Elemental Shadowed by Helen Scott

4

3 monthslater

Tessa

"You coming, dove?" Griff called from the living space in our suite of rooms.

"Be right there," I shouted as I slipped on the latest dress the queen had sent over for another dinner. My muscles screamed in protest at the movement. We had been working on building my strength back up and even training me in how to fight a little so I was prepared if an attack ever came again. No one wanted me to be forced to sit back and depend on others for my safety.

It wasn't wasn't easy though, least of all the stuff afterward when all I wanted to do was lay down and rest. Don't get me wrong, I had rest days built in, but I literally spent most of those days in bed doing nothing and letting my body heal itself, or even in the healing pools themselves, so I could get all the help possible with repairing the damage the magic had done to my body.

We had been eating dinner with the queen and her advisors once a week for the last few months. Every time it was in a different location, which was only told to the guard escorting us right before they came and picked us up, so no one could attack us again.

It felt like they were building up to telling us something but couldn't quite decide when they were going to spill the beans. Or maybe they were still just so scared from that attack that they couldn't quite bring themselves to tell us.

I knew that I still jumped at unexpected sounds. So far the dinners had just been awkward. It had only progressed slightly from us sitting in silence to the queen's advisors grilling me about what I'd been practicing or learning that week.

The blue and silver gown was basically a bra and a skirt. Long, dipping sleeves slit open from a cuff around the wrist to a band just above my bicep accentuated the white and silver on top.

My stomach was bared, yet again, and the skirt began in the same white color around the waistband before darkening to a deep sapphire blue at the bottom. All along silver embroidery, pearls, and other gemstones decorated the skirt with coral and kelp patterns, making the fabric heavier than it looked.

When I emerged from the small bedroom I had claimed as my own, I found Griff waiting for me in his leathers. His eyes raked over me and he gave me an appreciative smile, something he'd been doing more frequently since I woke from the magic that had been binding me.

The one thing I was sure of was that Finn and Griff enjoyed the outfits the queen chose for our dinners. I tried to focus on that instead of the way I still felt like half the person I used to be.

I strode forward to meet him, and the skirt split around my legs, revealing my skin all the way up to the top of my thigh. I thought Griff's eyes were about to bulge out of his head. His hand automatically raised to his mouth and wiped along the edge of his plush lower lip. A tightness coiled low in my stomach as I watched him move toward me in his formal outfit.

The thick leather x that went over his chest was enough to draw the eye, but add in the woven leather underneath that flexed with his every movement as though it was painted on, not to mention pants that cupped everything perfectly, and he wasn't the only one wiping the drool away. There was nothing sexier than Finn, Griff, Dres, or Kai in their formal outfits, even if Kai scowled through every dinner.

"Another stunning choice from Her Majesty," Griff said as he leaned in and gave me a peck on the cheek.

"Thank you," I mumbled.

Ever since Finn and I had slept together that one time months ago, my relationship with the others had felt strained, or at the very least awkward. I wasn’t sure how to fix it though, at least not without sleeping with all of them, which I knew Kai wouldn’t be on board with. The only thing I was sure of was that some kind of block existed between them and me. Although, there was always a block when it came to Kai.

Griff was the only one who seemed to be working on getting us back to the way we were. There was still some hesitation there though, and I wished he'd just talk to me about it, but the couple of times I'd tried to bring it up he shut the topic down or changed the subject.

For once, when we walked in we were the first ones to arrive. Usually, I was running late and barely made it in before the queen. As everyone else filed in, Dres and Finn both came by and squeezed my shoulder or ran a hand across my lower back, while Kai went to sit opposite me, presumably so he could glare at me the whole time.

The magic binding had affected us all as well. It wasn't just the physical side of things, where Finn, Griff, and Dres, always gave me little touches as though to reassure themselves that I was there, but the emotional as well.

How could I tell them the snapshots I remembered from when they spoke to me while they thought I was unconscious? It seemed like a private conversation I'd never been meant to hear.

The queen and her three advisors chose that moment to walk in, and they all looked exhausted. The guys bowed deeply, and I curtseyed the way I'd been taught. It didn't feel reverent or formal, more like a task that we had to do before we could eat.

Her Majesty was in a simple pale, blue wrap dress with a small tiara instead of her usual full gown and crown. The advisors all wore the same navy suits that were mostly jackets that came down to their knees. We all stood, waiting for the queen to take her seat. She stood for a moment, as though debating something, and then sat, motioning for us to do the same.

I watched as everyone took their places, unsure what the issue was, but there was definitely something off about today's meal. The first course was served and eaten in silence, as was the second. It was only as the main course was presented that the queen uttered, "How is training going?"

I waited for one of the guys to respond since I wasn't about to report on my own progress. Griff jumped in, as he often did since the attack, as though he had something to prove, like he alone could atone for one of his people attacking the queen. "Tessa is doing well, Your Majesty. Her training is progressing nicely."

A flush of pride filled me at his words, and it only increased when Finn squeezed my hand under the table. From the squint in the queen's eyes, she knew exactly what was going on. She always seemed to be aware of everything. It was part of the reason I had been avoiding any intimate physical contact with Finn as much as I could. I wasn't sure what the seemingly all-knowing queen was aware of and what she wasn't, but I didn't like the idea that she somehow knew about our intimate moments, or rather, moment.

"We think we have a goal for you to try and achieve." The queen paused and looked at me. "The temple on the outer ring where you arrived used to be full of life, the statues in the main worship area flowed freely with water, but they have been dried up for years. I'm-We," she amended when one of her advisors cleared his throat, pausing just long enough to shoot a glare in his direction. "We are wondering if you and your team can bring water back to the fountains there and maybe that will help activate your magic." She steepled her hands over her barely touched food and pierced me with her gaze.

"Were the statues you’re talking about the ones that are knights holding swords?" I asked, remembering the fascination I had when I first arrived.

The queen nodded.

"They were flowing with water when I got there."

The advisors all gaped at me while she shot them a look that told them she had expected this. I wasn't sure what was going on between them, but it was enough to make me dislike the advisors. The four of them had stopped paying me any attention, or even speaking to me, basically acting like I didn't exist since the attack. If I didn't know better I might have thought they blamed me.

"All four were flowing?" Mr. Grumpy-beard asked, as though he was trying to catch me in a lie.

"Yes, all four. There were four statues that looked like knights, with a woman, or queen, in the middle. The knights’ faces were obscured by helmets and each held a sword that pointed to the ground. Each of their hilts was different, but the blade of each sword was the water rushing down, as though the very elements were at their command as they bowed to their queen." I stared at him while I spoke, and he had the awareness to at least look scolded, which is what I was going for.

They had doubted my arrival at the temple on the outer ring ever since we had first talked about it. The whole thing had made me reluctant to trust them, so they only knew the basics. I could only imagine what they would say if I told them I had communed with a giant turtle before something scared it. Something like that was best kept to myself.

I had only told Finn and Griff and that was only because they said that a giant turtle had saved me. Talk about hard to believe. Apparently the turtle I'd met when I first arrived was one of the ancient sea beasts that the people of Atlantis used to worship. They have great power and it was the turtle's magic that was able to break the binding spell.

"Well if that didn't trigger her connection with Atlantis, I'm not sure what will," one of the other advisors said. This one I liked to think of as Mr. Dickhead, not only because of his attitude but also because of his unfortunately shaped nose. I hadn't bothered remembering their names since they always talked about me like I wasn't there.

There was another one that was younger, his beard a dark brown with no gray streaks like the others. He was also the most pessimistic of the bunch, something that I blamed on his age. I thought of him as Mr. Grumpy-beard's protege.

The final advisor, Mr. Strong and Silent, who, shockingly, wasn't a man of many words, turned to Finn and said, "What we've been able to discern over the years is that there is something that she needs to do to trigger her bond with the four realms. Each action needs to take place within that realm."

"What do you mean?" Kai grunted. The queen and her advisors had information that none of us knew.

"Nothing for you to worry about, Earther," Mr. Grumpy-beard said before he stabbed the meat on his plate, raising a bite to his mouth and pulling it off what, essentially, was a fork, with his teeth.

I'd learned over the months not to question the food that was put in front of me and to just try it. It was way too much of a hassle to figure out if it was something I was morally okay eating when there was not only a language barrier but a concept barrier as well. Besides, I had been informed that if I didn't at least try something, then the queen would be insulted. I wasn't sure I believed it since she didn't seem to get upset easily, but I figured it was better safe than sorry.

I risked a glance at Kai and found him scowling at his food, not that I should be surprised, but part of me wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him. His dark, amber eyes flashed up to me, and there was something in them that started as contempt. I knew it wasn't for me though, and as it shifted I couldn't quite name the emotion anymore, but it made me think of apprehension.

"What Berthold means to say is that I would like to resume where we were cut off at our first dinner. I had asked if you would come with me to see the scrolls. Finn was going to accompany you. Would you both take a walk with me after dinner?" The queen asked, speaking over her advisors' noises of protest. Clearly she was just as done with them as I was.

Instead of giving me time to answer the queen Mr. Dickhead sneered at me as he asked, "Why don't we all take a trip to the temple tomorrow and we will see if the girl is correct?"

"You don't believe her?" Dres asked, his head tilting to the side ever so slightly, and I knew he was sensing more than he was letting on. The one thing I'd come to learn about the four men that were with me almost around the clock was some of their more subtle behaviors. Finn and Griff were the most open with me, while Dres was a little more closed off, although that wasn't specific to me, and Kai was little more than a brick wall most of the time.

"Stay out of my head, fly-boy," Mr. Dickhead muttered angrily before getting a hold of himself. "My contacts in the farming ring who frequent the temple have reported no such changes. All I want is to verify what the Key says."

"My name is Tessa," I growled. "You can take my word for it or not, I don't really care. What I want to know is what the scrolls say, what this prophecy I've heard whispers about says. When are you going to give us the information? We are all flying blind here, our realms are slowly collapsing in on one another, and you're not even willing to share the information that might help us prevent that." I huffed when I finished speaking, and I saw startled expressions from the advisors and a smirk on the queen's face, while Kai and Dres openly laughed.

Kai. Laughed.

I couldn't believe it.

That man always seemed to surprise me when I was least expecting it.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, of course I would love to take a walk with you and see the scrolls, but I have to insist that your advisors either start giving me the information we need or let me go. My life has been at risk since I arrived here, a fact they don't seem to appreciate, and if that is continued to be disrespected then I'll find some way to go home and live the life I originally wanted. I will leave you to figure all this out by yourselves. It's not like the realms are going to collide in my lifetime anyway." I shrugged before crossing my arms and leaning back in my seat.

Was I being disrespectful to the queen? Possibly. Did I give a shit? Not so much. It was time to get this show on the road in whatever way I could.