“Why?” The blond chortled. He looked at Rath. “Why, he asks.”
“Yes, I heard him, Nex,” Rath said dryly. He looked back at me. “You're the first human with magic, and you possess enough of it to bind the Corrupter in . . . what was that anyway?”
“Uh, I think it was clay. You know, you mix dirt with water, then heat it, and it makes pottery.”
“Don't forget the air,” Nex said. “It fed the fire. You've got all the elements, Ember.” He smacked his friend's shoulder to add, “Just like Rath.”
“All the elements in a human,” Rath murmured. “Amazing.”
“He might even have Spirit,” Nex said.
“Impossible. Only those who eat of the starfruit gain the magic of Spirit,” Rath said. “And anyone who attempts it without training dies.”
“It's the Goddess who saves us, not our training. Our training just gives us a better chance of—”
“Don't say it. You know it's forbidden to speak of it in front of outsiders.” Rath shot a pointed look my way. “Regardless, he would need to eat the fruit to gain Spirit, and no starfruit trees grow wild anymore. The Emperor moved them all into the Divine Orchard.”
“If the Goddess wanted to, she could grow a starfruit tree anywhere. Probably in a second.”
“Hey!” I broke into their conversation. “I don't know what a starfruit is. So stop arguing about it.”
“You wouldn't have to know what it is to eat it,” Nex said.
Rath narrowed his eyes at me, looking me over as if he could tell if I'd eaten this mysterious fruit. “If you ate it, you'd know. First of all, it has silver, spiked skin, thus the name. But it's also called spirit fruit because of what it does. The toxin in the fruit puts your body into a state of . . . stasis. You would have seen strange things if you had eaten it. Does that sound familiar?”
“Uh, no.” I squished my face at them. “I would remember eating spiky silver fruit and then hallucinating. But even if I didn't remember, I know I didn't eat it because there's no way I'd eat some weird spiky fruit that I didn't recognize. That would be dumb.”
Rath snorted a laugh. “Indeed. So, you probably don't have Spirit Magic. But you do have elemental magic, as much as any Varraen. And that is incredible. We need you with us.”
“I'm not a fighter,” I protested.
“With the proper training, you could do wondrous things, Ember. You wouldn't have to swing a sword, just stand on the edge of a battle and wield the power inside you. The Goddess gave you your magic for a reason.”
“I don't know,” I said, but inside my head, my mother's voice once more told me I was destined to do great things. This was what I had always hoped for—a way to use the power inside me for good. So, why was I hesitating?
Because it was fucking terrifying.
“Come on, kid,” Nex said. “Like you wanna stay here? People will hear about you. Either the Corrupter will return to kill you or others will come to take you. It's not a good idea to stay put.”
“Others?” I asked.
“The Ladrin, the Rionthe, the Makhon,” Nex listed off immortal races. “Take your pick. Fuck, even the Delosar might leave the water to take a look at you. And they'll want you to fight for them.”
“Or they'll want to kill you,” Rath added.
“Shit,” I whispered.
“It's not so bad.” Nex slung a hefty, armored arm around my shoulders. “You'll have a room at the Wraith Citadel. Won't that be nice?”
“Um . . . no.”
Nex chuckled. “Better than lying awake at night, wondering when someone is going to burst into your home and try to enslave you.”
“You mean, like, what just happened?”
Rath snorted a laugh. “He has you there.”
“You got lucky, kid. Whatever you have, it's untrained. And the Corrupter is going to be prepared for it next time.”
