Treasure of the Fire Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 4) (39 page)

Kingu
took back every “eating their dead” comment as he looked around the room. 
Somehow these people had raised Hope to be Hope, so how the hell could be
anything but grateful to them?  Hope was right.  They must be the greatest of
all of Houses.

He
turned to the oldest male, who he had a sneaking suspicion was Djinn, the Fire
House king.  “I’m Hope’s Match.”  He would never, ever get tired of saying
that.  “Where is she?”

Djinn
stepped closer to Kingu, sizing him up.  “She left.  She’s a little upset.”

Kingu’s
heart stopped.

“Hang
on!  You can’t just take Hope from Kingu.”  Tessie shoved her way up beside
him.  “Job and I won’t allow it.”

Kingu
looked down at her in surprise.

“Stay
out of it, Quintessence.”  Another man snapped.  “This is Fire House business
and he’s
ours
, now.”  He pointed at Kingu.  “It’s a matrilineal
society.  I had to memorize that in school and it means that Hope’s Match
automatically becomes a Fire Phase.  Asking anyone in third grade civics.”

“Alder
has a point…”  Another woman began.

“No,
he’s doesn’t have a point, Pele!  You took my nephew’s Match and you’re going
to give her back to him, right now!”

Tessie
was on his side against the Elementals.  She was trying to get Hope back for
him.  Kingu stopped hating his aunt so fast he had to wonder if he’d ever
really hated her at all or if he’d just been pissed at the world.

Suddenly
having a destiny of his own erased so much of his anger and pain.

“Alright,
everyone calm down.”  Job held up his hands.  “Djinn, did Hope leave willingly
or did you take her?”

“She
wanted to go!”

Kingu
couldn’t breathe.  “She’s gone?”  He whispered.

“Yeah.” 
Djinn shrugged like he didn’t see what the big deal was.  “But, she’ll be back
in –like-- ten minutes.  Everybody chill.”  He rolled his eyes and looked over
at Pele.  “You see the kinda drama Job’s always stirring up?”

“Totally. 
Have we even gotten to say hello to Hope’s gigantic god guy, yet?  Nope.”  She
shook her head.  “It’s always all about
Job
.”

Job
sighed in resigned annoyance.  “Where is Hope?”

“With
Teja.  She’s fine.”  Djinn waved a dismissive hand and focused on Kingu’s taunt
face.  “We need to have a little talk, pally.”

“Say
what you like, just know that I won’t give up Hope.”

Djinn’s
eyes narrowed.  “Okay, here’s what you gotta know about me, then.  Day before
the Fall, our family had nine people.  Day
after
the Fall, we still had
eight.  Over ninety percent of Elementals died, so those numbers should be
completely flipped.”  He slowly shook his head.  “We lost Oberon, but the rest
of my family made it.  No other Phase still has his Match and all his
children.  Just me.  You think that’s because God just loves me the most?”

“I
think Hope protected you without even knowing she was doing it.”  Kingu said
honestly.  “I think her powers were stronger than my mother’s plague.”

“I
think so, too.”  Djinn leaned closer to him.  “My baby cousin was born a Star
Phase and she somehow saved my kids.  She saved my Match.  She saved Teja and
me.  She brings our family nothing but joy and love.  Hope, of the Fire House
can ask me for any-fucking-thing she wants from here until the end of time and
I’ll kill for her right to have it, understand?”

“Yes.”

“So
when she tells me she wants
you
, --well-- you see where the decisions
already been made.  You
will
be a knight in shining goddamn armor for
her, if I have to solder the stupid helmet to your head.  We clear?”

“I
don’t know how to be a knight.  I only know how to be the monster.”

“I
don’t give a shit if you’re used to being the
horse
, just so you learn
to take real good care of her.  Fast.  Otherwise we’re going to have a
problem.”

Kingu
firmed his jaw.  “Hope is mine.  You have a claim on her, too, and I respect
that.  I won’t take her from you and I am in your debt for caring for her. 
But, Gaia gave her to
me
.  I will be with Hope until the world crumbles
to ash, whether you like it or not.  If anyone tries to keep me from her… I
will
stop
them.”

Just
to show he had the power to back-up that statement, Kingu snapped his fingers
and turned the whole fortress into a tiki hut around them.

“Jesus!” 
Tessie jolted at the display of energy, her eyes on the suddenly thatched
roof.  “Kingu, I had no idea you could do something like that.”

“And
I’m only getting stronger.”  Kingu kept his gaze locked on Djinn.  “We want the
same thing:  Hope’s happiness.  I know what she brings to your family, because
she also brings it to me.  I will care for her and, if you allow it, I stand
with your House.  Forever.  I give you my word.”

Djinn
looked around at the bamboo and hammocks that had appeared out of thin air.  He
gave a slow smile.  “I’m suddenly liking the idea of having a god around my
castle.  Hey, how do feel about turning the Cold Kingdom into a sewer?”

“I
know nothing about the place, but I’m sure it can be done by tomorrow.”

“No!” 
Job roared.  “Djinn, you’re not using him as your own personal Death Star and
Kingu, you know better.”

“I
do?”

“Yes,
you do.”  Job said firmly.

Kingu
and Djinn exchanged a long suffering glance and subsided.  Job had that way
about him.  Still, Kingu felt like he’d reached an accord with the Fire King
and that was the important thing.  He wanted no conflict with Hope’s family. 
He looked over at Tessie.

…Or
his own.

Kingu
quickly glanced away when Tessie smiled at him, not sure what to think about
how quickly his world was changing.  All he wanted was his Match.

“
Now,
will you tell me where Hope is, now?”  He demanded.

Djinn
rolled his eyes.  “I already
told
you she’s with Teja.”

Kingu
had no idea who Teja was, but he didn’t see where it mattered.  “Fine.  Where
is Teja, then?”

“Air
Kingdom.”  Djinn said as if it should be obvious.  “Hope went to visit your
mom.”

By day or
star-light, thus from by first dawn

Of
childhood didst thou intertwine for me

The passions
that build up in our human soul…

With life
and nature, purifying thus

The
elements of feeling and of thought

William
Wordsworth- “Influence of Natural Objects”

“They
say killing her will end the world.”  Teja remarked conversationally.

Hope
stared down at Kay’s sleeping form and snorted.  “If all the things that were
supposed to end the world actually ended the world, none of us would be here.”

“Touché.”

Hope
pulled her eyes from her mother-in-law and looked around the nightmarish pink
interior of Kay’s froufrou bedroom.  Her eyes fell on the manacles on the far
wall and the horrible bloodstained carpet beneath them.

“Kingu
was kept here for centuries, Teja.  What would you do if you were me?  What
would any Fire Phase do if their Match was threatened and abused?”

Teja
glanced at her sharply.  “I would kill anyone who touched my Match.  Even if it
did end the world.”

“It
won’t end the world.”  Hope knew that with a certainty she couldn’t explain. 
Her usually nonexistent powers moved inside of her, the same way they had when
Oberon died and she willed him to open his eyes.  She felt the energy within
her waiting to be harnessed.  “But Kay’s finished.  She will never wake-up. 
She will never release another plague that attacks our family. 
She will never
hurt my Match, again
.”  Hope met her cousin’s gaze.  “I can do this. 
We
can do this.”

Teja
slowly nodded.  A woman who believed in nothing stepped back and put the fate
of the world into Hope’s hands on pure faith.  “Alright.”  She shrugged.  “Do
it, then.”

Hope
had rarely been so touched.  “Thank you.”

Teja
rolled her eyes.  “Just hurry up and kill her already.”

“Hope!” 
Kingu jumped into the room, his eyes frantic.  “Are you alright?  Has she hurt
you?”  He quickly glanced at his mother to make sure she was still sleeping and
then back at Hope.  “Treasure, I don’t want you anywhere
near
this
place.”

“Don’t
worry.  This’ll only take a sec.”  Hope seized hold of Kay’s hand.

“Stop!” 
Tessie jumped into the room with Job and the rest of Hope’s family.  “Hope,
damn it!  You can’t kill Kay!”

Teja
intercepted Tessie when the Quintessence moved to stop Hope.  “Leave her be.”

“She’s
going to destroy the universe!”

“Fire
Phases don’t destroy.”  Teja said flatly.  “We protect.  It’s rule eight.”

The
rest of the Fire House nodded in agreement.  Rule eight was one of the biggies.

Apparently
Kingu had met her relatives.  Hope glanced up at him.  “By the way, I’m not a
Color Phase.”  She told him a little belatedly.

“I
don’t care if you’re a
Cardboard
Phase, just so you’re Hope.”

“You
told him we came from the Color House?”  Satour snorted in disgust.  “I’d
rather be dead.”

Alder
shuddered at the very idea.  “We’re
Fire
Phases, Kingu.  You’re one too,
now, so… you’re welcome.”

Job
sighed.  “They’re going to be a terrible influence on that boy.”

Kingu
ignored them and tried his damnedest to get between Hope and Kay.  “Please come
away from here.  I can’t stand seeing you touch her.  If you want to end the
world, I can think of sixteen other ways we can try, but not
this. 
I
don’t want you here!”

“I’m
not going to end the world.”  Hope looked up at him and smiled.  “Trust me.”

“You
know
I trust you.  You were right about everything, Hope.  You’re my
soul mate and my Match and I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Really? 
I’m not sorry, at all.”

“Well,
I’m not sorry about
all
of it obviously, but I’m sorry I was a jackass. 
I can make it up to you.  Come with me.  Please.  Kay is evil and I don’t want
you exposed to…”  He trailed off as Hope took hold of his wrist and settled his
palm on her lower abdomen.  “What are you…?”  He stopped short as his powers
sensed the same thing Teja’s had.  The same tiny movement Hope had felt in that
memory sharing.

Life.

Kingu’s
eyes snapped back to Hope.  His expression of total shock was something she
would be snickering about for the next several millennia.

She
winked at him and squeezed Kay’s hand as tight as she could…  Pulling all those
incredible, world changing energies out of Kay and giving them to Kingu’s
daughter.

Kingu
said that the powers wouldn’t pass to him, but that the Khaos could only be
held by someone in Kay’s bloodline.  His mother thought she’d be protected
because the energy had to go to a female and she’d only had a son.  She thought
no one would dare kill her.

But,
Hope was willing to bet that the stupid moron had never consider what would
happen if Kingu had a little girl.

A
child created out of a bond that Kay would never understand.  With a mother who
was enough of a Star Phase to make the energy drain happen just by willing it
and enough of a Fire Phase to know just how to win this fight.

Rule
number one of being a Fire Phase:  All real power is born from love.

Kingu’s
mouth parted as he realized what was happening.  His gaze flew back to Kay, who
was shriveling away right there on the bed, and then back to Hope.  “She’s
fading.  You’re draining her into nothing.”

“No
one hurts my Match.”  She said simply.  “Not ever, again.”

Kingu’s
swallowed, his eyes bright.  “I love you.”  He cleared his throat and laid his
other hand over her stomach, too, looking overwhelmed.  “Is the energy too much
for the baby to hold, though?  It’s so much power and she’s so small.  I would
go back into chains in a fucking second before I risked…”  He let out a
reverent sigh when he felt their daughter safe and sound inside of her.  “God,
she’s strong.”

“Of
course she is.  Look who her parents are.”  The baby was perfect and loved and
already stronger than anyone could imagine.

Hope
pulled her hand free of Kay’s grasp as the woman disappeared completely. 
Without her powers to sustain her, Kingu’s mother vanished into dust.

Gone.

Just
as she always should have been.

“Holy
crap.”  Tessie gave her head a slow shake.  “Kingu, your Match just got rid of
Kay.  Like
got rid of her
, got rid of her.”

“I
know.”  He smiled at his aunt, not looking like he wanted Tessie dead, at all. 
“Hope is a warrior.”

Hope
beamed at the compliment.  “So are you, monster.  And with us as her family,
our daughter is going to be
amazing.
”

“She’ll
be destroying planets by the time she’s twelve.”  Job predicted.

Djinn
gave a misty nod.  “Yep.  Oberon would be so proud if he knew.”

“He
knows.”  Hope was already trying to think of a female derivative of “Oberon” to
name the baby.  She leaned forward to hug Kingu, smiling as his arms came
around like he was afraid she would break.

“You
are my soul, Hope.”  He whispered into her hair, his hand still on her abdomen
like he couldn’t stand to break contact with his daughter.  “You’ve given me
everything.”

“I
love you.”  Hope met his eyes.  “You’re free of this place forever.  Your
future is with me and our baby in the Fire House.  Don’t make me kidnap you to
get you there, because you know I will.”

“I
would go anywhere with you.”  He said simply.

“Good
answer.”  Hope began, only to stop short when she looked up at Kingu, again.

Something
was happening right in front of her eyes.  Something terrible.

“Kingu?” 
She whispered in horror.

“What?” 
His brows drew together when he saw her expression of dismay.  “What’s wrong?”

“Your
face.”

He
automatically glanced towards the French revival mirror on the wall and gaped
at his reflection.  His monstrous features melted away, shifting so he was…
handsome.  Amazingly, head-turningly, Golden Age of Hollywood handsome.  The
Elementals were a race of lovely people, but no Phase came
close
to how
supernaturally gorgeous Kingu suddenly became.  From his chiseled cheekbones to
his perfectly tanned skin to his crystal blue eyes, he was transformed into a
storybook hero straight out of a fairytale.

“Kay’s
gone.”  Tessie put in softly.  “She must have been the one keeping you looking
like that.”

Kingu
looked back at Hope in astonishment.  “I’m not a monster anymore.”

Hope
could’ve cried in disappointment.  “Oh
no
.”  She blurted out.  Except…
shit!  That wasn’t at all supportive.  Quickly rallying for his sake, she blew
out a breath and gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m sorry.  It’ll be alright. 
Don’t panic.  It’ll be… fine.”

It
wasn’t the end of the world.  He didn’t look
right
anymore, but he was
still her Match.  The important thing was she was here for him through this
painful transition.  He was Kingu.  His appearance didn’t mean anything.  She
needed him to know that.

“At
least you’re still very big.”  She said bracingly.  “Don’t worry.  We’ll deal
with the rest of the… prettiness together.”

Kingu
squinted down at her.  Then over at the other Fire Phase who were all staring
at him with clear and understandable regret.

“Fuck
man, Hope’s kid was all set to be awesome looking.”  Alder whined.

Qadesh
nodded sadly.

No
one even had the heart to complain about the cursing.

Kingu
blinked at all of them.

Job
looked like he was trying not to laugh.

“How
tragic.”  Missy lamented.  “He was so beautiful, too.”

“He’s
still
beautiful!”  Hope snapped.  “Kingu, don’t feel bad about this. 
Really.”  She laid a hand on his arm.  “You and I have a much deeper connection
than just how spectacular you used to look.  Even like this, I’m still
very
attracted to you.  I swear.”

Kingu’s
mouth curved like she’d said something wonderful.  “Thank you, treasure.”  He
ducked his head and his lips pressed against hers.

Hope
forgot all about his GQ makeover, her arms winding around his neck.  Whatever
he looked like, he was still her monster.  Nothing else mattered.

Kingu
pulled back first, his gaze still dancing with amusement, and very deliberately
snapped his fingers.

Hope’s
eyes widened as he changed back into himself.  His
real
self.  With the
red eyes and the magnificent dragon-like features.  “Oh thank God.”  She
blurted out and laid a palm over her chest in relief.

Kingu
grinned at her.  “I think Tessie’s right.  I can control what I look like, now. 
My mother’s powers were keeping me like this, but, with her gone, I can
change…”

“No! 
Don’t change!”  Hope shook her head vehemently.  “I don’t
ever
want you
to change.”

“Yeah,
I picked up on that from your traumatized expression of support when you saw
the other me.”

Apparently,
he wasn’t too worried about her lack of enthusiasm for the teen heartthrob
version of him.  Kingu seemed delighted that she’d wanted the monster back. 
Finally,
he believed that she had a very definite type and that he was it.

“There’s
only one you.”  Hope reached up to touch his perfect cheek.  “I’m sorry.  I
would love you either way, but, if I have a choice… I really like
this
face.”

“I
think I like it, too.”  He ran a hand over her hair.  “Or, at least, I like
that
you
like it.  And I know
they
like it.”  He nodded towards
her family.  “Why do I get the strange feeling I’m going to fit right in in the
Fire Kingdom, by the way?”

“Of
course you’ll fit in, monster.”  Hope leaned up to kiss him again, thrilled
when he didn’t turn back into a handsome prince.  “We’re your destiny.”  She
beamed at him.  “And don’t worry.  You’re going to
love
the décor in the
fortress.”