Storm Princess Saga- the Complete Series

by Everly Frost

I inhale. Exhale. I turn to face Baelen, wishing I could throw my thoughts across the distance. Be safe.

  He gives me an acknowledging nod as he pulls his headpiece on. I do the same, tying the veil firmly to the neckline of my armor. The chair is a yawning gap in my vision, but it’s the Elven Command’s sorcery that worries me more.

  I time my movements to Baelen’s, following him into the chair in unison, jolting as the deep magic takes hold. It’s like a magnet running through every bone in my body, compelling me to stay seated.

  I thought I’d have to close my eyes, but my vision changes immediately. Baelen’s silhouette blurs and blends into an encroaching darkness. I try to hold on to his image within my sight, but I can’t fight the deep black like nighttime falling across everything. It surrounds me, consuming the arena, my ladies, the soldiers, the Elven Command, even the chair itself and, last of all, Baelen is completely gone and there’s nothing but dark.

  I float inside it, regulating my breathing, mentally preparing myself. The darkness lifts and I’m ready for anything.

  Except this.

  My armor’s gone. The wind whips at my hair. I stand across from the edge of a cliff. Baelen sits at the edge with his back to me. From across his shoulder I see a pen and paper in his hands. But he’s not the now Baelen, he’s the then Baelen.

  I glance at myself, at my hands and my dress—the old, patched one I used to wear. My faded lavender cloak drapes around my shoulders to ward against the cold. My hair is tied in a long braid and my blue ribbon—the only pretty thing I own—flutters against my side.

  I’m eighteen.

  This is the day I became the Storm Princess.

  I don’t want to be here! The shriek inside my mind fades as I keep walking. My older self’s thoughts are consumed and destroyed as I merge completely with my younger self, until I forget why I’m here… I don’t know what I was afraid of just now… because Bae’s here and nothing can hurt me.

  I pass the shallow cave on my left that’s deep enough to provide shelter. The cliff’s edge opposite the cave is a sheer drop down thousands of feet. I’m breathing heavily. I’ve just climbed up the side of the mountain along the secret path that Baelen showed me years before—a place to escape in the Rath mountains that nobody else knows how to get to.

  In the beginning, we had an unspoken code to only come up here when the other wasn’t here. It was a place to be alone. He told me about it after he found me crying behind one of the outer buildings when we were eleven, my knees and hands bleeding after one of the visiting Valor boys knocked me over.

  But now… It’s his place and mine.

  I step across the stones, navigating the rocky ground, and slide down next to him, my legs dangling over the edge. The drop is dizzying but it’s funny how I don’t feel fear when I’m near him.

  I don’t try to see what he’s drawing. He’s never offered to show me and I respect that it’s the one thing he keeps for himself. Most days he spends all day training and studying. Basically learning how to kill gargoyles in every way possible.

  He turns as if he’s connected to me. “My father’s sending me to military training tomorrow. This is the last time I can draw anything other than maps and military routes.”

  I take a moment to let my breathing even out. Then I nudge him, trying to coax out a smile. “Maybe they’ll let you do military portraits. You know, the ones where all the elves take up majestic positions and pretend they’re in the middle of glorious battle.”

  He shrugs.

  I raise my eyebrows. Not even a small smile?

  But he’s right. There’s no use trying to make light of it. He’s going away and at some point I’m going to have to admit how that makes me feel. I exhale my emptiness into the breeze, closing my eyes, shutting out the view of the vast Rath lands far beneath us. “I don’t want you to go, Bae.”

  He closes the book but I’m surprised when he hands it to me. He says, “You may as well see it before my father burns it.”

  “Really? I can look at this?” I let it rest in my lap for a moment, running my hands over the cover. It’s made of fine leather, black, a gift from his mother before she died. His father wouldn’t really burn it. At least, I don’t think so.

  I turn it on its side and it falls open to a picture of an elven girl. She’s standing at the edge of this same cliff, her hair flowing and cloak billowing out, just like me a moment ago.

  Baelen smiles for the first time, his eyes lighting up. “You thought I never saw you walk up the mountain.”

  I wish I could leap into the picture and stay in that moment. That heartbeat when I reach the top of the path, knowing that he’s waiting for me. That moment right before he turns around—when he knows I’m here even before I speak.

  I hand the book back to him. “It’s beautiful, Baelen. But only because you drew it.” I’m suddenly overtaken by an impulse I can’t explain. “Don’t give your father the chance to burn it. Set it free.”

  I jump to my feet, breaking into a wild grin. I take a last look at the picture as I gesture to the wide expanse. “Rip my picture out and let me fly with the wind.”

  In response, Baelen tucks the book under his arm. He rises to his full height, reminding me that he is a Rath. He towers over me and I’m suddenly very small but never afraid. His gaze runs over my face, from my forehead to my cheeks to my lips…

  He’s never looked at me this way before. Or… maybe he has but I was too afraid to see it. I hover, the smile draining from my face, uncertainty flooding me. “Baelen?”

  He reaches for the ribbon at the end of my braid. The bow has come undone and for a moment I think he’s going to tie it back up, except that he slides it loose instead, pulling the ribbon free. Without a word, he folds it in half and places it inside the book, a pale blue curl next to the picture of me, tucked away safely.

  The book meets the ground slowly, deliberately. His chest rises and falls. His breathing is so even that he could be resting. He looks as purposeful as he does when he draws.

  He closes the gap between us with a single powerful stride, stopping inches away from me. His chest is closer to mine than he’s ever been before. His forefinger grazes my cheek, the lightest touch, tucking my hair behind my ear, following the curve of my neck down to my braid, loosening it from the bottom up until my hair cascades across my shoulders, flowing freely.

  Shivers run up and down my spine as his hand remains tangled in my hair, his fingers light against the back of my neck, his thumb stroking the curve between my neck and shoulder. He tilts his head down to mine, but doesn’t move any closer.

  “May I have your permission?”

  I lift my lips to his, overwhelmed by the searching question in his eyes. As his hands run through my hair from my neck to my lower back, I sway into him, closing the gap.

  “Yes.”

  When his lips touch mine, his hesitation is gone. He lifts me up to meet him, our bodies molding together. His kiss is soft and gentle at first. A light press of his lips against mine. He follows the shape of my lips from the corner to the curve at the top, gentle brushes sending tingles all the way down to my toes.

  He tastes like a warm breeze and I respond by fitting my lips to his, curve in curve, our mouths moving against each other until I gasp for breath. I tilt my head back and he follows the line of my cheeks and chin, planting kisses against my throat and up across my earlobe.

  He lifts me, still kissing me, and carries me to the flat rocks at the side of the cave. When he sets me down on the lowest one, I find myself at eye height with him for the first time. His are serious, determined.

  “I’ll be gone for three years. I know it’s a long time. But when I get back I’ll be able to make my own choices. I know it’s a lot to ask but… will you wait for me?”

  I pull back, but not too far, just far enough to run my hands across his cheeks and kiss the path my fingers follow.

  I whisper, “I would wait a lifetime for you.”

  My lips
graze against the fine stubble along his jaw, his cheekbones, finding his temple and the soft skin next to his ear…

  He twitches and I stop, my fingertip resting lightly on his earlobe. “Baelen Rath, are you ticklish?”

  He shivers against me. “Give me mercy, no. Not ticklish.”

  I gasp as he presses me close again, his lips crashing against mine. A burn grows inside me. It swirls across my lower back and through my stomach. His hands flatten against my spine, sliding beneath the back of my cloak. I rest my own hands across his shoulders only to find myself sliding my fingers behind his neck, drawing him closer still.

  The sky rumbles above us but I barely hear it. The first drop of rain lands on my cheek but Baelen kisses it away. Another one lands on my eyelashes and he kisses that too. The wind tugs on my cloak, finally forcing me to look up.

  Baelen keeps me close, his voice a rumble in my ear. “The storm’s coming over fast. We won’t make it down the mountain in time.”

  I answer, “It would be dangerous to try. We can stay here. It will blow over fast.”

  He takes my hand as I step down from the rock and leads me inside the cave but he stops at the entrance. His book is still outside.

  He looks back as his hand slides out of mine, holding on right to the end before letting go. He takes swift steps to retrieve the book, returning just before the clouds break and the rain falls down.

  I stop at one side of the cave as he backs up to the other. We’ve been caught in the rain once before. He stayed on his side of the cave and I stayed on mine.

  As clouds cover the afternoon sun and the sky darkens outside, so does the space around me. A match flares and Baelen lights the lamp he keeps at the back of the hollow, leaving the light on a rock to cast a soft glow around us.

  He leans at his side of the cave, watching the rain fall outside, fat drops hitting the ground and running along the slight slope to the edge of the cliff beyond. I watch them too, knowing that we could stay like this for hours and when the rain stops, he will make sure I make it safely down the slippery rocks to the bottom of the mountain. He will see me home and then he’ll be gone for three years. And I will wait for him without question.

  I know he won’t ask. I know it’s my choice. I am the daughter of a servant in his father’s house. He will never use his position or his power to persuade me. He will never take advantage.

  He won’t speak. He’ll wait in silence. He won’t say the words.

  So I say them for him. “I want to be yours.”

  He focuses on me, but remains where he is, and I realize that what I said could be interpreted in different ways. I leave my side of the cave as thunder rumbles outside. Closer to him, I reach for his hand, lifting it and placing it against my waist. His fingers flex around the small of my back and splay across my hip.

  I reach up on my tip-toes to plant a kiss on his bottom lip and watch the question grow on his face. Then I untie the sash that keeps my cloak around my shoulders and let it drop to the ground.

  I say, “You have my permission.”

  41. Marbella Mercy

  I hold my breath as Baelen leans toward me, his free hand cupping my cheek. He pauses before his lips meet mine, hesitating, his contemplation telling me he’s thinking it through. I sway into him, closing the gap, and place a light kiss on his lips.

  Then I wait, inches away from him, turning my face to the side as his slow breaths tickle my earlobe. He brushes my cheek with his, but doesn’t kiss me back. Not yet. I have to respect that. Just because I’ve decided what I want, doesn’t mean he’s decided it’s the right thing for him—or for us.

  Although… if he keeps nuzzling my ear like that, I’m not sure how I’ll ever let him go. My hands find his sides and all the muscles of his stomach as I try to anchor myself somewhere, anywhere, while his lips taste the soft skin at the side of my neck. Shiver after shiver rocks my body because he’s not only kissing my neck, but one of his hands rises from my hips and the other strokes down my side so that both end up resting against my rib cage, where his thumbs stroke the soft underside of my breasts through the thin material of my dress and underclothes.

  I whimper as he glides his hands up my sides and over my shoulders, sliding through my hair and down my back, pulling me against him so that my thighs are pressed against his. I tip my head back, seeking his eyes, needing to know what he’s thinking. Every part of me is alive, but he still hasn’t kissed me back.

  I tell myself I can accept his decision whatever it is. There’s no getting past his self-control or his perception. I’ve seen females from all the Major Houses throw themselves at him, sometimes in sickeningly obvious ways. He’s the sole heir to the Rath fortune and that makes him a target. But I never saw him take a female to his bedroom. From dinner parties and social events where I was required to serve guests, he’d turn away from females who would bed him in an instant, only to catch my eye across the room and gift me a smile, because he knew that I knew that he saw through all of them.

  He’s smiling at me now, a satisfied curve to his lips as he studies my own parted lips. I’m not sure what he’s so pleased about. I can’t help it if my breathing is coming short and fast or that my hands are pressed against the hard planes of his back. I definitely can’t help that my lower half presses closer to his with every passing millisecond.

  His voice is a low growl as he says, “I have wanted to kiss you for a very long time. But you are… so reserved, so cautious, so much my best friend… I couldn’t tell if you felt the same way. But now…”

  His smile transforms into intense need as his mouth swoops down to mine, finally fitting to the curve of my lips, grazing them and nudging them apart to taste my mouth with his tongue. Sensation rushes through me, deep inside, and I tug at the base of his shirt, urging him away from the rock face so I can slip my hands beneath it and explore the muscular shape of his back. In response, he pulls me upward, crushing me against him. I slide back to the ground as he sets me down to pull his shirt over his head. I’ve seen his naked chest before, but I was never allowed to look at him like I can now.

  Instead of coming straight back to me, he stoops to lay my cloak across the hard ground near the cave’s side, folding his shirt over the top of it. He kneels on the cloak, still clothed from the waist down, reaching out his hand for me. I hesitate. I know he doesn’t expect me to, but I take hold of the bottom of my dress and pull it up and over my head. I’m still wearing underwear—underpants and a support top, but both are thin with age and don’t cover much.

  He inhales a quick breath and for a moment the need on his face almost takes over. He closes his eyes, the muscle at the side of his jaw clenching, then finally relaxing, and when he opens his eyes, he’s in control again.

  He draws me down to the cloaked ground, both of us kneeling, his shirt cushioning my knees. He plants a kiss on my lips and follows the line of my chin and neck, down to the soft skin at the top of my breasts, caressing across the top of them, passing by to my stomach. As his lips descend, his hands follow them, kissing and touching every part of me from my back to my breasts to my inner thighs, brushing over my center, until I’m burning all over. The rain outside pounds down so loudly now that it smothers the sound of my moans as he takes his time touching me.

  I kiss him back, discovering the hard muscles of his shoulders, neck, hips, and dragging at the top of his pants. I suddenly can’t stand to be wearing this much clothing. The barrier between us is unbearable. I slide out of his arms, making him growl, “Come back.” But I have to stand up to remove my underwear.

  I slip out of my underpants and top, determined to return to him straight away but I pause as his gaze takes all of me in, traveling from my toes to the tops of my legs, to my waist, breasts, lips, and finally landing on my eyes. I always imagined I’d feel incredibly awkward standing naked in front of a male for the first time, but I don’t with Baelen. Not one bit.

  A smile breaks across his face as he holds out his hand for me. H
is smile is reflected on my own face before I drop to meet him on the ground and he starts all over again, kissing and touching me until I don’t know where I am anymore. At some point, he removes his own clothing, and it’s my turn to growl at him to come back to me.

  Finally he pulls me with him as he sits with his back against the side of the cave, positioning me so that my legs straddle him. He kisses me once more, but draws back, his hands resting lightly on my hips, allowing me to choose what happens next.

  I’m aware of my own body and his, but I’m not entirely sure how we’re supposed to fit together. I’m suddenly frozen, my face flaming. I’m afraid that I’ll do it all wrong and… damn… the way he’s slowly dragging his hands up and down my sides and across my breasts isn’t helping me at all.

  He leans forward and kisses the hot burn on each of my cheeks, causing our lower halves to press against each other in ways that make me dizzy. He lifts me with ease, up and over him, and whispers, “Let’s figure this out together.”

  A little bit of maneuvering later and whatever awkwardness I felt disappears as sensation floods me. I grip his shoulders as I lower myself completely over him, the intensity overwhelming me. I try to breathe, but only succeed in gasping. I’d thought my senses were already in overdrive but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

  He plants his hands on my hips, holding me, unmoving, letting me catch up with my own body, letting me choose when to move, allowing me to control our actions. Without thinking about it, I rise, watching the pleasure wash across his face, but he still doesn’t move, letting me stay in control.

  I slide back as my body adjusts to his, movement gets easier, and the ache inside me takes over. I forget about the storm outside, and the dark, and the flickering lamp light. I don’t hear the thunder or see the streaks of lightning across the far horizon. My whole world is here and now, moving with Baelen, building our own storm together inside this cave. A storm that consumes all of me, growing into an uncontrollable force.

  I tilt my head back and grip his shoulders as I plunge against him and the world expands and contracts around me, a thousand stars burning and exploding. Crying out, I shatter against him, my cries lost in the boom of thunder outside the cave.