My blush burned hotter.
"Second of all, you four need to mind your own business. If I want to ride my horse in an unladylike manner, then so be it. No need to be so judgmental about it."
He put his hands up mockingly as I passed by him. "Aye, aye, Captain Jewels."
Cal sighed and fell into place beside me. "The gods sent you here to test me, didn't they?"
I scoffed. "Are you crazy? You're on the straight and narrow. You have your life figured out and you won't let anyone, not even your father, keep you from getting what you want. I couldn't test you even if I wanted to."
"And you don't? Want to?"
I shook my head, unsure of how to answer. "It doesn't really matter, does it?"
He smiled. "No, I suppose it doesn't. How are you doing over there? With riding?"
I shrugged and scooted forward in the saddle a bit. "Pretty good, actually. It's not as hard as I thought it'd be."
"Good," he said with a nod, "because we're going to pick up the pace. Let me know if you have any trouble keeping up."
I squeezed the reins tighter. "Will do."
I could do this. I totally could. I just had to copy Cal and I'd be set.
"Yah!" he shouted, snapping the reins at the same time he gave his steed a gentle tap with his boot.
Easy-peasy.
"Yah!" I cried, mimicking his words. Then I shook my reins and kicked my heels into Caramel's rump.
She responded by doing exactly as I hoped, easily keeping pace with Cal and his horse.
At that point, I was feeling a little smug. Who knew I was natural-born equestrian? Riding horses seemed to be somewhat of a second nature to me. Whatever I wanted the horse to do, I somehow innately knew how to communicate that.
Okay, fine, I totally just copied Cal. But still. Caramel didn't have to respond, but she did. It made me feel like I had a special connection to horses, or maybe just to her.
That was around the time the snake slithered out of the bushes. I hated snakes, but way up on my horse's back, I felt pretty invincible. I didn't even squeal or anything. But Caramel did. She whinnied loudly and rose up on her hind legs.
That’s what scared me. That’s what made me squeal. Luckily, I had a tight-ass grip on the reins, and thanks to my unladylike ways, I also had a death grip between my thighs. When she touched all four hooves back onto the ground, she dashed through the woods like the snake was chasing her.
I leaned forward, struggling to stay in the saddle as she whipped past branches and jumped over fallen logs.
"Caramel, stop!" I shouted, hoping my impressive horse-whispering skills would kick in. They didn't. I wasn't surprised. Honestly, I was pretty sure they didn't exist.
"Alexis!" one of the princes called from far behind me.
There was no way I was turning around to see which one. If I took my eyes off the path before me for even a second, I had a feeling I'd take a tree to the face, and I didn't really feel like sporting two black eyes.
"Alexis, pull back on the reins!"
Doing as ordered, I pulled back. Caramel whinnied and shook her head, snapping me in the face with her long, flaxen hair.
"It's not working!" I cried. I had no idea if they’d heard me or not, but I hoped at least one of them would get off their asses and chase me down so I could get off this crazy ride in one piece.
Ahead, the woods opened up into a bare patch of dusty terrain that led straight to the edge of a rocky ravine.
Caramel and I both freaked out.
Oh, gods, I'm going to catch on fire.
I'd felt it a couple times before, and now that I was bit more familiar with the sensation, I was learning to sense its approach. Unwilling to burn my sweet horse, I did the one thing I didn't want to do.
I released the reins, falling from the saddle and tumbling onto the ground. Caramel darted to the right and galloped parallel to the ravine for a few hundred feet before finally calming down enough to stop.
Me on the other hand, I lit up like a cutesy bonfire, complete with curly pinkish-peach flames that more danced than blazed. The magic overcame me in a wave of healing energy, and every injury and imperfection burnt off my skin’s surface, including the nasty swollen welt on my face.
I was lying belly down in the dusty dirt when the first prince found me.
To my surprise it wasn't Cal who'd been in the lead when my horse was first spooked.
"Gods, Lexi, are you all right?" Dan asked, hopping from his stallion.
His face was ghostly pale, and his hands shook as he reached for me despite my flames.
Not wanting to burn him, I did my best to put them out and surprised myself by succeeding.
I took his hand and climbed to my feet, but when our eyes locked, neither of us let go.
We stared intently at one another, and I watched as his features morphed from fear into desire. My breathing shallowed and my lips parted as my eyes flitted down to his mouth.
Oh shit, not again.
It was the price of my magic, I knew it, he knew it, but for some reason it didn't feel forced. I mean, it was an undeniable urge, yes, but neither of us seemed particularly unwilling to oblige.
His mouth was on mine in an instant, his hands cupping my ass as he lifted me off the ground, my legs curling around his waist as if on instinct. Our bodies molded together like they were made for one another, our tongues grazing and tasting like our lives depended on it, our fingers raking across each other’s skin as we explored each other's bodies.
By the time Cal, Ben, and Rob showed up, Dan and I were sprawled out on the ground, his expert hands already buried in my skirts. I moaned as his fingers slipped past my undies and stroked my clit, warming me up for the first man-induced orgasm I'd had in six years.
"What the fuck are we going to do this time?" Cal asked from somewhere in the background.
"Can't exactly douse them in cold water when the Sea Prince is preoccupied," Ben replied, sounding about as put off as I imagined he should.
"Let's just let them fuck and get it over with," Rob suggested.
"Absolutely not," Cal said sternly. "Not like this. They're not in control of their thoughts or actions."
As if proving his point, my body started humming with vibrant heat and energy. Control was slipping. I was about to come with Dan's tongue in my mouth and his fingers between my legs, and it was going to be everything I'd been craving since first laying eyes on the four of them.
But then he stopped, eyeing me with such love and adoration that it felt it like a weight in my very soul.
"You want to come?" he asked, looking from one of my eyes to the other. "Then say you'll marry me."
Fuck yeah, I wanted to come. At that point, I'd probably tell the devil I'd marry him if it meant getting the release I so desperately craved.
But for some stupid reason I said, "I thought you weren't emotionally available for a relationship?"
"Oh, fuck that noise," he muttered, lowering his lips to kiss me again. "Tell me you'll be mine."
I was so close, so desperate to finish what we started, and so love-drunk on the aftereffects of my magic, that I never really had a hope of denying him.
"Maybe if she gets off, her magic will stop?" Rob suggested.
I glanced over at the brothers, surprised to find them looking a little hot and bothered as they watched the show—or so the bulges in their pants suggested.
It turned me on even more.
"Or maybe it'll get worse," Cal said, watching me as I watched them. "Much worse."
"It could potentially amp up her power," Ben agreed. "And then none of us would be able to deny it. Not until she cooled off on her own... probably around nightfall."
"Lexi," Dan whispered, bringing me back to our intimate moment. "Marry me, and I'll give you all the orgasms you could ever want every night of your life."
Sign me right the fuck up.
"Okay," I whispered back.
He paused. "Okay, you'll marry me?"
&nbs
p; "Yes, just don't stop touching me."
In an instant, his fingers were back to swirling seductive circles around my lady bits. A moan escaped my lips as the pressure from my impending orgasm began building once more.
A strong gust of wind blew over us, but it was warm as the morning sun.
Cal growled in frustration.
"Do something, Rob," he demanded. "You're clearly the only one left who could physically cool her down."
"You know I hate doing that, especially in front of people."
"You'd rather have a five-way orgy on the clifftop of a ravine?"
"I would," I thought, slightly mortified to find I'd groaned the words out loud.
Cal sucked in a harsh, distinctively turned-on breath. "Zeus all mighty, Robert, just use your fucking magic."
"Fine."
The next thing I knew, a shadow of cold air passed over me, momentarily shaking me from my lust. I shook my head and stared at Dan whose face flashed all sorts of different emotions about our situation—confusion, excitement, uncertainty, deviousness. But then the cold shadow passed, and we were back to kissing like the last two people left on the planet.
"Try harder, Rob," Cal said through gritted teeth.
"Fuck you, I need to concentrate!" he shouted back.
Then another shadow of cold washed over me. This time it stayed, and second by second my uncontrollable lust slowly drained into... I didn’t even know what.
I snapped my legs together and scrambled backward, quickly smoothing down my skirts and my hair.
Ben cleared his throat and rubbed his chin. "So, does this mean they're technically engaged?"
"No!" Dan and I both shouted at once.
For me, it was more the fact that I wasn't ready for marriage in general. For him... I had no idea, but it kind of hurt regardless. I knew it wasn't fair, after all we'd both denied it, but still. It stung.
"Sorry, Sexy Lexi," he muttered, helping me to my feet for real this time. "I honestly cannot do this again. I'd rather take my own life."
I gasped, and my mouth fell open. "You don't mean that. Whatever it is you're talking about, if it's something you lived through once, I'm sure it's something you can overcome again."
"It's not," he said, so quiet it was barely a whisper. "I'm sorry."
He pulled his hand away and wandered off in the direction of his horse.
Tears stung my eyes, and I had no idea why. It wasn’t like we were truly in love and on the verge of actual marriage. I barely knew him. I shouldn’t even care if he left me standing at the hypothetical altar. But I did.
I turned toward the other Storm Princes.
Rob had a grimace glued to his handsome face, and he was hugging his arms like he was chilled or in pain. I still had no idea what his power was, but it apparently had something to do with cold shadows... which wasn't totally weird or freaky at all, whatsoever.
Cal looked torn, like he wanted to say or do something, but he wouldn't allow himself.
And Ben, despite the small smile on his face, just looked sad. I hated the fact that I might've been hurting him, but there was literally nothing I could do. I didn't know how to control my magic, and the twin teachers who could have helped me were now miles away back at Blackwood Palace.
Swallowing the painful burn in my throat, I turned away from them and walked toward my own horse.
If there was anything I knew about horses—and honestly, it wasn't much—it was that you had to get back in the saddle.
Chapter 15
The rest of the trip to Nightshade Castle was much less exciting.
No one really talked, no wild animals spooked our steeds, no unwanted magic complicated things. But because of all this tedium, it allowed some unknown tension to grow between us.
By the time we arrived, it had long ago fallen dark. Cal led our horses to the stables, where a nearby servant boy took over feeding and watering them. Then he led us into the castle and showed us to our rooms. It was late, but we were starving, so we decided to change clothes and meet up for a midnight dinner.
I sighed as I shut the bedroom door behind me and looked around my temporary room. Stone floor, stone walls, stone ceiling. A few scarlet tapestries hung on the walls, and a few crimson rugs lined the floor for decor, but those tiny pops of color didn't do much to brighten the space. My first impression of Nightshade was that it was, in general, much darker than Blackwood Palace, with fewer candles and much less heat. And unlike the palace, the castle looked like it hadn't been renovated since it was built—like, hundreds of years ago.
I veered toward the closet, relieved to find a small handful of gowns left behind from guests who’d stayed before me. I picked a deep fuchsia number that wrapped tightly around my waist, accentuating my hourglass frame. If I was going to live in a constant state of shitty situations, then I was at least going to look good doing so. If beautiful dresses were literally the only perk involved with being upgraded from miner to princess, then damn it, I was going to cling to that.
We all met up outside our bedroom doors, our expressions barely visible in the dim hallway light, but still, I could tell the mood was somber. We followed Cal, silent as statues, and seated ourselves in the equally dim dining room. A line of servants brought in our food and quickly rushed off, leaving us to stare awkwardly at one another from across the dining room table.
Cal leaned back and slouched in his chair, folding his hands across his washboard abs, the dark blue dress shirt he’d changed into wrinkling slightly beneath his fingers.
"So...” A soft smile touched the outer corners of his lips. “Let's chat."
"Oh, here we go," Rob grumbled, downing his goblet of wine in one sitting.
Ben sighed. "Who's going to start?"
My brows furrowed. "What are we chatting about exactly?"
"Everything," Ben replied, effectively explaining nothing.
"When shit gets weird," Rob said, holding up his goblet for a servant to top him off with more wine, "Cal has these little chats for us to get things off our chests."
"We have to be 100 percent honest in order for the chat to be effective, though," Ben said, placing both elbows on the edge of the table. "No matter what."
"And Cal knows if you're lying," Rob added, shooting a glare at the brother in question. "Thanks to his Zeus-like powers, he can sense if you're telling the truth or not. It's fucking annoying."
My brows squeezed even tighter together. Oh shit. I’d tried to sneak so many lies and half-truths by him already. Why hadn’t he called me on any of it?
"So,” I said, drawing out the word, “your power is more than just control over the sky. It's also... what? Honesty? Truth?” I glanced around the table. “Does anyone else have extra powers?"
"We all do," Cal admitted defensively. "Probably even you."
“Okay,” I said, feeling completely in over my head. “How about we start the chat with you guys telling me all about your extra powers?”
Ben shrugged. “Sounds fair.”
Cal nodded his agreement. Dan stared intently at the table in front of him. Rob chugged his second goblet full of wine and signaled a servant for a third.
Gods, these chats must’ve gotten rough at times. Or maybe Rob was just an alcoholic. Either way.
“So, Cal is honesty, like you guessed,” Ben said, initiating the chat. “I’m loyalty. If I give my word, I’m magically bound to keep it.”
Well, that kind of sucked.
“What if you change your mind?”
“Then I’m shit outta luck.”
I grinned, then glanced at Dan. “What’s your extra power?”
“Charm,” he said, glancing up at me with a tempting grin. “I have a certain charisma and allure that others don’t. There’s a magnetism that people feel when they’re around me. I can usually sweet-talk them into doing whatever I want.”
That did not surprise me in the slightest. Not one single bit.
“And you?” I asked, turning to Rob who was worki
ng on his third goblet of wine.
He set the cup down and raked a hand across his luscious lips. “Bravery.”
“You sure it’s not standoffishness?” I asked with a raised brow.
He merely glared at me.
“His bravery comes with a heaping dose of selflessness,” Cal explained in his brother’s defense. “Whenever something serious or dangerous comes up, he’s usually the first to volunteer. Sometimes he even takes punishments in our place, if he can get to Father first.”
Punishments. I wondered if their punishments were anything like mine. Getting hit, threatened, having my loved one tortured in front of my very eyes. Their mothers were all in the king’s harem as well, so it was probably very possible. But I could never ask them, not if I wanted to keep my mother safe. I needed to keep what I knew a secret.
I stared at Rob for a moment longer, trying to figure him out. How could someone so gruff and rude also be generous and caring? My thoughts drifted back to dinner at Blackwood Palace. When the king had asked why we were late, Rob had cut in and took the blame, even though we all knew damn well it was my fault. I guess, maybe there was more to him than what met the eye.
“When Asher was still around,” Ben added with a wistful grin, “his power was humor. He could diffuse a tense situation with a single sentence and have people laughing together instead of wanting to kill each other.”
I smiled too. “That probably came in handy during these chats, I’d imagine.”
That got a chuckle out of the guys.
“I’m surprised you knew about him,” Cal admitted, eyeing me closely.
“His mother told me.”
“She never talks about him.”
I shrugged. “Well, she did.”
He stared at me a moment longer before nodding. “That’s the truth.”
“Of course, it is,” I said defensively. “Why would I lie?”
When no one answered, I changed the subject, or rather, got the chat back on track.
“I wonder what my power is?” I thought out loud, tapping my chin.
“It might still be dormant,” Ben suggested. “It sometimes takes a while for the extra power to show up. But you’ll know it when you feel it. It’s pretty unmistakable.”
Taken by Storm (Storms of Blackwood Book 1) Page 15
