Peta (An Elemental Series Novella, 3.5) by Shannon Mayer

Author:Shannon Mayer [Mayer, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: HiJinks Ink Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2015-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

s we left the hidden library, Lark gave Cactus directions. So she did have a plan. My curiosity got the better of me.

“What are you doing, Dirt Girl?”

“I’m going to confess,” she said as if it were the most natural thing in the world to take someone else’s place in death. Like she was telling me we were going to have tea and cookies with a friend.

“No!” I roared, leaping in front of her and physically blocking her from moving forward. “I will not allow it. You and I both know those Enders were killed after they were healing. You would at most have a lashing, and yet even that would kill you here in the Pit! Your death is not deserved, Larkspur. You can’t do this.” I couldn’t stop my voice from shaking. I could not lose her. Damn Talan for putting the thought in me. I did not want it to be true.

I would not admit even to myself that she was quickly becoming my world. She dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around my neck. I pressed my mouth against her collarbone, my teeth chattering against her skin. I could not keep my emotions in check—especially after seeing Talan alive and realizing how much Lark already meant to me. I had to stop her from this madness.

No matter what it took, no matter what I had to do I had to keep her from confessing.

“Peta, I don’t plan to die,” she said. “Belladonna will get me out of this and if I have to . . . I will fight my way out.”

I gasped and then pulled back to stare at her. A little wild? Perhaps more than a bit. None of my other charges had ever even considered fighting another elemental, even when it was warranted.

“I’m not like the other elementals. I won’t go down without a fight. Trust me. Please.” She begged me both with her words and the bond between us to understand her. And a part of me did. But the other part . . .

“You would be banished, anathema to all who met you. Your life would be over; you would be the walking dead. For what? A single life freely given in exchange for yours?” Could she truly mean to do this?

“No one will die, Peta.”

That was easy for her to say. She was young and hadn’t seen how very hard the world could be, and how cruel the mother goddess was at times.

She put a hand on my head, her fingers working deep into my fur. “Peta.”

I dropped my head and rolled my eyes up so I could look at her still. “Larkspur, please do not ask me to do this. To watch you offer up your life. You will be the thirteenth charge the mother goddess has given me. I cannot bear to watch you die, too.”

“Walk with me.” She put her hip against my shoulder and I reluctantly let her push me so we were again moving forward.

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