All she heard were her own screams.
“Water!” Celia’s shout reverberated against the stone walls, and the sudden influx of humidity made it hard to breathe. Mara tried to suck in as much of her own element as she could from the deep, dark place she’d been forced into, and it strengthened her slightly. But not enough. She pulled at the restraints, desperate, and the skin of her wrists burned and tore. The baby calmed slightly to Mara’s relief, but her mind started to crack, so overwhelmed by the multiple elements inside her. The part that was Mara stayed hidden safely away, but her other half? Katerina? Whatever thispresencewas?
Mara could feel it slipping away.
When Celia called for fire, Mara heard one conscious thought in her sister’s voice.
“The sigil has magic of its own. Use it.”
The entire room started to shake, and thethunksandchinksof small bits of rocks hitting the floor terrified her. She couldn’t take any more. Neither could the fire element inside her. Or her baby. The Thirteen would kill her and Rachel if they didn’t stop.
Celia and the others were still chanting, until in unison they shouted, “Earth!”
Even the protection of being locked in the deep recesses of her own mind couldn’t spare Mara from the pure agony of the Earth element being channeled into her body. Earth was stability. Grounding. A foundation. It didn’t take to being manipulated.
Her wails started to fade. She was too weak to even cry out anymore. Her back arched as every muscle in her body seized. But the power? It flowed through her like nothing she’d ever experienced before. The baby felt it too, and when Celia called for silence, Mara sensed her daughter’s attempts to hold on to the energy and find a way to send it back to those hurting her mother.
Hands pressed to her belly, and Celia cackled with glee. “This child will bring us Spirit. She is strong, and once we brand her with our mark, she will be ours for all eternity.”
“No! They can’t touch her! Do something!”Mara pled with her other half to fight, to even respond to her, but there was only silence.
The ropes around her wrists and ankles fell away, and Freya ordered her to stand. Mara’s body didn’t move, and someone slapped her cheek, hard. “Stand up, bitch.”
Rough fingers ripped the blindfold away. Mara’s eyes were open, the old stone ceiling directly above her head now with fresh scorch marks from whatever the Thirteen had done to call for fire.
“I told you,” Celia said sharply. “Sending all four elements into her would not leave much of her mind intact. Take her back to her cell and turn off the lights. Once she sleeps for a time, there might be enough of her consciousness left for her to eat. Otherwise, we will have to force feed her.”
As the black-robed men grabbed her and headed out of the ritual space, Freya asked, “What about the conduit and the elemental’s mate?”
“Once we have the child, they will be the first ones to die. You will have your revenge. Glenna’s death will not be in vain. You may even play with the wolf for as long as you wish before you end him. Make him suffer.”
No! Not Cade!
Mara needed to get the hell out of this mental trap her sister had forced her into and try to warn Cade. Katerina had told her to use the magic in the sigil. But how? Dammit. Why hadn’t her sister told her this before? When she could have asked questions.
Celia’s lackeys all but dropped her onto the mattress, mumbled a few words to close the bars, and walked away. The lights flickered out, but though Mara couldn’t move, she wasn’t asleep either.
She could sense her sister’s element, but it wasn’t as strong as it had been. It was broken. Dying.
Focusing on Cade and on the life growing inside of her, Mara let out a silent scream. The pain overwhelmed her, and she almost passed out before she found the strength to move. The other part of her had taken on this pain, sacrificed so Mara could survive. And now…Katerina’s consciousness—if it was even still alive—retreated so Mara could take control once again.
“I won’t give up,” she whispered. “I’ll get us out of here.”
She was so weak, it took her several long moments before she could move her arm enough to place her hand over the sigil burned into her skin. When she did, though, it flared against her palm. Heat pulsed, like it was calling to her fire. To Rachel’s fire.
If she used her element, the practitioners would know, and they’d make her suffer. Her body couldn’t take another assault, and she couldn’t do that to her baby.
“Cade...please. Hear me. I’m alive. You have to find me.”
Her heart skipped a beat, and then the most intense longing and need she’d ever felt consumed her, giving her strength where moments ago, she’d had none.
He was alive. And he’d heard her. Cade would never stop looking for her. She just hoped he’d be in time.
Chapter Ten
Cade
Everything he did reminded him of Mara. The four-poster bed in the lavish bedroom had an emerald green duvet that matched her eyes. Someone had packed a suitcase for them at Farren’s, and when Cade opened it, her scent surrounded him. His hair was still damp from the shower, and he tugged on a Seattle Seahawks sweatshirt. One of the first she’d bought him when her element had freed him from the fire charm trapping him as his wolf.
