gi," she purred, enjoying the altercation a little too much. "You are but a passing fad, something to break the boredom. Something disposable when the desire burns itself out."

Her words were too close to what Theo had said only this morning. Not about us, but about Athanatos in general. "Our very long lives offer little in the way of a challenge at times; we greedily grasp any chance to alleviate that boredom." Too close.

I bit back.

"I'm his Thisavros," I spat. "Or had you forgotten that too?"

She laughed, it was a sound of pure amusement, laced with the bitter tinge of satisfaction.

My back stiffened at the tone it relayed.

"Cassandra," she sighed, really laying the superior attitude on thick now. "He's had a Thisavros before."

No. She was lying. She had to be.

"I don't believe you," I said, aware the words gave her more ground and buried me.

"Fifteen hundred years ago," she said, giving me facts I didn't want to hear. Giving her lie credence. "Her name was Melita," she added, and a weight settled over my heart. My hands fisted, the pot plant forgotten. "A Pyrkagia with such beautiful passion, yet such a tender touch. I had thought I'd lost him then, too. But I was patient. And Melita was cast aside, returning him to me."

Truth echoed in each word, in the pain she voiced when she mentioned her feelings of loss. A true sensation she relived in the telling of this story. I didn't want to acknowledge that the words held any reality at all, but how could I not, when she braced herself through the memory. Fortified her expression and tried to hide the agony she felt.

She'd failed. I saw her pain. I saw the truth. So in fact, she'd succeeded in the end. Because I believed what she was telling me was the truth.

I sucked in a shaky breath of air and felt the grip on my emotions slip. Theo was old. Three thousand years old. I knew he'd had lovers before. Even Nico had warned me that Theo had lost those he treasured in the past. His exact words. Those he'd treasured. Thisavros means treasure. Had Nico been referring to Melita, and had the loss been a choice Theo had made?

My hand covered my mouth, trying to hold the cry of anguish inside. I had no right to feel it. Theo had a past, and the past should remain in the past. But he'd never mentioned a previous Thisavros. I'd believed I was his only one. I'd felt myself special, when I wasn't really that special at all.

I hated this woman for telling me. I should have thanked her for revealing a secret Theo had chosen to keep. Knowledge is power, and knowing this would help me to protect my heart in the end. Make me stronger. But I didn't feel stronger for knowing. I felt weak in the face of Isadora's self-righteous smirk. The one she'd hidden for most of today.

It was back now, so was her sneer. So was her cocky superiority. She knew she'd gotten to me. She knew she'd made her point. Slammed that wedge between us a little harder. Made the gap she'd been creating expand.

I hated her.

"Oh, you didn't know?" she said innocently. "I was so sure he'd tell you. A warning perhaps, to keep you in line. Theodoros doesn't like his women to behave the same way Melita did. He doesn't like to be reminded of that painful time in his past." She cocked her head to the side and considered me intently for a moment, then added, "But what I can't understand is why he chose another Thisavros who is the spitting image of Melita; his lost love. You may not look like a Pyrkagia, but by Aetheros, you act like Melita to a T."

I was breathing too quickly. I knew it. Anger and heartache making a volatile mix inside my head. I battled internally to hold on to my Stoicheio, but the Earth's proximity and constant call for help was making it hard. I knew intrinsically not to reach for my Fire, but the Earth, it was there, waiting for me to touch.

"I wouldn't worry too much, Cassandra," Isadora said softly, as though she was offering me support, not twisting the knife in my heart. "Melita lasted a decade, in our very long lives, that's a blink of an eye. I'm sure you'll recover with time."

A decade. A decade to fall further in love and have it shattered. I couldn't face it.

I couldn't let her see that.

I wrapped my fingers around the potted plant, unaware of what exactly I was doing, and then hurled everything that made up the essence of Gi to me at Isadora. She gasped, placed a delicate hand to her throat, but didn't fight back with Fire. Earth thrummed in the bathroom, rattled the windows and foundations to their core.

I stumbled, Isadora collapsed to her knees, her hand falling away uselessly... and Theo barged through the door.

He took the scene in with ever increasing horror. His eyes landing on Isadora first, then me and the vivid green blazing from my eyes, and then the pot plant's leaves I held fisted in my palm.

"Curare," he breathed. "Casey, you're channelling Strychnos Toxifera. You're paralysing Isadora. Pull back your Stoicheio now."

I gulped at the stricken look on Theo's face, at the slack look on Isadora's; her chest not rising and falling, her pulse quiet at her throat. With a cry of dismay I released the leaves on the small flowering pot plant and took three hurried steps away, placing my back to the wall of the bathroom. I was shaking from head to toe.

Theo knelt down next to Isadora, cradling her limp form in his lap, brushing her hair tenderly from her face. The knife twisted deeper. He shook her shoulders, and when that didn't work, out of desperation slapped her twice on the cheek. They were gentle taps; even on the edge of disaster Theo was in utter control.

Her eyes blinked open, taking in Theo's intimate position and then with calculated accuracy, she turned to look at me and whimpered. As though petrified of what I'd do next.

"It's all right, Dora," Theo murmured. "Casey's released the essence, you're safe."

"She's unstable, Theodoros," she growled. "She attacked when I hadn't even raised an ounce of Fire."

Theo glanced towards me, a frown marring that gorgeous face. A face that was becoming a stranger's.

"Is that true, Casey?"

I looked between the two of them, seeing Theo's hazel eyes and the matching colour in Isadora's. She'd had a golden glow before, but she had never called on her Stoicheio. To say now that she did would be a lie. I could fudge the truth with her, but with Theo? No.

I nodded slowly, feeling wretched and despicable and defeated. Isadora had won. She'd planned on containing her Stoicheio all the while hoping I'd call on mine. And she'd only had to use words to achieve it. I felt like the naive, young innocent fool she'd made me out to be. I was not cut out for this cruel immortal world. Experience did count for something, she'd been right all along.

"I'm sorry," I whispered and Isadora scoffed.

"She'll do it to you, Theo. Mark my words. She has no control whatsoever."

Theo looked puzzled, his lips pressed in a firm line, his brow furrowed with consternation. But he didn't argue a word Isadora said. Nor did he release her.

I wanted to leave, to walk away from them both. To hide my shame and lick my wounds. But Theo's bulk blocked the only door to the room. I was trapped in this nightmare until he willingly let me free.

The Earth made a sound of sadness and frustration on my behalf, its scent trying to soothe me, but only making the fine hairs across my skin rise. I scratched at my forearms trying to alleviate the sensation that something was off. Something more than this horrid scene playing out before me.

It took several strained seconds of silence in the room for me to realise, that the Earth's initial sound of sadness and frustration was not because of what had happened here, but because of what was happening outside.

They are here, the Earth finally whispered. Run.

Oh God, I'd used my Stoicheio, and not delicately either. I'd pulled on every essence I had in a knee-jerk reaction, and announced my presence to the Gi. I'd brought them down upon us.

I couldn't have made more of a mess, if I had tried.

Chapter Fifteen

She Is Ours To Protect!

"The Gi are here!" I shouted, taking a natural step towards Theo.

"What, she called the Gi?" Isadora cried, freeing herself from Theo’s grasp to rise to her feet in a smooth movement, belying her attempts to appear harmed by my attack.

Theo swept one keen glance over Isadora's battle ready stance and returned golden eyes to me.

"They felt your Stoicheio," he said, I just nodded and played with my lip nervously in between my teeth. "Which way out?" he asked, directing the question to me.

"You cannot trust her!" Isadora snarled. Theo and I both ignored her.

"We're surrounded, but the best bet is out the front door, trees line the rear and they're ready to use them." I could feel the Gi's location through the Earth itself. I don't think it was consciously giving me the information, if it had been I wouldn't have trusted it. But this felt intrinsic, natural in a way much of its communication lately was not.

"All right, we'll go through the front of the diner. Fully armed," Theo said, giving me a pertinent look.

Isadora swore and threw her hands up in the air in disgust, but my eyes were locked on Theo's.

"Are you sure?" I asked, flicking a quick glance at the other woman.

"Oraia," he said, making my heart fracture into a thousand pieces. "Whatever it takes to protect what is mine." The thousand pieces multiplied to a million. My hand rubbed above my heart before I could stop it. Theo tracked the motion, his face set hard for battle, but his eyes softening slightly at the sight of my pain.

"Let's do this," he whispered, opening the bathroom door up and ushering Isadora out first.

He continued to hold it ajar, so I sucked in a deep breath and went to walk past. Before I'd made it out of the doorway he leaned in and brushed his lips against my cheek. A simple, quick movement which said more than any words he could have rushed to voice right now. I had to trust that he saw through Isadora's trickery, that he understood what really had happened in here. What had led me to attack. And in return, I had to push aside my upset and heartache over not being his only Thisavros.

It still hurt. In a way I never knew existed. Something that had happened centuries ago should not have this sort of power to cause such pain. But it wasn't so much the act, the fact that he may have loved another as much or more than me - that still smarted, but it wasn't the crux of my agony right now. It was more to do with the fact he hadn't told me. He'd kept a previous Thisavros a secret. Why?

Because his relationship with me was not as good? Because he still pined for Melita?

I shook my head to clear it of those depressing thoughts. Now was not the time to get distracted with emotional baggage. The Earth was in turmoil, unable to fight the combined power of the Queen's Guards and the Basilissa herself, but wanting to protect me at the same time. I could feel its confusion, its anguish, its despair. I could feel it all, and it made me sick to the stomach that the Gi who wielded that Stoicheio were not in the slightest concerned for its wellbeing.

The Earth was suffering from more than just deforestation of the Amazon. There was rot within the Gi, the sickly sweet smell of overripe fruit and decaying vegetation. I had smelled it before, but not realised its origin. I'd thought it a natural scent for a rainforest. But this was not the Amazon's rot, this was all the Gi.

I gagged, coughed through the sensation of tasting something so very off and felt Theo's concerned gaze on my face. I wanted to tell him what I'd discovered, but standing outside the diner, no more than twenty feet in front of the entrance, were a dozen male Guards and one woman.

"The Basilissa," Theo announced, obviously recognising the Gi Queen. She stood out, and not just because her flowing white dress floated around her ankles unnaturally, or her long, straight, shining brown hair lifted off her shoulders in a display of power humans would find frightening. Green so beautiful it sucked you into its vibrant depths flashed from her narrowed eyes. Apple green, but neon in nature. So unusual, so freaking incredibly beautiful. For a second I wished my eyes blazed that colour too. But then I'd be like her, and I was guessing the Basilissa was no longer entirely sane.

"How the hell did they get here so fast?" Theo murmured, a question that had been on my mind too.

The only answer I could think of was, "They must have been trailing us." To have caught up to us, when I just happened to use my Stoicheio, they must have been closer than I'd feared.

"Oh, this is not good," Isadora breathed on the other side of Theo. An understatement, but I think her words held more weight than I could decipher. "The Rigas will not be pleased I am here," she added, and my stomach clenched.

"You backing out?" I asked, incredulously.

"Casey," Theo warned. A common chastisement of late. "Isadora is one of our top agents. This will compromise her cover completely."

"She can't avoid it now," I pointed out, thinking it was entirely too convenient. Next she'd be saying I should face them on my own and the Prince needed to be protected.

"I wouldn't consider it, if things hadn't progressed to a precarious position," Isadora offered. "But without my assistance the Pyrkagia will be blind to what is happening in Brazil."

Theo sighed and ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. From where we stood inside the diner we were still hidden from sight from the Gi. There was technically time available to allow Isadora to retreat unseen. But where would she go, and without her, would we survive this confrontation?

"I could offer cover from the roof," she suggested. "It saves us from showing our hand when we all walk through that door. You're strong, Theodoros. You alone could create an avenue for escape, especially if I offer strategic cover from on high."

I hated that it made sound tactical sense. I was sure Isadora was only covering her own arse at our expense. I trusted her less now than I did this morning. Our little confrontation in the bathroom had sealed her fate, as far as I was concerned. Which led me to believe having her at our sides would probably not be a sound move either. How the hell could she be trusted there? Anywhere?

At least if Theo and I managed to slip through, leaving her behind, I wouldn't have to put up with the bitchy comments.

"I think she's on to something," I said, getting raised eyebrows from both Pyrkagia to my side.

Theo stared at me for a long time and then muttered several words under his breath. Greek I think, but even Isadora wouldn't have been able to make them out.

"OK," he announced with finality. "Pyrkagia must protect its assets," he pointed out as his first priority, it seemed.

"You're one of its assets, too," I countered.

He smiled, flashing teeth. "Not anymore, Oraia." He turned back to face the windows and in a more subdued voice added, "Cover from the roof could make this work. Isadora, don't show yourself, choose the moment wisely. Casey and I will attack the Guards on either side first. The Basilissa is too strong for now, we'll let her do her thing, but cutting her soldiers down will add confusion. When more than half are culled, that's your signal," he said, turning to look Isadora in the eyes. "Finish off the rest, while Casey and I jointly attack the Basilissa."

Isadora was nodding, a contemplative look on her face. "They'll be expecting her to be outside your strategy, thinking your goal is the Guards alone. None of them will foresee a change of plan midway through the battle."

"Exactly," Theo agreed, starting to stretch his neck and shoulders, preparing himself for what was about to come.

"How will Cassandra be able to use Gi if they are blocking?" Isadora asked, and for once her question seemed genuine. No snarky tone, or smirk on her face. She was completely focused on the fight ahead and its ultimate success.

There were many things I hated about this woman, but she was an agent of the Pyrkagia, skilled in this sort of thing.

Bitch.

I rolled my head on my shoulders, not bothering to answer her question, leaving it up to Theo.

"Don't mind Casey, she has many talents," Theo murmured, distracted now. Ready to make our move.

Isadora took one last long look at Theo's face, he didn't turn away from the front windows of the diner. His eyes flashed gold, purely focused on the goal in front of him. Jaw firm, shoulders set, back rigid. He looked magnificent. Isadora could see it too. Her eyes flicked over his face and frame, then darted back to his lips.

If she thought she'd get a goodbye kiss out of him, she was shit out of luck.

"You've got two minutes to get to the roof, Isadora," I instructed, breaking her love-sick gaze. She scowled at the interruption. "I suggest you get going now." I cocked my head and offered a faux sweet smile, adding, "Good luck!"

She blinked, then reached out a hand to rest on Theo's upper arm, her eyes on me, not him. "I'll try to rendezvous with you in Belém tomorrow evening. Keep a fire open and we'll touch base."

Theo nodded, still not turning his attention from the waiting Gi out on the forecourt. She squeezed his arm once, smirked at me and then ran towards the back of the building and I guessed, roof access of some description. Theo glanced at his watch, counting down her two minutes, but didn't say a word.

Two minutes isn't that long, but the things that went through my head, things I wanted to say, to explain, to ask. So many things, but I didn't voice any of them. Now was not the time, even if my mind wouldn't let any of it go.

"Release your hold on Gi," Theo whispered, when I guess one minute was up. I hadn't realised I was still communing with my Gi Stoicheio, but made a conscious effort to block the Earth's call and reached instead for my Pyrkagia side. Finding it harder said than done.

"I can't find my Fire," I admitted, sounding a little panicked, considering our two minutes allowance for Isadora was surely up. "I need a flame to tap into it."

Theo turned to look at me, his eyes searching my face. He nodded once, reached up and wrapped his hot palm around the nape of my neck and pulled me against his chest.

"I have no idea what happened earlier, but know this, Oraia. You are mine, no matter what."

Then his lips crushed down, his tongue forcing its way between my teeth, tangling with my own, sending a jolt of awareness and pure, molten Fire down my throat. I gasped, which turned way too quickly into a moan, and then he pulled back.

"There it is," he whispered. "Beautiful."

"Theo," I breathed across his lips.

"Use me when you feel your Stoicheio waning. I have more than enough Fire to spare for you."

He held my gaze, making sure I understood what he was saying. It wasn't a boast on how powerful his Stoicheio was, although I knew Theo Peter's Stoicheio was stronger than most. No, this was a declaration of how he felt for me, despite any misunderstandings, despite any potential misgivings. Despite my own fears of what his past secrets meant. He wanted me. That desire fuelled his Stoicheio, so if mine faltered, his would always be there.

No matter what.

My body was shaking from the thrill of being held so close, being kissed so possessively. Being looked at in such a deeply meaningful way. I didn't have an answer to who Melita was or what she meant to him, but I did have an answer to who I was, and what I meant to him. I was his, and he was mine. To hell with Isadora and her conniving storytelling. To hell with Theo's past.

"That's my girl," he murmured. "Ready?"

No, but time was up. Sooner or later the Gi would attack, even if they'd been avoiding destroying a business within their territory up until now. Their patience was surely about to run out.

"You take the guys on the left, I'll take the guys on the right," I said.

"Make them burn, Cassandra. Aim for their heads," was all he said, as he grasped my hand and pushed the front door of the diner open, bringing us out under the darkening sky.

Everything happened at once, as though the Gi had been waiting for exactly this moment; when Theo and I emerged from the restaurant. One step onto the concrete carpark that bracketed the diner on three sides, and I felt the Earth rumble and groan in protest. The natural instinct to soothe it was blinding in its intensity. For a moment, only Theo's Pyrkagia was apparent in the space between us and them. Fire tore out from his hand towards a Guard on the left, as the Basilissa raised her arms up into the air above her head, green eyes target locked on me, and then she brought her palms together in a thunder crack of sound.

Concrete split and broke apart, then soil rose up and out from beneath to sever the advance of Fire. So quick. So simple. A move I could not have perfected, and I was sure the Queen's Guards would have been unable to as well. But the Queen herself made it look like child's play. We stood on concrete, but she was still completely in control.

The Fire was snuffed out as if she'd reached forward and squeezed a candle's flame between her fingers. In the silence that followed she cocked her head and smiled, a chillingly evil grin.

"You waste your efforts, Prince. Stop now and we may let you live," she said, in the type of voice that resonates within your head and body, not just your ears.

Theo was breathing heavily, but otherwise looked completely calm and controlled.

"Let us pass," he countered, in a voice that surprisingly echoed the power of the Queen's, "and we may let you live."

I couldn't stop the twitch of my lips, even though I was sure he was bluffing. He sounded so cocky, so arrogantly princely. I loved him for his confidence alone right then.

The Queen only laughed. "Then you are a fool," she declared and before she'd finished her cackle, Theo had attacked.

I was guessing he was sick of being called a fool. This time his Fire connected with a Guard, and in a movement almost as quick as the Queen's had been when she'd protected them before, the Guard's head disconnected from his body and flew through the air.

A moment of stunned nothing followed; everyone, including me, surprised that Theo had succeeded. And then, as if the world caught up with the head when it finally slammed into the concrete some ten feet away with a wet splat, everyone moved at once.

The Guards' eyes blazed green, the Queen screamed a warning, but didn't use the theatrics of raising her hands above her head, and the ground beneath us opened up. We started to fall, as space appeared where once solid concrete had been, and sharp tipped roots started shooting out from the sides of our tunnel towards us, as we plummeted deeper and deeper out of sight of the night sky.

Theo burned them as they approached, one after the other, while I finally - and God hadn't that taken long enough? - managed to grasp my Pyrkagia Stoicheio and pulled on my Fire to add weight to his. But it wasn't enough to get us out of here and we both knew it. So, without a second thought I pulled on Gi as well, using Pyrkagia to boost my claim, overriding the Guards, but probably not the Basilissa.

I didn't have time to consider if she was about to strike, we had to get out of this pit, before they covered us in soil. Pyrkagia burned around us, up the sides of the funnel, like some super-sized cauterising weapon used to stop nature's bleeds. The roots were halted in their tracks, leaving just a blackened wall on all sides, twenty feet deep.

We couldn't jump, we couldn't climb - the roots and vines had been seared off - and Athanatos can't fly, as far as I'm aware. All of this was determined within a second of landing in a crouch at the base of the pit the Gi had created. Before Theo could offer a solution, and I'm sure he was trying to think of one, I called on the Earth, fuelled my request with the singeing heat of Fire, and demanded it release us from this trap.

It made a sound of pain, that segued into a defiant noise of acquiesce, and then the ground beneath us rose at an unfathomable speed and jettisoned us from the depths, hurtling us through the air over and above the Basilissa and her Guards, and then cushioning our fall as our bodies tumbled to the concrete... right next to our car.

"Fuck!" Theo exclaimed, reaching into his trouser pocket and pressing the keyless remote to unlock the vehicle. Thank God he'd been the last one driving. It beeped, as the Earth whispered, She's rallying. Hurry.

Theo threw up a wall of Fire between us and them, and astonishingly so did Isadora from on top of the roof to the diner. Our plan hadn't gone exactly as intended. One Guard had died, the rest were still happily breathing, and the Basilissa, although disgruntled, could hardly be called confused. But Isadora offered what distraction she could, when she saw it was our only chance of escape.

I froze, one hand on the door to the passenger side of the SUV, my eyes searching for her up on top of the diner. I couldn't see her, so I could only hope they wouldn't find her. Which left me feeling all kinds of perplexed, because Isadora wasn't meant to be the reason why we escaped here today. She wasn't meant to be our last chance. She sure as hell wasn't meant to be helping me in any way. But here we were, sliding into the car, Theo starting the engine, and with what seemed an impossible amount of luck, or good timing, or just plain fucked-if-I-know-what, we pulled away. Exiting the carpark, and leaving a confounded Gi regiment and a furious Gi Queen in our wake.

"Will she be all right?" I asked, breathlessly.

"She's good at hiding, evading capture," Theo replied, but his lips were pressed in that thin line they get into, when something really has him worried.

"Will they follow us?" I asked, gulping in much needed air.

"Maybe," he replied, fingers tightening on the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white, as his foot pressed down harder on the accelerator.

The world flashed by as the Earth cried out its triumph at our escape, then quickly silenced when the Basilissa let out a roar of rage. I could hear it; inside my head, all around me. On the air, in the trees that we sped past, in the repetitive thunk of the tyres across uneven pavement. Everywhere. The Queen raged, the sound so terrifyingly close, but instinctively I knew that they weren't able to follow. Whatever Isadora was doing, was pinning them down.

"Man, she's furious," I said, under my breath.

"You can feel her anger?" Theo asked, flicking me a surprised glance, then returning his attention thankfully to the front of the rocketing car.

"I can hear her. Can't you?"

He shook his head.

"What's she saying? Is she following?"

My turn to shake my head, as my grip on the handrail above my head tightened, the speed with which we were travelling making my head spin.

"She's raging, roaring. Nothing coherent. But I feel distance expanding between us. Whatever is holding her back is working."

"Dora," Theo said on a breath of expelled air. And I couldn't find it in myself to correct his use of her nickname, not when she was obviously the reason why we'd escaped at all.

I hated owing her this. I hated acknowledging that in the end she'd pulled through for us, for me. And I hated, just as much, that she may now be in danger; fighting for her life, surrounded by the enemy.

I sucked in a long breath of air, preparing to own up to my mistake and admit that I may have misjudged her, when the Basilissa growled, a voice laden with contempt...

Alchemist. This time you go too far.

Pain lanced through my mind as whatever the Queen was doing to this Alchemist reached me, muffled by distance and the fact that I wasn't her target, but strong enough, invasive enough, to propel me towards oblivion.

"Casey!" Theo cried, but I couldn't answer. And in the brief second before darkness consumed me I heard a voice cry out in agony and defiance inside my head, She is ours to protect!

Noah.

Chapter Sixteen

Leaving Me Alone With A Very Turned On, Very Determined, Very Experienced Pyrkagia Prince

Confusion consumed me when light met my blinking eyes.

"Shhh," Theo murmured, running a warm wet sponge over my forehead, cradling me closer in his strong and familiar arms. "I'm here, Oraia. I'm here."

The crackle of a fire could be heard over his softly whispered words. Then, surprising the hell out of me, Aktor said, "Has she come to?"

"Are you back with us, Oraia?" Theo asked with a small quirk of his lips. I reached up automatically and brushed my fingers along his jawline. A natural reflex action to being so close, to being held so intimately, to him. "She may need a few more moments, Aktor," Theo announced, not taking his eyes off my face. "She's a little out of it still."

I blinked, twisted my head to look around the room we were in, but couldn't find Theo's butler.

"He's communicating through the Fire," Theo explained.

"Hello, Miss Eden," Aktor sounded out in amongst the hiss and pop of burning wood .

"I'll never get used to that," I murmured, trying to sit up. Theo fought me for a split second, but then must have taken pity on my pathetic efforts, and instead turned my body to settle into the couch beside him, in front of the hearth.

We were in a cosy little rustic wood panelled cottage; the bed and dining area all in the same large room as the kitchenette and front door. A smaller door led off to what had to be the bathroom on the side. The room was refreshingly decorated, in cool blue and pale yellow furnishings, sheer curtains hung over large oversized window frames, and pot plants galore were dotted throughout the space. Even without the palms and orchids it would have been a pretty room. With them it was spectacular.

"Where are we?" I asked, accepting the glass of water Theo presented me.

"In a cottage for rent half way between Santarém and Belém," he replied. "We were lucky," he added, but didn't say more. Whether it was luck that he found a place for us to rest in, or luck that place had a fire we could use to touch base with Aktor, or luck that the Gi hadn't found us yet, I didn't know. And right then any of those would suffice.

I nodded, then sipped some more water. Theo was watching me closely. And with Aktor silently waiting at the other end of a Fire telephone call I felt a little under pressure.

"What happened?" Theo finally asked.

No beating about the bush, no let's re-hash the escape, or the Basilissa's ability to talk mind to mind. Not even let's decide where to next. No, we were right back in that bathroom, where Isadora lay paralysed on the floor.

"I thought it would be obvious," I managed to say.

"I can guess what transpired, but I'd like to hear your version first," Theo countered.

I glanced at the flames. "Right now?" I asked, thinking this was a conversation best had in private.

"Yes, right now," Theo almost snapped back. He might have had an idea of what had happened to make me lose control in that bathroom, but he was not happy about the outcome nonetheless.

I wasn't sure how to say this, how to address the topic of him having a former Thisavros. I really didn't feel comfortable talking about it in front of Aktor, even though the butler was not physically here, he was still listening. This was embarrassing, having Theo admit he'd lied, and maybe, just maybe, admit that Melita still meant something to him.

I'd been through hell the past three months, and the past seventy-two hours had not been an improvement. Sure, Theo was here with me now, but he'd brought Isadora. Her presence almost outweighed the pleasure of his. I was tired, exhausted, emotionally spent. And he wanted to discuss this. Now.

I shook my head, words failing me. I just wanted to curl up and sleep for a week.

"I would have thought you'd know bringing her would be a mistake," I finally said, after what felt like an excruciatingly painful silent few minutes.

Theo blinked back at me for a suspended moment, then said, voice low and too even, "She helped to save our lives back there, Cassandra." I sucked in a breath to argue, but he beat me to it. "Now, I understand she riled you up. Perhaps goaded you into the attack. But as Athanatos we cannot allow ourselves to succumb to cheap tactics such as that. We are above it. You need to learn restraint."

My head jerked in shock, I arched a brow, crossed my arms over my chest, and glared at him. He frowned back.

"I didn't sever her head, Theo," I said very precisely. "If I had no restraint at all she'd be dead."

Aktor started laughing through the fire, his chuckles making the crackle sound like the happy beat to a song. An incongruous song for that particular moment. Theo just ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.

"I know Isadora can be persistent, but she does it because she gets a reaction," he pointed out. "Don't give her one."

"I tried that," I grumbled. "She kept going and going and going. Like a dog with a freaking bone."

"And what was her bone, Oraia?" Theo asked in a whisper, moving closer all of a sudden. His arm was placed on the back of the couch behind my shoulders, his nose started nestling into the side of my neck, rubbing in amongst my hair and inhaling.

He took me so much by surprise I blurted, "You. And me."

A tongue flicked behind my ear, teeth began nibbling on my lobe, his hot hand came to rest on my thigh, kneading.

"What about us?" he murmured.

I bit back a moan and shifted in my seat, trying to get a handle on my visceral heated response to this man.

"Tell me," he urged, his lips trailing along my jaw, heading for the corner of my mouth.

"The usual," I whispered, voice deeper and rougher than normal. "I'm not worthy of you. Not fit for a prince. How you'd leave me in ten years time."

Aktor scoffed, Theo pulled back, and I was left high and dry. My hands curled into fists on my legs, as I blinked back the haze of his Pyrkagia Stoicheio. Desire was abruptly replaced with anger. Another Fire, but this one was my own.

"Did you just use Pyrkagia on me?" I demanded.

Theo didn't react to my question, he looked thoughtful. Something was working hard behind those incredible hazel eyes.

"Ten years," he finally said, nothing else.

"Theo!" I exclaimed, as Aktor said, "Isadora has never been able to get over that snub."

"It wasn't a snub," Theo defended, while I said, "You just used your Stoicheio on me!"

"You went straight from her arms to another's," Aktor replied. "She may have behaved as though it didn't matter, but she is no different from any other woman scorned."

"You needed help opening up," Theo said, I think to me, but it was getting hard to tell who was talking to whom, right now. "I just helped you relax."

"Well don't do it!" I said, in a huff.

"Casey," he chastised gently. "Whatever it takes, I will do. Get that through your beautiful head."

"That makes no sense at all," I snapped back.

"Did she tell you about Melita?" Aktor interrupted, obviously directing that to me, and ending all further words I'd had planned in my mind. Also halting Theo in his tracks. I think that was the old man's plan.

"Yes," I whispered. Theo closed his eyes and sank back on the couch. Not a good sign at all.

Silence. Just the crackle of the flames and my too rapid breaths.

"Theodoros," Aktor called, finally breaking the stand-off.

"Give us a moment, Aktor. I'll call you back," Theo replied, eyes still closed.

"Very well," the butler replied, not sounding happy about the dismissal. The Fire changed pitch and then it was just us. Theo and me.

Both unhappy.

I stared blindly into the flames wishing I was anywhere but here.

"I loved her," he said in a soft voice, barely audible above the wood burning. I tightened my hold on my body and refused to look at him. "I thought she was something she was not," he added. "She hurt me greatly, and in my... weakened frame of heart and mind, I did a stupid thing."

I turned my head slowly, unable to not look at him when the pain of his words felt real. He was leaning forward, elbows to spread knees, hands hanging limply, staring at the fire. He looked haunted.

"I accepted Isadora's offer of comfort when I should not have," he said in a rush, as though the quicker he said it, the less it would hurt. Like a band-aid removal. "Aktor is right, and he did try to warn me at the time. But Isadora insisted she held no grudge, that she was a carefree spirit. I told her I had no heart left to give, but she still wanted me. And I... needed that."

My hand found its way to his upper leg and I gently rested my palm on his thigh. He moved his hand to cover mine immediately.

"It was a long time ago, Casey. I have well and truly gotten over it. But I guess Isadora has not."

Did I say it? Was it really important? Melita was a lost love, someone who had hurt him. How could he still love her, regardless of whether she was his Thisavros or not. Did it matter?

I still knew so little about this world. Hell, I didn't really know what being a Thisavros meant. Theo was teaching me day by day. But what I did know was me. I'm a don't-rock-the-boat kind of person. But this would eat at me, make the boat take on water through little niggling holes of worry and angst. No matter what I did to keep it afloat.

I had to say it, and fortify myself for the answer.

"Theo," I started, sucking in a deep breath of air. He turned fully to face me, concern evident on his face, in his eyes.

"You can ask me anything, Casey," he said, softly stroking his thumb over the back of my hand.

OK. I could do this.

Right.

"WasMelitayourThisavrostoo?" And that sounded about as garbled as an 8-track tape played backwards.

"Hold on," Theo said, lifting a palm up between us to stop me from talking. As if I could make a sound now. "I got Melita and Thisavros, but nothing else." A pause. Followed by his creased brow lifted to become raised eyebrows. "Was she my Thisavros?"

His eyes searched my face, strangely a small smattering of gold flecked the hazel. I couldn't begin to work out why it would be there.

"Oraia?" he asked, reaching up and cupping my face. "Is that what Isadora told you?"

I nodded, eyes wide to stave off tears, my inner cheek getting a workout.

He held up a finger and said, "First thing. To be a Thisavros both parties must agree. The bite?" he reminded me. "If you had not enjoyed my bite, you would not have been my Thisavros. Understand?"

My head bobbed up and down twice. But my eyes had narrowed.

Two fingers held up now. "Second. And this is the most important. You cannot have two Thisavros at the same time. Don't ask me how that works, but something Aetheros created in us makes it impossible to have a ménage, if you will. While you are mine and I am yours, no one else can become either of our Thisavros."

That was good to know, because Theo was definitely mine and I was definitely his, if the way his bite made me feel. But it didn't answer the all important question, did it? And by the look on his face - satisfied, complete, final - Theo thought he'd explained all my worries away.

"Now," he said, wrapping an arm about my shoulders and pulling me tight against his side. A move that should have elated me, but just didn't seem to elicit the usual response. "We should really get Aktor back and discuss our plans from here."

I felt his Pyrkagia swell as he reached out to the flames and for the tiniest of moments I urged mine to stop him. It was surprisingly easy to do. It whipped out at the single thought, wrapped itself around his, in some metaphysical and magical way that I could still manage to perceive, and then sprang back like a coil stretched too far.

"Everything settled?" Aktor's voice said out of the Fire, as Theo twisted in his seat to face me, brow furrowed.

"Casey?" he asked.

I was too tired for this and maybe I was thinking about it too much. Because he was my Thisavros and he'd just said no one else could be his. So right now, right here, he was mine and I was his. I was getting worked up over nothing. It didn't affect what we had. It was irrelevant and in the past. I needed to move on, we had more pressing matters of concern.

I knew this. It was logical. So, why did it still weigh so heavily on my heart?

I shook my head and said the only thing I could say, "Fine. Everything's fine."

Theo frowned at me some more, but Aktor was all business.

"I've done some investigating while you were occupied," the old man announced. "Isadora is on a flight back to Auckland."

"That is a relief," Theo said, although he didn't sound his normally enthused-for-Dora attitude.

"Theodoros," Aktor said evenly. "She was summoned."

I flicked a glance at Theo to see him scowl. No longer a frown, but a full out perturbed glower.

"Do they know she was with me?" he asked, his arm snaking tighter around my frame at his side. Almost a subconscious movement to soothe his nerves.

"Possibly," Aktor replied. "Nico is looking into it discretely," he added, making me smile that at least Nico was back in the good books with Aktor. The scowl on Theo's face deepened enough to let me know his cousin hadn't made amends with him yet though.

"Well, I guess it's irrelevant now," Theo said, and achingly there was a note of defeat in his tone.

"How so?" I asked, softly, offering what support I could by snuggling in closer. He wrapped both arms about my body and buried his face into the crook of my neck, delivering a tender kiss.

Against my skin he said, "I am exiled. I cannot return. So the Council's or my father's reaction can no longer reach me." He pulled back. "What concerns me, though, is the harm they could cause Isadora." That was said to the flames.

"Believe me, Theodoros," Aktor said dryly, "Isadora is more than capable of getting herself out of any hot water her trip may create. I'd be more anxious about your property and interests here. They are likely to confiscate them all."

"Start to liquidate what you can of our assets and get yourself out of there," Theo replied, immediately.

"I'll take care of myself and what I can here, don't worry. I've already packed up the essentials and will leave the house once we're through." Thankfully Aktor did have a safe home to go to until he could join us. One which I had to hope had been repaired since Nico demolished part of it. I also presumed Theo would want the old butler with us. But where would we be?

"Where are we going to go?" I asked, the flames and Theo both.

"Good question," Theo replied, not helping to settle my worries right then. "Aktor?"

"Yes, yes," the butler said dismissively. "I've been working on that too. The references we have regarding Aether are not useful, I'm afraid."

"You told him?" I whispered out of the corner of my mouth, not upset, but surprised he'd found time.

"You were out for over an hour after we arrived here. Aktor and I had a good long chat."

Oh.

"I could make an impromptu visit to the Pyrgos' library. There may be something helpful there," Aktor offered.

"We can't risk you anywhere near Pyrgos and the Council right now," Theo remarked. "Consider all Pyrkagia hostile ground," he added on a wounded sigh.

Aktor let out a similar sound that was audible above the crackle of the flames.

"Well, then," the butler said. "You have only one choice if you wish to find out more about what Cassandra is."

"I told you that wasn't an option," Theo curtly replied.

"I can do what I can to arrange safe passage," Aktor continued.

"No," Theo cut him off. "Out of the question."

"Then what?" Aktor barked, a tone I had never heard him use before. Not on anyone, least of all his master.

"I don't know," Theo ground out. "I'll think of something."

"Will you, Theodoros? You're away from your home and contacts. You have no allies you can trust."

"So your idea about visiting another Ekmetalleftis branch is better than going it alone?" Theo asked incredulously.

"Wait," I said, interrupting them both. "What do you mean going to another branch?"

Aktor started talking, as Theo said, "Don't!" in his loudest voice. Covering Aktor's words completely.

I reached up and slapped a hand over his mouth and got bitten for my efforts, so with a small pull on my Pyrkagia side, laced with a bit of Gi through the sweet smell of the orchids in the room, I swamped his senses. None too delicately.

He groaned, rolled over towards me, wrapping a hand around my throat possessively, while his thigh pinned me to the couch. Well, I was still learning and mistakes would happen. But I wanted to hear what Aktor had said.

"Hush," I commanded Theo, as he started murmuring about all the things he was going to do to me in my ear. For a second he had me, because some of the things he detailed I hadn't even known could exist. But I wouldn't have minded finding out, that was for sure.

But first, Aktor.

I pushed against Theo's chest and received a hot handed full breast cup and knead, then a rock of his hips against my thigh. Biting back an almost hysterical laugh, I said, "Aktor, what branch of Ekmetalleftis?"

"The Aeras," he answered. "In Peru."

Air Elementals. "Why?"

"They have a shaman who preaches the word of Aetheros," Aktor added, as Theo started removing my top. I struggled with his attempts, but kept my mind on the Fire, which of course didn't help to pull any of my Pyrkagia influence back from Theo. "He is considered the foremost knowledge on our god. If anyone knows the true meaning of being an Aether it would be him."

"Thank you!" I almost cried out, as Theo pushed me down on the settee, and covered my body with his bigger, much harder one. "I gotta go!" I added.

"You might consider releasing your hold on Gi," the butler said mildly. "It amplifies your Pyrkagia making it impossible for Theodoros to fight back."

I yelped. "Really?"

"Yes, Miss Eden. Give the man a fighting chance." The last was said on a chuckle. "And I'll start organising safe passage to Urubamba in Peru."

"Uru-what?" I asked, stifling a squeal when Theo's hand found its way under my yoga pants.

"Machu Picchu, Miss Eden. The Aeras reside there."

Holy freaking hell. The Machu Picchu.

"Release your Gi, Cassandra," Aktor reminded me, then said, "And good luck." The crackle of the flames changed pitch letting me know he had gone.

Leaving me alone with a very turned on, very determined, very experienced Pyrkagia Prince.

Chapter Seventeen

Would It Consume Me?

For an incredibly brief and self indulgent moment I considered not releasing my hold on Gi. The orchids in the room smelled sweet, offering a perfumed accompaniment to the sensations Theo was creating with his touch, his lips, his fingers and teeth. It was beautiful. It was breathtaking.

It was so wrong.

I sighed, which Theo matched with a moan, fortifying my resolve, and let the Earth flow through me one last time and then bleed free into the air around us. Theo's Pyrkagia rushed to replace my Gi; burning, heating, blistering away any possible hold I had over him. Filling me, commanding me, ruling my every move and thought and feeling.

I moaned, which Theo matched with a moan of his own.

Hold on. He was supposed to pull back and berate me, not increase his efforts to get into my pants.

"Um, Theo?" I said, my voice way too low and husky to mean anything good right then.

"Mmm?" he mumbled in reply, his lips too busy wrapping around a naked nipple.

"You're not stopping."

"No," he somehow managed to articulate, but still not let my breast go.

"You're supposed to be righteously angry at my influence," I pointed out and he chuckled, a rumble sending vibrations right through to my bones.

"I never waste an excellent opportunity when presented with one," he replied, lifting his head and offering me his signature toothy grin. "I have no intention of stopping what you inadvertently, but deliciously, have started."

"Oh," I said.

"Oh, indeed," he murmured, returning his attention to my nipple.

It didn't take more than a minute for him to get me wholeheartedly on board with his plans. Hot hands palmed my breasts, wicked fingers pinched my nipples, as a wet, sinful tongue licked its way over my upper torso. I squirmed, which soon became a writhe and was accompanied by a loud and embarrassingly revealing moan.

By the time I'd started begging, Theo was blazing gold from his eyes and Fire coursed unrestrained through my body. I was aching, desperate for him to fill me up, to make me complete. His Stoicheio only managing to make me crave more and more.

Theo pulled back, his eyes surveying the effect he'd had over me. I was naked beneath him on the couch, the heat of the fire in the hearth a pale imitation of the Fire he'd stoked and nurtured inside of me right then. Lust filled eyes finally lifted to mine and he smugly smirked.

"Lesson number three, Oraia" he husked, his fingers slowly trailing a delicate swirl over my right hip. "When compromised, use your opponent's Pyrkagia against them."

"You could tell I was using my Stoicheio on you?" I asked, finally able to catch my breath. "But you chose not to fight it," I surmised.

"Exactly," he murmured, focusing closely on the goosebumps he had created all over my right thigh and up my right side. He chased them with a fingertip, the smirk becoming an amused smile.

"I've got a lot to learn," I admitted, trailing my own finger down his beautifully defined upper arm.

"And I intend to teach you everything, sweet little Gi." He leaned closer and blew hot breath across my nipple, then flicked his tongue out to lick across the hardened tip. I arched my back, presenting more of an easier target, shamelessly offering myself up to this man. "But first, I'd like to see how well you respond to this."

What?

His hand skated down over my stomach, paused above my thatch of blonde curls as his eyes lifted to watch my face. Then with deliberate slowness he stroked a solitary finger through my folds, bypassing my little nub, and coating himself in my abundant wetness. He teased, there was no other word for it. The more he touched me there, the more I wanted. His soft, slow strokes became tortuous, no longer sublime, but causing a fierce ache to take up between my thighs. A longing he created with his touch, an emptiness that only existed because he was so close, but denying me what I wanted.

He watched my every reaction with an attentiveness that seemed to consume him. His eyes flickered differing shades of yellow-gold, orange-gold, even red-gold. My chest rose and fell faster and faster, the more he drew this out. But there'd been a challenge to his words. An elicit temptation to hold out, to not beg, to not let him see how much I desired his touch to be deeper.

But the longer he took teasing, his own breaths even and his stance relaxed, I realised he could go on for hours like this. Touching me, discovering me, enjoying me. And it wasn't as though I wanted his touch to stop. It was just not enough. I wanted more.

Still, I fought the urge to plead. I did moan, I did writhe, that was impossible to deny. But I would not say the words he obviously knew I was thinking. Instead, I decided to set a trap. To lure him with my Pyrkagia. If he wanted me to learn from his lessons, then I would. But not the way he had probably intended.

I reached out as delicately as I could and brushed my Fire over his skin, causing little beads of sweat to erupt all over his deliciously naked body. He shuddered, a brief full body shake, but I don't know whether he realised I'd created the heat that caused the movement, as his teasing touch never faltered.

I decided to test my abilities further. Besides, it was giving me something else to concentrate on other than the fervent need to have him slip those questing fingers inside, to pump them with conviction, to give me what I desperately desired. I licked my lips, aware gold was probably glowing from my eyes now too, but hoping Theo would put that down to the Fire he was building inside, and not blame it on mine.

This time my Pyrkagia stroked lower, over his rigid abdomen, across those beautiful oblique muscles I adored, and down, down, down. Oh good Lord, I could feel where my Fire touched. I could sense every dip and curve, every swell and hollow. It was like an extension of my own hand, my fingers curled into my palms and I rocked my hips up off the couch before I realised what I was doing.

Freaking hell. This was probably having more of an effect on me than him.

And then my Pyrkagia reached its goal.

Wrapping around his stiff erection, stroking across the flattened head, tightening around the thick shaft, and matching the rhythm of my hips.

"Oh, Aetheros!" Theo exclaimed, his eyes closing as his head fell forward, dark strands of his hair covering his face. "Casey!" he cried out as his own hips started to rock against my Stoicheio, pushing back, seeking further contact, as urgently and desperately as I was seeking further contact from him. "You are a quick learner," he breathed, lifting burnished, hungry eyes to mine. "Let's see how well you fare when distracted," he added, and before I had a chance to comprehend what he was suggesting, two fingers slipped inside my core, then pumped twice, hard.

Oh. Oh. Yes!

I writhed beneath his touch, rocked onto his fingers, grinding myself with abandon against his hand, moaning, panting, so close. My Pyrkagia faltered, flickered in my mind's eye like a light bulb about to go out, and in the next instant his fingers were gone.

"Ah-ah," he chided softly. "Concentrate."

"Theo," I complained.

"You want them back, Oraia? Make it worth my while." He purposely rocked his hips, causing his arousal to rub against my thigh. The arousal that was no longer being stroked by my Pyrkagia.

All right, Athanatos. You asked for it.

Instead of going straight for the obvious, I made my Pyrkagia run heated fingers over his chest, rubbed seductively across his nipples, and then in a sudden thought, urged that heated bliss up to his neck. To the exact spot he had bitten me in when he claimed me as his Thisavros. For a second I wasn't sure if he would see the significance, or even if my touch with my Pyrkagia side was as delicate or precise as my Gi. But as my Fire burned deliciously against the skin between his neck and shoulder, and a mark began to appear where I concentrated that Fire, his head threw back, as his lips parted on a deep groan and his eyes blazed the brightest shining gold yet.

"Cassandra," he breathed, his fingers seeking to reward, not so much as distract now. "Harder," he ordered.

I increased the touch of my Fire, at the same time I said, "Harder," back, rocking my hips up to meet the next thrust of his fingers.

His head fell forward, eyes alight and almost blinding me, he rasped, "Are you sure?"

I nodded, arched my back - as my Pyrkagia burned its possession for all to see on his skin - and moaned when he started to pump a steady and slow rhythm inside.

"Like this?" he whispered huskily. "Or do you want more?"

"More," I murmured, my head thrashing from side to side, as an exquisite sensation of bliss grew bigger and bigger. Tempting me with delicious explosive release, enticing me with what was to come.

Theo withdrew his fingers briefly, receiving a complaining mewl of protest from me, and then three fingers slowly edged their way inside. And OK, maybe more hadn't been a good idea, because three fingers were almost too much.

"Easy," he encouraged. "I won't go too far. But Oraia," he murmured, voice low and seductively purring, "sometimes stretching yourself can feel so damn good."

I let a small moan of discomfort out, which was soon washed away as his mouth found mine; little nibbles on the edge of my lips, then a deep thrust of his tongue entwining it with mine. I fell into the kiss without a second thought, and before I knew it the burn between my legs had become an ache, and my hips were rising to meet each gentle pump, begging for more already.

"That's it," Theo whispered against my mouth, pleased with my hunger. "Now the real test, sweet Gi." He breathed hot air against my sweat soaked skin for a suspended moment, the realisation that he was on the edge of letting go himself, just by touching and watching me, almost sending me over. "Stroke me," he rasped, in such an erotic gravelly voice I couldn't contain my reaction.

I moaned, writhed, bucked and clutched at his shoulders, digging nails into skin, while he pumped his fingers hard enough to make me pant, stretching me beyond any place I had ever been before.

And he wanted me to use my Pyrkagia to stroke him now?

"Casey," he pleaded, obviously needing that contact as much as I needed him to go faster, harder, deeper still.

I willed my attention back to my Stoicheio, bemused to find it within easy reach. I shouldn't have been. Theo was building that Fire inside me diligently, making me burn from the inside out. I was washed in Pyrkagia, I was floating on the embers of its flames.

With barely a thought, I made my own Fire reach out again and stroke lovingly down his spine. His back bowed, his breathing increased in both volume and pace, and then when I wrapped delicate Pyrkagia fingers around his shaft and stroked, he let a garbled cry of triumph out. His pace between my legs became erratic, increasing the Fire just by mixing things up. Not to mention that the knowledge that he was losing control under my influence was enough to make me lose all hold on reality and blissfully welcome oblivion in the form of release.

I cried out as the most mind-blowingly intense orgasm consumed me. My body doing God knows what beneath his touch - but I was aware of panting, and biting, and screaming, and writhing - as his body matched my loss of control above me, releasing a shout of ecstasy as we both managed to time our climaxes to perfection.

Pyrkagia blazed through our bodies. His and mine. Entwined, fuelling the other. And one orgasm became two, even Theo succumbing to a second round, which was just as divine, but this time also sending little jolts of electricity through my skin, making me shake and tremble as though I was having a small fit.

I opened my mouth to suck in air, maybe to murmur something about that being fantastic, out of this world good, and a third orgasm stole all thoughts. Making it impossible to breathe, much less register what was happening around me. All I felt was the bliss of release, mixed with the sensation of too much, and Theo's body as it collapsed; heavy, sated, replete on top of me. Both finally panting, managing to get much needed air in our lungs as somehow Theo made our Stoicheio untangle, settling the inferno we'd created, easing the Fire back to just a pleasant burn.

We lay there, limbs numb, chests heaving, eyes closed as the world spun around us. Fire crackled in the hearth, and was matched by the Fire in our hearts and bodies. A minute passed and neither of us had spoken. I think Theo was as spent as me, and as he hadn't lifted his head or opened his eyes yet, I was guessing the room was on a spin cycle for him too. It wasn't unpleasant, but the longer it took for the room to right itself, the more the Fire within me wanted to play.

I reached out to the Gi in the room, finding that Stoicheio much easier than I had done in the past. I wasn't stroking a hand down the leaves of a plant, nor did I have my toes in the soil of the Earth, but the scent of orchids in the room infused me, settled me, and I soon realised provided me access to my Element without physically having to touch.

Gi washed through me, stopped the twirling and grounded me to the Earth. My eyelids flickered, as the soothing scent of Earth calmed me and brought me back to the room at last. Talk about out of body experiences. I looked down at the sweating man lying collapsed on top of me and became aware that he was in a worse state than me. The room probably still revolving for Theo. So, I sent a little of my Gi to wash him, too.

Within seconds his head tipped up, a lazy, satisfied, and I think, impressed smile graced his lips, and he finally settled into a more comfortable position down the side of me. So my body was no longer trapped or crushed by his.

He licked his lips, gaze scanning what he could see of my body, gold still blazing from his eyes.

"You passed with flying colours," he announced on a roughened whisper. I wondered if he was as thirsty as me, or if he'd lost a little of his voice when he'd shouted through each of those orgasms.

I smiled and stroked fingers through his hair, unwillingly to talk just yet. Still enjoying the after effects.

"In fact," he added, his own fingers exploring, seeking contact, needing that Pyrkagia urge to touch. "You absolutely astound me, Oraia. I have never experienced anything like that."

"Really?" I asked, the word out before I could stop it. I winced at the faux pas.

Theo smirked. "You need to ask? Look at me. I'm incapable of moving an inch, nor do I want to. But if someone were to barge through that door right now, I'd be a hopeless protector."

He hadn't meant to bring gravity to the situation, but our lives right now were precarious, and someone could barge through that door at any minute.

He sat up, proving his words were a stretch of the truth. He didn't move far, and he blinked a few times, no doubt to clear his vision, so I was willing to bet they hadn't been an outright lie.

"I have Pyrkagia to burn, Casey. Thanks to you," he added, offering a wink, lifting the tone again with that simple action. "I could still do harm, but I'd rather lie entangled with you and bask in the sensations you've just created."

"You created them too," I argued, a small smile tipping the edges of my lips up.

"I was only responding to you, Oraia. You are so delicious. So perfect." He leaned in and nuzzled my neck. "So mine."

My hand came up and found the Pyrkagia mark I'd left on his neck. It hadn’t disappeared and I wondered how long it would stay. Athanatos heal most injuries, I couldn't see this one lasting longer than a day. But for now, I enjoyed the sensation of the raised outline of my possession under the tips of my fingers.

"Thisavros," Theo murmured, his own fingers tracing what was left of his mark on my neck. "I never knew it could be like this," he murmured, almost to himself. His eyes were glazed as he stared transfixed at his mark, repetitively tracing its outline on my skin.

I almost asked. The words were on the tip of my tongue. Was I his first and only Thisavros, or not? But I didn't. It would have ruined the moment. Like he said, we couldn't have other Thisavros when already claimed like we were. What was the point in bringing up the past?

I searched his face for an answer to the question I didn't have the courage to ask. But he seemed blissfully happy, content, maybe a little in awe. No secrets lay there. Well, none that I had any right to be seeking.

But no matter how I tried to just sit back and enjoy the tender moment, to just relish the post orgasmic bliss, the question still hungered to be answered. Still begged for me to seek the truth.

It took a moment for me to rationalise what I was feeling, and even then all I could come up with was... jealousy. I was infinitely jealous of Melita. Because even though I didn't know for sure that she'd been his Thisavros, I was certain that she'd been his first.

His first real love.

His first broken heart.

His first lost treasure.

And an emotion I had never suffered in my life took root deep down inside. Jealousy burned almost as hot as Fire. Would it consume me? Would it ruin everything Theo and I had?

God.

I hoped not.

Chapter Eighteen

But I Loved More, That He Loved Them Too

"Peru?" I asked, once we'd redressed and settled in to eat some snacks Theo had managed to buy at the reception to the camp grounds we were staying in. The little woodsy cottage was one of twelve, set at the back of a pretty camping ground, behind the main communal building, the reception/owners' cottage, and the powered sites for tents and camper-vans.

If I couldn't find the courage to ask the one question dogging me, then I'd focus on our real problems right now. Namely, where to from here and the unknown of the Aeras.

"I don't agree with Aktor," Theo replied, snagging the biscuit I was reaching for and swallowing it whole when I frowned.

"Hey!" I complained.

"What?" he mumbled around a mouthful of crumbs. He swallowed thickly, clearly feeling every little bit of that chocolatey goodness and cleared his throat. "You snooze, you lose," he added, taking a sip from his soda can.

"You have no manners," I pointed out, picking up another biscuit and nibbling.

"I'm famished," Theo explained. "Someone wore me out."

A laugh escaped before I could stop it, making biscuit crumbs rain down on my top.

"Who's lacking table manners now?" Theo teased, reaching over and swiping crumbs off the corner of my lips. He licked the evidence off his fingertips with an exaggerate sigh.

"Can we concentrate?" I asked in a fake beleaguered voice. I liked him too much in this playful mood to really complain. And I think he knew it.

"Impossible," Theo remarked, sitting back in his seat and eyeing me through half lidded eyes. "Not when I'm already imagining round two."

I arched my brow at him, but couldn't stop a smile. Round two was a given, once we'd replenished. Even now I could feel his Pyrkagia burning to reach out and touch mine. It was only my constant touch with the Earth grounding me that made it possible to ignore it, and not send my own Pyrkagia back to tangle. Tangling Stoicheio I'd discovered was quickly becoming my favourite pastime.

"We've got nowhere else to go," I pointed out, refusing to drop the topic. We'd have to move on tomorrow, or risk the Gi finding us here. For now both Theo's and my Pyrkagia Stoicheio were shielding us, but as Theo had pointed out as we dressed, sooner or later a Gi travelling past would wonder why he was thinking lustful thoughts on the BR-230 outside a camp site.

With time we'd be discovered. So one night to replenish and regroup, and then we'd have to go... somewhere. But where?

Theo ran a hand over his face before answering. He looked tired, if not a little sex happy as well. But the tiredness I saw around his beautiful eyes was not from sexcapades, but stress. It had been a hard three months for him too.

"You know as well as I," he started, "that differing branches of Ekmetalleftis do not mix."

Yeah, I knew only too well. My reception, when just Gi, in Pyrkagia territory had not been nice. Theo and I were still considered enemies, and I wasn't entirely sure if me now being part Pyrkagia, part his branch, would have changed that. The Pyrkagia Rigas was a foreboding and unforgiving man.

God, I just wished life was normal again. Back when all I had to worry about was whether my customers liked their deli sandwiches, or planning the next social outing with my best friend. Sonya. Oh, how I missed her. And yet I knew I couldn't get back in touch.

Sonya was human, and as such had no idea what I was, or what I could do. Even when my Gi Stoicheio had made plants move and wave hypnotically in her presence, she'd not picked up on anything unusual. Likewise, the eye colour change Athanatos experience when tapping into their Element was lost on Sonya, too. And although she would always be my best friend, there was a gaping big whole in our relationship now, because of all of that.

I sighed, Theo eyes came up and settled on my face.

"Are you tired, Oraia?" he asked, voice soft and tender.

It felt like I'd been tired for months. I nodded, but we had to discuss this before I could get any sleep.

"I think we should go to Peru," I announced and then it was Theo's turn to sigh. "Think about it," I urged. "We can't go back to Auckland. You admitted yourself that the Pyrkagia Council has misinformed you of what an Aether is. Aside from you being exiled and me being persona non grata, there are no answers to be had there."

He nodded slowly, but didn't say a word. Waiting for me to get to the hammer blow.

"We need answers, Theo. I'm scared."

"Casey," he said, leaning forward and reaching for my hand. I let his fingers capture mine, but I shook my head.

"My grandfather said I was special." I laughed, it sounded bitter. "Not that I subscribe to that point of view, but the Earth's call for help. There was something to it." I closed my eyes and tried to envisage again what I'd felt when the Earth had been calling for me to save it. "This happened for a reason," I whispered. "And it's not over yet."

Theo's fingers clenched mine in support.

"Gramps always said there's power in knowledge. It was one of those lessons he repeated while I was growing up. Like believing is a tangible thing. My brother Mark and I would be sitting in his wood working shed, listening to his stories, and I swear not a day would go by when he wouldn't repeat those lines to both of us. Knowledge is power, Casey. Belief is a tangible thing, Marcus. Balance is essential for life to prosper, kids."

My eyes closed again, tightly, as all the sayings my grandfather forced on us came rushing back in; the sound of his voice so real. "Know yourself and you can't go wrong. Rise above your mistakes, but never forget them."

I sighed, opening up my eyes and looking directly into the concerned ones of Theo's. "Let the solid Earth ground you." God, I'd forgotten all of these. Where had they gone? "Let the light of Fire guide your path." How had I not remembered them? "Let the clean Air take away your fears."

Tears began to well in my eyes. He'd known, even then as a child. My grandfather had known what would happen one day.

"Let the cool Water revive you." My voice cracked. I'd thought it already, that Gramps had abandoned us to his wretched cause. But now I knew it was only me he'd abandoned. Because of what I was to become.

"There's one more," I said, swallowing down the tears. Gramps didn't deserve them.

Theo moved to pick me up off my chair, then promptly sat down again with me in his lap. His hands stroked my sides, my arms, up into my hair. Trying to soothe, to calm, to help me get the last saying out.

"What is it?" he whispered in question.

I cleared my throat.

"Let Essence give you the courage to sacrifice your soul."

Theo tensed, so did I. Because as a child I'd never understood it. The others made sense, but this one, always said with a grave face and sad eyes, held little meaning. That's why I'd never tried to repeat it to myself. That’s why I'd confused 'Essence' - something remotely understandable - with 'Quintessence' - something that a child had no hope of reasoning through.

"Let Quintessence give you the courage to sacrifice your soul," I corrected. It had to be said, I needed to acknowledge it. We needed to hear the words aloud.

"Fuck," Theo murmured, a word he rarely used, but when he did, he meant it.

"I've got Earth to ground me. I've got Fire to guide me. You know what will happen next," I said into the stunned silence that followed his expletive.

"Air to wash away your fears," he murmured.

"Water to revive me," I added.

"Quintessence," he said, but didn't go on.

So, I did. "To give me courage..."

"Don't," he whispered, pulling me closer. "For all we know, he was a crazy old man."

I'd agree with that sentiment, but I'd met an Alchemist since. And although Noah had been strange, he'd been clearly focused. She is ours to protect. Committed in a way that made you pause.

I didn't trust Noah or the Alchemists. Or my grandfather for that matter. Even though I was beginning to fear they were tied up in what I had become. And for what was to yet happen to me. There was no way I could turn to them for answers.

"You know it was the Alchemist doctor who helped us escape that diner," I said, while Theo remained silent. "Perhaps Isadora helped too, I don't know. But it was his voice I heard in my head when the Basilissa had the mind talking channel open. She had been furious with his interference. They know something. The Alchemists. They have the answers. But Theo, I just can't go there."

He let a relieved breath of air out, as though he'd been worried I'd suggest heading to wherever they based themselves.

"So that leaves the Aeras and the Nero," I added. "And as much as I can't trust the Alchemists, and feel I can't trust my grandfather, there is something to what he taught me as a child."

"What's that?"

"Earth does ground me. And Fire has guided my path."

"Oh, Casey," Theo murmured, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

"I'm scared, Theo," I repeated, feeling his whole body jolt on those words. "Air could take away my fears."

Left unsaid was the obvious. What would Water need to revive me from? And God help me, but what did sacrificing my soul entail?

"We need answers," he finally said, voice devoid of any earlier playfulness. It was flat and slightly defeated and a little worried too.

"We could run, but whatever is happening would catch up with me," I pointed out, receiving a nod of his head on my shoulder. "Pyrkagia is out. Gi is out. The Alchemists are out. What does that leave?"

"I know, I know," he murmured. "You're right." A long breath of air exhaled, a hand through his hair again. Then a small smile when his eyes met mine. The smile didn't reach them. "Peru," he announced.

"Peru," I replied.

His hands came up and cupped my cheeks, he stared into my eyes for a long moment.

"Go run a bath," he instructed, out of nowhere. "I'll contact Aktor and make sure he's arranged safe passage through Aeras territory."

I had the distinct impression he didn't want me in on the conversation with his old friend. For a second I considered arguing. If we did this, it needed to be together. But then one look at his worn out façade, his tired and anxious face, and the depth of love that shone in those golden hued eyes, I decided he needed this moment alone. He needed his confidant to bolster him. And he needed to be able show a side of himself he didn't want me to see.

I was sure that side was similar to the one he'd shown Aktor when I admitted through that Fire in the Amazon that I was indeed in trouble and had been harmed by the Gi. I'd give him his privacy to grieve, knowing I'd be doing something similar in the tub when alone too.

I nodded, leaned forward and kissed him softly, sweetly, then fell into the deeper kiss he turned the clinch into with the next breath. We pulled apart breathing heavily and for the first time in what felt like hours our smiles reached our eyes.

"Don't take too long," he insisted. "I still have plans for you, even if those plans are just watching you fall asleep in my arms."

I laughed as he helped me to my feet, a sound so out of place in our world right now. But I welcomed it. God alone knew what lay ahead for both of us. I'd take every second of reprieve I could get.

Even if I missed out on much needed sleep tonight to get it.

I walked to the attached bathroom knowing his eyes were on my every move. Soaking me up. Devouring my body by a look alone. One glance over my shoulder and I was certain we'd both be lacking sleep again tonight.

It took a while for the hot water to make it through the pipes, but finally after staring at myself blindly for several long minutes in the mirror, steam began to climb up the single window in the room. Over the sound of water falling into an enormous cast iron tub I heard the crackle of the fire out in the other room change pitch. Pyrkagia filling the cabin, even making its way into the small bathroom.

I dipped a toe in the water, as Theo's Stoicheio brushed against my side, seeking a tactile touch he was incapable of physically achieving from where he sat talking to Aktor through the flames. I sent my own back down the strange connection that sprang up between us whenever we entwined our Stoicheio like this, and in the next instant heard his words. Spoken to his old friend and confidant. Spoken in private, not meant for my ears.

"She's scared," he said, voice subdued.

"Of course she is," Aktor replied, through Theo's connection. Not quite as loud or clear as if I had been sitting there next to the Fire with them. But enough for me to make out his words.

"I have to admit, I am too," Theo added, and my hand pressed against my chest, trying to still the ache his confession awakened.

"But you will be her pillar, won't you, Theodoros?" Aktor replied in that voice he adopts when he's giving you sound advice. Advice you'd best heed.

There was too long a pause between Aktor's remark and Theo's answer. For a moment I thought he'd severed our connection, realising I was eavesdropping when I shouldn't. But in the next instant his Pyrkagia stroked down the side of my neck, over his Thisavros claim mark, then surprisingly dipped between my breasts, slipping beneath the water.

Ah-oh. I'd been found out all right, and he was letting me know in typical Pyrkagia fashion. I tried to pull my Stoicheio back and heard Theo chuckle, then wrap his around my retreating Element, holding me trapped.

"Theo?" Aktor asked, puzzled at his lack of response and inappropriate laughter.

"Just a moment, Aktor," Theo murmured. "I'm dealing with a little stowaway."

"I didn't mean to," I muttered.

"Oh, Cassandra," Theo purred, sounding like he was breathing in my ear, making me glance over my shoulder, but see nothing. And then abruptly get pushed back into position in the bath by a firm Pyrkagia hand. "You show such delightful promise. Your Pyrkagia is growing by the minute. Soon you will pass even me."

I wondered if that concerned him. I wondered if he was jealous of my increasing skill at all. Which made me wonder if he felt uncertain about things to the same degree I did. Uncertain about things to do with us. I wondered...

"But for now, sweet little Gi, I must concentrate on Aktor. And you," he husked, "Must get ready for me."

His Pyrkagia slipped lower still in the bathtub, well beneath the water level, smoothing over wet skin, slinking between my closed thighs. I'd been rubbing them together, knowing exactly where he was heading. But it hadn't helped. Within seconds he was where he wanted to be, and I had lost control of my Pyrkagia. No longer hearing his conversation, just succumbing to the bliss he was creating between my legs.

I'm not sure how much time passed, but I was panting, breathless, light headed, moaning, reaching, needing, wanting, and then suddenly finding release. I gasped, then groaned through the sensations Theo had elicited, thinking his touch was far more delicate and skilled than mine.

And then having it confirmed when the door opened, signifying the end of his conversation with Aktor had already passed, while he'd simultaneously brought me to climax.

Oh, he was good all right. Way better than me at this, I was sure. Hell, he'd been doing it for three thousand years, but I don't really think that was the reason why he'd been able to do two intricate, subtle and highly intimate things at once.

Theo Peters was just that good. He didn't have a reason in the world to be jealous of me.

"Now," he said, as he came to loom over me in the bathtub. "You owe me a debt."

Then he preceded to strip bare and slipped into the tub with me.

"Time to pay up, Oraia," he murmured. "And this time, I want to be buried deep inside you when you use your Pyrkagia to tip me over the edge."

"Is this another lesson?" I asked, a little too eagerly.

He laughed, delighted at my enthusiasm, I should think.

"Oh, Casey," he purred. "You love my lessons, don't you?"

I raised an eyebrow at that cocky statement.

"Hmm, guess what?" he said, settling himself between my thighs, his erection already exactly where he wanted it to be.

Well, almost. With one thrust of his hips he seated himself exactly where he wanted to be.

"I love teaching you, too," Theo finally said on a breath of heated air. "Oh, Aetheros do I," he added, and then started to rock those delicious hips.

And I didn't argue with him, because he was right.

I loved his lessons. But I loved more, that he loved them too.

Chapter Nineteen

We've Been Looking For You

I woke feeling refreshed and aching in all the right ways. Heat washed down my side, and it wasn't Pyrkagia, but all hot, sexy man. I stretched, arms out high above my head, toes pointed straight down, and rolled over to my side to face Theo.

"Good morning," he said, a smile evident in his tone.

I opened my eyes and stared into brilliant hazel, long lashes dipping down as he surveyed the woman beside him. A curve to his sensual lips as he took in what he could see of me above the sheet. I was naked, and the hint of what lay beneath, flush against his side, was obviously appealing.

"Eyes up top," I instructed, my hand already stroking over his arm as it lay above the covers.

He flicked his gaze up to my face and my stomach dropped. He looked more tired this morning, than he had last night. Shadows clung doggedly to his cheeks, a furrow etched across his forehead. The corners of his eyes drooped. He was exhausted.

"You didn't sleep at all, did you?" I asked, sounding a little angrier than I had intended. I knew why he hadn't slept, and he should have woken me so I could take over.

"Gi have been travelling up and down this stretch of road all night," he murmured, with a casual shrug of his shoulders. Confirming my fears. "I kept our shields tight."

A frustrated and concerned sigh escaped me, as I sat myself up, sheet covering chest, and leaned back against the headboard. My head thunked against wood with purpose. If it had been a brick wall it would have been perfect.

"Why didn't you wake me?" I asked, managing to not sound too horrifically angered this time.

"You needed sleep, Oraia."

"And you didn't?"

"I have slept well enough up until two days ago, one more night won't be too detrimental. How well have you slept the past three months?"

Good point. I held his determined gaze, then couldn't help reaching up and trying to smooth some of the wrinkles. His lips tipped up into a smile at the contact.

"You can't help yourself," he murmured. "Your Pyrkagia side craves touch."

"I'm not so sure it's just the Pyrkagia in me that makes me want to continually touch you. I wanted to before I found my Fire."

"Did you?" he said, leaning into my hand like a cat seeking comfort. "I beg to differ. You were so shy. I could see the desire to do so, but now your Pyrkagia gives you the push you have always needed."

He was right. I had been shy. Too much had transpired for shyness to have a place in my heart anymore. Life was too unpredictable for me to not take every opportunity to grasp what I wanted most. Theo.

"You may have created a monster," I whispered, my finger trailing down his cheek, over his jaw, and coming to rest above my faded Pyrkagia mark.

"I created, Cassandra?"

"Aether aside, I am your creation, Theo. You drew me out of myself right from the start."

"Ah," he breathed, finally lifting his hand to stroke my skin in return. He chose to touch my neckline, just above my breasts. "You did show such delicious promise when I visited your store."

Yes, I could see how he would think that. The only time I have ever been able to flirt was with Theo. No man has ever gotten the response to their advances that Theo did. And yet, back then, I had still been unable to fully let go. Was my confidence now something he had nurtured, or was he right? Had I embraced the part of me that was Pyrkagia?

Isadora's hate-filled words sprang to mind. Uninvited, but crystal clear. Of course, with you he could just mould you into whatever he needs. I gave myself a little shake. I would not let that woman continue to place a wedge between us. She was no longer here. No longer our concern. We'd never return to Auckland, and her area of expertise was spying on the Gi. Not the Aeras where we were headed.

"Maybe it's a little of both," I said aloud, although the thought had been in my head and wasn't meant to come out.

"Both?" Theo queried, finger dipping beneath the sheet, teasing.

I smirked at the direction of his touch. Not exactly subtle.

"Maybe I've grown as a woman, because of both your guidance and my Pyrkagia side. Maybe I wouldn't be as bold as I am without one or the other."

"Bold? How bold?"

I struggled to contain a laugh at his eager expression. Forcing a serious mask on my face, I asked, "Shouldn't we get going? The longer we stay..."

He cut me off. "I need a reward for my vigilance last night. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Oh, of course!" I exclaimed, the laugh bubbling closer to the surface. "How do you think this reward should be given?"

"Well," he said, moving to lie on his back and placing his hands behind his head, almost expectantly. "See anything you like?"

My gaze flowed over his still sheet covered body, my hand hanging suspended in mid-air as he'd moved away from my touch. When my eyes landed on his tented erection I smiled.

"Now what could that be?" I murmured, and watched as it jerked beneath the sheet.

"Why don't you investigate, slake that curiosity," Theo suggested, mildly. All the while his erection seemed to be getting bigger.

"Hmm, why don't I?" I replied, reaching for the sheet and slowly, so very slowly, lifting it off his body to reveal the prize beneath.

God, he was perfection personified. Beauty wrapped up in a bronzed skin. Toned, buffed, sculpted, call it what you will, he was faultless. Man was moulded in Theo's image, and never quite to the same exacting standards since. No one looked as utterly beautiful as him.

I think I stared for a full minute, mouth slightly parted, eyes wide and lust filled. He let me, a small smirk playing on his lips, a flash of orange-yellow shining in his eyes. His lids fluttered, growing heavy with arousal. His erection doing the opposite, seemingly growing bigger and harder under my gaze.

"Well?" he husked. "Find anything that inspires?"

Ah-ha, yes, definitely feeling inspired 'round about now. I licked my lips, Theo let out a little moan.

"Casey," he murmured. "What do you do to me with just one look?"

My eyes flicked back up to his, seeing hunger, desire, a need that matched my own. Laced with a delicious amount of anticipation. He was almost panting for my touch, for my lips right there. Fighting the urge to beg, to plead, to ask.

But part of the fun was his direction, was the seductive purr of words that fell from his lips. I may have been much more capable of flirting with him, and seeing that flirtation through to completion, than I had ever been before. But I still needed him to guide me. I still wanted him to guide me. And I wasn't ashamed to admit that.

"What do you want me to do?" I whispered, kneeling beside his hip, right where I knew he wanted me closest.

He closed his eyes, as though in some sort of pain. I watched mesmerised as my question and proximity slowly destroyed all carefully constructed control.

"You want me to tell you," he surmised, not opening his eyes yet. But he understood me, he'd understood me from the very start. Yes, I had grown in confidence. But my pleasure was gained through his direction. Without it I would manage, have some fun, enjoy myself. With it... I would fly.

He slowly spread his legs, and then murmured, "Kneel between my thighs, face towards me."

I shifted to follow the command, settling into position above his erection, feeling my nerves spark to life along my skin and saliva to pool in my mouth at the prospect of tasting him. He moved himself up the bed to a more upright position, his back resting against the headboard, so he'd be looking down at the proceedings, at my hair as it fell over his stomach and legs. At my mouth as it slowly slipped over his heated flesh.

"Lick your lips," he husked. "And move up onto your knees."

I did as instructed, hovering over his erection, waiting impatiently for the next order, which would hopefully involve my lips on his skin.

"Spread your thighs slightly," he said, voice lower than I'd heard it in a while. But his request surprised me, why spread my thighs? For better balance.

With a mental shrug I did as I was told, feeling cool air wash across my already moist folds. I felt a pulse beat between my thighs and had to stifle a gasp.

"That's it," he husked. "Now lean forward and lick the length of my cock. Top to bottom."

Oh, God. I never used words like that inside my head, but coming from Theo it sent my arousal through the roof. I hummed as my tongue laved a wet path down his thick length.

When I reached the base, Theo rasped, "Suck my sac, take it completely into your mouth."

Oh freaking hell. Could I come from his words and what I was doing? Without his touch, physical or Pyrkagia, between my thighs?

The sensation of sucking his sac into my mouth was so deliciously illicit and foreign, my body began to tremble with my need to find release.

"Roll my balls around on your tongue," Theo ordered, his breaths uneven, his voice a rough gasp. "Oh, Aetheros yes! Like that. Suck, Casey." A groan, rock of his hips, then rasped, "Now my cock. Do the same."

I moaned my approval as I licked up the other side of his shaft, then flattened my tongue on the broad tip. Before Theo could complain about my slight deviation from the instruction, I wrapped my lips around the head and slowly lowered them, sucking my cheeks in as I took more and more.

"Oh, Oraia. You look so beautiful taking me like that."

He shifted slightly above me, but I was too busy to lift my eyes to see what he was doing. Too content concentrating on my task. He tasted enticing, a flavour I was sure made just for me. Slightly salty, mixed with the musk of man, and that ever present scent of rosebuds in Spring and Mediterranean spice. Theo's scent. Sending me into a dizzying spiral of arousal.

"You like this," he said above me, that cocky, self-assured tone in his voice. "Cassandra," he purred. "You're so wet."

I did lift my eyes to his on those words. Seeing his gaze focused over my head and not on me, I released my hold on him and looked over my shoulder. Hanging right across from the bed, on the far wall, was a long mirror. And reflected in the glass was me. Knees spread, back bowed over an erect Theo, everything on display. And yes, I was very wet indeed.

"Theo!" I chastised, returning my attention to him. He shrugged, as if to say, what ya gonna do?

With a chuckle he said, "Do you want to stop, Oraia?"

I raised an eyebrow and returned to my task. He wanted a show, he'd get one.

Several seconds of my undivided attention on his more than impressive erection and Theo was putty in my hands. Still issuing the odd command, "Harder. Faster. Oh, fuck yes, like that. All the way, Cassandra. Right to the back of your throat. Yes!" But still holding out on giving over to his fervent desire to find release.

Knowing Theo he had a plan. Something involving my satisfaction as well, no doubt. But I had other ideas. With his hips rocking, his breaths panting, and his voice a husky rasp, I slipped my hand between my legs and ran a finger through my folds. For a second he didn't say or do anything in reaction to what I had started to seek on my own. Then, maybe because he'd just reopened his eyes, he groaned, bucked and swore in Greek.

Oh, yes! The Greek was out, I was almost there. Theo was about to lose it big time.

My finger, coated in my juices, slid inside deliciously slowly, and then started up a rhythm that matched the slide of his shaft across my lips.

"Aetheros! Casey!" he cried.

Two fingers, and the well placed rubbed on my thumb and I was moaning along with him.

"Deeper," he husked. Clearly riveted to the mirror now. "Can you manage three?"

My fingers were no where near as big as his, so three fingers slid in with relative ease. Still stretching me deliciously wide, still making me hum and groan and buck against my own hand.

"How close?" he breathed unsteadily.

I nodded my head to indicate I was almost there, but didn't stop my sucking and stroking of his shaft, as well as my own ministrations.

"I'm going to come hard, Oraia," he moaned. Yeah, me too. There was something altogether erotic about what we were doing, and we hadn't used an ounce of Pyrkagia.

For some reason that thought did it for me. Pyrkagia induced orgasms were unbelievably good, but knowing Theo and I could lose ourselves to just each other's touch was... magnificent.

I moaned as the orgasm claimed me, making me buck against my fingers and hand, imagining them being Theo's. My cries of release made my lips vibrate against his hard length, as I continued to rock above him. From his reaction, he definitely approved.

Words tumbled across his lips in Greek, as he bucked, shouted out a sound of victory, and then began to spill his seed. The first drop coated my tongue and then I was hauled up his legs and chest and being kissed so hard, as his release continued to pulse between our bodies.

Still determined to protect me from swallowing, I think. And there was something sexily chivalrous about that, which was soon replaced with carnal thoughts, as the kiss deepened and my toes curled and the orgasm that had just left me turned into a rush of sated sparks, making goosebumps appear all over my body.

"Theo," I breathed against his lips, as his hip thrusts slowed and his moans of ecstasy levelled out.

"Casey," he almost whimpered against me, bringing his forehead forward and resting it next to mine. "My beautiful, clever, talented little Gi. I love you."

My lips curved into a well deserved smile. Theo sounded completely bowled over, as though he couldn't believe his luck.

"I love you, too," I whispered, laying a soft kiss against his lips. His arms squeezed tighter about my waist and his mouth pressed harder into mine, tongues tangling, legs tangling, body tangling. Perfect.

Several minutes passed as we explored each other's lips, our heartbeats returning to somewhat of a normal pace, and our breaths settling into manageable pants.

"Come on, you," he urged, when we'd stopped kissing and just lay tangled for a while. My head on his chest, his fingers running through my hair, our bodies flush against each other, almost glued together. "Let's get washed up and then I'm afraid we're going to have to make a run for it."

I sighed, but let him peel me off his chest and help me to my feet. We were both looking a little dishevelled, a shower was definitely on the cards. Theo led me by the hand to the bathroom, turning the taps on in the stall and then offering me my toothbrush as the water heated up.

As much as I didn't want the cocoon of our perfect shared moment to be over, he was right. It was time to turn our attention to dangerous matters.

"What did Aktor say?" I asked around a mouthful of toothpaste.

"The Aeras have received his request, but as yet not replied."

I spat, rinsed, then asked, "So, do we go straight there or hang around somewhere neutral until they give permission to enter their land."

"Anywhere, but here," he murmured, a semi-repeat of what we'd discussed yesterday.

I nodded and slipped into the shower. Seconds later Theo's hands took over the task of soaping up my skin. A delightful sensation of hot water, smooth skin, and... Theo. I returned the favour, and then once we'd completed our full body cleanse, we both towelled off in silence.

Dressed and packed some time later, we stared at the door to the little haven we'd shared, knowing what stood on the other side.

"We have tickets out of Belém to Lima," Theo said, eyes still on the door, one hand on his overnight bag, the other clasping mine. "It should take another couple of hours to reach the airport from here, then almost five to get to Lima."

"Is Lima Aeras territory?"

"No, we should be safe there while we wait for permission to go to Urubamba."

Silence as I digested that.

"By this time tomorrow we could be with the Aeras," he added, not sounding elated about that idea at all.

"First we have to get out of here," I pointed out, adding my own two cents worth of worry.

"Yes," he replied tight lipped. We stared at the door. "Can you sense them?"

"The Gi?" He nodded. I let myself reach for the Earth unsure what reception I would receive.

Gi Stoicheio rushed through me, filling me up and making me gulp in surprised air. Theo's hand tightened in mine and his Pyrkagia swelled in reaction to my obvious delight at being connect to Gi again. A hot hand cupped my neck, as Theo turned me towards him. Gold sparkled back at me, possibly matching the brilliance of my green.

"Beautiful," he whispered, awe coating every word.

I smiled, floating on his affection. Only to have the smile falter when the Earth whispered on the air, in the scent of the orchids in the room, There you are. We've been looking for you.

Oh, freaking hell. We? The Earth? Or the Gi themselves, led by the Basilissa?

Chapter Twenty

Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Fire

Who's 'we'? I asked. A question posed in direct reaction to my fright, that didn't take into account the fact that the Earth could be controlled by the Gi.

Us, it answered, in what had become a typical ambiguous fashion.

Are the Gi nearby?

Yes, it replied, no note of concern evident. But that question had been the wrong one to ask, hadn't it? Of course Gi were nearby, that's why Theo had stayed awake all night, enforcing our shields.

Is it safe for us to leave? I tried instead.

Never safe for Aether, the Earth ominously replied.

A frustrated sound slipped out, and Theo tensed.

"What is it?" he demanded, gold washing my face when I glanced at his eyes.

"I can't get a straight answer from the Earth. Gi are nearby, and it's unsafe. But I can't tell if it means it's specifically unsafe outside this door, or in general. As usual, it's being cagey."

Theo shook his head, a look of bemusement crossing his face. Of course, when he asked his Stoicheio a question, he always got a straight answer. With me, it was never that easy.

I took a deep breath in and searched for my Pyrkagia side, finding it waiting, burning softly; ready for when I needed it. My hand spasmed in Theo's, perhaps because that was why my Pyrkagia was so close to the surface right now. Whenever I was near Theo a Fire simmered down low. Touching him in any way, made the flames lick higher and higher.

Is it safe? I asked the Fire.

Never safe for Aether, the Fire answered and blew all hope of getting a foot up on the Gi.

"We're just going to have to risk it," I announced. "If the Gi are out there waiting, we'll fight our way through. If not, we'll try to slip through their ranks without being detected."

Theo swore softly, then straightened his shoulders.

"Come on," he said, sounding like he was about to mount the side of a battlefield trench. "The car's directly in front of the door, I'll unlock it as soon as we're on the doorstep. Hold onto your Fire, and keep an ear out on the Earth."

I've been scared a few times recently. More frightened than any person should have to ever be. But opening that door onto the unknown, knowing that my Stoicheio probably had a lock on what would happen next, but was not divulging it to me, was somehow the highest level of angst I'd experienced yet.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears, my palm became sweaty where it was clasped tightly in Theo's. My vision sharpened, as adrenaline flowed through my veins. Sounds became ominous, scents shot to life. The smell of green leaves as soon as the door cracked open assailed me. The soft, moist, fragrant stench of rotten vegetation. The pungent odour of animal faeces. The sweat of a person off to the right. My eyes soon told me he was human. The smell of gasoline in the car's petrol tank in front of us. The sickly, sticky scent of tar on the ground beneath our feet as we crossed the short gap between the cottage and the SUV.

But no one else. No other Ekmetalleftis in the vicinity. No animal about to charge. No tree about the pound down a thick branch on top of us.

I realised I did have a weapon. One the Earth couldn't interfere with directly. Or at least, I hoped that was the case. And thinking that the Gi could mask their scent, or confuse me with imagined smells was a concern. But something told me, right now in any case, that what I could smell was legitimate.

I breathed out a long puff of air and relaxed my shoulders. Theo sensed the change in me, but other than a concerned flick of his eyes, said nothing. Letting my hand go as I climbed in the passenger side of the car, and throwing the bag he held in the back seat from the driver's door. We both slipped in, the vehicle started, and within seconds we were pulling out onto the highway.

Here smells didn't help me, even if I were to open the window at my side. We were travelling too quickly for me to pick up accurately what each scent meant. So, that left the unreliable and tenuous link I had to Earth, and my Pyrkagia side, which seemed to be as much in the dark as we were right now.

We were blind. Tearing along the motorway without a compass or chance of seeing danger before it was on us. Jittery did not even cover how I felt, right then.

Theo's hands held on to the steering wheel with single minded focus, his knuckles not quite white yet, but clenched tight. His eyes darted all over the road ahead, easily as jittery as me. I felt the Earth's pull, the further we travelled from Santarém. The call for help, for me to save it. I could no longer tell if it was truly a message of desperation from the Earth itself, or a trap set by the Gi. Distance didn't provide an answer, it just made the Earth's call that much more wretched to my ears.

With a heavy heart I sent one last thought out to my Stoicheio, I'll return for you. I promise. Then with a concerted effort I cut myself off from the first Element to have claimed me.

Pyrkagia swirled inside, trying to fill the void left behind. Trying to bolster my emotions, to let me know I was not alone. One hand covered my mouth to stifle my cry of pain, the other rubbed over my heart to still the ache. Theo glanced across the space between us, then flicked his gaze back out the front.

"Everything all right?" he asked, softly. No doubt aware how ridiculous that question was. Nothing was all right, and even when we left Gi territory and I reunited with the Earth, there was no guarantee things would be all right then.

"We're on our own," I whispered. But couldn't voice the rest. He must have guessed what I meant, because he didn't question me further. Just reached over and clasped my palm in his, steering now with only one hand.

Belém grew closer on the horizon, but without touching Gi I had no way of knowing if we'd escaped detection. Or if the Basilissa was following us out of her territory, determined to capture us when we stopped moving at last. The temptation to check in with the Earth was astounding, but whenever the thought materialised, Fire would quell the urge.

By the time we parked the car at the airport, I was a nervous wreck, Pyrkagia burned too hot inside, and Theo was having trouble keeping his attention off my body.

"You need to rein it in," he whispered, as the cooling tick of the car engine filled the still air inside the SUV. "It's taking everything in me not to reach out with my Stoicheio and tangle with yours."

"It's not a conscious thing," I argued.

"Make it a conscious thing," he shot back.

I glared at him, meeting his too bright eyes, gold simmering on the edges, but with obvious effort he was working to keep it contained. I closed my lids, sucked in a deep breath and reached down inside myself, searching for all that heated Pyrkagia, determined to ask for a reprieve.

Need focus, the Fire murmured in my mind. No distractions, it added.

Please, I urged. Just leave Theo alone.

Thisavros, Fire said with a crackle and hiss. Impossible to exclude.

I huffed out a frustrated breath. Just who was in charge here, anyway? Turning in my seat, I lifted determined eyes to Theo. He looked as hard as stone, that blank mask I'd seen on him in Auckland was back. I'd forgotten how desolate it made me feel.

"I think," I said slowly, trying to reason through what was happening with me, "that my Pyrkagia side is trying to protect me from Gi influence. They must be near, because it refuses to quieten down."

Theo's eyebrows rose on those words.

"Really?" he said, sounding completely doubtful. I guess his Pyrkagia didn't act like that, then.

I nodded. "It also said you need to harden up." A small stretch of the truth, but I was summarising here. "As my Thisavros you've got no choice but to enjoy the ride."

His lips quirked slightly at the edges and then he ran a hand over his face.

"You do realise," he finally replied. "That I will have a blatant erection when we walk through that airport."

My lips tipped up at the edges.

"Well, it's still gotta be better than a Gi attack, because they tapped into my connection with the Earth," I offered.

"Good point," he agreed, adjusting himself obviously with one hand on the crotch of his trousers. "There's always the mile high club," he added, giving me a wink and then sliding from the car.

He came around my side of the vehicle, bag already in hand, and stood waiting as I gathered my wits after that statement. When I climbed down from the car he smirked.

"Imagining things, Oraia?" he queried. "Just how does one do it in an aeroplane bathroom?"

I shook my head. "Let's get on the plane first, shall we? Then you can plan your seduction, which I sincerely hope does not include a public toilet."

He chuckled, flicking keen eyes around the carparking area we were in. "There are other ways to join the club," he murmured, but he seemed a little more distracted now. Or maybe the correct term was focused; on the environment and not the heat burning inside of me.

We walked with purpose across the open space, not sure if we should feel safer outside, or in the terminal itself. Concrete beneath our feet, concrete surrounding us as we walked through the glass doors. And way too many people to make me feel at ease.

Good, the Fire said inside. This is good, it added. Hide, we will do the rest.

The rest? Oh, good grief, what the hell did my Stoicheio have in mind? This was entirely new ground I was standing on. Before I was clumsy and unskilled when wielding my Element. Now my Element was wielding itself, and I was locked out of the picture completely. Was this part of being an Aether? I wasn't a born Athanatos like Theo, did that mean my relationship with my Stoicheio would always be different than his? A visitor occasionally allowed to control the power, but more often than not, only because the power let me.

It was a disturbing thought, and I wasn't yet at the point that I trusted either of my Stoicheio enough to let them lead the way without worry. There wasn't much I could do though, my Pyrkagia had a plan and was refusing my interference. And my Gi was cut-off. I was just along for the ride. Rather like Theo was every time his attention swayed back to me.

We approached the check-in counter and Theo pulled out two passports. Surprising me that he held mine in his hand, too. He'd thought ahead, thank God. It hadn't even crossed my mind that the Gi had smuggled me into Brazil without documents. At least I'd be leaving legally.

I didn't utter a word while he talked in Portuguese to the airline staff, my eyes were on the surroundings. On the people who milled around, or scuttled past like ants on a mission for food. Every now and then my gaze would be captured by an oversized pot plant, the desire to reach out in some capacity and touch was so great, that my Pyrkagia would flare like an inferno until my eyes moved on.

Theo shifted uncomfortably, and a few of the passengers waiting in line behind us started eyeing me up like I was their next dinner, too. They may not have been Ekmetalleftis, but that didn't mean they avoided my influence. Intended or not.

Clasping the boarding passes in his fist and offering a few curt pleasantries to the counter staff, Theo grasped my hand firmly in his and practically dragged me away from what looked like an impending mosh pit. A few winks were given, several leers and the odd seductive smile. Then one guy slipped from the queue and rushed up to my side, slipping his phone number into my palm, even though I hadn't raised it.

"Can't take you anywhere," Theo muttered. "And I don't sense any Gi," he added, as though that was argument enough for my Pyrkagia to tone it down a bit.

I had no way of knowing if the Gi were inside the terminal without reaching for the Earth, and the flare of heat that thought caused left me in no doubt that the Fire did not like that idea, one bit. I shrugged my shoulders at Theo. I was clearly not the one driving right now.

He started to head towards the airline private club area, but with a blast of superheated Fire he changed direction, heeding my Stoicheio's warning.

"It wants us to hide in the throng," I whispered.

"I gathered that when it slapped me across the face," he ground back. I glanced up and saw a red mark forming on his left cheek, making me feel decidedly ill.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, as he found us a table in the centre of a huge food court, hundreds of people standing, sitting, walking with trays, and generally providing excellent visual cover.

"Casey," he said with a sigh, sitting down and dragging me onto his lap. His arms wrapping around my stomach, his head resting on my shoulder. "Don't apologise. Your Pyrkagia could be all that's saving us from the Gi right now. Aetheros knows, mine just wants to fuck you."

I jerked at his admission, receiving a low chuckle in reply.

"I think I'm going to need an extra special reward for my control tonight, don't you?" he whispered in my ear, making a shiver run down my spine and goosebumps rise all over my body.

He moved his thighs, forcing me to slip down further between them, right onto his raging erection. A groan sounded out against my cheek, as he rocked his hips, as surreptitiously as he could manage, up into my rear.

"You do not want to know what I'm thinking right now," he murmured, heat washing down my back as his own Pyrkagia threatened to wrap around me.

I knew it wasn't a good idea to continue this conversation, but the words were out before I could stop them.

"Bending me over this table, maybe?"

Another groan. "Minx."

I laughed, my eyes still somehow managing to scan the area for any obviously looking Gi.

"No?" I whispered. "Then I guess we'll have to settle for a little frottage as we sit here."

"Good God, where has my sweet, innocent little Gi gone?" Theo rasped, inadvertently doing exactly as I'd suggested. His groin rubbed deliciously hard against my backside. Another groan.

Pyrkagia surged around us, making me realise I'd been playing a very stupid and dangerous game.

"Ah, Theo, your turn to rein it back in," I urged a little frantically.

"Shielding us," he replied in a husk. "Enough so I can do this," he added, as his hand came around and slipped between my thighs.

"This isn't a good idea," I announced, my head already falling back on his shoulders, as his fingers found exactly the right spot to rub. He rolled his hips, panting out a groan as he rubbed himself against me.

I lost a minute or two then, Pyrkagia burning through our bodies, becoming perilously close to entwining. The sounds of the airport went on, offering a buffer of sorts that complemented the shield Theo had erected to distract those around us. The scents of food and people layered another blanket of surreal on top. And the delicious sensations Theo created threatened to blast the lot apart and let us float on those enticing embers of Fire.

I was so close. So was Theo. Four more swipes of his finger across my centre, and four more rubs of his erection against my behind, would have done it, I was sure. So close.

And then when my eyes flickered open lazily, the second before I detonated and blew apart, I spotted him. Not a Gi. But he looked like one. And I knew him.

Noah the Alchemist doctor was here in the airport, which begged the question, had he escaped the Basilissa or brought her here?

"Theo," I said, suddenly wide awake and clear headed. Fire still burned within me, but it was scorching in a way that lust was not.

Theo jolted to a stop, panting and slightly sweaty, but his eyes, shimmering the last vestiges of gold, were scanning the area as well.

"Where?" he demanded, all business, no more husky, low, seductive voice.

Even now in a crisis, when his ability to turn off the seduction and lust was desperately required, I felt miffed. I was still strung as tight as a bowstring, any second now if he just moved in the right way, I would come apart at the seams.

"Breathe," he instructed in my ear; alert, on guard, and still aware of what I was feeling.

I sucked in air, keeping my eyes on the doctor and let my body relax its fervent hold on my impending release. It took several long seconds. Time we really didn't have. Noah wasn't getting any closer, but he wasn't moving on yet either.

"By the McDonald's counter," I finally replied.

"Got him," Theo said. "Is that...?"

"The Alchemist," I supplied. "Noah."

"I can't spot any Gi nearby," Theo added, a note of hope in his voice.

"Doesn't mean they're not using him," I pointed out. I couldn't imagine he'd escaped the Basilissa without consequence. But I had no way of determining which enemy he now was.

"Either way we need to avoid him," Theo suggested, looking at his watch, and then shifting me to the seat beside his. "Boarding in ten more minutes."

"Do we go now to the gate, or hold off?"

Theo scanned the environment, eyes hard, focused, and experienced. He'd been a Pyrkagia Scout before all this changed his life forever. I was sure some of those talents had included evading detection. When he chased down those who had broken their laws, he must have wanted the element of surprise on his side. And to do that, he'd have had to approach unseen, remained hidden until he wanted to be noticed.

"We're too exposed here, even with Pyrkagia shielding," he finally murmured. And considering Noah could wield some Gi and some Pyrkagia it wasn't a foolproof hide. "But it's too soon for the gate. If we're spotted there before we board, we'll have no avenue of escape, and our flight will be compromised."

Then what? I looked around the food court, taking in the happy and excited people, keeping Noah in my sights, and scanning for Gi. My eyes landed on a sign for the public toilets, but I discarded that idea as soon as it formed. Not only icky, but a dead end. What I found next was a long shot, but had two entryways at the front of the store, and a clear line of sight out of the further exit at the back in the distance.

"I need some more clothes," I announced, making Theo glance down at my well worn and now slightly grubby yoga gear.

"Now?" he asked, incredulously. I nodded my head towards the big brand name clothing shop and saw the cogs turning behind his eyes. "And I should really accompany you into the changing rooms, just to make sure they fit."

I smirked, I was sure it was as corrupt as his appears sometimes, and flicked my eyes to Noah. "We need a distraction," I muttered, and felt my Pyrkagia swell inside.

Leave it to us, it eagerly offered. We know what to do.

I didn't have a chance to argue before several people around Noah began to eye him up like delectable candy. Theo snorted as two very flamboyant looking guys approached, and a third person, in the form of an air-hostess complete with tight fitting blouse, entered the fray.

"Covering all options?" Theo asked, eyebrow raised.

"Hey, it's not me," I defended.

"That argument will grow very old very fast, Oraia." Whatever.

I grasped his hand and led the way into the store, grabbing clothes off racks as we passed, letting Theo keep a lookout as I directed our snatch-and-grab towards the changing rooms near the back exit. If Noah had spotted us he'd come in from the front, and we'd be able to slip out the back. Hopefully.

The curtains closed and Theo planted himself at a gap in the material, keeping a lookout towards both the front and rear of the store. I sat down exhausted again on the bench seat, the clothes I'd selected discarded on the floor, my head in my hands.

Twice I gave clothes back to the shop assistant requesting different sizes. I didn't try any of them on. Then finally, ten minutes later the announcement for our flight came over the intercom. And ten minutes after that we slipped out the back entrance and raced to our gate.

We boarded as the doors were about to be closed, the check-in flight crew not impressed with our tardiness.

But we'd dodged a bullet, I was sure.

While my Pyrkagia crackled with glee, and as we took our seats, having scanned those in our area of the plane to ascertain we were safe, I finally felt like I could enjoy it, letting myself sink into the heated bliss of Fire. Warmth wrapped around me, fuelled me, exciting me, as Theo's hand slipped into mine clasping it tight. He lifted it slowly to his lips and laid a soft kiss on the back, his eyes holding mine.

We'd made it. We'd escaped Gi territory... and were heading straight for Aeras.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire? And I wasn't entirely sure if that particular fire had a capital 'F' or not. Nor if it made a jot of difference.

Chapter Twenty-One

That Pit Of Despair Opened Up Before Me

Theo held my hand the entire four and a half hour flight. And didn't once mention the mile high club. My Pyrkagia had settled the moment the wheels on the plane left the ground, and touching Earth from here was impossible. So, I didn't even try. His thumb gently brushed over my skin softly, the comfort and familiarity of his hand in mine was reassuring in a way nothing had truly been for the past few days.

At some stage he felt safe enough to fall asleep, but his grasp of my palm never eased. I watched him slumber, drawn to his beauty, both inside and out, like a moth to a flame. Even without the use of his Pyrkagia his proximity threatened to make me burn. I sat, turned in my seat, curled up on my side, so I could gaze at him. His chest rising and falling rhythmically, his brow uncreased, his plump, soft lips curved in a semi-smile.

I wasn't the only one who thought he was gorgeous; the hostess in our section kept flicking glances towards us. But when she caught me watching her, she only offered a self-deprecating smile. Yeah, I got it, he was hard to miss.

When the pilot announced we were about to land, Theo finally stirred, looking a hell of lot better than he had in Brazil. Just under four hours sleep was not prefect, but it was better than none. And I got the impression, sleeping while holding my hand, being so close to me, had made the experience even better. He looked refreshed, if not a little anxious about what lay ahead.

"We'll find somewhere with a fire as soon as possible, then contact Aktor for an update on the Aeras," Theo suggested.

"Why not just phone him?" I asked, thinking finding a fireplace would be tricky in a subtropical environment.

"Fire is a secure network, one that cannot be tracked or overheard," he explained. "Even a Pyrkagia, not actually present near the flames, is unable to listen in on what is being said."

"And you think a phone could be bugged?"

"My father regularly bugs his people's phones," Theo offered, with a shrug of his shoulders. "I assume all Rigas are the same."

Paranoid. Athanatos were extremely paranoid people. I shook my head in bemusement, just as the tyres of the plane touched down.

"Welcome to Peru, Oraia," Theo murmured, then ruined the small natural smattering of excitement I had at being somewhere I had never been before. "Keep an eye out for any Aeras as soon as we exit the plane."

Great. This was meant to be outside of Aeras territory.

"OK," I said a little sullenly, receiving a questioning glance from Theo. I didn't explain my over-tired reaction to him, I was sure he could figure out I'd had enough stress for one day. "What do the Aeras look like?" I asked instead.

"Scandinavian, if you can believe," he said with a smile. And I guess he was right, all Ekmetalleftis were of Greek origin; that should be tanned, dark hair colouring, hazel/amber/brown eyes.

But the Pyrkagia seemed to be the closest, having dark hair, hazel eyes, and bronzed skin. The Gi on the other hand, had brown hair and dark blue eyes, and their skin was not quite the same bronze of Theo's, but paler making the unusual blue of their eyes stand out.

"So, blonde hair and light blue eyes?" I suggested.

"Yes, the same shade of hair as yours," - that would be dark blonde - "but a very light, pale blue in the eyes. Different from your dark blue. You're kind of a mixture of Gi and Aeras to look at, although the Aeras have paler skin than yours."

"What colour do their eyes flash?" I queried, finding this topic fascinating despite the danger that awaited us when we met these new Athanatos.

"White," he whispered, almost in awe. "It's a little freaky the first time you see it, but also quite spellbinding. Some say you can be hypnotised by their colour change, as much as you can be contained by their lightning."

The plane came to a stop and and the fasten seatbelt sign disengaged. People began to hurriedly get up and unlock the overhead compartments. I ignored them, just stared at Theo in wonder.

"They use lightning?" I whispered, leaning in to say the words so we wouldn't be overheard. I needn't have bothered; the passengers were too excited, about their next adventure in Lima, to be listening.

"They command the weather," Theo whispered back, his forehead practically pressed against mine. "Most impressively they rule lightning. It is how legends were formed about Zeus."

"Zeus the Greek god of lightning," I said in an awed whisper. Theo chuckled.

"Now can you see why they are considered spellbinding?"

"Ah-ha," I murmured, getting up out of my seat as our section of the plane had already emptied. "I don't think I'll be trying to piss them off any time soon," I added.

"Just think, Oraia," Theo voiced softly behind me, as we began to head down the aisle. "You could soon be commanding your very own lightning, too."

Oh, and God, didn't that put a dampener on my intrigue?

We were the last to exit the plane, Theo becoming a little more agitated as we traversed the air bridge to the terminal. His eyes darting out of the side windows, at what had been a relatively mild day. There'd been clouds in the sky as we lowered from thirty thousand feet up, but the sun still managed to filter through them in parts, blanketing Lima in a golden glow. Now though, as soon as our feet touched down on Peru soil, albeit inside the airport building still, the clouds darkened ominously, a storm threatening to brew.

"That's not good, is it?" I remarked, stopping to look out on the increasingly darker day beyond the windows.

"I think we have a greeting party," Theo announced. "Can you touch your Gi side yet?"

I frantically reached out to the scent of Earth on the air. It wasn't easy to locate. My feet weren't in soil, there were no pot plants immediately nearby, and so many conflicting smells that threatened to distract me, making my Gi side seem all but lost for good. I shook my head. I could feel the Earth waiting patiently for me, but for now it was just outside of my reach.

"There's not enough plants," I explained, disappointed in my lack of abilities.

"Gi is an animal based Stoicheio, too," Theo said encouragingly from my side.

"But there's no animals in here," I pointed out, a little too wound up to figure out what he actually meant.

"There are humans, Casey," he replied. "Lots of them."

I'd never thought of that before. In theory I should have been able to reach my Gi Stoicheio whenever another person was near. I wasn't sure it would work if it was just me, but the Earth should have communicated through any fauna or flora available, including Theo at my side. Which painfully led me to remember my time in that bunker prison in the Gi stronghold, and the fact I had felt cut-off from the Stoicheio whenever alone in that room with Davos, my torturer.

He'd always had access to Gi. I'd thought it was because he'd just come in from the rainforest, but maybe it was because he tapped into the Earth through me. Yet I'd not been able to feel a thing through him, at all. Even when my life depended on it.

I stopped dead in my tracks, sensations of that horrid time rolling determinedly through me, making my body tremble and my breaths come in short pants.

"Cassandra," Theo murmured, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me to the side of the corridor we were in, out of the flow of human traffic. "What's wrong?" he asked, voice gentle and caring.

"I don't think it works like that for me," I said in a broken whisper. I was not made like other Athanatos. I was not born a Gi, but created an Aether. Although Theo had often said I had unusual skill and power, like that of an elder, there were clearly restrictions as to what I could do. And I was becoming more and more aware of them.

I closed my eyes, trying to banish the images of Davos' fists. Of the glint that shone off his blade when he wielded it. Of the sound that reverberated inside my head when the whip swished through the air. The sharp sting of pain as it entered my flesh. The metallic scent of blood on the air, mixed with days old sweat and filth. I jolted, a whimper escaping me. My body curling in on itself, as Theo murmured words in my ear, trying to break the memory and bring me back to him.

Back to the airport in Lima, Peru, where a greeting party of Aeras Ekmetalleftis were waiting to do God knows what. I sucked in a breath, and then another, and worked my way out of that pit of despair. We couldn't afford for me to lose it right now. Danger lurked everywhere.

My eyes flicked open to see gold brimming Theo's. I wondered if mine had a shade at all.

"You're flashing yellow," I remarked, my voice still so very shaky. "What am I flashing?"

"A hint of green, but its not nearly your usual vibrant shade," he said, sadness reaching his eyes. Then he surprised me by saying, "We need the Aeras, Casey. You're not like other Gi nor Pyrkagia. You're different, Oraia. And in order to keep you safe, we need to know what that difference entails. Even if we have to put ourselves in danger first."

He was right, and this was clearly evidence of how desperate our situation had become.

I turned and looked out on the larger area up ahead; the arrivals terminal. Where hordes of people stood waiting, through doors in the distance, for their loved ones to emerge from their flights. We didn't need to go to the baggage claim area off to the side, as Theo's overnight bag had been small enough to carry on board, but we still had customs to get through. I sucked in a fortifying breath and squeezed Theo's hand, still in mine.

"Let's get this over with," I said, sounding more like myself again. He nodded, but I noticed his eyes kept flicking to my face every few feet; checking to make sure I was all right.

Customs was surprisingly quick, but even in that short amount of time the weather outside had shifted. Rain spat large droplets of water against the windows, the wind making the angle now acute. The storm was here, which meant so were the Aeras. My heart couldn't quite keep up with the rapid pulse of my blood, I was sure I felt it falter.

With shallow breaths and sweaty palms we stepped through the final gateway into the arrivals hall, officially in Peru at last. My eyes scanned the crowd of people, unable to determine features as my head was spinning with thoughts of lightning striking through the roof overhead. I even glanced up to make sure there wasn't a skylight above us, but thankfully the ceiling looked solid. Although, how was I to know what an Aeras induced lightning bolt could achieve.

We headed toward the access-way to the taxi stand and before we'd taken half a dozen steps they appeared. And I mean, appeared. Out of nowhere, in the middle of our path, in amongst all of the humans present. Who of course noticed nothing, because humans can't detect Ekmetalleftis like Athanatos do. God knows what their minds told them they saw, when the three very Scandinavian looking men popped into existence right there. I know my mind screamed, my mouth quickly following with a yelp. Theo's hand tightening in warning in mine, as though he thought I'd strike them down with Fire.

Oh, it was close. They'd given me a hell of a fright. I could see the gold blazing from my eyes, as it was reflected back from every shiny surface around us.

No one said anything for a moment, we all just took each other in. Two of the men, standing on either side of a smaller one, looked huge. Well over six and a half feet tall, with broad shoulders, and muscles bulging out from tight fitting short sleeved T-shirts. Their hands were hanging casually at their sides, as though they were tensed, ready to pull a gun, but keeping themselves limbered for optimal movement. A quick flick of my eyes at Theo, and I found him in the same stance.

Scouts. I was guessing these two almost goon looking guys were Scouts like Theo. My eyes returned to the middle man, who looked a little younger than his Guards, but that didn't tell me much. Athanatos age so slowly it's difficult to tell. The young man was smiling; if I could believe it, it was friendly. The contrast between him and the other two was vast. They scowled, brows furrowed, eyes intense. Middle man sparkled a little surreal white from his eyes, but otherwise looked relaxed. He also looked to be the one in charge, despite the Scouts' training.

All three men had short, dark blond hair, smoothly shaven cheeks, and stunning pale blue in their eyes. They were definitely lookers, but the intense and frightening gleam in the two Guards' eyes meant appreciating their façades was not on my to-do list right then.

Still silence. It was becoming creepy.

So, I decided to get things started. We did need them, after all. "Hello," I said, my voice only wavering slightly. The Scouts tensed, and the middle man let out a burst of laughter.

"My grandfather did say you were a surprise," he said, laughter still evident in his tone. I flicked a glance at Theo, to see what he was making of this surreal meeting. But his frown hadn't altered since we'd been ambushed. Nothing new there.

"My name's Casey," I tried, hoping introductions would move things along.

"I know," the Aeras middle man replied. "We've been expecting you," he added, his eyes finally leaving me and taking in Theo. "Welcome to Peru, Prince of Pyrkagia. You won't mind if we bind your Stoicheio for the trip?"

My eyebrows shot up and I felt Theo tense, then with what must have been a monumental amount of self control, his shoulders slowly relaxed and he gave a curt nod of acquiesce. I let my breath out slowly, wondering if there'd be a light show now, that the humans couldn't possible ignore.

The Aeras speaker flashed white in his eyes, blindingly bright, and then a bolt of that light arced out towards Theo. My Pyrkagia side flared to life in direct response to what seemed like an attack. Even though the guy had warned us and Theo had agreed, the reaction was intrinsic. Coming from somewhere deep down inside. Somewhere my love for Theo dwelled.

Before I could stop myself, before I could think better of the action, I let it have free rein, spreading out in a wall of flames in front of Theo. Directly into the path of that faster-than-the-speed-of-light flash of white. A crackle, a hiss, a sonic boom of thunder, and the wall of Fire snuffed out, leaving a sizzling ozone smell on the air. The little hairs on my arms stood up, I could feel the longer strands on my head floating.

Theo was looking down at me with a bemused expression on his face. The two Guards were blazing white from their eyes, crackling energy hanging in the air around them. Their leader, the one whose lighting bolt I'd just intersected, had his head tilted at an angle as he studied me.

"Thisavros," he finally muttered. "My grandfather hadn't warned me of that." He seemed a little put out, but otherwise not overly concerned. Or at least I thought so, until he added, "Well, this changes things, I suppose." He shrugged his shoulders, then looked at his two Guards. "Don't hurt them too much."

My eyes expanded and an argument got caught in my throat, as three bolts of lightning came towards us way quicker than the previous faster-than-the-speed-of-light pace. I didn't have a chance to put up a wall of flames, and if Theo had intended to, I don't know. The next thing I knew was only white light, an intense shot of pain right through my body, tingling in my fingertips and toes, and agony in my head; splitting it apart.

I couldn't tell what was up or what was down, only a strange sense of speed and air and space moving around me. I reached for Theo, but my body wouldn't respond, and as I could no longer see where he was, I wasn't entirely sure I'd have been able to grasp his hand anyway. But still I tried, unable to give up on searching for him, frantic to ease the pain with touch.

I reached inside for my Gi, but here, in amongst nothing there were no plants or animals to fuel that Stoicheio. For the first time since the Gi fortress and my prison there, I felt entirely cut-off from my Element. This was worse than when I shut myself down in the car. Worse even than the Gi torture of a concrete bunker. It felt gone. My Gi was simply no longer there.

I whimpered, or at least tried to, then reached for my Pyrkagia side. Only to suffer the same desolate loss. No Gi. No Pyrkagia. Only bright, white light that I had to assume was Aeras. I wondered if I'd tap into that Stoicheio too, but obviously now was not the time for an Awakening, as it remained aggravatingly aloof as well.

Seconds turned into minutes, which seemed to turn into hours, but how could I really tell? Floating in this painful white haze of nothing. After some time I stopped even trying to reach for Theo. I stopped trying to reach for my Stoicheio, too. And simply stopped trying to fight the sensation of floating, of moving, of stinging pain; an electrical current which arced through my veins.

I shut down.

I just stopped.

And, surprisingly, realised for the first time since I'd been buried in that pit of Earth, how truly precarious my life had become. I'd thought I'd understood the perils. I'd thought I'd come to acknowledge the dangers lurking in this new, often cruel world. But it wasn't until an upstart Aeras with his two personal Scout Guards attacked us, that I really accepted how frighteningly bad my life now was.

I was an Athanatos. I was an Ekmetalleftis. I was supposedly an Aether, at present connected to two Stoicheio. But none of it mattered, because I was defenceless against three Aeras, in a way I had never been when alone in a room with Davos the Gi.

That pit of despair opened up before me...

And swallowed me whole.

Chapter Twenty-Two

So, This Is Aether?

It was the scents that reached my consciousness first. Clean, crisp, something altogether different from any smells I'd ever experienced before. There was an ethereal quality to it. My lungs strained to gain enough oxygen, yet my sense of smell was in heaven.

I hadn't realised how affected I had been by all the pollution in the cities I'd been visiting. Manaus and Santarém had both been laden with the smells of the rainforest and wet vegetation. Belém had the salty air of the Atlantic Ocean to soften the smells of diesel and overcrowded streets. But here, right now, I couldn't smell the denseness of forests, nor the clogging, choking stench of petrol. Not even the scents of too many people registered when I inhaled.

No, all I smelled was clean, fresh, slightly thinned air. We were are up high. My guess, we were in the Aeras village already.

My eyes flickered open on that thought and I took a look at the room I'd been housed in. A simple bedroom, with one king sized bed, a pale wooden dresser topped by a mirror, and side tables in the same light coloured wood. A comfortable looking armchair stood in the corner, and a large window with the most extraordinary view through open drapes beckoned over its shoulder.

I swung my feet off the side of the bed and felt the world tilt precariously sideways. It took a moment or two for the spinning to stop. Whatever the Aeras had done to get us here had taken a toll on my body and head, that was for sure. I wondered if Theo had fared better. And then, the realisation that Theo wasn't with me in the room made my stomach roil. Where was he? What had the Aeras done?

For a moment fear consumed me, but I forced myself to breathe through the angst and focus on what I could control. Location. I needed to know what I was up against outside of this room. Then I needed to find Theo and make sure he was all right.

I crossed to the large window without any further ill effect and found myself staring out onto something that should not have existed. A long, stretched, surreal moment passed as I tried to align what I was seeing with what was the truth. I'm a practical kind of person, but this was taking a hell of a lot to digest.

Grandly designed houses sat on top of centuries of rubble and ruins. The scattered remains of an ancient city seemed familiar, yet I knew I'd never been here before. This was Machu Picchu, but not as I had seen it in any travel magazine. The building my room was in must have been high up on the mountaintop, because a vast rebuilt village lay below the window I was staring out of, in staggered layers down the side of a steep slope. Yet, even though the houses looked well maintained and modern, the ruins of the ancient Inca town they lay on still seemed more visible than they should have.

It was like one of those visual history books where a sheet of see-through plastic covers the ruins and shows you what they would have looked like whole in their day. Remove the clear sheet and you have today's image of ancient rubble. Replace it and you've got an artist's impression of what it would have been. But this wasn't a trick of the eye. Or was it?

Humans can't see what Athanatos are capable of, they find excuses they can believe for anomalies around them. When humans looked on this site they would see Machu Picchu's ruins. Athanatos see the Aeras village.

Clever. And what better place to be, than up in the mountains, in a clean, crisp atmosphere if you're an Air Elemental?

Part of me was dying to explore. To see what the Aeras had done to this iconic Inca place, but I wasn't here as a tourist. If my arrival was anything to go by, I was here as a prisoner. Again? I shook my head in disgust. When would these paranoid people just invite me to their homes? I think they were as afraid of me as I was of them.

I swung around at the sound of my door handle turning, followed by the gentle squeak of hinges that needed oiling. The Aeras middle man of earlier poked his blond head through the door and smiled when he saw me up and about. I didn't feel inclined to return the greeting.

"You're awake," he declared. I just raised my brow, ya think? "Good. Good," he announced, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Maybe we can get on with this, then."

For a second he looked like an over enthusiastic puppy; harmless, excitable, raring to go. I couldn't quite make this guy out, and that scared me. I'd trusted Noah, and he'd turned out to be an Alchemist. Hell, I'd trusted Gramps and look where that had got me.

"Where's Theo?" I demanded, not moving from my spot by the window.

"The Prince? Ah, yes the Prince. You see, he needed to take a break," he replied.

"A break from what?"

"From threatening to take our heads if he couldn't see you," the guy replied, deadpan. I had to work not to smile at that image. Theo could very well be making life more difficult for himself, I shouldn't really be encouraging it.

"Maybe you should let me see him, then," I suggested, knowing the answer I'd receive already.

"No can do," the guy chirped, almost merrily. "Grandfather is asking for you."

I ignored that. "Have you harmed Theo?"

"Of course not!" the guy replied, looking shocked. "Only contained him, like we have you."

Contained me? A sinking feeling took up residence inside my heart. I reached inside blindly searching for my Stoicheio, finding both elusive. Not a shred of their existence detectable.

"What have you done?" I demanded, horrified at what Theo must be feeling, cut-off from his Element like that. I'd had experience at this, Theo had not. No wonder he was rampaging and threatening their heads.

"We did what was necessary to protect our people," he answered, gone was the carefree attitude of before. Replaced now with pure intent. "You attacked us."

"I...I did not," I spluttered. "I defended Theo."

"We were not harming the Prince," he said slowly, as though talking to an imbecile. "We were attempting to contain his Stoicheio after gaining permission to do so. Something we do for all high level dignitaries from another Ekmetalleftis branch when they enter our territory." Yeah, there was an element of truth to that, wasn't there? "You attacked us," he repeated. And God, didn't it suck that he made containing our Stoicheio sound so legitimate? "We have many people who are not as strong as the Prince living here in Aeras," the guy pointed out. "They deserve to feel safe in their own homes."

Ah, freaking hell. He had a point. I didn't like it, but it made perfect sense. He had asked permission to contain Theo's power. I'd just reacted automatically, without forethought. Damn.

"What about my Stoicheio?" I said, hopefully.

"Well, you proved as powerful as the Prince." And that was clearly all he wanted to say about that. He opened the door further and made a motion to usher me outside. "Grandfather awaits," he added with a flourish of his hand.

"Who's grandfather?' I asked, as I allowed him to direct me out of the room and down a light corridor. Paintings of mountain scenes and cloudy, sunlit skies flanked each wall.

"Our shaman," the guy replied. And I was guessing the shaman Aktor had mentioned. Maybe something good would come out of all of this, after all. Ah, hell. Who was I kidding?

We walked in silence down the long hallway, turning a corner here and another there, making the building seem larger than it should have been. I hadn't quite managed to get a handle on the scale of Machu Picchu, but this was taking longer than I had certainly expected, in any rate.

"What's your name?" I finally asked, thinking conversation was better than letting my mind run rampant on what was about to happen.

"Oh," he said, sounding surprised that he hadn't introduced himself yet. "Hip," he promptly supplied.

"Hip? What kind of name is that?"

A laugh bubbled up from his chest, surprisingly genuine. I got the feeling this guy, Hip, was a happy sort of chap under normal circumstances.

"Hip, is short for Hippolytos," he explained.

"Ah," I said with a nod of my head in understanding. "I can see why you'd go with Hip."

His returning smile was sensational. It lit up the hallway we were in as much as the unbroken sunlight streaming through the windows did. He seemed to relax further after that little exchange, opening up about their village and what they'd done to create the illusion of Machu Picchu still being in ruins for the humans who trekked all the way up here.

"It's the atmosphere," he explained. "We control weather, which is basically just the state of the atmosphere. Through this we can manipulate the layers of earth's atmosphere, substituting the troposphere with, say, the thermosphere." I stared blankly at him. He smiled indulgently. "Mix it up a bit?" he added. "Make a little of outer space blend with a little of the troposphere which begins at the earth's surface. Manipulate it until those parts of the village containing our rebuilds are housed in a different layer of atmosphere than humans can detect whilst still on earth."

"Huh," I said, really not quite getting it, but aware all the same that it obviously worked. "Cool," I added, for good measure.

"Yes, it is pretty cool, isn't it?" Hip agreed. "About as cool as what you'll be able to do."

My head swung so I could look at him, trying to decipher what he meant by that. But he wasn't looking at me, his eyes were focused forward on a thick, double width and height carved door we were about to walk through. The carvings on the wood depicted various weather scenes, from a sunlit day, to a storming night at sea. From the the heavy rain of the Amazon, to the fork lightning of an electric storm, trees bursting into flames where it struck. Stars covered the entirety of the top of the carving, wrapping the scenes in an ethereal blanket. In one quick glance I could see the imagery suggestive of all four Stoicheio, with Air being the cornerstone of each.

I had a feeling the Aeras thought very highly of themselves.

Hip pushed the doors open and incense immediately wafted out to greet us; sweet, alluring, smoky trails spiralling up into the air from each corner of a dimly lit room. Candles flickered on various surfaces, a fire crackled in a round sided hearth, copious colourful cushions scattered all around its circumference.

"Take a seat," Hip suggested. "I'll let my grandfather know you're here."

He continued on to a curtain covered alcove, pushing through the drapes and disappearing from sight. There were no Guards here, no one standing watch at the door. Hip had closed it behind us, but not locked it. I could have easily turned around and headed back out, trying to find Theo. The desire to do so was so great I even took a step towards them, but that wouldn't get the answers we needed. I knew this, but it didn't make it any easier to deny myself the urge to rescue Theo, to seek comfort in his touch. My fingers curled in on themselves, and I forced my gaze back towards the fire and the rest of the room.

Inca style artwork adorned the walls here, as opposed to the impressionist looking paintings of the mountains out in the halls. Golden faces surrounded by sun like rays; oranges, reds, turmerics and browns. Geometric designs, ceramic sculptures, even a silver jug with an unusual looking dog balancing on it. It was fascinating, and I was guessing real. These items should have been in a museum for all to see. But then, considering how long the Aeras had lived here, maybe the Incas had given them the items personally.

By the time I'd made a visual assessment of the entire room there was nothing left to do but sit, as Hip had suggested. Just as I'd gotten myself comfortable on one of the cushions, the curtain at the back of the room parted and an old man shuffled out. It's difficult to tell an Athanatos' age, but this guy had to be ancient. He looked older than Aktor, whom I knew was twenty-five thousand years old. So....

I let a slow breath of air out on that thought. He had wrinkles. Lots of them. And his once dark blond hair was all white, standing up in tufts of frizz like some mad scientist. His back was stooped and he used a carved cane in one hand for support, leaning onto the arm of Hip with the other, as he made excruciatingly slow progress into the room. I winced at the obvious difficulty he had moving, wondering if he was in pain, or just stiff jointed.

When he came to rest next to the cushions I almost leapt up to help him myself, but with one unexpected supple movement he was sitting down, lotus style, on a pile in the next breath. My eyebrows rose up my forehead. Wow. Hip positioned himself halfway between the old guy and me, maybe as a buffer? Then when the guy lifted white lashed eyelids up to look directly at me, I got the distinct impression he did not need protection from anything.

White; pure, blindingly bright white shone from his eyes and nothing else. I tensed, thinking he was about to attack, but nothing happened. No increase in static, or ozone smell on the air. No crack of thunder or bolt of lightning arcing through the space towards me. He just stared. For a good couple of minutes.

My eyes flicked between the spooky old guy and Hip, then back again. Hip kept his gaze focused on the flames, but he surely knew I was unsettled.

Finally someone caved to the silence, and it wasn't in any way that I had expected.

"Ah, Aether comes at last to me," the shaman said in a crackly old voice; high pitched and weak sounding. I thought it might just have been an act. Power rolled off this decrepit man in waves of prickling tingles. "How fares our Aether, will she be?"

"Grandfather," Hip said, still staring at the flames. "She has use of two Stoicheio already."

My gaze flicked to Hip. He'd seen my Fire at the airport, I'd not been in touch with Gi since before we met. But then, maybe when you 'contain' someone's Element you get to see what's what.

"Aether grounded in Earth stands strong," the shaman mused. "Against all that man does wrong. Aether wreathed in Fire burns bright. Lights the darkness of the night."

Oookay. I sat back slightly on my cushion, unsure how to take this strange old man who spoke in riddles.

"Does he always talk like this?" I found myself saying. I couldn't even manage to watch my manners, this was turning into the most surreal experience to date.

"My grandfather has visions," Hip explained. "They come to him like this. For many centuries he's not been able to converse in any other fashion."

"So, everything he says is a vision?" I asked, focusing on Hip's grandfather, who was eerily focusing back on me.

"I believe so," Hip said, but it was hardly a resounding endorsement.

Silence, but for the crackle of the flames. I shook my head, feeling a little out of it. I put it down to the weird moment, but it could have been the incense.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"You may ask your questions and grandfather will answer them as he sees fit."

For a second I couldn't organise my thoughts. What was the most important thing I wanted to know? There were so many questions swilling around inside my head. So many from the first day I woke up in a pit of dirt. Some had been answered, more had appeared. And now I had my very own shaman in front of me. But I had no idea where to begin.

My hand came up and pushed damp hair away from my face. Huh, I was sweating? I hadn't even realised. But there wasn't any ventilation that I could see in this room, and the fire was warm. I worked to focus on the questions in my head, but for some reason it was becoming harder. At least one kept jumping to the front of my mind. One that had been doggedly present from the beginning.

"Why?" I managed to murmur, a little worried my voice sounded so far away.

"Why are you Aether?" Hip clarified. I nodded, wanting nothing more than to lie down and sleep for a while. I pushed past the weariness and tried to focus on the old man across from me, but smoke made his image waver and distort on the air.

Oh, this wasn't good, was it?

"Aether comes when the need is great," the old man chimed in. Which didn't really offer too much in the way of answer. "But remaining here was never fate." Oh, God. Here we go. More questions than answers.

"What does that mean?" I asked, my hand coming out to offer support, as my body had started to tilt slightly.

"It means you are here for a purpose," Hip offered. "I am unsure of what that purpose is."

"Does your grandfather know?" I asked, my hand slipping off the cushion it was resting on and making my body slide over sideways until my head rested on the floor. Oh, freaking hell.

"He has never said, only that you are needed now," Hip answered, not in the least concerned or surprised that I was out flat on the shaman's floor, surrounded by dazzlingly bright cushions.

"I feel drunk," I slurred.

Silence. Just the crackle of the fire in the hearth and then...

"So, this is Aether? I thought her grand. But she is just our god's right hand. Until all five have been woken, our Aether will remain near broken."

Not good, I thought... and then blackness took over.

Chapter Twenty-Three

I Needed To Remember That

"Aether, Aether, Eternal Aether. Sharpen your sword here."

The old shaman's voice reached me from down a very long tunnel. It took a monumental amount of effort to lift my head, but all I could see was a dizzying array of bright colours, entwining together, merging and twisting, floating away like smoke on the air.

I licked my lips, tried to make a sound, and ended up just coughing more of that sweet, sickly incense in. I felt mired in it, trapped within it, held fast by smoky tendrils of sweet, sweet hell.

"Let me go," I mumbled, rolling over onto my side and feeling the soft material of a cushion beneath my cheek.

I opened my eyes and this time found myself alone with the shaman in his room. He looked several thousand years younger, but was definitely the same man. White hair and white blazing eyes, just not as many wrinkles and he sat without a stoop.

I pushed myself up off the floor and glanced around. Hip was missing, so was the smoke of the incense now. The room was clean and fresh like the mountain air.

"Where are we?" I asked, but the shaman didn't deign to answer. I guess he didn't have a rhyme ready for that one.

He just watched me, waiting for something. The right question, I think. I held his unnatural gaze, still feeling spooked by all that white in his eyes.

"You're a little scary," I found myself admitting, but the shock of voicing that aloud simply didn't exist as it should have. I cocked my head and studied him further, he seemed quite capable of waiting me out. Comfortable on the cushions, made to sit cross legged like this for years.

I sighed. What would be the question he wanted to hear? No, maybe that was the wrong approach. What was the question I needed to hear the most? Everything.

I opened my mouth to ask the most important one on my mind, but what came out was entirely different.

"I'm scared of what I'm becoming." Oh, and whoa! Was that my greatest fear? The answer I wanted most of all? Would I be OK?

"Rest easy, Aether, breathe free," the shaman said, his voice steady and strong, like I was thinking the man was under all that disguise. "Fear not what you are unable to see."

"Easy for you to say," I muttered and received a crooked toothed smile in return.

OK, he didn't seem nearly as spooky when he smiled.

I ran a hand through my hair, holding it up off my neck for a second, to try and calm myself down. This was obviously a personal audience with a magical Aeras elder. I needed to use it wisely.

"Can you tell me what being an Aether means?" I asked.

Silence.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek for a moment and contemplated the next question.

"OK, I have Gi and Pyrkagia. I'm guessing I'll get Aeras and Nero as well."

Before I could go on, the shaman said, "Aether lifted on Air flies high. Facing those we fear with just a sigh. Aether doused in Water lives on. Another day to fight is gone."

I paused, mouth hanging open. That sounded suspiciously close to what he had said about Earth and Fire earlier, when Hip was still here. And if I thought about it, it sounded very similar to what my own grandfather had told me when I was still young. Let the clean Air take away your fears. Let the cool Water revive you. That just left one more: Let Quintessence give you the courage to sacrifice your soul.

"Quintessence," I said on a whisper.

"Aether wrapped in Quintessence feels brave. Courage enough to do what's grave."

"What does that mean?" I begged, my voice barely audible.

Silence.

Frustration welled up from deep inside, tears stinging my eyes futilely. This was hopeless. He knew about as much as me, only confirming my worst fears, not giving them any more meaning. This shaman was as blind as I was.

"This is useless," I said on a sigh, wishing Hip would just come back and take me to Theo.

"A gift is given that you bear," the old man whispered. "You need not think on it with fear. Time will pass and you will see, that being Aether was meant to be."

I lifted heavy eyes to his, saw the sad smile on his lips, and knew he understood. He didn't have the answers, much less words of wisdom which would make this so much easier. He just had the confirmation that I was Aether, and that there was much more yet to come. Maybe that would be enough to face my future. But I doubted it, right now.

"There's nothing else you can tell me?" I asked in one final effort to find reason where there was none.

The old man tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes, as though waiting on a vision to suddenly guide us. When his eyes opened again they were the same bright white, no change whatsoever.

He stared right at me and said, "Be strong. Be true. Be well. Be brave. Know this is not the sum of your days."

Not exactly the enlightenment I was looking for.

Smoke began to billow in from the corners of the room, reaching tendrils of wispy fingers out towards me.

"I'm going to black out again, aren't I?" I said. The old man smiled.

The scent of sweet incense reached me first, then the choking sensation of too little oxygen. I didn't fight it this time, just lay down and closed my eyes, letting darkness take over.

I awoke back in my Aeras room on my bed, Theo sitting beside me. Only a small amount of dizziness made my head spin when I sat up, automatically reaching out to touch my Thisavros.

"Are you all right?" I asked as he said, "Finally."

"What did they do to you?" I demanded, searching with my fingers to see if he'd been hurt.

"I'm fine, Oraia," he reassured me, pulling me across the small space on the bed and into his arms. "Are you?"

"My head hurts a little," I admitted. "But other than feeling frustrated, I'm OK."

"Frustrated?"

I relayed as quickly as I could all that had transpired with the shaman, receiving a frown and pursed lips in response from Theo.

"Kind of makes you wonder why we bothered to come here," I announced, drawing pictures on Theo's chest through his shirt where my hand rested.

"No. It's all right," Theo said, not making any sense. "We needed to check on what we thought we knew. Aktor's and my knowledge was not foolproof. At least the Aeras have confirmed that Aether commands all five Stoicheio."

I let a long breath of air out. "So, I've still got Air, Water and Quintessence Awakenings to go through. But we don't know what I'm meant to do when they appear. Plus, we still don't know who made me this way. So, we know what, but not why or how." I turned and looked into stunning hazel eyes. "That about it?"

He smiled, not a crooked tooth in sight. "Yeah, that's about it."

"What now?" I said on a sigh.

Theo started to rub my arm, either to soothe me, or him, or just in preparation for my reaction to what he was about to say. "I have no idea."

Freaking hell. Back at square one.

"What are the Aeras going to do with us now?"

"That I do know," Theo said, perking up. "We've been invited to a banquet dinner with their Rigas. And then, I gather, they'll escort us from their lands."

"Don't want us muddying up their clean air?" I offered.

"Yes. They are very protective of their kind."

"Which reminds me, can you reach your Stoicheio yet?" I asked.

Theo shook his head. "No, but Hippolytos assured me, they would be released back to us once they escort us from Urubamba."

"That's pretty clever stuff they can manage," I said, staring out the window at Machu Picchu.

"Yes, they always seemed to have their heads in the clouds," Theo said, looking out the same window. "Capable of more than the rest of us could perceive."

"It's to do with the atmosphere," I explained. "And weather manipulation," I added.

"Is that so?" Theo murmured, snuggling in closer, resting his chin on my shoulder so his nose could nestle in amongst my hair. "You managed to get a lot out of them in such a short amount of time. I think they trust you."

I snorted. "If they trusted me, where's my Stoicheio?"

"They can trust and still be cautious," Theo pointed out. "If I were not here, they would probably have returned your Elements to you. They believe you won't think clearly if you fear for your Thisavros."

I huffed. But, it was true.

We sat in silence for a few minutes.

Then, "We have two hours before the banquet is due to begin," Theo remarked, casually. Too casually.

I turned my head to look at him, mischief sparkled in his eyes. If he'd had access to Pyrkagia, I was sure they'd be flashing gold.

"What did you have in mind, Mr Peters?" I asked, innocently.

"Care to join me in the shower, Miss Eden?" he replied, adopting my tone and adding a wink.

"Conserving water again?" I queried, remembering Theo's excuse for us showering together back in Auckland, and then promptly blushing at the memory of what we did in the shower that night.

"Absolutely," he agreed, wholeheartedly. "I'm sure the Aeras are conservationists at heart."

He grasped my hand and pulled me up off the bed, wrapping an arm around my waist when I gained my balance.

"They can't watch us, or barge in, can they?" I asked, a little nervously.

Theo chuckled. "The door's locked from the inside, and I've gone over the rooms with a fine tooth comb. We are alone, Oraia. And as such, I intend to enjoy our isolation and confinement. Do you object?"

Did I object? Was he mad?

"Lead on!" I announced, giving him a playful shove in the direction of the attached bathroom. He laughed the entire way there, hand clasping mine tightly, and eagerness apparent on his face.

He may not have been in touch with Pyrkagia, but Theo was all hot blooded male.

He started the shower running and turned heavy lidded eyes to me, letting his gaze rake over my body. I was fully clothed, but felt entirely too under dressed, right then. Which was not an unfamiliar sensation when around Theo.

"Do you want to strip yourself?" he asked. "Or would you prefer me to do it?"

I blinked up at him. He was enjoying himself, almost carefree in his indulgence. For a second I couldn't get my head around our current situation and his playful attitude.

"Shouldn't we be too worried about what's ahead to be doing this?" I asked, already regretting pointing out the obvious by the time the words left my lips.

Theo smiled softly, understanding shining from his eyes.

"I don't think things are going to get any easier, Casey," he murmured. "In fact, I think they will get worse, before they get better."

"If they get better at all," I offered.

He shook his head, and crossed the small space to stand before me, his hands coming up and cupping my cheeks, tilting my gaze to his. "They'll get better," he promised, although how he could make that promise, I don't know. "But in the meantime, we have to make do with what we have. And I have you. My Thisavros." His eyelids slowly closed and he took a deep breath of air in. Then when he looked at me again I could have sworn I saw gold, just a hint. But it was there. "I don't know what tomorrow will bring," he whispered. "But I know right now we are as safe as we can be, and together."

I think I understood him. This, here and now, we could control. Either sit around fretting about the future, or take a moment to remember what is still good in our lives. Us. Together, like he said.

I nodded. He smiled.

Then started to lift my T-shirt up over my head.

"I've decided I want to unwrap my treasure," he husked, voice low and seductive. My body opted to reply with a full shiver. He chuckled. "So receptive to my touch." A finger ran down from my chin, over my neck and throat, to between the mounds of my breasts. Goosebumps rose in its wake. "So beautiful," he added, slipping his thumbs into the sides of my pants and lowering them and my underwear down my legs.

I stepped out and waited for his next move. This was what I craved. Theo in charge, setting the pace, allowing me to follow. I'd do anything he wanted, if he asked it. Right now I was his to command, and he knew it. A smug smirk graced those kissable lips.

Next came my bra, a small flick of his fingers behind my back and the garment was undone, sliding down my arms to be discarded with the rest of my clothes. He crouched down before my near naked body and turned his attention to my socks, removing one while lifting my leg with a well placed palm on my calf, then repeating the process with the other.

Completely naked, I stood before him as he came back up to his full height. His gaze trailing over every inch of my flesh, as though by looking alone he touched. My eyes landed on the rapidly beating pulse at the side of his neck, then took in the broad expanse of his chest as it rose and fell in equal swiftness. He was still fully clothed and the difference between our appearances made everything so much more wickedly delicious. I was his to peruse, to view. He was my promised reward.

"Your turn," he whispered, standing stock still, hands hanging loosely at his sides, eyes heavy with unfulfilled lust.

My hands shook as I reached up to undo the top button on his shirt. The trembling didn't ease the more I fumbled open. It wasn't nerves, as such. I was past those types of inexperienced feelings. It was pure anticipation of what lay beneath the soft fabric under my fingers.

My first glimpse of his bare chest never failed to steal my breath. How was that possible? Even after seeing it repeatedly I felt in awe. My hands coasted over his silky flesh; soft to touch, hard underneath. A sound of delighted pain erupted from deep inside him.

"That's not part of the task," he pointed out, a little breathlessly. "No petting," he added. "Just unwrap."

Oh. I smirked, brushing my thumbs across those oh-my-god muscles above his hips, as I worked towards the front of his trousers and the zip and clasp there. He growled a warning, but didn't offer further reprimand. The zip came down, the button slipped through and his trousers gaped to reveal the already impressive size of his erection, poking out of the top of his boxer shorts.

I'm no saint, inexperienced or otherwise. There was no way in freaking hell that I could pass up stroking the flat head of his arousal. It was begging for my touch. Gleaming with pre-come, weeping for attention. I may not have had access to my Pyrkagia, but I was all hot blooded woman.

One sweep of my thumb across the broad tip of his erection and Theo exploded.

I was swept up into his arms, my legs spread around his waist with gentle, but determined direction from his hands, and then my back was against the bathroom wall, his lips on mine. Tongues tangled, as his hips rocked and steam rose up around us from the still running shower. He moaned into my mouth, moving his hips and legs, somehow ridding himself of the last of his clothing, then spun us towards the shower and under the spray.

Water ran over sensitive flesh, as his lips and tongue and teeth did miraculous things to me. His erection rubbed through my folds, teasing my little nub, making me grind back seeking more contact.

"You still play with Fire, little Gi," Theo rasped against me. "Even when it's been contained."

Our Pyrkagia may have been contained, but no one could argue that our desire for each other had been too. Theo would always want me. And I would always want him. No matter what.

"Give me what I want," I complained, still trying to get him to enter me, to stretch me as only he had ever done. I needed that connection, I wanted his touch, deep down inside.

"You broke the rules," he panted against me, slowing his thrusts through my folds to teasing strokes. "Maybe I should punish you."

I started laughing, my head too heavy to lift from where it rested on his shoulder. My body shook against his, making the teasing thrust of his erection become irresistible, desperate, consuming. For a second neither of us said anything, and then Theo stilled. No more teasing thrusts. No more anything, other than our rapid breaths and heartbeat.

"No punishment?" he asked, his lips pressed into my hair when he spoke.

"To punish me would be to punish you," I pointed out; the reason behind my laughter. There was no way he could deny himself now.

"Ah," Theo replied with understanding. "Do you trust me?"

He'd asked me this before, when we'd first become intimate. I'd had to think about my answer back then, now it was a given.

"Yes."

"Then do as I say, only as I say. Understand?"

"Yes."

He moved his hips, one hand pressing between our bodies to find his erection and positioning it exactly where he needed it to be. Then with one firm, deliciously slow glide of his hips he sank deep inside.

No. There was no way he could deny himself.

He rocked, I ground back, our breaths intermingling; erotic and fast and out of control. An orgasm built within seconds of him seating himself completely. A need so strong I was biting my lip to stifle my cries.

"Don't come," Theo whispered in my ear. I ignored him. Continuing to seek my release. "You promised," he added, and my eyes blinked open in confusion.

When did I promise?

"Do as I say," Theo semi-repeated, reminding me of what exactly I had promised.

"No," I whimpered, when understanding caught up with me.

"Yes," he breathed, rocking faster, seeking his own release. "This is your punishment, Oraia."

A surge of anger rushed through me at that. No fair! I wanted to come, too.

He let out a huff of breath on a laugh and taunted, "I'm so close. Can you feel me getting bigger?"

Oh, freaking hell. I shook my head, my lip firmly caught between my teeth, eyes clenched shut, my moans and whimpers getting louder, as an orgasm teased on the edges of my senses.

"Hold back, deny yourself," he grunted, revealing some of the effort he was expending right then, too.

"Theo," I begged.

"Oh, Aetheros," he cried, bucking and pounding harder into me. The harder he thrust, the more I wanted, and the closer that damn orgasm came.

My body came alive along every nerve ending. The sting of water against sensitive flesh making me writhe. The slide of his engorged length spearing me against the wall of the shower stall, making my stomach flip, my innards contract and a pool of luscious desire to coat my centre, running freely down Theo's and my thighs. I had no idea I could be so turned on, so wet, so desperate to come and still because he'd commanded it, I denied myself.

"Ah, Casey," Theo rasped against the wet skin of my neck. "My Thisavros!" he moaned, sinking his teeth into my flesh, on the curve that meets my shoulder.

And if I thought I was turned on before, it was nothing to the feeling I had when Theo claimed me again as his. Marking me for all to see this evening at the banquet. A display of his possession, but also an intimate gesture of his desire for me. I'm not sure if it was strategic on his part, or just a natural progression of getting ourselves so worked up in this shower stall right now. Or maybe the conversation beforehand, of not knowing what lay ahead for us both and taking what we could today. It didn't matter, I wanted it, and my cries of "Yes!" and "More!" and "Oh, God!" let him know just how much.

He pulled back, groaning, panting with his need to climax, then just as his lips found mine he rasped, "Come with me."

The moment his tongue touched mine I fell apart, a scream swallowed by his kiss, as the world exploded in technicoloured splendour, sending me over the edge of the abyss into sheer, blinding bliss. I came apart into I-don't-know-how-many different pieces and only Theo could put me back together.

Panting, breathless, light-headed and more than just sated, I found myself sitting in Theo's lap on the floor of the shower. The water still falling around us, steam coating the glass walls, sealing us inside our little haven. His hand was softly stroking through my hair, my cheek was against his chest, which was rising and falling as rapidly as mine.

Holy freak, I'd lost a few seconds there, unsure how we'd gotten to the ground. I blinked, trying to focus, but just having to wait for the rest of my body to catch up.

"Worth it?" he husked, his voice still sounding way too turned on.

I nodded, words were impossible right then.

His index finger found his mark and traced its outline.

"Yeah," he said, a little cockily. "It was fucking worth it."

I shook my head instead this time, receiving a chuckle in return.

We sat like that, basking in our respective glows for several minutes, until a loud knocking on the main bedroom door shattered the moment.

"That will be our clothes," Theo pointed out, trying to shift me, but having co-ordination problems.

"The banquet," I said with understanding, helping him get us upright. We both looked a little unsteady as we stood to full height.

Theo blinked at me, then smiled, his hand coming up to cup my neck, his thumb finding his mark with ease.

"Let the games begin," he murmured, his eyes shifting to where his thumb stroked absently.

And I realised then, that with Theo, despite his undying love for me, the mark had been as much for possession and desire, as it had been for strategy. Theo was a prince, a politician, and a warrior... and he always would be.

Perhaps I should have been miffed at that realistic wake-up call, but I wasn't. Because there was no one else I'd want beside me, when facing a Rigas and his people in an enemy's land.

And the Aeras, for all their help, were still enemy Ekmetalleftis.

I needed to remember that.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I Was So Hoping You'd Say That

My dress was the palest of blues, almost an ice blue, with hints of white in the bias stitching. It shimmered under the lights, as though speckled with miniature crystal beads. The bodice curved with my waist, fitting to perfection and not leaving a hell of a lot to the imagination. The décolletage was low, emphasising what little cleavage I had, and revealing Theo's mark blatantly for all to see. The skirt was floor length, but hugged my legs making movement restricted. I wondered if that was done on purpose, because there was no way I could run in this thing. It was as good an imprisonment as any cell would have been.

It wasn't enough that the Aeras contained my Stoicheio, they also ensured my body was contained, too.

I didn't trust them, although they hadn't really done anything that warranted outright suspicion. It was just a feeling I had, or I was becoming more like an Athanatos with time, and paranoia was seeping into my psyche. But with every 'nice' or 'helpful' thing they did, I was sure they had an ulterior motive. I just hadn't figured out what that was yet.

When Hip and two Guards came for us, to escort us to the banquet, I was already a nervous wreck. Theo had done his best to calm me, his eyes drawn to my outfit even though he was clearly not aware of the distraction it caused. I couldn't help feeling that was also part of the Aeras' plan. Make Theo salivate over my state of dress, compromising him when he needed his wits the most.

With my heart in my throat I followed behind the two Guards, Theo at my back and Hip trailing at the rear. The procession was slow and long, my pace in this beautiful, but restrictive dress making the going tough, and the size of the Aeras building we were in adding further time on our progression.

Finally we came to a set of carved doors, similar to those outside the shaman's rooms, but this time depicting mountains and clouds only. The Guards stood to either side of them, while Hip stepped past us and without further delay pushed both sides open dramatically to reveal a magnificent room.

High arched ceilings painted to reflect a star-filled night sky. Impressive cathedral style windows displaying the view from the mountaintop over Machu Picchu, but as it was late in the day, replicating the fresco on the ceiling. Stars twinkled in a clear ocean of blue-black, strategic muted lighting making the ruins of the ancient Inca city stand out. It was breathtakingly gorgeous, but my attention was soon back on those inside the room.

At least a hundred Aeras were in attendance, dressed in all their finery, pale blue eyes that matched the ice-blue of my dress staring back at us. Not a sound was made as we crossed the threshold, walking between the silently observing people towards a raised platform at the end of the long room, where a large blond haired man, and equally blonde haired woman sat.

The Aeras Rigas and Basilissa. White sparked within both their eyes, creepy yet somehow mesmerising. Their hair lifted off their shoulders, floating in its own breeze, in an obvious display of power. I couldn't feel any electricity - reminiscent of lightning - on the air, but I think that was more to do with their control, than lack of Stoicheio. Both watched our approach with a detached interest.

Hip bowed low when we came to rest in front of them, Theo followed suit immediately. I let a small sigh out and attempted a curtsey, my inexperience on display for all to see. Way to start the night off. The Aether they seemed to know so much, yet so little about, showing her true colours. I couldn't stop this particular blush of inexperience to save myself. I'd never liked being on show and falling short of others' expectations.

"Prince of Pyrkagia," the Rigas said, breaking the silence that still hung in the room like a threatening cloud. "You honour the Aeras with your presence."

I don't know what it was, but I knew his words were a lie. He showed no indication of treachery on his face, his tone was pleasant and welcoming. His eyes didn't flash white, just watched us both intently. But I could have sworn this man was on edge; having a Pyrkagia prince in his home. The Aeras confused me. They'd allowed us into their kingdom, given me access to their ancient shaman, yet they were all on guard.

My eyes darted around the banquet hall, taking in the finery again, in decoration and attendees. Seeing the same pleasant, welcoming look on the faces, laced with something almost undetectable. Fear. I think it was fear, but it could have just as easily been mistrust.

"The honour is mine," Theo replied, formally. "Not many have visited your fair city, I thank you for the invitation."

A small shimmer of white speared the Rigas' eyes. I was guessing it was over Theo's choice of words, in particular 'invitation'. I wondered if Theo had chosen it on purpose; to test the waters? In any case, he'd gotten a reaction, confirming my assessment. The Aeras were on guard, and so should we be.

"I hope you have found the answer you sought," the Rigas replied, but didn't wait for Theo to respond, his attention turned to me.

In a move that could have been called leering in other circumstances, the Aeras King swept his gaze over my frame; from top to bottom, and then back up. His eyes lingered on Theo's mark, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He'd adopted that Athanatos blank mask.

"And you are the Aether," he announced, no emotion on his face, to speak of.

"I guess so," I replied, offering a small smile and shrug of my shoulders. He frowned.

"What branch were you originally?"

Now, how to answer that? Originally I was human. Should I tell him that?

I wanted to look at Theo, to gain an insight into how to play this, but other than discussing we should stand apart - not hold hands or look too dependent on each other - we hadn't covered any other plan. If Theo had thought hiding this was necessary, he would have mentioned it, I was sure.

"I became Gi three months ago," I said, hearing the rustle of surprise throughout the crowd behind us. The King and Queen didn't show a reaction, at all.

"And you wield Pyrkagia," the Rigas added.

"Yes, sir," I replied, wanting desperately to shuffle my feet and stare at the ground. The Rigas wasn't demanding answers, wasn't glaring at me with evil intent. But I felt like I was on trial, or under a scientist's microscope. Being dissected without even realising it.

"This is an unusual occurrence," the King admitted. "If not for our shaman confirming you are who you say you are, we would believe you an imposter, perhaps an Alchemist trying to undermine the Athanatos."

He wasn't saying anything I hadn't heard before. From the day I climbed out of that pit of dirt, I had been considered a Gi imposter. Theo had even asked me outright if I was an Alchemist. The truth of the matter was, we didn't know what I was, but we did know I'd been created. Or at least, that's what Noah had inferred. Even my grandfather had supported that notion through my dreams.

Athanatos were even more distrustful of Alchemists than other Ekmetalleftis branches. Admitting my connection through Gramps to the human group, hell bent on furthering their kind via the theft of various Stoicheio, was not a good idea. And I didn't need Theo to tell me that. Therefore, mentioning I was perhaps created by them, would be very bad indeed.

Besides, I wasn't entirely convinced of that particular line of thought. Wishful thinking.

So, I didn't say a word when the Rigas spoke, just stood waiting for his verdict.

"As it stands," the King went on, "I believe we can aid you no further. You are welcome to enjoy the banquet, but tomorrow you will be escorted from our lands."

Theo was the one to speak, I was all out of ideas. "Thank you for your hospitality, Your Majesty."

The King nodded, as though the pleasantry was entirely expected, and maybe it was. Then before he turned away, effectively dismissing us, he added, "I would be keen to hear when your Aeras Stoicheio arrives." The first indication he was interested in what I was so far, and I think it had slipped out, unguarded. "Perhaps you would be so kind as to contact Hippolytos when this occurs. Having an Athanatos running around with our Stoicheio, that we are unaware of, would make us... uneasy."

It was a threat, no doubt about it. These über paranoid people did not like that I would wield Air. And should I not inform them of when I Awakened to that particular Element, then their response would be... harsh. He hadn't said it in as many words, but by God he'd meant it.

The King turned towards his Queen and pretended we were no longer there. Theo bowed again, although neither monarch was looking, so I did my half-hearted disastrous curtsey and followed Hip's direction to proceed to another part of the room. No one else approached us. This was not a friendly meeting, this was an opportunity for the Aeras to get a good look at me. Whether that was so they knew who to avoid in the future, or so they could successfully hunt me down should I act out of line using their Stoicheio, I don't know. But I did not feel welcome, even though their mannerisms seemed to indicate we were.

We sat at a table by ourselves. Hip joined us, as his two - I was guessing personal Guards - stood at our backs, within easy reaching distance. One spare seat remained at the table, but I wasn't sure if that was just for aesthetics - matching the other four chair tables throughout the room - or because someone else was still to join us.

Without considering my manners, I picked the glass of wine, in front of my seat, up and took a healthy swig. My nerves were strung tight. My fingers even shook with an overdose of adrenaline, the trembling making the red liquid ripple across the surface inside the glass. It took two hands to set the wine back on the table's surface, for fear I'd stain the white tablecloth.

Theo didn't say a word, nor reach out to calm me down. He'd warned that every action he made would be keenly observed, and to constantly touch me - even in support and comfort - would be considered a weakness. He was inches away, but I was completely alone.

"That went well," Hip said, and I had to work hard not to snort in disbelief. "Do you have any idea where you'll be heading next? Back to Pyrkagia?"

How much did he really know? I had a suspicion that he was fishing for information, and was already well aware that we were not welcome in Auckland and Pyrkagia land. As for the Gi, he surely knew of our near capture. Paranoid people such as the Aeras would have spies everywhere.

"We haven't decided," Theo answered, taking a slow, measured, and completely relaxed looking sip of his wine. "Perhaps we will seek out the Nero. We haven't visited there yet." It sounded flippant, but nothing Theo did, when in political mode such as now, was done off the cuff.

"Perhaps they can tell you something my grandfather has not," Hip agreed. "Speaking of," he suddenly added, rising from his seat when the old shaman appeared out of nowhere. Not quite as abrupt as Hip and the Guards had back at the airport in Lima, but pretty close.

Theo rose when the old man made it to the table, I offered a smile, which the toothless ancient returned. Perhaps my audience with him was not yet over.

"This is Theodoros Petropoulos, grandfather," Hip said, in introduction to the shaman. "Prince of Pyrkagia and the Aether's Thisavros."

What an interesting introduction. Clearly Athanatos - or just the Aeras - took one's relationship status into consideration, just as much as one's title.

"Never two, always one. Alone Aether must face the sum." Oh, just great. We weren't done with the riddles.

And clearly the shaman wasn't as enamoured of my Thisavros as everyone else seemed to be. I decided that this, being our last chance to get answers, was not a time for me to shut-up.

"I couldn't do this without him," I pointed out, receiving a blank white stare from the old man.

Silence, and then Hip, in his - what I presume - normal upbeat style, said, "This has been a most exciting time, hasn't it, grandfather?" He turned his attention to us, not waiting for a reply. Maybe he was used to not always getting one. "My grandfather hasn't been this keen to vacate his room in decades. Your presence has inspired him to attend one of our banquets. A cause for celebration."

He lifted his wine glass in a toast, Theo replicated the motion immediately. I flicked my gaze to the shaman, who was - perhaps ignoring his grandson - just watching me.

"Is this a celebration?" I asked, my determination to get answers making me bold.

"Aether comes. Aether goes," the shaman answered, voice slow and whisper quiet. "Aether puts on quite the show."

"Is that what I am?" I asked, feeling both Theo's and Hip's eyes on me, but I was all for the shaman now. Nothing else in the room existed but him and me. "Something to entertain?"

He didn't reply. Just sat there, holding his cane between his parted knees, staring back at me. Waiting.

Waiting for what?

I was getting more and more frustrated with this old man and his quirky, inexplicable sayings. If he'd seen me coming in a vision, then surely he knew more of why I was here than he was letting on. It was time he confessed all.

"Why am I Aether?" I demanded.

Silence.

"How did I become Aether?"

Silence.

"Where do I go now?"

"Where Aether goes, no man knows." OK, we were back to asking the right question, to get any answer at all. Sane or otherwise.

It was at least something to go on, and by the encouraging looks Theo was giving me, he'd cottoned on to the situation, too.

"What am I meant to do next?"

Silence. I was going around in circles here, thinking maybe if I just asked a question in a different way, he'd answer.

"It's been, what? Centuries since the last Aether, why am I here now?"

I didn't expect an answer, I'd been clasping at straws with the change-it-up idea, but he stunned me silent when he said, voice suddenly strong and level, relaying his intent, "The scales tip. Balance is lost. Our world needs Aether, at all cost."

Theo shifted forward in his seat, knowing we'd made a progress of sorts. It was still mired in riddle, but it was the most forthcoming the shaman had been so far.

"Balance. What has Aether got to do with balance?" I queried, trying to puzzle it through, while I asked the question aloud.

"Aether is for balance, as Air is to breathe." This time Hip was the one to sit forward, clearly not having heard this particular 'vision' before.

"What balance? What's not balanced?" I pressed.

"Aether is for harmony, as Water is to live."

I sat back in my chair abruptly, aware we'd lost any forward momentum for now.

"Aether is for peace, as Earth is to ground us."

"Fire," I announced with a roll of my eyes, knowing the fourth Stoicheio would follow.

The shaman didn't disappoint. "Aether is for survival, as Fire is to fight."

"What about Quintessence?" I asked, just because it was the logical thing to say.

"One, two, three, four. The fifth makes it so much more."

I lifted my eyes to look at Theo, he seemed contemplative. A hand to his chin, rubbing the stubble there, while he eyed the old man with curiosity.

"Aether is all five Stoicheio, the fifth completing the transformation," Theo mused. I nodded, wanting him to dissect the shaman's words and make sense of it, as I surely couldn't. "Something has happened recently to make Aether needed. Something no longer balanced. But what?"

"Balance, harmony, peace, survival," Hip surprised us by saying, joining in on the brainstorming session to try to decipher his grandfather's seemingly inane riddles. "What have they got in common?"

"I don't know about 'common'," Theo replied, accepting Hip's inclusion in our conversation easily. "But all four branches of Ekmetalleftis concern themselves with those ideals. Aeras controls the weather..."

"Which we must keep in balance," Hip offered eagerly.

Theo nodded. "Nero controls the oceans, which work in harmony with nature to provide life."

"Gi grounds us," Hip said, "without which the planet is not at peace."

"That leaves Fire," Theo said, his eyes sweeping across the space to meet mine. "Pyrkagia fight with passion."

"Without which we can't hope to survive," Hip concluded.

They seemed inordinately pleased with themselves, but I was still a little lost. That reasoning could be attributed to almost anything, couldn't it?

"But what does that all mean?" I asked, frustration making my tone demanding.

"If all four Stoicheio are performing as they should," Hip jumped to explain, "then balance, harmony, peace, and survival are foregone conclusions. If Aether is needed, then they're obviously not performing as they should."

"I'm here because you guys couldn't maintain your positions in the grand scheme of things?" I asked, dubiously.

Theo and Hip shrugged simultaneously, it would have been humorous if things hadn't taken a turn for the bleak.

"Aetheros created us to maintain unity throughout the world," Theo explained. "Humans were becoming unstable, the environment suffering because of it. Our roles were to control the Elements should the humans push them out of balance."

"And have they?" I asked, fascinated despite the consequences of this being true. Despite what it meant to me and the enormity of it.

"The Amazon Rainforest is being culled mercilessly," Hip offered.

"Global warming is melting the polar ice-caps," Theo added.

"Bush fires blaze out of control in the Australian Outback," Hip threw in.

"Man-made CFCs are depleting the ozone layer," Theo finished.

Oh. It made a sick kind of sense. But how the hell did I balance it all out? Bring about harmony and peace? Help the world to survive? How?

I shook my head in utter bewilderment. Why me?

"Where do I even start?" I muttered, under my breath.

Hip and Theo turned to look at each other, a communication in silent words being shared. I'm not sure what their looks said, but whatever it was made sense to them.

"If this is because of that, it's taken centuries to reach a cataclysmic level," Hip reasoned, but I was lost.

"I agree," Theo countered. "But what else could it be?"

Hip shook his head from side to side, but didn't offer a verbal answer.

"What?" I asked, wanting to understand the conclusion they'd obviously reached.

But neither got to answer, because the shaman suddenly spoke up. And it wasn't to offer any blinding clarity. Of course not.

"Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Release the lock."

Unlike the previous times he'd spoken this evening, his eyes flashed a brilliant white, reaching out across the expanse of the room, touching every single person. Gasps, and the sudden screeching of chairs being pushed back, resounded out through the space. Hip stood up suddenly, glanced towards the King, then back at his grandfather.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Tick, tock. Tick, tock," was all the old man said, before he blinked out of sight on a boom of thunder. Electricity arced across the table from where he'd previously been sitting, striking me point blank in the chest.

A scream tore from my lips, as Theo rushed to catch me, my body bending backwards and then beginning to topple off the side of the chair.

"What's going on?" he demanded, his voice laden with unsaid threats. "Why did he attack Casey?"

"He didn't attack her," Hip argued. "He released her Stoicheio." He had? "If you just hold still, I'll release yours."

Why? Why now? They weren't meant to return our Elements to us until tomorrow, once we'd been escorted off Aeras land.

Theo obviously agreed.

"What's happened?" he asked, sounding more in control of his emotions now, no longer a growling beast about to defend his mate.

"Someone has breached our outer defences," Hip replied, voice strained. Another blindingly bright white light and sizzle of electricity followed, and then Theo jolted against me, where I lay in his arms.

"Fuck," he breathed out, clearly feeling the release of his Stoicheio as keenly as I had done. "You bastards don't hold back," he muttered. Hip didn't reply, but from what I could see from my semi-reclined position, the room was in motion and he wanted to be as well.

Organised chaos ensued, barely controlled by the shouted directives of the Aeras Rigas. Theo helped me to sit upright, brushing my hair out of my eyes. I'm sure he wanted to question if I was OK, but we had more pressing matters of concern.

"Who's attacking?" he asked, bringing us up to our feet beside Hip and his Guards.

"I've no idea, but we haven't had a breach for centuries." Our Aeras guide glanced at us both, purposefully. "My guess, whoever it is, is here because of you."

Ah, freaking hell. Alchemists or Gi?

"Well," Theo replied, gold glinting in his eyes. "Best we welcome them, then."

"I was so hoping you'd say that," Hip replied, and led the charge out of the room.

Chapter Twenty-Five

It Was A Completely Selfish Act

I stumbled twice, unable to get my feet beneath me, and then had my balance further compounded by the restriction of the very tight skirt. Theo swore softly the third time he had to right my near fall, not caring now about touching me and showing concern; the Aeras were too busy running for shelter, or taking up arms, to notice our 'dependence' on each other.

Muttering something in Greek under his breath, Theo gripped the hem of my dress and yanked hard. A ripping sound reached my ears above the cacophony of noise in the room, and I watched stunned as the expensive material was torn apart. Leaving me in a thigh length skirt. Despite the chaos and uncertainty of what lay ahead, Theo's eyes blazed gold at the sight of my bare legs, as he lifted his face to mine. He offered a smirk and a wink, and then gripped my hand and hauled me after the still retreating Hip and his Guards.

Pandemonium reigned out in the corridors, civilian Aeras being herded by those of higher rank, shepherding them to the safest location in their village. We forced our way through the sea of people; elbows poking into our ribs, high heeled shoes digging into our feet. I felt like I was about to be trampled on, but Theo maintained a solid grip on my arm, ensuring I didn't slip under the tide of panicking people.

Finally we came out through the front doors of the building we'd been in, the first time I'd seen Machu Picchu up close, and not through the sheen of a glass window. The sky had darkened further, and the strategic lighting I'd seen before was now gone. Dark shadows lurked in corners, lights from various windows were all methodically being snuffed out. The Aeras were going into stealth mode, hiding their village from sight.

But there was more going on than a blackout. Super chilled air wrapped around my bare shoulders, making my body shiver uncontrollably within seconds of escaping the indoor crowd. My teeth started chattering not long after, and even with my fingers held by Theo's hand, numbness was creeping into the tips. I swear frost had started to coat my eyelashes, I dashed the moisture away and my hand came back wet.

"Wh..what's going on?" I stuttered in a whisper.

"We're lowering the Mesosphere," Hip explained, not looking any worse for wear. "Concealing the buildings in a higher layer of the atmosphere."

"But if it's Athanatos attacking, won't they see through the ruse?" Theo asked.

"We still don't know if it's Ekmetalleftis or Alchemists. We're taking what precautions we can to protect our people."

Theo nodded. I just shook with uncontrolled shivers.

"Come on then," Hip urged, eyeing my chilled state and interrupting Theo's attempts to get circulation back into my extremities.

We followed the Aeras, who led the charge through the mountain village, over the cobbled streets, weaving in and out of the Inca ruins. "The outer defences are some distance away, allowing us time to prepare for attack," Hip went on to explain in a loud whisper over his shoulder, as we squeezed between buildings that were layered in frost, icicles forming along their roof-lines.

We came to rest, some time later, at the base of a series of worn stone steps, leading up and around the side of a tall tower. I was guessing it must have been a watch tower, but once we made it up the many treads there were no Guards, other than those still with us, present.

"This is as far out as our observation platforms go," Hip whispered, creeping toward the edge of the roof to peer over the raised side. "The Rigas has commanded we keep our defences close to the village, this tower's contingency of Guards have already been instructed to fall back."

"So why are we here?" I asked, looking around at the very open space. For a Guard tower it was extremely exposed.

Hip turned to look at me, his lips pursed in a thin line, brow furrowed. "You're the bait," he announced.

Theo swore. "And you'll gladly hand us over to save yourselves," he spat.

Hip didn't even blink in the face of all that was Theo right then; a pissed off, powerful Prince of Pyrkagia. "What would you have us do?" he said evenly.

"Work with us to fight whoever is approaching," Theo ground out.

"We'll fight to defend what is ours, but we won't take unnecessary risks. Not if an alternative is available."

"What about all of that back there?" Theo almost shouted, waving a hand in the direction of the banquet's building. "Balancing out the Elements. Aether's role in securing peace and harmony for all."

Hip flicked crystalline eyes to me, his face was otherwise blank.

"She doesn't command Air," he pointed out. "Until she does, she'll be considered an enemy of Aeras."

Oh, hell. That pretty much summed up my life in a nutshell, didn't it? And even those Stoicheio I did command, didn't want a bar of me.

I walked to the edge of the rooftop and gazed down the mountainside towards where anyone approaching would come from. I couldn't see movement to indicate our attackers, nor could I feel any burgeoning Gi power flowing up the steep slope. Whoever was on their way to attack the Aeras village hadn't arrived in Machu Picchu yet.

My eyes scanned the buildings beneath us. There were only a handful this far away from the Rigas' Pyrgos. And I was sure all the inhabitants had been hauled out of their homes and taken further back into the safety of the town. We were it, on the front-line, facing off against an unknown enemy. Without any support from the Aeras.

"Why don't you just head on back up the hill," I suggested, feeling an inevitability that wasn't worth fighting. I kept my eyes on the access point to their village, while I waited for Hip's reply.

"I've been instructed to watch what you do," he said, from a short distance over my shoulder.

"Make sure we leave with whoever is coming, you mean," I corrected.

I could almost feel his shrug from here.

"Your welcome has run out," Hip added, his voice a little softer with those telling words. "I am sorry."

I couldn't really blame them. Whoever, or whatever, approached was doing so because I was here. The Aeras were particularly focused on protecting their people. I was as much a threat as the attacking army. They wouldn't fight along side us, but maybe...

"I don't suppose you'd offer a little cover in the form of a storm?" I asked, turning around to face all the men.

"What are you thinking, Cassandra?" Theo queried.

"We lead them away from Aeras," I replied levelly. Theo started shaking his head.

I took the steps necessary to reach him and lifted my hand to cup his jaw and cheek.

"I'd rather keep the Aeras as potential allies, than have their village decimated because I didn't act," I whispered.

"Casey," he said, leaning his face into my palm. "It's suicide."

"Not if Hip agrees to offer a distraction. If we can get past that narrow entrance into Machu Picchu, we can fight them further down the mountain. They may never have to enter the Aeras village, at all."

I turned to look at the man in question, his Guards behind him, scowls in place, eyes flashing threatening white.

"I can do that," Hip said slowly, receiving shocked looks from his men. "A little storm is hardly engaging, now is it?" he said to his Guards. After a lengthy pause they both shrugged their shoulders. "But you need run along now, if you're going to make it out of the access-way before they arrive."

I nodded. Then looked down at my abused dress and high heeled shoes. It was hardly an outfit for battle, let alone traipsing over the side of a mountain almost eight thousand feet up in the air.

"Take your shoes and coats off for the Aether," Hip instructed the closest Guard. My eyebrows rose at his command.

The Guard didn't grumble, just removed his outer clothing and slipped his oversized shoes off. His socks followed, as did the other Guard's, and finally Hip's.

"Put them all on, so the shoes fit," he explained.

I quickly did as instructed, and despite the added layers, found myself floating inside the boots. But it was a vast improvement on the heels, that was for sure. The coat swamped me, but I immediately felt warmed once it was on; it was specifically designed for high altitude and due to the size, came down to my knees, covering my bare thighs. I noticed Theo was donning the other Guard's jacket now, too. We were as prepared as we could be.

Once dressed we all stared at each other, white shining from all three Aeras men's eyes, gold glinting in Theo's, and a mixture of green and burnished yellow in mine. We must have made an interesting sight, standing up there on top of a tower, under the rapidly forming black clouds above.

"Go," Hip whispered, "And may Aetheros be with you."

"And with you," Theo said, an almost subconscious response to Hip's words.

At the top of the stairs back down, Hip stopped us with a shout.

"Aether!" We turned back to look at him, noting he was blazing white from his eyes, the clouds spinning over his head now. "When Aeras is Awakened within you, seek me out. I should like to be your ally."

I held his mesmerizing, yet very weird looking gaze, and nodded. Then led the way down the steps in a run, setting Theo and myself off at a pace we'd need in order to beat the approaching threat to the narrow path that led into Machu Picchu.

Running at this altitude soon took its toll, but Theo urged me on, and the notion of what could happen if we were trapped on the narrow path spurred me to keep going, despite lack of oxygen to my lungs. I soon became overheated in the puffy outer coat the Guard had given me, even though my bare legs felt frozen from the cold. Perspiration began to form on my naked skin, which would surely freeze solid out in the open.

I ignored all of those distractions and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, and not tripping over and breaking a leg. At some point the clouds opened up and rain began to pelt down, and we weren't excluded from the downpour. Fork lightning lit our path, spasmodically. Offering a strobe like effect to guide our way. Further ahead of us flashes of bright light lit up the night sky, showing the route we needed to take to avoid getting trapped.

Despite the Aeras Rigas' commands to not interfere, Hip was doing what he could to help us out. I wondered if we survived this, whether Hip would feature in our lives again. He wasn't a bad sort of person to have around, his upbeat personality could at least lighten the grave mood my role as Aether created.

Just how I was going to seek harmony for the world was still beyond me right now, though.

The path eventually opened up into a wider expanse of green grassed mountaintop, the peaks of various neighbouring mountains could be seen when each flash of lightning struck down. The valley that lay out before us would have been spectacular during the day, but right now it seemed an insurmountable hazard to cross.

Theo and I came to rest, gasping for much needed air, and took in the scene before us. Across the opened space, on the far side of the ridge we were on, with what I presumed was the Sacred Valley of the Incas behind them, stood a dozen people. From here it was difficult to make out who they were, but with each progressively closer lightning strike, I could just distinguish the colour and length of their hair.

Brown and long, with the odd reflected flash of green in their eyes.

"Gi," Theo said, almost spitting the word out.

"So, no Alchemists as yet," I offered, not sure if I was relieved my grandfather hadn't arrived to rescue me, or not.

"I have a debt to pay this woman," Theo ground out, his eyes blazing gold as he stared at the figure in the forefront of the line of warriors we faced off against.

The Basilissa herself had come to capture me. I couldn't believe she'd given up on the idea of me being the solution to their fertility issues, so it made sense she would be aiming to immobilise me. But probably shooting to kill Theo.

From everything I had learned over the past three months of imprisonment in Gi, and the handful of days in Pyrkagia leading up to it, I knew this would be a fight to the death. And the Basilissa would use anything in her arsenal to win.

We had a storm to distract, but not offer anything else in way of weaponry. We had two Pyrkagia wielding Athanatos, and what I could siphon of Gi. Hardly an army against a dozen powerful, well trained Guards and their Queen.

"We're in deep shit," I announced, and received a huff of expelled air from Theo.

"I don't suppose you feel an Awakening coming on any time soon?" he quipped back.

And wouldn't that be fun, right now?

I shook my head, but didn't voice an answer. Instead I asked, "What do we do? You're the Scout. What does your training suggest?"

Theo glanced at me, but didn't turn his body away from the threat.

"My training would suggest I run like fuck and get the hell out of here," he replied levelly.

"We're outnumbered," I agreed.

"Out gunned," he added.

"Trapped," I said.

"I wouldn't go that far," he shot back. I flicked my gaze towards him, eyebrow raised. "OK," he said, pointing off briefly to the mountain ridge over the Gi's right shoulders. His hand returned to his side before he went on, probably to minimise what the opposition saw of his plans. "We trap them."

I glanced back at where he'd pointed and took in the steep incline off to the side, covered in trees. In front of it was a cut in the mountainside, bracketed by another steep incline fifty feet in front of the group on the other side.

"We hit the right first," he instructed. "Then when they move, time the left so they have to take refuge in the gap between the two sides."

"Then what?"

"Then we burn them. Like a camp fire, sheltered from the wind and rain, air funnelling down the narrow cut-out, fuelling the flames."

I grimaced at the image he described. My stomach not up to the carnage we could inflict, but my mind aware that we - or at least Theo - would suffer worse, if we didn't strike first.

Aim for the neck, Cassandra. Sever the head before they sever yours. Do you understand? Aktor's words of wisdom came back to me, reminding me of what type of evil I was up against.

"OK," I said, swallowing back bile. "But they'll come at us with everything, my control of the Earth will be short lived."

"Then, let's make it worthwhile," Theo whispered back, offering a squeeze of his fingers in mine.

I sucked in deep, soothing gulps of air, in an effort to centre myself and prepare for what lay ahead. The Basilissa hadn't attacked yet, I could only assume she was waiting to see what we did, and would tailor her trap around that. If she struck first, our reaction could compromise her prize. She used patience like a tool. It wasn't a peace offering.

I reached deep within myself and found my Gi side, asking for a thorny vine to sprout from the almost bare green covered soil around us. The Earth sighed out its welcome, a frisson of anticipated angst in its tone. It knew what was about to happen, and it couldn't stop it. The Basilissa alone would be too powerful, but with a dozen Guards she was unstoppable.

But I was no longer just a guest to Gi, I had a little edge in the form of Fire. I pulled on my Pyrkagia Stoicheio, feeling Theo's automatically rise and swell around my own, twining with it, like it had back in the hotel room in Manaus. It lifted the embers of Fire up on the air, making sparks dance in the darkened sky. No actual flames rose around us, but as though our Stoicheio were made to be entwined, I felt the surge of heated energy blossom inside me, coating me with a sense of power I'd not had access to before.

"Aetheros," Theo breathed out beside me, feeling the sensation of burgeoning potency between us. "You are remarkable, Oraia. Truly magnificent."

I'm not sure why he thought it was all because of me, I was just as much a passenger on this ride as he was. But I didn't bother to answer, just shielded my command to the Earth with the awesome combined strength of our Fire.

A root shot up from the soil, piercing my outstretched palm. It happened so quickly, the Gi didn't have time to react. Blood dripped freely from the cut in my flesh, landing in thick splats of dark coloured liquid into the grass at our feet. The Earth shouted out its ecstasy as the ground trembled and the mountains shook.

Shouts of alarm could be heard from the Gi, a siren went off over the hillside behind us at the Aeras village. The crashing thunder of crumbling bricks, and the screeching of shattering glass joined the tornado of wind howling above us. The clouds turned black, with streaks of bright white light across their surface. The rain stopped, as we all held our breaths, waiting for what my Stoicheio would do next.

An ominous sound started out in the distance, like a continuous roll of thunder. But it didn't originate in the heavens, as Hip's storm had. It was coming from deep within the Machu Picchu Mountain. It rolled towards us, as unequivocal as impending death. Louder and louder, as it gained momentum. Resonating in our chests and rumbling in our heads. Letting all who stood on this mountain peak know, we were no longer in charge.

"Holy freak," I muttered, taking an involuntary step back. Theo glanced at me, then retuned his attention to the oncoming freight train beneath the ground at his feet.

"You're doing that, right?" he asked, his voice drowned out almost completely by the horrifyingly loud roar.

"No!" I shouted. I may have started it, but the Earth was fully in charge now.

Theo swore, putting himself in front of my body protectively, as if that could stop what approached in a deafeningly frightful, but relentlessly unavoidable rumble.

The Gi blazed green from their eyes, trying - I guess - to counteract my command. Whether it was just to save themselves or this ancient site, I couldn't tell. Knowing the Basilissa, it was a completely selfish act.

Trees toppled, soil ruptured, the mountain shook from a giant's fisted punch. Theo and I toppled to our knees, unable to stay standing any longer.

And with dawning horror at what I had done finally reaching me, I watched, stunned immobile, as the higher peaks that framed this open mountaintop we all cowered on, came down around our ears.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Holy Freaking Hell

Large mounds of sod and whip-like accurate bursts of soil attacked us. Boulders the size of small cars landed in ground quaking thumps no more than three metres away. Theo and I started half crawling, half running back towards the Aeras village, but the rolling effect of the earthquake had reached the narrow path into Machu Picchu and begun to block our way.

Probably a good thing, if we had taken that route, we would have surely ended up crushed under all that weight; rocks, stones, landslides full of uprooted trees and loose soil and rubble.

Even being on top of a ridge hadn't completely protected us. The mountain ranges on either side actually looked like they were swaying, like a high rise building fluctuating with the rhythmic swing of an earthquake. Any moment now I was sure they would collide with ours.

But they weren’t our immediate concern, there was enough on our mountaintop to be worried about. The slopes above the Gi had all crumbled in the quake, no perfectly timed attack, simply tumbling down on top of the Guards without warning. Theo and I weren't faring any better. Although more in the open than the Gi had been, the ground beneath our feet was now threatening to slide down the side of the mountain into the Valley of the Incas below. A long way below.

"Climb on top!" Theo shouted above the continuous roar of the Earth moving. "Get above it all, or you'll get crushed."

He reached out a hand to clasp mine, mud from the rain coating his fingers, making them slip free at the last second, as the soil beneath my feet gave way. I screamed, as the world turned upside down, my head connecting with a rock, blood pouring into my right eye immediately, and a blinding headache starting up to accompany it.

It happened so fast; one minute I was above ground, the next I was buried beneath the rubble. But I was unsure if the Basilissa had commanded my burial, or if my control of Gi was really that tenuous, that I was about to inadvertently kill myself. Dirt poured into my mouth and shot up my nose, making me cough and choke and scrabble for purchase. I couldn't hear Theo shouting anymore. I couldn't hear the wind howling, or the thunder booming overhead. Just a ringing noise in my ears that made everything seem surreal.

My legs felt crushed beneath the weight of the entire mountain, the bones in my left hand crunched against each other painfully, as pressure built from all sides. I couldn't breathe, but even if air was present, my chest was too restricted to move oxygen to my lungs now.

How pathetic. I wield Gi, I have Pyrkagia to back it up, strengthened with that of my Thisavros, and yet I was still at the mercy of the Earth.

You can stop, now, I said in a whimper inside my head. It hurts.

Breathe easy, Aether, the Earth responded calmly. Not long now.

Yeah, that was what I was afraid of: not long now until I died.

I'm not sure how much time passed, but I closed my eyes at some stage and stopped fighting. Cocooned in my prison of Earth. I idly wondered if this was what Nico had felt when I trapped him beneath the ground back in Auckland. But I was sure he'd been in a cell, not pulverised by the weight of a mountainside above him.

I lost a little time, coming in and out of consciousness; the part that makes me immortal kicking in when the part that makes me need air to breathe conked out. Finally, the ground stopped shaking, the soil stopped shifting, and silence - not ringing - took over instead.

We have done all we can, the Earth suddenly said, making my heart thunder in my veins. Be careful, it added, just as the soil above me shifted and the darkness of night seeped into my black hole.

I crawled out, my bones stiff, my skin scratched raw. Blood trickling down my temple and over my cheek. I blinked back white spots from my vision, my eyes taking a moment to focus and clear. The sky was no longer cloudy; stars twinkled overhead, as though nothing horrendous had happened below them, at all. But the mountaintop we'd been on had been transformed into a desolate wasteland of rubble and overturned earth. The path down the mountain completely obscured, any trees that had existed were gone.

So were the Gi, from what I could determine. The Earth, using my Stoicheio, boosted with Theo's Pyrkagia entwined with mine, had decimated the Basilissa's army.

A smile started to stretch across my face, cracking the dried mud there, as my head shook softly from side to side at the evidence of all that power, and the successful outcome it had caused. And OK, the Aeras would have to do some remodelling, and the humans would think the rain had undermined the soil and caused a landslide, nothing more. But the Gi were gone, and the Air Elementals of Machu Picchu were safe.

And so were we.

"Theo," I cried out, my voice scratchy and sounding too dry. I swallowed, trying to lubricate my throat, but ended up hacking up brown muck from my lungs. "Theo!" I tried again, receiving no answer.

For the first time, since I crawled out of my Earth prison, doubt filled my mind.

Where is he? I demanded, and the Earth sighed. Not a happy sigh, a resigned sigh. The type of sigh that changed the world.

I scrambled to my feet and turned in a circle, trying futilely to see a hand or a foot, or any sign of Theo. My head hurt, I think my ankle was sprained or broken, and I'd lost a fair amount of blood from various deep wounds.

I didn't feel any of it.

Panic took root inside my heart and mind, and I frantically started scouring the mountainside, digging my hands into mounds of dirt; searching, searching, searching.

Oh, God. Please. Please. I'll do anything, just make him be alive. Please!

Minutes ticked by and the Earth remained silent. I called out Theo's name until my throat was hoarse. Tears turned the dirt on my cheeks to rivulets of mud. The skin on my fingertips were scraped raw, I'd lost my nails aeons ago.

It was useless, he'd simply vanished, but I refused to believe he was dead until I saw his severed head. I would dig and dig and dig until I found him. He had to be somewhere on this mountaintop, buried beneath all the rubble. He had to be.

He just had to be.

I caught sight of clothing, my heart leaping into my throat, threatening to cut off all air. I fell to my knees and dug like a maniac, soil and stones flying in all directions, as I pleaded with God for it to be Theo.

It wasn't. It was a Gi Guard. Headless.

I moved on, another pile of rocks and dirt and tree roots. Another ten minutes of futile excavation, nothing to show for the blood that coated my hands.

A sob escaped my lips, as I spun frantically around in a circle. My eyes landing on a dark piece of material. Even before I stumbled across the space that separated me from it, I already knew it wasn't a piece of Theo's suit jacket or borrowed coat. But still I dug the Gi Guard out. A morbid sense of the inevitable spurring me on to determine he was headless.

Tears had caked my cheeks in mud like plaster, making it impossible to frown or open my mouth fully and gasp for air. Like my heart, my face was caught in a vice-like grip, fear and dread and utter loss making it immobile.

But still I kept searching, digging, ripping the flesh off my fingertips in an empty effort to retrieve Theo.

A hand reaching toward the sky from behind broken tree limbs caught my eye.

Gi Guard. Headless.

A tuft of hair poking out between broken pieces of a boulder.

Gi Guard. Bodiless.

An exposed bone protruding through raw, ripped flesh, dirt and mud mixing with blood around it.

Gi Guard. Headless.

A shoe poked out from behind a pile of rubble. I banged my knee into a hard rock when I collapsed beside the foot. Combat boots, not dress shoes as Theo had worn. But something still made me uncover the body... just to be sure.

Gi Guard. Headless. Again.

I sat back on my knees staring at what was becoming a familiar sight.

Did you decapitate all the Guards? I asked the Earth, pulling on what little Fire I had access to, now that Theo was gone. Reinforcing my question, turning it into a command.

Yes, it whispered, a sense of wicked joy coating that one word. The Earth was pleased with itself, for eliminating the Basilissa's Guard. Protecting me.

I blinked, stunned. Evidence of the power and accuracy of the Earth making me momentarily motionless. I'd recognised how much could be accomplished with the power of the Earth, but until you saw it, you didn't really comprehend.

Where is he? I demanded, again. I'd keep asking until the Earth answered.

Behind you, it whispered back, and this time there was no twisted mirth, or self-satisfied pride. It sounded hollow, a little like how I felt.

I spun around, hoping, praying to see Theo standing there. Knowing, from the tone of the Earth, that it wasn't to be.

But I didn't expect what was.

The Basilissa stood there, barely a mark on her. A smear of dirt across one cheek, her hair tangled, but dress still flowing wrinkle free in the night breeze.

And her taloned hand - like that of a bird of prey - wrapped around Theo's throat.

Green blazed from her eyes. Theo's lids were closed, so I couldn't see any colour change there, and from the way he hung limply, I was guessing gold would not be present.

We'll see about that.

I pulled on Pyrkagia, using my rage at this woman as fuel. I told it, that its Prince was in danger. To fight for him. To rise up in flames and take back what is ours.

Gold coated the mountainside and blinded the night sky, making everything on the ridge resemble an Inca treasure trove of precious artwork. The Basilissa hissed, a sound reminiscent of a snake, making me think - what with her talons as well - that she used animals as fuel for her Stoicheio as much as, if not more than, plants.

I hoped with her Guards dead, she was feeling a little empty in the tank right now.

We stared at each other. Not exactly a stand-off, as she held all the cards. Or at least my Thisavros. I had nothing up my sleeve. But I did wonder how she'd captured him in all that chaos. How out of every square inch of this ridgeline that had been destroyed, she had just so happened to stumble upon Theo. The Earth shook softly beneath my feet on those thoughts, a sense of discomfort invading my soul. I think it was the Earth's, not mine. Although I was feeling pretty uncomfortable right now.

But the sensation, the Earth created in me, led to only one conclusion.

You gave her Theo, I said, my mind voice sounding empty. Abandoned again, when would I learn?

A fair trade, the Earth replied. Him for her Guards. It thought it had done the right thing. I pushed the disappointment aside.

"So, what now?" I said aloud, letting my words float across the space to the Basilissa.

"Now, we negotiate," she said, almost pleasantly. "Him for you."

I didn't have to think about it, there wasn't a need to weigh the odds. For Theo's life I would sacrifice anything. But I also knew, you couldn't trust a Gi.

"OK," I replied, flexing my fingers surreptitiously at my sides. "But you have to release him first."

She laughed. It was more like a cackle. Or the squawk of a Macaw.

"You think I trust you, creature?" she snarled.

"I know I don't trust you," I shot back. "So if you want me, without a fight, you release the Pyrkagia Prince first."

She cocked her head at an unnatural angle, like a bird eyeing a worm wriggling in the dirt. It was beyond freaky, making my heart miss a beat at the odd, and I admit frighteningly unnatural sight she made.

"You can bind me with roots, hold me in place," I offered. "While you let him go."

Her eyes blazed green; she liked that idea. Then without voicing her agreement, long, thick vines shot out from the loose soil at my feet, winding around my ankles, up my calves, and over my thighs. Thorns bit into my flesh, as the twisted ropes of vegetation continued their painful trek up my body. The Basilissa enjoyed my grimace of pain.

By the time the restraints securely wrapped around my throat, multiple trickles of blood ran down my body, pooling in the dirt at my feet. The Earth sighed its contentment. I was hoping the Basilissa took it as a sign of its satisfaction at having me contained. And not relief at receiving my blood again.

"Now the Prince," I demanded, feeling every single prick of the thorns, as my throat moved on those words.

The Gi Queen simply tossed Theo away. He landed in a dull thud several metres from where she stood, and as she started slithering - and it was a type of slither - towards me, the distance between Theo and her expanded, giving me some measure of relief and hope.

I couldn't tell if he was breathing, but his head was attached, so for now, I put him out of my mind.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked the approaching evil.

"Use you to fix the break in our people." I was surprised she'd bothered to answer, her eyes were blazing green now, full of hunger and greedy satisfaction.

She came closer still.

"I'm not sure I can fix what is broken," I pointed out, trying to keep the conversation going.

"You are different from us, but close enough to strengthen our weak link. It is not a perfect solution, but it will do."

"There are other options," I found myself saying. And what the hell? Reasoning with this crazy lady had not been the plan, but part of me couldn't stop myself from trying.

Just as the Queen opened her mouth to reply, movement caught my attention over her shoulder. A dishevelled and painfully weak looking Theo lifted blazing eyes of gold to meet mine.

I reached instinctively for his Pyrkagia, my eyes returning to the Basilissa for fear of giving ourselves away. I couldn't risk Theo doing something to come to my aid, though. So, I needed to act now.

"I do not believe you to be Aether," the Queen was saying. "Our God has forsaken us, he would not offer a guide such as that. No," she said, head shaking, eyes glinting green like the Amazon forest. "You are an imposter, but an imposter with Gi DNA. You'll do. In fact," she added, finally reaching me. She stood a mere foot away, close enough for me to smell her perfume.

She stank of rotten vegetation and overripe fruit.

I held her gaze, raised my eyebrow in interest...

And struck out with a pure line of Fire. Straight for her neck.

I thought I had her. I thought I'd caught her off balance. But this was the Gi Queen and although her Guards were no longer present to strengthen her, Machu Picchu is not without other animal life to fuel her Stoicheio.

Out of a now cloudless, treeless night sky came a flash of bright orange. Lit up by the flames of my Fire, matching the depth of colour; intense, vibrant, alive. The squawk of a bird, the piercing cry as it shot through the air, accompanied by another and another and another. My line of Fire abruptly stopped, midway between me and the Basilissa, when an Andean Cock-Of-The-Rock bird interrupted its flow. Feathers burst out in a dizzying array of bright orange. The bird disintegrated before it hit the ground. But it was not alone.

A horror movie image met my widened eyes. Making my heart leap into my throat, Fire frantically incinerate the vines that contained me, allowing my hands to rise up to protect my face. One after the other the brightly coloured birds attacked, dive bombing my head with ear piercing battle cries.

The cackle of the Gi Queen's laughter made an eerie accompaniment, as beaks scratched my coat sleeves, and tiny taloned feet gripped my hair tightly and then rose. The sharp sting of follicles being torn from my scalp broke the almost paralysed state I'd fallen into. Pyrkagia swelled. Fire flared out around me, and several of the bombarding birds burst into a flurry of burning orange feathers.

"Casey! Use Gi!" Theo yelled above the ever louder squawk of approaching birds.

Not only were there bright orange Andean Cock-Of-The-Rocks, but now also the red and grey of Scarlet Macaws, the jewel-like green and yellow of Hummingbirds, and the horrifically large and ominous black of the Andean Condor. The vultures blocking out the stars as they dove in units of three or more.

The noise was deafening and for a moment I couldn't quite work out what Theo had said. Pyrkagia still blazed around me, offering what little protection it could from the onslaught of birdlife the Basilissa commanded. I couldn't even see her through the flock of feathers and wings before me, but I could feel the Earth's cries of pain as she wielded that Stoicheio in a vice-like grip.

It had suffered enough. The Amazon so depleted. Machu Picchu Mountaintop flattened. The Andean Cloud Forest threatened by the avalanche of soil and boulders and rocks. These birds had risen from there, at the Queen's direction. She would sacrifice them all to prove her dominion. She didn't care for the Earth Element she reigned over.

She may have cared for the infertility her people suffered, but it was at the blind indifference to her Stoicheio's health.

I reached for my Gi, felt Theo's Pyrkagia entwine with mine and reinforce it, then stumbled to my knees, digging my hands into the loose soil at my feet. Earth rushed through me, wrapped around my Fire, and began to swell.

I had no idea where the Queen was, but the birds were becoming more frantic, screeching their anger, her anger, that I was touching the Stoicheio she controlled.

Save us, the Earth pleaded. Me or her, I did not know. Help us, it begged, and tears began to coat my cheeks, burned dry in seconds by the Fire that raged almost out of control around me.

"You're killing them!" I yelled, unsure if the Queen could hear, or if she'd even care. She was beyond anything but her own agenda now, reason would not sway her mind.

The ground shook beneath me as the body of a Condor crash landed less than a metre away from where I crouched. One wing broken at a painful angle, the other stretched out, as though reaching for the sky in one final futile attempt to fly free. The enormous bird was still breathing, straining for air. Its intelligent beady eyes stared at me, willing me to end this madness.

Roots shot up from the ground, trying to impale me. My Fire cut them off before they reached their goal. The Earth shuddered, the Queen screamed, the birds squawked, wings flapped and Fire crackled. And for a second I thought the insanity of the moment would swallow me whole. Pressure had built inside my mind, making my vision blur and my hold on my Stoicheio waver.

I saw her then. A psychotic vision in white, brown hair framing a green glazed look in her eyes. She held my gaze, lifted her hands in that theatrical motion she had used back at the diner. Evil stared back at me; corrupt, foul, and broken.

I knew what would happen when she brought her hands together above her head. I knew it, but I couldn't move to stop it. Pain stole all function, only comprehension of the end was within my control.

"Theo," I whispered, the sound of my Thisavros' name devoured by the cacophony of noises on this ridge. I couldn't reach him. I couldn't reach the Queen. I couldn't even save the broken Condor which watched on with accusing black eyes.

I sucked in a breath, said a silent apology to the Earth and then released my hold on my Stoicheio, unable to grip it any longer.

The world dimmed, as a rush of wings sounded out by my head, the swoop and flap causing the heat of the flames around me to fluctuate, die down and then swell up to an impossible height again. I blinked, felt Theo's Stoicheio stroke tender fingers down my cheek, over my heart, and then leave me in a sudden exodus entangled with my own.

The Condor beside me squawked, its broken wing flapped uselessly, and then the Fire before my eyes parted enough for me to see the remaining birds in the sky dive on the Queen.

She screamed. Anger, frustration, disbelief, shock. It all mingled together to make one atrocious sound of defeat. As the birds did what they'd been instructed to do, just not as the instructor had intended.

They attacked her. Not me.

She'd wanted me alive. At the very least long enough to harvest my blood for further DNA testing. So the birds didn't kill her outright, they incapacitated her, brought her to her knees in a shocking splash of crimson blood and torn flesh and severed arteries. She began healing immediately after each strike, but there were so many. She'd culled the Cloud Forest of all its winged creatures in her endeavour to defeat me.

But the Earth responds to health, far better than it responds to rot. It took my Stoicheio, boosted by Theo's, and used it to cull the decay, to excise it.

She struggled. She was a Queen, she used every ounce of her power to stay alive. And perhaps she would have, but Theo appeared over her shoulder, his eyes holding mine, gold blazing bright and true. Then with a simple movement, honed by centuries of being a Scout, he twisted her head, and tore it from her neck with a shouted cry to show the effort he'd used to achieve such a brutal move.

For a moment I just knelt there, visions of the green light dimming in her eyes, the shocked look on her face just before her head separated from her body, filling my mind. Theo was breathing heavily, a grimace of pain or disgust on his face. He took a step, staggered, and then I was on my feet somehow, managing to run to him, as he picked up speed and met me halfway there.

His arms wrapped around my waist, my body lifted off the ground as he hugged me tightly to his chest, and his face nestled into the curve of my neck. He inhaled, one hand coming up to tangle in my hair, his lips pressing intimately into the soft flesh behind my ear.

"Holy freaking hell," I whispered. "We did it."

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Et Tu, Brute?

Theo nodded against my neck, still unable to voice a word.

But we weren't done yet. This hellish day held much more in store.

With no time to recover from the shock, or rejoice at our unbelievable success, out of a still cloudless dark sky lightning burst forth. One single sizzling bolt, loud enough to send my heart rate sky-rocketing all over again.

For a second I wondered if it was a cosmic reaction to the death of a powerful Ekmetalleftis Queen.

But as Theo and I both jumped, the electricity in the air making the fine hairs on our skin rise, a solid form replaced the blindingly bright white of lightning.

Hip stood before us a sad smile on his face.

And naively, I still thought it was because of the loss of an Athanatos Queen. Something we should all mourn. But Theo stiffened, his arms resolutely wound around my frame, as he turned us both to face the Aeras man.

"The Basilissa is dead," Theo announced, his tone sounding a little too imperious. "Machu Picchu is safe."

Hip nodded, glanced around the desolate and destroyed mountaintop, and then brought tired pale blue eyes back to our faces.

"We've been ordered to return you to your Rigas," he said, making all air leave my lungs in shock.

"No," I mouthed, unable to utter a sound due to lack of oxygen.

I'd been wrong. This had nothing to do with a murdered Queen, and everything to do with the son of a King. Or perhaps his Thisavros.

"We can't go back," Theo insisted.

"And we can't offer asylum," Hip countered.

Silence.

This was not good. Theo was meant to be in exile. I was considered an enemy of Pyrkagia. So why would the Rigas order the Aeras to hand us over?

But even more worryingly to my mind right then, how the hell did they even know we were here?

"Isadora," I snarled. It had to be Theo's ex who had betrayed us in the end. Just as I'd always suspected she would.

Theo looked thunderstruck. He shook his head. Still unable to think of her as anyone else but his Dora.

My fists clenched as Theo asked, "How long have we got?"

"My instructions are to deliver you immediately or they will declare war."

Athanatos battles were not to be taken lightly. The Aeras, whose protective instincts were so acute, could not even contemplate that.

Still. "We saved your village," I said softly. "We destroyed the Gi and their Queen." Didn't that count for something?

"And the Aeras are grateful." But not grateful enough to go against the might of Pyrkagia. "May Aetheros be with you," Hip said, but this time Theo did not offer the automatic response.

We both remained silent, Theo's arms wrapping tighter around my frame, my eyes closing in complete defeat. Then the bright white haze of Aeras lightning, that ozone rich scent on the air, and the sizzle of electricity through our veins, as Hip sent us home.

I couldn't feel Theo anymore. I couldn't feel the cool night air of high altitude at Machu Picchu. I couldn't hear or see or smell. Only white, bright light, that really was nothing, and then a rush of sound and a crush of limbs wrapped around my body, and the hard impact of a marble floor beneath our feet.

I panted for breath, strained to acclimatise to our new location, my vision blurring and dimming, as shooting electric pains hit every single nerve ending in my body. It wasn't enough to be summoned back to the Pyrkagia Rigas, we had to appear before him in his Court... compromised.

Theo righted himself first, gold already blazing from his eyes. I could have chosen Gi, but I wanted to, perhaps futilely, make an impression. So called on my own Pyrkagia, adding my yellow glow to his.

An eerie quiet met our arrival, but we were by no means alone. I struggled upright, my hand clutched in Theo's, our eyes blazing in a final act of defiance. The Rigas may have called us home, but we'd stand tall against whatever warped reason this man had.

I scanned the room for Isadora, knowing she had to be here somewhere, but coming up blank. Councillors, who I recognised from when I spied on a Council meeting with Nico, were present with their King, and one other I was momentarily surprised to see.

Aktor.

I stared at him, confused, but he didn't return my gaze. An uneasy feeling centred in the pit of my stomach.

"Ah," the Rigas murmured. "The prodigal son and his Alchemist whore return."

That uneasy feeling in my stomach became a rock.

Pyrkagia swelled in warning from Theo, a low, feral growl emitting from the back of his throat.

"What?" the Rigas demanded. "You don't still consider this being to be your Thisavros, do you Theodoros? We have been informed she is an Alchemist creation, sent here to infiltrate and undermine. Do you deny it?" His golden eyes bore into mine.

"Yes," I squeaked, well aware I may have been lying. I didn't subscribe to the notion that my grandfather had a hand in creating me, but I couldn't ignore either, the conversation Noah had with his Alchemist cohort through that fire in the Amazon.

But how had the Pyrkagia Rigas worked it out when I hadn't?

I scanned the room again for Isadora. The cowardly traitor couldn't even be present when she brought me down.

"This is ridiculous!" Theo boomed, in that voice he'd used that matched the Gi Basilissa's. "Casey is not an Alchemist."

"Then what do you think she is?" the King asked reasonably.

Theo opened his mouth. Shut it. Opened it again. And slammed it closed. He didn't want to tell his father that I was Aether.

"What are your plans, Pateras?" Theo asked instead.

"What do you think they are, Theodoros?"

A strangled sound escaped Theo's lips. Pained. Incredulous. Scared.

"I can't let you," he announced.

"Then your fate is entwined with hers."

"So be it."

The room made a hushed sound; whispers of disquiet. Theo may have been their exiled prince, but he was still their prince regardless.

My eyes flicked between father and son, King and Prince, but other than recognising the horror that graced Theo's face, and the greedy anticipation that twisted the Rigas', I had no idea what exactly was to come.

But when the King turned his hungry and cruel attention to me, memories flickered through my mind; the paving outside of Theo's house on Mountain Road buckling under an onslaught of my Gi Stoicheio; Theo lifting me up and hurling me inside his home, slamming the door closed on the destruction I was causing his landscaping; his words, as he'd stared at me in that hallway, the Earth quietened on my command, but threatening to rise again should I need it.

"What the fuck are you?" he'd demanded, and when I couldn't offer a reply he'd said, "I can't hide this sort of information from the Rigas for long, Oraia. But if I tell him, he will surely order your immediate death or worse."

"Worse?" I'd asked.

"He will want to study you, find out how they did it. Tell me now, Casey. Are you one of the Alchemists?"

Study me. The King of the Pyrkagia would want to study me. Dissect me. Pull me apart and find out what makes me tick.

That rock in my stomach became a bubbling pool of molten lava. I'd thought it then, I was envisioning it now. A mad scientist's lab, the Rigas cackling like a fiend, sharp utensils in his hand.

My eyes flicked to his and I saw a sort of madness there, similar to the Gi Queen's. Oh, dear freaking God. We'd traded one majestic battle for another. One powerful royal opponent for, perhaps, an even more powerful one. As the Gi Queen had been full of rot. But the Pyrkagia King, I was thinking, was just insane.

Crazy is dangerous. Crazy can be cunning. Crazy is just a fine line between intelligence and insanity.

I suddenly and bizarrely wanted the Basilissa back.

"Is that your last word?" the Rigas asked his son, my Thisavros, their prince.

I lifted my stunned face up to Theo's, his eyes weren't on his father's but instead on Aktor's. Maybe he'd just spotted his butler here. Maybe he'd been too shocked, too riled, too scared to notice we had an ally in our midst. But from the taut features on Theo's face, and the rigid stance he'd adopted, he wasn't naively accepting Aktor's presence either.

The molten pit of lava in my belly rose part way up my throat.

"Who betrayed us?" Theo asked, voice level and devoid of any emotion.

The King smiled. It was quite savage and entirely too knowing.

Bile reached my mouth.

Aktor stepped forward, from the line of witnesses he'd been among, and said, "I did, sir."

No. No! It was meant to be Isadora. I knew it was Isadora. It had to be Isadora.

"Why?" Theo managed to say on a pain filled gasp.

Oh, God. The agony in that one word. The weight of betrayal, of trust given and lost after centuries of friendship. I felt it as keenly as the rest of the room. Responding gasps sounding out around the periphery.

Theo was falling apart and there was nothing I could do to stop this.

But Aktor didn't get to answer his master. The Rigas stepped forward, eyes shining a beautiful, yet frightening jewel-like yellow-gold, and shouted, "Because she is a threat! Because your servant defends Pyrkagia better than you! Because I will not allow my son to bring this kingdom down!"

He turned to the Councillors, his arms raised above his head in supplication.

"Should Athanatos bow down to human Alchemists?"

"No!" they shouted back, as Theo made a sound of wretched torment that cleaved my heart in two. His eyes were still on the old butler's.

On his closest confidant and most trusted friend.

"Aktor," he said, his words lost to the din of riled voices the Rigas was commanding. "My old friend."

But Aktor heard him, or simply read his lips. He paled, a small tear tracked down his cheek. And then he lifted his chin, blazed gold from his eyes, and shot Theo right through the chest with an indifferent and cold smile.

Oh, Aktor. How could you?

Betrayal sank its barbed hooks into my Thisavros, his face tortured, his body trembling in utter incredulity. The sound when he spoke was a slice right through my very soul.

"Et tu, Brute?" The rasped words, said in a voice so pained I was sure even his cold hearted father would have felt it, met silence in the room.

"Yes," the King replied, coolly. "Now take them to the cells!"

Chaos.

Pandemonium.

My head spun at what I'd just witnessed, at what I was seeing now. My heart thundered erratically in my chest, and my mind screamed an outright, No!

Pyrkagia Stoicheio filled the air. The Council members, whose skills outshone mine, wielded their Element with finesse and brutal force.

But those words. That one sentence. That one admission. It rattled around inside my head, piercing through my mind, setting up an ache so deep in my heart I was in danger of getting lost in it.

I flicked a glance at Theo over my shoulder. I couldn't see his face, but I felt his pain at his trusted friend's treachery. I felt it as though it was mine. Such betrayal. Such an unexpected and awful turn of events.

Fire burned a hole in my sleeve. I spun back and dodged another flame from a woman Councillor, ducked under one from a Rigas Guard, and rolled to the side to avoid the searing heat from an assailant I couldn't even identify.

Instantly Theo responded with his own Pyrkagia, deftly defending our lone spot in the centre of the room. But there was no shelter here. We were out numbered, surrounded by the enemy.

His people. His father. His Pyrkagia Council.

Oh, dear Lord, I was too tired for this. Too heartsick.

Strike, swerve, duck, dive. The smell of burning flesh filled the air. Ours and those who continued to attack us. Burnt clothing, melted rubber soles of shoes. The acrid stench of hair catching on fire. I patted the flames out and my skin blistered on my palms. It started healing immediately. But the agony just added to the ache in my chest and in my mind.

I reached frantically for my Gi, used it to strengthen my Pyrkagia, entwined my Elements with Theo's own Fire, and focused on getting us the hell out of here.

And yet, in my bruised and battered heart, I already knew it would not end well.

Fire rose on superheated flames, shouts and commands were ringing out in the room. Theo angled his body in front of mine, his movements fluid, even if his heart was cracked in two by Aktor's betrayal.

An impressive Athanatos protecting his Thisavros. And aware that our time was running out.

But he would have known, that back to back defence was our best shot at survival. Despite that knowledge he chose instead to protect me. No longer attacking, purely acting as a shield.

We were losing, but still we kept on fighting.

The crackle of flames and the hissing of fire filled the heated air. The odd bit of furniture in the room erupting in a volcano of sparks, pops and bangs accompanying it. Smoke drifted around us, providing a modicum of shelter. But it was a thin veil. Temperamental. Twirling and twisting, rising higher and higher up to the ceiling. Choking our lungs but never fully covering our bodies from sight.

Theo fought on. Such stamina. Such strength. Such devotion to my protection.

But I could see the pain in every crease that marred his beautiful features. I could feel the agony he felt at his old friend's betrayal. Our hearts bled, as our bodies were pounded unmercifully, in a second majestic battle of the day.

We'd beaten the Gi Queen at Machu Picchu. But she was one, and here were dozens.

We were tired.

Exhausted.

Physically and emotionally and mentally worn out.

Had we been fresh perhaps it would have gone on longer. Perhaps, if Aetheros had been watching, protecting, we could have escaped. But he wasn't watching. And we weren't fresh.

A fist hurtled through the air towards Theo's face. He pulled back, swiped an arm up and around in front of his body, deflecting the Guard's strike with apparent ease. A reflex action honed from centuries of being an immortal Scout.

Our attackers closed in. Even dropping their Elemental powers in favour of a more physical and hands-on approach.

They knew. They had us.

But still Theo fought on. Still I battled to aid him. Desperation leaving a foul taste in my mouth that the smoke and charred furnishings only intensified.

My vision wavered. Theo staggered.

And then...

Aktor stepped forward. Through the flickering yellow of flames and the haze of dense smoke, the once kind old butler lifted his hand in a simple move, and a single line of Fire shot out.

Oh, God. Aktor.

Without conscious thought Theo and I hesitated, something the butler would have frowned upon in a previous life.

"Aim for the neck, Cassandra. Sever the head before they sever yours. Do you understand?"

Aktor's words were the last thing I heard before Pyrkagia consumed me. My cry of anguish at his harsh betrayal smothered in the crackle of flames and the heat of Fire.

He hadn't aimed for our necks.

But he'd aimed for us.

And despite Theo's centuries of training. And despite Aktor's words of wisdom to me all those months ago. We froze. We didn't fight back.

Betrayal is a hard edged sword. We should know. We felt its keen slice as it broke through the meat of our hearts. We felt its bitter taste as blood pooled on our tongues. We smelled its pungent odour as smoke engulfed us.

The world turning black, our lungs heavy. Our hearts even more so.

Aktor.

Et tu, Brute?

Description

This couldn't be happening. This was a trick. A cruel ploy to finally break me. They knew I'd weakened. Today the first day I'd let the tears fall and screamed my frustration and despair. They knew they almost had me, so they were pushing the knife in further and twisting the blade. Just to be sure.'

Casey Eden knew her life had changed beyond recognition when she woke up one morning covered in dirt. Since then she's crawled her way through treacherous environments, been pitted against dangerous predatory beings, and survived formidable destructive forces. Only to find herself in the one place she'd feared above all.

A mad scientist's laboratory.

A harrowing world full of heartache and betrayal.

And a longing for Fire even the chilling change in the Air can't cool.

Broken, but not beaten, Casey must fight not only for her survival, but for everything she holds dear. A world growing darker and bleaker every day. And is Casey the answer to it all? Trying to determine just what she is becoming, while desperately clinging to her heart's desire, Casey must learn to face a future she never would have chosen for herself. But she soon begins to realise, although she's not alone in this battle, the war itself has only just begun.

Prologue

It Was Not Alone

The hiss of a roaring Fire met my ears. Welcoming and warning in one flare of superheated brightness. Embers danced on a night sky, floating higher and higher, making my lips curve and a smile spread across my face.

I wondered if they'd reach Aetheros.

Stars were out, twinkling above my head, my long hair blowing around my face as though the Air had teasing fingers. I brushed at it, my hand coming away wet. Was I crying?

Not unless my tears were red.

The Earth sighed with joy as blood splashed from my fingertips onto broken, dried and cracked soil. I stared as the dark liquid seeped through a crevice, a small vine twisting and growing from the gap.

I took a step back, suddenly afraid of what the vine would do. Of where I was. My eyes lifted to the Fire which seemed dangerous now, uncontrolled, about to leap and spark and engulf anything near enough to be caught within its licking fingers.

An ember floated lazily towards the ground before me.

The vine burned to a crisp and I felt the Earth cry out its agony.

Fire roared. Air howled.

It started raining.

I spun around looking for shelter as the storm took on a life of its own. Dried twigs and small stones were lifted on angry winds, thrown towards my body. I shielded my face, feeling the biting edge of debris slice my skin, but could see only darkness beyond the decreasing circle of light from the Fire.

Closing in.

Getting smaller.

Crushing me with the weight of what was to come.

My heart thundered in my chest, a pounding started up between my ears. I sucked in a breath through my nose, searching for the soothing scent of Earth, but all I smelled was chaos.

A shiver raced down my spine as the Earth rumbled beneath my feet, the gaps between the dried soil now filling with water. The rivulets becoming torrents. Little sprays of Water lifting off the surface as the wind whipped the world into a frenzy.

I called out, but my voice was lost in the thunderous roar of a tempest. There was no one to hear me anyway. I knew this, as though it was my reality. Destined to wander alone through a tornado of Elements that warred with each other.

What had the Aeras shaman said? "Never two, always one. Alone Aether must face the sum."

I shouldn't have thought it. I shouldn't have gone there. Wasn't it enough that I was battling a raging storm, combating imbalanced Stoicheio? Did I have to be reminded of being alone?

Something glistened in the distance. Moving closer. Giving me hope.

I took a tentative step towards the light, away from the heat of the Fire. The world blew in flurries and eddies about me, the sounds deafening and stinging my ears, my eyes squinting through horizontal sheets of rain. Blood dripping from small cuts along my bare arms.

I trembled with the chill that had invaded my bones, knowing I couldn't stay here any longer. If I stayed, I'd surely die. But there was a reason why I should stay. For a second, I hesitated. Trying to remember why I stood in the middle of nowhere, an angry Fire for warmth, the dying Earth beneath my feet, the bitter Air buffeting my body, the hard Water of rain pelting my naked skin.

I shivered. Lifted a shaking hand to shield my eyes as the glow of whatever approached grew brighter. Suddenly blinding in the darkness that surrounded the centre of this raging storm.

Here was life. Beyond what I knew lay only darkness.

But still that glow grew bigger, until I felt compelled to take a step further. Closer, almost close enough to make out the shape of who held it.

Was it a torch?

The Earth groaned, the Air joined the mournful lament. Water cried a river of raindrops, Fire hissed in agony.

I looked up towards the stars, one last glimpse to guide me. But they were gone. Only blackness coated the night sky. Deep, dark, unforgiving.

When I lowered my face from the stinging rain I met eyes so old they had to be ancient. Amber and jade and whiskey.

"Miss Eden?" the old man said, holding out a hand.

I stared at the wrinkled fingers, the open palm, the invitation I should accept. But didn't. There was a reason why I shouldn't accept that hand.

Just like there was a reason why I couldn't leave this hell.

I took a step back towards the waning Fire. Back towards the still violent squall.

Back towards...

Then the man pulled a sword of Fire out from behind his back, the glistening glow I'd been drawn to, but knew could not bring true hope.

"Very well," he said, in tones of disappointment and condemnation.

The sword swiped down, aiming for my head, my neck, and I threw myself backwards, finally remembering.

Why I was here.

Why the world was falling apart in a tempest of fury and aching sadness.

Why I couldn't leave without him.

Why this man could not be trusted.

Betrayal is a hard edged sword. I should know. I felt its keen slice as it broke through the meat of my heart. I felt its bitter taste as blood pooled on my tongue. I smelled its pungent odour as smoke engulfed me.

I lay panting on the hard packed ground, water pooling beneath my body as the wind blew sand into my eyes.

"Aktor," I whispered, watching his face become indistinct.

The storm disappeared.

The cracked and broken dirt became cool, hard stone.

The wind stopped howling, replaced with something so much more dreadful than that simple sound.

The heat of flames became a chill instead.

And a man's voice said, "Ready, Miss Eden? What shall we attempt first?"

Not Aktor.

"Perhaps the heart today, hmm?" he said with impossible cheerfulness. "The Rigas does hope without it your unrealistic love of the Prince will disappear."

Not even my beloved Theo.

"But then, I've always wanted to know what a Gi is like without the ability to smell scents," he added. "Perhaps we'll save the heart for a special occasion and play with your head."

I was alone with a mad scientist.

"Nothing to say?" he teased, a disturbing chuckle filling the room with hollow noise. "What say we see if you can scream instead?"

And I knew my dreams were far better than reality. The eerie howl of the wind so much sweeter than the ominous sounds of a drill or electric saw.

I lay perfectly still. Sucking in air, terrified it would be my last chance for a while.

And inside I screamed.

It was not alone.

Chapter One

The Earth Cried

It was the screams that were going to kill me.

Not the torture.

Not the endless solitude.

Not the dark, dank cell.

Not even the separation from Theo.

I'd been through all of that. A different Ekmetalleftis branch pursuing my pain, but the agony inflicted was just the same.

You had to ask yourself, why me? What had I ever done to deserve this kind of treatment? From one day to the next my life had changed. A pit full of dirt and I was suddenly thrust into a preternatural world I had not known existed.

I reached for my Gi side now, finding a trickle in the lichen and mould between the solid blocks of stone that made up the four walls of my new abode. Not enough to make the ground rumble with my disquiet, but enough to feed my soul, feed my Stoicheio.

But the Pyrkagia part of me was bereft, bare, empty. There was no homely fireplace flickering brightly in my corner of the dungeon. The only time I could fuel that side of me was when they hauled me from my cell for another round of "let's prove the Gi is not immortal."

It was better than "let's test the extent of the Aether's abilities." Theo and I had worked hard to keep that knowledge from his father, the Rigas of Pyrkagia. Oh, he knew I had some form of connection to Fire, but he still thought me a Gi imposter, perhaps enhanced with Alchemist training. But how long we could keep that a secret remained to be seen.

For one, they were torturing me, almost daily. Although, by my count, it had been more than a day since they threw me back in here. I glanced down at my chest, visible through the unbuttoned shapeless shirt they'd dressed me in, and winced at the sight of my still healing torso. The rudimentary stitches their "doctor" had used to stop my ribs from poking through my flesh, were thick and dark, stark against the paleness of my skin.

How much more could I tolerate before I let the truth slip?

Another scream sounded out. Another agony-filled cry for help.

It was hopeless. Someone should tell the screamer to save his energy. It took me a full week to realise screaming did nothing but use up reserves which were better spent hurling insults at your captors and healing.

There was something familiar about the voice, if you can call a heart wrenching wail a voice. But I refused to acknowledge it. If I tried to identify who that scream belonged to, it could kill me. Even thinking that Theo is a prince of Pyrkagia and would never be subjected to maltreatment was too close to acknowledging who that scream came from.

So, I counted off in my head how many times that particular scream had been heard. Scream one. There were four different screamers in this hideous torture chamber of death from what I could tell. And who knew how many were mute like me. But "scream one" had managed to hit triple figures. We should celebrate.

A single tear rolled down my cheek, but I dashed it away. My right hand landed on the cold stone floor at my side with a thump, my dirty, broken nails dug into the grout between the blocks. Earth flowed through me. A trickle, but there.

Shhh, it whispered. Shhh, the sound faded away.

I sucked in a deep breath, grimaced through the sharp stab of pain inside my chest and wondered if my lungs had fully reformed yet.

The "doctor" called it vivisection. Not a word I'd had to use in my former life. Making deli sandwiches and serving hungry Parnell workers and shoppers did not require dissection or experimentation on live animals.

Animal. That's how they treated us. Worse than a beloved dog. Inhuman, if you could call an Athanatos human. They look human, they just happen to be able to manipulate and feed from all four Elements; Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Then there's the fifth. Me. Quintessence. We still didn't know exactly what that meant, only myth and legend from centuries ago. Aetheros, the Greek God of Elementals, otherwise known as the God of Upper Air and Light, or the First Born of the Elemental, gifted the Stoicheio of Aether to one Ekmetalleftis at a time of great need.

We hadn't figured out what exactly the gift of Aether would entail. Or what that time of great need actually was. But my money was on a whole crap heap of trouble and a truck full of why me?

According to legend the fifth Element should be bestowed on a born Elemental, of which I obviously was not. I was born a human, here in Auckland, New Zealand almost twenty-four years ago to George and Anne Eden. I have an older brother, Marcus, a best friend I went to school with in Pakuranga, Sonya. And until the pit of dirt incident, just a green thumb and a deli shop to my name.

But, and here is where I become a lab experiment for the Rigas, I have ties to the Alchemists. My grandfather apparently was one. Or is one. The jury is still out on that. And the Alchemists are the arch enemy of the Ekmetalleftis, humans who have coveted the power of the Elements since the dawn of time.

I tried a more gentle sigh and was relieved to note my chest no longer hurt. I wanted to lift my head and look at the healing skin, but it felt like too much effort, and I already knew the answer. I may not have been born immortal, but I sure as hell was one now.

Another scream. Different voice this time. Who the hell did they have in this dungeon? Me and Theo, but who else? I would have guessed Aktor had I not known he'd betrayed us. I would have hoped Isadora, but I my luck had proven pretty freaking poor lately. Maybe Nico. Theo's cousin. I closed my eyes and breathed through the thought.

There was no point thinking. No point trying to identify the screams, wonder why the Pyrkagia Rigas was doing this. Wonder what would come next. No point.

I rolled over, landing on all fours, letting both hands dig into the mould between the blocks of stone beneath me, pulling as much Gi as I could from the plant life that existed in here, and with determination pushed to my feet. I swayed, staggered slightly, but made it to the cot in the corner of the room, landing in a heap of squeaking springs on top of a scratchy, foul smelling sheet covered foam mattress.

Much more comfortable than the hard floor. I was surprised they even bothered to provide such luxuries as a bed and soft bedding. Not that the inch of foam and the filthy linen or the rusted and broken frame was anything near luxurious, but compared to the floor it was heaven.

I traced an invisible pattern on the stone wall beside me and wondered if Aetheros existed, did God? And if He did, if either of them did, why would they let us suffer like this?

It was probably an unwise train of thought, definitely depressing. So, I turned my attention to what I would do to the Rigas when I came into my next Stoicheio. If I kept true to form and Gramps was correct in my dream visions, then I still had Aeras and Nero to go. Air and Water. My money was on Water, because how the freaking hell could that help me in here? It would stand to reason I'd gain an Element that would do me absolutely no good at all.

Now Air. There's something I could work with. I smiled, an unbelievably unexpected expression to effect, as I remembered Hippolytos, or Hip as he liked to be called. For a mountain dwelling, atmosphere manipulating, freaky white eyed guy he was actually not all bad. As strange and semi-unwelcoming as our visit to Peru had been, I had enjoyed at least Hip. His shaman of a grandfather was unusual, and the ill concealed threat from the Aeras Rigas was unwanted, but Hip was OK.

If I came into my Air Element would the Aeras know and would they come to me? Hip had told me to contact him when it happened, that he'd help me get adjusted. If I didn't contact him would the Aeras Rigas come to me? Use their lightning ability to flash right into this cell.

It was a waste of time to rely on anyone else to get us out of here. I couldn't even get out of this cell, let alone the whole dungeon with Theo and whoever else was being held here against their will in tow.

And to accompany the burgeoning defeat was yet another scream. Scream one. Oh, they really weren't playing nice today. Hadn't he had enough? I blinked to still the tears, knowing any weakness could be used against me and right now I could not afford to lower my guard, even if it was to have a good sob.

But they kept coming. The first time since I'd been imprisoned here that I hadn't been able to will them to cease. Rivulets of tears rolled down each cheek, pooling on the stinking mattress beneath my head. My eyes stung, my chest hurt and it had nothing to do with my previous treatment. My nose became thick and my throat closed over making me swallow painfully past the lump.

A noise swelled in volume, unfamiliar to my ears. Wretched in its hollowness, tormented in its crescendo of pain-filled sound.

Me. I was screaming and they weren't even doing a thing to me right then.

I had to stop. I had to get a handle on this maelstrom of agony before they realised I'd reanimated and took advantage of the fact. My scream was joined by another and another, until I was sure all those held in the Pyrkagia dungeon had joined in. A lament of misery echoing through the dark.

But it was too late. One by one the screams were abruptly cut off and then the door to my cell swung open.

"You really shouldn't do that, my dear," the Rigas' doctor said. Thick black hair, hazel eyes, firm jawline, impressive physique all wrapped up in the obligatory tanned skin; the look of the Pyrkagia. Gold flickered behind the brown in his gaze, a swell of Stoicheio which he'd never shown me before.

I was too weak to pounce. By the time I realised he was wantonly throwing his Elemental power around he'd tamped it out. The flare of heat from his unexpected display scorched the hair on my arms but did little to feed my Fire. Once again the good doctor was well contained.

I'm not sure if he used a form of magic to keep his Stoicheio just out of my reach, but I was sure whatever he did, it was working again. Just that brief moment when he walked in and laid eyes on me, screaming, sobbing, writhing on the cot, and he'd weakened, dropped his guard, fed his Element when he had never done that before.

"Now, let's see how you're progressing," he purred, crossing the cold stone floor to loom over my bed. The door was left open, a temptation that we both knew I wouldn't take. I was too weak, too underfed and under-fuelled. All I had left was my willpower and anger, and even those had just let me down.

Maybe that's why he reacted. The first time his experiments had elicited a result.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," he admonished. "These stitches need to be removed already. Well, at least that proves one thing, doesn't it, dear?"

I blinked at him, loosening the last of the moisture that had hung doggedly to my lashes, feeling the tears trickle down my temples and join the rest that had pooled inside my ears.

"You are as immortal as the rest of us. Truly remarkable, considering you aren't Ekmetalleftis at all."

His cold, long finger ran down the centre of my chest, pulling on each stitch as it slowly moved past. It didn't hurt so much as make me feel sick. And he knew it.

"Are you going to cooperate in today's session?" he asked pleasantly, tugging on the last stitch making the skin around my navel lift in a grotesque stretch of black and blue bruised flesh.

"Aren't you tired of this yet?" I asked. My voice was scratchy. It helped, because anger flowed back through my veins at hearing that show of weakness.

"Miss Eden," the doctor said, "we've only just begun."

I wondered if there was a hell for Ekmetalleftis, like there's a hell for Christians. And then I wondered if it would be hell to a Pyrkagia at all. Hell's meant to be all fire and brimstone, isn't it? Not exactly a hardship for a Fire wielding Elemental.

I desperately didn't want to feel defeat. I knew to allow even a smidgeon in could be my downfall. Pain was not my enemy. The loss of hope was. But no matter what I did I kept coming up against harder and darker and infinitely more evil walls.

I'd survived the Gi. I could survive this.

"Bring it, old man," I said with a nasty smile.

"You are so much fun, my dear," he murmured. "And because you've delighted me this day, I have a special treat in store."

I would not let his words affect me. I would not hope or fear. I would not.

"Come, come," he encouraged, actually helping me sit upright on the bed. "First the stitches, then your reward."

I bit my lip through the removal of the thick, dark thread that had held me together, not allowing the sting of each tug as the stitch was removed from newly regrown skin to show. The doctor only smiled at my pathetic attempt at strength. When he was finished he carefully re-buttoned my shirt, like a father tending a child. I truly hated these ancient beings.

I attempted not to shuffle as he led me from the cell, but my legs were so heavy, my stomach so empty, my soul crying out to be fed. My bare feet caught on every obstacle, but I was beyond feeling the discomfort of a sharp stone or protruding brick stubbing my toe. I limped along beside him, drawing on what I could of the mould and lichen that grew sparsely through the space, feeling my Gi stir, but do little else.

I sucked in a breath hoping it might stimulate Air to come find me, but that Awakening would happen when I least expected and not on demand. I listened for more prisoners, but as always, once outside my cell it appeared I was the only one being held here. The adjoining rooms were empty, their doors ajar, no occupants trying to get out.

Not for the first time I wondered if the screams were in my head, or simply recordings made to break me down. It had worked today.

We took the path we always took so I recounted my steps, reaffirmed what I'd learned of my surroundings and made sure nothing had changed that could be used against me. It used to be that I'd assess everything for something I could use against them, but that had stopped several weeks ago now. I just looked for the unforeseen punch before it hit me on the jaw.

Today was definitely a get hit in the head day, because we passed the lab where the doctor experimented on the Rigas' command. Where the vivisections were performed and I lost more blood than a normal woman could survive. Where parts of me were excised, parts were electrocuted, and yet other parts were poisoned, pickled, replaced with God knows what and then reopened to see what grew overnight.

Where the doctor would hold up my heart while it beat in his hand and ask me if anything looked unusual to me. And then laugh.

I'd survived it all.

But as we passed a corner of the dungeon I had not traversed before and came to stand in front of a non-lab-like room, with a glass frontage that allowed people to view the internal goings on inside the space, I knew I would not survive this.

A chair was brought up and I was pushed into it. Too numbed to consider the action kindness. Too heart broken to pay attention to the guards who watched avidly from the sidelines. Too sickened and confused and out of my mind to understand what I was seeing.

But I knew why.

The doctor sat down beside me in another chair, his eyes on me not the spectacle behind the glass.

"You see, dear," he said. "He lives. He is quite resilient, like you. And a true Pyrkagia. The Prince knows when he is beaten. He knows how to play the game in order to survive. He's over three thousand years old, Miss Eden. Do you really think he doesn't know the rules?"

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, my eyes unable to look away from the scene before me.

"Because you needed to see the truth," the doctor advised as though he was doing me a favour by breaking my heart. "Because you've been holding on to something that does not exist."

"He's my Thisavros," I whispered.

"No, Miss Eden. He is not. Because you are not an Ekmetalleftis. You are an Alchemist creation and it is time you helped yourself, rather than holding out for a lover who spurns you at the first opportunity to further his chance of survival."

This couldn't be happening. This was a trick. A cruel ploy to finally break me. They knew I'd weakened. Today the first day I'd let the tears fall and screamed my frustration and despair. They knew they almost had me, so they were pushing the knife in further and twisting the blade. Just to be sure.

I stood up from the chair and took a step toward the glass wall. The guards stiffened, but the doctor lifted a hand to get them to remain where they were. My eyes were just for Theo, I walked as purposely as I could, determined to not show how battered and bruised I actually was, and came to rest on my side of the glass.

My hand lifted, dirt stained, jagged nails, a filthy unkempt mess, and rested on the glass.

Theo's head turned slowly and gold stared me down. There was no recognition there, not even a flicker of shame or embarrassment or anger at being caught. Just a blankness that told me my Theo no longer existed.

A shell in remarkable good health, no abrasions, no dirt, not even a stitch in his chest to be seen. And in a stoneless cell. It was still a cell, but it was a well appointed one. Fire in the hearth, fresh fruit in a bowl on a table to the side, soft lighting, plush carpets, fresh linens and a four poster sumptuous looking bed.

"Theo," I whispered and he blinked.

Then turned his head back to his companion, laughed at something she said, and lowered his face to kiss the side of her neck.

The confusion gave way to rage. A type of possession fuelled jealousy and anger that I had never experienced before.

The Earth cried. I was too far gone to hear it.

The Fire in the hearth flickered and hissed. I was too enraged to care.

The Air froze. I was too busy trying to break the glass and kill Isadora Petros where she lay, half under my Thisavros' bare chest.

"Take her back to her cell," the doctor was saying. "I think we can call today's experiment a success. I'll inform the Rigas, although I'm sure he won't be amused. We were hoping the connection had been severed on both sides, but clearly the girl still harbours something deeply rooted in her Elements for the Prince."

No. No. No. The only word that I truly heard was "severed".

They'd severed Theo's Thisavros connection to me. They'd made him into this.

The jealousy I felt still lingered, but in its place was pure hatred and fury.

The first guard to touch me received a jolt of Fire through his hand, sealing his grip to my arm as I fed off his Pyrkagia.

"Idiot! Where are your gloves?" someone yelled, as pure molten Fire coursed through my veins.

The next guard was wearing gloves, enough of a protection to stop me syphoning his body heat, but I was already blazing brightly, I just amped up the lust he'd been feeling while he watched that debauched show and fed off the Pyrkagia he started to throw around as his desires turned to me.

I was still a little new to all of this. In the past I'd inadvertently made Theo experience emotions that I wouldn't have chosen to subject on anyone, least of all the man I loved with all my heart. But I didn't have time right now to heed my conscience, I ramped up the draw, increased the guard's passionate response and then hurled my Pyrkagia outwards in an ever increasing circle of Fire.

I was left panting, hands fisted at my sides, sweat beading my forehead, as every person in the room lay unconscious on the floor. How long they'd be out for, I did not know.

I turned slowly to look into the glass walled room and found Isadora standing on the other side. We stared at each other. Her blouse was undone at the top, the curves of her perfectly shaped breasts were visible through the opening, displaying golden skin flushed with her recent activities.

I was going to kill her.

Then she spoke, clearly audible through the glass, so I was picking Theo had heard every word the doctor had tormented me with earlier.

"The key is on the guard by the door." I blinked, sucked in a surprised breath of air. "Hurry. They won't be out for long."

Chapter Two

Could This Get Any Worse?

"What's wrong with him?" I demanded, as I helped Isadora shoulder some of Theo's unstable weight as we snuck down winding hallways and ducked behind hanging tapestries on the wall.

"I don't know. This is the first time I've managed to get in to see him, and clearly that was because they wanted to put on a show."

I let her words digest. But I refrained from asking. They'd been in a rather compromised position. It may well have been the first time she'd been to see him, but how long had she been there and what had transpired before I arrived?

Theo had been naked. Isadora was not. Although the obstacle of her clothes had not hindered his access to skin. And she could have redressed at some stage, not that I thought she was particularly modest, but surely no one likes to be on display for a bunch of horny Pyrkagia guards.

Even someone as model perfect as Theo's Dora.

I sucked in a deep breath and hefted Theo's arm back over my shoulder from where it had fallen slightly.

"Do you have a plan to get us out of here?" I asked, perhaps a little more sharply than warranted.

No. It was freaking well warranted.

"Someone's waiting at one of the hidden tunnels."

"Who?"

A noise sounded out around the corner. The too precise stomping of more than one set of boots.

"Shh!" Isadora reprimanded. Bitch.

We ducked under a tapestry and slipped inside a nondescript wooden door. Dust floated up to greet us and I covered my mouth to prevent the cough that wanted out. Isadora did the same, but no one had warned Theo, and I was thinking Theo was worse than I'd feared. Because he wasn't communicating, he wasn't holding his own weight, he was simply a simmering mass of Pyrkagia heat, a fire wanting more fuel and having been denied.

He started coughing. First a small grunt, a hitched breath, and then it was obvious he was really going to let go, rousing the suspicions of the guards down the hallway and giving our makeshift hiding spot away.

"Do something," Isadora demanded, as though I had a convenient bottle of water to soothe his itch. "Argh!" she growled, when it was obvious I was clueless on how to stop Theo from hacking up a lung.

And then she turned into his body, wrapped a hand around his jaw, tilting his face down to hers, shot me a disgruntled look... and kissed him.

Full lips on lips, tongue tangling, saliva sharing, deep, passionate kiss.

For a second I just stood there, mouth agape, heart pounding in my chest, and then she was against the far wall, my hand wrapped around her throat and Fire rolling up my arm to singe her face.

Theo stumbled behind me, then in a scratchy voice said, "Dora?"

My heart broke in two and the Fire flickered out.

"He doesn't know you," Isadora said, still trapped under my grip at her throat. "I don't know how much memory he has lost, but we can assume he's lost all knowledge of you. That's what broke it. The Thisavros connection."

"How?" I asked, looking over my shoulder, unwilling to release my grip on the whore's throat, my eyes aching for the look of confusion and loss on Theo's face.

I wasn't fooling myself. It wasn't loss for me. It was loss of Dora's lips on his mouth and the Pyrkagia she'd been fuelling him.

"Hungry," Theo muttered. "So, hungry."

"They drained him, I should think," Dora whispered. "I don't know exactly how it was done, but I mentioned you when I first arrived. I asked him if he'd seen you."

I didn't want to hear any more.

"He asked me who Casey Eden was."

My hand let go of her throat and I stepped back, wrapping my arms around my waist.

"Can it be reversed?" I asked numbly, sinking onto an old crate of some stored goods.

"I have no idea," she answered, her voice careful as though she felt my pain. Isadora Petros was not a compassionate person. She loved Theo. She hated me. She despised the fact that I was his Thisavros and she wasn't. Had never been. "The answer lies in how it was done," she added. "Maybe time will right..."

"Don't," I snapped. "Don't give me false platitudes."

"Well, clearly you've not grown up an iota since we last met," she sneered.

I didn't have it in me to argue.

"Let's get out of here," I suggested instead.

"Of course," she purred, taking a step toward Theo and halting when his face lit up and his arms reached out to welcome her. A smile slowly crept over her face. I turned away before I saw his reaction.

It took me a second or two to gather my resolve, then when I turned back Theo was already standing, one arm around Isadora's shoulders, golden eyes revetted to her face. I stomped over and lifted his other arm to drape over my shoulder, offering an elbow to his stomach while I was at it.

An "Oomph!" escaped him and Isadora said archly, "Such a child."

Perhaps it was childish, he clearly didn't know what he was doing. Didn't know who I even was. I sucked in a deep breath, trying not to inhale the dust motes and start a coughing fit, and helped Isadora manoeuvre Theo through the door. The passageway was thankfully clear and we made it down three more before we had to hide again.

Ten minutes, which felt like an hour, later we were stumbling through a tunnel, not the same tunnel Aktor and I had used to escape the Pyrgos, but one equally as tight and deserted and forgotten. Light began to blossom further ahead and at the sight of it my energy waned. So close to freedom, so close finally to drawing on the Earth, and I wasn't sure I could make it.

I hadn't asked Isadora how long we'd been there. How long the doctor had me to experiment on, how long it took them to erase me from Theo's memory. I wasn't sure I could afford that knowledge yet. I wasn't strong enough. I was barely remaining upright, and only managing that because I didn't trust Isadora at all. And now my heart was heavy as well, pulling me down, drowning me in sorrow, making it harder and harder to lift my feet and walk the few more steps needed to reach that light.

But the smell of the sea called to me. The scent of the ocean and wild flowers, Pohutukawa blooms and Toi-Toi seeds. The Earth sighed. Gi poured in, the ground beneath our feet shuddering.

"What are you doing?" Isadora demanded, halting in her tracks. Green reflected off her widened eyes, casting her skin an unusual shade of bronze and verdigris.

"Reuniting with my Stoicheio," I replied in a husky murmur.

"Pretty," Theo remarked from my side. My gaze swung to his, gold stared back. But his expression still lacked recognition. You can appreciate beauty, be attracted to it even, but still not need to be familiar.

"Thank you," I whispered, and received a pleasant smile for my efforts. His gaze returned to Dora's unamused face and brightened. Recognition and familiarity written all over him now.

I sighed. The Earth wept silently with me. And then I left Theo with Dora and walked toward the light.

My body was whole. My soul was whole. My heart was shattered and left in tiny pieces.

The closer I came to the opening of the tunnel the more I felt like something was off. I reassured myself that I was more than capable of holding my own now, fully fed, at least Elementally and that would tide me over until I could eat actual food. If this was a trap, I'd swallow the lot of them with the Earth and spit on their newly dug graves.

Rage still shimmered beneath the surface. Accompanied by bone weary sadness.

I slowed my pace down as the opening widened, the white capped waves of the ocean becoming more and more distinct. My last step brought me to the edge of a cliff and the realisation that the sensation of wrongness was the altitude we were at compared to the sea.

A Gi's strongest sense is that of smell. I'd first recognised the sea from the salty brine I could scent, followed by the seaside vegetation that grows around Auckland beaches. But without realising I'd subconsciously recognised that the scent was coming from below me; a position that initially made no sense.

Now as I stood at the opening of a cliff side cave, or the tunnel we'd just used to escape the Rigas' Pyrgos, I understood. We were forty to fifty feet above the rocks of Mellons Bay.

"How do you plan to get us down from here?" I asked Dora as she and Theo came to rest at my shoulder.

"Our help," she replied, pulling a cellphone from her slender trousers and swiping the screen. Theo watched on with complete concentration, as though she was the very air he needed to breathe.

Dora offered him a reassuring smile and took a step away to talk to whoever she'd dragged in to help.

"Do you remember me?" I asked, the words falling off my tongue before I could stop them.

Theo's confused gaze shifted to my face, he scanned it, impersonally, and then offered his signature Theo Peters smile. Beguiling, friendly. Detached.

"Should I?" he asked. "You're Gi."

Four words that said nothing at all, but also everything.

Theo didn't remember me, no matter how much I wanted that to be an aberration, something he'd snap out of if I pretended hard enough that it was temporary. He also hadn't registered, back in that dust filled room, that it was my Fire spreading up my arm, not Dora's. If he'd registered anything at all, that is. And if he didn't remember me and hadn't been in a fit state to register my use of Fire, then how would he know that I am also Pyrkagia, not just Gi?

"Yes, I'm Gi," I said softly.

"Are you an ambassador?" he asked. He was strengthening. I could see it. In the shape of his upright stance, in the way he held his shoulders back. In his voice. Power flowed through him, calling to the Thisavros in me.

He didn't answer my call.

"No, I'm not an ambassador." It would be a cold day in hell when I represented the Gi.

"Then you are a visiting dignitary," he surmised. "Princess," he concluded.

Every word out of his mouth hurt more and more. Every step down this path that was so alien and wrong sliced through me. What good was wielding two Stoicheio if you couldn't fix a memory lapse in the man who held your heart?

I felt useless. Ineffectual. And when Dora returned to our sides and Theo immediately brightened again, swinging his avid gaze back her way, I felt insignificant.

"He's on his way," she announced. "Did you two get reacquainted?"

"We've just met," Theo corrected.

Dora's eyes flicked to my face. I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

She looked back up at Theo. "You know Casey, Theodoros," she shocked me by saying. "You know her quite well."

"I do?" His gaze returned to me, trying desperately to recognise a feature. Clearly he failed. "I'm sorry," he said with a self-deprecating smile. "I don't remember."

"It's all right," I said, before Isadora could voice the next words on her tongue. This hurt too much. I needed it to stop. "You've been through a lot," I added and then turned back to look out over the sea.

I heard Isadora urge Theo to sit down, our help was a distance away. Perhaps this jailbreak had been unplanned. Dora had said it was the first time she'd been allowed to visit Theo, maybe she'd been trying for a while, and had to simply take advantage of the situation when it arose.

I blocked out their low whispered words, blocked out my mind's interpretation of how close they would have to be sitting to hear each other, and sucked in the fresh sea air.

Are you there? I asked the Earth.

Aether, we never left you.

I closed my eyes, willed the tears to retreat.

I couldn't feel you. In there, I meant, but the Earth understood me.

We could still feel you. And the tone of the whispered words in my mind matched the heartache I was feeling.

So many questions rushed through me. "Why?" being the most prevalent. But I couldn't organise my thoughts. The low hum of voices behind me felt like stabs of a sharp knife through my chest.

Can it be reversed? I finally asked.

We do not know, the Earth replied quietly.

I nodded. If anyone knew, the Earth would know. It was as old as time itself.

What happens now? I asked, because I needed someone to tell me.

The darkness comes, the winds blow, the trees burn, the rivers rage, the sky falls and the ground buckles.

My entire being stilled. The Earth could speak in riddles, but not quite to this extent. Sometimes it made me work for any answer I sought, but usually its ramblings were more pointed than this.

What does that mean? I asked, afraid to hear the answer. If it deemed me ready to hear it, that is.

Some call it the Apocalypse, the Earth whispered in my mind.

My body shuddered.

Some call it the End Of Days, it added.

My breaths started coming in short little huffs of chilled air.

Some call it the Reckoning.

What do you call it? I asked, my knees feeling too weak to hold me upright. I reached for the rough hewn wall at my side to steady myself, vaguely aware Dora was asking me if I was all right.

I blocked out her words as well as her presence to my right and waited for Earth to reply.

It took a while. Dora had become more persistent, Theo had joined me on the other side. Concern and that ever present distance marring his strong jawline, high cheekbones and beautiful hazel eyes.

We call it the Genesis.

The Genesis, and I was sure that word required a capital G. Just what the hell was that supposed to be?

A sharp slap on my cheek had me flaring Pyrkagia, an instant and hardened reaction to being harmed again so soon after leaving the tender care of the Rigas' doctor. Heat filled the cave entrance, replacing the chill that had invaded my bones. I called it back before it could strike out at Isadora, but the damage had been done.

Theo grabbed Dora and thrust her behind his back, his gold eyes glaring at me as his own Pyrkagia swelled.

"Who are you?" he demanded, then sucked in a breath of air. "What are you?" he corrected.

I couldn't do this. It had been hard enough to deal with this new world with him at my side. But this? This was too cruel to even contemplate.

"Theodoros," Isadora started from behind him. He still had one hand keeping her in position, refusing to let her out again to face the threat he perceived me to be.

"Answer me!" he growled, the full force of his Stoicheio behind the command.

Theo's Fire had burned me in the past. Blistered my skin. But it had been a long time since then. And instead all I had known for months was his heated caress, his passion-filled touch, his Fire's lust for my body, my heart. Me.

The burns that appeared on the palms of my hands as I held them up before me hurt more than anything the doctor had done. Hurt more than anything anyone had ever done. I sucked in frantic hitched breaths of incongruous super-chilled air as Dora forced her way between us, yelling at Theo to stop.

It was too much to have him turn on me. Too much. I fell to my knees as pain consumed me. But not a single tear fell. I think I was all out of tears. I was too far past sorrow to find use in them. Where I was, tears would not follow. Where I was, only darkness dwelled.

The sound of a rope unfurling caught my attention, then a harness appeared in the opening of the cave.

"Right," Isadora said, as though trying to calm herself down as well. "Our rescue has arrived. Theo, you go first."

"No," he snarled, his eyes still boring into me. "I will not leave you with her." He practically spat the words. "You first, Dora. Then when you're all ready to contain her up there, the Gi imposter can follow. Lastly it will be me."

"Theo, you've been in a prison for four months." Four months. My eyes closed on invisible tears. "You need to get out of here first, or this was all a wasted effort."

"No." Implacable. Stoic. So brave.

It broke my heart further.

"All right," Dora replied reluctantly, positioning herself into the harness, with Theo's distracted help.

I'd wanted him to notice me. I certainly had his attention now.

Dora tugged on the rope and was pulled up out of sight, while Theo just stared. Minutes ticked past without either of us speaking. Me, because I was too disillusioned. Him, because I think he was still enraged.

I wanted to reach for him. The part of me that is his Thisavros pleaded to be reunited, skin on skin. But this was a one sided coupling now. Always to have half of me missing, ripped away, left raw.

The rope uncoiled again, the harness swinging at the opening.

Theo reached for it, his eyes never leaving my face, and with a lift of his chin he silently ordered me to approach.

For the first time ever I was scared of Theo Peters. We'd not always seen eye to eye, but even when I first came into my Gi powers I'd never feared him the way I feared the look in his eyes right now.

"Come," he snapped when I didn't move. My body jumped and his lips curled. "How old are you?" he growled.

He knew. At least, he used to. "Twenty-three," I whispered, stepping into the harness he held out.

He laughed, it was mirthless. "A baby. You wear your emotions on your sleeve, little one. I can feel your fear."

"Please stop talking," I begged. He'd regret this, when he remembered. If he remembered again.

He leaned in, his nose practically touching my cheek and whispered, "You play with Fire, little girl. I'm a prince of Pyrkagia, you are nothing to me."

He meant in terms of power level, but the words cut too close to the quick.

I shifted, to lift my foot into the other opening of the harness, just wanting this to be over now, and inadvertently brought myself close enough for his nose to touch my skin.

Electricity shot through me, pulling a gasp from my lips and a moan from Theo's.

A hot hand wrapped around my throat as he hauled me back against his chest.

"Stop now, or I will end you," he warned.

"I'm not doing anything." I wasn't, as far as I could tell. But something was happening. The touch of skin on skin awakening every sensation Theo had ever made me feel.

And if the panting of his harsh breaths were anything to go by, and the erection I could feel pressed into my back meant anything, he was feeling every single sensation I'd made him experience in the past as well.

"Witch," he husked. "What are you doing to me?"

"Thisavros," I managed to groan, writhing against his arousal as his free hand cupped my breast.

It was the only explanation I could think of. Our Thisavros connection trying to re-establish itself. Reminding us of what we were to each other. Desperately seeking the joining I longed for and Theo had forgotten.

"No!" he growled, thrusting me away from him. I stumbled, tried to right myself, and then promptly fell out of the opening of the cave and met only air.

For a second all I saw was the wild hunger on Theo's face, mixed with a type of abhorrence that shrivelled my soul.

And then the rope caught, the harness thankfully holding and I was hauled up the side of the cliff face, scraping skin, banging elbows and not feeling a thing but despair.

Could this get any worse?

Apparently it could. Because a hand wrapped around my upper arm and hauled me over the lip of the cliff, dumping me on wet grass as I stared up into tired and old hazel eyes that definitely recognised me.

And I recognised them.

"Miss Eden," he said. "It is so good to see you again."

Aktor. The son-of-a-bitch betrayer. I reached out with all my strength and landed a punch to his ancient looking nose.

Chapter Three

A Lot Has Happened, Miss Eden

"Casey!" another familiar voice rang out. "Don't hit him!"

"Wh..what?" I stammered, fear and anger and heartache mixing with shock and happiness and utter confusion. "What are you doing here?"

Sonya just smiled, wrapped an arm around a bemused Aktor and fussed over the blood that had already stopped falling from his nose.

Isadora was the one to help me to my feet and with her usual arched tone she advised, "A lot has happened while you've been lying back and daydreaming."

I suppressed the growl. For now.

"Let's get the master up, shall we?" Aktor advised, keeping a good distance between me and himself.

"Yes, let's," Sonya agreed, sounding unlike any Sonya I'd ever known.

I wondered if this was the dream, and I was really lying unconscious back in my cell after the doctor had played "Operation" on my insides.

I stayed well away from everyone, including my best friend. Who seemed more than a little comfortable with Aktor and not in the slightest concerned with the nearness of Isadora The Bitch. What had happened since I left New Zealand? How did she even know who these people were?

She knew Theo of course. Had met him several times in the deli. She'd heard me speak of Isadora and probably Aktor as well. But she didn't know what he'd done. That was obviously it. She still thought Aktor was on our side, when in fact Aktor had betrayed us to Theo's father, handing us over to the Rigas, delivering the final blow.

Theo appeared over the edge of the cliff, clasping Aktor's hand and beaming up into the face of his old servant. My stomach rolled. I swallowed back the sickening sensation that Theo didn't remember the betrayal at all. I wanted to stay where I was and lick my wounds. Getting close to any of these people would hurt. But Theo was compromised right now. He couldn't remember, therefore he didn't understand the danger.

I couldn't let him get caught unprepared.

I walked towards them, where they were hugging and back slapping and generally behaving like this was a family reunion. I didn't make it more than a few feet before Theo growled.

An honest to God feral growl.

"You haven't contained her?" he asked, ominously. "Dora!" he called. "Find me some rope."

I lifted an eyebrow at him as Aktor started spluttering, Sonya told Theo to pull his head in - Yay, my best friend! - and Isadora tried to calm everyone down.

"Rope? Really? You think rope will hold me?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and cocking a hip.

Theo took two menacing steps toward me.

"My rope will," he replied with a cruel smile.

I waved my fingers at him, let Fire flare at their tips and said, "Pyrkagia, remember?"

"Exactly!" he snarled, closing the distance between us. "And not born that way, at a guess."

"No," I said, agreeing with him and then calling on the Earth to wrap vines around his ankles instead.

He swore and simply burned them to a crisp. I didn't have it in me to recall them. Singed plants leave me feeling bereft.

"In any case," he said stalking closer. "I'll use metal chains. You'll only burn yourself if you heat them up."

"Theodoros," Aktor said, and there was power in his tone I'd never heard before. "Enough."

We were standing chest to chest. I'm not sure how we'd gotten so close, my eyes had just been for the anger on his face, but here we were, barely a breath between us. He realised it at the same time as me and sprang back.

"She has bespelled me," Theo said, his breaths a little too quick in coming.

"No, son. She has not," Aktor advised, leaving me more and more confused, because shouldn't he be the enemy? Why was he defending me now?

"We really have to get going," Isadora announced into the strained silence. "They'll send guards out to check the surrounding area when they determine Pyrgos no longer harbours you both."

"And she's coming with us?" Theo asked, indicating me with a nod of his dark haired head.

My shoulders drooped and suddenly Sonya was beside me, wrapping an arm around my frame.

"Aktor said it might be rough, but I had no idea," she whispered. "What's happened to Theo?"

Theo's head turned slowly to look at my best friend and for a moment I saw worry and indecision on his stark features. Of all the people to convince him that something wasn't right with him and not me, it was a human. A human he probably couldn't even remember.

"Where are we going?" he asked instead, sounding more calm now, but I could see a muscle tense in his jaw. "Auckland is no longer safe?"

"No, we've been based in Wellington, but Isadora had to return to Auckland for a family obligation and I chose to accompany her just in case. As it happens, it paid off."

"And I go where Aktor goes," Sonya declared proudly.

"There's a story there you need to tell me," I muttered.

She just beamed back at me from behind dusky blonde locks. I also noted that Aktor's face softened on her words.

"We've become close, Miss Eden," he supplied. "I'll tell you all about it once we're in the car."

He indicated a large dark sedan parked just across the grass clearing we were on, at the edge of a silent suburban street.

"Then we should go," Theo suggested, taking a step towards the vehicle, his eyes lingering on me for a second and then purposely turning away when he saw he'd been caught out.

Everyone started heading towards the car but I grabbed Isadora's arm before she made it too far. Her eyes darted down to where I gripped her and stayed there until I released my grasp.

"Just tell me this, can he be trusted?" I whispered.

"They can hear you, you know?" she replied waspishly.

"Tell me," I said, losing patience.

"Yes, he can be trusted. He could always be trusted."

I wanted to question her more, but it wouldn't have made a difference. Isadora had spoken, she was already walking away toward the car. I took one last look around the empty street we were on and wondered if I'd ever return to my home city again. Or if this was it for me. Outcast.

I could add more names to the list but right now I really was wearing my emotions on my sleeve.

The car was bigger than I expected. A limousine in fact. Black tinted windows hid the rear seating compartment, and Aktor suggested everyone get in there while he drove up front. He even donned a driver's cap, pulling it down low over is face.

I was the last to slip through the open back door, finding Theo sitting too close to Isadora and Sonya sitting on the opposite seat eagerly awaiting me. I slid in next to my friend and immediately realised my mistake. Theo was directly opposite me, when he looked up he was looking straight at my face.

He glanced out the side window, the muscle in his jaw still flexing.

I turned sideways and took in my friend. She'd lost some weight and there was a heaviness to her now that bubbly Sonya never had. Her eyes looked older, she wasn't even chewing on the strands of her hair. She sat still, smile in place, but there was a darkness just behind the façade.

"What happened?" I asked, knowing the question was more pertinent than I'd at first thought.

Sonya let a long breath of air out. Then reached for my hand and laced her fingers with mine.

"They came when I was shutting up the shop," she started, her eyes turning haunted and distant. "Two months after you'd left," she added. "If it wasn't for Aktor." And then she stopped, unable to get any more words out, tears filling her big blue eyes, her bottom lip trembling.

I glanced over at Isadora, who had been watching silently from her side of the car.

"The Rigas?" I demanded, aware that Theo had stilled.

Isadora nodded. "His guards, in any case."

I let a controlled breath of air out, turning back to my friend.

"How bad?" I whispered.

"Bad enough," came her reply.

"You know what they are? What I am?" She nodded and from the corner of my eye I saw Theo cock his head, his eyes boring into the side of my face. "Can you see the Elements?"

"No. But Aktor explained. And then I met Isadora." She leaned forward and stage whispered, "You were right, she can be a real bitch."

Theo let out a snort and then looked chagrined. Isadora glared at him and shifted a little away in the seat. It would have been perfect, but Theo reached for her hand, entwining it in his, and lifted it to his lips in apology.

"She's not the only one," I murmured, getting a raised eyebrow from him.

"So, Aktor?" I asked in a louder voice, making sure the butler could hear from the front seat.

"I traded my soul and your freedom for your friend, Miss Eden," came his careful and steady reply. "Did I make a mistake?"

I shook my head, which I hoped he saw in the rear view mirror.

"I thought you betrayed us," I commented, feeling so blastedly tired all of a sudden.

"I know," the old man replied. "And in a way I did." Pain etched into every word.

"I don't remember any of this," Theo remarked from his statue like position across the car.

"We'll work on getting your memory back," Isadora soothed.

It should have been me. I should have been reassuring my Thisavros. I should have been receiving the soft smile and squeeze of his hand in mine. It should have been me.

Isadora's eyes came up to mine and held my gaze. Neither of us said anything, the car a cesspit of unwanted emotions, moving silently through the darkened Auckland streets.

A private jet waited for us on the tarmac, fuelled and ready to go as soon as we boarded the plane. I walked down to the back of the cabin and sat myself down in a corner seat, fastening my belt and closing my eyes as soon as the engines roared to life, vibrating through the fuselage. Sonya had tried to sit with me, but she'd soon realised I just needed some space. In the end I had the rear part of the cabin to myself as the rest of them got reacquainted, attempting to tell Theo what had been happening in the political realms of Pyrkagia.

Like me, I think he was more concerned in the personal ones, his eyes darting down towards where I sat more than once during the flight. I spent the duration half sleeping, half aching, half watching the man who seemed so far out of my reach.

We landed in a crosswind, not unusual for Wellington. The rest of the passengers making suitable murmurs of concern as we crabbed our way through the sky towards the floodlit runway. For some reason it felt like a welcome, as though Wellington itself had reached out and tickled the underbelly of the airplane making it jump and jerk and sway.

A smile spread my lips as the wind buffeted the plane, when I opened my eyes he was watching me again. A remoteness that didn't belong there mixed with a longing that used to mean something, but now just proved how far we'd pulled apart. Not intentionally. Neither of us would have wanted this. And I was tired, if I was honest, with the interference of everyone else in my life, in our lives.

We'd battled prejudice and a long history of hatred to get where we were. We'd defied kings and laws, opened our hearts up to ridicule and the doomed prediction of failure. We'd done it all so we could be together.

And I suddenly realised we had failed. They'd been right. Theo and I weren't meant to be together.

"Come now, Miss Eden," Aktor said to my side. "It's not that bad."

I turned to find the old butler sitting beside me, I hadn't even heard him arrive. Athanatos don't age like humans, but we do age. Slowly. So very slowly. So, Theo's father looks older than him and so does Aktor, both near in age to the ancients, the original Ekmetalleftis created by Aetheros. Twenty-five thousand years old Theo had told me Aktor was. So he had wrinkles, and walked with a slight stoop. But I knew him to be as powerful as the man he served. He may not have been a prince born into privilege like Theo. But Aktor had power from age. A vast age.

Kind hazel eyes stared back at me, hints of amber and jade in the mix. Just like Theo's. All Pyrkagia look alike. Just like all Gi and all Aeras look alike. I was a mix of the two, Gi and Aeras, a bastardised version that was only coincidence.

"He's confused," Aktor said softly. "You can imagine how difficult this is for him. He can't remember you, but he said when he touched you in the cave he felt things too real to be mere fantasy. I assume he felt his Thisavros."

I leaned my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes. I couldn't talk about this. Not with anyone, and especially not with someone I used to consider a good friend, kind and knowledgable, and above reproach.

I understood what Aktor had done. I even applauded it. Sonya is like a sister to me, he did the right thing bargaining for her life. But here we are, Theo sitting down one end of the cabin whispering to his old flame, Isadora. And here I was, alone and forgotten sitting with the hired help.

That was a slight exaggeration. Aktor wasn't just the hired help. He was considered family. And let's not forget, he was remembered. I realised a bitterness had taken root inside me that I was futilely fighting, but lacked the strength to win.

"We also understand how hard this is for you, Miss Eden," the old man went on. "We'll try to make this as painless as it can be, but, my dear, what tries to break us, does make us stronger."

"Who's we?" I whispered.

"Isadora, Sonya and myself."

Isadora. This was exactly what that bitch wanted. It couldn't have gone better for her than if she'd tried.

"Oh, and Nico is also waiting for us," Aktor advised. "So, come on. He's dying to see you."

I stood up stiffly, my body beyond weary now.

"Between you and me," the butler whispered conspiratorially as we made our way down a now deserted cabin aisle, "I think he has a crush on our Sonya."

I snorted. I was sure it was exactly what the old man had been after.

"I thought she had a crush on you," I remarked.

"Therein lies the rub, my dear," Aktor said with no small amount of amusement. "But don't you think I'm a wee bit old for your friend?"

I really started laughing then, realising I may have harboured deep seated feelings of disappointment in what Aktor had chosen to do, regardless of the necessity of his actions, but I knew he and I would get to the other side, still intact. As for Theo and me, I had no such hopes.

We were still laughing as we stepped off the bottom stair, walking out onto tarmac at Wellington Airport. A car sat not too far away, so we'd obviously made it to the private hangars off to the side. Everyone was standing beside the vehicle waiting for us, I had the impression they'd been waiting a while. How long had Aktor let me sit there after they'd all disembarked before he spoke?

A shadow peeled off from the group and walked towards us, becoming recognisable in the dim light the closer he came. The spitting image of his cousin, Nico wore the good looks with a roguish air, rather than a sophisticated one. He ran a hand through his messed up dark hair and smiled down at me.

Then asked, "Don't I get a hug?"

I shrugged my shoulders. Nico was the least of my adversaries. He'd opposed our relationship in the beginning, even going so far as to try to hand me over to the Gi when they first came looking. But it had all been for his beloved Pyrkagia. And if I wasn't mistaken he was now an outcast too.

I was sure Pyrkagia would always hold his heart and allegiance in some form or other, but the man was definitely on the out with the King.

I opened my arms and he rushed in, lifting me off the tarmac and swinging me around in a bear hug to rival all others. I was breathless and laughing hard enough to almost pee my pants by the time he deposited me on the ground with the confusing and whispered words of, "Watch this."

Then he kissed me hard. On the lips, in front of everyone, shocking me so much that I just stood there, like the moron I obviously was.

There was a buzz of noise in the background, then I was wrenched away from hard, hot arms and landed on the hard, cold tarmac at my feet instead.

And I looked up in time to see Theo beating the crap out of his cousin. Isadora yelling in the background trying to tear them apart. Sonya blinking and ducking behind an amused Aktor who simply watched on without saying a word.

Finally, when Theo had decided Nico had learned his lesson, or maybe his arms were getting tired from all that swinging and punching, he stood up and took two steps away from his cousin. Then he sucked in air like it was his last chance at survival and began to shake his head.

"Fuck!" he burst on a desperate exhalation. "I have no idea why I just did that."

I held my breath, thinking it had to be the Thisavros connection. Thinking maybe this was the turning point and everything would make sense to him again.

He swung around to face me and pulled at his usually well groomed hair as though losing his mind.

No. It wasn't making any sense. My breath left me in a defeated rush.

"Who are you?" he pleaded.

Nico spat a wad of bloody spit on the tarmac beside him, making Theo and I both look at where he still half lay.

"She's your life, you fucking idiot," he slurred, flexing his jaw and making it click. I grimaced at the sound of bone re-knitting. "I was hoping to wake you the fuck up."

"It didn't work," Theo ground out. His eyes came back to my face; I'm not sure what he saw there. I know I was feeling a little lost. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just don't know you. And I...." Another grip on his hair as though he was being tortured. Or the words were being tortured out of him. "And I need you to stay away," he finished, turning on his heel and marching toward the car.

Ignoring everyone, he slipped into the front passenger seat, eyes forward, face hard.

"So, that went well," Nico said climbing to his feet.

"I did warn you," Isadora snarled.

"Oh, fuck off, bitch!" Nico spat back, making my eyebrows rise halfway up my forehead.

"A lot has happened, Miss Eden," Aktor said softly at my side. "Perhaps you and I could go find a late night coffee house and have a wee chat."

"I'll drive Bitchy, Moody, and Sexy back to the house," Nico offered, receiving a glare from Isadora, nothing from Theo ensconced in the car, and a shy smile from Sonya.

"Very good," the butler said, waving them all off, and before I knew it, I was standing alone on the tarmac with a man who had already sold me out once and I realised, belatedly, that he was probably about to do it again.

How could he want me to stick around, if it hurt his master so?

"All right," I said with what little strength and courage I had left. "Let's talk."

The Earth let out a wretched wail, the ground rolling beneath us with its force, that matched, I was sure, the agony inside my heart.

And then it started raining.

Chapter Four

Here I Am

Water ran in torrents through the gutters outside the small café's window, bits of twigs and leaves and trash washing away down the overflowing drains. Cars splashed through the puddles causing arcs of cascading spray to cover the few pedestrians who were brave enough to face the downpour.

It hadn't stopped raining since the airport and it didn't look like it was going to stop.

The Earth sighed; a sad, resigned sound.

I was frowning when Aktor made it back to the table with a plate of sandwiches and two steaming mugs of coffee. The café was one on the main stretch of road in Newtown, slightly worn around the edges like the old weatherboard bungalows popular in this suburb. The coffee smelled good, though, and my stomach appreciated the sight of food.

"Help yourself, Miss Eden. They are for you," Aktor advised, pushing the plate towards me and then stirring sugar into his coffee with a casualness that belied the tension filling the small space of the shop we were in.

"You're not eating?" I asked, aware the polite conversation was a prelude to something much darker and sinister indeed.

"I have eaten this evening, my dear. I dare say, you have not." He sipped his latte, unassuming hazel eyes staring at me from over the top.

I picked at a sandwich, wanting nothing more than to eat one, but unable to stomach anything with this oppressive weight hanging over my head.

"Why are we here?" I asked, alarmed to hear the warble in my voice.

"To give Theodoros time to cool off," Aktor replied softly. "And for you and I to rebuild what was once solid and is now, I should think, quite unstable. We need each other, Cassandra."

Oh, I hadn't heard that name for far too long. Theo's name for me.

I blinked, picked up a sandwich for something to do, and took a bite. My stomach thanked me.

"You know," Aktor said, looking out the window at the passing cars and pouring rain, "ever since he was young, Theodoros has never shied away from saying what's on his mind. I had admired it, until this evening. Thought it a sound quality to have in the cut-throat arena of Ekmetalleftis politics. He could so easily have been cowed by his father, but instead he grew a thick skin and the ability to speak his mind regardless of consequences." He sighed, the Earth mimicked him.

"I would have thought some circumspection wouldn't have gone astray," I remarked, taking another bite of the sandwich. I still couldn't really taste anything, but the motion of biting, chewing and swallowing seemed to calm.

"Indeed, and he has that ability when necessary. An ability that lets him pick and choose where best to speak his mind. Unfortunately, his world view is skewed right now, correct? He thinks you nothing but a stranger, and a threat at that. A Gi for all intents and purposes, who possesses Pyrkagia when she should not. Therefore we are subject to his verbal fits."

"Verbal fits," I repeated numbly. That's one way to call it.

"He will regret it, my dear. When he remembers. I'm simply helping to reduce that fallout by removing you from the scene until he calms."

"Will he remember though?" I asked. Aktor just smiled. A sad, but hopeful one.

"Back to us," he said instead of bolstering me up falsely. "I beg your forgiveness, Miss Eden. I pray you will see it in your heart to forgive an old man his impulsive actions. Actions directed by an old and weary heart. I could not stand by and watch as they tormented that young girl. She didn't have a hope in surviving that. She is not like you."

Like me? I wondered just what he thought I was capable of. Right now it clearly wasn't much more than eating a plate full of sandwiches and feeling like utter freaking crap while I did it.

I stared down at the near empty platter. How many sandwiches had been there. Three? Four? I pushed it away and wrapped my chilled hands around the still warm cup, then lifted my eyes to Aktor's face.

There was nothing to forgive really. I wanted to blame someone for what had happened. For the pain and suffering. For Theo no longer being mine. And it would have been so easy to keep on thinking it only happened because of the betrayal I'd felt from this man.

But there'd been a reason. A valid one.

"I spent many hours," I said softly, "thinking up ways to pay you back."

He nodded, but remained quiet.

"Sometimes it was all that got me through the lab sessions."

A slow blink of his eyes.

"While the doctor prattled on about what he was about to do to me in exacting detail I'd tune him out with images of what I would do to you instead."

His hand shook slightly as he rested his coffee cup back on the table.

"Occasionally the doctor and I would think alike."

A small, clearly reluctant, smile spread his lips.

"It's a bit hard, if I'm honest, to rearrange my thoughts. To realign my reality. To turn the focus of my rage somewhere else."

"I understand," he said gently.

"It was so unexpected," I added, talking about the moment he stepped forward in the Rigas' throne room, announcing his betrayal. The moment it was obvious the Pyrkagia Rigas had found us in Peru because of him.

"I imagine it was," he whispered. "They'd had her for five days by then."

My eyes shot up to his face to see the truth.

"I don't think she would have survived another night."

"Then you had no choice," I whispered back.

"There is always a choice. Theodoros would have chosen your safety over a human's."

"You're not Theodoros," I pointed out.

"But you're not in love with me."

No, I wasn't. But I had loved him. Like a father figure, someone to turn to for advice. Aktor had always looked out for me. Accepted me from the very start, never doubted I belonged in Theo's life. That's why the betrayal hurt so much.

I couldn't do this anymore. Somewhere, somehow something had to give. Too much hatred and anger, it wasn't who I was. This was a chance to let some of it go.

I sucked in a deep breath of air, closed my eyes and let my soul reach out to the Earth around us, the Fire in the passionate people nearby, the Air that we breathe but I'm not connected to. The Water in the rain outside, equally as distant as the Air. And having no idea what Quintessence actually was, I just sent a prayer up to Aetheros and asked for his guidance and forgiveness.

The ground shook, the heavens opened up with thunder and lightning, the air in the café became super chilled.

I opened my eyes and glanced around the store, but with most things Ekmetalleftis the humans assumed what they heard and felt was natural. A storm so strong it rocked the building, sent torrential rain down on the streets and lit up the sky with lightning.

"That wasn't natural," I whispered, bringing my gaze back to Aktor.

"No, it was not," he confirmed, eyes narrowed and flicking around the street outside.

"Someone's here?"

"I don't think so," he said with a shake of his head. "I think it might have been you."

Me?

"Ah, no?" I replied, but it was doubtful, posed as a question rather than a statement.

"How have your Awakenings been going?" he asked, and just like that I had my Aktor back.

I hadn't said the words of forgiveness, but my heart had opened to this old, gentle, caring man again. I'd say them, but first...

"Just the two so far," I confirmed.

"Maybe you're about to receive a third," he suggested.

I watched the storm for a moment, contemplating the lightning as an Aeras power or the rain as a Nero one.

"Hard to say which one, if I am," I murmured.

"There have been increasing rumblings in the Earth since your captivity in Pyrgos," Aktor remarked. "I assumed it was Earth's disgruntlement with your confinement and treatment. Cut off as you were from it."

"Earth said it could still feel me, but I couldn't feel it," I offered.

"Strange," was all he said.

"What else has been happening?"

He reached out with a steadier hand to lift his cup to his lips for a sip. Saying the words now seemed overkill. Aktor was astute, he knew he had my trust back.

Leaning forward he whispered, barely loud enough for me to decipher, "The Rigas has been more uncontrolled than usual. He has always been considered... highly strung, I think is the modern day term."

I smiled into my cappuccino.

"But lately his rage at Theodoros' betrayal has caused countless arguments in Court."

Everyone felt betrayed lately. It was definitely a theme.

"Court? You mean, where the King and his council meet?" I asked instead of voicing that thought. Too close to home for Aktor and I right now. Bridges were being mended, we didn't need to threaten them with a flash flood.

My eyes darted out onto the street, where the gutters had disappeared completely and the drains were hidden in giant sized murky pools of water and muck.

"Not just council meetings, but in Pygos itself," Aktor explained. "There are factions forming. Those who support the Rigas and those who oppose any threat to a future heir."

"Where do I fit in their reasoning?"

Aktor smiled, it was consoling.

"You are not Pyrkagia," he simply said.

OK, nothing changed there.

"So, political unrest which would mean a weakened Pyrkagia," I surmised.

"Very insightful, my dear. The vultures circle as we speak."

"And the vultures are?"

"The Alchemists."

"They're here?" I asked, scanning the café and then out on the street as though I could spot one. Which wouldn't be easy, they're human and not necessarily identifiable. Unless they borrow an Element and give themselves away.

"We suspect so, yes," Aktor replied. "We even think some of those unhappy with the current reign have been approached. But without being in the thick of Court life, it's difficult to be sure."

"I can understand why you're exiled here in Wellington, but why is Nico and Isadora?"

"Nico spoke out too loudly on Theodoros' and your captivity. He is as exiled as I. But Isadora is still not suspected. Well, she wasn't until tonight. Now, I should think, her chances of returning to Auckland to spy for us are nil."

Great. The bitch was outcast with us. Would I never be shot of her?

Aktor gave me an indulgent look that said my thoughts were written all over my face.

"Well, she is," I muttered.

He chuckled, but then quickly sobered. "You won't like it, but it must be said..."

"We need her," I finished for him, rather peevishly.

"We need each other. Isadora has been an agent of Pyrkagia for thousands of years. Her position high up in the echelons of Court life. To be outcast now will have unsettled her. It is a daunting thing to face."

His tone said he'd had issues accepting his new fate as well, a pain born of centuries of faithfulness abruptly discarded.

"It is a very lonely thing," he added, as an afterthought.

I didn't have it in me to show empathy for Isadora. I may have forgiven Aktor, but Isadora's threat had never been one of betrayal. Hers was more open than that.

Theo.

The weight of my current situation came back with such heaviness I slouched down in my seat, wrapping the coat Aktor had given me to cover my bedraggled prison garb around me. The air in the café felt too chilled again. The rain landed on the front window with the sound of pellets hitting a tin can. The shock of the noise making the entire room full of late night coffee drinkers jump in their seats with fright.

"I think we should go," Aktor advised. "If this is because of you, we should draw it away from these people."

"And if it isn't?" My bet was definitely on the side of "not."

"Then we'd best surround ourselves with powerful allies," Aktor returned.

Either way, an order to get up and leave.

But leaving would be going to wherever Theo now was. Seeing that distant look in his eyes. Seeing the closeness he now had again with Dora. Neither were welcomed right now.

Aktor hailed a cab, which appeared out of a mist of freezing rain drops, and within seconds we were riding the storm with the other crazy people out on a night like this in Wellington.

"It's a shocker of a storm," the cabbie remarked jovially.

"Yes, quite unexpected," Aktor offered.

"Of course they got it wrong on the weather channel," the guy added. "Meant to be sunshine until the weekend."

"I wouldn't recommend a trip to the beach," Aktor deadpanned.

"Not bloody likely in this," the cabbie agreed and then thankfully fell silent to concentrate on his driving.

"We've commandeered a rather large house on the hillside at Oriental Bay," Aktor murmured quietly at my side. "Lovely views of the harbour and a defensible position."

Strange how my life had become.

"There's space for everyone, so we shouldn't have to trip over each other's feet," he added.

But what he really meant was trip over Theo's feet. Or maybe Isadora's. Either would likely cause sparks to fly.

"I'm too tired to do any tripping," I assured him.

"I dare say you are," he murmured sadly.

We remained silent for the rest of the short ride, winding up Hay Street until we came to large white double sided gates. The taxi pulled over in front of them, but within seconds they swung open and the car's headlights illuminated a short but well cared for driveway. He rolled the vehicle forward and a large expanse of manicured grass, floodlit with strategic lighting, spread out on either side. The odd Nikau Palm and Cabbage Tree dotted here and there, and right in the centre of the driveway, a return surrounding it, stood a Moreton Bay Fig Tree.

The house was all white, rather like Pyrgos itself, but whereas the Rigas' mansion was based on colonnaded Greek architecture, this house was modernism at its best. Glass and metal sat in angular juxtaposition, all blazing brightly making the rain drops dazzle as they continued to fall outside.

The cabbie whistled as he pulled to a stop in front of the door.

"Always wondered what it looked like behind those big old gates," he said, turning in his seat to get a better look at us, I think.

"And now you know," Aktor replied, slipping a twenty into his hand. "Keep the change," he called out as he followed me from the car.

I'd ducked up under the overhang and watched as the taxi pulled away and the rain kept pouring and the gates shut all on their own behind the car.

"Whose house was this before?" I asked Aktor as he slowly walked up the stairs, age evident in every single step he took.

I wondered if an Athanatos had ever died of natural causes, like becoming too ancient.

"It had been on the market for quite some time. We were lucky," he said, opening up the front door and ushering me inside.

Warmth hit me as soon as I crossed the threshold. Then the sight of extravagance soon followed.

"Did it come fully furnished?" I asked, staring at the marble statues and gold gilt framed mirrors and thankfully copious brass potted plants. Artwork adorned the walls, modern and bright, but still oozing expensive.

"Yes. Again, we were lucky. I had to leave everything we had back at Theodoros' house."

I'd loved that home in Mountain Road. Especially my little forest of trees in the front yard.

"I understand," I said, running a hand over a side table made up of at least five different types of highly polished inlaid wood that I could see.

"I'll show you to your room," the butler said, once more effecting his normal persona. You could tell the man felt more comfortable already.

I dutifully followed taking in a formal sitting room on one side, a more casual parlour, fire lit, on the other. A library, a den, an office and even more rooms out of sight but down the side of the wide curving staircase we started to ascend.

"I wonder where everyone is?" Aktor mumbled to himself.

I was too tired to answer, even if I had been able to think up something worthwhile to say.

"Right, here you are, Miss Eden. Everything you should need is all in here. Clothes in the walk-in, toiletries in the ensuite bathroom. The fire should already be lit in the hearth. I recommend fifteen minutes in front of it, you need to refuel. Likewise, I made sure to have enough plants inside to feed your Gi. We'll worry about the other Stoicheio when they Awaken."

I stepped into what was clearly the master suite. Opulent, plush, luxurious and masculine with a hint of femininity in the pattern on the thick coverlet that spread over the king-sized bed. Aquas and browns, modern to match the artwork, but rich in design. Small oriental looking flowers dotted the bedspread, hand embroidered by the looks of it. I let my gaze fall over the dark wooden furniture, the large bay windows and overstuffed armchairs sitting at a comfortable angle to each other by a beautiful orchid in full bloom. The fire called to me, an Aubusson rug before it the only reference to old money the house seemed to have.

It was such a contrast to Theo's old home, I wondered what he thought of it. Then I decided it was better I didn't know. The least I had to do with him, the better.

It would only hurt.

"Is it to your liking?" the butler asked.

"It's beautiful, Aktor. But surely this is the master suite."

"And you are the mistress," he said with a small bow and then backed out of the room before I could argue that fact.

As he had done, so many times before, Aktor simply accepted me. Despite the rules. Despite the obstacles. Despite Theo not thinking the same way. Aktor had put me in this room because he knew I should be with Theo. Here. In the master suite. And the old man was counting on that transpiring.

But wishes are one thing. Reality, I have learned, is something else.

I walked across the soft carpet to the fireplace, thinking I should shower the grime off but Fire called. I knelt down and watched the flames lick higher, a hiss of burning wood welcomed me home.

Aether, it said. Oh, Aether, it cried, and then I heard voices.

It took a second, maybe two, to realise they weren't in the room with me, but were coming through the flames of the Fire like a Pyrkagia communique.

"Darling, you must be tired," Isadora's voice purred from inside the hearth.

"Not too tired for this," Theo replied, his voice muffled but still audible through the crackle of the flames.

"It's been a long time, Theodoros," the bitch murmured. "Things have changed."

"If you mention that Gi one more time I will throttle you," he snapped back, the hand covering my mouth trembled as finally the tears returned.

"Theo," Isadora tried, and I reluctantly acknowledged that at least she was trying.

But how do you fight off an amorous suitor such as Theo? One you have always loved and so recently thought lost to another. One who clearly doesn't remember that fact and still believes you are his.

"Allow me this, Dora," he pleaded. "I need you, love."

And then he groaned. A sound I had heard him make on many occasions. A sound I knew he made when things were heating up and Pyrkagia was flowing and we were usually fully naked, skin on skin.

I made my own sound. A hitched, horrible sound. Then managed to whisper, "Stop!"

The words were for the Fire, to break the connection, to not show me anymore. But they could have equally been for Theo.

Stop hurting me.

Stop breaking my heart.

Stop doing this.

Stop.

The door to my room crashed open and as I struggled to gain my footing on the stupid rug beneath my feet, Theo crossed the space between us and hauled me up to his level, shaking me like a rag-doll. Shaking me while he sent every ounce of his will through his Pyrkagia directly at me.

I screamed.

Isadora screamed from the still open door.

And Theo let out the roar of an injured lion; so pain-filled, so wretched, so real.

"Get out!" he yelled, at first I thought to me. But his hand was still wrapped around my throat and his eyes were actually on Dora.

"Theo, what are you going to do?" she inquired, somehow managing to sound steady. But even I could see the worry in her eyes.

"This is between me and the eavesdropping Gi," he snarled.

"Theodoros!" Aktor thundered from the hallway.

And then with a flick of his hand Theo pushed Isadora back out the door, slamming it shut and then melting the lock completely.

They banged on it for several seconds. They yelled for him to not do anything he'd regret.

And all the while he watched me, not the rattling frame of the door. Not the lightning that shot down all around the building in a thunderous crack of sound, not the torrential rain visible through the still open curtains, nor the flames in the fireplace as they licked the mantle above.

Not even the orchid as it swayed in its pot and danced to a death's dirge.

"You want me?" he asked, voice deceptively soft. "Here I am," he whispered.

And then he leaned forward so slowly until his lips were hovering above my mouth.

"Open," he instructed.

"What?" I squeaked, but of course, that meant I "opened."

And Fire burned down my throat as he breathed Pyrkagia into me through a kiss that surely meant my death.

Chapter Five

Shhh

I have suffered much since I awoke in a pit full of dirt.

I have been vilified, ostracised, and cast out.

I have been tortured, poisoned and experimented on in a mad scientist's lab whilst still conscious.

I have been dragged from my home, fought for another, made to kill in order to protect those I consider mine.

I have discovered my once-thought kind and trustworthy grandfather was in fact a member of a cult that was obsessed with Elemental powers not natural to humans.

I have found out I am a god's answer to a fate not yet determined but thought to be the very worst.

I have loved and lost that love.

And I was through with it all.

As Theo's body moulded to mine, and a moan escaped his lips, while Fire swelled between us, his and mine, I pulled on the Earth. And felt its ever present reply.

We are yours. Do as you wish. Take from us, Aether. Yours.

The ground beneath that exquisite mansion rumbled. The house shook. I could hear Aktor and Isadora yelling at Sonya to get out. The glass in the window frames rattled and then just gave up the ghost and shattered.

Rain poured in, soaking us where we stood. Drenching us, but not quenching the Fire. It burned. We burned. It raged to an inferno between us. I could smell the burned Aubusson carpet. I could feel the flames lick up my body, my clothes turning to ash at my sides.

Theo's hands replaced them.

Remember me! I shouted inside my head. This is us! I yelled.

But a part of me knew. He was acting on instinct, nothing more. His feeding had been interrupted between Isadora and himself, and I'd been presented on a singed platter for him to taste.

Theo's Stoicheio wrapped around mine in a poor imitation of a Thisavros bonding. Nothing like the real thing. Hollow. Weak. Fake.

I started to struggle in his hold, his lips still firmly pressed to mine, his tongue halfway down my throat, his hands; one fisted in my hair holding me still, the other cupping my butt cheek and thigh, pulling me hard against his erection.

The wind had started to howl, the curtains billowing horizontal to the floor now. The rain sharp splinters of ice digging into feverish skin.

"I will have you," Theo growled against my lips. "You want this too."

I did. I did want it. Skin on skin. Theo around me, with me, inside me. But not like this.

I tried to speak, but my back had hit the wall beside the still raging fireplace, a picture next to my head falling to the floor from the impact our bodies made. The walls swayed, the ground rolled, the house screeched in denial, but I knew it was no good. Resistance was futile.

This house and anyone in it would be buried if I didn't stop this now.

Was it me? Was I causing this?

Stop! I yelled to Earth, Fire, Air and Water. Stop! I ordered, but all I heard was the groan of trees outside, the roar of flames around me, the whistle of the wind and the sharp rat-a-tat-tat of 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 concentrating on my naked thighs.

"What the hell happened?" Isadora demanded, taking a step toward Theo and being cut off by Nico. They glared at each other, but she didn't push forward, taking the silent threat at face value.

"Are you all right?" Sonya asked. "One hell of a storm," she added, as though she needed to hear it said aloud.

"You know better than that, Miss Marin," Aktor said softly.

Sonya's shoulders slumped. "It just looked like a crazy-arsed storm to me," she muttered.

"Hey," Nico chided softly, moving to wrap an arm around her shoulders. She stiffened but didn't move away. "At least you can't be fooled now. You'll always question your environment. That's got to be good, right? More awareness."

"More awareness of the crazy-arsed things that are happening," she muttered, but smiled when Nico rolled his eyes.

"Are you all right, Miss Eden?" Aktor asked pointedly.

"A bit singed," I whispered, feeling the heat still from Theo's gaze. Why wouldn't he look away?

"I gather things got out of hand," Aktor said conversationally, as I brushed a lank wet strand of hair out of my eyes.

I glanced at the house and before Theo could answer that revealing statement said, "I think it's safe to go back inside." The house looked sound, a few windows broken, some more cracked, but at least it had a roof over it to ward off this persistent rain.

"And how would you know that, Cassandra?" Theo asked, and then utterly stilled. The look of confusion and mortification on his face was almost humorous. He had absolutely no idea where that name had come from obviously.

And didn't that just suck?

I let a long suffering breath of air out on a sigh and he broke his statue like appearance to raise one solitary eyebrow at me.

"We'll do this inside," I said, not waiting to hear any arguments, but starting for the front steps. "I don't know about you lot," I added, not looking back. "But this morning I woke up with my lungs missing and a butcher's excuse for sewing down the front of my chest, I need to sit down. And I'm sick of this freaking rain!" I added on a shout.

Suddenly I was spun around and Theo's long elegant fingers were unbuttoning my shirt.

"Hey!" I managed, as Aktor walked past saying, "I'd let him, he's just realised you almost died."

"Why should he care?" Sonya accused, but looked pale and shaken as she too slid past.

Followed by a frowning Isadora being shoved ahead of a smiling Nico, who offered me a wink.

"You've healed," Theo whispered, and my head shook slowly as my body slumped and it just seemed too damn hard.

"Only physically," I managed to whisper.

A hand came up and cupped my cheek. It took effort to raise my eyes to his.

Yep, still searching for something to recognise, but now doused in a hell of a lot of sadness and confusion and heartache.

This was hurting him too, and he didn't know why.

"Why can't I remember?" he whispered. "I feel this..." He lowered his face, bringing his forehead against mine in the most intimate action he had performed with me so far.

Forget what just happened in the bedroom, this here meant something. That did not.

"Why do I feel this still, if I can't remember?" he rasped.

"What exactly do you feel?" I pressed. Honesty. We needed honesty if we were to move forward.

Hell, what were we moving forward to? It couldn't be as good as what we'd had.

"This longing," he murmured. "A need I don't understand." He laughed unhappily then, and pulled his forehead away, breaking the moment.

His hand fell from my cheek, but he didn't step back. He looked down at me as I redid the buttons on Aktor's shirt, my fingers fumbling from exhaustion and the knowledge that the world was just so unfair.

"You're attractive," he suddenly said.

"But I'm not your type," I finished for him. "I know." My eyes came back up to his face.

"You're really my Thisavros?" he asked, but I'm not sure he wanted an answer.

"Was," I said anyway, and pushed past him to enter the house.

I dragged my feet up the stairs ignoring the voices I could hear in what had to be the direction of the kitchen. I couldn't face them now. Aktor's calm knowledge that things would be as they were one day, when I really didn't believe that anymore. Nico's smug smile that would assume things were progressing nicely, when I had never been so lost as I was right now. Sonya's confusion and pain on my behalf. Isadora's anger and altogether bitchiness. No, I couldn't face it.

But the room assigned to me was a mess. Rain still pouring in through the shattered window. The fireplace a hissing bed of wet embers. The walls scorched, the bedspread ruined, the carpet soaked.

I covered my face with my hands and let out a pitiful sob.

Two hands landed on my shoulders and I was turned into a warm embrace.

"I may not remember, but I know what I'm feeling can't be wrong," Theo whispered into my hair. "Give me time, Cassandra."

I cried harder.

And then he swept me up in his arms, tucking me under his chin and turned from the ruined room, stalking down the hallway. His foot pushed the door open on a smaller but no less luxurious bedroom, and proceeded to carry me towards the bed. A fire still flickered in the hearth, and as we passed it, it roared back to life. Happily flaring from a mere thought of Theo's, no doubt.

I was too tired to throw Pyrkagia around, but I wasn't too tired to object to sharing a bed with a man who couldn't remember me.

"I can't stay here," I protested, as he tucked me under the covers like a small child.

"Shhh," was all he said, brushing my hair from my face and then moving back to the fireplace, staring blindly for a long while.

I watched him, my body longing for something, that when given earlier I'd realised I couldn't accept. He was right there. Across the room from me. Mere feet away. And yet it might as well have been the ocean for all the distance that there still existed.

"Go to sleep, Cassandra," he murmured, not looking up from the flames.

I closed my eyes, felt the keen ache inside my chest, the pain as my heart was sliced to ribbons all over again.

I could have him. I knew I could. All it would take was for me to get up out of this bed and walk over there. He wouldn't deny me. He wouldn't deny himself. His longing matched mine.

But it was false. Or maybe just part of the whole. The attraction existed, but the love was no longer there.

I rolled over onto my side, my back to the hearth. I ached in more than my chest now. I ached everywhere. When would this end? When?

I'm not sure how long I lay there, how long he stood by the fireplace watching the flames, how long neither of us said anything but both of us knew the other was awake. I thought he'd leave, but maybe he was waiting for me to fall asleep first. I couldn't, as tired as I was, I just couldn't.

God help me, I was in love with a man who didn't love me back. A man who had loved me once, told me he would always love me, no matter what.

Tears leaked out of the sides of my closed eyelids as I thought back to Brazil and that moment in the shower, when Theo held me, comforted me, after being apart for so long, suffering so much, and then finding out I was more than just Gi.

"However this plays out," he'd murmured against my lips, his hands smoothing down my back, over my arms. "I will always love you. No matter what comes next. I will always love you. Whatever you become. I will always love you."

I couldn't stand this. It was tearing me up inside. I couldn't live with this depth of pain. I'd survived the Gi. I'd barely survived the Pyrkagia. I would not survive Theo Peters.

The bed dipped at my side and hard arms wrapped around me, "Shhh," he whispered. "Shhh."

I let him hold me, because I am weak.

I let him comfort me in his embrace, because I couldn't find the strength to pull away.

I let him pretend he still loved me, because the alternative was killing me slowly anyway.

I fell asleep in the arms of my Thisavros but feeling a lifetime away.

And woke up in a dream on a windswept hillside, my hair floating around me in a magical breeze, as my eyes met the sad blue of Gramps'.

"Casey, sweetheart," he said in that familiar gruff voice. "My poor, sweet girl."

There was no stopping the tears. Like the rain that poured down in the real world, but was strangely absent in this dreamscape, they kept coming, and coming, and coming, and coming.

Until I was sure I would flood the world with my resounding grief.

Chapter Six

I Couldn't Stay

The wind whipped his words away.

"What?" I shouted.

"Here," Gramps yelled back, indicating a natural shelter formed from the edge of a cliff that I hadn't noticed before. I was sure it had appeared out of nowhere.

I followed behind him, noting how sprightly he was, how his blond hair only had a smattering of grey. How at sixty, the age he was when I thought he'd died, he'd appeared fifteen years younger. And now he appeared even younger than that. I couldn't get my head around it. If this was a just a dream, then he could appear in any fashion.

But I knew better now. I wasn't the naive granddaughter he left behind with a library full of books obscurely related to the Elements, and a memory full of stories to guide me like bread crumbs through a dangerous forest. I wasn't that girl anymore.

I'd been through a bucket load of crap, which I sincerely thought might be because of this man. I felt my fists clench as we made it to the relative quiet of the sheltered cave. He turned slowly to look at me, a knowledge he'd always had present in those pale blue eyes. Eyes the exact same shade as mine.

I'd grown to hate him recently. For all the lies. For faking his freaking death. But most of all, I'd begun to hate him because he'd clearly known what was going to happen to me and hadn't said a word before he left.

"You've got some explaining to do," I said softly, my throat felt raw from all the crying. My skin too tight on my face. My heart too weary by far.

"Yes," he agreed. "It's time."

I sucked in a fortifying breath of air and sat myself down on the dirt floor beside the cliff face. My grandfather followed, making the move seem more simple than a sixty year old man should.

"We've already established you're an Alchemist," I said, swallowing past the lump of betrayal in my throat. "And that you groomed me for what I now am. Tell me," I whispered, the wind still moaning out on the moor, but not reaching our little piece of solitude, "why?"

"They are not who you think they are, sweetheart," he said. "There are good Athanatos and bad, like humans. But those at the top, those closest in age to the ancients, have become corrupt. Imagine the length of time they have existed. Imagine what that does to a mind."

All quite reasonable, when you think about it. But then, one look at Aktor and I could refute that claim. Twenty-five thousand years old and he was more sharp minded and level headed than the rest of us.

The Rigas on the other hand? Hmm.

"Why me?"

Gramps shrugged. "We just knew it would be."

I frowned. The wind picked up and started howling. Gramps glanced out onto the grassy hillside, then looked up at the skittering clouds.

"You need training," he declared.

"Well, you did dump this on me," I snapped.

He shook his head as the wind became a mournful howl.

"Sweetheart, we may know things, we may even be able to manipulate things, but we cannot create an Aether."

A chill invaded my body. I'd assumed. Hell, we'd all assumed, even the Ekmetalleftis had assumed. We'd all thought I was an Alchemist creation. What did he mean?

"Listen," he urged. "Clearly we're never to have long enough in these visits to converse, perhaps he wills it this way." Who? "Perhaps it's a by-product of your lack of training. But things are moving faster than expected."

"What things?" I demanded, having to raise my voice again, despite the protection of our alcove.

"Disasters," he shouted. "Everywhere. Watch the news, Casey."

The news? The man was losing me, or more precisely I was losing him, his image flickering like an interrupted signal.

"No!" I cried, getting up onto my knees and reaching for him. "Stay!"

I may have hated what he'd done, what he'd known and never shared, but he was still family. Still my Gramps. And he knew more than I did. More than we all did. Alchemist or not, trusted or not, my grandfather had answers and I damn well wanted them.

"Casey!" he yelled. "I'll send someone to you. Be brave, sweetheart. It begins now."

The wind had entered a crazed stage of whistling and a high pitched crying that pierced the ears. It sounded unnatural, yet you knew it was the sound of air whipping through air at great speed.

"What begins?" I shouted back, clasping his almost incorporeal hand.

"Genesis," I thought he said, right before he disappeared.

I woke sitting upright in bed drenched in sweat. The room was empty. Just me and the sound of rain on the window pane, the curtains closed, but a weak light illuminating the edges. Dawn was coming and Theo had left some time during the night.

To go to Isadora?

I slumped back down on the bed and let out a wretched sigh. Then rubbed my face trying to stimulate my brain into assimilating what had just transpired. Theo and I were at an impasse, but this new Stoicheio and whatever my grandfather had tried to warn me about were more important right now.

I threw the covers back and climbed off the bed. I was in no mood to deal with any of this, staying curled up in a ball beneath the sheets sounded just right. But action was better than inaction. If I stayed here, I wouldn't fall asleep again. My grandfather's dream visit revolving inside my mind. The threat of Pyrkagia ever present; a few hundred kilometres between us and them did not make anything safe. The knowledge that the Aeras would want an update, or maybe they already knew and were waiting impatiently for me to follow through with my agreement to get in touch when Air Awakened.

And let's not forget Theo. My Thisavros.

No, staying in bed was definitely out.

I crossed to the bathroom and looked inside. Well appointed, tiled in creams and browns, rain shower-head, glass walls, and fluffy white towels. I could have been staying in an upmarket hotel. Trust the Pyrkagia to make sure their accommodation was top notch.

I found new toothbrushes under the sink, razors and soaps, all manner of creams and perfumes. All sorts of necessities a woman could want. In Theo's room. Either Aktor had brought these in after I ended up here, or he'd been covering his bases. Unfortunately those bases could have been for Isadora and not me.

I took what I needed and stepped into the shower, realising this was the first decent ablution I'd had in apparently four months. I had washed at Pyrgos, though; the doctor didn't like working on a specimen that was unclean. Understandable, it could have compromised his experiments.

I started laughing as the water touched my skin. A slightly unhinged sound, so I tamped it down and concentrated on making myself human again.

Of course, that just made the weird laugh return. I was grateful, though, that the tears didn't follow. But my chest hurt again. Would it never stop?

Wrapping a towel around my hair and another around my body I walked out of the bathroom frowning, realising I didn't have a thing to wear and I'd have to traipse down the hallway like this to my old room, and wade through the water soaked furnishings hoping to find something reasonably unharmed to put on.

But sitting on the bed was an outfit. Laid out carefully, pressed, in perfect condition, exactly my size. And definitely hadn't been there when I entered the bathroom.

I smiled. Aktor was the most efficient butler in the whole wide world.

I donned the underwear, feeling pampered with all the satin and lace, then slipped on the fine navy tailored trousers and fitted cream silk blouse. Running a comb through my hair, I decided to leave it to dry naturally and then went in search of coffee. The cappuccino Aktor had bought me last night had reintroduced me to caffeine and now I wanted more.

I was being brave and I knew it. A thin veil of confidence protecting me from completely breaking down. I wasn't sure how much longer I could go on like this, but I was alive. I was free. I was well. I had to work with what I had.

And I had friends. In the form of Sonya and Nico and Aktor. And I had assets in the form of Isadora. And I had...

Well, that wasn't perhaps the best train of thought. I forced my mind elsewhere as I descended the stairs, taking in the abstract artwork in the stairwell, the plants in the foyer, which all bowed their heads to me in greeting, and the smells coming from the kitchen down the back of the house.

I let my nose lead me, my mind blanking of all nasty thoughts, my stomach filling the void with a growl of necessity.

Which was all promptly forgotten when I walked into the kitchen and found Theo offering a bite of a pastry to Isadora at the large rectangular table, while Aktor whistled quietly and contentedly in the background at the stove.

"Good?" Theo asked. Dora nodded, smiling through her mouthful. Looking refreshed and bright and was that a flush on her cheeks?

Why would she be flushing? Was it a glow? I knew why women glowed.

"Try this," Theo suggested, another pastry in his hand, fingers outstretched to Isadora's waiting full lips. "Aktor outdid himself with this one."

"Nonsense," the butler scoffed, smiling over his shoulder and then spotting me.

Oh, the look of guilt. The look of a man who knew he'd been caught out, complicit in an act that caused him shame.

I offered a bright, but brittle, smile back and walked into the room.

"Miss Eden," Aktor announced. It wasn't a greeting, it was a warning. Making Theo drop his hand with the next delicious morsel he was about to offer and move back into his own personal space, away from Dora.

Awkward did not cover it.

OK, so I could amend the list of what I had. I had friends in the form of Sonya and Nico. I had assets in the form of Isadora and Aktor. Right. Good. OK.

I sat down at the table, opposite and down slightly from where Isadora and Theo sat, and poured myself a cup of coffee from a carafe. I stirred in sugar and milk before anyone spoke.

The cup was to my lips when Theo said, "Did you sleep well?"

I took that to mean he left not long after I fell asleep, otherwise he would have known I'd slept right through to just now.

"Wonderfully," I replied, my soul dying.

Where had he slept?

A branch hit the window above the sink. The glass didn't crack but the sound of leaves scratching the pane got all of our attention.

"It's still raging out there," Theo commented.

For some reason Aktor was mute and Isadora was just waiting for the right moment to pounce. The conversation was all on Theo, and he looked freaking uncomfortable about it.

"Has anyone seen the news?" I asked, pulling a pastry off the communal serving platter and lathering it with butter and jam. To hell with calories, I was all bones right now. Brittle, bruised, heavy bones.

"I can switch the television on," Aktor suggested, his inclusion in the conversation somehow lifting the atmosphere in the room.

It was a nice room too, I noticed. Country style cabinetry in creams and greens, wooden benches, brass pots hanging above the kitchen island, the table we sat at old and worn. In a modernist house it stood out. The heart of the home.

"Yes, please," I said, trying to keep up the image of normality, while inside everything felt so wrong. I bit into my breakfast determinedly and inadvertently made a sound of pure delight.

"They're good, aren't they?" Theo asked with a soft smile.

No, don't smile at me. Please. No.

"Are the others up yet?" I blurted as Aktor worked with the remote to turn a flat screen wall mounted TV on. I needed support. I needed my posse of friends, even if that posse now only included two.

"Not yet," Theo murmured. "They stayed up late drinking our best Scotch."

I blinked at him across the table. How had he known that? Had he come back downstairs and joined them after I fell asleep in his arms?

The TV blared to life and the news channel flashed up on the screen, the rolling "Latest News" scroll along the bottom letting us know the storm was not isolated to just Wellington. Auckland experienced tornadoes. Christchurch had earthquakes as major landslides affected fault lines. Hamilton saw the Waikato River rise half a meter, Lake Taupo having to frantically empty some of its volume or flood Lake Terrace.

That chill, that had invaded my body, set to ice as more and more unusual weather related emergencies around the country flashed before our eyes. The entire room was silent as the newsreader moved on to an international report. Australia had flash floods. Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean lost more than half its landmass to a rising sea over night. Death counts were high. Further afield, other countries weren't faring much better. A state of chaos had been caused by severe winds, torrential downpours and raging seas.

It begins.

The Earth let out a tragic sigh.

"How did you know?" Theo asked, his eyes on me and no longer taking in the shocking news on the TV.

"Last night's weather wasn't natural," I replied, for some reason not wanting to talk about my dream visit with Gramps.

The old Theo would have understood. The new Theo would just stare at me with that distant look in his eyes, and doubt.

"We thought that might have been you," Isadora chose to say as her segue into the conversation at last.

Of course she did.

"No," I said, not bothering to justify that answer any further.

"Your new... Stoicheio," Theo said, hesitating on the last word. "You haven't mastered it yet."

Thanks. Just thanks.

"Perhaps you have affected the weather as Aeras can," he added and I lost my appetite, replacing my half eaten croissant on a plate. "But not been aware of the drastic results."

I dusted my hands off, watching the crumbs rain down on my discarded breakfast.

"It wasn't me," I reiterated.

"Cassandra," Theo said in that voice he always used to effect. The one that showed his age and vast knowledge. The one that preceded a lecture.

"It... wasn't... me," I said softly.

"You cannot be sure," Isadora remarked, fanning the flames in the seemingly caring way she often did. The look of concern on her perfect features was almost believable.

If you didn't already know she was a bitch.

"Aktor says we have contacts with the Aeras," Theo pushed on, ignoring my argument, and thankfully not giving Isadora a glance. "You must seek assistance there."

You must. Not we must. You must.

I flicked my eyes to Aktor, who watched on with genuine worry etched in his old face.

"It would be advisable, Miss Eden," he urged.

"Then we get in touch with Hip," I said. "But it still wasn't me."

"Hippolytos," Theo corrected.

"He goes by Hip," I countered.

"That's an extremely familiar term to use with a member of another Ekmetalleftis branch. You should show some respect."

"Or perhaps you just don't like the idea that he's my friend?"

"Is he?"

"Yes. We got on very well while we were there."

"How well?"

"Very."

"How very?" he snarled.

Aktor cleared his throat carefully. "This is not helping, master."

Master? Since when had Aktor gone back to using that term to Theo's face?

"You're right. I am getting distracted," Theo replied, sending a look my way that said he thought it was all my fault.

Everyone went back to what they were doing. Isadora watching Theo. Theo staring into his coffee. Aktor wringing his hands as he hovered by the stove. Me leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms and glaring at the top of Theo's brainwashed head.

Remember me, damn it!

The Earth shuddered in reply.

And OK, so maybe it was me. But the entire world being affected? I'm not that good.

"I saw my grandfather last night," I said into the strained silence.

All eyes lifted to my face, the tension mounting.

"Dream visit," I offered, as if it was quite natural and familiar and it hadn't shaken me to my very core.

"Dream visit?" Theo repeated slowly.

I ignored him. It was time to prove I wasn't just a danger, I had knowledge of my own that they did not possess.

"I also had a conversation with the Earth yesterday." I purposely took a measured sip of my coffee, effecting a relaxed pose. "They both mentioned the same word."

"What word?" Theo demanded, voice low.

I lifted my eyes to his. Still that distance, still that lack of recognition. Still that haunted longing in the hazel of his eyes.

"What word?" he repeated, our gazes only for each other, the rest of the room disappearing.

"Genesis," I whispered.

"As in the bible?" Isadora interjected. But Theo and I kept staring at each other and ignored her completely.

"Why that word?" he asked me, his voice like velvet, rolling over my skin in a heated wave.

"I don't know," I said, swallowing thickly.

"Guess," he instructed, the word wrapping around my neck and stroking over my rapidly beating pulse.

Fire flared inside me. Pyrkagia, mine and his.

"Theodoros," Aktor's voice warned, but I was losing all perspective.

"Cassandra," Theo urged, sending the flames licking higher and higher. "Oraia," he rasped, breaking the spell.

I stood up so quickly my chair fell over. Only then noticing my body shook, my chest heaved and sweat dotted my brow. Not to mention the sensations setting up home in every single erogenous zone I possessed.

Theo's lips parted, he sucked in a desperate cleansing breath of air, and said, voice strained to within an inch of breaking...

"I remember."

Everyone started talking at once, but when Theo's eyes met mine I knew the truth.

He remembered something. He remembered that word. He remembered, I should think, using it in connection to me. But from the look of confusion and desolation in his golden hued eyes, I knew he didn't remember why.

He was still not my Thisavros.

I couldn't stay. I turned on my heel and ran from the room, Theo calling out after me as I pushed through the front doors and kept running.

Chapter Seven

And All Hell Broke Loose

Of course I forgot the gates and they didn't open automatically for me. Maybe you needed to be the size of a car to activate a sensor pad under the driveway. Maybe someone in the house had to open them and no one was letting the crazy Aether out on Wellington's streets. Whatever reason, I was still pounding on it when I heard his footfalls behind me.

I spun around, hands plastered flat at my sides, back pressed into the gate, frantically thinking of where to next.

Where to, Aether? the Air asked calmly.

So easy, just picture it. So easy. Just picture it.

The copse of trees on Theo's property in Mountain Road, Epsom flooded to the forefront of my mind. Before I could shout out No! inside my head, lightning struck.

Theo reached for me, a large hand wrapping around my upper arm as we were sucked through a vortex of wind and ozone and electricity and spat back out onto damp ground under the canopy of big leafy trees.

Welcome home, Aether the Earth sighed as I groaned, Theo swore and water from a flat leaf above my head decided to deposit its load all over my hair.

"Great," I muttered extricating myself from Theo's grasp.

"Oh, no you don't. I am not letting you get away," Theo growled, reattaching himself to my side.

"Why? Why are you even here?" I said, voice raised.

"Because you are mine," he replied, and then blinked. "I think," he added, and then shook his head.

"Oh, screw you!" I shouted and pushed him hard in the chest.

"You want to fight, little one?" he growled, hauling me with him as he fell backwards onto the ground. I was sure he only fell because he wanted to pull me on top of his body.

He quickly rolled, placing my back to the soil and his chest to mine.

"Then fight," he ordered, Fire flaring from his form and swamping mine.

Vines rose from the grass beneath us, wrapping around our bodies and lifting us into the branches overhead.

"Stunning," he whispered, his eyes flicking from one side of my face to the other, green reflected on his smooth skin. "But I could just burn them."

"I'd like to see you try," I spat back.

Flames licked up from his body, the smell of clothing singing and leaves charring filled my nose. I called on Air, pulling all of the available oxygen from around us, snuffing the flames out. As soon as they extinguished, I urged the atmosphere back to what it was.

"Impressive," Theo purred. "You don't require training at all, it would seem. But can you do it like this?"

Lust burned through me, Pyrkagia fuelled and Theo directed. My hand worked its way down his naked chest, over his slim waist and wrapped around his tight arse. He laughed.

"Come on, Casey. Fight me."

So familiar. We'd done this before. But he wouldn't be able to remember. I struggled to remember how it ended myself, I was certain I hadn't won, but then I hadn't been in possession of three Stoicheio at the time.

I writhed against him, my legs wrapping around his waist without a thought from me.

"I'm winning," he whispered against my ear. "One Pyrkagia prince against an Athanatos who wields three Elements. Fight me," he encouraged. "Make it worth my while."

I growled, rolling us over in the vines, making one wrap around his neck as we effected the manoeuvre.

"Better," he rasped, his breaths getting cut off by the noose at his throat.

Then I was licking him. My tongue circling his nipple as my hand slipped between our bodies and found him rock hard.

"Oh, fuck," he mumbled, clearly not realising I'd be so bold. He was fuelling my desire, but he wasn't aware how much of my barrier he'd broken down. How much a naive innocent I no longer was. "Bloody hell," he added. "Harder," he encouraged, losing his battle, handing me the win.

"Fight back," I encouraged in a singsong voice.

"Fuck," he breathed as I stroked him, my teeth biting into his impressive pecs. "Oh, Casey," he breathed as Fire raged between us. "Oraia," he begged and something in me broke.

Remember me!

We rolled again, the vines disintegrating as his flames surrounded us, the Air quickly snuffing them out and then the plants re-wrapping us, lifting us higher before we hit the ground. The rapid descent and sudden halt in our free-fall left us both breathless. Or that could have been the Pyrkagia we were throwing around the clearing with desperate need.

A wave of pure ecstasy swamped me, taking me higher and higher, arching my back, stilling my hands, leaving my mouth wide open and a cry of blissful release to escape.

He'd done it. He'd pushed hard enough with his Stoicheio to get me to succumb. That break I'd felt earlier became a shatter. A million sharp edged shards stabbing at my heart.

"Beautiful," he breathed. "You are so beautiful."

I closed my eyes, thought of the first place I could, which happened to be one of the last we'd been in, and felt the air around us sizzle, that fresh ozone smell invade my nose again, and lightning to strike the ground under where we'd just hovered, covered in vines.

The good news was that we were still covered in vines. The bad news was we were otherwise naked - our clothes all burned off, thank you very much Theo - on top of the kitchen table, wrapped around each other and breathing hard. Flushed, eyes blazing all manner of colours - well for me, Theo's were just gold - gasping for breath and not alone.

A chair moved back from the table making a loud screeching sound.

I opened my eyes to look directly into Theo's. He smiled.

"Well," he said, not moving a freaking inch to cover us up or, I don't know, maybe run us away somewhere to hide. "I understand why now," he whispered.

"You think it's just sex?" I croaked, forgetting our audience right then with the flood of rage that hit me.

Sex was nothing to what we'd had.

"Oraia," he purred. "This is not just sex."

"Ahem," Aktor sounded out from across the room. "I'd leave, but you've brought half a forest with you and I can't seem to find my way past. Oh, and you might have buried Nico under a branch somewhere. With any luck, though, Sonya got out. But it would be helpful if you could perhaps check."

"Sonya?" I called.

"I'm fine!" she cried back. "Shocked, but fine. I don't think my eyeballs will recover. And hey! Is that a tattoo on Theo's butt?"

Someone started laughing beneath the table, it sounded distinctly male.

"Nico?" Theo called.

"Every day is an education," Theo's cousin replied. "Sonya, babe? What did your human mind dig up to explain this one?"

"A tree outside the house fell over in the wind, crashing into the kitchen. Theo and Casey just happened to be climbing it at the time."

Silence and then we all started laughing at once.

"Where's Isadora?" Theo asked, as he sat us up, brushing leaves out of my hair and twigs from my shoulders.

I frowned back at him, not for touching me. No. For mentioning the bitch. Couldn't we go five minutes without checking up on her? She was a grown-arse woman, as Sonya would say.

Theo smirked, raising an eyebrow at my scowl.

"Cute," he mouthed as Aktor said, "Went after you two. Probably walking the city streets calling your names."

Did he sound amused?

"Didn't she see us disappear in a lightning bolt?" Theo enquired, gripping my hand when I went to climb down from the table and make a hasty retreat up to the bedrooms. He could deal with the forest.

"You've got something here," he whispered as Aktor said, "Yes, but we assumed it would be to somewhere in the city; where did you go? The Botanical Gardens?"

Theo's thumb stroked over my lips, his eyes holding my now wary gaze. He made a sound, and then his mouth pressed into mine, tongue searching entry as his arms wrapped around my shoulders and hauled me hard against his chest.

"Are they making out up there?" Nico demanded from beneath us.

"I'm not looking!" Sonya offered from over by the door.

"Yes," Aktor said as if he'd seen it all before. And he probably had.

"Have we got our Theo back?" Nico asked hopefully, as I found myself getting swept away in a Theo sized tsunami of lust.

No Pyrkagia in this one, it was all Theo Peters kissing the living daylights out of me. He groaned when my hands fisted in his hair, waking me up from the moment and making me push back from the embrace.

"This is not finished," he growled quietly at the space I pushed for, staring me down when I glared back.

"Then get a room," Sonya suggested, while Aktor asked, "Are you back, sir?"

I watched as lust and hunger and longing and need slowly seeped from Theo's face and a bone weary exhaustion replaced it. His eyes never left mine when he spoke.

"I remember I used to call Casey, Oraia. I'm not sure why, but I know it's my name for her."

He looked sad, and apologetic. I'd known the answer, but hearing it aloud still hurt.

"I don't remember anything else," he admitted quietly.

"Then why are you molesting her?" Sonya demanded, as Aktor said, "This is still good news."

"How is it good?" Nico immediately asked. "It seems fucked in the head to me."

Theo remained silent as his eyes continued to soak up my face.

"It's good because he's remembered something significant, this could be the start of more memory return," Aktor suggested hopefully.

I shook my head. I wasn't hoping for anything anymore. It just hurt.

"So why are you molesting her?" Sonya pushed. I could imagine her standing there with her arms crossed over her chest as she laser beamed Theo in the head from the door. I couldn't be sure, because I couldn't look away. Theo was sucking me into his very soul.

The silence stretched as everyone waited for Theo's reply. Why was the horny prince molesting me?

Well, of course, I'd been molesting him back, but we all knew I was a lost cause.

Then Theo murmured, "Because I find myself falling for her. All over again."

All breath left me. Sonya made an, "Aww" sound as Aktor humphed in satisfaction and I think Nico said something like, "Hot damn." But all I could see was Theo. Not my Theo, but a Theo I could maybe love.

"You're falling for me?" I whispered.

"Oraia," he said on a breath of heated air. "Don't sound so surprised. I fell for you once, didn't I? Apparently I frequented your store for a bloody year just to see you each day. There had to be a good reason for me to do that."

"Hear! Hear!" Nico mumbled.

"Of course it was possible for me to fall for you again," Theo whispered, but everyone could hear him. I think they were all straining their ears to be sure, but they could hear. I knew it.

"Oh," I said.

Theo chuckled.

"And then, of course, there's your courage. Your strength. Your ability to fight back when the odds are against you. Your willpower to stay alive. Your loyalty. Even when I'm being an absolute prick, you still look at me as though I'm worthy. Your hair," he added, his hand running through the blonde strands as his eyes darted down to the triangle at the apex of my thighs; he'd always been fascinated with the matching shade between my legs. "Your eyes," he whispered, finally lifting his back up top. "I like the blue, but when I saw the green just now, I almost cried. So beautiful. Do you know they go white when you call Air? A little spooky," he teased. "But I find myself attracted to the unusual."

"Unusual?" I said, but I didn't really care. He was falling for me. All over again.

I didn't care about a thing, but here and now and this.

"He means eerie," Nico offered. Theo frowned.

"No," Sonya argued. "He means mysterious." Theo smiled.

"Nah-uh, babe. He means ghostly." Theo rolled his eyes and I suppressed a giggle. His gaze came back to my face, my lips, and he mouthed, "Beautiful."

I smiled, my heart aching but in such a different way than it had before. Light. Floating. Blissful.

"You're a creep!" Sonya declared and I blinked trying to keep up with the conversation.

"Ever done it with a creep?" Nico asked. "Would you like to try?" he added, hopefully.

"In your dreams," she replied haughtily.

"Baby, I could make your dreams come true."

"Nico," both Theo and I said in exasperated tones.

"What? It's all right for you two to flirt, but not me?" he demanded.

"I'm not getting on a table top, naked and covered in leaves, with you," Sonya declared.

"But have you dreamed it?" Nico asked.

"What's going on?" Isadora's voice sounded out from over by the door. Sonya yelped. Clearly having not heard the Athanatos walk up behind her.

"Make some noise next time," she muttered. "Creepy," she whispered under her breath making Nico burst out laughing.

"The Master has returned," Aktor offered helpfully.

"I can see that," Isadora archly replied. Theo pulled me closer, as though he could hide me, or protect me, I wasn't sure.

Isadora was not going to take to our new found overly friendly understanding. And I was certain he knew that.

"What's going on?" she repeated when no one said a word.

"Casey needs to get upstairs," Theo announced. "I'm taking her."

"Why?" Isadora snapped, as Aktor said, "I'll dig Nicodromos out."

"I'll help," Sonya offered, probably to shut Isadora up.

"I knew you wanted me," Nico preened from beneath us.

"Dreams," Sonya reminded him.

"And I'm in yours," Nico reminded her.

"Children," Aktor admonished, but his heart wasn't really in it. You could tell the old man was happy. Happy Theo and I were moving on. "Shall we all get going now?" he added.

"Good idea," Theo murmured, helping me off the table's surface, pulling vines around me to hide me from a waving Nico underneath.

Theo hadn't tried to hide me before, when we'd appeared outside singed but naked. Now he was all about the protective male. It warmed me, as it conversely left me feeling empty inside.

It didn't make sense. Theo was falling for me, like he did the first time. I should be cock-a-hoop. But I wanted my Theo. With our memories. I wanted my Thisavros back.

I was greedy and maybe a little too needy. But it was what it was.

We met Isadora at the door to the kitchen, her eyes taking in our undressed state - disregarding the vines, of course - and returning to Theo's face.

"So, you remember?" she whispered.

"No," he said softly and her face hardened. That ancient Athanatos mask they wear falling into place. The one this woman had to wear on so many occasions. When Theo had walked away all those times in the past.

"I see," she said.

"Dora," he called, as she went to turn away.

"I understand," Isadora stressed, not looking over her shoulder, keeping her back to us both.

I felt an unwanted empathy for her, one I was sure she didn't deserve.

Then she proved me correct when she threw out, "You always did like them naive."

"Dora," he growled, just as a knock sounded out at the front door.

Everyone stilled.

"Aktor?" Theo called, voice modulated not to carry through the foyer to the entrance.

"A male," Aktor whispered back, loud enough to reach us from the kitchen and the security monitor there, but not too loud. "Didn't trigger any perimeter alarms."

"What branch?" Theo demanded.

He could sense the power as well. Something fluctuating, something I couldn't quite identify, yet there was something about the Stoicheio, I could register on the other side of that door, that called to me.

"Aeras?" I asked, thinking it had to be the new Element, unfamiliar yet familiar. "Hip?" I added.

He'd come for me.

Aktor appeared at our sides, eyes blazing gold.

"No, Miss Eden," he whispered. "Not Aeras. Not any other branch that I can determine either."

Nico walked out of the room, Sonya on his tail. She wrapped her cardigan around my shoulders, it was long, down to my knees, leaving her in jeans and a t-shirt, and giving me at least something of a cover.

Where would I be without my friend?

"Best we find out," Nico announced. "Whoever he is, he's not hiding his power."

Theo pushed me behind him, still fully naked and not giving a damn. Sonya cowered half behind me, half in the kitchen still. Dora moved out to flank Aktor, with Nico at his other shoulder, as the butler approached the door.

Just before they made it, Nico branched off into a room at the side, and Isadora did the same opposite him. Hidden, but probably not missed. Aktor glanced back at Theo, waited for his nod, and then opened the door.

"Alchemist!" Theo hissed upon seeing the man.

And all hell broke loose.

Chapter Eight

I Wasn't Fooled

"I come in peace," the man got out before he was blasted back by a wall of flames.

It was still raining, I noted, and with wide eyes I watched as that rain turn into a sheet of water, a wall of liquid that met the flames head on and held them back.

"I come in peace," the man shouted again from the other side of that wall of flames and sheet of water.

"Casey," Theo urged. "Vines."

Oh. Right. I stepped out onto the marble of the entranceway, still under the portico and called Earth. It took a little urging as the man was still on the driveway; he hadn't been pushed back far enough to reach the manicured lawn. But with a shudder and a heave the gravel shifted and dirt was exposed, followed by surging roots and branches as they shot up and wound around the man's legs.

Little mini tornadoes began to turn the gravel and loose leaves into whirligigs all over the driveway tearing along towards the man, and in a move that looked too precise to be real, severed the vines climbing up his legs at the roots. He jumped back and frantically untangled the rest, still maintaining that wall of water as protection against the roaring Fire.

The flames surged as all four Pyrkagia put their combined will behind the command. It was obvious they would break through the water wall before too much longer, but suddenly the wall became a funnel, tearing through the flames and heading straight for us. For a second I couldn't figure out what he was doing, and neither could the others, who had made the wall of Fire reunite and surge forward towards where we all assumed the man still stood on the other side.

"Blow the water away, Casey!" Theo yelled.

Freaking hell, did he think I had a handle on all of this already?

Sweat beaded my brow as I clenched my fists and closed my eyes concentrating with all my might. To use the lightning, I just had to visualise where I wanted to go. Maybe that wasn't necessary, but it worked for me. So I'd stick with visualisation techniques to command Air for now. I pictured a strong wind cutting through the space between the wall of Fire as it kept crackling evermore forward across the driveway to the grass and the five of us - Sonya was hiding, that girl had good sense. I aimed for the tunnel of water as it swirled and churned before us, moving like an inexorable monster closer and closer. The wind cut through the liquid, making arcs of spray spread out in a circle, some of it landing on us, the rest damping the wall of Fire.

Standing, this side of that diminished wall of Fire, not even wet, was the man. Dressed in jeans and a Movie World t-shirt, scuffed boots and loose hands at his sides. Blond dishevelled hair was the only indication that he'd been in the centre of a tornado of water. Pale blue eyes connected with mine and I swayed.

"I will kill you, if you step an inch closer," Theo announced.

The man ignored him, his eyes all for me. Theo noticed, flicking a concerned gaze my way and noting the paleness of my skin, I should think.

"Casey?" he said, moving to catch me before I toppled. "What have you done?" Theo demanded of the man.

"Scared the crap out of her," he replied in a broad Kiwi accent. "Hey, sis," he added, making everyone still. "Long time, no see."

"Oh, this can't be good," Nico muttered as Sonya ventured out of the front door.

"Mark?" she asked.

"Hey, now there's a surprise. Marin, looking good," my brother said with an appreciative nod of his head.

His eyes flicked over the Pyrkagia, landing on Theo holding me flush to his side.

"Do you greet all your guests in the buff?" he asked, eyeing Theo's naked butt and thigh as he had managed to turn himself side on, by wrapping his body around me. At least there was some modesty to be had, even if he was now wearing me like an apron.

Silence met the question and I don't think it was because no one wanted to answer. Tension hung in the air, chilling the raindrops that continued to fall on us, but somehow missed my brother completely.

Oh, freaking hell. My brother. Marcus. An Alchemist.

"Can I come in?" he asked, when no one started talking. "I did say, I come in peace, didn't I? Because I'm not sure that message got through."

His eyes came back to my stunned face.

"Gramps sent me. Guess we could have phoned first to warn you, but things are getting out of hand."

I slowly looked up at Theo, who was looking down at me with that implacable Athanatos mask on his face. Closed off. Hard.

"He is your brother?" he asked quietly, the undertone of every word sounded accusatory.

I nodded my head.

"He is an Alchemist?" he added, my eyes flicked to Mark where he stood unconcerned facing off against an irate looking Isadora, a wary Nico and placid faced Aktor which belied his ready stance.

"I guess so," I whispered back.

"You're telling me you didn't know?" Theo asked, but I think the question was rhetorical.

"I had no idea, he's meant to be living in Australia on the Gold Coast," I answered anyway.

"And you had no idea he was like your grandfather?"

Oh and there was the doubt.

I pushed out of his embrace leaving him exposed, although to look at him you wouldn't know it. He was as unconscious of his naked state as the rain was of where it fell.

"This is my brother Mark," I announced to the waiting crowd. Unnecessarily. "I'd like to talk to him in private," I added. "If we can't do that inside, I'll do it out here. But I'd like you all to go back in the house."

"You don't get to order us around," Isadora snapped.

"Look at you, princess," Mark drawled. "All claws. Meowrr!"

She glared at him. He just winked back.

Oh, God. This was not going well.

I ran a hand over my face, feeling tired all over again.

"Look," Mark said, when still no one moved. "Do you want to know what's going on or not?"

Still nothing but angry stares and doubtful scowls.

"OK, how 'bout this?" he tried. "I know who has been bought out in Pyrkagia."

Heat filled the air, setting the raindrops to sizzling.

"Yeah, thought you would," Mark muttered.

Theo made a low rumbling growling sound in the back of his throat. "You can come inside," he relented. "You will not see Casey on your own," he added, imperiously. "And if you so much as flash white or ice blue in those eyes, I will take your head."

The threat wasn't idle. Theo had been a leader of the Scout Guard, those Pyrkagia charged with keeping their kind in place. Policeman, Judge, Jury and Executioner all rolled up in one.

He'd threatened to take my head once, too. I hoped Mark could see the truth in Theo's words now. I may not have had any idea of what was happening, or whether I could trust my evidently lying brother, but he was my sibling. Until I knew one way or the other that he was on my side I'd try to keep his head right where it was.

"Deal," Mark agreed.

Theo turned his golden tinged eyes to me, then ordered, "Go get dressed." I raised my eyebrows, opened my mouth to argue back, when he said, "Or he leaves."

I'd forgotten just how high-handed Theo could be. In my grief and loss I'd only remembered the good times. The loving times. The hot and sexy times. But there had also been an awful lot of overbearing, dictatorial and lordly behaviour.

"You go get dressed," I offered, crossing my arms over my chest and cocking my hip.

In the background Mark lit up a cigarette and casually blew smoke up into the air. How was he keeping the rain off him?

"Nico, Isadora," Theo called, not taking his angry stare off me. "Guard the Alchemist."

"The front parlour would be best," Aktor suggested.

"So be it," Theo growled, stalking the two steps needed to reach me, gripping my upper arm and then unceremoniously hauling me back up the front steps, over the marble entranceway and through the doors.

I struggled the entire way.

"What is your problem!" I yelled, landing a whack to his hard arm, then diverting my attention to his equally hard torso.

"At the moment, let me see," he said conversationally, not releasing his grip at all. We started mounting the stairs. "My Thisavros not only has an Alchemist grandfather, but it runs in her family, and her brother who wields Water and Air has invaded my home. How's that for starters?"

"I'm not your Thisavros!" I growled back, kicking him in the shin and only hurting my bare toe, I should think.

"Oraia, I may not remember, but trust me, with the way my body responds, there's no doubt at all."

What?

I stomped on his foot instead of asking that question.

"Cut it out!" he growled low, hauling me to a stop on the landing, and pulling me flush against his chest. "You're like an annoying buzzing little bee."

"Up yours!"

"Casey!"

"What?" Still punching and kicking here. Still not letting me go.

"You're a fucking Ekmetalleftis. Use your Stoicheio."

Oh.

Fire flared from my hands and I thrust them at his chest.

"Wrong choice, darling," he purred. "If you want me compliant use Earth or Air; Fire just turns me on."

"Oh! I hate you!"

"No you don't," he whispered into my ear, his arms bands of heated steel wrapped around my body, his chest a molten lava flow of bliss against mine. "Oraia," he moaned into my hair.

I stilled.

Remember me. Please, just. Please.

Theo let out a long sigh. Both our Pyrkagia dissipating.

"You really didn't know about him, did you?" he whispered, still holding me close, but no longer fanning the flames.

"You really doubt me at every turn," I countered.

"Cassandra," he said with meaning. "I want to remember, but I..."

"Don't," I finished for him. "Believe me, I know."

I pushed against his chest and miraculously he let me go. The chill that wrapped around me felt too quick. I should have still felt a memory of his heated touch, but like our history in his mind, it was gone.

"Gramps said he was sending someone to help me," I offered, staring at the floor and not at the man still tearing my heart apart. "I guess he chose Mark." My shoulders drooped on a heavy sigh.

There was no point reiterating what I'd already said. I didn't have the energy to do things twice.

Turning, I walked into the bedroom we shared and realised my mistake. My clothes weren't in here, but back in the destroyed room. Wow, my life really had become bizarre if sentences like that seemed normal. I spun around and slammed into Theo, bouncing backwards with a yelp.

"A little space, please?" I snapped.

"Never," he whispered, reaching up and tucking a wet strand of my hair behind my ear.

I closed my eyes and breathed through the emotions. So confusing and so messed up and so unfair.

"I need to get clothes," I ground out into the strained silence.

"Wear some of mine," Theo shot back moving away. My eyelids flicked up and I watched him go into the walk-in wardrobe. For some reason I couldn't open my mouth to argue the point. I just stood there, swaying slightly, feeling numb, but hurting at the same time.

How was that even possible?

He came back out with a pair of sweat pants and a large t-shirt.

"I'll be swamped," I managed, as he slipped into the bathroom and then returned with a towel.

"Doesn't matter," he murmured, unwrapping Sonya's sodden cardigan and beginning to gently wipe me down and dry me off.

"But..." I started.

"Don't argue."

I stood still as he made sure every inch of me was dry, including my hair and inside each ear. Then he ran his fingers through my blonde strands, untangling each knot with concentrated effort. Finally he held out the men's sweats for me to get into.

"No underwear," I remarked.

"No underwear," he repeated softly.

I stepped into one trouser leg and then the other, then he pulled the pants up to my waist and cinched them tight with the drawstring. He immediately crouched down and rolled up each leg, so my feet could actually poke out at the bottoms. Coming to full height again he snagged the t-shirt; it was a soft grey, the material well worn.

"Lift up your arms," he murmured and I complied. With focused attention he pulled the t-shirt over my head and then stepped back to see the final look. A small smile curved the corners of his lips.

"Why are you doing this?" I whispered. It felt like whispering was the right thing to do.

His eyes slowly came up to mine, from where he'd been soaking in every inch of my "swamped" body.

"Mine," he simply said. "You are mine."

"Not anymore," I replied past a lump the size of an orange in my throat.

He shook his head. "Oraia," he said. "I may not remember, but I do know one thing to be the truth."

When he didn't go on I was forced to ask in a croak, "What?"

"Once a Thisavros always a Thisavros. No one can take it away. Not a scientist. Not an Alchemist. Not even my fucking father. Do you understand?"

"But he has." My lips had formed the words, but no sound had come out.

Theo read them anyway.

"No, sweet Casey Eden. He has not. And the moment I get back inside you I will prove it."

Heat flared through my body, sending tingles to my fingertips and warmth to pool between my thighs. My lips parted but only a gasp came out. Theo reached up and ran his thumb over my bottom lip slowly, his face soft and enthralled, but still not the Theo I'd known.

Oh, he was falling for me. I had no doubt now. He even foolishly thought he could stimulate the Thisavros connection by doing the deed. But he didn't realise, I wasn't fooled. Pyrkagia are sexual beings, they feed off lust and passion and desire and heat. This was his innate self talking; a man attracted to a woman simply because she fed a part of him.

I could love him back. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't already. But I would always pine for the old Theo. For the real Theo. For the Theo who knew every inch of me inside and out.

For the Theo who remembered me.

The Earth sighed in agreement.

I watched achingly as he dried himself off and dressed in dark trousers and a crisply laundered shirt. The dark colours making his Greek heritage stand out, making him look so handsome that my heart hurt. He ran a hand through his hair, effecting a Nico style without conscious thought. Then he walked over to where I'd been standing numbly, where he'd left me after he'd dressed me in his clothes, and looked down at my face. Tilting it up to his with a finger under my chin.

"Are you ready?" he asked, and I realised that I was nowhere near ready to face what my brother was.

"They both lied to me," I said, voicing the thought that had been dogging me since Mark had arrived. "My own family."

Theo didn't say anything, whether that was because he still doubted me or not, I don't know.

"Let's get this over with," I said, turning away and walking toward the door.

Theo followed silently behind me, lost in his own thoughts, as I coasted down the stairs like a ghost, not making a sound. I could hear Aktor and Sonya in the kitchen, the butler taking it upon himself to keep my best friend away from the danger and entertained.

Maybe I would have to add him back on my friend list.

No conversation came from the front parlour, and the closer I got the more nervous I became. Just before I reached the threshold I sucked in a deep breath of air, and at that exact moment Theo's hand slipped into mine. I turned to look up at him as he lifted the back of it to his lips to offer a kiss. It was meant to reassure, all it did was remind me of him doing that same move to Isadora in the limousine back in Auckland.

I tried to keep that memory from reflecting on my face. I clearly failed when he began to frown.

Thinking it would be best to just get this over with, I pushed forward into the front room.

Nico was sitting back on the couch, relaxed pose and an amused look on his face, as he watched across the room to where Isadora and my brother were. My eyes followed his and landed on the couple up against the wall, between two floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto a still wet and windy Wellington day.

"Isadora!" Theo exploded as I finally comprehended what it was I could see.

Mark had his lids half closed, his mouth parted on a sigh, as his chest rose and fell rapidly. Isadora held him immobile by a fist to his blond hair and her boobs pressed into his torso, a thigh was between his legs.

His hips were rocking.

Her eyes were blazing gold.

"Holy freaking hell," I muttered and then promptly covered my face as Mark let out an erotic moan.

"Hotness," he somehow managed to drawl, "if I knew you fancied me that much, I would have put up more of a fight."

Isadora thrust his head back against the wall with an infuriated growl, as Theo stormed over towards them. As soon as she sensed Theo's approach she let Mark go, not even waiting to watch him slump down the side of the wall in an undignified heap, but turning to face the oncoming threat.

Then, as her well fed Pyrkagia redirected to Theo, I realised she wasn't facing what she thought was a threat. She was facing what she really wanted.

My Thisavros.

Her Stoicheio hit him directly in the chest and as his legs buckled, she purred, "Oops," her eyes on my face, not Theo's.

Oh, she did not just do that.

The Earth trembled. The Air crystallised before our lips. And I reached out with my own Fire and slapped her hard across the face.

Theo landed back on his feet, recovering quicker than I had expected, and just in time to see the burn mark slash Isadora's cheek.

"Oops," I said from across the room. Then Mark started laughing, throwing his head back and really letting go.

As Nico drawled, "Always an education."

And Theo slowly turned back to look at me with one eyebrow raised.

Chapter Nine

If The Butler Was Hitting The Booze, I Was In Deep Freaking Trouble

"So, that's Isadora Petros," Mark said as he sipped from a hot cup of tea Aktor had presented, along with edibles on a silver tray, in the middle of the OK Corral. "I likie," he added, offering me a wink.

I'd forgotten how much of a flirt my brother was. How much fun he'd been to be around. How much I'd trusted him.

My tea cup rattled as it landed back on the tray.

Mark cleared his throat, but didn't say anything else.

"Who started it?" Theo asked.

My eyes came up to look at Mark's face. There was no embarrassment there, just mild amusement.

"And I'll be asking Isadora the same question," Theo advised. We were alone in the room now, just Mark, Theo and me. Nico and Dora had been ordered out with Aktor's timely arrival. Isadora hadn't looked at me, Nico had let his eyes flow over Theo's sweats and t-shirt and just smirked.

"Jeez," Mark barked on a laugh. "You really are a prince, aren't you?"

"Just answer the question, Mark," I instructed, tiring of the games.

"I didn't flash white or ice blue, Your Highness," Mark offered. "So what does that tell you?"

"There are other ways to provoke," Theo pointed out.

"You call it provocation, I call it flirting. Tomayto. Tomarto," he quipped.

I stared at him, as he sat on the sofa across from us with casual ease. I knew he was over six feet tall when standing, and before he left for the greener pastures of Australia he'd worked out at the gym and went windsurfing every other day. His shoulders and arms always seemed huge to me. But now he'd bulked up everywhere and wore steely experience like a fitted suit jacket. His eyes were cool and hard, when they'd always been playful and dancing. His face was the picture of rugged ease, blond stubble along his jaw, quirk to his full lips. But it didn't match that steady pale blue in his gaze. That look he seemed to have now, that went right through you.

If Mark was an Alchemist he'd seen a thing or two. I couldn't tell if he liked what he'd seen. Something in his rigid exterior told me perhaps he didn't.

I hadn't seen Mark for close to four years. But I realised now that he hadn't just been gone from my life, he'd been lost to me, too.

It felt like I'd not only lived through Gramps' death and betrayal, but now I was looking at a ghost of my brother and facing his disloyalty as well. It hurt. And I hadn't thought I had anywhere left inside me to hurt more. But I'd been wrong about that too.

"So, you're an Alchemist," I said, when it seemed the conversation had stalled.

Mark brought his eyes back to my face. I think he'd been having a staring match with Theo.

"Yes," he said simply.

"How's that working for you?" I asked, feeling so lost and alone all of a sudden.

"I've had better days and you?"

"Me what?"

"How are you, Case?" he whispered.

And suddenly I was angry. So freaking mad. Enough already, world! Enough!

"You really want to know?" I asked, voice raised slightly. "I'll tell you," I snapped and Theo shifted at my side. I didn't waste time looking at him. My anger was all for my family and the only member here right now was Mark. "I thought Gramps was dead, but it turns out he's not. Cool, huh? Oh, and get this, he knew something about a world I never even considered existed and he kept it from me. But you know what? He didn't keep it from my big brother. No. He brought him into the fold and left me thinking a crap pile of lies. So, yeah. Life's freaking fantastic. Thanks for asking."

"He was protecting you," came Mark's solicitous reply.

Oh, no. I don't think so.

"So, I wake up after spending a day or two unconscious in a pile of dirt," I added. "Creepy crawlies all over me, rose bushes scratching the crap out of my arms. Then if that's not enough, I burn down half the Amazon forest, killing people while I'm at it, because, you know, that's just how whacked my life has become."

Mark held my infuriated gaze with a sad and compassionate one of his own. It just made me angrier.

"Yeah and Air's not all it's cracked up to be either," I snapped. "That took a traumatic episode and turned it into a frighting one, but you'd think I'd have gotten used to all this crap by now, wouldn't you? Clearly I missed the memo on that front."

He licked his lips, parted them as though to speak, so I leaned forward and kept going.

Not done yet, buster. Nah-uh. Not yet.

"I've been tortured, ridiculed, thrown out of my city, handed over to freaking sadists. Made up to be a princess, pulled down to be an imposter. Experimented on, hunted, chased, imprisoned, starved, carved, fallen in love, had my heart broken, been betrayed more than once. If I had the inclination to add it up, I'd need two hands. That's how many times someone has let me down. And now you. So. Do you really need me to tell you how I am? Or can your freaking selfish, lying, betraying arse figure it fucking well out!"

I was standing by this point, hands fisted, frost coating every surface in the room, the building moaning as the ground shook. Hell, I probably had smoke pouring out of each ear. I knew I was panting. I knew there was green and gold and white blazing from my eyes. I knew I must have looked an absolute fright.

Then Theo said, "She is remarkable, isn't she?" There wasn't awe in his voice, but ice.

My neck felt stiff as I turned my head slowly to look at him. His eyes were blazing gold, staring daggers at my brother.

"And if you think I will let you harm her more than you already have done, you need to think again," he added, in a low growl.

"And you've done much better, princeling?" Mark asked. "Seems to me the part about her heart being broken is all on you."

"She has had my heart since before she became what she is," Theo said mildly. "She will have it still when this is all said and done. What happens in between is on you. Or perhaps your grandfather. But at any rate, it's definitely on the Alchemists and no one else."

I sat down on the sofa again because my legs were shaking.

"Now, you see," Mark drawled, sitting forward in his seat. Theo matched him, moving forward on his side as well. Tension stung like ice picks on the chilled air. "We may have known Casey was the chosen one, but we sure as hell didn't choose her. Why do you think Gramps left NZ? Because he was trying to keep knowledge of her quiet."

"That makes absolutely no sense at all," Theo said abruptly.

"Think about it," Mark explained. "The Alchemists discovered Genesis was approaching." There was that word again. "An Aether would be created by Aetheros. They did their homework, read the stars and all that crap, and came up with Casey."

"So how does Casey's grandfather leaving protect her?" Theo demanded.

"Because the only way to keep her out of their clutches was to divert their attention from within ranks," Mark said slowly, as though explaining quantum physics to a child. "He did that by going to CERN."

"CERN?" both Theo and I said at once.

"And here's where you're gonna like having me on your side," Mark pointed out. "CERN, or Centre européen pour la recherche nucléaire."

"What?" I said as Theo translated, "The European Organisation for Nuclear Research."

What the hell?

"In Geneva," Mark added. "Home to the Alchemists."

Theo sat back on the sofa with a soft exhalation.

"BFFs now?" Mark asked.

"Hold on," I interrupted, ignoring Mark's banal question. "Nuclear research, what's that got to do with Elementals?"

"Not nuclear as in power plants and submarines," Mark retorted. "But nuclear as in particle physics, as in high-energy physics, as in particle accelerators and proton synchrotron boosters. As in what is the universe made of? And my sweet sister, what it is made up of is Elements. Five of them."

"The fifth Element isn't always around," I said automatically.

"Yeah," he said slowly as Theo added, "That's why."

Mark and I both swung our attention towards him.

"His Highness has got it," Mark exclaimed.

"Got what?" I stupidly asked.

"Why the world's out of balance," they both said at once.

I sat back in my own seat and frowned. "I don't get it," I finally admitted.

"OK," Mark said, leaning forward excitedly. "It's like this. Each Element has a purpose. Earth to keep us grounded and at peace."

"Fire to keep us passionate about our survival," Theo offered.

"Water to keep the oceans in harmony with nature," Mark added.

"Air to balance the weather and keep the atmosphere in good health," Theo finished.

"I've heard that before," I said, trying to remember.

"Hippolytos," Theo provided. Yes, we'd had this discussion back at Aeras. How the fifth Element, Quintessence, was designed to keep all Elements working in harmony, needed only when they flux out of balance, affecting the world.

"The storms," I said, quietly. "The bad weather."

"The start of Genesis," Mark whispered.

"What is Genesis?" I asked. Both Gramps and Earth had mentioned it.

"Basically, it means 'The beginning,'" Mark explained. "When Genesis starts, an Aether is called forth. It's been building for twenty-three years now until it reached a tipping point and Genesis really kicked in."

"What's been building?" I asked.

"Imbalance," Theo offered. "The Amazon rainforest being culled," he added. "Global warming melting polar ice caps. Bush fires out of control in the Australian outback. Man-made CFCs depleting the ozone layer. Imbalance."

All the things we'd discussed at Machu Picchu with Hip.

"You know," I said, staring at Theo in particular. "Hip also said Ekmetalleftis were meant to maintain the balance, so it's because of you guys falling down on the job that has led to us being where we are now. Take that a step further," I pushed when he raised a single eyebrow at me in response. "And you might as well say you started Genesis, which means..."

"You guys made my sister an Aether," Mark finished smugly. Then held his hands up in mock surrender at Theo's growl and quickly said, "Don't burn the messenger! Don't burn the messenger!"

"How old are you?" Theo snapped. Mark just smirked.

"Someone's gotta mess with Your Highness," he quipped with a shrug.

I closed my eyes, but when that didn't make the headache that was forming retreat, rubbed the heels of my palms into the sockets.

"Oraia," Theo murmured. "You need to eat."

My eyes opened and just because of how I was lying and where I was facing they fell on Mark. For the first time since he'd been here the dance I used to see in his eyes was back. Overshadowing the act he'd been using, the pretence that he was free and easy and didn't have a care. Mark had always been a fun loving guy, but this today had all been a performance until right then.

When he looked at my Thisavros and heard the care in his voice directed at me.

Except Theo wasn't my Thisavros, so maybe the act was on us now and not Mark.

"I'm fine," I whispered and Theo growled. He was doing that a lot.

My eyes found his disbelieving ones and suddenly we were the only two in the room. Mark disappeared. The imbalance of the world disappeared. Betrayals and mysteries and pain and torture and heartache disappeared. Just us.

He reached out and cupped my cheek and whispered, "Please let me feed you."

My breath escaped in a rush, because the need in his eyes was real.

He wasn't just falling. He'd fallen.

And still it was different from before. Still he looked at me as the woman he'd met one day ago. Less than twenty-four hours ago. Not the girl he'd chased and flirted with for a whole year. Not the innocent he'd introduced to a world of heated passion. Not the person who had grown in more ways than she could count. He saw me as the me now. The complete package.

I might as well have not existed before yesterday.

And that broke my freaking heart.

The journey is half the battle. The journey is half of what makes us, us.

"I'm going to see what Aktor has to eat," I said standing up from the couch. Theo immediately came with me. My eyes darted to Mark, who seemed to be taking in a lot more than I'd realised.

"Didn't you want to find out about Pyrkagia?" my big brother asked Theo, seeing my need for escape, offering me an out.

"Yes," I said, enthusiastically. "You get started on that and I'll be right back."

Theo stilled, frowned slightly and then must have seen something in my eyes. Maybe it was panic.

He nodded, reached up and brushed my cheek with the back of his knuckles and then sat back down.

"Bring me something sweet, would ya, sis?" Mark asked. "Or if you can't find sweet, I'll settle for Isadora. Might be time I tried bitter with a twist of sour to it."

I snorted as I crossed the room and went in search of Aktor. I needed clarity and as much as Sonya would offer a shoulder to cry on, tearing up was a one way road I'd never get out of if I went down it now. I needed straight up, no strings attached, give it to me hard.

And OK, maybe Theo was affecting my hormones or something, because that did not sound as above the waist as it should have when thinking of the old butler.

I found him in the kitchen. Not alone.

I hovered at the door until Isadora noticed me, then pretended I'd just arrived and walked in. She narrowed her eyes at me and unable to come up with a snarky comment soon enough, I blurted, "Theo wants you in on the next part of the discussion."

Oh, good grief. Could she have looked any smugger.

"I'll get going then. Are you joining us?" she asked me.

This was playing right into her hands, but I couldn't help feeling she was biting off more than she could chew with my brother. He may have lied to me, hidden stuff from me, maybe even betrayed me - although I was having trouble deciding if that's the right word anymore - but he was my big brother. He'd knock that smug right off her dial and make her choke on it.

Huh. Maybe I had another name to add to that friend list.

"Nah, I'm going to hang out here with Aktor," I said, slipping into a chair.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

Of course she did. Couldn't just take the hand I offered and play it. Had to second guess each move.

Bit like me with her, I suppose.

"Because I've had enough of Mark," I offered with a level glare.

"I'd like to believe that's true," she drawled. "And Aetheros knows I understand the sentiment, but something tells me you're lying."

I let out a purposeful groan.

"Isadora," I snapped. "He lied to me, hid a huge-arse secret from me, and then left me here to deal with the fallout. You can have him, and when you're done, send the pieces to Switzerland, apparently that's where the Alchemists live."

Silence filled the kitchen.

Then Isadora spun on her heel and practically ran to the front room, smoke trailing behind her as she skidded over the marble tiles.

Aktor started chuckling.

"You made that up," he accused, merrily.

I wish I had.

"CERN," I said instead. "Geneva."

The mixing spoon in his hand clattered into the bowl of batter he'd been stirring.

"You know what this means?" he said quietly. I shook my head. "It means we can fight back."

"And who is we?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the old man.

His shoulders dropped; it hurt almost as much as everything else right now, seeing that level of defeat. The reminder of his exile.

"I'm so sorry, Aktor. That was unkind," I rushed to say.

"No, Miss Eden. It's the first time since I met you that you've acted like an Athanatos."

"I'm not sure that's a compliment."

"Au contraire," he said with a sad smile. "It's the first time that I've truly believed you might just make it out of this wretched episode with some of that fire of yours intact."

I swallowed.

"Yeah, about this wretched episode," I murmured. "I could really use some advice."

The cake batter got pushed aside, and then Aktor was pulling down the ouzo from behind a packet of pasta in the pantry, and grabbing two shot glasses off a nearby shelf.

"This calls for fortification," he announced.

And I had the sudden realisation that my "wretched episode" was far worse than I had thought. If the butler was hitting the booze, I was in deep freaking trouble.

Chapter Ten

And Then I Knew True Fear

"He thinks it will return," I said, downing the last of my shot glass with a grimace. Aktor refilled it immediately, as soon as it hit the bench.

He'd also put out cheese and crackers and a bowl of dried fruit and nuts, all of which I was tossing down my throat along with the seventy-five proof.

Now this is how lunch should be served. Go the Greeks!

"You know," I added, eyes shuttered. "When we, er, do the, um, deed." Yeah, that was all me, not the booze talking. I'm immortal; I can handle my liquor.

Aktor smiled kindly.

"He may have a point."

"You don't really believe that," I accused softly, then staring into my topped up shot glass, tipped it to my mouth and downed the lot.

Whoa. That hit the spot.

Aktor refilled the glass, then placed a piece of aged cheddar on a cracker and handed it over.

"Ouzo or snack?" I asked.

"Whatever gets you through the day, Miss Eden."

I wasn't sure I could face another burn so quickly, so munched on the cracker instead.

"I have never heard of a Thisavros connection being broken," the old man said in between my loud crunching.

"Is it like mating for life or something?" I asked around my mouthful in the most unladylike display I had ever effected.

"More or less. You can walk away, but the connection will always be there. Easily brought back to life with only a little tender care on both parts."

"So it's a compulsion to stay together?" I queried, frowning at the thought of loss of will.

"No, not at all. It can change, become a different kind of love. A need to show respect and honour toward someone. But it is still a treasured relationship."

"Theo once said you can only have one Thisavros at a time," I said tentatively.

"That is true."

"So, does that mean you can have one after another, when the connection changes to something less romantic?" God, I think that ouzo was going to come back up my gullet soon.

"Of course not," the butler replied. "What part of a Thisavros connection cannot be broken did you not understand?"

All the blood left my face and my head spun, the room tilting slightly, my fingers gripping the edge of the table top, nails digging into wood. Isadora, that freaking lying bitch, was so going to die.

"What about Melita?" I whispered.

"Melita? Ah yes," Aktor said, eyes going back in time. Oh say, fifteen hundred years back. "What about Melita, Cassandra?" he asked.

Aktor only used Cassandra when he needed to really soften a blow, otherwise he stuck with the more formal Miss Eden. Things were not looking good. I grabbed the ouzo and downed the shot for courage.

Wiping the sticky substance away from my lips with the back of my hand I breathed fire for a second and then gasped, "Isadora."

"Ah. That's right. I remember now," the butler said ominously. And if Dora had still been here, I think she would have shrivelled under the look of anger that marred the old man's face. "Melita was special, as I'm sure you're aware. Theodoros adored her, but she betrayed him. Their relationship did not end on good terms."

Then the words I hadn't realised I still needed to hear, even after everything that had happened since Brazil and Isadora's treachery, were uttered.

"She was never his Thisavros."

My hand shook as I reached for the ouzo bottle. Aktor beat me to it and refilled my glass then placed cheddar on two crackers and handed them to me. I forced myself to eat the snacks first then followed them up with a sip from the aniseed brew.

"One Thisavros and one only," Aktor whispered. "And you are his."

"Then why is it broken now?"

"I do not have the answer, Miss Eden. I only know that despite the memory loss he has fallen fast for you all over again. Does that not say something?"

"But he doesn't remember. What if he never remembers me?"

"Would that be so bad?" the old man asked gently. "If the alternative is his absence from your life completely?"

I shook my head, the ouzo sloshing around in my belly with aged cheese and cracker meal. It didn't feel pretty.

"I'm not sure it's enough," I finally admitted. Realising this was my problem. Not Theo's. All mine.

I had to get my head around this new dynamic. I had to accept the love he offered now in place of the love we'd had.

Me. It was all on me.

"I don't know if I can do this," I said on a hitched sob.

"My dear," Aktor said softly, reaching over and cupping the back of my hand where it lay on the table's surface with his larger one. "Ask yourself this, can you walk away? Because what you are admitting is an inability to change that will lead you down a different path than Theodoros'."

I lifted stinging eyes to his face.

"I don't know the answer to that," I said, voice rough with pent up emotion. "All I know is this hurts too much. More than the King's doctor cutting open my chest. More than my grandfather's betrayal. More than anything I have ever felt in my life. I want him back."

My Theo. My Thisavros.

"Don't give up on him," Aktor pleaded softly. "Trust that he'll find his way back to you one day. I cannot believe it is permanent. I can.. not. It goes against everything we have been taught of Aetheros. He would not bestow this gift and have it abused in such a way."

"That's blind faith and most religions have it," I pointed out. "And most followers are let down a time or two along the way."

"Ah, but where those religions are based, in most cases, on complete blind faith as you say, I have actually conversed with my god. I know he is real."

"You do?" I asked, surprised.

"Very... old... man," the butler said slowly, pointing at his chest.

I smiled.

"Ancient," I offered. "And I guess it would be rude to ask what you guys talked about, huh?"

"Extremely," the butler chided with a teasing smile. "Besides, how can he not exist, if we do?"

"Yeah, humans say that about their gods too."

He scoffed. "We bend the Elements, Miss Eden. We don't just live. We play with life."

"Sounds very close to a god-like complex there, Aktor."

He shrugged.

"Maybe, but it is nonetheless true."

And that's why Athanatos are so arrogant. They believe it.

Belief is a tangible thing, my grandfather's words floated through my mind.

Was it that simple? Did I just have to believe that a Thisavros connection can never truly be broken and Theo would come back to me? Was that it?

I snorted, picked up a grape and rolled it around in my mouth, then squashed it between my teeth.

Then again, what had I seen this past year? Unbelievable things made real.

I closed my eyes, lifted my face to the ceiling imaging an all powerful Elemental god looking down at me and waited for a lightning bolt to strike. Something. Anything that told me to have faith. Believe.

Somehow I didn't think it would be that easy.

"Have I at least made things clearer?" Aktor asked, bringing my attention back to the room.

I offered a brave smile and then ruined it completely by saying, "Maybe just one more shot."

We were on our third one-more-shot by the time Nico and Sonya walked in. And I'd lost count by the time Theo, followed by Mark and backed up by the Bitch, joined us.

Things went downhill from there.

"We need to discuss Pyrkagia," Theo announced and then noticed the detritus of crackers and cheese, picked over fruit and nuts, and an empty ouzo bottle sitting next to a newly opened one.

His eyes swept slowly to my face.

"When I said eat," he said quietly. "I meant something nutritious."

"Since when has our national drink not been nutritious, cousin?" Nico countered.

"Tastes good to me," Sonya said, then hiccoughed.

A giggle swiftly followed.

"Are you well?" Theo asked, eyes still on me.

I'd be well when Isadora bit the dust, but saying that was probably not a good idea.

"I'm quite fine," I replied steadily, suddenly acutely aware that there was a limit to an Athanatos' alcohol intake before adverse effects could be felt.

I was sure I hadn't slurred. Kind of.

Theo sighed, moved around the table and with a nod of his head ordered Nico to shift to the next seat over, making the chair beside me available. He slipped into the vacated seat before pointing to one opposite for my brother to use. I was surprised to see Isadora sitting down beside him, but that could have been so she could keep him in line. Not because she wanted to be near him.

I was projecting, no two ways about it. And where I was projecting my thoughts was not necessarily an improvement on her wanting her hooks in my Thisavros. I could only assume any notion was better than that, and that's why I hoped she'd shifted her focus to my brother.

Oh, holy freaking hell. I clearly hadn't thought that through.

"I am preparing something more nutritious for dinner," Aktor advised. "We can either eat here or in the formal dining room."

"Here will be fine," Theo replied. "You need to be in on this conversation as well."

"Very well," the butler said, his voice heavy, his shoulders looking about the same.

"My father," Theo started, "has to be deposed."

My mouth fell open as Aktor slowly placed the butcher's knife he'd been using down on the bench and turned back to face the table. Astute and concerned eyes lifted to Theo's.

"It has been a long time coming," the ancient Ekmetalleftis said slowly. "But what has brought you to this conclusion?"

Theo turned golden eyes to my face.

"Need I truly list them?" he asked, his voice roughened.

"Pyrkagia is split," my brother said into the electrified silence. "I am aware of thirty who have agreed to converse with my brethren."

It felt like the room was spinning, or maybe it was floating on a choppy sea. Of course, that could have had something to do with the ouzo, but I was sure it was more the fact that my brother sounded old beyond his years. His choice of words to call the Alchemists was too close to what an Athanatos would use.

I realised, I really did not know him. A stranger sat before me. Someone comfortable in this world. So comfortable that he wielded two Stoicheio, not as well as an Ekmetalleftis could, but from what I'd seen it had been enough to hold his own against four. Luck may have contributed, but he'd still broken through a wall of Fire and come out the other side unscathed.

And here he sat advising the Prince of Pyrkagia on a planned coup.

I did not know him at all. It was hard not to feel betrayed at that thought, even though I'd begun to consider his actions not so much betrayal as protection and maybe a kind of survival. Both I could respect.

But still that realisation that he was not who I thought him hurt.

When would the aching stop?

"There is unrest," Theo agreed. "Many have seen what we have suspected for so long. We need eyes and ears on the ground in Auckland before we can make an educated assessment, but my mind is set. My father cannot live to do what he has done again and again. For centuries he has ruled in a manner unbecoming our kind. He sealed his fate when he took my Thisavros and stole her from my memory. Aetheros may have other concerns, but mine are more visceral." He slapped his chest once to prove his point. "I must avenge Pyrkagia."

It was an impressive speech, and pointing out I wasn't considered Pyrkagia by his people was probably not appropriate right now. Theo looked like the world had come to rest on his shoulders. And who could argue that fact? He had just announced his intention to not only kill his father, but in the process place his head under the crown.

As much as I wanted to remind him of my Pyrkagia issues, my voice was unsurprisingly lost.

"This is a dark day," Aktor murmured. "But after darkness comes light. You have my allegiance. Always."

He bowed his head and then turned back to the meal he was preparing as though what was said was said. But the heaviness that invaded the room pressed down on my chest and made it hard to breathe.

Nico was the one to break the silence.

"And where does the Alchemist fit into this?" he asked, eyes on my brother, who was making a meal of the leftovers and following them down with a shot of ouzo.

Direct from the bottle.

Isadora frowned at his lack of manners, and from the quirk of his lips it was obvious he'd done it with the intention of exacting a response from her and no one else.

"He does not have a free pass," Theo advised. "And I will refrain from giving him one until I am sure all he has imparted is indeed correct. But," again Theo's eyes darted towards me, "he knows things about this upcoming Genesis that we do not. Perhaps a truce could be called for the time being."

Mark didn't stop stuffing nuts into his mouth and didn't make eye contact with anyone around the table, as though he was quite content to be the topic of conversation and at ease with Theo's veiled threats.

I wasn't as circumspect as Theo.

"I certainly don't trust him," I announced and every head, including Mark's, lifted to my face.

"Cassandra?" Theo pressed.

I held Mark's slightly widened eyes with a steely gaze of my own.

"Forgiveness is earned," I murmured.

"I'll earn it," he vowed immediately.

I didn't know what to say. Everything was changing. My world view. My memories of growing up with a loving brother. My love life. My future. It was all changing and the only feeling I had was chilled.

I felt deeply cold. Right in the centre of me. Right where my heart lived and my body drew strength from. The world was imbalanced to such a degree that disasters were occurring across the globe. And if that wasn't enough the man I loved more than life itself, who couldn't remember why he'd earned that love, was preparing to do battle with his family.

How do you stage a dethroning? How do you battle a powerful race of beings in order to replace their King?

My eyes flicked up to Theo's finally. I held his steady, weary hazel gaze. No matter what happened, I knew one thing to be true. I would follow this man into hell. Despite our unresolved issues. Despite the precarious position of our relationship. Despite everything.

I would follow him into hell.

Because even though this was not my Theo, deep down I knew my Theo must still exist.

How could he not? When I felt so drawn to him. How could he not? When I'd take whatever he offered, in any way, shape or form. How could he not? When to look at him the world disappeared and all I could see was that amber and jade in his eyes. All I could feel was the heat in his gaze. All I wanted was him.

It wasn't perfect. It wasn't, ultimately, what I wanted. I still wanted my Theo back.

But it was what it was... and I was his.

Whatever version of Theo this was, I was still his.

Even if he wasn't the version of Theo I craved.

"Oraia," he murmured, as the smells of whatever Aktor was cooking filled the kitchen and voices rose in quiet conversation allowing us a moment of privacy.

I could see his desire. I could see his intention to get me up to that bedroom and onto his bed. I could see the night before us as clear as day, and it was skin on skin, lips and tongues and teeth, and this man who called to me despite everything moving inside me, claiming me. Even if it was the me he knew now and not the me who used to mean everything to him as well.

It hurt still.

Remember me.

His eyes closed as though in pain. As though he'd heard my mental plea. His jaw flexed, a muscle jumped in his cheek. My heart ached.

And then the Earth groaned, a mournful, desperate sound that preceded the End Of Days.

It hadn't begun. We'd been so wrong.

Genesis started with a rock and a roll, a thunderous boom, and the lights all going out.

And it swelled with a lurch and a stomach churning shift of tectonic plates and a shudder of the ground beneath the city, hell even the country, moving a meter or two on a rebounding wave.

The table hit the ceiling, screams rang out on the air, and every single window in the house shattered. Walls swayed, cupboard doors banged, and then with a high pitched moan the house began to crumble.

Theo yelled something. Nico screamed for Sonya. I couldn't see Mark or Isadora or Aktor.

Then as the ceiling caved in and the world turned upside down and Wellington city was thrown into a murky type of artificial twilight, I felt Theo's hand grip mine as he struggled to pull me toward a gap in the side of the kitchen that hadn't been there a second before, and led me out blindly into the depths of hell.

Smoke and sirens and screaming and wailing and thunderous booms and crashing bangs and screeching metal as it twisted... and the sky falling down.

Stop! I yelled at the Earth.

And then I knew true fear.

Because the Earth wasn't who answered back. The thunderous voice which did reply filled my body up and then pushed for more space inside my skull until I felt blood drip from my nose and ears, and my skin split under my hairline where bone pulled apart.

And in a resonant boom of authority and a chilling, body freezing type of terror-filled tone it said, Aether. Aether. Oh, my Aether. Now it begins.

Chapter Eleven

Make Me Remember

"Casey! Casey!"

The bed was rolling, like one of those waterbeds, making you feel vaguely seasick.

Or maybe that was the ouzo. How much had I had to drink last night?

"Casey, wake up!"

I tried to stretch but my entire body hurt. A moan escaped as I corrected my mistake and curled into a ball.

"Oraia, wake up."

"No," I mumbled, thinking I might just vomit if I opened my eyes. "Go away!"

"She always was a grouch first thing in the morning," I heard my brother say.

What was he doing in our bedroom?

"Well, it's not the morning and I need her to tell us what the Earth has to say," came Theo's snapped and borderline desperate answer.

"You just want to make sure she's not been lobotomised," Mark offered considerately.

"You're not helping," Nico chimed in.

"Is she going to be all right?" Sonya asked. "There was a lot of blood." Her voice trailed off on the last word.

"She's tougher than she looks," Isadora grumbled. "Believe me, if she was easy to..."

"Stop!" Theo yelled. "Or so help me, Dora."

"Yes, yes, you'll take her head," Mark remarked breezily. "Heard it all before, Your Uptightness."

"Are you not in the least worried about your sister?" Nico queried, with obvious disdain.

A short pause. "No," Mark said quietly. "She's immortal, isn't she?" The lie was in the delivery. I may have thought my brother had become someone I didn't know, but I did know his tones of voice and mannerisms intimately.

Right now he'd be reclining in some fashion, effecting a disinterested pose, and chewing on that bottom lip with frantic worry. I lifted heavy lids and searched until I found him, a vague outline of relaxed muscles and hard body, his eyes looking directly into mine as though he hadn't been able to look anywhere else until I woke.

"Hi," I croaked.

"Thank Aetheros," Theo murmured, running a hand down my arm and back up again. "Where does it hurt most?" he asked, voice strained.

"Someone hit me in the head with a two-by-four and someone else must have driven a cement mixer over my body to make sure the job was done right."

Oh, too many words. I gagged on the bile that surged up my throat.

"Easy," Theo whispered.

It took a minute for easy to register.

"Where are we?" I asked, noticing for the first time that the floor was hard and the walls had cobwebs and the roof looked like tin.

"The garden shed," Aktor replied. "Somehow it survived the earthquake when nothing else did."

Earthquake. Oh, it all came back to me. I sat up, holding my freaking agony-filled head and moaning.

"Cassandra," Theo pleaded, reaching for me and pulling me back against his body, so I was semi-reclined.

It did feel better.

"Earthquake," I managed to get out on a hiss of pain as my body resettled. But at least I was facing everyone else. Who on closer inspection didn't look nearly as bad I felt. "Why do you guys look unharmed? Did something fall on me?"

"No," Theo whispered, kissing the side of my head softly, while his hand kept up a soothing rhythm up and down my arm.

It helped.

"We all got out," he explained, "but you fell unconscious not long after and had what looked like a seizure. Do you remember anything?"

I closed my eyes and although I just knew it was going to hurt like a bitch I called out to Earth.

Are you there?

Aether, came the whispered reply. And thank you, God, it was not the chilling one of before but my favourite, sometimes riddle-loving Stoicheio. Although, it sounded wounded.

Not good.

My eyes opened again to the strange dimness in the shed. It held a sort of orange glow, but no one was calling forth their Fire.

"Earth is injured," I stated simply.

"Fire is not much better," Nico replied.

I hadn't even tried to reach for Pyrkagia, it took it out of me to search for my Gi. I wondered how Air and Water had fared.

"Mark?" I asked, before forcing myself to check on Aeras.

"Nero is harmed as well," my brother announced.

OK. I had to do this, but the ringing in my head had intensified and it was all I could do not to pant.

Closing my eyes again, I sucked in a breath of air and...

"Don't you dare," Theo growled low, hand on my chin, tilting my face up to his.

My eyes opened.

"It's obvious all Stoicheio have been compromised, we don't need you to confirm Air has been as well."

The breath I'd sucked in left me in a relieved rush.

"So, what happened?" I asked, once my pulse had settled somewhat.

"Genesis happened," Mark advised.

"How bad?" I pushed.

"From what we can tell," Theo answered, "the city has been practically levelled."

Silence followed those words. Deep, tragic, heavy, frightening silence.

Oh, freaking hell. End Of Days was perhaps an apt description.

"Just us?"

"All communications are down," Aktor advised. "Even the Civil Defence radio channel hasn't activated, but we are sure it will do so in due course."

"Humans will need time to scramble their defences," Isadora added. "It is Pyrkagia that I am worried about."

You can exile the Pyrkagia from Pyrkagia, but you can't stop them loving the place to death.

"So, what do we do?" I asked, the all important question.

"Night is upon us," Aktor said. "Tomorrow we head out and see what state the world is in."

"For now," Theo announced. "We take watches in shifts."

"Watches?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Great times of tragedy bring out the worst in some," Aktor replied. "How often have we seen looters on TV screens when tornadoes hit cities, or atrocities performed when the authorities are dealing with life and death elsewhere? We must be prepared."

This wasn't happening.

Earth? A whimper was all I got in reply.

How the hell did we fight this? An unseen enemy that compromised us.

"Shhh," Theo murmured against my skin. "We are alive. We are together. Tomorrow we take stock of our surroundings and provisions, and only then do we confront the battle ahead."

Because it was going to be a battle. Somehow I knew that already, despite having never had to face a challenge like this before.

And suddenly it put everything into perspective.

Theo was holding me. Kissing me, soothing me with a soft stroke of his hand. My brother was here. Sonya, my best friend was safe. Even Aktor and Nico were still breathing. And, I told myself, that there would be ample opportunity in the days ahead for Dora to get whacked on the head by a stray looter. So, all in all, we were OK.

But more than that. The struggles of the past few months seemed insignificant. The Rigas' pursuit of dissecting me; figuring out what made me tick. My ill treatment at psychotic, butchering hands. The unfairness of losing what Theo and I had once had. And the realisation of what had taken its place was harder to accept than it should have been. It was insignificant in the scheme of things now.

I could love this Theo. I could let him love the me he knew. As long as we were both alive.

"Nico, would you take first watch?" Theo asked, his lips brushing against the skin of my forehead as he spoke, as though he couldn't pull himself away further to speak. "I need to take care of Cassandra."

"Of course," Nico murmured, shifting to stand.

"I'll keep you company," Sonya offered. "I can't very well protect everyone like you guys can, but I can help you stay awake."

No one had the heart to tell her they were well capable of avoiding sleep if they so chose. Nico nodded with a smile and headed towards the lopsided door on the shed. Sonya followed behind him with a kind of avid focus on the way his butt moved in his jeans. I couldn't help smiling.

"I'll take second shift," Isadora offered, and my smile vanished at hearing her voice. "Wake me in four hours," she ordered Nico, who offered a salute and slipped into the night.

"I can..." my brother started.

"No," Theo broke in. "Aktor after Isadora, and by then we should all be awake anyway."

Nobody argued, he'd been using that voice. Not that it was unusual seeing Theo take command of a room. He was a natural born leader and even if he wasn't a prince of Pyrkagia I was sure everyone would want to follow him.

I knew I did and it had absolutely nothing to do with a crown.

With two people out of the shed it seemed that much bigger. Isadora got up and moved closer to the door, being the next on duty it made sense. It also added another layer of security, not that it wouldn't take much to blow the walls over on this thing. It was leaning precariously, but somehow still remaining upright. Managing to keep the drizzle out that still fell and the wind that buffeted the sides from seeping in.

"I placed a blanket in the corner," Aktor whispered and when Theo lifted his head to look at the man, I realised he was whispering to him. "Why don't you settle Miss Eden in back there. She needs rest more than any of us right now."

"Good idea," Theo murmured, shifting so he could scoop me up and carry me to the back of the space.

Whatever had been in here before had been cleaned out. Well most of it had, there was a stack of cardboard boxes flattened on the floor, where the blanket sat waiting. And a few shelves still held miscellaneous gardening equipment, but mainly they'd cleared it out so everyone could fit inside.

Theo gently lay me down and began to tuck the blanket in around me. Before I could think better of it, my hand came out to still him. Bright hazel eyes lifted to mine.

"Join me," I whispered. I needed to be held. "There's room enough for two."

He hesitated, then nodded. "Of course," he offered, and slid under the blanket, warming the length of my side.

I rolled over immediately and forced him to lift his arm and wrap it around me, while I rested my sore head on his chest. I was so damn tired.

And scared. I don't think I had ever been as scared as I was right now.

This was big. Huge. World altering. And not just my world.

"It will be OK," Theo murmured, his chest rising and falling rhythmically with his steady breaths. It felt so right. "It won't look nearly as bad in the morning."

Soft murmurs sounded out from the other end of the shed as everyone settled down for some much needed sleep. Aktor had said I was the one in most need of rest, but I argued that point silently. We all looked shattered. A type of fatigue that was borne of devastating knowledge. If Genesis was as bad as its aliases made it out to be, then things were pretty freaking grim. And we all knew it.

"I think I spoke to Aetheros," I whispered so quietly only Theo would hear.

"Casey," he sighed, understanding of my unconscious state registering in his pained tone.

"I think he's as lost as we are," I added. I'm not sure why I felt that, but his booming calls of Oh, my Aether in my head had something to do with it.

"Oraia, we'll find an answer. We have to."

"How did he let it get this bad?" I asked. Why hadn't Aetheros stepped in before the imbalance was so drastically tipped in one favour?

Theo was quiet for a long time, but I knew he hadn't fallen asleep. Too much tension resounded throughout his body. Too much awareness thrummed through mine not to be sure.

"We are to blame," he said softly, but I didn't miss the guilt and shame he carried at those words. "For centuries we turned our backs on him. Alienated ourselves. Became too set in our individual branch ways."

Oh, my Aether. The power of his voice in my mind had hidden the true agony of his words.

The cry for help.

"I don't know if I can do this," I admitted, feeling utterly sick to my stomach.

Theo didn't ask what, he just kissed the top of my head. He also didn't offer an answer.

This was too much. Way too much. A world teetering on the brink of extinction. And one small woman with not enough strength to steady it.

I didn't know what I was meant to do. I didn't know how to stop this. I felt so impotent in my inability to see a positive outcome to all of this.

I felt so damn lost.

"I'm so scared," I whispered, my lips trembling, my body shaking and tears starting to sting my eyes.

"Shhh," Theo whispered, slipping down further in our makeshift bed. "Shhh, Oraia. Shhh."

Then his lips brushed my cheek, my jaw, the corner of my mouth.

"You are not alone," he whispered, hot breath mingling with my own.

A statement, a promise, that meant more than it should have. Not an answer as such, although it felt like one to me.

"Theo," I breathed, asking for something I couldn't even put into words.

"Kiss me, Casey," he urged, pulling my body gently beneath his larger frame. "Make me remember."

A tear slid out as I opened my lips to his searching tongue and let him kiss the fears and worries and doubts and aches away.

I let him kiss me until I was flying and heat warmed our little corner of the shed.

I let him kiss me until it didn't register that this kiss was with a man who couldn't remember the me from the past year.

I let him kiss me until nothing existed but us, right then, his lips on mine, his warmth invading my body, my heart, my soul.

I let him kiss me until I was sure I couldn't survive without this Theo as much as I didn't want to survive without my Theo.

I just let him kiss me. My Theo... this Theo.

Theo.

And only then did I truly kiss him back.

Chapter Twelve

Can You Hear Me?

It wasn't quite as bad as we'd feared.

But it was bad enough.

Some buildings had survived, most hadn't. Water mains had broken, sewage was seeping up from beneath the ground, liquefaction was making other areas impassable.

But unlike any earthquake I had ever heard of before there were no aftershocks. No ongoing tremors to set your teeth on edge. Just a heavy pall of expectancy; when would the next big shake occur?

Of course we knew it wasn't your average earthquake, but something deeply rooted in the imbalance of the Elements. Something inherent in the survival of this world. I hesitate to use the word magical, but what are Stoicheio if not a type of magic?

The crux of the problem, though, was how to right it.

The immediacy of our situation, however, made that question fade to the back of our minds.

"There are a lot of dead," Nico commented quietly to my side. "We should help them."

Theo, Nico, Isadora, Mark and myself stood on top of Oriental Bay cliffs and looked out over downtown Wellington. The CBD was a skeleton of jagged concrete, twisted metal, shattered glass, and rib-like rebar covered in the blood of those who were lost.

God, was the rest of the country like this? The world? We'd still not been able to tune into the Civil Defence station, but Aktor was attempting to establish communications via Fire back at home right now. But if Pyrkagia were in as much of a mess as we were, answering a knock in the flames of your hearth - if it still stood - was not a top priority.

We'd find out soon. But I wasn't sure if the answer would be helpful.

"Order needs to be established," Mark added.

"The humans will have their own system to handle a disaster like this," Isadora commented.

"So, we shouldn't concern ourselves, is that right?" I snapped.

"Do you not think we have enough on our plate already?" she asked archly.

The fact that she was right was irrelevant. The look of devastation and heartache and loss and fear on the faces of those who walked in tattered clothes with dust covered faces and hollow eyes was all I could see.

I ached. And it was so much worse than any ache I'd felt before.

These were my people, even if I wasn't human anymore.

Aether, sounded out inside my head. Oh, my Aether.

I couldn't tell if that was an agreement from Aetheros or a fabrication of my mind. Or just one of my missing Stoicheio trying to remind me I was not who I used to be and that I should focus on what mattered right now.

And what mattered, aside from trying to re-establish contact with our Elements somehow, was making sure we had enough provisions to survive.

"Come on," I encouraged. "Let's do this."

Mark came with Theo and me in the only SUV that had been on our property and survived. Isadora and Nico had to settle for the town-car that had collected them all from the airport. The state of the first rubble strewn hurdle to block our path on the wet, mucky street led me to believe they'd be ditching that car and moving on foot before they got too much further from our base.

There was some organisation here, though. Large bulldozers shifting debris to the side of the road. The odd reflective jerkin clad policeman directing the public to shelters throughout the neighbourhoods. Schools, apparently, were your best shot at finding any help. Human nature recovering as best it could. But the closer we came to the centre of town the more obvious it was that some were just out for themselves.

Survival of the fittest saw a group of young men manhandle an elderly gentleman and steal away the grocery bag he'd managed to claim for himself. Another corner showed hard looking miscreants, leaning back against broken store fronts, smoking cigarettes and scaring off anyone who walked too close to their new abode. When the shop was stripped bare, they'd move on.

Filth and disorder everywhere. Tempers flared. A gun being fired sounded out. And then the wail of the sirens of overtaxed authorities as they rushed to another crime scene.

"We do this quickly," Theo announced into the stunned and mortified silence in the car. "In and out, no delays."

Both Mark and I nodded, unable to make a sound.

It broke my heart. Not just the destruction of a once proud city. But the cruelty that grew up from the wasteland left from such brutal trauma. There was some hope, in the efforts those with earth moving equipment were attempting. In the consoling words of a policeman to a bedraggled couple standing next to a crushed car. But we should have all risen above our baser desires at a time like this. Where was our collective humanity when a child stood unobserved on the corner of the street wailing for its mother and no one heeded its cry?

It broke my heart.

"Casey," Theo said, capturing my attention again. "You'll slip into the driver's side and keep the car running, doors locked. Mark and I will enter the stores. If we don't come out within ten minutes you move on. If someone hassles you, blast the horn and don't stop until we arrive. If we don't arrive within one minute after you activate the horn you move on. Understood?"

No. I did not understand this. I did not comprehend how this could happen. No.

"Cassandra," he pushed, more gently. "Say you understand.

I sucked in a shaking breath of air and nodded.

"It will be fine," he lied.

Baseball bats. There was a group of men carrying baseball bats. Why were they carrying baseball bats?

"This one will do," Theo announced, pulling the car to a stop next to a pile of rubble, but within sight of a supermarket.

"Ready?" he asked.

Mark grunted and exited the car, Theo reached over and gripped my hand.

"Hey," he encouraged. "Ten minutes, that's all."

I nodded. Lips numb. Heart thundering inside my chest.

"Lock the doors," he said, brushing his lips against mine.

I followed his command, knowing my eyes were too big in my head when they met his on the other side of the windshield.

Of all the things to level me incompetent, to steal my courage so completely I could barely function at all, it was human behaviour at a time of crisis that did it.

I kept telling myself there was hope in amongst the horror. Someone picking up a dropped tin of spaghetti and handing it back to a mother of four. The child had been found, on the street corner, but not by a family member by the looks the twenty-something chap was throwing up and down the street frantically searching for someone else to take over care of what was probably an orphan now.

But the shoving and shouting at the entrance to a grocers. The threat of violence that hung on the air around the petrol station across the road. The car horns blasting and sirens wailing and alarms going off set a tone of heightened danger and brought sickening reality to everyone's lives.

I should have been stronger than this. I'd been through so much, survived so much. And yet as I watched that group of five teenagers get ever closer with their bats I knew nothing had prepared me for this.

I'd been able to explain so much away because "they" had not been human. Athanatos are dangerous beings. Ancient and knowledgable in every cruel and vicious act there has ever been. Able to survive centuries by hardening their minds and hearts. Not human. Not even close.

And yet here were the monsters. Standing next to the saints. Two sides of humanity that had probably always existed but I'd only just noticed today. Not everyone is good. There is right and wrong in every society. Virtue and dishonesty. Love and hate. Kindness and meanness. Respect and dishonour.

"They are not who you think they are, sweetheart. There are good Athanatos and bad, like humans." My grandfather's words, reflected in humanity.

I flicked my eyes back to the shop entrance. How long had it been? Five minutes? Ten already? I'd forgotten to check my watch when Theo and Mark had left. The bat wielding thugs were closer now. Almost to the store frontage that had been boarded up by the enterprising owner, but which would be useless against a baseball bat.

My heart picked up speed, the malaise of shock was lifting, my fingers already curled around the door handle on the car door. Theo had said remain locked inside, but those bats could kill. Hadn't there been enough death already?

Aether. Oh, my Aether.

Yeah, we were all feeling the pain. This was wrong. The world was out of whack. Our immediate survival was imperative, but no less important than sorting out this mess and making the world healthy and safe again.

An old lady got caught up in the middle of the group of thugs. One pushed her out of his personal space as though he had the rights to that little segment of the pavement. Another thrust her back when she lost her balance and landed against his side. A shoving match began and I found myself standing outside the vehicle, my feet in amongst stones and debris, my nose filled with the acrid stench of a city infrastructure on the brink of collapse.

I reached for Air instinctively, ready to blast the hell out of the arseholes who picked on a defenceless pensioner. I had no way of knowing if I could wield my new Stoicheio with enough finesse to avoid hurting the old woman, but I had to try. Anything was better than the terror on her wrinkled face, the shock and confusion that accompanied it, the realisation that she could die.

No! I clenched my fists, closed my eyes and tried to imagine a mini tornado twisting through their midst, picking off broken bits of building and flinging them out at each boy in that group, selectively hitting my targets and avoiding the lady who was still being buffeted from side to side.

But when I called Aeras all I heard was a mournful cry, the wind whistling through the shattered windows of nearby structures, a mournful howl sounding out inside my suddenly splitting head.

"Oh," I gasped, doubling over, clutching my temples and thinking regurgitated ouzo was about to be spilled.

I blinked through tears of pain and watched two middle aged men tear into the group, throwing a punch here, a kick there, and basically fighting back against the bullies. Another woman rushed out from her hiding spot, to grip the arm of the old pensioner and pull her to safety, while yet another person shouted on the corner for the police, who must have been within hearing distance, because in seconds two uniformed cops came tearing around the corner batons raised, tasers out, intent in their eyes.

I sunk down onto the road, back to the SUV and watched humanity come back from the edge of an abyss. Watched those beings without supernatural powers take control and right the wrong. Despite their lack of weapons, despite their lack of skills, despite their fear.

There were good and bad souls in every race on earth. I had to believe the good would win over the evil. I had to believe that what I'd witnessed today was not an anomaly but the norm. I had to.

But as my head stopped throbbing and the nausea from the pain subsided I felt a different kind of unease. A type of despondency that even hope witnessed could not completely wipe away. A type of panic the weight of responsibility did little to alleviate.

This was our world now. Treacherous not only for me, but for every person in it. Human, Athanatos, even Alchemist. I realised, as I sat there panting through the after effects of what felt like a brain haemorrhage, that a war had begun. A race to balance the world, right the Elements, and save everyone. Every...one. Not just my group of friends. Not just the Pyrkagia, or the Aeras, or the Nero, or the Gi. Not just humans or Alchemists or Athanatos. Everyone.

A type of calmness replaced the despondency and panic. A sort of conviction without a rudder, but still a goal to achieve. I didn't know how we'd do it, but I did know we had no choice. The alternative was too bleak.

"Cassandra!" Theo yelled as he ran across the road pushing a shopping trolley before him and making me smile from the surreal and, I admit, slightly humorous sight. "What are you doing out of the car? Are you hurt?" he demanded, the trolley rolling to a stop against the car, landing a decent dent in the side panel which he didn't seem to care much about, as he crouched down in front of me and pushed wet hair from my eyes.

Oh, it was still raining. I hadn't even noticed.

"Are you ill?" he asked, concern marring his handsome, but equally wet face.

I wasn't ill. I was just waking up to reality.

"Did you get everything we need?" I asked.

He grunted, an unamused sound, as Mark slipped out of the store before a large group of military looking men rounded the corner and started ordering everyone back from the shop frontage, taking over control of the street from the civilians. Who, in the end, hadn't done that bad a job.

"We have to fix this," I added, when he didn't answer my question.

"What, Oraia? Where do you need fixing?"

I tried to laugh. It didn't work.

"This," I said instead. "Everything."

"Is she all right?" Mark asked, pulling his overflowing trolley up against the side of the car as well.

"I'm not sure," Theo answered, proceeding to check me over physically with his hands. "Load the car, before anyone decides it'd be easy to take ours than battle inside that store," Theo ordered, his eyes on my face, my body, wherever his hands currently were.

"I'm fine," I murmured.

"You don't look fine. What happened?"

"Humanity fought back."

"Excuse me?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"This is our world now," I added, looking over his shoulder and watching the men in fatigues line up the thugs with bats while holding big looking guns. The guns won. "We need to fix it."

"Casey," he said softly. "We'll fix it."

"Do you know how?" I asked, hopefully, my eyes coming back to his.

"Oraia, you need to rest." Not an answer I had expected nor wanted. Not an answer at all.

But he'd missed the point anyway. I wasn't tired. I wasn't suffering from shock. My eyes were wide open. My heart beating steady within my chest. The ache I felt a backdrop to the need to fix this.

"I'm fine," I said with conviction, pushing up from the ground and forcing him to move back or be knocked over.

"You are?" he asked sceptically.

"I've got no idea how to, but I do know we have to fix this."

"So you keep saying," he said slowly and softly, looking at me as though he thought I might have lost the plot.

And as I watched the scene of forced order assert itself across the street and the looks on the faces of the survivors of this first round of Genesis - and yes, I was sure this was only the first - change from fear and loss and confusion, to a hope laced still with shock, I realised it would be an easy assumption to make. That I might have lost the plot.

But with that change in atmosphere on the streets of a Wellington inner city suburb, in the rubble left by the destructive force of an Elemental world gone out of whack, I also knew that hope was a powerful force. Offering direction, absorbing misery, reinforcing the need to survive.

And most of all, bringing out a strength that some would not have known they possessed, but found the will to dig deep enough to find it inside.

Just like I did, sitting in the dirt and muck of a broken road, leaning against an SUV in the rain.

"In the car," Theo instructed softly. His attention on my face leading me to believe he still didn't think I had recovered yet.

And maybe recovered was too complete a word to use for how I felt. I certainly couldn't stop the images of that young weeping child or the frightened impotent pensioner from flashing through my mind. But I did feel a shift within me. A monumental type of change within my soul.

As Theo slipped into the rear of the car taking me with him, letting Mark drive the vehicle back to the house, I looked into his hazel eyes and realised that there were levels of immediacy. I'd already acknowledged that this Theo was, in a way, my Theo too. That to have one, I could survive without the other. In addition, I was aware that reconnecting with our Elements was more important than even that. Than me and Theo. Than having my Thisavros back.

And finally, I acknowledged that nothing was more significant, more paramount than fixing what was wrong in this world. For me. For Theo. For Athanatos, Humans and yes, even the Alchemists. Because we all had a right to survive, and we all had a right to exist in a healthy world.

Can you hear me? I asked all my Stoicheio, even those I hadn't yet come to possess, whilst making sure I didn't actually reach for them.

I hadn't expected an answer, nor did I get one. I just had to believe that they could hear.

I'm coming, I whispered in my mind. You are not alone, I added, remembering Theo's same words to me last night. I will find a way to fix this, I vowed.

Silence.

And as the rain fell harder and the winds picked up and a fire, burning in a pile of rubble we passed, flared towards the sky in a move the precipitation should have arrested.

And as the ground rumbled beneath our tyres.

I knew that they had heard.

Chapter Thirteen

Haven't You Heard A Freaking Word I've Said?

"I've managed to salvage three rooms, as well as the utility and this one, for our use," Aktor advised, once we'd returned to our ramshackle base. "The cellar is also a possibility, but will require further investigation as a fallback position, should we need it."

We were standing in what had been the library, at the rear of the building, behind the stairs. Aktor and Sonya had turned it into a makeshift living area, with couches and a table and benches and a stove over an open fire in the hearth. A kettle was whistling merrily as though the world hadn't come to an abrupt end.

"The utility room is through the destroyed kitchen but is ideally suited as a wash house," the butler was saying, as he wrapped a tea towel around the heated handle of the kettle. It occurred to me that had he had access to his Element he wouldn't have needed to take such precautions.

I glanced at the fire burning brightly in the hearth.

"Did you use Pyrkagia to start that?" I asked.

Aktor shook his head. "Sonya found matches."

She smiled brightly from where she was slicing bread with a sharp knife on a side table, set up with utensils and crockery clearly dug out from the ruins of the kitchen. They'd done a remarkable job making a home for us in amongst the destruction the earthquake had caused. My gaze, though, kept looking up at the ceiling expecting it to come tumbling down on our heads at any second.

"It's quite safe, Miss Eden," the butler said, pouring the boiled water into several waiting mugs. "I have been aloft and removed any unnecessary weight, testing the structure quite thoroughly. There are parts of the house which are precarious, but this room, as well as those already set up, are sound, I assure you."

"I trust you, Aktor," I said, from my position on an overstuffed couch with surprisingly minor wear and tear. Theo had forced me to put my feet up despite the copious amounts of trips they were making with supplies. He still didn't believe I was not in shock.

"I have also set up a rain collection system outside to help with ablutions and such," the old man was adding, each bit of information offered when Theo and Mark were back in the room to hear. Isadora and Nico hadn't returned yet, and the concern for their lengthy absence was felt by all.

"You've done a remarkable job," Theo offered, finishing up stacking our provisions against a far wall Aktor had set aside. "But I'm famished," he announced. "Pilfering makes you hungry."

"You pilfered?" I asked, astounded.

He cocked his head at me and said, "Disaster?" and nothing else.

"That's no excuse at all," I countered.

"Here we go," Mark advised, sinking into the couch opposite me. "Take it like a man, Your High-and-mighty. She'll only keep prodding and poking until you relent in any case."

"I do not prod and poke," I argued. "Anyway," hands crossed over chest, "this is exactly the point I was trying to make in the car."

They hadn't listened to me then either, still thinking I wasn't of sound mind.

"We have a choice to make at a time like this, and by we," I said, looking at each person in that room, Athanatos, Human and Alchemist, "I mean everyone on this planet. Pull together, rise above it and make things right, or succumb to fear and panic and animalistic behaviour in order to just survive. We need to be better than that," I concluded.

"See?" Mark said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Then starting to hum under his breath.

I threw a cushion at him.

"It's an altruistic view, Cassandra," Theo advised, moving to sit beside me on the couch. "But those who are not prepared to fight for their survival will not prevail. History has proven this."

"Those who are not prepared to fight for the good of all right now will die with the rest of the population when Genesis finishes," I said softly.

Theo looked at me for a long, long moment and then whispered, "What do you suggest, Oraia?" As though I had the answers to all of this.

I let out a breath of air. OK. Right. Time to put my money where my mouth is. Which was ironic, because Theo clearly hadn't put his money where the pilfering occurred. And no, nothing was actually funny about any of this, I was just procrastinating.

"OK," I said. "It's going to get worse."

"Probably," Theo agreed.

"And we need to fix it," I added.

"But how?" he queried. I don't think he was being obstinate on purpose, I actually think he was trying to push me to work this out myself. Kind of like a self taught lesson. But he didn't know me, like he used to know me. Like my Theo had known me.

And now was not the time to be reminded of that.

"We need to reach our Elements first," I declared.

Theo tilted his head slightly in a move that was meant to encourage me to go on.

"We can't fix this without re-establishing that connection," I said.

"But how?" Mark asked, clearly listening in on the conversation despite looking asleep right now.

I didn't have a definitive answer. The only thing I could think of was trying.

Hardly world saving material.

"We attempt to reach them in short burst, limiting the fallout," I offered.

"What if that doesn't work?" Mark helpfully asked.

I narrowed my eyes at his still tipped back head.

"We keep trying. We believe we'll get through eventually. We don't give up."

"Hardly scientific," Mark supplied.

"Do you have a better idea, Alchemist?" I asked, and saw Theo's lips twitch out of the corner of my eye.

"No," Mark replied on a sigh, tilting his head back down and looking towards me. "And you're right. Without Fire we can't communicate with Pyrkagia and see what's happening there. Without Air we can't move through lightning where we need to go. Without Water we can't battle the next Genesis threat which could well be flooding. Without Earth we can't be certain the earthquakes have stopped."

"Not to mention the role in balance those Elements play," Theo added. "Without being able to manipulate them, things could well just keep getting worse."

"But it won't be easy," Aktor advised from the table, where he was setting out bowls and spoons and what smelled like a delicious chicken soup in a large pot. "I've tried to establish communications through Fire and it almost laid me flat."

"I had to slap him to bring him around once," Sonya offered, her lip retreating between her teeth at the fraught memory that evoked.

"I tried to use Air out on that street," I admitted and Theo stilled. "Some thugs were terrorising an old lady and I thought I might be able to help."

"Did it work?" Theo ask, voice strained.

"No. I thought I blew a blood vessel in my head." Perhaps not the wisest thing to say to a man like Theo who had decided despite not feeling like he was my Thisavros that he'd act like one anyway; possessive, protective, over the top.

"Yeah, Water was a bust too," Mark offered, trying to get Theo's intense attention off me. Once a big brother, always a big brother. "Getting rain to miss me is second nature, but when I automatically tried outside earlier I felt like I was drowning instead."

"So doing this won't be easy," I admitted. "But it has to be done."

Theo let out a pained sigh and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as though he had a tension headache.

"We do it in pairs," he announced. "One person attempting to re-establish contact. The other making sure they don't do it for too long and compromise themselves."

"And we do it the bedrooms," Aktor added.

"Why?" I asked, thinking here was as good as anywhere.

"Because it will be too traumatic for some," he replied steadily, not looking at anyone in particular, but all of us knowing he was referring to Sonya. "And this room is for pleasure. Even in war, one must have a place to recoup and reset." He smiled across the room at me, then announced, "Lunch is served."

Mark jumped up from his seat and slipped onto the bench beside a waiting Sonya, as Theo reached out and took my hand, helping me to my feet.

"We will get through this," he whispered against my ear.

"I know we will," I whispered back, because we didn't have a choice.

"You're amazing," he added. "You never give up."

My eyes came up to his, a warmth rushing through me at the respect and admiration I could see there. Then heating further when he let me see the attraction he felt as well.

None of it was Pyrkagia but it felt just as potent.

"Despite knowing these attempts to reconnect will be painful," he remarked in a normal level of volume as he turned toward the table and helped me onto a seat, "you push for it against all resistance because you know we have no choice."

"Casey has always been a fighter," Sonya remarked from down by the bread.

I threw my friend a smile.

"I can see that," Theo replied, sliding in beside me on the bench and making sure his thigh pressed against the length of mine.

It surprised me that I was still capable of feeling such conflicting emotions. I thought there was enough serious responsibility being weighed that I wouldn't have any space for how Theo made me feel. How his leg against mine was an intimate move making excitement and anticipation surge through my body and light it on fire. But how his words reminded me that he still didn't remember everything we were to each other, everything we'd already discovered about each other, making my heart feel heavy and sadness to bloom.

It was a quandary boiling inside, leaving me as unbalanced as the world.

"I wonder where Nico and Isadora are?" Sonya asked into the silence, as we consumed a miraculously delicious meal despite Aktor having had to work with such compromised kitchen facilities.

"They decided to go further afield, to get an idea of scale to the disaster," Theo advised.

"They'll be along before you know it," the butler added in what had to be an outright guess.

"So, we try to re-establish our Stoicheio," I offered, attempting to make Sonya forget her worry over where Nico was. I was sure she wasn't too bothered about Isadora's absence. She was my best friend, after all. "And while we're doing that, try to find out what's happening in the world."

"I managed to tune into the Civil Defence radio station," Aktor advised, falling into my strategizing and distract Sonya plan with ease. "The whole country has been affected and from what they could establish, the entire world."

"As we suspected," Theo murmured around a mouthful of soup.

"Well, we'll start small and then move big," I announced, making Theo smile as he lifted another spoonful to his mouth.

"We have a plan, then," Aktor agreed. "Stoicheio, communications, and then reassess."

That about summed it and for now it would have to do.

We finished the meal in silence, each lost to their own thoughts. If the others were like me, their minds would be filled with turbulent worries. Fears and concerns, doubts and depression. But I worked with the belief that we would succeed and banished those negative emotions with sheer force of will.

My grandfather would have been proud. Which made me wonder just how the Alchemists had fared. They'd been more aware of what was coming than anyone. Had they taken precautions? And did that mean they were now in a stronger position than us?

When the lunch was finished and Sonya began clearing the table, I gripped my brother's arm and hauled him into a corner of the room, away from the rest. Theo was discussing the provisions we'd brought with Aktor, planning on how long they'd last and what else needed to be done to ensure we could stay on the property safely. I used their momentary distraction to corner Mark.

"What?" he asked in that ineloquent and confrontational way only a sibling could manage.

"Tell me about the Alchemists," I demanded.

"Whoa!" he said, hands up in mock surrender. "You only have to ask, sister."

"That's what I'm doing. Quit being a dumb-arse."

"Your language skills have taken a turn for the worse, Casey," he remarked, sitting down on a two seater sofa and patting the space beside him. I glared as I obliged. "What do you want to know?" he said in a more resigned tone of voice.

"How prepared were they for this?"

His eyes widened slightly and he looked at me as though seeing me for the first time.

"Prepared," he finally replied.

"So, they'll have access to the Elements still. Not be cut-off," I further explained.

"Yes, undoubtedly," he said with a slow nod.

"But you are? Cut-off, I mean."

"I wasn't at CERN," he said.

"How does that work?"

He let out a beleaguered breath of air on a sigh. "Twenty-three years this has been written in the stars. And even before that, the leaders were well versed in history. They knew a Genesis would come again. It's been and gone before. This isn't the first time Aetheros has called forth an Aether."

It wasn't exactly news to me. The Aeras shaman had said as much in one of his riddles. Aether comes, Aether goes. Aether puts on quite a show.

"How did the last one die?" I asked, quietly.

Mark shrugged. "Old age?" he said.

"He didn't just vanish when things balanced out again?"

Mark's pale blue eyes came up to mine, understanding and pain etched there. "I don't know, Case. I just don't know."

I nodded. There was no point trying to think past the immediate problem anyway. First we had to reconnect with our Stoicheio, then we had to balance the Elements out and right the world.

But still, the threat of the Alchemists hung over my head and here I had an Alchemist to hound.

"What's their end game?" I asked.

Mark whistled. "You go right for the kill shot, don't you sis?"

"Is it a secret?" I demanded. "The kind that if you tell me you'd have to kill me?"

He laughed, it sounded a bit too harsh. "No, it's the kind that if I tell you I die."

"Oh, come on, Mark!" I exclaimed, unfortunately garnering the attention of the two other Athanatos in the room. Hazel eyes lifted and locked directly on us. "Be a man," I hissed. "Do the right thing and help us out."

"Who says," Mark replied, enunciating each word carefully to make his point, "that you are the good guys?"

"You can't mean that," I breathed, sitting back in my seat, putting some space between us.

"Well, not you, Case," Mark hurried to correct. "You're just a pawn."

Oh, and that was better?

I shook my head at him, feeling disappointed all over again.

"So, you just want us to sit here and wait for them to arrive and wipe us out?" I asked numbly.

"I'm here, aren't I?" he said, with one of his signature charming smiles. "I won't let anything bad happen to you."

My eyes found Theo's, his and Aktor's attention was completely on us. Both looked exhausted. Feeding their human sides was keeping them going, but strain and weariness was evident around their still hazel eyes.

"This isn't over," I said to Mark, but my gaze was locked on Theo's. Drawn there, despite the lack of gold. Needing to ease the strain.

"Of course it's not," Mark replied sarcastically. "You could never just do what you were told without causing a bloody fuss."

My hand shot out and wrapped around his shirt, then I hauled him to his feet as I rose to mine. I may not have been able to singe him with Fire, or wrap a vine around his neck to make my point. But I was an immortal with superior strength than a human, and I'd hazard a guess greater brawn than an Alchemist at a push. Even an Alchemist that was a foot taller and a hell of a lot broader than me.

"Watch yourself," I advised, my nose almost pressing into his. "I am not the girl you left behind four years ago. I am not even the human you left behind. And right now I am amping to pay you back for that desertion. Give me one good reason not to kick your duplicitous arse."

His gaze held mine and he slowly lifted his hands, palms facing out, in surrender.

"OK," he whispered. "You win."

I let his shirt go with a small shove that sent him back a foot and no more.

"No, Mark," I said with a shake of my head. "If we don't start working together we all lose. Haven't you heard a freaking word I've said?"

I turned, met Theo's eyes and then walked out of the room, knowing he'd follow.

Chapter Fourteen

You Are Fire Itself

He found me in one of the makeshift bedrooms. It had clearly been an office at one stage. The desk pressed back against the shattered window, plastic wrap covering the opening and letting light in, but the inclement weather out. A king sized mattress lay on the floor against one wall, an empty hearth on the other, set, ready to be lit. Matches sat on top of the mantle. I walked over and lit one, crouching down and lighting the staged wood on fire.

When I stood Theo was right there, desire blazing from those eyes, hunger almost overshadowing the fact that they weren't flaring gold.

"You are magnificent," he declared, his breath coming a little too quickly. "Absolutely magnificent."

He reached out and wrapped a hand around my nape, heat infusing my body from just his touch and the ravenous look on his face. I could see his intention, written clearly over that regal, powerful and lust-filled façade. And my body was right on board with his plans.

But my mind was not. It was currently back in our living area staring into tired hazel, missing the omnipotent gold. I wanted it back.

"Can you feel Pyrkagia?" I asked hopefully, noting my voice was as breathless as his.

"I feel all kinds of hot right now, but no," he husked, "not my Stoicheio."

I was surprised he'd even answered, because the second he was finished his lips were on my skin, licking, kissing, nipping down my neck, biting into my shoulder in an imitation of a Thisavros mark.

My legs weakened, moisture pooled between my thighs, I let out a whimper and moan that made Theo's chest rumble in a low growl.

"Mine," he rasped against my earlobe and then followed that up with his hand squeezing my breast through my t-shirt. "Mine," he repeated, his groin pressing into my body, the steel of his erection reaching halfway up my stomach and making me pant with want and desire. "Let me show you," he pleaded. "Oraia," he added. "There can be such beauty between lovers if you just open yourself up."

Oh, yes. I was on board. There was no denying that. My hands fisted in his hair, gripping tightly. My head tipped back exposing more flesh for his touch, arching my spine in the process and pressing my breast into his cupped palm. Yes, I was so on board.

"Cassandra," he breathed against my lips. His skin cast in a golden hue that was not from his eyes.

I blinked at it, then breathed back into his mouth, "Gold."

He groaned, licked my bottom lip, started to walk me backwards toward the bed, his purpose obvious. My capitulation imminent.

Gold still painting his skin as hazel intently blazed from his eyes.

"Gold," I said in a rush of escaped air as I landed on the mattress, Theo on top.

"What's gold?" he groaned against my throat, one hand twisted in my hair the other already down my pants and finding me waiting and wet.

I moaned, bucked my hips, forgot what I was thinking, closing my eyes through the sensations Theo was creating and silently begging for my oncoming release.

"Casey," Theo called. "Open those eyes. Let me see you come."

I couldn't refuse him. I couldn't deny myself. Theo. This Theo. Any Theo. I needed him right now.

A cry escaped me as he worked magic between my legs, delving in and out in a steady rhythm with his two thick fingers, his thumb rubbing in exactly the right spot.

"Magnificent," he said, hungry hazel staring right into my soul. "Gold," he added, his movements slowing until they stilled.

"Gold," I repeated on a pant and then a subsequent moan of post orgasmic bliss.

Theo closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, an understanding replacing some of the lust.

"Are my eyes gold, too?" he asked, voice a husky sexy rasp.

"No. And shouldn't they be? If mine are?" I asked, panting for breath.

"You were trying to tell me that," he confirmed. I nodded. He nodded back; one quick bob of his head. "Yours are gold," he confirmed.

"I guessed as much," I whispered.

"Hmm-mm," he murmured, sounding rueful if a hum could sound rueful that is. "Tell me?" he asked. "Is there ever going to be a time when I get to sample your wares without interruption or the world coming to an end?"

"My wares?" I asked, lips tipping up in amusement, eyebrows halfway up my brow.

Theo groaned, removing his hand from my pants, patting the waistband as though to ensure I was all presentable again. He stared at where his hand rested above my belly button.

"I want you so much it hurts," he admitted, his voice whisper quiet.

I knew that type of pain. But we weren't at luxury to relieve it. Not yet.

"Our Stoicheio are still there, if we just reach for them," I said instead, making Theo remove his hand from my body completely. He sat up and stared into the flames of the hearth. "You haven't reached yet."

"You want me to try," he said, almost sounding a little bitter.

"Theo Peters," I said with disbelief. "Are you actually pouting right now?"

His head turned towards me and he offered a small self-deprecating smile.

"Cassandra," he drawled. "Genesis is cock-blocking me, I have every right to feel put out."

We stared at each other for a moment and then I started to laugh. It took a beat or two before Theo finally joined in. But within seconds of him laughing I was leaning on his shoulder, holding my stomach with both hands as his body shook all over, rubbing comfortingly against mine.

"Magnificent," he whispered eventually into my ear, his arms having at some stage wrapped around me to hold me steady. "If you weren't my Thisavros already," he added, voice deliciously velvet and low, "I'd make you mine right now."

Oh, Theo. Just... Theo. I'd let you as well.

"Just one kiss," he pushed. "That's all. Then I promise we'll attack our Stoicheio with gusto and set the world to rights again. One kiss."

My lips were stretched in a wide smile.

"You think you can stop at one kiss?" I asked, playfully.

"Of course," he shot back. "I'm a prince. I can do anything."

My smile grew even bigger. How could I not love this Theo? Impossible.

"One kiss," I whispered.

"Just one," he murmured, lowering his lips to mine.

It was soft and slow and sweetly gentle. The kiss of a man who treasured his lover. Taking his time, Theo licked and nibbled, swept his tongue around mine, danced with me, lifted me, set me floating away on a cloud. He didn't heat it up so much that we pawed at each other, he just stoked the internal flames, building the fire leisurely, making me want it more and more. Softly, slowly, sweetly. Beautifully.

His head pulled back and heated hazel eyes stared down at me.

For a suspended moment he just soaked me up. It seemed monumental. It seemed significant. It lasted a very long time.

Then a knock sounded out on the door.

Theo closed his eyelids slowly and lowered his forehead to mine.

"Yes?" he said, voice slightly strained.

"Nico has returned," Mark announced. "Isadora is harmed."

Aktor was running a sponge over Dora's forehead, where she lay stretched out on a couch, when we rushed into the living area behind Mark. I couldn't see any blood. Her clothes looked in perfect Isadora order, no limbs sitting at odd angles. She did look pale, which for a Pyrkagia was saying something indeed, their natural tan usually preventing the ghostly appearance the rest of us often effect. But other than that, and the fact that her eyes were scrunched closed as though in pain, she looked whole.

"What happened?" Theo demanded as he crossed the room to look down on the woman over Aktor's shoulder.

"A fire burning out of control in Kilbirnie," Nico advised. "The Fire Service couldn't get through the rubble," he added. "The humans were using buckets of water in a chain to reach the building itself." He paused, sucked in a deep breath then added, "There were children trapped inside."

"What did she do?" Theo asked slowly, eyes still locked on Dora's face.

"Used Pyrkagia to control it," Nico whispered.

"She made contact?" Aktor asked, surprised.

"It almost killed her," Nico offered as answer.

"But it worked?" I pushed.

All eyes turned towards me. Sonya looked a little sick that I'd asked, considering the state Isadora was currently in. Mark looked slightly shocked and then contemplative. Aktor and Nico looked amused. And Theo looked angry.

"It might have worked," he said, voice hard, "but the consequences are not acceptable." And just like that, Theo had decided not to pursue reaching for his own Element.

I ignored him and my disappointment. It was hard with those anger-filled hazel eyes directed at me. I couldn't tell if he was indignant that I'd shown little compassion for Isadora's state. Or irate that I'd show such disregard for everyone's potential to become like her.

But right now, we couldn't afford to be sidetracked by such weaknesses, and I did consider not pursuing this as a weakness.

I turned to Nico. "Did it work?" I demanded, my voice just as hard as Theo's.

Nico held my steady gaze and nodded. "She kept the fire away from the children until they could be rescued. I believe she would have done more and snuffed the flames out completely, but I refused to let her try."

I looked down at Isadora, who still had her eyes closed and held her body stiff. I wondered if her eyes would blaze gold now. I wondered if she could hear us, or if she was too far gone in agony to comprehend the conversation around her. I didn't let myself acknowledge that she had done something for the humans she only barely tolerated. I couldn't afford to think of Isadora as anything less than a hardened Athanatos. Not right now. Not when the world was teetering on destruction.

"So we can reach them," I surmised.

"Cassandra!" Theo yelled, making Sonya jump but the rest of us were used to his outbursts and just cringed. "We cannot proceed with this."

"She's alive, isn't she?" I said evenly.

"In agony," he growled back.

"Are you saying she can't handle a little pain?"

"You think she's in a little pain?" he shot back. "This is not the Isadora I know. She would not allow anyone to see her like this if she was capable. She is compromised."

"Let's see how long it takes her to recover, and then assess our options from there." I had to hope she did recover, otherwise my argument was going to be shot to hell.

"You will not reach for any of your Stoicheio," he commanded. "Promise me!"

I looked into his steely eyes and realised the anger he'd displayed was not for Isadora's painful predicament, but for the potential agony that could befall me. Theo didn't want me on that couch, compromised, suffering, helpless. And he was furious that I still wanted to try something so reckless, despite witnessing the harrowing results.

With each moment that passed, he made me fall in love with him further. Made me open my heart a fraction more to this Theo. To the man he now was.

I still wanted my old Theo back, but I was quickly losing the desire to hold out for him. Theo in any form was too much for my heart to resist.

"I'll wait until she can communicate," I agreed, and saw the tension slowly seep from his body.

"Promise," he whispered.

I nodded back, my chest feeling tight, my throat constricting, all because he was desperate to protect me.

"I promise," I whispered.

"She may be like this a while," Aktor announced. "We should take turns sitting with her."

"Do you wish to move her to one of the bedrooms?" Mark asked, stepping forward as though he would offer to carry her.

"It might be best," Aktor conceded, standing up from his crouch beside her sofa and looking toward Theo for guidance.

"Let him take her to the one closest to here," Theo instructed. "That way we can hear if anything changes." I think he might have meant, if anything gets worse. But I couldn't see that happening. I was quite sure Isadora was not using her Stoicheio right now.

I was praying that she could, though, as soon as she awoke.

"I'll sit with her first," Mark offered, lifting her rigid body up with the utmost care.

Silence stretched between the men. I'd withdrawn when the argument had finished, making my way over to where Sonya stood, wide eyed, watching the saga unfold.

"Do you think they'll let your brother sit with her?" she whispered.

I shrugged my shoulders, checking out my best friend to make sure she was still in one piece. Not that she'd braved the streets, but nowhere seemed safe right now.

"What's he going to do?" I offered. "Three Pyrkagia in the next room willing to lay down their lives for her."

"Three Pyrkagia without access to their Elements," she very astutely pointed out.

"Neither has he access," I countered.

Her big doe eyes came up to my face and she whispered, so quietly I was sure no one else could hear, "Are you sure?"

The shock of her suggestion immediately made me scowl and then the lies that my brother, along with my grandfather, had told me settled over that visceral anger and made it fizzle out.

"You've been spending too much time with Aktor," I said instead of the myriad of other disjointed thoughts pouring through my head.

In the end the men must have decided along the same lines as Sonya, because Nico accompanied Mark as he left the room with a still unconscious Isadora cradled in his big arms.

"Tea perhaps," Aktor announced, almost to himself, but clearly desperate to be doing something.

"I'll get the biscuits," Sonya advised, jumping to do a task that she was capable of. I was well aware my best friend was determined to make herself useful. Unable to wield a Stoicheio or to see one being used left her feeling the odd man out.

Ironic right now, because she wasn't that different from the rest of us. No Stoicheio wielding going on anywhere.

I leaned back against the table where we'd been standing and stared off across the room into the flames in the hearth. The Alchemists who'd been in CERN could still access the Elements, did that have something to do with the way they accessed them, not being born Ekmetalleftis? Or was it to do with the place itself?

Theo strode over, his eyes wary, his body held in check as though expecting me to throw a wild punch or kick him in the shins. I wasn't that aggressive, was I?

"Are you all right?" he asked, rather formally.

I nodded, a half smile on my face. Better to keep him on his toes.

"What do know about CERN?" I asked, making those eyebrows rise up his forehead again.

"Only what the popular public impression is; one I am sure the Alchemists have manufactured. It could all be a ruse," he offered, recovering swiftly from his surprise. "You don't trust him either, do you?" he asked, softly.

I let a long breath of air out, eyes back on the fire.

"I've learned the hard way how trust can be misplaced."

Aktor dropped a cup, shattering the relative quiet in the room. I noticed his hand shook when he bent to pick up the pieces. I closed my eyes and hung my head. It was clear the butler still carried enormous guilt over what he'd done. But how could he? Sonya stood next to him helping clean up the mess. I have no doubt she wouldn't have been if Aktor hadn't done what needed to be done.

Theo's hands landed on my shoulders, his thumbs rubbing in circles above my collarbones. I opened my eyes and looked up into his face as he kept slowly massaging the stiffness away.

"Congratulations," he murmured. "You're officially an Athanatos. Mistrust being our number one tenet."

My eyelids closed again in sadness at that thought. It was not a way to live.

Theo pulled me closer and then wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pressing my cheek into his chest. He kissed the top of my head, inhaling my scent.

"I wonder," he mused, "if you'll obey the rules of history or just forge on despite precedent."

"I do have a bit of wild streak," I deadpanned.

"Oraia," he purred, ignoring the tongue-in-cheek tone of my words. "You are Fire itself."

God. How could I not love this version of Theo?

How could I have been so lucky to have him fall for me twice?

Chapter Fifteen

Let... Me... In

Isadora hadn't awoken by dinner. Even I was beginning to worry. If she didn't come-to soon, I was going to have to break my promise to Theo. The Moreton Bay Fig Tree had somehow miraculously survived the earthquake, and I knew I'd start my attempts there.

Gi had been the first Element to Awaken, it would be the first I reconnected with.

Dinner was a subdued affair. Without being able to connect to the outside Athanatos world, and with the repetitive and rather inadequate announcements on the Civil Defence radio station, we felt extremely cut off and ineffectual. There was only so much tidying of rubble about the place, stacking of provisions and organising a ration system, that you could do.

By the time the sun set and no further Genesis threat had appeared we all decided we'd hit the sack and get as much sleep as we could, knowing tomorrow could bring another disaster. Theo offered to take first watch, with Aktor moving into Isadora's room to keep an eye on her, and Mark being locked out of either duty altogether.

I was up for third watch, after Nico took over from Theo, so I crawled onto the big mattress, covered myself with the blankets Aktor and Sonya had salvaged, and waited for sleep to arrive.

There was no reason to think my grandfather would appear in a dream visit, I hadn't had another Awakening, but as I finally drifted off to sleep I kept hoping that he would. If he was in CERN, he had access to whatever Element he could steal, and might have an answer for us on how we could reconnect with ours.

I wasn't sure whose side he actually was on. One of the first things told to me when I became a Gi was that the Alchemists were the enemy. Of course, that was laughable when the Pyrkagia and Gi had proven equally as deadly to me. The Aeras not so bad, but quite frightening. I hadn't met a Nero yet, and I wasn't in any hurry.

So, who to trust? I'd chosen to put my faith in Theo. As my Thisavros he was compelled to protect me. Above all else, even his beloved Pyrkagia. Now, he was no longer my Thisavros, and yet I still found myself sure of his loyalty. But my brother, who as family should have gotten an automatic vote? I couldn't decide. And that left me in turmoil.

I knew another Genesis moment was approaching and I felt off centre, powerless, afraid. Not sure if I could trust any advice given by either Mark or Gramps. Not sure we had enough knowledge ourselves to get out of this mess without their aid.

It made for a fitful sleep, and definitely no dream visit. By the time Theo slipped into the bed beside me, in a move that felt more natural than it should have, I hadn't made progress on any front. Still lost. Still unsure. Still scared.

He pulled me close, kissed my forehead, and murmured in a tired voice, "Go back to sleep."

Thankfully with him there the next few hours seemed to be far more restful. When Nico came to wake me for my shift I almost felt whole enough to face Genesis blind, hog-tied and at a definite disadvantage. Almost.

I slipped out from under Theo's arms and legs, catching the smirk on his cousin's lips in the dim light of the candle he held out to me once I was free. We closed the door before he spoke.

"There are fires burning all over the city," he whispered as we walked into the living area. "Some are certainly out of control and no doubt intentionally set. A few have ventured closer in the past hour."

"You think we might have to handle an approaching horde?" I asked.

He snorted. "I'm picturing pitchforks and flaming torches."

Well, I had been.

"I think they'll stay back," he finally said. "Aktor and I placed some traps around the property, but if they get too close, it would be best to wake us all up."

"OK," I agreed.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, eyes scanning my no doubt pale face.

"I've had better adventures."

"Yes," he said softly. "I dare say you've had a few to date."

Silence. He seemed reluctant to go to bed. If Sonya was sharing it, I wondered why he'd delay.

"Has he remembered?" he finally asked and I realised why he wasn't rushing into my best friend's arms. It's hard to get amorous when everything was so upside down and 'round the wrong way.

"No," I murmured.

"But he seems so..."

"Attentive?"

"That's one way to put it. I would have said possessive. Acting like a Thisavros with his mate."

I shook my head. This topic of conversation still hurt so damn much, even with the progress we'd - I'd - made.

"I don't know, Nico. I'm just glad I've got Theo with me at all."

"He's bloody lucky," Nico whispered. "Even if he can't remember why."

"So am I," I ventured. Even if my heart still ached because he didn't remember me at all.

Nico offered a kiss on the cheek and then quietly left the room, leaving me with the candle. I checked the accessways, walked the perimeter of the property, took in the sporadic fires lighting up an unusually dark cityscape from the highest spot I could climb, noting their distances from us for now, and then walked back towards our makeshift home.

Without conscious thought I found myself beside the Moreton Bay Fig Tree, my hand touching the grooved trunk, my eyes following the raised roots. I sat down on one, leaning back against the base of the tree, keeping my eyes on the front of the property where anyone approaching would likely come.

It would have been so easy to reach for Gi and test our connection. The desire to call for it inside my head was so acute. But what if something happened to me, like it did to Dora? I told myself I'd be careful. I told myself I wasn't holding back a blaze for a suspended stretch of time like her. I told myself just one little, tiny attempt couldn't hurt me.

It was wrong. It could be called selfish, because those inside the house were relying on me to stay alert enough to watch over them. But the compulsion was too great, the desperate need to end this, right this, fix this, too consuming to stop me from testing the waters with the tip of my toe.

I sucked in a deep breath of air and whispered aloud, as well as in my head, "Are you there?"

Only echoing silence, which was almost a relief, belying my frantic desire to reconnect.

I dug my fingers into the dirt beside me, between the over large exposed root system of the tree. For a moment I just enjoyed the sensation, the feeling of earth over my fingertips. The smell of the soil as I disturbed it. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, rubbing dirt between my fingers and finding a strange kind of peace.

I'd promise Theo I wouldn't reach for my Stoicheio until Isadora awoke.

I'd promised my Stoicheio they were not alone.

"I'm here," I whispered, not sure if I was projecting my thoughts to Earth or not, just needing it to know I hadn't given up. Just needing to hear me say the words.

The light of dawn found me in the exact same position. I hadn't dozed off, but I certainly hadn't been as alert to my surroundings as I should have. Thankfully the front of the property looked the same, no torch or pitchfork wielding thugs crashing through the now manual front gates.

I rose up to full height and stretched out the kinks in my body, feeling like I had slept a solid night's sleep, despite only being in what I assumed was a meditative state. I did a round of the property, checked the location of the fires that dotted the horizon; none had come close enough to cause worry. As I walked back towards the house I was conscious I'd dodged a bullet. My first watch duty and I had not been at my best.

But nothing could stop the feeling of wellbeing thrumming through me. The lack of exhaustion lifting a ten tonne weight off my shoulders. I practically skipped through the front door and raced down the hallway towards the smell of morning coffee. Aktor already up and about, lighting fires, boiling water and if I knew him, baking bread.

"Morning," I announced, as I walked into the living room. Aktor jumped and spun around from the fire with a surprised smile on his face which slowly turned to an intrigued one.

"Good morning, Miss Eden," he said. "You look like you've had a good rest."

"I have," I declared, grabbing a precious apple from the fruit bowl and taking a bite. "Even though I was on last watch."

Aktor stared at me a minute, then flicked a look towards the open door.

"Cassandra," he started and I stopped chewing because this couldn't be good. "Did you...?"

"Morning," my brother said on a yawn. "Another day in paradise, huh?" he asked, throwing himself into a chair and continuing to yawn.

"Did I what, Aktor?" I asked.

"Nothing, my dear," he said quickly returning to his task.

I watched him for a second and then mentally shrugged my shoulders and crossed the room to sit beside Mark.

"Hey," I said, some of my exuberance diminished at Aktor's strange behaviour.

Mark started chuckling.

"What?" I asked, playing with my apple, but no longer eating it.

"You got some last night, didn't you?" he whispered, leaning forward and offering me a high five.

I stared at his hand and frowned.

"What are you going on about?"

"Sis, you look like a woman well tended."

"Well... what?" I said slowly, beginning to put two and two together.

"So, was he as good as before?" my very obnoxious brother asked. "Or was it your first time all over again?"

"You have got to stop speaking right now," I declared, mortified he'd be discussing this with me.

"In times of war you have to take any chance you can grab for gratification," he declared.

"Stop," I pleaded, trying to cover my ears.

"We could be all dead tomorrow. Live it up, Case," he blithely went on. "If I were you I'd go back for seconds."

"Seconds of what?" Theo's voice asked from the door to the room. I watched as he walked over, bent down as though to kiss me, but instead took a bite of my apple. Which was kind of sitting there doing nothing in mid air by my ear.

Theo fell into the seat beside me, nodding to Aktor and wrapping a casual arm around my shoulders.

"Oh, man," Mark said. His eyes flicking from my face to Theo's. "I guess he really is a prince, huh?"

Oh, good grief. Kill me now.

"Pardon?" Theo asked.

"Well, Casey looks..."

"Stop," I snapped.

"...like she's still floating and you look..."

"Oh, dear freaking God, just stop."

"...like you need to go back to bed and sleep it off. You the man!" my brother concluded, offering another high five.

Silence. You could have heard crickets chirp, if they'd survived the earthquake.

Theo turned bemused eyes towards me, pulling away slightly to get a good look. The bemusement was swiftly replaced with anger and confusion as his gaze scanned my face.

"Tell me you didn't break your promise," he said in an extremely low and ominous voice.

"I didn't break my promise," I replied immediately. A little too quickly for someone meant to be hiding nothing. My efforts earned me a scowl.

"Then why do you look well fed?"

"I.." My mouth fell open as I realised I did feel well fed. I felt like I'd communed with my Stoicheio even though I hadn't communicated with it at all.

"What did you do?" Theo demanded, each word spoken softly and slowly.

All eyes were on me. Even Aktor had stopped breakfast preparations and was watching from his side of the room. Thankfully Nico was with Isadora, and Sonya hadn't risen yet.

"I didn't talk with it," I said, forcing myself to hold Theo's clearly enraged look. "I.." Oh, God. I might as well just come out with it. "I did speak to it. I told it, well it doesn't matter, but I spoke without reaching for it. That's all."

I wanted to say, "I swear," but felt that might have been pushing it right now. I didn't need to profess my innocence that much, even if I felt guilty for considering attempting to reconnect at all.

"That's all?" Theo asked, his body still held immobile, his eyes unfortunately still doubtful. "You look too well fed for that to be all," he added, challenging me.

I never did take well to direct challenges.

"Well," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and offering a glare. "I sat next to the Moreton Bay Fig Tree and played in the dirt, so if that's a crime against your sensibilities, then I'm sorry."

"No, you're not," Mark offered helpfully.

"Yes, I am," I argued. "I'm sorry he's got a stick up his arse and doesn't like me digging in dirt."

A snort sounded out from Aktor, who quickly covered it with the clattering of several plates. Theo silently reached forward and lifted up my hand still holding the apple. His eyes narrowed in on the dirt beneath my nails. Oh, damn it. I should have washed before I walked in here.

"I see you did," he said quietly. His attention slowly came back up to my face. "You look beautiful," he whispered, the anger at me risking myself somehow replaced with male appreciation.

"It felt right," I whispered back. "And I didn't even get a twinge in my head, if I was indeed feeding off Gi. I certainly wasn't aware I was. I just woke up feeling like I'd had the best sleep ever."

"You slept?!" he asked, voice raised.

Oh, freaking hell.

"No." I shook my head. "Nah-uh. I... meditated." I nodded my head. "Yeah, that's it."

"Yeah, that's it?" he repeated in a question. "So," he went on carefully, "you were on watch, but decided to commune with your Stoicheio and zone out for the duration of your shift."

Yeah, basically. "Not at all. I had no idea it was happening."

Oh, boy. Not the right thing to say.

"You had no idea," Theo semi-repeated slowly. "Does that mean you had no idea of what was happening around you?"

"I'd done a round of the property. I checked it again afterwards."

"And how long did this lapse of cognitive abilities last?"

Oh, now I was getting mad at his superior attitude. Even if he had a point.

I slammed the apple down on a low table in front of me and turned fully to glare at the man.

"Everything's fine," I ground out. "I'm fine. You're fine. Every freaking person is fine." I almost said, "I didn't mean to," then remembered how my mother used to lose the plot on that one.

"Everything is not fine!" Theo ground back. "You could have been harmed."

"I wasn't."

"We could have been attacked."

"We weren't."

"You could have accidentally reached for your Stoicheio and be unconscious on a bed."

"I'm not."

"Casey!"

"Theo," a small voice said from the door. We all stood up and spun to face a still pale looking Isadora, who was at least on her feet, but leaning heavily on Nico and Sonya.

For Dora to display that much weakness was truly unheard of. She must have forced herself out of bed when she heard us arguing, just to rub it in.

I held my breath.

"You're missing the point, Theodoros," she added.

"Isadora," Theo said, taking a step out from behind the couch in order to approach her. I felt abandoned, so soon after our argument; his immediate desire to go to her side hurt. Even if the poor woman looked like she could use a helping hand. I wasn't feeling charitable what with my guilt and Theo's temper and, well, every-freaking-thing.

Isadora held up a hand to stop him.

"You're missing the point," she repeated.

"And the point is?" he asked in that regal tone he sometimes uses when someone pisses him off. I was unsure if it was still me, or if Dora was now the target.

"The point is, that Casey was able to commune at all."

Theo turned slowly to look back at me. I had no idea what he saw from the implacable mask on his face.

"She is well fed, no?" Isadora went on. "We all need to commune."

My eyes darted to hers, she held my gaze with an equally impassive - and completely hazel - one as Theo's. She wasn't siding with me. She was acting as the soldier she had been trained to be. Our survival relied on communion with our Stoicheio. We'd grow weak without it. Isadora was making sure that didn't happen. For everyone.

"If it works, it could make us stronger," Theo conceded. "So be it." Agreeing because we wouldn't be reaching, just communing.

"The Prince has spoken," Mark muttered to the side, but no one listened.

As Aktor rushed over to prepare a puffed up seat for Isadora to sit on, Theo held out a hand for me to take. I stared at it for a second, as everyone else's attention was on the recovered - well, at least conscious and officious - Isadora, unsure if grasping it was a good idea.

"Humour me," he murmured, clearly not fully recovered from his latest over-protection jag.

I slipped my hand reluctantly into his larger one and let him lead me from the room. He stopped just down the hall, by the modified front entrance we now used.

Turning to me he said, "Don't do that to me again."

What? "I didn't do anything to you," I pointed out.

"You scared me half to death."

"Theo," I said frustratingly. "You've got to stop this... this possessive lark you're on."

He blinked down at me. "I cannot."

"Of course you can. You're not my Thisavros."

In an instant he had a hand wrapped around the back of my neck and my chest pressed up to his, another hand firmly placed in the middle of my back to still me.

"Stop fighting this," he growled.

"I'm not fighting anything," I argued, struggling to get out of his grip. It was useless. He held fast.

"Cassandra," Theo pleaded. "Oraia," he added. "You know as well as I that you are mine."

I stilled, lifted my face to his, and held his intense stare. It was almost like looking at my Theo. The old Theo. The recognition I saw there.

Was I fighting this?

He'd proven he'd fallen for me. He'd proven he was prepared to take me as his Thisavros even if he couldn't remember having done this all before. He made me melt; desire and want and need thrumming through to my core.

What was I afraid of?

"Casey," he whispered. "Let... me... in."

Chapter Sixteen

So, What You're Saying Is... What Exactly?

I'm not sure why it was so difficult. Not only had Theo fallen for me all over again, but I had fallen for this Theo. But strangely, bizarrely, I felt like I was betraying the old Theo if I gave in. A notion that made absolutely no sense at all.

With everything that was going on, it felt like one issue too many for me to cope with. I'd survived so much, but I was sure I would not survive this. This feeling of utter confusion where Theo was concerned.

We walked silently back into the living area, Theo allowing me one last chance not to answer. I knew he'd push for more soon. He was as desperate as me, but for entirely different reasons. For now, the need to check on Isadora and see whether she actually could reach her Stoicheio was more important than dealing with this hurdle that seemed to stand between me and him.

Even Theo knew there were more pressing matters. Or he just assumed we'd work it out in due course.

I'm not sure his faith was big enough for the both of us, but it helped. That certainty he had that I was his, that the Thisavros connection would come back. That we would fix this.

I think he was more certain of that than of our ability to reconnect with our Stoicheio and fix the world.

"How are you?" Theo asked Dora, once we'd joined the others at the table. Isadora sat closest to the fire in the hearth, turned sideways to the table, staring into the flames while she ate sparingly from a plate set before her. Her eyes weren't glowing gold.

The disappointment was numbing.

"I am still cut-off," came her reply, as though she'd expected the question, maybe even fielded it already with the others, and was just saving time.

"Are you still in pain?" Theo pressed, not even commenting on the fact that it had all been in vain.

Well, for her Pyrkagia, but not for the children she'd help save.

"No, just tired." And she sounded it. She sounded almost depressed. Which was not something I was used to seeing in Isadora.

Theo nodded in way of acknowledgement and then said to the rest of the room, surprising me that he offered it up for discussion at all, "We need to decide if we attempt this again."

Dora snorted, some of her old attitude returning.

"I wouldn't recommend it," she advised.

"You wish to give up?" Mark asked, his choice of words carefully chosen. Having only just met Isadora recently, he had her number all right.

"It's not a matter of giving up," Theo argued for her. "It's a matter of putting our efforts where they are best served. And if trying to reconnect is harmful and produces no result to speak of, then we should try for a different goal."

"Refuelling," Nico said. "First and foremost that is our imperative."

"I agree," Theo added. "We concentrate on making us look as good as Casey." All eyes flicked towards me. Isadora sneered. "The rest will follow as it will," Theo concluded.

I understood why they felt this way. And hell, one look at Dora and I wanted to cringe. But it felt like we were giving up. I hated giving up on anything.

Which was why I was still holding out for Theo to remember me, I guess.

I sighed and played with my food, not offering a comment or objection, letting them all turn the conversation towards more pleasant topics, like sitting in front of a fire all day.

"You got nothing to say?" Mark whispered beside me.

"What is there to say?" I countered, nibbling on a piece of home made bread.

"Oh, I don't know. How about something along the lines of the speech you gave yesterday."

"Which one?"

"Well, yeah, you did go off on a rant a couple of times," Mark agreed. "But I meant the one about not giving up."

"I haven't given up."

"So, does that mean you're going to try to reconnect behind lover-boy's back?"

I glanced sideways to determine that "lover-boy" wasn't listening in. He was deep in conversation with Nico.

"I promised I wouldn't," I said quietly back to Mark.

"No, sister," he argued. "You promised you wouldn't try until Isadora was conscious again. Am I right?"

"What are you?" I demanded. "A mole sent to rile everyone up? Is that how the Alchemists fight their battles now?"

He barked out a laugh, which garnered a little too much attention in the form of Isadora watching silently from the other side of the table. I willed her to go back to the fire, but she didn't. My mental powers of persuasion were clearly not up to scratch.

"Good call. A joker spy. I could so carry that off," he exclaimed.

I smiled despite myself.

"Listen," he said leaning in. "I'm going to give it a try, even if you guys aren't. But I'm also not fucking mental. I need someone to spot me. You in?"

Guilty by association, that's what it would make me.

But not guilty of doing anything to make Theo as scared as he was this morning.

"OK," I said, swallowing my bite of buttered bread. "I'm in."

"Now that's the Casey Eden I know," my brother remarked. "Meet me by the Moreton Bay in fifteen. I'm going to work on Water for now."

He finished his coffee and got up from the table, taking his empty dishes to the bucket Aktor had been using as a sink. The fact he'd done it at all was a dead giveaway something was up. But only Isadora noticed and she was still too weak to do anything about it.

I slowly finished my meal, aware her eyes were pinning me to my chair. When I was done I repeated Mark's actions, taking my dishes to the sink, but whereas he looked out of place doing that, I didn't.

"I'm using the wash house," I announced, something we'd had to establish to make sure we weren't disturbed while we cleaned ourselves up. Theo's eyes came to my face and I knew what he was thinking, but as the process required buckets of cold water, unless you bothered to heat them over the fire, it was hardly the fantasy of a shared shower I saw in his eyes.

I smirked, nonetheless. He rolled his eyes, but let me leave unmolested.

I did clean up, inordinately relieved that Aktor had dug out my clothing for me to wear and I could slip into clean jeans and a t-shirt with actual fitting underwear. I felt almost normal again. If it wasn't for the fact the toilet was one of those camping ones and the water wasn't running through a tap.

By the time I was finished fifteen minutes had passed since Mark had left. I slipped out of the makeshift bathroom and walked around the front of the house outside, finding him waiting under the Moreton Bay Fig Tree as planned.

"Still raining," he commented, not looking down from the drops falling off the leaves over his head. "I really want to be able to avoid this shit again. I miss it."

"How do you walk through rain and not get wet?" I asked.

"Easy. Just think dry thoughts."

"Yeah, that explains it."

"Well, how do you make tree roots rise up from the ground?"

"I ask the Earth."

"Huh. What about Air? For me I just picture what I want it to do."

"Same."

"And Fire?"

"You gonna write this all down and take it back to CERN?"

It had just slipped out. I hadn't really been thinking that. Had I?

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Nah, I understand," he said, shuffling on his feet. "And I've never been to CERN."

My eyes flicked up to his face. He was looking down at the ground where he kicked at a root of the tree, hands deep inside his pockets.

"Stop hurting it," I instructed, absently. My attention too focused on his despondent look.

"How do you know it hurts?"

"I can feel it." His head snapped up at that.

"Really. Like I'm kicking you?"

"Kind of," I said with a shrug.

"Is that normal? For all Ekmetalleftis?"

"I have no idea, actually," I admitted.

"Huh," he said, looking out into the rain.

"What did you mean you've never been to CERN?" I asked, putting us back on track.

"Gramps made sure I was trained off site. He has this irrational fear that if you enter CERN they can track you anywhere in the world. Something to do with particles and atoms and God, I don't know what."

"Like a tracer?"

"No, I think it's more ethereal than that."

"What the freaking hell does that mean?"

"Not of this world."

I didn't know what to say about that.

"O...K," I managed.

"Anyway, Gramps didn't want that for me. He trained me mainly himself, when he could get away, and when that became impossible, he did it remotely."

"Why did it become impossible for him to get away?"

Mark looked at me for the first time in a long while. "Because they suspected him of espionage."

"Spying?"

"That's what espionage means, Case."

"Smart-arse," I accused, good naturedly. Somehow it was getting easier to talk to Mark again. Almost, but not quite, like old times. "But why did they think he was spying?"

"Because he was."

I let out a short, sharp breath of air and sank to the ground, resting on an exposed root.

"Start from the beginning," I demanded.

"OK," he offered with a sigh as he too sank down onto a root. "He started to question their objectives when it became apparent you were going to be the next Aether."

"When did they find that out?"

"About the time Gramps faked his death. One of the seers, the star gazers," he explained at my confused look, "told Gramps. The scroll was on its way to the leaders and Gramps intercepted it. He knew they'd want to bring you to CERN straight away."

"Why didn't that happen?"

"Because Gramps led them on a merry chase. Gave them another name and killed the seer."

There have been moments when my life has taken a completely different turn, jumped tracks, crashed through stop signs and sped uncontrollably down an on-ramp. None of them felt as bad as this.

"Holy freaking hell," I whispered.

"Gramps didn't want you to know," Mark whispered back.

"Why ever not? This paints him in a trustworthy light."

Mark snorted. "Well, that was before we knew you'd grown a backbone and taken on more Athanatos character traits than we'd realised."

I blinked slowly at the look of amusement on his face.

"The old you would have baulked at him killing someone," he explained. "The new you just sees it as a means to confirm his reliability."

"Oh."

"Don't knock it, sister," he quipped. "You're going to need that backbone in the times to come."

I shook my head, trying to work through it all.

"Hold on," I started, snagging on a little interesting detail. "You said the Alchemists were the good guys. That doesn't fit with this scenario." Or the one where the Fire talking Alchemist back in the Amazon forest told Noah the doctor harming me was for the greater good.

Mark scratched at the back of his head.

"Yeah, well, it's complicated."

"I'm a smart girl, I'm sure I can follow," I pointed out.

He huffed a laugh and leaned back against the tree trunk, getting comfortable.

"Ah, hell," he burst out softly. "I'm flying blind here as it is. Why not?" I waited. "What have the Athanatos told you of Aether?"

"We're all pretty much in the dark. We just know an Aether comes along at a time of great need. We've figured out that it's in a time of Elemental imbalance."

Mark looked at the destruction evident just in our little piece of the world. "You could say that," he agreed. "Have they told you about any Aether from the past?"

"No. Just that there had been. One chosen from an Ekmetalleftis already born."

Mark nodded, but I don't think it was in agreement. It just didn't have that type of conviction to it. Seemed more a movement for the sake of moving and nothing else.

"What do you know?" I asked, when he didn't say anything.

"Well," he said, lifting his face to the raindrops again, as though he couldn't help himself. "I know that an Alchemist has been one before."

My mouth fell open.

"No way!" I breathed out.

"Yes way," came his typical reply. "A very long time ago when Alchemists and Athanatos worked together."

"They didn't work with the Athanatos, they took whatever knowledge they could get and then abused it."

"Some did, yeah," Mark conceded. "And then things kind of went downhill. But at one stage the Alchemists worshipped Aetheros."

"That's bullshit," I exclaimed. "They worshipped the power they could get from the Elements. Furthering their own kind at the detriment of the Ekmetalleftis."

"Look," Mark said, breaking into my tirade. "There are two sides to every story, right? Mistakes were made by everyone concerned, but what I do know, is that at some time in the past we were all one happy family. The Athanatos: The children of Aetheros. The Alchemists: The followers of Aetheros' religion."

"How do you know it's true? It could all be Alchemist propaganda."

"How do you know what the Athanatos think is not a form of brainwashing by their elders?" he shot back.

And oh, there was a ring of truth to those words. Hadn't Aktor said, when we first learned that I was an Aether, that their education was incomplete? Potentially done on purpose by the council members.

I stared out into the rain and let that thought sink in. I didn't like the feel of it.

"So, what you're saying is... what exactly?" I finally asked.

Mark held his hand out and started catching raindrops in his cupped palm.

"What I'm saying, Case, is there was a time when Alchemists served the Athanatos because they believed them to be the children of a god."

"They are the children of a god," I whispered, as the water started to dance in his hand. I couldn't tell if that was just the force with which it fell, or if he was attempting to reach the Stoicheio he normally could tap into.

"Yes," he replied steadily. "Just like the Alchemists were once followers of Aetheros. And part of their role was to record history, preserve it, and when it repeated itself be there to guide the Athanatos to the other side."

"Alchemists are some sort of religious guides?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Without which the Ekmetalleftis will not be able to ride out this storm, this new Genesis and whatever else comes," Mark concluded.

Then his eyes flashed briefly ice blue, immediately paling, as he collapsed to the ground, frothing at the mouth and gurgling through a torrent of water as it poured out between his bluing lips.

Chapter Seventeen

I Don't Suppose You Can Pretend We're On A Desert Island And It's Just The Two Of Us, Could You?

I screamed. It was instinctive. A loud, high-pitched, frightened call for help. And then my body kicked into gear. Turning Mark onto his side, slapping his back in an effort to get the water that was drowning him out of his lungs. It poured out over the dirt between the raised roots, pooling in an ominous puddle before his slack mouth.

"What happened?" Theo shouted as he ran from the new front door towards where I worked on Mark. Nico hot on his trail.

My eyes flicked back to the limp form before me, not bothering to waste time answering Theo. The water had stopped flowing, but my brother wasn't breathing.

Unlike an Athanatos an Alchemist is still human, just a little hardier, a little longer lived, and able to steal Elements from time to time. I was sure without breathing, though, he would die.

I checked for a pulse, thankfully finding a thready one in his neck, and leaned down to offer mouth-to-mouth.

"Bloody hell," Theo exclaimed when he saw what I was doing and realised what exactly was going on. He fell to his knees opposite as Nico stood above us and watched on.

"Check his chest," Nico suggested after several fraught moments.

I pulled back and waited to see if Mark's chest inflated. It took only a second, but it felt like a lifetime. A shallow indrawn breath.

"Thank God," I said, falling back on my butt utterly shaken.

"Let's get him inside," Theo suggested, moving to take his shoulders as Nico gripped Mark's legs. "And you had better be ready to explain yourselves," he shot at me over Mark's still unconscious body, determination and anger mixing with disappointment and concern.

It was a strange combination of emotions to see across his handsome face, because although the anger should have been the one I most hated, it was the disappointment that really made me feel like crap.

I followed behind them, past a frantic Sonya and worried looking Aktor, towards the room Isadora had just vacated. I watched from the far side of the space as Theo and Nico placed my brother down on the mattress, and then Nico escaped out of the door without making any eye contact.

Leaving me alone with an irate Athanatos.

"OK," Theo said softly, deadly softly. "Explain."

My eyes stayed glued to Mark's chest, watching it rise and fall rhythmically, deeper now than before. I couldn't look Theo in the face. I hadn't broken my promise. I hadn't. But somehow I'd scared him half to death anyway.

"Mark wanted to reach Water," I said in a whisper, my voice cracking slightly at the thought of my brother drowning.

My knees suddenly gave out and I only just made it a chair in the corner of the room before collapsing. Theo remained where he stood, watching impassively from beside Mark's silent form. There'd be no brotherly intervention to protect me from Theo's rage this time.

I hadn't realised how normal that had felt. Mark and me against the world, like it had been growing up.

"It almost killed him," I said through trembling lips. "A Stoicheio he'd used before turned against him." I couldn't get my head around it.

"Do you realise now why I didn't want you doing this?" Theo asked quietly.

I nodded, unable to voice a reply.

Theo sighed but still didn't approach. "Cassandra, I understand your desire to reconnect, we all feel it. But the consequences are too grave."

"I know that now," I mumbled.

"But it had to take your brother being harmed for that to happen. You couldn't see what had transpired with Isadora and leave it there. You had to keep pushing."

"I get it," I offered, numbly.

"You're an intelligent woman," Theo went on, and I realised he might be on a rant himself. I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes, but I could only see Mark drowning behind my lids. "I can't comprehend why you insist on being so stubborn. Any other sane person would have taken one look at Isadora and realised the futility of what you and Mark just did."

"I realise it now," I murmured, feeling lost and alone and impotent.

"You insist on doing things your own way," Theo continued, ignoring my utter capitulation in this. "You forget we have far more experience, have lived far longer, and therefore, more often than not, have seen it all before. Yet you refuse to take our direction."

"Have you seen this?" I asked. He wasn't listening.

"I have a right mind to tie you to our bed," - and he wasn't talking in a kinky way here - "keep you safe and away from danger, but you'd probably try to set the binds on fire or get a tree root to bust you out of prison."

I groaned. He ignored that too.

"But you know what really upsets me?" he said, voice whisper quiet all of a sudden.

My eyes opened to see where he was, the volume had made it difficult to tell if he had moved closer or not. He hadn't, he was looking down at my still out of it brother, a contemplative and resigned look on his face.

"I actually admire your spirit," he added. "I feel drawn to your resolve. I am inexplicably curious to see what you'll do next. You make me feel so very young again. And it's an addiction I know I have already succumbed to. But at the same time I have never been so frightened in all my vast years to be attracted to a woman before. This need, it is beyond normal, it is definitely not what I would call healthy. I can't explain it, I just know that I would die if you did. And I would lay down my life to save yours."

His eyes finally came up to hold my gaze, intense hazel stared back at me. The look one I would have normally expected to see in gold. His hunger as potent as when he could reach Fire.

"I may not remember our past," he whispered in an emotion-laden rough voice. "I may not remember making you my Thisavros. But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you are. What I feel is so foreign, yet so right. And it is a part of me, deep down, that even memory loss cannot erase. You are mine, Casey Eden. Before Pyrkagia. During Pyrkagia. And now after Pyrkagia, you still remain mine."

I saw the truth, right there, on his stoic face, in his pleading eyes, resounding in every rasped word he spoke. Just as our Stoicheio were still there, but somehow cut off to us, our Thisavros connection was still there as well. Just cut off to us. I didn't have an answer on how to reach either, I just knew that we hadn't lost them. They hadn't been stolen or given away. They still existed.

Isadora's efforts were proof of that.

We just had to believe we'd reach them and we would.

"Do you have nothing to say?" Theo asked, his entire frame held rigid.

I looked from his tense waiting face to my brother's relaxed unconscious one, and knew no matter what, I'd be trying again. Maybe not quite so recklessly, I'd have to think of something to soften the throwback of attempting to reach a Stoicheio, but I would do it again.

Theo had got one thing very, very right. I was resolved to fix this.

But he'd also hit the nail on the head of another valid point. No matter what had happened, or would happen, we were Thisavros, even when we weren't.

I let a long breath of air out and pushed up from my chair, relieved my legs held my weight. Theo kept his eyes on mine as I slowly approached, looking a little like a man about to be punched in the stomach. I could tell he was holding himself taut, muscles flexed but tightly controlled, breaths all but disappeared. I think he might have even started sweating, but I was too busy drowning in the hazel that should have been gold.

I stopped just before him, head tipped back so I could look him in the face, my chest rising and falling steadily, even though it felt like I was sucking in desperate gulps of air.

"I have loved you since the moment you walked into my store," I said softly, my voice only slightly warbling. "I loved you still when you threatened to take my head." His lips twitched. "I loved you when your father held a knife to my throat and you risked your life in more ways than one to fight him for me." The lips turned down in a frown. "I loved you," I had to take a breath then, before I could go on, "when I thought you'd died trying to keep me from the Gi."

Pain flared in his eyes, mirroring mine.

"I continued to love you when you were thought dead," I pushed on. "It was all that got me through the Gi torture. I kept loving you when we were on the run from the Basilissa. I loved you more when we faced the Aeras shaman and found out just what might be in store. I loved you, completely, utterly, when we faced your father and thought Aktor had betrayed us, and you stayed so strong. I loved you throughout my time on that table in the Rigas' lab."

"Casey," he whispered, voice broken.

"I loved you then. I love you still. And even when you couldn't remember me, you no longer loved me, I loved you enough for both of us."

"Oraia," he breathed, swaying slightly as though he longed to reach out. But Theo was leaving this entirely up to me. My move. My decision. He stood tall and waited for me to reach for him.

"I can't stop loving you," I whispered, tears filling my eyes. "But I also can't stop trying to fix what is wrong in this world." His eyelids closed and his head tipped back, face to the ceiling, his chest rising and falling abruptly. "I'm not sure if this is just the person I am, or if it is some sort of compulsion tied in to being Aether. But this is who I am now."

His head tipped down and there was such pain and heartache and fear in his eyes it almost made me take the words back, reach out and soothe him, tell him I'd tie myself to the bed, just to stop seeing that haunted look on his face.

"I'm telling you," I croaked, "that I love you, no matter what. From the beginning. Through any hell we have to traverse. Until the end of time."

His lips parted as a panted breath of air escaped. I reached up and held a finger to them, before he said whatever he was preparing to say.

"I'm asking you to do the same for me," I whispered, the words barely audible now, my throat constricted with emotion to such a degree, I could barely talk. "No matter what hell we have to traverse until the end of time."

That was it. I was done. A hitched and painful sound left my lips as my body shook and the tears fell down my face. I couldn't do this alone. And I'd realised I couldn't do this without him. But I had to do it. If he asked me to pick him over this battle stretching out indefinitely before us, I'm not entirely sure what my answer would be.

I just prayed it wasn't a question he asked of me. I just prayed he loved me no matter what.

"My sweet, sweet little Gi," he rasped, husky and sexy even if it was from the type of emotion that did not lead to those illicit thoughts. "Don't you realise," he added. "I have loved you even when I couldn't remember you. I've loved through my own type of hell. And I will love you for eternity."

"Even if I do monumentally stupid and dangerous things against all reasonable Athanatos advice?"

He started chuckling, a rumble emerging from his chest.

"Especially then."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Does that mean you'll help me?" I needed him. There was no denying it now. I needed him with me if I was going to do this.

"Aetheros," he breathed. "You drive me crazy. You make me feel emotions I haven't felt before. Good, bad, frightful, alarming. You never stop pushing for more and I will never stop giving it to you."

"Ah, was that a yes?"

"Yes, it's a yes," he growled, finally reaching across that last distance between us and hauling me into his arms. His lips smashed down onto mine, his hand fisted in my hair tipping my head at exactly the right angle, his tongue delved in and took control, directing me, feeding me, lighting me on fire.

Then against my mouth, when he had me at his complete and utter mercy, he whispered, "But, you will promise me you will do these monumentally stupid and dangerous things only with me at your side."

He pulled back and looked down into my eyes, daring me to argue.

Silly man. That's exactly what I'd been after all along.

"I promise," I whispered in reply.

"Why is it I think you had this all planned?" he muttered.

"Maybe because you're a very astute Athanatos who has, more often than not, seen it all before."

"Oraia," he drawled. "You took me completely by surprise and continue to do so every single day."

"And don't you forget it," I shot back. "I wouldn't want you to get bored in your old age."

"Oh, my old age, is it? Well, in that case allow me to demonstrate my youthful prowess." His face fell into the curve of my neck and shoulder, his lips tickling me enough to make me laugh. Then he walked me back towards the wall beside the fireplace and penned me in with his hands up beside my head and his body pressed against me and his lips and tongue sending me into another dimension and making me forget completely where we were.

"Mmm," he purred against me. "Convinced yet?"

"No," I breathed as his lips dipped lower and my t-shirt collar stretched as he moved his attention to the upper curve of my breast.

"Yet?" he breathed, licking a trail up my cleavage.

"Ah," I managed as his hips rocked against my centre and I melted against the wall.

"How about now?"

"Um." My leg somehow found its way around his hip, my centre seeking more delicious friction as I arched my back and rubbed when he thrust, making more unintelligible sounds emerge from my lips.

"Casey," Theo pleaded.

Yes. Yes, it was time. I needed this. We needed this. Despite everything we'd been through, despite everyone who had come against us, despite a world on the brink of annihilation, I was still his and he was still mine. And I wanted what was mine now.

"Yes," I breathed. "Please," I begged.

Theo made a sexy growling sound as his hands finally moved from their position beside my head, flat against the wall, and shifted to my rear, lifting me up and wrapping both legs around his waist, as he rocked forward, his teeth nibbling at my nipple through my t-shirt, making me throw my head back, my body quake, and my breaths to come in little pants.

"Theo," I begged.

"Yes," he agreed, sounding as on edge as me. "I've got you. I'll take care of you. Oh, Oraia, I need this."

We both did. It was time.

"Now," I demanded as his hand went to the buttons on my jeans and he deftly undid them and pulled the zip down.

"Aetheros," he breathed against my lips, kissing me passionately, putting everything into the moment to show me how much he wanted me, how much he was going to give me, how good it was going to be.

He pulled back only long enough to kiss my cheeks, my jaw, my throat and begin to pull my jeans and underwear down.

I could feel him straining in his trousers, feel the hot, hard ridge of his erection just there. Feel the heat flow off his body, feel the trembling in his fingers. I could scent his arousal. I could hear his harsh gasps for air. I could see his determination and the lust and love that showed in his eyes.

It consumed me. Filled me. And he hadn't even entered me yet. But I knew if he didn't I would surely die.

"Mine," he rasped against my shoulder while unfastening his trousers.

"Mine," I breathed back making him growl in satisfaction.

A part of me hoped that this would do it. This would bring our Thisavros connection back. A part of me I didn't want to assess too deeply. Didn't want to trust too deeply. But couldn't help feeling in any case.

I felt him free himself, my hand darting down immediately and wrapping around his hard silken length, as though called there, unable to stop myself, needing that tactile connection, when the spiritual one may let me down.

"Casey," Theo groaned rocking his hips. "Now," he begged, still rocking.

"Yeah, now would be a good time to find your own room," my brother drawled from over on the mattress. "That's my sister you're about to..."

"Don't finish that sentence if you wish to survive," Theo barked out, his entire body statue still, shielding me from view, but I still felt way too exposed just then.

I closed my eyes, removed my hand from a certain part of Theo's naked anatomy, my body shaking, my heart pounding, my face flushed bright red.

"And if you don't mind," Theo added. "I think we will."

And then he lifted me off the wall, making sure I was suitably covered, and stormed out of Mark's bedroom and down the hall to the one we'd been sharing. Thunder and lightning in his intent gaze, a palpable feeling of pending explosion rolling off his body. His intention very, very clear.

I held my breath and waited for him to kick the door closed behind us and lower me to the bed before I spoke.

"Now the whole house will know what we're doing," I whispered as he hovered over me, frustration and longing on his face.

"Bloody fucking hell," he muttered and then collapsed down the side of me and covered his face with the back of his forearm. "I don't suppose you can pretend we're on a desert island and it's just the two of us, could you?" he asked, hopefully.

I let out my own frustrated breath of air, and said, "Want to go for a drive?"

His head turned towards me and he slowly smiled.

"No reason to stay here," he murmured. "Your brother is clearly recovered. The others are resting near their Stoicheio. It would be wise to see what's happening in the city, from a purely strategic and overall safety point of view."

"Absolutely," I agreed, wholeheartedly.

He jumped up off the bed displaying his youthful prowess beautifully and announced, "I'll bring the car around the front, you bring the blanket."

And then practically ran out of the room, that same thunder and lightning in his focused gaze, but now mixed with a little hope and excitement.

I just prayed it wasn't Genesis' turn to cock-block us this time. Mark had managed to do an excellent job, I'm not sure we'd survive the interruption of the End of Days as well.

My brother was bad enough.

Chapter Eighteen

And In The End None Of It Mattered

The tension in the SUV was thick and electric. I was momentarily relieved not to have our Stoicheio able to join in the fun right now. Had Pyrkagia been available to draw on, I was sure the temperature inside the vehicle would have surpassed the hot of right now and exploded into blistering.

To take my mind off the impending and much wanted upcoming activities, and the logistics of actually finding a safe place to carry them out, I focused on the roadways and buildings and people we passed. In the short amount of time since the earthquake, the humans had rallied. An organisation of sorts was noticeable on the streets.

Big blue porta-loos dotted the cracked pavement, large piles of rubble were being added to with wheelbarrow loads from nearby properties. A truck stood at the intersection of the roads at the end of our street, on it large clear flagons of water being handed out along with plastic wrapped care-parcels full of foodstuffs and survival essentials.

The earthquake in Christchurch a few years back had certainly put a rocket up the Civil Defence's backsides, their rapid response to this disaster was commendable. But they didn't know this wasn't the end. And there was no point warning them.

Of course the doomsday preacher on the end of another street, standing on an upturned wooden box and yelling at the top of his lungs about God's fury and the penance of mankind was a foreshadowing. Just the wrong god and wrong crimes to be paid for. I'm sure the balance of the Elements had nothing to do with greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony or wrath.

We made our way through the upheaval and evidence of humanity's desire to survive, and wended up the curved road of Mount Victoria, coming to rest in a thankfully abandoned carpark. The clean-up of the city's streets having not made it this far, some off-roading had to be undertaken just to reach the summit.

The cooling tick of the engine filled the space as we looked out across Wellington and its harbour. From here we had a panoramic view of the entire city, covered in a haze of smoke from open fires, mired in a pall of broken civilisation and cloaked in an elevated level of fear. They may not have known more was to come, but the humans knew this was a disaster on a scale never witnessed globally before. It wasn't natural, even though it appeared to have taken form in a natural way. Earthquakes, the earth's unspoken temper tantrums.

"Come on," Theo encouraged, opening his side of the car and pulling the blanket out after him, and a little soft sided chilli-bin I hadn't noticed he'd had stored on the back seat until then. I followed to where he took his time laying the woollen rug out, in a spot of still intact grass just beyond the tarseal of the carpark.

It was too open for my liking, but no one was around to see. Too busy picking up the remnants of their lives down in the shattered city beneath us. And there was something about this place. If God had always appeared to live in a heaven in the sky, Aetheros existed around us. On the highest available peak in our newly adopted town.

Theo held out his hand and I didn't hesitate to grip it, letting him guide me onto the blanket beside him. We had a spectacular view of utter mayhem. Somehow it fitted the mood.

He began rummaging in the chilli-bin, pulling out a bottle of wine and two glasses and a Tupperware container full of Aktor-style cheese and crackers, fruit and nuts. My eyes welled and I glanced up at Theo's face.

"Aktor?"

"I do have a romantic streak, you know," he deadpanned. Then added, "He thought you might have forgotten to eat lunch."

"I didn't forget," I whispered. I'd just been too busy caring for my brother and getting hot and heavy with my Thisavros.

Theo smiled, clearly seeing where my thoughts had gone. He opened the bottle and poured two glasses, offering me one when he was done.

"Here's to Aktor storing our wine in an earthquake proof cellar," he toasted.

I had to smile at that.

"At least we have the essentials," I offered taking a sip and letting the alcohol seep into my body.

We drank and ate in silence watching a world try futilely to right itself.

"They're resilient, aren't they?" Theo commented, watching the orange flashing lights of earthmoving equipment intermingled with the reflective jerkins on the police and army alike.

"You've really never seen anything like this before?"

"What? Humanity's ability to fight back against the odds? All the time. I just never had to see them do so against such insurmountable ones."

"Why did Aetheros abandon us?" I asked, staring into my wine, unable to look the devastation before me in the eyes as I asked that. Feeling responsible for the heartache below on those streets, just by being associated with the Athanatos.

Theo placed his wine down on a flat bit of ground beside him and lay back on the blanket, staring up at the clouds. At least it had stopped raining, as though even the heavens had cried themselves out.

"We abandoned him," Theo corrected.

"But why?"

"We became complacent, too full of our own self-importance. Too sure of our place in the world. We entertained the notion that we were god-like. That we no longer needed to follow the sometimes strict teachings of a real god."

"How did the Alchemists fit into your belief at that time?" I asked.

"Come here," he urged, holding out his arm from me to lie down beside him. I placed my wine glass down safely and crawled into his embrace, looking up at the clouds while he talked.

"I told you we gave the humans access to our history as payment for feeding us for so long," he started. "Even though they were not aware that Pyrkagia fed off humans at that stage. But it had been a long time since we had heard from our god, we were careless. Fearless. There were those elders who cautioned against our fraternisation with humans. They never gave reasons, just dire predictions of all that could go wrong. When it did, no one bothered to question their guidance again."

He fell silent, his fingers slowly running through my hair as though to soothe him as well as me, as we stared up into the heavens. The elders had known. Probably still did, or the passing of time had helped dim their memories. But they'd known. Back then when the Alchemists returned and the Pyrkagia felt guilt enough to allow them access to their history as payment. They'd known.

"Mark said that the Alchemists and Athanatos once worked together," I offered and Theo's soothing touch stilled.

"What else did he say?"

"That the Alchemists worshipped Aetheros."

Theo let out a disgruntled snort.

"That their role was to record history and guide the Athanatos through times of peril, such as..."

"Genesis," Theo completed for me.

I nodded. "I guess that could be why they know so much more than us about what's happening."

"You believe that?" Or did he mean, you believe Mark?

I shrugged against his arm as it wrapped around my shoulders.

"I honestly don't know anymore. Trust earned can be so easily broken, but I do know right now that we've nothing to work with. No knowledge or experience to lead the way. We're flying blind, rudderless, and incapacitated at the same time, and if what he says is true, the Alchemists are not."

"Know thy enemy," Theo murmured, quoting Sun Tzu. "We need to question him, even if we can't wholly trust him, we need to know what he knows."

I nodded. "You're not going to like it."

He groaned and rolled over until he was looking down into my face. "Tell me," he instructed softly, clearly resigned to his dislike already.

His fingers delved into my hair again, at the side of my temples, brushing it away from my cheeks as though he couldn't stop touching me, needed to keep touching me, wasn't ever going to let me go again.

I liked it.

I needed it.

It felt so very right.

"He told me Gramps faked his death when their seers discovered I was to be the next Aether."

"To protect you," Theo surmised, figuring it out faster than I had.

I nodded. "He killed the seer and gave them a false name to follow. Eventually they found out the truth, though, and now he's trapped in CERN."

Theo looked intently at me. I didn't think I had any particular expression on my face. I couldn't put into words even what I was thinking or feeling right then. But he could.

"You are not mounting a rescue mission to save your grandfather," he declared.

I hadn't realised until then, that thought had indeed been in the back of my mind. But now voiced, it took root and rapidly grew, overtaking all other reasoning, stealing into the depths of my psyche, wrapping sticky tendrils around my mind.

"Cassandra," Theo pressed. "We are without Stoicheio, cut off from any support, facing an additional Genesis disaster, it is impossible right now."

Well, it was impossible. I'd give him that.

"Life's a little complicated to storm the Alchemist fortress, huh?" I hedged.

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"You vex me, sometimes, you really do," he muttered.

"So, first things first," I said brightly, trying to steer the conversation towards happier ground. "Attempt to commune with our Stoicheio and commune with each other." I was sure my smile was wicked.

His eyes opened and hungry hazel stared down at me.

"Now, there's a plan I can get on board with," he quipped. Then proceeded to nuzzle the skin behind my ear.

"Of course," I added, my mind not willing to let go of a damn thing right now. "We do need to establish which side the Alchemists are on."

Theo groaned and slowly pulled his head back.

"What did your brother say they wanted with you which forced your grandfather to fake his death, thwart his people, and kill one of their, no doubt, precious seers?"

"He didn't," I admitted. "But he did say mistakes were made on both sides, and that Alchemist and Athanatos history was complicated."

"That narrows it down," Theo quipped.

"You know what I mean. Good and bad exists in both camps, that doesn't mean they intended anything horrible once they got me."

"Then why did your grandfather take such drastic action to ensure they didn't?"

Good point. My shoulders slumped.

"Oraia," Theo murmured. "I don't have the answers, but we will figure this out."

"How do you know that?" I asked, looking up into warm eyes.

"Because where you are concerned, I have come to realise there is no need for doubt. You set your mind to something and you succeed at it. Whether it's finding acceptance in amongst a new preternatural race you've just joined, or thwarting the Queen of the Gi. Or befriending an insular Aeras or pledging to right the world when its Elements are imbalanced. You have a way of making things happen and I believe wholeheartedly that you will accomplish whatever your next goal is."

"I just need to pick one," I muttered.

"How about I help you with that," Theo offered, suddenly looking at me in an entirely different light. No longer awed as such, but definitely a type of wonderment.

"And what would you suggest I battle first?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

He licked his lips, his eyes darting down to my breasts and back up to my mouth.

"Your Thisavros," he husked. Then offered me a rakish smile and said, "Let the battle begin."

I giggled as he made his way under my t-shirt, the location forgotten, the scenery no longer viewed. My top was removed in a flash and then his hands were on naked skin, making all protests - had there actually been any - disappear. My bra came next, leaving me bare chested and open for anyone who passed by to see.

But I had a feeling, a strange, unexplainable feeling, that although we may have abandoned Aetheros in the past, he hadn't abandoned us. And right here on that mountainside, overlooking a crushed and near broken city, his presence was felt.

No cry of Oh, my Aether inside my head, just a sensation that we were not alone, but our companion was not of this world.

Hot lips wrapped around my nipple, followed by the tingling touch of a wet tongue. I moaned, arched my back and then he began to suck.

I was sure I'd come from his suckling alone, the pull of his hot, wet mouth on my breast, the connection each draw seemed to have directly to my centre, making me writhe and groan and beg for more.

Then he undid the buttons on my jeans, the zip followed, and his hand slipped inside. I came the instant he touched my core, before he'd even sunk a digit inside, just a soft glide over my swollen nub and I shattered beneath him, calling out his name for all to hear.

"Aetheros," he growled, removing his shirt and quickly moving onto my jeans and underwear. In a second I was fully naked and he was shirtless and struggling with his belt.

I reached forward and brushed his shaking hands away, bemused to note his body was thrumming with nervous anticipation like he was the innocent and not I. Although, I could hardly be called innocent any longer. Theo had put paid to that in the most delicious of ways. And life had a way of making you grow up in other areas, survival making embarrassment of nudity seem a trivial thing indeed.

He sprang free, a proud, broad head weeping his desire. My thumb brushed over the moisture making him rumble in encouragement and my insides curl with my desperate want and need. I pushed him onto his back and worked to remove the rest of his clothing, until I had my Greek god laid out before me, under the sky, beneath a gentle breeze, high up in the heavens.

I kissed his chest, following the contours of his so beautifully defined muscles, marvelling all over again at the dips and ridges, the flat planes and hard bulges. He was a pure work of art, magnificent in every way. Mine.

My lips wrapped around his arousal causing him to shout out at the sensation it created. Hands gripped my hair carefully, as his hips rose and his breaths rasped and my hum electrified the moment.

"Casey," he cried, straining to hold himself back from the final surrender.

Then in an instant I was hauled up his body, lips crushing into mine, tongues tangling as he encouraged my legs to spread wide, straddling his waist and allowing him entry.

He rose up, as I came down, and we met in a heated, explosive collision, our breaths spent, our eyes locked, our hearts thundering in tandem.

"You are stunning," he managed to rasp in that sexy husky voice he uses. "Absolutely stunning."

I smiled, sat upright and began to rock my hips in a seductive wave.

"Oh, Aetheros," Theo groaned. Sweat beading his forehead, his hands gripping my hips, his shaft plunging in so deeply and then withdrawing to the very tip, only to be taken in a rush all over again.

It was heady, it was sensual, it was completely out of this world. Out of any world. Just us. Just that moment. Reconnecting our bodies and hearts. Our souls. Every sensation so vivid and colourful, so full of glorious life.

Theo rolled us, my back to the blanket, the scratch of the wool a contrast to the smooth glide of his erection as he thrust in and out of my core.

"Stunning," he whispered, his fingers lacing with mine. He held them above my head, making my body stretch out beneath him, allowing him full access to view what he was doing to me. Where we met at my centre. How my skin was damp with perspiration, flushed with arousal. My back arching, making my breasts thrust out and bounce before him, as he picked up pace and moved us closer and closer to the edge of blissful release.

"Theo," I begged. What for, I don't know. But Theo did. He always did. He knew me better than I knew myself, even when he couldn't remember me.

That thought was forefront in my mind when his teeth met my shoulder, as he broke skin in a Thisavros mark. But unlike before... it hurt. And I felt the bruise of flesh, the sharp sting of the bite.

I came despite the discomfort, because I was too close to the edge and him even attempting to reconnect the Thisavros side of us was enough to send me over into that beautiful abyss. He followed, a sound of pure delight escaping his lips, a shudder of his massive, glorious body above mine. A tender kiss of his lips against feverish skin.

We panted through the after-effects and then he rolled us gently to my side, his glazed and still freaking hazel eyes roaming the mark and then lifting to look me in the face.

For a second nothing was said, then he whispered, in a voice that felt as lost and as sorrowful as mine, "It didn't work, did it?"

I held his gaze for as long as I could then shook my head, my eyes closing and tears streaming down my cheeks.

I'd hoped. I'd prayed. And in the end none of it mattered.

Theo was no longer my Thisavros. And I was no longer his.

Chapter Nineteen

How Did I Combat This?

The disappointment was crushing.

"This means nothing," Theo said, his voice harder than the moment should have allowed.

We were still lying on the blanket, skin cooling where the wind crested the hilltop and dried our sweat. His arms around my body, his legs tangled with mine, his chest shaking ever so slightly with fury or dismay or defeat.

I couldn't say a word in reply. I couldn't speak past the lump in my throat. I blinked the tears away, because what good did they do us now? The ache that had lived inside my chest for far too long returned, filling me up with a kind of numbness that at least eased the pain.

I offered a small smile, as much of one as I could, and shifted, reaching out a hand to grab my bra, with the intention of getting dressed and covering up and somehow hiding myself away from the truth.

We were no longer Thisavros. I swallowed the sob before it could reach the outside world.

Theo pulled back, a wary look on his face, heartache and concern not hidden. This was not the Theo Peters I had come to know. Where was his impassive mask now? Where was the Prince who had been trained to show no emotions?

"We should get going," I said, as my t-shirt was hastily pulled on, the wind picking up and making my hair fly in every direction, just frustrating me more and more, and turning what should have been a romantic reunion into something awful and wretched and so not fair.

Life was not fair, was it?

"Cassandra," Theo started, just as screams rang out from below in the city and loud crashes joined in when a building suddenly collapsed.

We both stilled and watched the dust from the demolished structure whirl up and around, twisting in the air. For a moment I thought it wouldn't settle. But a few suspended heartbeats later it disappeared on the air and left utter destruction.

"God," I breathed. "There'll be more buildings falling."

Theo stood tall beside me, still spectacularly naked, smooth golden skin over hard muscles, as he scanned Wellington below us. I pulled my underwear on and was just stepping into my jeans when another building crashed to the ground in a different part of the city.

"Is it another earthquake?" I asked a still immobile Theo.

I did my jeans up and searched his face, then looked out over the devastation he was so keenly viewing. Dust flurries rose up in various spots, some merging together and making bigger twisters, then just as quickly dissipating on the air.

"With all that rain you'd think there would be nothing dry enough to whisk up in the wind," I commented, having to push my hair behind my ears again as a gust whipped at my face. "Theo?" I queried, he was still immobile and hadn't said anything. "Are you going to get dressed?"

"Can you feel it?" he queried.

"What? Earth? Another quake?"

He shook his head. "No. Air."

I glanced back out across the cityscape as Theo picked his clothes up quickly and got dressed. The wind was making a mournful howling sound now through the few trees left standing on Mount Victoria, litter tumbling across the uneven carpark, something bigger landing in a thud against the SUV. My eyes returned to the city below, the dust flurries more prevalent now. Wellington had always been a windy city, it was nothing out of the ordinary to have your umbrella blown inside out.

But there was nothing ordinary about these dust devils. Too many at once. Too selective in their placing. Too inconsistent with the wet weather we'd just had.

"Oh freaking hell," I muttered. "Genesis part two."

"Yes," Theo announced at my side, now fully dressed and eager to go. He'd grabbed the blanket and thrown everything else into the chilli-bin, and was reaching out to grab my hand with his free one when a tree crashed down almost taking the SUV out with it.

"Oh crap," I managed as Theo started hauling me towards the car and throwing our gear in the back. "Can we get past?" I yelled, as the noise suddenly seemed thunderous. Was it because we were so high?

Power poles up the side of the mountain started to topple one after another, thankful electricity had been off since the earthquake so no sparks flew, setting the now strangely dry grass on the side of the winding road to the summit on fire.

"This is going to only get worse," Theo shouted above the screeching and whining and dreadful howl of the wind. He scanned the area, searching no doubt for shelter.

Not a hell of a lot existed here. Just the raised round viewing platform, which now seemed lopsided due to the earthquake. The metal railing around the edge buckled and more dangerous because of it. An old cannon from a long ago war lay on its side, I was sure it hadn't been when we first arrived, which meant it hadn't toppled in the earthquake, but fell during a gust of wind just now. The power required to achieve that seemed phenomenal, but the precision was what stole my breath away.

We'd been standing not too far from there. The crash as it pitched over covered by the booms of buildings collapsing down in the city itself. There was no earthquake, no roll of the ground beneath our feet, or shudder of plates colliding, but there were spasmodic trembles, abrupt movements as large and heavy objects fell in the incredibly volatile winds.

Theo looked frantic, trying to decide if getting in the car would be safest or finding shelter where shelter didn't seem to exist. But as I stood there, watching the second wave of the End of Days hit, I couldn't help feeling a little detached.

Which was ridiculous. When the earthquake hit I was almost crushed in the collapse of our house, definitely part of the experience. But standing here, out in the open, watching the accuracy of the Air's rage, watching the exacting way it targeted one building and then skipped the next - why? Because more people were in the second? - I felt strangely cocooned in my own bubble. Protected from the violence. Overlooked.

Theo took a few steps away to check the stability of a nearby large tree, the thick trunk, deep roots and minimal branches making it a good choice for tying ourselves to. But the further he went, the more he was buffeted by the wind, until he came so close to the tree that he let an alarmed sound out as a crack appeared down its middle, splitting the ancient plant in half without warning.

He managed to jump back before it landed on him, but I could have sworn he'd been targeted.

Yet I stood a few feet away and didn't strain against the enormous pressure the wind had gathered, the gusts toppling actual buildings, twisting light poles, upturning vehicles, sweeping people away and crushing them in amongst the debris of an angry tempest.

With a bizarre sensation of invincibility, I walked the short distance to Theo and gripped his hand in mine. Immediately the wind stopped haranguing him, the little cuts and nicks on his cheeks welling instead of streaming across his flesh with the pressure of a blowtorch. His beautiful, consistently hazel eyes turned towards my face and he sucked in a breath of air.

"White," he said, having to swallow twice in order to get the word out.

"I'm not doing this," I said, feeling the need to defend myself. I was still cut-off from all Stoicheio, even if I had managed to feed. But the fact that I had white eyes, and Theo who had just had passion-fuelled sex still had hazel, was not lost on me.

Now was not the time, however, to reason that out.

So, I hadn't reached for Aeras, but the compulsion to call out and demand it to end this insanity was definitely very real. I knew better, though. Memories of the earthquake were still too fresh to forget. My plea to Earth to stop. Aetheros' painful reply. Then nothing but black.

Theo had said I'd had a seizure. I knew now I'd just had a visit from a broken and desperate elemental god.

"This is Aeras' doing," I yelled, even buffeted from the windstorm we were still subjected to the horrendous noise it created.

"I know," he shouted back, his lips right by my ear.

Theo's arms had wrapped around me, his chest to my back as we watched the havoc below us. We had a bird's eye view of the annihilation, and as he stood in the shelter of my bubble, we could both see clearly what was happening to our world without being physically affected by that awesome power. The destruction was surely going to be total, it went on for so long. It swept through the city, it took lives where it pleased, leaving others inexplicably whole. It played with the people as though they were toys; tossing them, hurling them, crushing them under the weight of buildings and structures that it felled.

The sound of its whining, whistling howl was almost hideous in its timing. Escalating when something horrendous transpired, fluctuating as though laughing when something tragic passed. I watched on with morbid fascination unable to comprehend an Element could be so vindictive, could be so... sentient. But then, I'd held conversations with them, I shouldn't have been surprised that intelligence lingered inside each one.

But this was cruel. Chilling in its nature. Nothing compared to the abrupt shake up the Earth made happen. Over and done with quickly, destructive but nowhere near vicious. A reaction to something, swift and brutal. But it was clear that Aeras was having fun.

Ten minutes. Fifteen. I'm not sure, it became surreal, like a movie that desensitises death, that makes a mockery of life. Aeras was mocking us.

My eyes closed as I refused to entertain the barbaric performance. Because I knew it was an act. A look-at-me moment. A beautiful power turning sadistic and savage and insisting we watch and applaud. I would not applaud this. I would not give it the satisfaction of my shock and awe. I turned my back and buried my face in Theo's chest and blanked my mind.

I couldn't be sure if my Stoicheio could still hear my thoughts, even though I could not hear theirs. But something told me they were still listening. And Air was getting nothing from me.

It took a minute, maybe two, for the noise to begin to quieten, for the wind that blasted the mountainside but missed us completely to die down. For the dust to settle and only the cries of those who survived to be heard. Just as mournful. Just as frightening as the wind's.

"It's stopped," Theo rumbled against me. "Did you do something?"

I shook my head. "I ignored it."

I pulled back and looked up at Theo, unable to find the courage to face the devastation yet. His eyes held mine and he reached up and brushed my hair back. I knew it was a tangled mess, but it was nothing to how his looked right now.

"A temper tantrum," he surmised. I nodded. That sounded about right.

"Who knew an Element could be so childish," I offered. His returning smile was forced.

Then, "You were protected from it," he declared. "Able to protect me."

"The others," I immediately gasped, thinking of our makeshift house which had already started to feel like a home.

"Your brother has access to Air," Theo hurried to say. "Or at least an affinity for it, even if it is out of his reach like our Stoicheio are for us. He will have been able to protect them."

It was a guess, an assumption, and he knew it. But it was all we had to cling to, because one look at our crushed SUV and it was obvious we'd be walking. Which, undoubtedly, was going to take us a while before we made it back and could check on everyone to be sure.

"Fuck," Theo swore quietly, his eyes taking in the tree sized dent in the hood. And then moving down to my still bare feet.

He'd managed to put shoes on before the wind picked up too much, but I hadn't bothered, intending to do so when I got back in the car. Theo's eyes scanned the carpark and the top of the mountainside, but I knew it was a wasted effort. The shoes weren't with me, so they wouldn't have survived.

"Fuck," he swore again, louder this time. "You won't last long. I'll carry you."

"No," I argued. "Can you imagine how hard it's going to be at every hurdle? I'll be fine." Memories of walking through the Amazon and having the Earth soften my passage every time I took a step washed through me.

But the rules of this world I'd only just started to understand had shifted. Changed. I could no longer count on Gi coming to my aid, just because Aeras had protected me from its rage.

"You let me know as soon as they begin to hurt," he ordered, clearly reluctantly.

But the first hurdle we came to, a fallen tree that required climbing, proved how much he'd need both his hands. Carrying me was impossible until we made it to level ground. And by the looks of the city, just before we left that panorama behind, it seemed that "level" was no longer a word associated with our streets and pathways. But perhaps forever attached to our buildings, because those were almost all flattened now.

The walk down the mountainside took an eternity, the sun already beginning to set and we hadn't even made it back to the city proper. Theo kept flicking glances at me from the corner of his eyes, checking to make sure I wasn't limping. I kept the pain of my bruised and cut feet from my face by sheer force of will.

I hobbled when he turned his attention to an obstacle. I bit the inside of my cheek until it bled when he was more able to look my way. It felt like we were walking through hell.

And then we came across the first sign of civilisation. Houses at the base of the winding Palliser Road that led to the viewing platform on top of Mount Victoria. A skeletal landscape of flattened rubble with the odd incongruous bare tree sticking up in the middle. There was still evidence of a roadway, but only barely. The debris strewn across paths and accessways with equal lack of discrimination.

A child's stroller lay buckled and bent on its side. I held my breath as we came up to it, but there was no infant inside. A cast iron pan sat up in the naked limbs of a tree, next to an inflatable paddling pool which hadn't burst despite its hazardous journey. Match-like sticks of wood lay in piles that seemed bizarrely square, as though following the footprint of a house despite the force needed to crumble it. A solitary stone wall defined the edge of a property, on either side only the memory of houses existed.

People scrambled forlornly over piles of rubble. Calling for loved ones, while they bled from wounds all over their bodies. An old man sat rocking back and forth on a recliner... in the middle of his destroyed living room. Glass and china shattered all around him, the walls demolished, the wood splintered and ragged. And yet he didn't look like he had a scratch on him. Other than the fact he was clearly not psychologically or emotionally there.

We pressed on. Picking our way through the detritus of a city neighbourhood. Feeling the chill in the air as people who struggled to comprehend reality began to realise our world had turned completely upside down. They'd shown such strength after the earthquake, but there was a despondency here, a hopeless, dispirited, broken atmosphere. I could almost taste it. I could certainly smell it, like old socks and mildew, mixed with ammonia and decay.

I knew it would be nothing to the smell that would rise from this horror, as the days passed and essential facilities were not brought back on line, and humanity gave up entirely on the world.

Who would fight for a world like this?

Even Aetheros was silent in my mind. No cry of Oh, my Aether, just a stunned silence that echoed in the faces of mankind.

The only saving grace for us was that Mount Victoria sat behind Oriental Bay where the house was. We didn't have to walk the entire city, from one side to the other, an option that I was acutely aware I would not have made. My feet were bleeding freely now, but even Theo was so absorbed in the ruination of so many lives that he'd stopped checking. Numbed and shocked and utterly crestfallen.

Had they done this? The Ekmetalleftis of old. Had they turned their back on their god, forgotten their vital role in balancing the Elements, and caused this drastic response?

It was a question that would have to wait to be answered, but I couldn't help feeling it was important. Aetheros was beaten, his desperate pleas for help attested to that fact. And the world was suffering alongside him.

There had to be a way to stop this. There had to be way to right this wrong. But the battle seemed indomitable. Genesis had begun, and I'd only experienced three Awakenings. Gi, Pyrkagia and Aeras. Forget about the fact that we were all cut-off from our Stoicheio right now, even if we weren't I still lacked two of the five.

Nero and Aether itself. The Elements and the Elemental God may call me Aether already, but I wasn't truly Aether yet. And now this had started. This terrible, unstoppable End of Days. How was I to battle this? To fight this? How?

I didn't have an answer. I felt broken and lost and utterly defeated and the war had only just begun.

How did I combat this?

The gates to our property were gone, that's the first thing I noticed as we approached through the rubble strewn street. The stone wall strangely still standing. The house, though, was nothing more than a pile of broken sticks and crumbled tiles and crushed bricks and twisted metal and shattered glass. We stood on what had been the driveway seeing only shadows in the twilight, praying for a candle to flicker, a sound to emerge, or a shift in the darker patches to indicate a survivor.

But nothing moved. No one called out.

And when my eyes landed on the pulverised remains of the Moreton Bay Fig Tree I knew, I just knew, that we were doomed to fail.

Chapter Twenty

They're All Gone

"OK," Theo announced into the heavy air around us. "We start digging for survivors."

My eyes flicked to his face, he turned slightly and looked down at me. The cuts on his cheeks all healed, just smears of blood and dirt marring his stoic façade.

"What, Oraia?" he asked. "Did you think you were the only one who could be stubborn?"

God, in that moment I truly loved him.

I smiled, it felt like it fractured my tight skin. His hand came up and with fingers curled stroked my cheek.

"They are Athanatos," he reminded me. "And your brother has borrowed some of our strength as well. There is hope, Cassandra."

Yes, there was. But for how long? The world was dying, there was no doubt of that fact. We were in a race against time itself and weaponless to fight it.

I sucked in a deep breath, nodded my head and set off toward the side of the house that was nearest the living areas and back rooms we'd commandeered.

While we dug, throwing bits of rubble over our shoulders and out of the way, we called out. The rhythm of our movements almost lulling; bend, pick up, chuck. Yell. Bend, pick up, chuck. Yell. Light vanished as the moon rose in an eerie looking sky. Somewhere, more fires burned because the usual white orb hanging low over the horizon was bathed in an orange and yellow glow. I prayed to any god who'd listen, that those fires wouldn't catch Pyrkagia's eyes.

We'd had a breather after the earthquake, I wasn't sure if we could rely on one again.

First things first, we needed to determine our friends were still with us. If not, then we moved on to the next part of our plan. Survival. Shelter. Provisions. And finally, once our immediate needs were met, our Stoicheio and Genesis. It seemed so easy to list it like that. I knew it was anything but.

There were no sirens in the air this time, I noted, as I threw another piece of debris behind my back. The odd scream, or wail, but no authorities rushing in to re-establish order. My mind returned to the thugs with bats and in an inhumane moment of weakness I hoped they'd been the first to be culled. I almost wanted to gag once I realised I'd had that atrocious thought.

The air felt thick with menace, but whether that was because of my current train of thought or just the after-effects of such devastation, with the knowledge there was more to come, I don't know. My skin prickled with goosebumps, the air chilled, but that could have just been me. I felt chilled. Desperate and doubtful, and utterly iced to the bone.

We made good but slow progress, not stopping to rest to tend to the injuries we were sustaining. My feet no longer hurt, unless I stood on a sharp point or twisted my ankle on the uneven surface beneath me, and then suddenly I came across some shoes. Not mine, probably Sonya's and that thought, the reminder my human friend was inside this mess, made me slump down on the rubble and gasp for breath.

How could I have overlooked Sonya? How could I have been such an awful friend to not consider her fragile form in amongst the supernatural beings that surrounded her? How did I forget she was with us?

We'd been through so much and she'd been sheltered from it. But no longer. Now she was in the thick of it with us, but not as well protected as her companions. Oh dear freaking God, what had I dragged my best friend into?

"Casey?" Theo called. "What's wrong, Oraia? What have you found?"

My eyes lifted to Theo's across the moonlit space and I saw him blanch.

He scrambled over the distance between us and crouched down at my side, grasping my hand in his.

"What is it?" he demanded, then noticed what I had sitting innocuously in my lap. "Sneakers," he remarked. "Good, you should put them on."

I nodded and let him take them from me, lifting first one foot and then the other and doing the laces up. Sonya and I were about the same size, without socks they seemed a little bigger than usual, but they kept some of the chill out.

"They're Sonya's," I said, swallowing past the lump in my throat.

"Ah," he replied, understanding in that one sound.

"I have to keep digging," I announced, needing to desperately pick up the pace and find them now.

"Then we keep digging," Theo offered, helping me stand, watching me for a second and then moving away to do the same.

No more calls were made. No more conversation about hopeful outcomes. Just a deadly focus that made us keep going until finally the sun crested the sky.

I was a mess. Ripped and torn clothing, dust covered and sweaty skin, scratched, cut and bruised all over, chipped nails and cracked lips, parched throat and empty stomach. But still I kept going until we'd practically pulled apart the living area that had been, and each bedroom we'd all seized to sleep in.

And they weren't there. They must have gotten out. But where did they go?

"Where are they?" I demanded Theo, feeling panic swell and threaten to consume me whole.

"Maybe they're looking for us," he suggested, which actually made a lot of sense.

"But wouldn't they have left someone behind in case we came back?"

"What for? We can't communicate with each other," he pointed out.

"A message then," I suggested, looking about the newly cleared rubble; just small piles of debris and the lower floor of the house now, where we stood. I stared at the wooden beams visible in places, the still intact flooring in others, and then the overall footprint of the house that I could make out.

"What are you doing?" Theo asked, not in an accusatory tone, he sounded worried and tired.

"Wasn't there a basement level?" I asked. "A cellar you said Aktor had stored the wine inside?"

"Yes," he replied, perking up and scanning the area with me. "But not back here in the rear of the building, where we'd been living. Over the other side," he said, pointing to a part of the destruction we hadn't yet tackled.

"Oh," I said, aware we were nowhere near done.

We'd cleared most of the area but the far edge, enough of a distance away for the group to have not been caught in it, had they remained inside at all. If they'd tried to get out, they'd have used the door by the front of the property, or the side of the house by the makeshift lavatory, well away from the - what appeared to be, after a night as long as that one - mountain of debris and rubble on the other side.

"OK," I added, staring warily at the behemoth before me.

I was so exhausted. Aching all over. But nothing time wouldn't fix and the DNA of an Athanatos. We had to keep going.

Our movements were steady and measured, not for safety's sake, but because we were severely lacking fuel. Both our Stoicheio and that part of us that is human. We needed sustenance, in the form of food and water, a moment's rest to heal and recuperate, and communion with our Elements to feed our soul.

At least for me. I wasn't so sure about Theo.

But until we checked every single inch our hearts would never be whole, so onward we pushed.

It must have been after nine in the morning by the time we reached the doorway to the cellar itself, set in the floor, like a tornado shelter, weighted down until we uncovered it by at least a tonne of debris and detritus.

I swayed on my feet as I stared down at it, willing a knock to sound out, or Aktor to appear pushing it open and announcing, "It's about time."

But neither happened, and as Theo wrapped two hands around my shoulders and pulled me out of the way so he could approach it, I felt a fissure appear inside me, right down the middle, right through my heart, my body and my soul.

"Help me with this, Casey," he called. I hadn't realised I'd turned away to hide my tears. To hide my shame at losing hope so readily. To hide my exhaustion and fear.

I sucked it up and went to him, because if Theo could keep going then so could I.

The door was stuck tight, as though it hadn't been used in decades, but Aktor must have opened it to retrieve the wine. Still it required brute strength and a few, obviously, swearwords in Greek from Theo and then finally the wood groaned, the hinges creaked and slightly stale, cool air wafted up to meet our noses.

And the smell of death.

"They're down there," I said, trying to push past him.

"Cassandra," he urged, holding me back. "Let me go first."

I shook my head, frantic to get to Sonya and Mark, to check on Nico and Aktor, and yes, even the bitch Isadora. Desperate to just get down there. To move. To do something. Anything. Why was Theo delaying?

"Please," he pressed, holding me steady in his arms, his desperate eyes pleading with me to listen.

My shoulders slumped. He thought they were dead. I nodded and sat down on a stray bit of broken furniture not even registering the sun that had risen in the sky, or the heat of its rays on my back.

"I'll be just a minute," he promised, and then slipped through the hole in the ground and disappeared out of sight.

I heard a frantic voice at first, echoing and quite a distance away. Then the sounds of heavy footfalls on the stairwell, getting closer and closer, moving quickly. I almost didn't look. Too scared to see his face, to see what I was sure I already knew.

But I haven't had to face a psychotic Pyrkagia Rigas, or an equally unstable Gi Queen, or the mad ramblings of an ancient Aeras, or dream visits from a dead grandparent without growing a thick skin.

I stood up and braced myself, hands held tightly in front of my body as my chin lifted and my eyes remained clear... and Isadora scrambled out of the dark hole in the ground. She looked around, blinking in the brightness, taking in the destruction and annihilation, and then finally spotting me.

"You are one hard to kill Ekmetalleftis," she declared. I think she'd been trying for a teasing tone, but the truth of her words stopped any notion that she was pleased to see me.

"My brother," I started, unable to spare energy for a ridiculous feud.

"Alive and kicking and the reason we all are as well." Mark had been able to use his connection to Air to protect them. Despite being cut-off from the Element, Aeras had recognised him and kept him - and those with him - safe. Just like me and Theo. I felt my strength vanish as adrenaline ceased being produced in my veins.

"Sonya?" I asked, taking a step closer.

Isadora's face assumed that Athanatos mask. Blank. Cold. Heartless.

"She's hurt, isn't she?" I said, in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Come on," Dora ordered, turning her back to me, ignoring my question, and beginning the decent into the darkness again.

I followed behind her too perfectly clothed body wishing nothing more than to rip her sleek, dark locks right out of her skull. Anger at what had happened, at my best friend being harmed because of these arrogant, self-righteous, egotistical beings, flamed inside me, ripped through my composure and made me silently snarl.

Athanatos are primal, aggressive, predatory creatures, and I was no different, even if I hadn't been born one.

"I can feel your rage from here," Isadora announced, in a clearly bored tone, as we continued down the stairwell, then passed shelf upon shelf of dust covered bottles, the odd one fallen and shattered on the cold stone floor, red liquid, the shade of blood, seeping into the cracks that had formed.

We rounded another corner before I could find my voice and be sure it wasn't a growl.

"Then I'm surprised you've turned your back on me," I offered.

"Oh, I'm not scared of you, little girl," she bit back, flicking a glance over her shoulder and rolling her eyes.

I realised I could see then, when the hole in the floorboards above had seemed pitch black. But the farther we progressed, into what was soon becoming an enormous underground substructure, the lighter it became. Until I noticed a battery operated lantern on the side of the wall to illuminate the way, then a short distance later as we started to pass racks of foodstuffs, water flagons, various first-aid equipment, survival gear and even bedding, a naked flame flickered from a candle, resting on a bare shelf high above.

Then the warmth of what had to be more fire as we came into a large area with impressive stone arched pillars that had miraculously survived the initial earthquake. And on closer inspection I could see why; they'd been reinforced, the area at the base of each column sitting on top of what could only be called a metal plate, that rested on oversized spring coils.

"Earthquake proofed," I whispered, astounded this had been beneath us all along.

My eyes lifted to the area that had been cleared of a large table, now stacked against a far wall, blankets and makeshift mattresses on the floor, and one couch on the far side with Sonya lying spread out, pale, lids closed, dark shadows under her eyes.

I rushed over as Isadora threw herself onto a pile of cushions beside a brazier flaring brightly. God only knew where the smoke was going, but it didn't seem overly hazy in here, just a small amount from the many candles that were lit around the space.

"Sonya," I whispered, once I'd made it to her side. She didn't stir. Didn't make a sound. Her chest barely rose and fell with each laboured breath. "Where is she hurt?" I asked, the world narrowing in to just this moment.

"She sustained a blow to the head," Aktor murmured quietly from a chair at the end of the couch, by her face, where he was running a wet cloth over her brow. "Hasn't woken up since," he added softly.

I flicked my eyes down to Nico, who sat with my friend's legs resting over his thighs. He looked exhausted. As did everyone, I noticed then. Weary, sorrowful eyes stared back at me.

"We think she fractured her skull," Theo's cousin announced in a reasonably steady voice. "She may have a bleed."

"We have to get her to a hospital, then," I immediately replied.

"Oraia," Theo said carefully from behind me. I hadn't realised he'd walked over to stand at my back. "What hospital? They're all gone."

It wasn't until that moment that I truly recognised the enormity of it all. The potential for a loss so deep it would leave nothing salvageable behind.

I'd known this was a disaster. I'd comprehended this was the destruction of the world as we knew it. I'd even been aware that it would get progressively worse. But I hadn't yet subscribed to the notion that this was the End of Days. The true Reckoning. The Apocalypse the bible spoke of. I hadn't been willing to accept that as fate.

I walked stiffly forward and held out my hand to Aktor in a silent request for the cloth he'd been using on my friend. He stood immediately, handing over the sponge and offering a shallow bow, then walked silently away. I slipped onto his chair, ignoring Nico who massaged Sonya's ankles tenderly, Theo who watched on from above worryingly, Isadora who stared at the flames and pretended we didn't exist, and Mark, who I'd finally spotted in amongst one of the shelves of wine downing hundred year old Claret, no doubt.

And all I could do was smooth my best friend's brow with clean water from the bowl that sat at my feet and speak soft words to let her know she was not alone.

In that moment it didn't fail to register that I'd spoken similar words of promise and comfort to the Elements, as I'd sat on the exposed roots of a Moreton Bay Fig Tree, that no longer existed, with my hands sifting through dirt.

It also wasn't missed by me that on both occasions, then and now, it was more of a hope, a fervent wish, than a foregone conclusion.

And right then, as I looked down at the unconscious, ashen face of my closest human friend I really couldn't have told you which dream I wanted more.

The saving of the world.

Or beautiful, effervescent Sonya Marin to live long enough to see the End of Days.

Chapter Twenty-One

It's Not Your Fault

Time seemed different down in what I thought of as the catacombs. Not that this was an underground cemetery, but death did hang on the air. Beckoning Sonya. I refused to let her accept its skeletal hand.

I crooned to her. I bathed her face, kissed her brow. I even begged. But she didn't awaken.

At some point Theo knelt down at my feet and removed the shoes I'd been wearing. Sonya's shoes. I didn't have it in me to complain, just kept tending to my best friend and whispering quietly in her ear. When he dipped the first foot in warm soapy water I stiffened, rising slightly from the fog of oppressive defeat.

"What are you doing?" I asked. My voice was scratchy. I hadn't cried, although I felt like I might. But I'd been whispering non-stop to Sonya, scared if I paused she'd slip away.

"Washing your abused feet," Theo replied, as if it was quite normal to see a prince clean someone's filthy toes.

Nico watched on silently from his end of the couch, a slight change in his expression from before, when he'd just been watching me silently as I talked to Sonya.

"They're fine, Theo," I argued, trying to remove my foot and feeling strangely exposed and alarmed that he was doing this.

"Humour me," he murmured, gripping my ankle firmly and pushing my foot back in the water.

It did feel good. My cuts all healed, but the blood had caked on and dirt coated every surface. How I managed to get mud on top of my feet I don't know, I couldn't remember stepping in any puddles. But then, the streets had been nowhere near what you'd call pristine.

No one said anything as Theo cleaned me up and then from somewhere produced a pair of warm socks. He pulled them on my newly washed feet and then removed the dirty water without a further word.

My stunned eyes came up and found Nico's. He smiled a small amused grin.

"Your Thisavros has returned," he murmured, so as not to be heard in the rest of the seemingly vast room.

Immediately I was back on top of Mount Victoria, naked and wrapped up in Theo's arms. My hand came up to my shoulder, where I knew the bite mark would be under the t-shirt and shook my head.

"He's no longer my Thisavros," I announced, feeling every word as though it was a knife slicing through my chest.

I hadn't thought there was room to still feel. Staring at Sonya as she lay immobile on the brink of leaving me forever, I was sure there hadn't been room for more heartache.

Nico shook his head back at me, a crooked, knowing smile on his face.

"He's your Thisavros, Casey," he countered. "A prince of Pyrkagia does not wash just anyone's feet."

I huffed out an incredulous breath, then pointed out to the man, "But he's no longer a prince of Pyrkagia, Nico. So I guess things have changed on all fronts."

As I had suspected, Nico didn't have an answer to that. I felt a little chagrined at having reminded him of their exiled status. Wasn't it enough to be facing the End of Days, Sonya's imminent death, and our isolation from our Stoicheio? I had to remind him he also couldn't call Pyrkagia home. And to a Pyrkagia there could be no harder fate to face.

But I didn't have it in me to apologise. I turned back to Sonya and started reminiscing about our youth.

"Do you remember ninth grade?" I asked her, smoothing her hair with my fingers, making sure there were no knots. "Mr Haycock in Chemistry? He had such shocking white hair, we called him Einstein. Unoriginal now that I think about it, but we spent a good portion of each lesson sniggering in the back row. I remember you drew flowers in chalk on the tyres of his car. I swear he was chuffed when he saw them. He didn't wash them off, in any case. And when you coloured them in - pinks, green, blues, yellows - he stood and stared at them for a good five minutes, before opening his door and climbing in the car. That vintage Mini had never looked so good. Whoever thought dark brown for a car was an acceptable colour back in the seventies ought to have been laughed out of the Austin factory."

Theo appeared at my side, a plate of food in his hand. He pulled up a chair and sat down, offering me a cracker with cheese on top. We must have been nearing the end of our perishable supplies. I glanced around the room and saw Isadora and Aktor eating as well, no cheese. Just biscuits and fruit from a tin.

"Is that the last of the cheese?" I asked, not accepting the bite sized portion he held out to me.

"Yes," he said simply. "Aktor had some stored down here as it's cooler, but the rest was destroyed in the tornado that hit."

"Then save it for Sonya," I said, turning my head away and looking back down at my friend.

"Cassandra," Theo called. My eyes came reluctantly up to his. I knew he would argue. I didn't want to waste energy fighting him. I needed to stay strong for Sonya. "We have enough supplies stored," Theo advised. "Aktor moved the bulk of our provisions here yesterday. Parts of the cellar had been unstable after the earthquake, but Mark and Nico helped him shore them up, so things were moved down here to keep them safe."

"I saw the earthquake proofing," I replied. "They couldn't have done that yesterday."

Theo smiled. It looked so damn tired. "No, that had been the work of the previous owners, who are probably wishing they hadn't sold now. But only the wine storage area had been modified in case of earthquakes, the rest of the cellar was left to chance."

I glanced back towards where the shelving units were and then looked at the floor where the blankets and cushions and mattresses lay scattered about. In amongst the mayhem were gouges in the stone floor, where something heavy had been pushed out of the way. I'd assumed it had been the large table in the corner, but on closer inspection it appeared the shelves of wine were the ones moved.

"So it's safest here, under the arches, but not down by the only way out?" I queried.

Theo's face didn't shift expression in the slightest, but I felt his anxiety as though it was real.

"Yes," he said in agreement, but didn't seem to want to elaborate.

"That seems like a major oversight," I remarked.

"It does, doesn't it," he agreed. "Will you eat now?"

"Sonya will need it..."

"Casey," Theo said, his voice hardening. "Sonya may not wake up for some time and the cheese will have spoiled. Don't waste it. And no," he started, when it was clear I was thinking up another argument, "none of us want it."

I doubted that. It was more likely, no one else was offered it. Theo taking what he wanted and damning the rest.

"Oraia," he whispered. "You need your strength. Out of all us, you are the one who has any chance of stopping this. You. Not me. Not the elders. Not an Aeras shaman. Not the Alchemists and their knowledge of our history. Not even Aetheros himself. But you."

He sighed, closed his eyes and when they reopened, hazel stared back at me. But it was steady, determined. Strong. As strong as the gold used to be.

"I know it is a lot to be placed on your shoulders," he added. "I know you don't have an answer to how it will be done. I know you feel alone in this. But you are not. We are here. And of all the Pyrkagia to have on your side I could not think of better than us. Nico is as well trained as me. Isadora has skills even we don't have. Aktor is twenty-five thousand years old."

My eyes darted over to where the butler sat elegantly on a cushion, drinking his tea and nibbling on a biscuit, as though he was in a beautiful parlour entertaining guests and not on the floor of a stone basement.

I glanced down at Sonya, my hand cupping her pale cheek, unaware I was touching her, even now. When she recovered, and I chose that word purposefully, she needed a world to come back to. She needed a best friend who would take better care of her. She needed to know there was a future and not be brought down like I was feeling now.

"You're not alone," Theo repeated gently. "But we need you to stay strong."

I looked at the cracker and cheese he held out, noted the four more he had on the plate and the little dish of tinned fruit to the side. A glass of water sat on the ground next to him. I licked my lips, suddenly thirsty.

"Drink?" Theo asked, handing the glass to me.

I downed it before I could stop.

"Eat," he pressed, replacing the glass with the food. I hesitated. He growled, which seemed to reverberate around the arched ceilings.

I placed the entire cracker in my mouth, barely able to close my lips and said, "What?" Cheeks puffed out like a squirrel.

"Aetheros, I love you," he blurted, in a very un-Theo-like fashion.

Nico snorted. Aktor laughed. Isadora probably scowled, but I wasn't looking at her.

And Sonya remained unconscious.

But she wouldn't forever, so I took the next cracker and cheese offered, holding Theo's eyes and letting him know through my look and the fact that I was eating the very last cheese we would probably ever have, denying everyone else because he'd demanded it, that I loved him too.

By the time I'd finished the carbohydrates and was just downing the last of the tinned fruit, Mark staggered around the corner of a set of shelves, banging into them and making me wince, but nothing fell or rattled; too well protected.

"Did the wine come with the house?" I asked.

"Yes," Aktor replied from his spot by the fire. "The former owner was an entrepreneur or some such thing. Extradited to America to face a criminal lawsuit. His assets were frozen, but this property was held under a trust, and before the authorities could claim it too, he sold it lock, stock and barrel. To us. Rather nice find, I must say."

"You did well, Aktor," I agreed.

"Even if it no longer stands except for the booze," my brother said, slurring his words slightly.

He threw himself down on some pillows closer to us than Isadora, who was looking at him as though he was a bug. A very smelly bug, I had no trouble identifying the whiff as alcohol from here.

"What's wrong with you?" I demanded, feeling much more able to quarrel and my brother was the perfect target right now.

I couldn't start anything with Theo. He loved me. He'd just blurted that out for everyone to hear.

Mark snorted. Loudly. Then took a swig from his half empty bottle of wine. It would not have been his first, from the look of him.

"What's not wrong, sister?"

"Yeah, well, we're all in the same boat, so why the wine?" I shot back.

"I'm not whining. I'm drowning my sorrows. There's a difference," he pointed out.

"Not whine, you imbecile. But wine. W-I-N-E."

He sniggered. He'd known, he was just being a prick.

"It occurs to me," he started, sounding a little bit more focused all of a sudden. "That we still have two Genesis destructive episodes to survive."

"So you thought you'd get drunk?" I asked, eyebrows arched.

"Don't look at me like that," he snapped. Then realised there was still wine in his bottle and took another swig with much enthusiasm.

His eyes landed on Sonya.

"The next could be Water," he commented, in a subdued voice. And then more flippantly added, swinging the now near empty bottle out in an arc to make his point, "And all this could be drowned. I just thought enjoying it beforehand made sense."

No. Mark might have been a bit of a knuckle-head sometimes, but there was more.

"Where were you when Air hit?" I asked, as Theo reached out and rubbed my thigh, just above my knee. His timing was not by accident. "Where were you?" I asked again, voice soft.

Mark's eyes didn't leave Sonya.

Then he said, in a guilt laden voice, "I wasn't with Marin. That's where."

Silence filled the room. Even Isadora had her head turned towards my brother.

"And you should have been?" I queried. Had he been instructed to look after Sonya and been goofing off?

Finally he lifted wretched eyes to me.

"She's human, Case. She's fragile."

"I know," I said, my throat constricting familiarly on words I'd said to myself before.

"I should have been looking out for her. I should have been close enough to protect her. She's been in our lives for so long, she's part of the family and I wasn't there."

He sounded distraught. Not making any sense. Because I hadn't been there either.

"Mark, you weren't to know that Air would hit. Theo and I didn't sense it until it had already begun and we were outside."

"So was I," Mark mumbled, and I noticed Isadora begin to shift a little restlessly as though bored with the drama and just wanting to have some peace and quiet.

I frowned at her, but turned my attention back to my incomprehensible big brother.

"This is not your fault, Marcus," I pushed, going for the big guns, like Mum used to do.

"Why do you think the Alchemists are so hell bent on reuniting with the Ekmetalleftis?" he asked out of nowhere.

I felt Theo stiffen, but he managed to hide it by continuing to stroke my thigh. Nico glared outright at Mark, and Isadora had stopped squirming completely.

"Why?" I asked slowly, not sure I wanted to hear this.

"Because they knew Genesis was coming," Mark said with no small amount of passion.

Was this the side of my brother that made him a zealot similar to the Alchemists he was trained to be like?

"And they knew," Mark added, "that humans would be almost wiped out."

"How could they know that?" I asked, feeling numb. "Has this happened before?"

Mark shook his head and spun the empty wine bottle in his hands, between his legs.

"Not to this scale, but they have ways of reading these things. I don't know how, it's specialised training, and Gramps never thought I needed to know. But we were all taught, even secret Alchemists like me, that humans were the most important factor. Save the humans. Protect the humans. Advance the humans."

That last one sounded very much like the Alchemists I'd grown to hate.

"So, you feel responsible for Sonya because you weren't there to protect her, right when an Element spat the dummy and killed, I'm thinking, millions of humans all across the globe? Is that right?"

He nodded.

"I don't know how to tell you this, Mark. But you are not the only one capable of protecting Sonya. Even the big bad Ekmetalleftis would do it. Take one look at Aktor and Nico and tell me that isn't true."

"You don't get it. I've been trained..."

"To protect humanity. OK, I understand, but you can't take it all on yourself."

He made a low growling sound, unlike the sounds Athanatos make, but equally as angry.

Or guilty.

His eyes lifted to mine and he held my firm gaze determinedly, as though he wanted me to be looking at him when he spoke his next words.

"I know I'm not the only one, Case," he said softly. But it was a lethal kind of soft. Vibrating with what I think was self-hatred. "I know others would have tried to save her if they could."

He spoke as though she was already dead. I opened my mouth to refute it, but he rushed to talk over me.

"As the only Alchemist here she was my responsibility," he insisted and I threw up my hands in defeat.

Because he wasn't listening, he was determined to take the blame, and nothing I said would make a difference now.

Whatever. I was too tired for this. I hurt all over and Sonya had still not moved an inch. I brushed her hair aside and refused to look at Mark. When he got like this, it was just a waste of time. Time I didn't have to entertain his self-absorption anymore.

"Casey," he said, a snap of command that had me lifting my eyes even though I'd decided enough was enough. "I wasn't anywhere near her, I wasn't paying attention to what was happening and therefore didn't rush to protect her, because I was ignoring everything Gramps taught me. Everything he told me we stood for."

"Mark," I cried, just wanting him to calm the freaking hell down. "Chill, OK. It's not your fault."

He stood up abruptly, wine still in hand, which quickly left it as he hurled the bottle at the far wall making it shatter into a thousand tiny pieces of glass.

Theo had stood. Aktor and Isadora had as well. The latter actually walking over to my clearly enraged and out of his ever loving mind brother. I wanted to warn her to stay out of it, but the closer she got, the calmer he became. His breathing slowing, his fists unclenching, his face losing that desperate hatred he'd suddenly started displaying.

A hatred that was clearly for himself.

And as Dora placed a hand on his upper arm, and his shoulders eventually gave up the rigidity that had held them, I thought I might just have finally comprehended what he had been trying to tell me all along.

Mark's eyes came up to Isadora's; she held his gaze with a steady look. He shook his head, reminded of who she was by the Peters colourings. Brown hair, hazel eyes, golden tanned skin.

Then he wrenched his arm from her hold, took one last look at Sonya, and flicking his eyes to mine he quickly turned away.

"Run, then," Dora spat. "You're just a coward!"

"Isadora," Theo said. Clipped. Hard. Brooking no argument.

She ducked her head, a pain I had never thought I would see on her beautiful perfect statuette features flashing over her face, then walked off in the opposite direction and disappeared into the darkness by some shelves.

Silence for a suspended moment and then a small, weak voice said from the couch, "Did Mark bag that? Because, man, he's got some balls."

I spun around to look down at Sonya, but she'd closed her eyes and gone back to sleep again. Breaths even and deeper than before. Colour suffusing her pretty face. My gaze met Nico's; his expression said it all.

Joy. Relief.

Hope.

Chapter Twenty-Two

What's So Funny?

An uncomfortable silence followed all of that, and it wasn't long before Theo was insisting I take a break from Sonya duty, handing over the reins to an able bodied Aktor - Nico refused to move at all - and drawing me towards the brazier for some optimistic but misplaced Fire fuelling.

Hope. It was an unusual thing. I wanted to find my wayward brother and tell him Sonya had spoken, because I was sure he'd missed her words when he'd practically run off like the coward Isadora had accused him of being. But although I'm sure he could have done with a boost in hope on hearing she'd come to, even if only briefly, I was too exhausted to go hunting for him, in the back of the cellar, in amongst all the dust and darkness.

I let Theo guide me over to a pile of cushions, and place me between his spread legs, my back to his chest, as he leaned against the table and wrapped his arms around my waist. We stared into the flames for several seconds before either of us spoke.

"So, Isadora and Mark," I said, as Theo announced, "We need a plan."

His chest rumbled invitingly behind me and he ran a hand though my hair, laying a soft kiss on my temple.

"You should be pleased, Oraia," he murmured. "Her attentions have moved elsewhere."

"I don't trust that for one little bit," I replied steadily. You don't pine after someone for a couple thousand years and move on to a "human" that easily.

"She's not as bad as you think," Theo pointed out.

I just snorted. That did not require a reply.

"All right," he said with an edge of laughter in his tone. "How about we just stay out of it and let it go where it may?"

"My brother needs his head read," I offered.

"Is that so? Are you insinuating anyone who befriends Isadora is crazy?"

"You could take it like that, if you choose."

"So, that would make me crazy, because she is still my friend."

"My point exactly."

His chest rose and fell harder.

"Cassandra, you cannot be jealous of her still?"

"How do you know I was jealous of her at all? Have you got your memory back?" I demanded.

"Isadora told me."

I sat up straighter. "And you believed her?"

"I've known her for close to two thousand years," came his oh so aggravating reply.

"But not for the past one year," I said deliberately.

"No," he agreed slowly. "But I cannot believe she would..."

"Don't," I said softly. "Just... don't. OK? It's hard enough you don't remember me, but to be reminded that you don't even remember all the crap she caused and so are still under her wicked spell is just too much right now. We've got a Genesis to deal with. Stoicheio to find. And... and a world to right."

I was no longer going to add "a Thisavros connection to re-establish." I was done holding out for that.

"OK," Theo said softly. "The Stoicheio," he offered, pulling my reluctant body back against his chest. He sighed when I complied, and then started running his hand absently through my hair.

"The Stoicheio," I agreed, capitulating to his tender care.

"We know they are still there, even though it injures us to reach for them. We also know you can refuel somehow, but we cannot, it seems," he summarised.

"That about covers it."

"Let's break it down. What did you feel when you reached for Gi?"

I tried to think back, but all I remembered was the splitting headache that I'd been certain was not from Earth but from Aetheros himself, trying to communicate his despair. At the time, I was sure my skull would fracture, brain seeping out all over the ground at my feet. But could I have gotten that wrong? Was the headache from my Gi not the god?

"The worst ever headache," I advised Theo. "I thought it was Aetheros talking to me. I felt like he was too big for the space inside my mind."

"Maybe," Theo conceded. "Anything else?"

"Earth was silent and then I blacked out."

He was quiet a moment, letting that memory settle again.

"Dora said she felt like her blood was on fire," he announced suddenly.

"And Mark drowned," I offered, finishing off what we knew about the efforts to reach our Stoicheio to date.

"Maybe your reaction was hidden in the quake itself," Theo suggested. "Maybe you would have been swallowed by the ground if it hadn't already been shaking, counteracting the reaction unintentionally."

"We could go around in circles with this," I pointed out softly. I wasn't trying to throw up a wall at every suggestion, but we were just guessing. Nothing solid to go on for now.

Silence for a while.

Then, "You didn't try to reach for Aeras?"

"I knew better."

I could feel his smile against the top of my head.

"Bloody hell," he muttered. "She does heed advice."

I elbowed him in the stomach.

He grunted but didn't otherwise complain.

"I think we really have only one choice," he said into the warm, comfortable silence that had enveloped us.

I tipped my head up and tried to determine his expression, because the words had sounded innocuous, but the tone was hesitant, unsure. Not Theo.

"Go on," I encouraged.

"You were right," he admitted, but I wasn't sure which pearl of wisdom of mine he was referring to. He ducked his chin so he could look me in the eyes. He looked chagrined. "We need to test this further. We can't risk sitting around and waiting for it to right itself."

I frowned.

"Test what? How?"

"Our Stoicheio."

I arched my brow. "The exact thing you made me promise not to do."

"No need to point that out. I am well aware of the fact."

I sniggered. He gave me a good glare. Then tightened his arms as though he thought I'd run from him because of it.

I turned to look back at the fire, feeling the warmth and welcome in the heat.

"There's no other way," I agreed.

"No, and with two Genesis events passed, we have weakened. If this continues, we may not survive."

I closed my eyes, let the image of Mark drowning and Isadora's silent internal agony wash my mind. I still felt the headache and seizure were from Aetheros, and maybe that had masked what Gi would have done, but I wasn't sure. I just didn't know. And I'd have to attempt to reach it all over again.

"So, how do we do this? On the sly, away from everyone else? Or group effort?"

Theo let a long breath of air out. "It is traumatic to watch, but I would prefer we had everyone available in case things go wrong."

And the potential for things to go wrong was definitely there.

"OK. When?" I asked.

"We've eaten and rested. Sonya has given us a boost. I think now."

"What about Mark and Isadora?"

He made a little grumbling sound, which was really quite cute. "I would prefer they are included, but rounding them up may be difficult and Mark..."

"May be quite drunk by now," I offered.

"Yes."

I shook my head at my stupid, idiotic big brother and then decided as he was my sibling, I'd have to be the one to sober him up.

"All right," I said, getting to my feet in a surprisingly smooth move. That food and fire session really must have made a difference. Or maybe, just Theo's arms.

He stood in a glide next to me.

"I'll go in search of Dora," he suggested, and I immediately corrected with a snapped, "Isadora."

His smile was wide.

"How cute. Is that the first time you have corrected me?" he asked casually.

I rolled my eyes. He may not have remembered the past year, but he knew I would have said that more than once.

"Watch yourself, Pyrkagia," I muttered, attempting to step away.

In an instant I was spun back into his arms, my breasts crushed against his hard chest.

"Or what?" he whispered in my ear and then gently bit. "You'll remind me why I love you and not her?"

It was all I needed to hear. That was probably why he said it. I melted against him, my arms winding around his back as his lips kissed their way toward my mouth.

"Later," he murmured against me, kissing once softly and then pulling away.

Hunger and desire burned in his eyes. I let my gaze wander down his body, soaking him all up, wetting my lips with anticipation and then smiling triumphantly at the bulge that had appeared in his pants.

"You may go on your search now," I declared regally.

"You do vex me sometimes," he murmured, but laughter shone in his eyes as he sauntered away.

I spun around, looked over Aktor, Nico and Sonya quickly, to determine nothing had changed. Nico and Aktor were talking quietly, as one softly stroked her hair and the other massaged her knees and ankles alternately. I hoped in her sleep she was feeling loved, because it was obvious she was very much indeed.

Satisfied she was in good hands I went after Mark, in the direction I'd seen him scampering.

I hadn't thought to take a candle or torch, but thankfully one was on a shelf as I progressed further away from the fire. I had to climb up to grab it, but with illumination in hand I set off again. I should have called out. It would have made perfect sense. But the dark, deserted corridors, the dust and cobweb covered vintages, and the eerie quiet of the far reaches of the cellar made my throat close up and my lips remain sealed.

It wasn't as though I'd swallow a spider or anything, just a sense of solitude that shouldn't be disturbed.

I'd made a grave mistake, because as I homed in on soft sounds coming from just ahead, and awareness of what I was actually hearing registered, it was too late. The light from the flickering candle reached them, splashing shadows across bare skin, reflecting back off sweat soaked flesh, showing me an image I really would have preferred to have been spared.

"Oh, dear freaking God," I muttered, spinning and placing my back to the spectacle.

"Casey!" Mark hissed. "Fucking hell. Go away!"

I cringed.

"We need..." I started.

"Just, fuck, Casey!" Mark added. "Ah." He attempted to sound less aggravated. "Give us five minutes, OK?"

"Five minutes?" Isadora asked in amusement.

"Well," my brother purred. Actually purred! "Maybe fifteen."

"That's better," she said and then moaned.

Oh, crap.

I left in a hurry, feeling the blush cover the top half of my body, muttering curses under my breath and brushing cobwebs wildly from my face. I burst out into the arched area, spotting Theo emerge from his gap between shelves, and threw myself down on the cushions in front of the others, covering my face with my hands and groaning out loud.

"What is it?" Theo asked, appearing in an instant beside me.

"You don't want to know," I moaned between my spread fingers.

Aktor started laughing, Nico's chuckles could be heard in the background as well.

"What's happened?" Theo pressed.

"Did you get an eyeful, Casey?" Nico asked, amusement clear in his tone.

"Ah," said Theo, settling himself down on the floor beside me. "Learn anything?" he asked in such an innocent voice it must have been contrived.

"Don't even go there," I growled back at both of them.

"It is a natural thing, Miss Eden," Aktor pointed out, enjoying himself too much as well.

"Not for my brother," I argued.

"What?" Nico burst out. "He's never done it?"

I groaned again, shaking my head in dismay. You should never, ever, catch your brother screwing a woman against shelves holding hundred year old bottles of claret. Oh, freaking hell. The woman was older than the wine.

Another groan into the pillow I'd lifted to my face.

"Perhaps it's payback," Theo announced.

"Payback, Theodoros?" Aktor asked, politely. Too damn politely.

"Yes," Theo replied. "He did catch us at the most inopportune moment."

"Oh, kill me now," I muttered with much put-upon pain.

"Well, there you go," Nico agreed. "Payback's a bitch."

"Or you catch your brother screwing one," I added.

There was silence. For a second I thought I might just have gone a little too far on that one.

And then all three men burst out laughing, really enjoying themselves now.

"What's so funny?" Mark's voice sounded out from over my shoulder.

I lifted my head and moved the pillow aside and effected the best "nothing" face I could muster.

Aktor snorted. Actually snorted.

I glared at the old man.

"Just joking around," Theo replied, offering a lifeline. But as Theo didn't often joke around and the world was coming to an end and any jokes right now were inappropriate, no one reached out to grab it.

Thankfully, before anything else could be said, Isadora walked out from between different shelves than my brother had just emerged.

Nico covered his mouth to hide his amusement, Aktor stared up at the arches as though their architecture was the answer to the universe. And Theo just swept lazy eyes up and down Isadora's body, letting her know he was damn well aware of what she had just done.

For the first time ever, I watched Isadora blush. Then look nervously away, as though unsure of his reaction. For my part, I turned my glare on Theo. Because, hello? He shouldn't have been interested in looking at her at all.

But as much as I knew he'd fallen for me, and as much as I knew he loved me. He still remembered the Isadora of before. And that Dora had been his on-again and off-again lover. For nigh on two thousand years.

Even before all this crap, I'd known loving Theo would not be easy. Now I was acutely aware of exactly how hard loving him was.

I refused to make eye contact with anyone, conscious that they were all too damn observant to have missed the pain that surely registered on my face, a reflection of what I felt in my heart. Instead I looked at Sonya. Still asleep, still with us. And smiling wistfully at something in her dreams.

I hoped they were perfect. I hoped they were everything she could ever have wanted. Because life, as I now knew, was definitely not.

Chapter Twenty-Three

There Was No Freaking Way I Wanted To Argue With That

Theo cleared his throat. The room had been way too silent, but I still refused to look at anyone.

"We need everyone together," he announced.

"For what?" Isadora asked, sounding too close for my liking.

"We've no choice but to test our Stoicheio," Theo advised. "And it would be best if we were all on hand should something backfire."

"Makes sense," Nico agreed. "Who's going first?"

"I will," I blurted, wanting to feel anything other than this hollowness from knowing nothing had changed, and nothing ever would where Isadora and Theo were concerned. Even pain would be better than this.

"No," Theo announced with authority.

"Why should she get preferential treatment?" Isadora snapped.

A string of the most atrocious words flew through my head, all directed at her. Words I could no further say in public than kick Aetheros up the backside for letting his "children" run wild and neglect their chores.

Oh, I wanted to. I wanted to call her every derogatory name under the sun.

I think I might have growled.

"Because as Aether she deserves preferential treatment," Theo replied smoothly. "Or have you been too busy to remember the world is coming to an end?"

And that didn't sound bitchy at all. Yeah.

"No busier than you, Theodoros," she purred back.

Was this some sort of jealous lovers spat? I felt sick. Cheese and crackers wanting to come back out and I hadn't even had any ouzo.

"I'll go first," Aktor announced, interrupting whatever staring match was going on between Theo and Isadora. I couldn't be sure they were staring, I just felt the weight of it in the air. I was too busy looking at the ground.

"All right, then," Theo announced. "We should do this next to the fire."

Aktor got up from his seat and headed over to the brazier, I could hear other sets of footfalls following him.

"You don't have to come over," Theo said quietly from behind me. "Stay with Sonya if you'd like."

I looked up and noted that even Nico had moved. The first time I'd seen him out from beneath Sonya's legs. I nodded, not bothering to turn enough to see Theo. Not wanting to see understanding in his eyes, to know he was aware he'd hurt me.

It took a second, maybe two, and then the warmth of his proximity faded and it was just me and my best friend.

"You're missing all the fun," I muttered, getting up from my position on the floor, feeling ancient while I was at it, and then slipping gratefully into Nico's seat, as I lifted Sonya's legs over my lap. I had an uninterrupted view across the space towards the brazier, Aktor lying out on a mattress on the floor, while the others knelt down around him. Isadora glaring across the butler's body at Theo, but because his back was to me, I couldn't be sure if he was glaring right back.

I assumed he was, from the thunderous look on my brother's face right then.

"Just reach out for starters," Theo urged.

"Like a knock on the hearth," Nico added.

"We'll slap you if you can't pull back, breaking the connection," Isadora so helpfully offered.

"Good freaking God, I hate her," I murmured, under my breath.

"Me too," said Sonya, not opening her eyes.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked, my heart skittering inside my chest, the urge to wrap her up in my arms almost too powerful to deny. I was going for cool, but between Isadora the bitch, Theo the mindless ex-lover, and the general state of play in the universe, my voice cracked on every single word.

"Long enough to know the cow's done it again," Sonya muttered. "Thirsty," she rasped on the end.

I reached down and snagged the glass of water Aktor had sitting on the floor and helped her lift her head to drink some. She licked her lips afterwards, still keeping her lids down, and fell back onto the pillow.

"My freaking head hurts," she muttered.

"Maybe they've got some paracetamol around here somewhere. I saw a first-aid kit on one of the shelves."

"Where are we?" she asked, not suggesting I go get any meds, so I remained where I was. She clearly wanted me near and I didn't want to be too far away if the crap hit the fan over by the fire.

Not that I was sure I could do anything to help out, but I think Theo was right. We all needed to be close for this.

"In the cellar," I replied.

"Cool." A lengthy pause followed where I thought she'd fallen asleep again. "What are they doing?"

"Trying to reach their Stoicheio."

"Isn't that a bad idea?"

"Only if Isadora doesn't lose consciousness."

Sonya snorted and then groaned. "Don't make me laugh, 'K?"

"'K," I whispered. "You had us worried."

"Nah," she offered. "Just took a wee nap."

"Don't do it again, 'K?"

"I'll try not to," she dryly replied.

I felt a swell of Pyrkagia and then Aktor cried out and started shaking, sweat beading his forehead, eyes tightly closed.

"Can you pull back?" Theo called.

"Is he with us?" Isadora asked, hand raised ready to slap.

"She wants to slap him, doesn't she?" Sonya queried, only listening to what was happening, still not trusting she could open her eyes without pain.

"A lot of pent up anger," I offered.

"Yeah, what do you think she'll do if it's Theo on the floor?"

I didn't have an answer for that and Sonya must have realised her mistake because I swear she feigned sleep straight away afterwards.

"I'm fine," Aktor gasped and I let a little breath out I'd been holding.

"Veins on fire?" Isadora asked smugly.

"Quite," Aktor replied shuddering all over.

"Well, there's no point anyone else trying then, is there?" Nico queried. "Two of us had the same result. Mark almost drowned reaching for Water. Casey collapsed and seized when she tried Earth. What else is there?"

"Air," Mark offered.

"Do you really think it will be different?" Isadora asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Liar.

Mark shrugged. "I've got to give it a go, don't I?"

"Ah, hell," I muttered.

"You want to go over there?" Sonya asked, confirming the sleep was faked.

"If I do, I'll punch her in the face and that won't help Mark."

Sonya smiled. "There's my girl," she murmured merrily.

I shook my head at my bloodthirsty best friend.

"All right. Lie down beside Aktor," Theo ordered. "I don't think he's well enough yet to move."

I watched Mark get into position, everyone moving back slightly to allow him room.

"Ready?" Theo asked, quite reasonably.

"No!" my brother snarled back, making me smile this time.

Isadora placed a hand on his shoulder. I sat forward in my seat, making Sonya crack an eyelid and watch me between her lashes.

"Go over," she encouraged.

"And do what? Bite her hand off?"

"That'd work. If she was all gooey-eyes over my man, I'd dig her eyeballs out with a rusty spoon."

"There is something seriously wrong with you," I pointed out sweetly. "Besides, she's not looking at Theo gooey-eyed, she's looking at Mark."

"That bitch!" Sonya declared, wholeheartedly. Then ruined it by adding, "How dare she make your brother enjoy his last few days on this earth!"

"You're no help at all," I complained.

She smiled, eyes closed again.

"You missed me," she offered.

"Yeah," I agreed simply.

"OK," Theo said. "When you're ready."

Mark sucked in a deep breath of air, which was ironic because in the next instant I felt him reach for it.

A chill raced down my arms, setting the fine hairs up on end and making me shiver. Condensation appeared before my lips, even with the fire blazing in the brazier and the room warm only moments ago. An ominous heaviness landed on my shoulders, making me sink down in the sofa, and desperately wanting to cover my head and disappear.

"Mark?" Isadora called, giving him a small shake.

He didn't reply.

"Is he breathing?" Nico asked and I found myself on my feet, even as something was trying to push me back.

I hadn't realised I'd moved. Sonya was struggling to right herself, as her legs, which had been over my lap, had ended up on the stone floor beside the sofa. I opened my mouth to apologise and Air rushed in. A whistling sound filling my ears, followed by a wheeze as I tried to exhale.

I managed to push it out again, so that made me think Air wasn't trying too hard to harm me. But when I went to take a step towards my brother, I was immediately shoved back. A slap of wind in my face, against my chest. Like being punched in the stomach and then being unable to even gasp.

I made a strangled sound and Theo's head lifted searching for me. He was on his feet in an instant, trying to reach my flailing side, but Air was having none of that. Theo roared as he fought against an invisible enemy, the sound abruptly cut off as he was thrown to the ground, unable to draw any breath at all.

Desperate now to reach them. My brother who was once again turning blue and the man I loved despite everything imprisoned on the floor and gasping like a fish out of water.

I made it one step closer, and the whistling became a hissing laugh. So out of place in the cellar.

Without another thought I ordered, Stop!

The whistling became a humming, as though it was reprimanding me for trying to curtail its fun.

I had no control here. It may have protected me on Mount Victoria as it rained down its vicious anger on earth. But I had the feeling the free pass was over, and Air wanted to play with me now, instead of mankind.

I staggered another step, aware Nico was trying to get up and help me, and Isadora was trying to perform mouth to mouth on Mark, and Aktor was reaching for the fire, from where he lay, trying desperately, but futilely, to fuel himself enough to help out.

I stared at the flickering flames, willing myself to push through the barrier to reach a now non-moving Theo, yelling inside my head frantically for Air to stop.

It wasn't listening. I hadn't expected it to. But I sure as hell hadn't expected the flames in the fire to flare even higher as though Pyrkagia was about to join in the fun as well.

We couldn't battle one Stoicheio, how the hell would we fight two at once?

I lifted a heavy arm, reaching my hand out towards the flames and called Fire.

It had been instinctive. A desperate action to stop the inevitable.

Air swirled around me, lifting the hair on my head off my shoulders, while Fire spat and hissed in the brazier licking heated fingers over my skin.

Earth, I called, needing more strength to fight them. Knowing I couldn't hold them off much longer like this. I was down to one knee, just a short distance from Theo, unable to touch him, unable to save him, unable to stop this.

The ground shook, the arched columns swaying but not crumbling. The massive springs at their bases absorbing the shudder and shift of the soil. Dust rained down. A bottle smashed behind me. The scent of full bodied red wine met my nose as the high pitched scream of wind whistling assailed my ears and the touch of heated flames lashed at my skin.

Mark shuddered. His back arched. And then somehow, I don't know how, maybe I'd distracted Air enough to give him a reprieve, maybe the bitch had actually revived him, but somehow he sat up, and stared me in the eyes.

"What do you need?" he yelled, but I could only read his lips. The sounds in the cellar were deafening, the roar of Fire, the rumble of the Earth, the howl of Air.

Three Stoicheio couldn't stop this. Could four?

"Water!" I shouted back, my words whipped away in the frenzy.

I could hardly see anymore, a black shroud covering my eyes, or that could have been the dust we'd unsettled in this mini battle of wills. Because I knew this was small, nothing like Genesis and its power to upset the world. This was me and them and a test to see if I had what it took to contain them.

I didn't. I was sure of it. I was on two knees now, no longer breathing, no longer moving, about to pass out.

And then Sonya appeared, the glass of water in her hand that she hadn't quite managed to finish, and she threw the bloody thing in my face.

Er, not what I'd been thinking. Water hadn't Awakened, and right now when it might have been helpful, it sure as hell wasn't going to accommodate me.

But Mark was there, touching my cheeks, calling Water, making the drops of liquid rise up in a funnel and swirl around our heads.

And something else was there, that I couldn't quite identify but I knew it was not of this world. A presence, a show of support. Something that felt missing, but filled the emptiness inside. It made no sense, but I reached out to grasp it, hold it tight, and willed myself not to black out just yet.

Then screeches and bangs and crashes and even the odd flare of lightning, all in too small an enclosed space. People shouted; it sounded like hundreds of them, but there was only seven of us here. But I could hear the roar of many voices, all raised and shouting and trying to get me to do something.

I whimpered, not understanding them, then the dust devil parted and there was Theo, still out cold on the hard stone floor. And I had to reach him. I had to reach him. I just had to reach him.

So I clasped Mark's shoulder, used him to haul myself closer to that prone form. He realised what I was doing and dragged me a step nearer. The wind picked up, the flames in the brazier flared, somehow not being snuffed out in all of this, the ground shook beneath our bodies, and the water dripping from my face danced a dazzling twirl around us.

And something sparkled. It could have been inside my head. It could have been stars in the night sky.

Then, thank you Aetheros, my hand wrapped around Theo's ankle; he sat bolt upright and stared at my face. Gold blazed. Matched by my green and white and Mark's ice blue. And then everything lifted, rose up off the floor, and came crashing back down again in a final sonic boom.

Ringing resounded in my ears. My vision blurred. My jaw felt locked tight. My muscles trembling. But Theo stood before me, Fire dancing from the tips of his fingers, and hopping across the distance between us to land on my nose.

I sneezed, the ringing turned to crackling, and Mark threw his hands towards Theo and snuffed out the flames with what appeared to be a bucket of water.

The last crackle and pop sounded, and then noises came rushing into my ears, as I heard Theo say, quite calmly, "My Stoicheio is back, Alchemist. Try that again and I will burn you to a crisp."

"Go ahead," Mark growled in return, moving to his feet and puffing out his chest. "But I'll steal your oxygen and cut through your flesh with the power of a water-blaster."

Theo took a step closer, his large chest butting up against Mark's slightly smaller one. The fury, though, in both of their eyes pretty much matched.

It was Theo who opened his mouth, but I managed to stumble to my feet, and pushed my way between their Neanderthal bodies.

"Stop," I gasped. "Just... stop."

"Cassandra," Theo immediately turned me into his body. "Are you hurt?"

I tipped my head back, feeling all kinds of exhausted but otherwise OK, and lifted my hand to his cheek infusing my touch with Pyrkagia. Oh, blessed return of Pyrkagia.

He closed his eyes, groaned low as he hauled me hard against his chest, and then rasped, "Fuck," under his breath as his body shuddered.

"Um, what are you doing?" Sonya asked, eyes wide, a pink flush up her cheeks at what she was watching.

"Sonya!" Nico exclaimed and rushed over, as Aktor gingerly stood, and Isadora discretely hauled Mark away from my side and out of possible Theo blasting range.

"Alone," Theo instructed, quietly in my ear. "Now," he added more urgently.

"We need to check that everyone else got their Stoicheio back," I argued, half-heartedly.

"No," Theo argued back, much more forcefully than me. "I need to be inside you."

Oh.

"Now."

There was no freaking way I wanted to argue with that.

He grasped my hand, flicked a cursory glance over everyone else, and then marched us down the closest corridor into the darkness.

And all I heard, getting quieter the further we went, was a tired sounding Aktor chuckling quite contentedly, as the rest of the room went about recovering from our latest Elemental encounter.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Take Me, Oraia

I shouldn't have felt so desperate. So hungry for his touch. For him. Something miraculous and totally unexpected had just happened. Something that I was sure had returned Stoicheio to at least Theo, Mark and myself, maybe the rest. I couldn't think clearly enough to work out the mechanics, though.

All I could think about was Theo's hot hand in mine, the Pyrkagia he was throwing around with abandon, and my body's own eager response.

Pyrkagia are sensual beings. Part of what makes them Fire Elementals is their call to all things heated. Passion and lust are forms of heat. Something a Pyrkagia can manipulate, feed off and fuel. They need it. They can be blinded by it. It can rule their actions and thoughts, direct them, almost control them. Especially if it comes back in a rush off adrenaline and takes them unaware.

For several days we'd been without it. Theo, a prince who commands his Stoicheio with regal perfection, was completely at its mercy right now.

He pulled me down a series of narrow corridors until we must have been as far away from the others as we could get in the cellar. It was cooler here, which was a relief because my skin was burning. The light from the candles and fire didn't reach this corner either, but the glow from our eyes was all we needed to see.

Theo stopped in front of a large wine barrel, and then turned and picked me up, placing me down on top of the surface, spreading my legs and stepping into the V. His lips found mine, his hand fisted in my hair, the other working its way under my t-shirt and wrapping around my breast.

He made a sound, a desperate, hungry, needy sound, then pressed himself deeper into my groin, rocking his hips. His erection was already impressive, but when he felt the dampness through the layers of clothes that separated us, I felt him swell and harden even more.

It was like placing petrol on an open flame, heat flared between us, becoming uncontrolled.

In an instant he had my jeans undone, and encouraged me to lift my hips enough to pull them and my panties down my legs, then threw them all to one side. The t-shirt was next, then my bra. I was left in socks, which felt ridiculous, but right then with Theo's tongue dancing with mine, and the furnace that was igniting between us stealing all thought, the socks were soon forgotten.

My hand roamed freely over his top, and then with a pained moan I began hauling it up and off. He accommodated me, pulling away from my bruised lips and lifting his arms, baring the sweat soaked glory of his torso. My tongue lapped at his nipple, while my fingers followed the contours of his muscles. I realised distractedly that I was squirming on the barrel top, unable to assuage that consuming need to find friction.

Theo's hand slipped between my legs, a thick, long finger running up between the soaked folds and dipping in. I bit his pectoral muscle, digging my fingers into his obliques. He groaned, pumping his hand between my thighs, flicking just in the right spot inside.

Starbursts before my eyes, my head tilted back and I let out a muffled cry. Muted because Theo had placed a hand over my mouth to contain my release, even as he sought more from me with his fingers and the pad of his thumb on my clit. The reminder that we were in the same room as the others had an unusual effect on me. I am not experienced, Theo has been my one and only lover, yet in that instant I had never felt as turned on as I did right then.

I whimpered against his hand, then bit down gently on his palm. He made a rumbling sound, deep inside his chest; appreciative, eager, encouraging.

"Lean back," he growled low, a sexy, roughened whisper.

I obliged immediately, finding a wall behind me to prop myself against as Theo pulled my butt to the edge of the barrel's top, spreading my thighs wider, opening me up to his perusal. He licked his lips, gold eyes I couldn't stop looking at flicked up to mine, and then he was down on his knees, his face at just the right height, his tongue delving between my folds and making me shudder.

One hand held firmly to my hip to keep me pressed against his mouth, the other pinched one of my nipples, making my back arch, a sound escape which wasn't muffled and my hips to begin to rock, seeking more, needing more, desperate for more.

The hand at my breast reached up until he could cover my mouth - I hadn't realised I'd started to moan loudly - and the other at my hip moved between my legs and two fingers slipped inside. He sucked and licked as he pumped and flicked, and then just as I thought I couldn't take anymore, he gently bit down on my swollen nub and sent me skywards.

His lips replaced his hand at my mouth and the taste of me and him on my tongue made me jerk and twitch and then he was there, just at my entrance, his trousers somehow gone, his hard, broad head pressing in, seeking entry, stretching me deliciously as he slowly slid inside.

I was so wet he met little resistance, and within seconds he was buried deep, holding himself still as a breathless grunt escaped his lips, swallowed by my mouth.

"Oraia," he groaned against me. "I'm going to make you come around my cock now," he added, still not moving, but I could feel his hard length twitch inside me and my walls clench in response, stroking him wickedly. "Oh, Aetheros," he exclaimed and started to rock his hips steadily.

I was thinking that maybe it would be Theo who came next, the desperate thrusts he made were evidence of his heightened arousal. His hands moving feverishly over my skin, his lips brushing, kissing, tongue licking, soft noises escaping on each pump and grind.

But as I rocked back, meeting him on each forward thrust, pulling him deeper and deeper with each quiver that rolled through my centre, I realised I was once again so very close to that edge. Skin smooth against skin, Pyrkagia burning between us, tangling together in a way that I'd forever crave, making our movements frantic, our heartbeats desperate, our touch scorching and beautiful at the same time.

His lips wrapped around a nipple and with exquisite perfection he timed each pull with every single thrust, until I wasn't sure if I was being fucked or being sucked to orgasm, and that decadent thought sent my skin blazing with a flush of embarrassment, or maybe that was arousal as my mouth opened, I sucked in a breath of air, and Theo's hand clamped down hard over my lips again and held my scream of release inside.

Holy freaking sparks of blissful sensations. My entire body shuddered, not just my centre where I climaxed, but everywhere. My skin tingled, Fire licked up my arms, sweat rolled down my back, my joints locked, my chest threatened to burst apart, and then Theo's golden eyes were right there.

"Stunning," he whispered, no small amount of male satisfaction gleaming back at me. "Once more, I think," he added and I might have moaned in distress or desire, it was hard to tell.

He gripped my butt cheeks, pulled my rear further off the barrel's top, left me balanced precariously as he started to really pump into me. Each thrust rocking the unstable surface beneath me, sending me back against the wall, making the breath rush out of my mouth in a gasp. A soft exhalation accompanied each rock of his hips, and then the look of utter adoration on his face stole me from the world and left me floating in a star studded space I'd never known existed before now.

"You are mine," he somehow managed to whisper between the thrusts. One hand moving between our bodies, making my legs wrap more tightly around his waist for fear of falling off the barrel without his hold.

A thumb rubbed over my nub, then stroked back again, and then repeated. I was so sensitive, almost too sensitive, I whimpered, my eyes rolling back as he determinedly sought my orgasm, his thumb pressing harder, the sweeps coming faster, my insides clenching and rippling and threatening to explode.

And then I was up off the barrel, Theo's magnificent strength holding me aloft as my arms wrapped around his broad shoulders, my ankles crossed at his back. Our hips rocking, skin slapping, breaths grunting. Oh dear freaking God, this was insane. I couldn't catch my breath, I couldn't stop making little whimpering sounds, I desperately rocked back against him as he less and less steadily pumped his hard length into my core.

One of his hands was up my back, supporting my head at my nape, the other was holding my body aloft with a hand on my butt cheek, fingers digging, squeezing, pulling, making me experience sensations in parts of my anatomy I never knew were erogenous zones as well.

"Casey," he groaned, his face falling into the crook of my neck. "I have to bite you," he whispered against glistening skin. "Oraia," he pleaded, asking permission for something that he knew would hurt, but couldn't seem to deny himself.

A need as strong as this coupling was. A desire that came from deep within him, as intrinsic a part of his make-up as Pyrkagia.

"Do it," I said, gritting my teeth as I felt an orgasm begin. If I came while he bit, it wouldn't be as bad. The sensations of discomfort and disappointment washed away in utter blissful release.

I felt Theo thicken, harden even further, if that was at all possible. He'd been big before, stretching me, filling me, taking me somewhere I'd never experienced except with him. The thought of biting me turned him on, and he'd been pretty well beyond turned on to begin with, but now with the permission to go ahead and claim me as only a Thisavros would claim his mate, he was about to explode.

It didn't matter that we both knew it wouldn't work. Nico had been right, even without the supernatural connection, Theo and I were Thisavros in our hearts and bodies and minds. Our souls may not have had that honour, but the rest of us willingly accepted it as fate.

His lips pressed against my skin, his tongue licked, sending me over the edge and falling, falling, falling, and then teeth bit down, skin depressed and I waited, waited, waited, for the pain of flesh tearing.

But it didn't come. The climax too great. I cried out, my mind blanked, and then as stars exploded and lights flashed and somewhere in the world, but feeling too close by far, lightning struck making glass shatter and ozone to mix with burning wood and the scent of the fresh grass and thick forests to assail my nose, I felt it.

Joy. Happiness. Desire for more, for him to never stop, to keep biting and licking and pumping and thrusting and sending me dizzyingly up and up and around and around until I came with a shout of surprise and awe, and Theo followed with a loud groan of triumph.

He panted as he kept pumping, his teeth free from my skin as his lips found my ear and he whispered through the fog of utter completion, "Take me. All of me. Take my body, my heart, my seed. Thisavros."

He shuddered, buried himself deep, and emptied all of what he was inside in an exquisite display of virility and sexuality and golden, love-filled eyes.

Thisavros. I closed my eyes as realisation hit and the world, for that small moment, felt perfect and right.

Theo sank to the cold floor on his knees, my legs still wrapped tightly around him, my chest pressed hard against his, my face buried in his neck and my arms holding on for dear life as I sobbed. Body racking convulsive gasps, tears streaking down my cheeks and falling on his still too hot skin; ugly, desperate noises and too frantic clawing to stay connected and close and never let him go.

It was embarrassing. It was cathartic. It was the release of months of agony, days of torment, and a lifetime's - no, an eternity's - worth of love for this man, this preternatural powerful being. This beautiful creature who had chosen me as his mate and despite everything everyone threw at us, despite separations, and memory loss, and the world coming to an end, he chose again.

He let me cry. He held me tenderly, whispering in Greek in my ear, words I didn't understand but needed, soft touches, smooth strokes of his hand down my back, gentle kisses against my temple, in amongst my hair.

Then when I finally cried myself out, so exhausted, but invigorated and full of life and hope and utter blissful contentment, he pulled back and looked down at me, such tenderness in his golden gaze. He brushed my hair off my face, our bodies still intimately connected, Pyrkagia still dancing along the surface of our skin.

"It's back," he said simply, and all I could do was nod and sniff and offer a wide, watery smile.

We stared at each other for what felt like minutes, soaking in features, letting the sensation of a Thisavros connection sink in. Savouring it.

Then Theo sucked in a shocked breath of air and I swear, even in the dim light I saw a sheen over his eyes, as he whispered, voice reverential and in awe, "I remember. Cassandra, I remember."

"What?" I said, ineloquently.

"Everything. Laying eyes on you the first time I walked in your store. Flirting with you every day for almost a year. Watching you blossom and gain courage and start to flirt back. The day Gi showed itself in your kitchen out the back. The green that shone in your eyes and nearly brought me to my knees. Our first kiss. Taking you for the first time. Everything. Every single beautiful, frightening moment. I remember."

"How?" I really wasn't up to stringing words together. This was surreal. Unbelievable.

A dream.

"The Thisavros connection," Theo guessed. "Whatever my father did was tied to that."

"I don't understand," I managed.

"We'll talk to Aktor, he may know something. But, Oraia, I remember." His smile said it all. The boyish grin he rarely showed the world, the joy and excitement that reached his eyes.

And then I felt him harden inside me. The grin turned wicked. The glint in his eyes sensual.

He reached out and pulled our clothes over, spreading them behind my back and then laying me down on top.

"Again," he purred, starting to rock his hips, growing evermore thicker and longer and harder inside me. Stretching me and making a flood of wetness invade my core.

"Theo," I gasped, as he circled his hips and ground against just the right spot.

"I have a mind to fill you with my seed again," he advised quite reasonably against my neck. His lips smoothing over pebbled skin and finding his Thisavros mark. He kissed it, then licked, then sucked.

My back bowed.

"Now is not the time to get pregnant," I commented in a puff of air as his thrusts increased in force. All this talk of "seed" sounded a bit too purposeful. I'd always known how difficult it was for Athanatos to procreate, but maybe saying it aloud while doing the deed helped.

"It's my need to mark you," he rasped against my cheek, hot breath fanning my skin, hot body gliding over hotter flesh. "A Thisavros reunion, when significant time apart has transpired, is primal," he explained, managing to get words out between thrusts, the punctuation of his hard pumps inside me making him grunt on the end of each segment spoken.

It was such a turn on.

"Oh," I managed and he rumbled in laughter, twirling his hips and pushing up on muscled arms to watch me fall apart beneath him.

My eyes flicked open and found gold staring down above me, transfixed with what he saw on my face.

"I want to get inside you," he declared, then thrust, slow and measured. "I want to empty myself, fill you up." Another thrust, slow and measured. "I want you smelling of me." Thrust. "Covered in me, inside and out." Thrust. "Wearing my mark on your shoulder." Thrust. "Growing my child inside." Thrust. "I want to shout to the world, you are mine." Thrust. "I want you screaming loud enough for every male in the city to hear I satisfy you beyond measure." Thrust. And then two more as his eyes closed and his nose flared and he moaned low and long.

Utter turn on.

I came again in a rush, his hips circling and grinding, pumping and thrusting, making me fall apart in every way possible. My limbs weak, my body glowing, my heart soaring.

He moved, placed one arm under my hips lifting my rear up and allowing him deeper inside.

"I may not be able to stop this," he announced, his jaw tightening, the words pushed through clenched teeth.

I could see his orgasm approaching, it was fascinating to watch his body curl and tighten, to feel his shaft thicken and harden, to sense the impending explosion as a tangible thing.

"I may need to fuck you for the rest of the day," he managed on a low growl from the back of his throat.

"Fuck," I breathed, intending to argue the point that this wasn't fucking, it was making love, but that was the only word I could get out.

Theo chuckled, picked up speed and said, "You're right. This is mating."

Ah, what?

"Take me, Oraia. Milk me. Aetheros, I am yours."

"Yours," I repeated, but what I meant was, I was his, not the other way around.

He smiled, held my gaze determinedly, and then let me see him come. His shaft again buried deep, his big body shuddering above me, his lips parted and a gasp of delight escaping as he filled me with his seed.

It felt right. Those words. Archaic and foreign to my ears, but right. Because as Theo held my gaze throughout it, and I felt the well of his release deep inside, I swear I heard Aetheros sigh.

A sound of hope and expectation, of resounding joy and a sense of anticipation.

The first sign that maybe this wasn't the end of the world, but the beginning of something else.

Something beautiful and frightening and so very special.

Something that Theo was giving me and I, unknowingly, was giving him in return.

Life.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Come Dance, Aether

Theo looked a little stunned. Actually, as we sat up and began to dress, I'd go as far as saying he looked shocked.

I frowned at his extraordinarily perfect butt, before he pulled his trousers on and hid it from me.

"So," I started and he turned back around to face me as he pulled on his shirt. "A mini Theo or Casey running around?"

An amused smile banished the shell-shocked look of before.

"I seriously doubt that," he offered, helping me into my own t-shirt. "It is notoriously difficult for our kind to procreate." As I'd already suspected. "Some say it takes an act of our god to conceive."

He obviously hadn't heard Aetheros' joyous sigh.

"Did you not intend for that to happen?" I asked, tentatively. Had he just got carried away in the moment?

"Nothing's happened, Casey," he argued softly. "Other than our Thisavros connection being re-established and somehow returning my memories to me. Which is just as well," he went on, reaching forward to do up my jeans with the utmost of care. "Now is not the time to bring new life into the world."

A part of me desperately wanted to argue that fact, because deep inside it felt so very right. Although, logic made me reconsider the notion. Of course now was not the right time. What was wrong with me?

"So, all that talk about taking your seed was spur of the moment," I pressed, unsure why I was pushing this at all.

Theo paused. His eyes turning thoughtful. "No," he said with a shake of his head, still with that contemplative expression on his face. "I meant it, when I said it. I just hadn't realised I wanted it until then."

"Well," I offered, thinking he needed a lifeline. "I guess the reunion makes us do things we hadn't expected."

"The reunion would make me want to mark you, possess you, and exert that claim for all to see, but impregnating you is all on me. Just wishful thinking. And perhaps the influx of memories all at once." He turned a dazzling, Theo Peters smile on me. "Delicious and beautiful memories."

I shook my head at him, unable to hide my smile as well.

"Let's tell the others," he declared, gripping my hand and starting back towards the arched ceiling area of the cellar.

"They probably heard," I muttered, heat washing up my face.

"I should hope so," Theo replied pleasantly. "I worked very hard to effect that result."

My eyebrows shot up my forehead.

"You covered my mouth!" I exclaimed.

"I was attempting to be a gentleman."

I gaped. He laughed. It was free and light and utterly sensational.

"I am far from a gentleman, Cassandra. You should know that by now."

I wanted to call him on that, but we'd made it back to the main area, and the smell of something being cooked over the open flames.

"Oh, good," Theo announced. "Dinner. I'm famished."

And all eyes turned towards us, landing on my blushing face with way too much awareness for my liking. I scanned the area, unable to find Mark and Isadora, and felt infinitely better about their obvious absence. Which was quickly followed by a frown at what that absence actually meant and the fact it was my brother with the cow.

I liked Sonya's new nickname for Isadora. I was thinking that could stay.

"I'm afraid we're on to the tinned stew," Aktor announced, stirring the contents in a pot over the brazier. "But it doesn't smell too offensive and is full of protein."

"We could use protein," Theo declared, depositing me on the couch beside a now upright Sonya and then walking over to a shelf and pulling down a bottle of wine. "And a drink to celebrate," he added.

"The return of your Stoicheio," Nico supplied, a note of something poignant in his tone.

My eyes flicked from a smirking Sonya, who'd been having a "I know what you've been doing" staring match with me, towards him. He was looking up at Theo as he opened the bottle with what could only be longing. I felt my brow furrow.

Then it clicked.

"Your Stoicheio didn't come back?" I asked, understanding the longing I saw on his face now.

"No," he said, pulling his eyes away from Theo, who had opened the bottle and then stilled on Nico's words, staring down at his cousin sitting in a pile of cushions at Sonya's feet.

"Nothing?" Theo asked.

Both Aktor and Nico shook their heads in reply.

Theo's eyes lifted to mine.

"We have both had ours returned," he announced, albeit carefully. "Isadora?" he queried.

"She hasn't either," Aktor supplied. "But Marcus has access to his Water and Air."

"Well, that makes no sense at all," Theo remarked, finding clean glasses in a wooden crate and checking them for dust. He poured out a glass of red wine and then walked over and handed it to me. His eyes held mine, a depth of love and recognition in them I hadn't seen for far too long.

Tears welled and he smiled.

"I do not have an answer," he said, addressing Nico. "But this celebration is not for our returned Stoicheio."

"It's not?" Aktor asked.

"No," Theo said, his eyes once again on my face as he held out a glass to Sonya beside me.

"He's back," Sonya announced, taking the offered drink and raising it in a mini toast to my Thisavros.

Aktor stopped stirring the stew and hurried over, his eyes scanning Theo's face and then flicking to mine.

"Oh, Aetheros," he exclaimed. "This is a celebration." Then he hurried away down an aisle in search of something he needed right that very instant, no doubt.

"The Thisavros connection?" Nico enquired.

"Indeed," Theo replied, handing him a glass. "Strong, if my reaction was anything to go by."

"You don't say?" Nico offered with a smirk.

"I advise you keep well away from Cassandra, cousin," Theo added. "Precautionary measure, of course."

"Of course," Nico agreed, grinning profusely and then offering me a wink.

Aktor came barrelling back into the open space then, several boxes under his arms and muttering merrily.

"We'll feast," he announced, loud enough for everyone to hear. "A celebration is much needed right now."

He stirred the stew eagerly, then turned his attention to his packages, as Theo placed a glass of wine beside his old friend, on a barrel similar to the one he'd just screwed me senseless on.

I watched as Theo's fingers brushed the edge of the barrel, and then golden, lust-filled eyes flicked up to my face. I felt the heat rise on my cheeks, even as I grinned at him.

He poured himself a glass and walked over, sinking into the seat at my side.

"To your returned Thisavros," Nico announced, lifting his glass in a toast. Everyone stopped what they were doing and repeated the toast, taking a sip of delicious wine.

"I do hope this is the turning point," Aktor declared, unwrapping his precious parcels and placing what looked like crackers and antipasto - sundried tomatoes, olives, and oiled feta - out in dishes to the side. A Mediterranean feast.

"Do you have your memories, Theo?" Nico asked, taking another more relaxed sip of wine and falling into the celebratory atmosphere despite his lack of Stoicheio.

"Yes, thank Aetheros," he replied, slipping his hand into mine and bringing the back of it up to his lips for a sweet kiss.

"Oh, this is a happy day indeed," Aktor declared, bringing his feast over to us and placing it on a low pedestal, that must have housed candles or some such thing from the look of all the melted wax.

"But what are we going to do about your Stoicheio?" I asked, snuggling into Theo's side and nibbling on a cracker.

"Let's not worry about that right now," Aktor chided gently. "It will all fall into place."

I doubted that, and as the conversation rose around me, even Sonya getting in on the joyous atmosphere, I sent a tendril of thought out to Earth and Fire, unwilling to confront Air just yet.

Are you there? I asked and held my breath.

Aether, they both intoned, one grounded and serious, one playful and frisky.

What's happening out there? I asked, taking a fortifying sip of my wine before they could answer.

A sigh. A mournful hiss from the fire.

The world dies, Earth said. We need you, it added. Aether, come save us.

Save us, Aether, Fire added, to push the message home.

I stared into the red liquid in my glass, remembering the blood coating the streets above, and I knew our reprieve was not over. I had my Stoicheio back. I had my Thisavros back. But I did not have the answer to Genesis.

How do I stop this? I demanded them both.

Silence was my only reply.

What do I do? I begged and the only sounds was those of my companions laughing despite the still oncoming threat.

I shook my head and Theo turned to me, concern washing away the delight he'd just displayed.

"What is it, Oraia?"

"It's not over," I replied.

The room fell quiet on my words.

Then Theo murmured, "One night. That's all I ask. One night to enjoy having you back."

I reached up and cupped his cheek tenderly, infusing my touch with Pyrkagia because I could. His eyelids fluttered closed and he sighed a blissfully contented sigh.

My hand fell down when I realised Aktor and Nico were watching us, and I shouldn't have been rubbing our returned Stoicheio in their faces. Neither looked angry, just wistful. But still.

"They won't tell me what to do," I announced, knowing we had no choice but to address this. Time was not on our side. Each new Genesis event had happened quite quickly after the last. We couldn't hide down here. Like Mark had said, the next might be Water and we'd be flushed out anyway, even if our responsibilities called to us and we pretended we couldn't hear them.

"Your Stoicheio?" Aktor clarified.

I nodded. "I'm too afraid to ask Air."

"Why?" Nico asked, sounding genuinely interested in my answer.

"Because there is something very chilling about that Element. Something frightening."

Silence for a beat.

"Yet the Aeras seemed quite sane," Theo offered, in a generous tone, I thought. Hip's grandfather was anything but sane.

My eyes flicked to his. "Maybe we should visit them again. Ask the shaman for an answer."

"If he'd had an answer, he would have given it already," Theo pointed out. "He was as at a loss as we were."

"Then I don't know what to do," I said, feeling impotent. "I don't even know how we returned our Stoicheio. I can't even repeat it to help Nico and Aktor."

"And Isadora," Sonya helpfully supplied. I gave her a half-hearted glare. She was trying to snap me out of my defeatist attitude. I'd thank her later, but right now I was too glum.

"We'll think of something," Theo offered just as Aktor came over with dinner.

We ate in silence, still no sign of Mark and Isadora. And if they had been in the cellar, I was sure they would have smelled the food and roused themselves long enough to emerge from their cocoon of - I was not going to think too much on what they were doing - whatever, and come and eat.

But they didn't appear, and by the time we all curled up for sleep, me wrapped up in my Thisavros' arms, Sonya and Nico so close together their shoulders touched, Aktor by the fire, keeping an eye on the flames, longing in his still hazel eyes, I had really begun to worry.

The outside world felt so far away, though, in our little arched ceilinged room. If it wasn't for the fact I knew my brother was up there. No one had mentioned going back up into the wreckage of the house. Unsaid was Sonya's need for further rest, and Theo's desire to be near me before facing what may come. But I couldn't stop thinking about Genesis. About the fact that only three of us had access to Stoicheio and the rest were at a severe disadvantage. Including the humans.

I couldn't stop thinking.

So, I was awake when Mark and Isadora walked in; soaked, wide eyed, and breathless.

I sat up and stared at my brother, aware of exactly what was going on, even before Isadora cleared her throat and woke everyone else up with the urgent words, "The roads are flooding."

Nico groaned and rolled over, throwing an absent arm over Sonya's still form. Aktor muttered as he rose and Theo just blinked golden eyes directly at mine.

"We've tried to keep as much out of the cellar as we could," Mark announced, surprising me at his consideration and the fact he'd been actively doing something, while we celebrated and ignored the inevitable. "But we have to move soon. My guess, we've got about an hour."

"Then what?" Aktor asked.

"I don't know," the Alchemist amongst us replied.

"We salvage what we can," Theo announced, once again taking charge. "Essentials only. There were some packs down the back somewhere."

"On it," Isadora replied, heading off in a determined direction.

We all came to our feet and took one last look around our haven, aware we were now being forced into the unknown with the rest of the world.

"Higher ground will be our best bet," Aktor advised, rolling up a blanket. I followed his example, numbed and not thinking clearly and just so damn freaking scared.

Again.

What do we do? I begged all Stoicheio mentally, in a fit of frustration and desperateness.

Nothing, but a wail of the wind, a shudder of the ground, and a hiss from the fire.

Theo turned his golden eyes to me.

"Anything?" he asked, aware I'd made the Elements react just then and had probably been communicating.

I shook my head, fear showing on my face. We'd come so far, but we were still so out matched. And I had absolutely no idea what to do.

It took us twenty minutes to collect what we could, pack it securely and don our bags. Good quality backpacks, for hiking or camping, even two person tents were included on every other one. It was frightening what we couldn't take. What we had to leave behind. It was appalling what we did take, how little it was, how quickly it would surely run out.

Water was the most important, which was ironic, because when we emerged from our haven the skies had opened up and rain poured down.

The ground hissed where it landed, the drops hotter than I would have expected. And then as I came out fully from the shelter I heard it. A soft, soothing voice inside my head. A gentle tone, a refreshing sound. A warmth and welcome and immediate sensation of familiarity.

Aether, it said. Come dance, Aether, it urged.

I took a few steps forward, I'm unsure of the direction, but I know it pulled me away from Theo. Who was too busy assessing everyone, and then checking the environment, and then discussing with Mark and Isadora what they'd seen when they'd been above ground. Strategizing, I thought to myself, as I felt the tug of something tantalising just out of my reach.

Come play, that voice tempted, pulling me onward until I was several metres away from the rest. Yes, it crooned, like a lover stroking warm wet fingers down my cheeks. Quickly, it urged, just as Theo called out to me, asking me what I was doing.

I took one more step, then another.

Theo became frantic. I could hear him running. Maybe the others were too.

But I couldn't turn around, I couldn't walk away. A river had opened up at the edge of the property, I have no idea if it had been there before, and without conscious thought I stepped into the raging waters, feeling delight and eagerness and a sweet anticipation.

And then I was swept away.

Chapter Twenty-Six

It's All My Fault

I bobbed like a cork, laughing so much I swallowed water. I spluttered and choked, and then just started laughing again as the water spun me and pushed me and danced around my body like a lover.

Within seconds I was down at sea level, somehow moving from Oriental Bay cliffs to Oriental Parade, and then suddenly being swept out to sea.

Panic broke whatever hold Nero had, and I began to struggle.

The Water pulled me under. With such ease it shocked me. I flailed, even as it soothed. I screamed, sucking in the sea in large mouthfuls. I couldn't drown. I was pretty sure of that, despite the fact the Rigas' doctor had not experimented with water boarding, surprisingly. But Athanatos cannot die from drowning, or being buried alive. We need our heads chopped off for that.

The realisation that Nero couldn't kill me, unless it took my head, helped. I stopped fighting, forced myself to accept the water in my lungs and not search for air, and listened. Stilled my body. Opened my other senses and just felt.

The click and clack of crustaceans, the mournful cry of a sea mammal in the distance. Scent was elusive in amongst water, but touch was not. Seaweed stroked down my arms, tugged at my pack trying to take it. It didn't weigh me down and my only thought was what if I needed it once I escaped? But Water was determined, and soon the bag was floating away into the darkness. I feared my clothes would follow, which made me shake my head, because who cared right now? I just wanted to survive. Embarrassment at nudity could take a hike.

But my clothes remained, even as Water tingled across my skin, creating sensations that should not have existed right then. I leaned into them, despite my need to escape. I welcomed its touch, despite my desire to be on dry land. I opened my mouth and drank its taste down, savouring it, enjoying it, closing my eyes in delight.

Despite it being salt water and it should not have tasted divine.

I danced with abandon, water my stage, seaweed my companion. Twirling and diving and twisting and turning. If I had breath in my lungs it would have left me in delightful gasps as the ocean became a playground, sensations became my world, and the creatures of the sea entertained. It was surreal, but I felt every single moment. Fear was replaced with excitement. Angst became elation. Dread was soon anticipation.

I didn't want it to end, all thoughts of what was happening back on dry land were forgotten. Only this moment. Only these sensations. Only the next dance.

I'm not sure how long I was under the sea. How long it spun me, moved me, made me feel. Danced with me and me with it. I knew Nero had not yet Awakened, because no matter what I did, it would not respond or listen or even acknowledge me. The sublime movements were detached from conscious thought or conversation. Other than those first few words, it remained silent. Letting the sounds of sealife invade my ears.

Letting me feel.

By the time I washed ashore, it was late in the afternoon, the sun winking at me through a scattering of clouds, the rain stopped, the world once again washed clean, dripping and soggy, but glistening and pristine. It smelled so fresh. It shone so bright. I blinked, sat up and then spewed what felt like an entire ocean out over the road surface I lay on.

It took a minute or two for me to realise it wasn't the beach. And when I turned back to look out at the sea I realised why. I was back up on Oriental Bay cliffs, Oriental Parade below us was submerged, houses floating away in the waves, possessions and people washed away with them. I looked over my shoulder, trying to get my bearings, but if I was back on our property even the stone wall had disappeared. Nothing looked like it had before.

The scattered wood and metal and glass and belongings had all been swept away, leaving bare earth, soaked and destroyed gardens, an almost blank canvas to start all over again.

I opened my mouth to call for Theo, but only started coughing, still too much water inside. I gasped and spluttered, but I felt like I was drowning all over again.

Breathe, Air urged.

Relax, the Earth encouraged.

Be at ease, Aether, Fire instructed.

Where are they? I demanded, relieved I could at least speak in my mind, even if verbalising was still out.

Gone, they all intoned and my world shattered.

No. No, not possible. They were Athanatos. My brother an Alchemist. And all of them, maybe not Isadora, but all the rest, would lay down their lives for Sonya.

No, I said back firmly. Where have they gone?

It was a yell. I instinctively drew on every ounce of Stoicheio I could manage, infusing my command with so much power lightning struck, the ground shuddered, and fire flared up around me drying off the last of the water that had licked my skin.

The Mountain, they replied in sync. We have found them. The Mountain, they repeated, sounding chastened.

Determination flushed through me, and before I knew it I was running. My only goal to climb the monstrosity that loomed in the distance, blotting out the sun and beckoning me. I imagined the mountaintop, the raised viewing platform, the fallen cannon, our SUV crushed under a tree.

In a split second I was surrounded by pure white light, ozone invading my nostrils, and the crack of sizzling lightning filling my ears. When I blinked back from the brightness I was there.

And Theo was running towards me.

I'd forgotten what I could do with Aeras. I'd forgotten what I could do if I only put my mind to it and believed. I'd forgotten.

And as he ran the short distance towards me, Sonya and Mark and Aktor and Isadora watching relieved from behind, I realised I'd forgotten a lot of things in the stress and fear that had enveloped me lately.

I'd forgotten we are the Elementals of this world. We are responsible for the Elements' balance. And as long as we remembered that, succeeded in that, everything would be all right.

"Balance," I said, letting the word register in my mind. My voice scratched and weakened, but the sound of that one word surrounding me on the hillside felt right.

In the next instant I was wrapped up in Theo's arms and spun, cradled to his chest and kissed deeply. He pulled back suddenly, gold looking down at me.

And said, "You taste salty."

I offered a tired smile and then felt my knees give out. Theo lifted me up into his arms and carried me back to the others, who had allowed us our moment of reunion in private. That changed when we came abreast of them.

"What the hell happened?" Mark demanded.

"Nero," I rasped in my new husky voice. Sonya handed me a bottle of water, which I stared at for a moment, then reluctantly drank. It was fresh and clean and thankfully filtered. And surprisingly, after what I'd just been through, just what I needed.

"Did you have an Awakening?" Aktor asked and I shook my head.

"More of an introduction," I explained.

"And?" Isadora queried, impatience clear on her face.

The world dimmed slightly. I blinked, reached a hand up to my head, and Theo growled, "Back off."

It was lovely watching Isadora jerk in surprise, even if I saw it through a cloud of haziness.

"Theodoros," she began.

"I wouldn't if I were you," he said in a lethally quiet voice. "I remember."

Oh, goody. I hadn't missed this particular reunion.

Her face blanched, then her shoulders stiffened and her chin rose in typical Isadora style.

"Well, you'll remember her using Strychnos Toxifera on me in Brazil," she declared archly.

"And I remember you telling her I had a Thisavros before her and Casey would only last ten short years in my favour before I'd be back in your arms."

Oh, maybe it wasn't a good idea to be here for this. Gold was blazing from Theo's eyes, anger and righteousness from Isadora's, and I was stuck in the middle, still cradled in Theo's arms. Nico stepped forward, offering to take me, but Theo just growled, the Thisavros joining rearing its ugly head.

"Allow me, master," Aktor suggested, his subservient tone somehow soothing Theo's ire.

He handed me over reluctantly and said, voice clipped, "We settle this now."

Isadora nodded her head, resigned, but my brother stepped forward.

"Settle? How?" he asked, not bothering for an explanation on what needed settling. That was pretty obvious from the few words just spoken.

"This is not your concern, Alchemist," Theo informed him, imperiously.

"Like hell it's not," he argued back. "I have an interest in Isadora."

It wasn't a surprise, but Dora certainly looked a little shocked. Maybe to her, it had just been light relief at a stressful time and nothing more. From the look on my brother's face, that wasn't the case for him. I sighed quietly. When my brother fell, he tended to fall completely.

And damn, he had to fall for the cow?

"Give us ten minutes, Mark," Isadora requested. "I will return." It was a promise to him and a challenge to Theo. The woman did have guts, I'd give her that.

"Maybe not in one piece," Theo murmured.

"You harm her..." Mark started.

"Be at ease, Alchemist," Nico offered, placing a hand on his shoulder and pulling him back from getting too close to Theo. "This needs to be dealt with and is long overdue. Let them have space and an opportunity to move past this. For all of our sakes." His eyes lifted to me and Mark followed their trajectory.

God only knows what they both saw, but Mark acquiesced, watching after Theo and Dora as they walked some distance away.

For a moment nothing more was said, then I looked up at Aktor and murmured, "You can put me down now."

"Are you sure, Miss Eden?" he asked, while doing exactly as I requested.

I wasn't sure about anything, but I was determined to follow my previous revelation and train of thought. Balance. Balance was the problem. Balance was the key.

Or maybe I was? The only Ekmetalleftis who had been able to feed from Stoicheio. The only one able to reach a distant god. If I could pull on all five Elements at once, balance them when the world could not, would that work?

With one last glance towards where Theo and Isadora had gone, I turned my attention to Aktor, saying, "Mark, I'm going to need your help, please."

"Help for what?" he asked.

I sucked in a breath of air as he approached, wrapped a hand around Aktor's wrist tightly, surprising him, while I slipped my free hand into Mark's and said, "Call Water," in answer.

"What?" he demanded, but I was already calling Earth, Fire and Air, and he could feel it, reaching out to his own Stoicheio reflexively and handing me a full house.

Well, almost.

Aetheros, I called in my mind, backed by the power of all four Elements. If you're listening, now would be a good time to start re-entering your children's lives.

Silence as Gi, Pyrkagia, Aeras, and Nero surrounded us on top of Mount Victoria, overlooking a decimated city, anticipation hanging in the air. The scent of wet leaves and new grass infused me. The heated touch of flames as they licked my skin tickled. The sound of wind whistling, moaning met my ears. The taste of salt and brine tingled on my tongue.

And finally the dazzling, sparkling, effervescent glow of millions and millions of stars inside our minds, or in front of our eyes, or all around us, it was hard to say. Blinking, twinkling, winking. Making me smile. It was beautiful. Quintessence on loan from a god.

"Call your Pyrkagia," I instructed Aktor, joy filling every inch of me as those stars danced and twirled.

It was a testament to how much the old butler trusted me, because he didn't hesitate, despite recent experience telling him this would probably hurt. He reached for his Stoicheio. It came in a rush of flames and bright light and sizzling heat.

And Theo's thunderous roar of, "Cassandra! What the hell are you doing?" as he pulled us abruptly apart.

A boom of thunder exploded overhead, even though there were no clouds to signify a storm. Lightning rained down. Wind swept my hair around my face in a frenzy. The ground rumbled and shook, making everyone who wasn't cowering already fall down. A wave of movement buckled and uprooted what was left of the city, rolling outwards, further and further, in all directions. A circular ripple through the earth.

Blinding lights flashed as rainbows appeared in the sky, stars offering an unexpected and incongruous backdrop. Rain lashed our faces, pounded into the dirt. Sizzling as it hit puddles, boiling up the mud and creating geysers that rocketed towards the heavens.

"What the hell?" Isadora shouted and then promptly started convulsing on the ground.

I only had a second to think, Oh, God. What have I done? when those last few stick-like trees left standing burst into flames and licked the storm tossed sky.

Earth, Air, Water and now Fire. I'd outdone Genesis. And if those stars in the sky were Aetheros bearing witness to my idiotic attempts to return Aktor's Pyrkagia then I'd just delivered the whammy of Elemental packages for the imbalanced world to endure.

I staggered to my feet, even as Theo tried to reach out for me, lifting my hands up to Aetheros and pleading for it all to end.

"Stop!" I shouted. "Enough!" I screamed. My hands flung wide, my eyes blazing green and gold and white and ice blue. I could see the colours reflected against the rain, making the droplets into crystallised gems; emeralds, topaz, diamonds and sapphires.

If I wasn't so scared and so desperate for it to end and feeling so freaking guilty about starting this horrendous disaster, I would have appreciated the beauty before me. The stunning glory of the Elements on display. The awesome power they wielded when joined together. The tremendous awe they forced you to feel.

Weighted with a terror that stole all cognitive thought.

Alone they had been stupendous. Combined they were simply monstrous in a stunning way.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, my chest hurt with every single breath I took. Time seemed suspended, in an otherworldly stretch of pain. I could feel Earth's cries for help. I could hear Air's screams of fury. I could sense Fire's hiss of agony. I could taste Water's bitter torment.

I was surrounded by Quintessence's stunned reverence.

My arms lowered on registering that last. My brow furrowed as the ground slowed its roiling and bucking, the wind quietened to just a caress, the rain tempered itself until it was no more than a light drizzle, and the flames on the trees that still burned settled into a warm glow.

Silence filled the air, eerie and unnatural. No birds sang. No people called out in wonder at the storm that had miraculously occurred.

No one on Mount Victoria, staring up at me from their fallen positions on the ground, uttered a single word.

What the hell had just happened?

I glanced over at Isadora, who was sitting up with Mark's help. She looked wet and bedraggled, but otherwise unharmed. The rest were the same.

Or at least I thought they were until Nico lifted his hand and the most wonderful thing happened. Fire licked from his fingers, dancing across the tips as though delighted to be returned.

I spun to find Theo, he was looking up at me still with that look of shock and maybe awe on his face, but I think I was wishing for that last and it was probably more a healthy respect and fear for what I had just done.

I opened my mouth, unsure what I was about to say, when Aetheros spoke.

Aether. Oh, my Aether. The first hurdle has been climbed. The long road ahead waits.

And then he was gone, the stars in the sky disappearing, the dazzling display of twinkling lights snuffing out. And replacing the wind and rain was the sun. The trees were just smoking now and the ground was solid beneath my feet.

I turned around slowly and looked out over a devastated Wellington city, feeling numb.

Theo's arms wrapped around my body, and they were more welcome than I would have thought when I'd been feeling so lost and alone and discombobulated right then.

I'd caused an even larger catastrophe than Genesis.

I'd possibly killed thousands. Ten of thousands. Oh, dear freaking God, maybe more.

I turned into his chest and let out a silent scream of agony, somehow managing to hold my tears inside.

"Cassandra," Theo urged. "Oraia," he pressed. "Why are you so distraught?"

I pulled back, breathing heavily, and stared up at him in shock.

"I did this," I cried. "I made this happen. It's all my fault."

His smile was unexpected. The laughter rumbling through his chest was so not right. Then Aktor and Nico joined in, making me feel like I'd missed something, and Isadora, the bitch-cow, walked over, eyebrows arched, superior look on her face.

"Gi," she said, her favourite way to talk down to me; Gi being a derogatory term in her mind. "I have my Pyrkagia back."

"So do I." Nico confirmed what I had witnessed only moments ago, a wide grin on his face, gold blazing from his eyes. "We owe you our sincerest thanks."

"What?" I said, ineloquently.

Theo turned me to look at him, lifted my face up to his with tender fingers under my chin.

"I don't know how you did it, but Casey, you returned everyone's Stoicheio and I'd hazard a guess it wasn't just here in Wellington."

"What?" I repeated, dumbfounded and sensing a burgeoning swell of hope.

"That was quite an event," Aktor offered. "The epicentre was definitely you and the waves of your power rolled out in all directions."

"Probably still are," Mark added. "They didn't look like they were ready to stop."

Everyone was smiling at me, including Isadora, which was rather hard to take.

And then Theo said, "I think you halted Genesis. I think you did it." He pulled me close, hugged me hard, kept laying kisses in amongst my hair.

Then Aetheros' words came back to me, tempering the elation with a cold dose of reality.

The first hurdle has been climbed. The long road ahead waits.

Maybe I had stopped Genesis. But I hadn't balanced the world yet.

I glanced over Theo's shoulder and took in the sight of a bruised and battered city, noting the few humans that had crawled out of their hiding spots and were facing the new day.

And despite the realisation that we weren't yet done, hope continued to expand inside.

If we could survive this, we could survive anything.

At least, I prayed we could.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Dance With Me

Come dance with me, Aether.

The words woke me in the pitch black of night.

It took a moment to register where I was, why I'd awoken. Then it all came rushing back. We'd made camp on top of Mount Victoria. Away from the recovering city, but close enough to be reminded of what we'd overcome. Aktor confirming there was indeed hope, having made contact earlier through Fire with a friend in Pyrkagia, letting us know my balancing act, the storm-filled Stoicheio blast, had reached at least Auckland. Probably further afield as well. Despite that hope, though, we all knew there was more to come. Genesis was, after all, just the beginning.

Dance, Aether.

I sat bolt upright in our little tent, feeling the chill air coast over my bare arms, and shook my head trying to dislodge the panic that had taken root inside.

"What is it?" Theo murmured, eyes blinking up at me, from our shared sleeping bag, as he came fully awake.

Come dance.

Nero. Water was calling me, but I knew it hadn't Awakened. And I was sure, somehow, that the voice was not actually the Element itself. But the same voice that had called to me earlier.

Come, Aether.

I thought, perhaps, that it might have been a variation of Aetheros, but the longer it went on and with the absence of stars in my mind, I knew the god had retreated again, letting the cards fall where they may. I turned and looked down at Theo. Knowing everything was about to change.

We'd just spent a celebratory night with our friends in front of a fire. Followed by a glorious few hours in each others' arms. Unable to deny the longing we had for each other, that had never diminished, only grown stronger. Become more in spite of the hurdles, despite the agony along the way. I'd welcomed his arms and his body around me, over me, inside me, as he'd made love to me so gently, so reverently, so beautifully.

A celebration of life. Of survival. Of winning this battle and enjoying the moment before we went on to fight the rest of the war.

And as we'd both come together, Pyrkagia dancing across our feverish flesh, our delicious moans swallowed by our hungry lips and tongues, our tingling bodies gliding against each other, sated and complete, I'd known, no matter what, I was not alone anymore.

Battered and bruised, but not broken. Frightened and sorrowful, but not without hope. Theo was my guiding golden light amongst a dark world that had been beaten most mercilessly, and still had more to come.

Aether.

And the more to come had just arrived.

"Someone's here," I whispered, leaving blissful memories where they could be treasured but never forgotten. I watched the sleep leave his beautiful eyes on my words, then he immediately reached for my sweatshirt and handed it to me.

"Any idea who?" he asked, as we both donned more appropriate outdoor clothing.

I shook my head. Unsure if my guess was right or not.

We climbed out of our two-person tent, emerging into a moon bright night strangely devoid of stars, immediately turning our attention to what awaited. The owner of that tantalising voice.

A figure stood looking out over what was left of Wellington city. His back to us, arms clasped casually behind him, attention riveted on the decimation that lay below.

How the hell had this man made it to the top of Mount Victoria? He had to be related to the Nero, what with that voice, but where had he come from? Had he always been here in Wellington and we'd just not known?

I started walking toward him, drawn inexplicably to the stranger who continued to keep his back to us, as though we simply posed no threat at all. I felt Theo fall into place beside me, shoulder to shoulder, his body rigid with distrust, but my eyes were all for the shadowed figure.

The man did not look toward us, just kept his steady gaze over the destruction below. He had a strong jawline, stubble smattering along high cheeks, a nose that hinted at his Greek ancestry. Deep auburn hair that was cut short and surprisingly modern, and skin the colour of rich clotted cream, with eyes that shone ice blue, lighting up the sky.

He was magnificent, and power rolled off him in gentle, soothing waves. Stroking my arms absently, reminding me of the seaweed that played beneath the ocean, dancing with me within its arms.

Definitely a Nero.

"Who are you?" Theo demanded. I heard stirring in one of the tents at his raised voice. I couldn't look to see whose, my eyes wouldn't leave the strange man.

I was a little disconcerted that he elicited that type of response. As though he was a tantalising mystery I just had to solve. No matter what I tried, I couldn't look away. And then he spoke and reached right inside me and I knew I was trapped.

You know who I am, the voice, his voice, replied in my head, and looking at the surprise on Theo's, it had also resounded in his.

"You're a Nero," I surmised, voicing my earlier thought.

Not just any Nero, he offered, still whispering warmly inside our minds.

"A prince?" I asked, and Theo sucked in a breath of air, moving forward to block me. Placing himself between me and the man.

"The Nero Rigas," he hissed and the man smiled, finally turning to look at us both.

"Yes, Prince of Pyrkagia. I am their King." He turned his stunning frost blue eyes to me. "And I have come a long way to find you, Miss Eden."

"Why?" I blurted, as Theo growled low in the back of his throat.

The King's smile broadened, humour at Theo's reaction evident in his extraordinary eyes. "You are Aether," he said, not bothering to address Theo anymore.

"What do you know of Aether?" I demanded.

"I know, Miss Eden, that without Nero you will not succeed."

"It will happen," Theo pointed out and I nodded agreement. My Awakenings always happened, sooner or later.

"But not Nero," he smoothly replied, eyes still on me.

I wasn't sure what to make of this man. He was omnipotent, that was obvious. Beautiful and regal, just like Theo. But there was something hidden behind that mesmerising ice blue in his eyes. I couldn't name it, but I was wary of it.

"It will happen," I repeated Theo's words, refusing to show any fear before this stranger.

His smile turned intrigued, with a dash of wicked. I racked my brains for what Theo had told me of the Nero. Unlike the earthy Gi or the playful Pyrkagia or the strange Aeras, the Nero were considered welcoming, like a warm bath, or a spring shower.

I wasn't sure this man was welcoming me. I wasn't sure what he was doing.

"Did you not feel Nero attempt to reach you?" he enquired pleasantly. "When you swam with its children?"

Swam with its children? I guess he meant the crustaceans and sea creatures that mournfully called beneath the waves. And, of course, the seaweed that stroked tantalising fingers all over my skin.

"It's too soon," I advised, the only thing I could think of to say.

Because I had felt it. The moment too personal, too invasive to be anything other than that. Every Genesis episode up until then had barely touched me, I'd been protected in a bubble and left quite safe. But Water, when it had struck, simply pulled me, tugged me, called me to it. And I'd been unable to turn away. Like an Awakening.

"Child," he said, voice gentle, and somehow his use of the term "child" made Theo almost relax. "You missed your Awakening. You lost your chance. Aether you may be, but without Nero you will not succeed."

The repetition of those last words felt ominous. And a little too real. My disquiet aided by the fact that Theo swore softly in Greek.

Oh dear freaking God, Theo agreed with this man.

"I tried," the King went on. "I called to you, I invited you to dance. But you did not accept my invitation."

"How did you do that?" I queried, thinking he shouldn't have had access to his Stoicheio right then, when the rest of the Ekmetalleftis did not.

"I had assistance," he murmured, his eyes boring into mine. "An old friend, you could say."

"Who?" I pushed, unsure if I could trust a word of what this mesmerising man was saying.

"A friend who taught me to believe," was his reply, and I felt myself sway.

Theo steadied me as the King watched on, a type of understanding on his face which made his features soften, from the austere brilliance he'd displayed, to something almost human.

But he was not human. Neither was I.

And neither was my grandfather, an Alchemist who would have known how to protect his Stoicheio from Genesis and could have shown this King as well.

"What do you want?" I whispered.

"What your grandfather wants," he whispered back.

"Casey," Theo warned quietly beside me.

I ignored him, this was too important. I struggled to remember what exactly Gramps wanted. In the end he was against the Alchemists, imprisoned in CERN, trying his best to keep me out of their clutches. Did that mean I could trust this Nero Rigas?

"What do you want with me?" I pressed further. His presence here was not just to warn me, to point out a failing in the series of Awakenings I'd had. He wanted something more. Why else risk facing Theo, a Scout leader and prince of Pyrkagia? I had a feeling the Nero King knew Theo would be here. He'd not shown an ounce of surprise at his presence or his behaviour. Only mild humour and what appeared unending tolerance.

"To help you, Miss Eden," the King offered. "To call forth your Nero before it is too late."

"How?" I asked, dreading the answer, and conversely already knowing we'd have to accept whatever help this man could give.

Wellington lay destroyed beneath us. Auckland, my home, just the same. The world lay in tatters, the Elements still imbalanced, and I'd known, dear freaking God, I had known, that I was missing something. Unfulfilled. Incomplete. Not yet done.

How could I fight this if I wasn't a full Aether? How could Quintessence come to me, if I was missing Nero?

The answer was simple. One would not come until the other was already Awake.

The Nero King held out his elegant hand to me in invitation, palm up and open, ice blue shining kindly from his eyes. Theo started to growl again.

I flicked a glance up at my Thisavros' face; hardened Athanatos mask in place. But underlying it all was a fear so great I felt it. Visceral. Real.

"Theo?" I asked uncertainly, turning fully to face him.

"Now or never, Miss Eden," the Rigas urged.

We both ignored him as Theo pulled me further away to talk. I could see the calculation in his eyes now, the politician working through the information and determining what needed to be done. Part of me had already decided this was an avenue we had to pursue.

And part of me was so frightened Theo would agree. Where would that lead us?

Out of the corner of my eye I noted Nico and Aktor watching from beside the remains of our camp fire. Two men who had sworn allegiance to me. Having them present improved my mood. How bad could this get with three powerful Pyrkagia watching?

I wondered where Mark was. Still asleep? Maybe he knew this man if Gramps did. I wanted to ask him, but time was not on our side. And calling out to him in the thick air that chilled our bodies seemed harder to do than it should have. So much was happening. So quickly. I felt the ground shift beneath my feet and my body begin to fall.

"As much as it pains me," Theo whispered, interrupting my disjointed and turbulent thoughts. "I think he may be telling the truth. But Casey, you cannot trust him. He is an Athanatos. A powerful Ekmetalleftis." He closed his eyes and let out a ragged breath of air. "We go together," he suddenly advised, making my heart clench and my eyes sting with tears. "You need your Nero Awakening," he added. "Without it," he looked over my shoulder at the death and destruction Genesis had wrought, then golden hued eyes swept back down to meet mine, "this has all been for naught."

He was right. I had to take the chance that the Nero Rigas spoke the truth. Because not to trust could mean the end of the world. Even if Genesis was over, I knew there was more to come.

I nodded and opened my mouth to say something, when the King began to glow an ethereal ice blue, his large body vibrating slightly, ozone and fresh sea breezes on the air.

"My borrowed power is waning," he called towards us. "Without me, you will never find the Nero Pyrgos."

"Where is it?" Theo asked, no doubt hoping to catch the Rigas off guard, but I was sure the King wouldn't answer.

He surprised me, which was saying something, because right now I was drowning in shock.

"Ever heard of Atlantis?" he asked, a playful smile on his face. Theo let out a snort of incredulity. Which made me think the walls between these two men were starting to tentatively come down. It gave me hope that this next step was indeed right.

And then the ice blue glow in the King's eyes turned bright white, Aeras lightning brightening the night sky.

"Come dance, Aether," he said in a tantalising invitation that seemed to tug at something deeply rooted inside.

Dance with me. The words reached inside my mind again, tempting me further. Pulling. Tugging. Teasing.

Tantalisingly there.

I moved toward him, Theo slipping his hand inside mine. Solidarity.

I was not alone.

My eyes came up to the golden glow in his just as we reached the Rigas. The Nero's hand stretched out and I took it. Holding a King on one side and a Prince on the other.

Balance.

Then the dark night turned instantly bright white, blinding me as lightning struck. Ozone filled the air, crackling drowned out all other sound as my feet left the sodden ground and my body lifted up into nothing and my back bowed as electricity coursed through my veins.

I tried to cry out, but no sound escaped my lips. I tried to see something, anything, but all around us was bright white and nothing else. I could feel Theo's hand still, it gave me immeasurable comfort. I let a breath of air out, the sizzle of lightning stinging my flesh, the static of electricity surrounding me.

And then felt my hand slip free of Theo's.

No!

The King held on tighter, almost crushing my fingers in his. Denying me any escape.

As voices invaded the crackling, rising and falling over the hiss and sizzle of electricity. Aktor. Nico. Even Mark and Isadora. Screaming. Yelling, trying to get to me.

I couldn't see them. There was only white. So bright, blinding, all consuming. And I knew what was happening, even as I couldn't do a thing to stop it: My friends racing to reach me where I no longer fully existed anymore.

Part of me already gone, on the wind, in the blaze of an electrical arc, across the waves, far from home.

Part of me still hearing them. Fighting a losing battle. One of many more we would undoubtedly face. But I'd thought we'd at least be together when we faced them. A wish that was obviously not to be.

"Never two, always one. Alone Aether must face the sum." The Aeras shaman's voice sounded out in the memories of my mind. Reminding me. Chiding me.

I was destined to be alone.

And then my heart stalled, as the world continued to blaze white, and I heard in amongst the cacophony of buzzes and hisses, desperate voices and heartfelt cries, Theo frantically, achingly, yelling out, "Casey!"

And I knew I was alone.

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