“That is…acceptable,” Ysabel said at last. “But it was clumsy. And you can’t combine it with water yet to truly control the weather.”

She was right on that, but I felt I had a good enough understanding of both to just keep practicing. “It’ll come with time. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“My lord said one more time…” That scornful expression faded now, replaced by uncertainty. “There is something else…something…well, you haven’t even come close to it yet.”

“I inherited storm magic. Water and air. What else is there?”

“Follow me, and I’ll show you-if you can handle it.” There it was, the old attitude. It was almost comforting.

She took me back out to the courtyard we’d been in last night. A servant I’d seen around the castle was painstakingly setting more tiles into the ground, expanding the patio area. We stood well away from him, and Ysabel continued keeping her arms crossed over her chest, posture still rigid and defensive.

“I’ll be glad when this is over and I can return to the Oak Land. It’s obvious my lord misses me.” Her eyes glinted wickedly. “He made love to me last night with a passion I’ve never seen before. It left me screaming and aching in ecstasy.”

I rolled my eyes and stopped myself from saying, Yeah, because he was thinking of me. “Let’s just get this over with so you can leave and get all the screaming and aching you want. What else was there I needed to know?”

“There’s something else in the air,” she said. She bit her lip in thought, trying to articulate her meaning. “I can feel it, but I’m unable to touch it. Probably you can’t either.”

“Can you be a little more specific?”

“It’s always there…it’s like the pieces of the air are…prickly. Sharp to the touch. There are more of them, though, before a storm.”

I stared stupidly for a moment, and then the human part of me put it together. “Lightning…you’re talking about making lightning,” I breathed. What was the scientific term? “Those are charged particles.”

The term meant nothing to her, but she’d nodded when I mentioned lightning. Eagerness flared up in me, and I immediately felt out around me. Sensing all the air molecules was easy now. The only two I could name were oxygen and carbon dioxide. All the others had their own unique feel, but I couldn’t say if they were nitrogen or hydrogen or what. After a few minutes of groping with my mind, I shook my head.

“I don’t feel anything like that.”

Ysabel seemed pleased by this. “Like I said, you likely aren’t strong enough.”

“It’s a clear day,” I pointed out. “There probably aren’t any around.”

“No, they’re always there. There aren’t many today, but I can feel them.”

I set my lips into a hard line, trying again. It was just like the old days with Dorian: endless waiting, save that he would have tied me up. Ysabel probably would have too if I’d let her, if only to use the chance to slit my throat.

Air, air, air. Every particle unique, yet none of it had the sharp, prickly feel she was describing. Distantly, I remembered the one time I had summoned a storm. I’d been caught by an elemental gentry, on the verge of being raped while my mother lay injured. In my crazy desperation and panic, I’d summoned a storm that nearly leveled my house. I had little memory of how I’d done it, though. The whole thing was a blur, like some kind of dream that-

All the hairs on my arms suddenly stood up. There. There, mixed in with other air above us was something…well, to put it bluntly, electric. It felt prickly, just as she’d described. I reached for it, trying to control it as I had the other particles, but it was slippery. It was like oil running through my fingers, and I understood now why she couldn’t do it. It was a very different phenomenon. Steeling myself, I tried again, and for one heartbeat, I drew them together into a knot. The smell of ozone filled the air, and then I lost my grip. No flash of light, no thunder.

But Ysabel’s face was aghast. “You…you did it. You shouldn’t have been able to…”

“I didn’t really do anything.”

“You shouldn’t have been able to do that…not yet…. I can’t even touch them.”

Too fast and too easily. Just like my father.

“I’m nowhere near to being there yet.” I hoped I sounded reassuring. “This is going to be harder.” I couldn’t say how I knew; it was just something I felt. Wielding air, creating wind…that would come with practice. Lightning was a different beast. But when I did…

I suddenly shivered and was astonished at the exultation that ran through me. If I could learn to create and control lightning…Jesus Christ. That kind of power was unimaginable. It was a large part of what had made Storm King so feared. Being able to do that would be unbelievable. Amazing. Exquisite. Being like a god…

I snapped myself out of those thoughts, aghast at what I’d been thinking-again. Talk about megalomania. I was no god. Craving that kind of power was wrong; everyone said so. Well, those from the human world, at least. Yet, if I could summon lightning, I could blow a fair number of those fucking demons out of existence. Surely that was a good use of my power. Unfortunately, what I’d said to Ysabel was true. It was going to take awhile, and until I developed some other amazing weapon, those demons were going to keep coming back and-

I froze, suddenly forgetting about the phenomenal power I’d just touched. I had a weapon right in front of me, something that might seriously get rid of those demons once and for all. Unfortunately, it was not an easy one to use.

“Son of a bitch,” I said. “Jasmine.”

Jasmine nearly leapt ten feet in the air when I came tearing through the hall that led to her cell.

“You!” I exclaimed. “You can summon water demons.”

She widened her eyes, speechless for a change. It appeared as though I’d interrupted her doing…well, nothing. In a fit of guilt, I’d sent some books down to her to pass the time, but reports from the guards said she did little but sulk. Well, that and try to cajole them to let her out. I guess she figured she’d deal with Volusian after she got one of the guards to crack.

Recovering herself a moment later, she adopted a sneer reminiscent of Ysabel’s. Considering their mutual hatred of me, maybe I should have sent her down here to entertain Jasmine.

“Maybe,” Jasmine conceded. “Why? Afraid I’ll use them to break out?”

“No,” I said. “But I need them to get rid of some fire demons.”

Roland had told me the best way to oust the demons would be by summoning their opposites. I’d dismissed the idea then, knowing it was beyond my capability. At the same time, I’d considered the possibility that Jasmine could do it…though it had seemed a useless sentiment considering I’d had no clue to her whereabouts or any reason to think she’d help me.

But now? Well, things were different.

Art’s attitude had left me feeling helpless and ineffectual. Now, I suddenly felt as though I had the means to take control and actually right some wrongs in this kingdom.

“So?” Jasmine asked, not seeming startled in the least. “That’s got nothing to do with me.”

“Not true. You’re going to help me. We’re going to face them and their master, and you’re going to summon water creatures to take down those demons.”

Jasmine’s expression was almost comic in its disbelief. “Why would I help you?”

I tried good cop first. “Because it’s the right thing to do. They’re hurting innocent people.”

“So? Like I said, that doesn’t affect me.”

“Spoken like the selfish child you are.” She flushed. Considering her obsession with having a baby and ruling over both worlds, she didn’t like having her age or capabilities mocked. “I thought you wanted to be the queen of this land once.”

She glowered. “Yes. And I would have been if you hadn’t stolen it!”