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CHAPTER EIGHT<br />
I looked from the green candle to Aphrodite. Her face was pale and her lips were<br />
compressed into a thin bloodless line. "You haven't tried to evoke earth since you lost<br />
your Mark?" I asked gently.<br />
She shook her head and continued to look like her stomach hurt.<br />
"Okay, well, you're right. I can help you figure this out. I should probably cast a<br />
circle."<br />
"That's what I thought." Aphrodite drew in a deep shaky breath. "Let's get this<br />
over with." She walked over to the wall that was on the opposite side of the room as her<br />
bed. She stood there, holding up her candle. "This is north."<br />
"All right." Resolutely, I went to stand in front of Aphrodite. Turning to the east, I<br />
closed my eyes and centered myself. "It fills our lungs and gives us life. I call air to my<br />
circle." Even without a yellow candle representing the element—and without Damien and<br />
his air affinity—I felt the instant response of the element as a soft breeze smoothed<br />
against my body.<br />
I opened my eyes and turned to my right, moving deosil, or clockwise, around the<br />
circle to the south, where I stopped. "It heats us and keeps us safe and warm. I call fire to<br />
my circle." I smiled as the air around me warmed with the second element.<br />
Moving again to my right, I stopped next in the west. "It washes us and quenches<br />
us. I call water to my circle." Right away I felt the cool of invisible waves against my<br />
legs. Smiling, I moved to stand in front of Aphrodite.<br />
"Ready?" I asked her.<br />
She nodded and closed her eyes and raised the green candle that represented her<br />
element.<br />
"It sustains us and surrounds us. I call earth to my circle." I flicked the lighter and<br />
held the little flame to the candle.<br />
"Ow, shit!" Aphrodite cried. She dropped the candle as if it had stung her. It<br />
shattered against the wood floor at her feet. When her eyes lifted from looking at the<br />
ruined glass and candle mess, I saw that they were filled with tears. "I've lost it." Her<br />
voice was little more than a whisper as the tears spilled over and down her cheeks. "Nyx<br />
took it away from me. I knew she would. I knew I wasn't good enough for her to gift me<br />
with an affinity for something as amazing as the element earth."<br />
"I don't believe that's what's happened," I said.<br />
"But you saw it. I'm not earth anymore. Nyx won't let me represent the element,"<br />
she sobbed.<br />
"I don't mean that you still have your earth affinity. What I mean is I don't think<br />
Nyx took it away from you because you're not worthy."<br />
"But I'm not," Aphrodite said brokenly.
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