The Hidden Elemental (The Binding Trials Book 3) by D.K. Holmberg & Jasper Alden

Author:D.K. Holmberg & Jasper Alden [Holmberg, D.K. & Alden, Jasper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ASH Publishing
Published: 2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Lathan awoke inside of a small room.

Everything felt odd. He breathed out, trying to settle himself to make sense of what he had experienced, but wasn’t entirely sure why. He was alone, so as he got to his feet and looked around, he found nothing and no one around him.

The room was simple with gray walls all around and no sign of a door. He had no idea how he’d been brought here, as he could not have even been lowered inside. But he felt something. Maybe it came from elemental energy. With the thought, he started to question if perhaps it was elemental energy and if that was the reason he was picking up on anything at all. If it was elemental energy, that would explain why he felt what he felt, even if he didn’t know if there was any way that he could do anything with that elemental energy.

Cold flickered distantly.

The shadow.

He needed that connection.

Not only for him to figure out what was going on, but to try to find a way to escape, somehow. He needed the shadow.

It flickered again.

A wall rippled in front of him. Earth, he suspected, and the wall simply shifted, disappearing. He jumped forward.

Marin stepped toward him. She was dressed differently. She had on a pale-blue gown, and her hair was brushed, making her look almost… elegant. Not that Marin ever looked terrible. She had always seemed as if she were out of place in the village, as if she deserved more than what she was offered there.

She stumbled toward him and then caught herself, looking up and grabbing his hands. Her face was pale, ashen, and he had a distinct sense from her that something was not quite right.

“Marin?”

“Lathan? You are here. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or not.”

“What happened to you?”

“It’s the Sacred Mother.” She looked behind her, but the wall had reappeared, blocking Lathan from seeing anything. “They brought us here. They sent me to her.”

“They knocked me unconscious,” Lathan said.

Marin hesitated for a moment. She licked her lips, then she swallowed. Lathan had the distinct sense that she was calling upon spirit, but he couldn’t tell what she was doing with it, only that she was drawing on that sense.

“They told me it was necessary,” she said.

“You knew?”

“Afterward. I didn’t know at the time, and I would have tried to fight, but⁠—”

“I don’t know that you would have been able to do anything to fight against what they were doing to me. I think there were several networks targeting me, and they had far better control over spirit than what we do. Far better control over spirit than I do.”

“I know,” she said. She looked behind her again and breathed out slowly and heavily. “I think you’re next.”

“What was it like?”

The ground started trembling, and strangely, there was a distinct tunnel of wind that began to build, pulling him back. Marin held on to his hands, squeezing.

“Just relax,” she said.

“That’s the only thing that you can tell me?”

“It’s all I can say,” she said.

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