elemental 03 - whitecap by Larissa Ladd

suggestions and managed to make pancakes that were edible; Aira kept her gaze on her plate as she ate, trying to ignore the lust that simmered deep inside. It was too easy to remember just how it had felt to be in Aiden’s arms, to have his hands wandering over her body. She remembered the smell of smoke, the echoing of her pleasure, the feedback loop that had seemed utterly ceaseless—pulling her back in over and over again. It was too much, she told herself firmly. It would be too easy to give into her desire for him. She needed some space from both brothers; in spite of her restless lust, she had been aware of Dylan’s attention to her—the way he was watching her. 
    Aira announced that she was going to go outside for a bit, that she needed to get some exercise and air. Aiden commented with concern about the state of her back injury, but Dylan admitted he had administered a little bit of healing the afternoon before, and that it would be good for Aira’s recovery to walk around a little bit. Instead of walking, she found her favorite tree and looked up at her preferred perch, smiling to herself ruefully. Even it wasn’t untainted by thoughts of Aiden anymore; she could remember him climbing up to her, his awkward attempts to diffuse her temper. She shook off the consideration, closing her eyes and calling upon the wind. She began to rise, slipping between branches and finding the part of the tree she had loved since she had first learned how to fly. 
    Aira settled on her branch and summoned some of the local birds, soothing herself with their peaceful and contented chatter. Things were changing too fast—there was too much to deal with. Aira felt as if she were coming apart at the seams, barely holding herself together. It had seemed easy enough at the funeral to do what was expected of her; she had been strong, barely crying, holding herself together in spite of the lingering pain in her back. 
    She had only begun to explore what her grandmother had done to her with her last act as an elemental. The flood of energy, of thoughts and feelings transmitted to her, was working its way through Aira still, doing something to the air energy that formed Aira’s core. She understood, dimly, that it had been her grandmother’s dying attempt to help her in finding balance, in finding the stability she would desperately need in the coming months. 
    But it didn’t seem to be working; Aira felt more unstable than ever. She had only felt close to having a center, to holding everything together, when she had been in Aiden’s arms—and she knew, without a doubt, it would be a mistake to indulge the urge she felt to take him to bed again, to feel that closeness, that connection. They were both unsteady—they fought constantly, over the tiniest things. Any relationship between them would be disastrous. Aira knew she had to find a way to deal with the upcoming struggles, but she decided, firmly, that she would not even give Aiden the opportunity to talk to her about what had passed between them. It would result in nothing but heartache for them both. She couldn’t afford to risk being alone with him; she could feel the steady, constant pulse of lust that their encounters together had started. If she let herself be alone with Aiden, she would end up stalling any conversation out not by telling him she didn’t want to talk about it, but by throwing herself at him—which would only complicate matters further. 
    Aira shivered, biting her bottom lip and trying to think of how she could possibly prepare for what would come next; the legalities surrounding her grandmother’s estate didn’t bother her. The much larger, more looming problem was dealing with the elders. She had met a few of the elemental elders when she was younger. She knew, from the information her grandmother had transferred to her, that she was viewed with some suspicion by those respected judges of the elemental community. Her essential instability, the