Promises to Keep - By Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Page 0,64

that arose when flesh met flesh.

Brina could have just held on to Jay, leaned her cheek against his, and used that contact for the leverage she needed to summon the Shantel elemental. They needed only to invoke it, not to provide the kind of sacrifice that would have been necessary to call it the first time. She chose this because she had wanted to kiss him since sometime in the forest.

Jay, though surprised, responded as she had hoped he would—willingly, with the same memories of shared experiences and an understanding of all the beauty and agony they had both endured recently.

The power that passed between them was sweet, and gentle, and the opposite of everything the Shantel had fed on for the last two centuries. It was a reminder of what had been, and what could be again. It drew Shantel close, until the circle around them shuddered with the elemental’s appearance, hands clutching hands in the effort to contain the power.

The power of flesh could be compassion and forgiveness—but not this time. Shantel would find no absolution here. Too many lives had been lost, and neither Jay nor Brina was the turn-the-other-cheek type. The other elementals who had stepped into the circle around them, some claiming bodies too worn down by disease to even open their eyes on their own, were also not the types to let the matter be forgotten.

As one they struck.

The circle constricted, creating a noose that strangled the Shantel elemental, siphoning its power away.

Brina could have interfered. She and Jay had summoned the elemental. They could have commanded the others to leave it; they could have claimed its power for themselves.

And such power it would have been!

I’m sorry, Brina said to it. Not just for the horrors of Midnight; that was not what had truly undone this elemental. She was apologizing for keeping away from the Shantel the one person who had been able to speak to it, and hear its voice, and let it be truly alive. Without its sakkri, it had been voiceless and helpless.

The Shantel elemental buckled, unraveling. Other elementals stole its memories, all the thoughts that gave it form, ripping them away like children tearing paper off Christmas presents.

Jay and Brina both collapsed to their knees as those memories lashed at them, seeking new homes. They accepted the ones they wanted, some beautiful and some terrible, some as ancient as the land itself and some as recent as Brina’s trying to hang herself from the rafters and Pet struggling for hours with the knowledge that her mistress had not given her any orders regarding cutting her down, but surely she couldn’t intend to stay that way forever.…

That which was immortal could not die. But without mortal memories to hold it together, it could not maintain its consciousness.

Brina whispered the Shantel’s name once again, but received no response. The entity had been reduced to a mere child of its kind, barely sentient, with no recollection of what it had just done.

It had no physical form in the room, but she could sense it, and she knew it rested deeply.

“It’s over?” Jay asked, looking up, his expression as dazed as Brina felt.

One of the ill spoke up—no, this being was beyond ill. Brina knew that the human form she was looking at was deceased, though it had been appropriated by one of the elementals.

“Leona has been injured. Weakened,” it said. “She cannot hold all of her bonds any more. Many will die yet.” A wail arose from somewhere in the crowd, before the elemental added, “Unless they are willing to make other arrangements.”

“We can pick up the slack, so to speak,” another voice said. This elemental was gentler, but Brina knew it was hungry as well.

Jay started to speak. “My family—”

“We are grateful for your help. Looking after your kin is the least we can do,” one of the voices offered, before another swiftly interjected, “Leona’s mortal children are numerous, of course. It may take more than one of us to save them.”

Some of the voices sounded kind; the last one just sounded sly. Leona had been the most powerful of the elementals. Now she had been laid low, and though other elementals had saved her, they did not plan to let her regain the same level of power ever again. That meant claiming her weakened bonds as their own. It would save lives—if it wasn’t too late—but this world was never going to be the same again.

Brina looked at Jay, wondering whether