Her Elemental Dragons: The Complete Series
Her Elemental Dragons: Ride the Wave: Chapter 22

Doran waited for us in front of the temple, where he leaned against the large dragon statue. He stared at the fish swimming outside the dome and something in his expression reminded me of Kira. She often got lost in her thoughts too, especially when something was weighing heavily on her mind, which was often lately. Although after her night with Reven she was smiling a little easier, at least. A few days of peace and rest at the Water Temple would be good for her too, even if I was itching to get moving and take action.

Doran heard us approach and turned toward us. “Good, you’re all here.” He moved to stand before us and scrutinized us in turn. “If you’re going to fight the Dragons in a few weeks, you’ll need to be better prepared. Right now, you’re not even close to being ready. I’m amazed you’ve survived this long, honestly.”

“Great speech,” I mumbled. “I feel so inspired now.”

Reven smirked beside me, while Doran shot me a sharp look before continuing. “Today we’re going to focus on opposing elements. Each element has a direct opposite—fire and water, earth and air, life and death. As I mentioned before, this is how we imprisoned the Gods, using the element they were weakest against. You’ll be strongest when fighting someone with opposing magic, whether it’s a Dragon or an elemental, but you’ll also be at your weakest. I want you to pair up—Reven with Jasin, Auric with Slade—and practice blocking each other’s magical attacks.”

“And me?” Kira asked.

“You and I will start your water magic training today.”

Reven and I moved to the other side of the courtyard, both of us wearing matching scowls. Maybe we were supposed to be opposites, but sometimes I thought I had more in common with him than I did with the others. I hadn’t liked the guy at first, but now we had an unspoken understanding. And we both seemed to feel the same way about Doran.

“I should be the one training her in water,” Reven growled, once we were out of earshot.

I snorted. “Now that her perfect father is here, she doesn’t need us for that anymore.”

We took up positions facing each other and summoned our magic. I threw a ball of fire at Reven, but he met it with a blast of water and they both sizzled out.

“She’s going to be heartbroken when his true colors emerge,” I said, as Reven threw shards of ice my way. I put up a wall of fire to block them, melting them before they could hit me.

“And we’ll be there to comfort her.”

“Unless we’re all split up.” My jaw clenched as I formed a sword made entirely of fire and lunged at him. I hated this plan we’d come up with. Leaving her alone with Doran was a bad idea, but she wouldn’t listen to reason about it.

Reven formed a shield of water and blocked me, then let the water reform into two daggers, which he threw at me. I knocked one away, but the other grazed my arm, making me flinch.

I rubbed the small cut, which burned with cold. “Nice one.”

Reven nodded at my compliment. “The Assassin’s Guild headquarters are on the way to the Fire Realm and not far from here. I can take care of business there quickly and then follow Kira and Doran from a distance. If I feel anything through the bond, I’ll be able to get to Kira fast.”

“That would make me feel a lot better about this plan. Do you think he’ll try something?”

“No, but I like to be prepared for anything.”

“Me too. And even if he isn’t a threat to her, the elementals could be.”

“Exactly.”

Doran walked over to us while we shot more fire and water at each other. “How are you both doing with this?”

“Fine,” Reven said.

“I will say, I’m impressed,” Doran said. “The two of you haven’t known each other long, but you don’t seem to hate each other. Sark and I…” His face twisted. “Let’s just say it took a long time before we could work together.”

“That isn’t a problem for us,” Reven said.

“No, and not for Slade and Auric either it seems.”

“We’re a team,” I said, puffing up my chest a little. “Brothers united with a shared cause—protecting and loving Kira. Whatever personal issues we had with each other, we’ve managed to get past them.”

“So I’ve seen.” Doran rubbed his chin, his eyes thoughtful. “Nysa’s mates and I can barely stand to be in the same room as each other. We’ve never been very good at working as a team, and the bond chafes at us after all these years. Blocking the other Dragons out was the only way I could stay sane. But things are different with all of you—and that’s how you’ll defeat the other Dragons.”

I couldn’t imagine hating Kira’s other mates like that. Sure, we’d had our differences at first. We’d gotten into fights. We’d questioned each other’s loyalties. But in the end, we’d united under our shared love of Kira and our common purpose of defeating the Dragons. All I had to do was reach for the bond with Kira and I felt her mates there too. Auric was the strongest, like a sunny breeze brushing against my mind, and I’d started to feel Slade’s cool, stony presence recently. Now that Reven had bonded with Kira there was a new awareness too, a tiny cool flicker that I knew would quickly grow into more.

Doran spent a few minutes showing us how to imprison the other person with our element, and then Reven practiced encasing me in ice, sometimes just my feet so I couldn’t dodge his attacks, and sometimes my entire body. I did the same with Reven, surrounding him with flames, and at one point making him yelp. Across the courtyard, Slade and Auric were practicing similar tactics with their own magic. I had a feeling we’d need some healing from Kira after this was all over.

“I think that’s enough for now,” Doran called out, sometime later. “We’re going to practice again over the next few days, using different combinations, until you’re used to fighting every kind of magic. Slade, I want you to also spend some time practicing your flying. You’re almost there, and we need you to be ready before we depart. Reven, you should do that too. And all of you should work on building your bonds with Kira and each other. That will be the key to winning against the other Dragons.”

With that, he dismissed us and went back into the Temple. A grin spread across my face, despite my weariness and pain in all the places Reven had hit me. I knew exactly how I wanted to work on strengthening our bonds. And I had a feeling the other guys wouldn’t mind either.