The Soothing Scent Of Earth (Elemental Awakening, Book 2) Read online

  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 11

  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 f
igure 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.