Free elemental 05 - inferno by Larissa Ladd

group, kind of upset at the idea of Aira even existing. They always hate the strong air-aligned ones.” 
    Aiden nodded. He added the names to his mental list. 
    “Thanks for the tips, man,” Aiden said. 
    “No problem. Hey, you get off of knight duty, come out and grab a beer with me.” Aiden agreed to the prospect and ended the call. Jeff Willis, Brigette Laurent, Oriel Dylans, Ethan Haversham; Aiden thought that Paytah Jaunt and Seraphina Williams would also be likely sources for the poison. Paytah would want his cousin, another air elemental, to get a chance at the rule of the element, while Seraphina was in a position not dissimilar to Alex’s—so unstable that she could be decided against at any moment. 
    Aiden made a few more calls, asking about the people in question among his connections—it wasn’t easy to get information about them without raising alarm and the last thing he wanted was to cause a hue-and-cry—or to inspire someone to take more drastic measures. He knew Oriel would likely be with the elders when Aira went to put Alex to death; he wondered who else was planning to be there. 

 
     

    C HAPTER 7
     
    AIRA WAS FIDGETING. SHE TRUSTED Dylan—in spite of the part he’d played in Aiden’s trick to purge and purify her of the poison in her system. Aira knew objectively that she had much more reason to trust Dylan than instances where he had warranted her distrust. But he was doing magic that was beyond his comfort zone, a kind of esoteric weaving of potion and spell that her grandmother had done well, but which Dylan had barely practiced. She sat on the couch, thinking that after all the time she had spent on it—and all the bad memories she now had associated with it, thanks to Alex—she would get rid of it as soon as possible. A good couch shouldn’t be that hard to find, or that expensive. 
    Dylan brought the potion, cooled and at its fullest potency, into the living room along with the book. He set the tall, thin mug on the table and read the spell one last time. Aira turned her attention outside. After the purging Aiden had given her, she had slight control over that part of her abilities, but the wind would only die down or increase in speed slightly from her influence—it was mostly still just reflecting her state. She took a deep breath, glancing into the mug to see the brackish-looking solution. Dylan had explained the components to her and how the particular mix was designed to strengthen her air capabilities. After he had performed the spell to drive out the last of her grandmother’s water energy Aira would have to drink down the entire mug. 
    “It’s not going to taste that great,” Dylan admitted ruefully. “But it should do the job.” 
    Finally, Dylan put down the book and gestured for Aira to lie down. “Are you ready?” he asked, rubbing his hands together. Aira shrugged as she tried to relax on her back, looking up at him.
    “It doesn’t really matter, does it?” she said wryly. “We have to get this done either way.” Dylan’s dark eyes were full of sympathy. He took a deep breath and began a low, steady chant, whispering the words full of soft consonants. Aira had always admired the language of water elementals, the way their spells sounded like the gushing babble of a river or the steady rhythmic lapping of the tides. Because it was an element associated language, Aira wasn’t able to learn it—in spite of being around it constantly with her grandmother. It was as much a language that was intuited as spoken, words shifting meaning constantly, dependent entirely on context and emotional intent. 
    Aira took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt the coolness of Dylan’s hands running along her body slowly in a way that was more clinical than sensual. As his hands traveled from her head to her shoulders, across her chest and down her arms, following through along her legs and ending at her feet. She felt the sensation of something tugging