Treasure of the Fire Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 4) (38 page)

“She
is.  And what would you do if someone stole your treasure?”

“I
wouldn’t rest until I’d reclaimed her and killed the man who took her from me.”

“Then
you understand what I’m about to do to you.”

“I
do.”  Kingu didn’t even blame him for it.  And he sure as hell wasn’t going to
raise a hand against Hope’s family, so this wouldn’t take long.  “It takes a
lot to kill someone immortal.”  He warned.

“Luckily,
I’m pretty fucking creative.”

Kingu
almost smiled at that.  It reminded him of something Hope might boast.  He got
to his feet and snapped his fingers so he was dressed.  “Just tell her again
that I’m sorry.”  He’d tell her himself, but she wouldn’t want to see him
again.

“You
have powers like that and you’re just going to let me kill you?”  Qadesh
challenged when he saw Kingu wasn’t going to fight.

“Are
you going to take Hope away?”

“Yes.”

“Then,
yeah.  I think you should just kill me.”  Without Hope, he saw no reason to
keep breathing, so having Qadesh kill him was quite simply the easiest option. 
Almost a relief.  He wouldn’t have to go back to being alone and hopeless and
longing for her.  She was the only thing in the entire universe that he had
ever loved, so it was…

Please,
Kingu, I love you so much.  Just let everything go and I’ll be yours forever.

Kingu
froze, Hope’s earlier words coming back to him and finally penetrating his
despair.  Wait.  Had she really said that or had he imagined it?

Qadesh
stepped closer to him.  “You’re not going to defend yourself?”  His head tilted
at an odd angle.  “Why?”

“Hope
loves you.”  Kingu said, his mind whirling.  “I would never harm anyone she
loves.”

He
didn’t even need Zakkery’s warning that it would be a surefire way to alienate
Hope.  Kingu had a more important reason.  He just flat out wouldn’t do
anything that would hurt her, even if it meant letting her relatives mount his
head on a pike.

“Holy
Gaia.”  Qadesh’s strange eyes widened.  “You’re her Match
.
”

“What?” 
Kingu’s brows drew together.

“You’re
her
Match
.”  Qadesh looked him up and down.  “Her energy is connected to
you.  I can sense it.  She
Phazed
with you.”

“What?” 
Kingu said again, because there wasn’t anything else to say.

The
front door of the fortress opened.

Not
blew open, or burst open, or flew open… It just
opened
.  Like the
supernatural locks weren’t even there.  Only one being in the universe could
walk right past his security.

Tessie.

His
aunt had finally tracked him down.

She
sauntered into the room, dressed in an orange tank top with a sparkly jack-o’-lantern
face on the front.  “Kingu, are you alright?”  She demanded.

Behind
her, Job, of the Earth House stood there looking like a stockbroker.  His lawn
green eyes were trained over his shoulder, gaping out at the bustling Cloud
Kingdom.  “My God… The Banished Phases are really here.  Chason was right.  Why
didn’t we know this sooner?  It’s a miracle for our species to have so many
more Elementals alive.”

Typical
that the King of the Earth House would see the Banished Phases’ resurrection from
the most optimistic perspective available to him.  Kingu could’ve told all the
idiots in the Cloud Kingdom that they had nothing to worry about from Job.  The
man was like
The Brady Bunch
dad when it came to forgiving and
forgetting.

Kingu
stepped off the stairs and, for no good reason at all, moved between Qadesh and
Tessie.  He didn’t believe his aunt would harm an innocent bystander, but the
boy was
Hope’s
innocent bystander and that meant Kingu would protect
him.

Qadesh
shot him a sideways look and stepped forward to stand beside him.

“You
won’t think it’s such a miracle when you get to know the Banished Phases.” 
Kingu assured Job, but his eyes stayed on Tessie.  He remembered his promise to
Hope that he’d listen to the Quintessence if they ever came face-to-face and he
did his best to keep his word.  “Come visiting the poor relations, auntie?”

“Don’t
be a wiseass.  Where’s Kay’s necklace?”

So
far so good.  No blood spilled.  “I have no idea.  I traded it.”

“Traded
it!?”  Her voice went high.  “Why would you do something so epically dumb? 
Didn’t you feel that pulse of power yesterday?  Somebody
did
something
with that fucking hunk of silver and we have no idea what it might be!”

“I
know.”

“Well
who has it?”

There
didn’t seem much point in lying.  Perversely, he almost liked telling her the
truth, because there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.  “I gave it to
Zakkery, of the Smoke House who apparently sold it to someone else.  I don’t
know who and I’m pretty sure Zakkery’s left the Cloudland, by now.”

“Zakkery’s
alive, too?”  Job gave an almost inaudible sigh.  “If he’s involved then the
necklace could be anywhere, Tess.”

Tessie
watched Kingu in extreme frustration and then asked a truly bizarre question. 
“What did you trade it
for?
Was it important, at least?”

Kingu
hadn’t been expecting that.  He’d been anticipating violence and maybe to be
locked in another shithole kingdom for centuries.  “Of course, she’s
important.”  He snapped.

“She?” 
Job and Tessie chorused.

“Hope.” 
Qadesh said when Kingu remained silent.  “He must have traded it for Hope. 
She’s his Match.”

Job’s
eyes widened.  “Holy shit.”  He blurted out.

Tessie
spared her Match an amused look at the uncharacteristic swearing and then
refocused on Kingu.  She still didn’t look ready to attack him.  Instead, she
suddenly seemed… hopeful.  “Wait, you traded the necklace for
your Match?
”

“I
traded it for Hope.”  He wasn’t her Match.  It was impossible.  Except… didn’t
Phase-Matches have memory sharings?  Hadn’t he heard that once?  And didn’t
they have some kind of energy exchange when they mated for the first time?

Could
you have a Match without a soul?

No
one can love without a soul, Kingu, so how is it that you’re able to love me so
much that I can feel it every time you look at me.

His
heart was beating so fast, he was surprised the rest of them couldn’t hear it.

“Was
she in danger?”  Tessie persisted as Kingu tried to think.

“What?” 
He gave his head a vague shake.  “She was in a gladiator ring.  But, she’d
already defeated five men.”

“Holy
shit.”  Job repeated.

Qadesh’s
impassive face broke into a proud grin.

Kingu
lifted his shoulder in a shrug.  “Even though she was the victor, I still would
never have left her with the Banished Phases, locked in their prison and at
their mercy.  Of
course
, I traded that necklace.  I told Zakkery he
could have whatever he wanted if he brought me my woman and he brought me
Hope.  It was an easy deal to strike.”

Tessie
stared at him.  “Alright.”  She said quietly and nodded.  “I would have done
the same thing.  I almost did, in fact.  When Kay attacked Job, I would’ve
traded anything to save him.”

She
had that backwards.  Hope had saved
him
.

Kingu
met Tessie’s eyes and had a feeling his aunt already knew that, though.  Tessie
took a step closer to him and Kingu automatically backed up, thinking she was
about to attack.

She
stopped and sighed.  “Kingu, I’m sorry for what happed between us.  Kay ruined
so many things.  You know she did.  You and I --if we could just start over--
we could put her behind us.  I don’t want to fight with you.  I want us to be a
family, the way Job and Cross are a family.  We both have Matches and better
lives, now.  We could both just be… happy.”

She’d
apologized.  He’d promised Hope that he’d try to forgive Tessie if she
apologized.  Hell, he
wanted
to forgive.  He wanted that whole period of
his life over and he wanted…

To
be happy.  Just like Tessie said.

He
just wanted to be happy with Hope.

Kingu
slowly shook his head, still not convinced, even as new, impossible thoughts
ping-ponged through his brain.  “Do I have a soul?”  He whispered.  Tessie was
the only one who might know the truth.  “Kay said I didn’t.”

Tessie
scowled.  “Why would you listen to your sociopathic mother about
anything? 
Especially
souls?  What the hell would she know about them?”

Kingu
swallowed hard, unable to argue that point.

“You
have a soul.”  Tessie said firmly.  “Just the fact that you want one is proof
of that.  You think soulless things give a shit that they’re soulless?”

Job
kept his eyes Kingu’s face.  The Earth Phase must have seen
something
there, because he cleared his throat.  “How does anyone know if they have a
soul?”  He asked.  “There isn’t an X-ray for it.  You just… know.”  He regarded
Kingu seriously.  “Although I supposed we could conduct a pretty standard and
foolproof test, if you’d like.”

“A
test?”  Kingu braced himself.  “Yes.  Do it.  Now.”

“Certainly.” 
Job cleared his throat.  “Just standing here, who can feel the connection
between Hope and Kingu’s energy?”

Tessie,
Qadesh and Job’s hands shot up.

“Excellent.” 
Job nodded like a LSAT proctor and refocused on Kingu.  “Good news.  I believe
you past.  You Phazed with Hope and you can’t Phaze without a soul.  Period.”

Kingu
still didn’t believe it.  He didn’t dare.  “Are you
sure
I’m her Match?”

Job
regarded him with the oldest, most compassionate eyes Kingu had ever seen.  The
Earth Phase was technically younger than Kingu, but he understood so much more
of the world.  “Did you have a deep connection to Hope from the first?  Do you
love her beyond everything?  Did you feel the Phazing happen?”

“Yes.” 
Kingu’s answer to all of that was unequivocal.

“Then
you already
know
you’re her Match, don’t you?  It’s interesting.  I
believe Hope to be a worthy sort of girl.”

Kingu’s
eyes narrowed.  “Of course she’s fucking worthy.”

“Cursing.” 
Qadesh intoned.

Kingu
shot him an annoyed look, realizing the other man had started including him in
that stupid swearing contest…  And that he’d lost this round.

Job
kept talking.  “So, if Gaia has Matched Hope with you, I assume that means
She’s found
you
worthy, as well.  Not many men know that kind of
blessing.”  He inclined his head.  “Congratulations, nephew.”

Star
Phases usually find Matches within their own House, so any outsider to Phaze
with one must first be blessed by the gods.  In the tales, these Matches must
usually endure some great trial to prove their soul is worthy of the gift being
given to them.

Kingu
blinked rapidly.

Tessie
beamed over at her Match.  “I knew you could talk to him, Joby.”

Kingu
barely heard her.

The
Phazing…  The endless love he felt for Hope…  The sudden realization that
Tessie was right when she said Kay had lied to him about
everything
, so
why would he believe her about this…?

And
then Kingu just… knew.

He
hadn’t been forsaken.  He’d endured and suffered, but it had been
worth
it.  Because, in the end, he’d been granted a new beginning.  He’d been given
something beyond price, because Gaia saw that he’d understand the value of the
gift.  She’d never entrust a treasure to somebody beyond the natural order --to
a soulless god or monster-- only to someone truly… blessed.

Kingu
suddenly knew that he
must
have a soul.

He
had Hope.

By the
blessing of the gods her soul shall be blown through and

through
with the free air of heaven whilst yet the elements

in her are
blending to their final shape.

George
Gissing- “Thyrza”

On
Hope’s charm bracelet there was a small silver Model T.  It was a souvenir from
a particularly fun bank robbery Hope had planned as a surprise for Oberon back
in the 1930s.  Her grandfather had been Dillinger’s biggest fan.  She
remembered everything about that day.

Hope
had been hanging on for dear life, while Alder floored the car through downtown
Chicago.  Missy laughed happily as she dumped the human money they’d just
stolen out the window, creating a confetti parade in the Depression era
streets.  Even Teja had looked amused, her cloche hat framing her smiling face
as the human police tried to chance them down.

Oberon
had loved it most of all.  Her grandfather had been decked out in pinstripes
and spats, standing on the running board, with a Tommy gun on his hip and a
huge grin on his face.  He leaned into the passenger’s side window and gave
Hope a smacking kiss on the temple.

“Best
birthday ever, my star.”

Every
charm on Hope’s bracelet was a memory like that and she had a hundred thousand
other joyful moments, as well.  But, now new images suddenly filled her head.

Images
from
Kingu’s
past.

Hope
staggered backwards as she started seeing memories that weren’t her own.  Scene
after scene of blood and pain and horror.  And not in a good way.  The Fire
House loved a good war as much as anyone, but this was just
brutality
.

Hope’s
eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

Memory
sharing.

All
Matches had them, so she didn’t know why she was so surprised when it began.
Memory sharings allowed Matches to see key images from each other’s pasts.  It
was just another part of Phazing.  But, Hope hadn’t even had a chance to
convince her Match that they
were
a Match, let alone think of all the
implications of what it meant.  The scenes flashing in front of her eyes didn’t
really give her time to adjust, either.

She
stood in the dead center of Hell.

Memory
sharings put Phases right back into the middle of events and let them see
everything that had happened.  It was so
clear
--like a virtual do over
of the past-- and there was nothing she could do to change
any
of it.

“Oh,
God.”  Hope whispered.

Kingu’s
life was an unrelenting barrage of pain and hopeless despair.  Hope had lived
every day of her one hundred and fourteen years knowing she was loved and
protected.  Kingu had apparently spent a thousand times that many days in
agony.

There
was nothing good here.  Not one single happy memory.  He’d been beaten,
starved, and forgotten in the basement for decades at a time.  He’d been forced
to do the most horrible, degrading, soul crushing things.  His powers had been
stripped from him.  His own mother had laughed while she hurt him.  Told him
that he was nothing and that no one would ever care for him or help him.  Told
him he was forsaken and soulless.

He’d
endure more than any other warrior could ever endure and he’d done it while
maintaining such a stoic dignity and gentleness.  She’d watched him open a
window to free a butterfly while he had three broken ribs and a bloody nose,
for God’s sake.  Kingu had lived terrible life, but he’d lived it with so much
honor.  He was sarcastic and resigned and hated everyone, but he’d never hurt
anything weaker than himself.

Not
even once.  Not even if it meant getting hurt himself.

Hope
slowly crossed the stone floor of Kay’s dungeon and crouched down next to his
still form.  “Monster?”  He looked like he’d been beaten with a club and left
for dead.  In fact, he
had
been beaten with a club and left for dead. 
“It’s alright.”  She soothed, even though it wasn’t alright, at all.  “I’m
here.”  He couldn’t feel it, but she smoothed a hand over his hair.  “I will
never leave you.”

A
great deal of wailing sounded outside the barred windows of his cell.  It was
like hundreds of people all crying at once.

Hope
frowned and got to her feet to peer outside, afraid that something was about to
burst in and attack Kingu while he was vulnerable.  Out the small window she
Kay in a pink plastic lawn chair, shaded by a large sunhat tied with a polka
dot scarf.

The
primordial Khaos dressed like a refugee from a 1950s sitcom, from the tips of
her cotton candy painted toenails to the bouncy blonde hair on her head.  She
was one of the oldest beings in the universe, but, in human terms, she looked
about twenty-five.

“Funny,
aren’t they?”  She giggled to no one in particular and sipped her Shirley
Temple through a twisty straw.  “So much better than anything on TV.  At least,
today. 
Wheel of Fortune
is a rerun, you know.”

Hope
had the bizarre feeling that the woman was talking to Kingu.  That she’d
forgotten that he wasn’t there beside her.  There was something more unsettling
about that than the beating itself.  Like Kay just didn’t care enough to even
recall torturing her son and locking him in a cage.  Like she was so
uninterested in Kingu as a person that she didn’t even process when he wasn’t
there.

Behind
Hope, Kingu groaned and opened his eyes.

“Monster,
no.”  Hope hurried to his side.  “Just lay there.  You don’t need to see what’s
happening.”

Hope
had never been to Southern Africa, but she’d seen pictures of the vast savannas
there.  Endless fields of rolling, brown vegetation.  The Air Kingdom looked
like that, only without the amazing array of animals or the ancient echoes of
life.  The wind always blew, the tall grass always waved.  Infinite and
unchanging.

But,
stacks of corpses were new.  As were the teams of men digging the mass graves.

This
memory was taking place during the Fall.

Kay
sat in her Astroturf green backyard, enjoying the show going on beyond her
picket fence.  Her home was untouched by Elemental powers.  The pink and white
gingerbread house sat safely amid the stone fortresses of the kingdom.  Immune.

“The
bodies do stink a bit, don’t they?  But it’s not like they smelled all that
good when they were alive.”  Kay tittered at her own joke and adjusted the
sparkly sunglasses covering her eyes.

Kingu
pulled himself to his feet and staggered over to the window.  Some Air Phases,
dirty and beaten, many of them coughing, pulled a litter past Kay’s home.  One
of the dead women on the makeshift sled had partially fallen off.  Her arm and
shoulder dragged along in the dirt.  Her painted fingernails dug into the
ground leaving small marks in soil.

For
some reason, Hope couldn’t look away from the sight.

Neither
could Kingu.  He expelled a long breath that was almost a moan.

“There’s
nothing you could so to stop this.”  She told him forcefully.  “You were
unconscious for most of it.  You’re
not
to blame for what she and Parald
have done.”

His
mother was a demon straight from hell.  Kay brought the plague down on the
Elementals and she’d brutalized her own son for millennia.

Oberon’s
death was Kay’s fault.  Kingu’s suffering was Kay’s fault.

The
two people Hope loved most in the world had been attacked by this woman.  Kay
held so much power.  Too much for anyone to release without it having untold
consequences, so she lived on.  No one would kill her knowing that the world
might end because of it.  Tessie had sent her into a coma to incapacitate her,
but that did nothing to calm Hope’s mounting fury.

What
if Kay woke-up and came after Kingu, again?  Who could stop her this time?  How
could Hope protect him?  Kay was one of the most powerful creatures in the
universe and Hope… wasn’t.

Kingu
dropped his head for a long moment.  When he looked up again, it was to gaze
off at the horizon.  At the trail of black smoke in the distance that could
only be coming from the pyres of the Fire House.  Everything in him seemed to
still and he moved as close to the window as he could, given the chains.

Of
course there were chains.  Kingu was chained. every. single. day.

And
Hope had honestly considered using rule seventy-seven to tie him up, again?

It
made her sick to think about it.  She was the worst Match in the world.  Also,
she now had a real good idea as to why Kingu had panicked when they stopped
Phazing long enough for him to process that he’d restrained her and that she
was sobbing.

Oh
dear…

“Monster,
how could you even think for a second that what you and I shared was anything
like this?”  If he wasn’t already so hurt, she’d whack him upside the head.

She
watched as Kingu’s brows tugged downward, his attention still on the column of
smoke.  He stared at it for a long time and then he started slowly shaking his
head.  Started working to get the magically imbued chains off of his body. 
Started fighting to get free, even though there didn’t seem to be a clear
reason why.

Where
did he think he could go, beaten to a pulp and with his evil mother right
outside?  It didn’t make any sense…  And then, suddenly, Hope knew what day
this must be.

The
fourth day of the Fall.

The
day Oberon died.

“Oh
God.”  Hope whispered and realized what was happening.

She’d
been distraught beyond all comprehension that day and Kingu had
felt
it.  Of course he did.  They were a Match.  He didn’t know
what
he felt
or
why
, but he was sensing their connection and automatically trying to
get to her.

“Kingu,
stop!”  She cringed as he tried to remove the restraints through brute
strength.

“
Fuck!
” 
He roared in defeat when the manacle stayed tight on his wrist.  All he’d
succeed in doing was ripping off his skin straight down to the bone.  He didn’t
seem to notice the additional blood and pain.  His gaze went back to the
window.  Back to watching the smoke.  He stood there breathing hard, looking
frustrated and confused and furious.  “What the hell am I doing?”  He
whispered.

Looking
for
her
.

When
Hope had been at her darkest point, Kingu had tried to reach her.  No one had
ever tried to help
him
or ease
his
agony.  But, without even
knowing that she was real, he’d tried to take off his own arm to find her.  To
be there for her.

This
was why Oberon had picked this man for her.

This
was why Hope would never
ever
give up on Kingu and their Match.

This
was why she would protect him if it meant ending the universe itself.

Something
moved inside of her and Hope glanced down in surprise.  She abruptly knew why
Teja had been so surprised earlier.  Now it all made sense.  Hope smiled.

From
out of nowhere, she thought of Oberon’s final words.  The very last thing he
said to her was to remember the first rule of their House.  The primary source
for everything they did, the law had been imprinted into Hope’s brain from
birth and now she knew why.  So, at this very moment, she would know
exactly
what to do.

Thank
you, grandfather
.

*****

“Hope!” 
Kingu slammed back into her bedroom, Job, Tessie and Qadesh following along
behind.  He scanned around desperately, looking for her familiar blonde head
and only finding dark haired Elementals from the Fire House milling around.

Five
of them stared at him with various degrees of interest and antipathy.

“Oooooohhh.” 
A female in a blue poofy dress smiled widely.  “He
is
a monster.”

Kingu
didn’t have time for this.  “Who the fuck are you people?  Where’s Hope?”

“Swearing.” 
Qadesh intoned from behind him.

The
Fire Phases all looked at Qadesh and then back at Kingu.  Maybe he was going
crazy, but that one word seemed to ratchet down the automatic hostility he felt
coming from most of them.  As if Qadesh including him in the stupid swearing
contest was a mark of approval telling the others that he belonged.

But,
Hope said her
family
was playing that game.  Unless…

Shit! 
Kingu
squeezed his eyes shut, frustrated by his own stupidity.

Hope
was a Fire Phase.

Of
course she was.  How had he not seen it before?  He’d known that Color House story
made no sense.  He should’ve realized that she’d been raised by fucking warriors. 
She’d told him so enough times.  She’d kept bringing up the Fire Kingdom and
he’d kept insisting it was filled with lunatics.  It
was
filled with
lunatics… but apparently they were the lunatics who loved his Match.