Free elemental 04 - cyclone by Larissa Ladd Page A

wait outside while Aira spoke to the elders on her own.
    Saoirse led Aira not into the arena-style room where the battles had taken place in, but a much smaller space in the court building, where the solemn-looking elders were already seated. A chair sat in the center of the room and Saoirse gestured that Aira was to sit there. She swallowed against the dryness she felt in her throat and sat down in the seat, thinking she couldn’t have felt more intimidated if she was being interrogated by the FBI. For a long moment, silence weighed the room down and Aira felt each one of the elders’ intent gazes on her, watching her as if they were waiting for her to unravel right in front of them. Aira, in spite of her pounding heart and dry mouth, forced herself to remain silent, to not give in to the impulse to communicate which her air-aligned energy brought to the surface immediately. She had learned the hard way not to be the sort of chatterbox that Saoirse tended to be—although the younger woman was less talkative the more often she came up against the combined will of Aira, Aiden, and Dylan. Aira felt a stab of guilt, hoping that her attempts to subvert Saoirse hadn’t done something to damage the girl.
    “Aira,” the spokesperson for the elders finally said, standing surprisingly quickly for his age. “Part of the role of an elemental ruler, as I’m sure your grandmother told you, is to determine the fate of elementals of your own alignment—and sometimes those of other alignments—when they pose a risk to the survival of our community as a whole.” 
    Aira nodded. She forced herself to remain quite in spite of the nervous energy bubbling through her that would normally have prompted her to speak. 
    “Part of your testing—not an official part, but something we feel is necessary—will be to make such a decision.” 
    Aira started. If she was not the elemental ruler, why would the elders require this of her? The man had said it wasn’t an unofficial part; was this a particular test for her, in light of her situation? Aira pressed her lips together and counted slowly to five to forestall the hasty and alarmed questions that came to mind.
    “I am afraid I don’t understand,” she said calmly, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, as surreptitiously as possible. “I thought there were definitive rules about how such a decision could be made—wouldn’t incorporating this decision into the selection process be in violation of that?” 
    The elder looked at her sharply. “You are on a short list of only three contenders for the elemental throne,” he said, almost brusquely. “In any case, this particular situation has been hanging in the balance for a long time. A decision has to be made, particularly since this family—and a few elementals who belong to it in particular—have engaged in some particularly risky behaviors in recent weeks.” Aira furrowed her brow, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest. 
    “I don’t believe this is being brought to me in a way that I have much of a choice in the matter,” she said, hearing the flippant tone in her voice and almost—but not quite—regretting it. She took a deep breath once more to stall any further retorts that rose in her throat. “But if this is a requirement of my testing, of course I will comply with your wishes.” 
    The elder nodded. “Bring him in,” he called out. 
    Aira glanced around the room and saw a door on the other side opening up. She was not prepared for the sight of the person who came through the door. Aira truly hadn’t known what to expect—she didn’t know enough air elementals to have suspected any one person or family. But the man who walked through the door, held and steered by two other men, was Alex. He had clearly gotten the worst of a struggle, with cuts and a bruise marking his face. He was chained in iron, grimacing as he shuffled into the room. She flashed back to her brief imprisonment, the time