“You’re joking right?” Titus chuckled again, the sound broken and oddly maniacal.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded.
“Oh, fuck you,” Vox said, uncharacteristically confrontational. I saw it then, the anger lingering in his gaze. Sol’s eyes held a glimmer of it, too.
They all appeared desperate.
No… they were furious.
Titus lost his cool first, the fire bursting out of him and nearly hitting me square in my chest.
“Seriously?” I shouted, infuriated by the ridiculous attack. Even though I was weakened by Claire, he was no match for me. Except Vox joined him next with a howl of wind that swept my hair back and pushed me several feet into the dead courtyard.
A courtyard that was sinking quickly into a hole created by the Earth Fae.
“Okay,” I said, calm despite the three-way attack. “I can see we have some aggression issues to work through.” I shoved them all back with a wave that swept the three of them off their feet. “You want to play with me? Let’s do this. But I expect your best, not this cockamamie bullshit attempt.” I lifted my hand in acome get megesture. “And when I win—which I will—I expect a little more respect while we discuss next steps.”
None of them acknowledged me.
They just attacked.
Idiots.
But I supposed I deserved it. I hadn’t exactly been forthcoming over the last week, what with being too busy saving Claire. And fucking her senseless.
Yeah, all right, I’d be mad, too.
So I allowed Titus to get one good fire punch in, the stroke of it singeing my cheek. I gave Vox his chance to slap me with a clap of wind. And I granted Sol one powerful shake beneath my feet.
Then I went to work, schooling the three of them simultaneously with a shock of water that temporarily doused their fight. It wasn’t good enough to knock some sense into them, though, because they came at me with a renewed vigor, determined to drown me in their anguish and frustration.
And while I may have deserved some of it, I wasn’t about to accept all of the blame.
“I saved Claire,” I reminded them all. “Without me, she would have died.”
“Without you, she wouldn’t have been in danger to begin with,” Titus tossed back over the roaring winds. “Youare the reason she almost died!”
“And you left us here with no word,” Vox added. “No idea of how she was doing, while expecting us to give her everything.”
“What they said,” Sol agreed.
Well, at least they were all working as a unit.
“Ididn’t almost kill her. Whatever trap Mortus left for us was the culprit.” That was the argument I’d given myself for the last week. It almost satisfied me. Almost. “How is our fighting benefiting Claire?”
“I don’t know, but I feel a hell of a lot better right now.” Sol’s words vibrated the earth, the giant finally allowing his powers out to play.
While I appreciated the show of force, I would have preferred it to not be directed at me.
“You feel better because Claire is back,” I informed them, my words carried over the wake of another wave that sent them all to the ground.Again. “Now stop wasting my time and let’s talk about this like—”
A blast of fire knocked me backward a few feet, the flames burning a hole in my suit.
“Okay.” I brushed off the embers. “Right. We’ll work this out the unintelligent way, then.” I showered them all with hail, which earned me a whip of sound to my ear—Vox attacking strategically. “Remember, I tried to warn you,” I said, infusing a hint of disappointment into my tone.
And then I let them truly feel the brunt of my power.
They would all bow by the time I finished.
