Page 6 of Windstorm of Bliss

“Fine by me,” Finn replied. He couldn’t resist the impulse to glance down as he followed her, and had to still his lust at the sight of her ass swaying as she walked. He moved closer to Alma to abate his distractions. She pointed out different plants as they moved along, telling him about their significance. Finn had always considered gardening a somewhat futile pursuit—when he was outdoors, he much preferred actually doing something active: playing sports or at least hiking. But he was interested in Alma’s explanations about why her grandmother had planted a particular bed in a particular location, so the plants would get the right amount of sunlight. She told him a story about how her grandmother would throw pennies around the beds to keep away snails and slugs, and how she would tell people she was paying the flowers to bloom.

Despite his general disinterest, Finn was impressed with the sheer abundance of growing things thriving in one place. Alma led him around to a tall magnolia tree, smiling faintly as she looked up through its branches.

“This has always been my favorite tree. I learned how to fly because of it,” she said, glancing at him with a trace of shyness in her smile. “Grams always scolded me for climbing trees, but I never stopped.”

Finn grinned, thinking about Alma as a child, defying her grandmother.

“Look,” he said, reasoning it was a good time to have the discussion they needed to have, “I know you’re not thrilled at having two bodyguards protecting you for however long you take to find someone.” He licked his lips. “Trust me; it’s not the assignment my brother and I would prefer either. And I, for one, think you should take all the time you need to find a mate, if that’s what you want.”

Alma shrugged uncertainly.

“But you must know it’s not safe. I can protect myself pretty well, and so can my brother. He’ll be even better at it once he comes into his full abilities, but an air elemental has a limited means of self-defense—” Finn stopped short as Alma turned to face him fully.

“Limited means?” she asked him, her voice deceptively sweet. Finn realized he had made a mistake. Before he could even think to correct it, he heard the wind rising around them. Finn wasn’t afraid so much as he was feeling somewhat cautious, focusing his mind on his abilities. If he had to scare the woman in front of him, to show her who she was dealing with, he would, but he didn’t want to actually hurt her. The wind continued to rise until Alma was moving, slowly lifting off the ground. She looked up at the sky and made several odd chirping noises, and Finn backed away, watching her closely. He felt the heat building up in his body as he focused his fire affinity, concentrating it into his hands. It was a difficult trick to summon fire on his own, instead of controlling it, but he was able to do it when sufficiently motivated.

A moment later, Finn was surrounded by howling winds and the cries of dozens of predatory birds, all appearing from what seemed to be nowhere. They surrounded Alma, hovering around her as she rose fifteen feet above him, glaring at him balefully. She held up her hand and the attention of all of the birds—ranging from small but dangerous-looking jays to hawks—turned their gazes upon him. “Would you call this limited?” she asked him.

Finn heard the challenge in her voice. He grinned, although the hawks looked formidable. There were no animals his fire alignment let him command close by; but he focused his mind on his hands, pouring heat through them, feeling his skin crackling. He rubbed them together quickly and with a snapping, shuddering roar of heat, a ball of fire appeared between them.

“Birds aren’t too bad,” he said. He maintained his grin. “But they’re pretty easily defeated by fire.”

Alma’s scowl intensified and Finn saw the thoughts running through her mind. He knew she was trying to think of a way to combat the fire he had at his disposal. Not being water-aligned, however, it would be difficult. Finn directed more energy into the fire he held in his hands, growing the flames into a larger ball. He tossed the fireball into the air and caught it, even as the wind built up even more. He considered what he could do to impress upon his charge he was the one with the power in the situation. He didn’t want to actually cause a fire or any injury.

He decided simply tossing the fireball wasn’t enough.

“How would you defend yourself against a fully-fledged fire elemental when they can do this?” He threw the flames in her direction, keeping his focus to recall the ball of crackling fire back to his hands at the last moment. Instead, however, the wind shifted abruptly. A tunnel of gale force knocking the orb out of its trajectory and spinning it off. The same wind tunnel turned and came directly at him, pushing him off of his feet until he landed in the dirt. Looking with panic through the gale, Finn saw the fireball wheeling off towards the trees where it would set something ablaze. The wind had not just sent the fireball off its target, it had caused the flames to expand and the ball to grow twice its size. Not at all what Finn expected.

He struggled to sit up despite the torrent of wind that plastered him to the ground. He extended his awareness out to the ball of fire as it moved away from him faster and faster, heading for a wooded area. He grabbed for it with his mind, desperate to keep it away from the trees, and called it back to him, maliciously passing it close to the birds on its path back to his hands. The smaller birds fluttered, spooked, but in the next moment the hawks were descending upon him, and Finn had to hold the ball of fire over his head toward them off.

“What else have you got, fire boy?” Alma called down to him, and Finn expanded the ball of fire further, dodging the fearless dives of the hawks, who were followed by the smaller birds. Finn wracked his brain, trying to think of what he could do safely. It was only a matter of time before his brother sensed his predicament, and he wanted to make sure he had impressed a lesson on the woman he was supposed to be protecting. He had a sudden inspiration. Focusing on the fire in his hands, he changed its shape, lengthening it, seeing the new shape in his mind. He sharpened the angle of the pole the fireball had become, flattening it into a sword. He waved the sword over his head, dispersing the birds, though the hawks tried to get in around the movements he made. Finn struggled through the corridor of wind that shifted around him, trying to push him farther back.

He lifted the sword and continued to frighten away the birds that, despite their service to their air-aligned mistress, had enough self-preservation to want to avoid the fire. He kept low to the ground, to keep the wind from lifting him, and began slowly moving towards Alma, who was trying to move backwards despite her challenging look. He didn’t know how he would get to the woman so high above him, but Finn told himself he would find a way. He avoided the birds and considered how to scare some sense into Alma, whose attitude was making him angry. He growled lowly to himself, thinking she had no idea of the dangers she was facing among the developed elementals in the world. Some of whom would be interested in either killing her or forcing her into an alliance. Her cavalier attitude was getting on his nerves and, although she was clearly a strong elemental, he was in full possession of his abilities; he had to get the better of her.

They stood at a stalemate, Alma’s avian defenders avoiding the fire he held in his hands, though they had taken up posts surrounding her. She was still out of his reach, though. If she would let up on her flight for even a moment, she would be at his mercy. Finn knew he needed to distract her. He shifted the fire sword into one hand and directed his attention into the other, quickly forming a small but potent flame in his palm. He shaped it slowly, and then when it was what he wanted it to be, he threw it in her direction.

Alma’s attention wavered, and the wind she had been directing at him disappeared abruptly, Alma’s hand guiding it at the fireball to direct it away from her. She hadn’t entirely been expecting the quick attack and took her attention off of her flight as well as her adversary. She fell toward the ground, barely catching herself before she hit the dirt. Finn rushed at her, intending to scare her without actually harming her. He wielded his sword as if to strike and called the fireball back toward him, dispersing the birds once more. He was a few feet from her before she marshaled her focus once more. She held out her hands, and his fabricated strike was cast aside by an intense gust of wind that pushed him away from her, dragging his feet through the dirt with speed.

Before either of them could think of a way to get the advantage, they were interrupted by a stentorian shout. The wind cut off abruptly, and Finn looked behind him to see Lorene and Dylan both approaching. He could see the anger on the old woman’s face as she made her way more quickly than he would have thought she was capable of. Dylan looked disappointed rather than angry, with a faint hint of amusement in his eyes. Lorene stopped her headlong pace as she approached, her jaw set, and Finn suddenly knew why his nana had called the old woman the most formidable water elemental she had ever met.

The depths of her green eyes, staring at both Finn and Alma, held the mystery of an ocean, and he felt the energy crackling around them. “I don’t know what the two of you were fighting about, but you will both stop it right now,” she said sternly, scowling from one to the other. In moments, the world had gone dark, and Finn looked up to see enormous rainclouds overhead. Finn was on the point of apologizing when the rain fell, extinguishing his sword in an instant and soaking everyone to the skin a moment later.

Alma recovered before he did, and she approached her grandmother, her body language showing her to be apologetic. He saw her speaking but couldn’t hear the quiet words over the beating rain. Dylan stood at the old woman’s side, taking in the power the woman had shown in such a stunning exhibition. It was rare for water-aligned elementals to summon rain so quickly; Finn knew it took a great deal of focus. His brother could call up water by will, but he didn’t have the focus or strength to coalesce the water in the air into rain.

Dylan gave Finn a sharp look, and Finn knew it was as much his responsibility to apologize as it was Alma’s. He took a deep breath, pushing down his distaste for being soaking wet, and approached the old woman. Alma bristled as he came close, giving him a baleful look and shifting away from him. Lorene had softened slightly, and the rain was leveling off from a torrential downpour into something more manageable.

“I take responsibility for what happened,” Finn said, pushing down his pride. “Alma and I got into an argument because I misspoke, and she became angry.”

The old woman raised an eyebrow at him, staring into his eyes as if to read his soul. Finn bit his tongue against the retort that sprang into his mind and turned toward Alma, conquering his pride for a moment longer. “I’m sorry I said what I said,” he told her. “I still think you need help defending yourself, but I didn’t mean to imply you were helpless.”

Alma’s lips tightened and she glanced at him, her dark eyes sharp for a moment longer before she subsided under her grandmother’s stern demeanor.

“I am sorry I didn’t give you time to explain your stupid remark,” she said. Finn bit his lip against replying, knowing it would only spark another fight if he gave into the temptation. The rain was abating completely.

“Both of you come inside and get out of your wet clothes,” Lorene said, satisfied with their apologies if not happy. “And if I must break up another fight, there will be real consequences.” Alma nodded, and her grandmother gave Finn a lingering look until he, too, nodded his understanding. Without another word, the old woman turned on her heel and walked back towards the house with Dylan, Alma, and Finn in her wake.

five

Alma was relieved when it was finally time to travel back to the city and to her own home. The few days she had spent with the two men had been interesting, but she was glad to get out from under her grandmother’s vigilant gaze. Things had gotten no less tense between her and Finn, though she had developed a rapport with his younger brother Dylan. On the few occasions she had been forced to spend time with Finn alone, Alma had been silent, not wanting to either get into another argument with him or let him irritate her into another exhibition of her abilities. It frustrated her to no end that her grandmother had sent her on many errands with the older brother, for groceries or to pick up an antique a friend had put aside for her. Dylan seemed at home in her grandmother’s house, and when Alma had taken him with her to retrieve plants her grandmother had ordered from a nursery, they’d had a good time on the drive to the next town over, comparing their taste in music.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com