by Cora Carmack
He wanted to turn back around and hunt that Stormlord bastard down and make him pay.
He would. Cassius swore if it was the last thing he did, that monster would pay.
* * *
Aurora could not remember the last time she slept so well. She stretched, her arms and legs reaching across smooth, cool linens. The mattress and pillow beneath her were made of such heaven that she never wanted to move. She reached out, expecting to find Kiran’s hard, bare shoulder nearby in this magical dream world, but all she found was an empty bed.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, and blinked in confusion at the familiarity. The bed was wide and extravagant, with plush white linens that reminded her of clouds. It had been a very long time since she had dreamed of being back in her old bed. She smiled, stretching into the soft mattress until a wincing pain at her wrist caught her attention. She pulled her hand closer to her face, staring at the red marks she saw with bewilderment for a moment before recent events came back to her like a horrid nightmare, and she realized she was not dreaming.
Immediately, she jolted upright in bed, her stiff muscles protesting the movement fiercely. Her eyes widened as she took in the room around her, her room—it looked exactly the same, and yet it felt completely different. She could not explain how the room had changed. It had always been this decadent, always slightly cold with the stone floors and walls and the dramatic windows. But it no longer felt like hers.
A knock at the door set her heart racing. Her last memories were hazy. She clearly recalled the Stormlord slitting Casimir’s neck and fleeing as someone approached. She remembered he’d sent a tornado to slow them down, and she had been so worried that someone had been hurt.
Then … then she remembered Cassius. And nothing else at all.
The knock sounded again, and she glanced around wildly, unsure what she could do other than see what he wanted. She was here now. There was no changing that. And in truth, she would rather be here than back with the Stormlord. But she had no idea what would come next.
She lifted her chin as bravely as she could manage and called out, “Come in.”
The wooden door creaked open, and again it was not who she was expecting, though the person who slipped through the door was one she had seen come through that entrance many times. Instead of the tall form of the Locke prince, she saw the tentative smile of her best friend.
A sob was out of her mouth before she even knew she had made a sound. Aurora tried to scramble from the bed, but her limbs would not cooperate, and she stumbled, nearly sprawling on the floor.
Quickly, Nova closed the door behind her and hurried across the room.
“Stay in bed. Rest. You need it.”
Aurora sat back on the bed without arguing, mostly because she was dumbfounded. “How are you—how?”
“The prince sent me.”
Aurora gaped. “From the dungeon?”
Nova’s mouth slanted, and she shrugged. “He returned me to my room over a week ago.”
Blinking, Aurora asked, “And Jinx?”
Nova shook her head. “He said by participating in my attempted rescue, she was a known affiliate of the rebellion, and he could not release her.”
“But he wanted to release you?”
“Not immediately. Eventually he said he believed me that I had nothing to do with your kidnapping, so he did. But he banned me from leaving the palace, or I would have come and found you. We have to get Jinx out. They did not hurt her while we were together, but I know nothing of what’s happened to her since.”
Aurora grabbed hold of her friend’s hand, and when that steadiness felt good, she wrapped her other hand around Nova’s too. “I know. I will fix this. Do you understand? Whatever I have to do. I am so sorry I did this to you, Nova. There are no words for how much I regret the hurt I have caused you.”
Her friend climbed up on the bed beside her and pulled Aurora into a tight hug. She had not realized how desperate she was for the contact until she had it, and then she was clutching at Nova, so glad to not be alone anymore. Then, the whole story came pouring out of her—every good and awful thing that had happened to her since she had left Nova behind months ago with her fool’s idea to fake her own kidnapping. She told her friend about all the incredible things she had seen that she had wanted to share with her oldest friend. She talked about how it felt to fall in love with someone who did not know anything about who she was or her family or the expectations she was supposed to fulfill.
Nova asked her endless questions about her feelings for Kiran, and Aurora told her about their fight when he discovered her true identity, and she blushed hotly when she glossed over how they had made up while out in the wilds.
“So the two of you are back together then?” Nova asked.
“Yes,” Aurora answered. “Well, technically, I am here, and he is out there somewhere, probably worried sick because I have not seen him since the Stormlord kidnapped me.”
“We will find a way to get word to him,” Nova promised. “I am watched frequently, but perhaps I can get a friend of a friend to smuggle a message out.”
At some point, there was another knock on the door, and Aurora tensed again, fearing Cassius, but it was only a maid bringing up food. The cavern of Aurora’s empty stomach echoed painfully as soon as the smell hit her nose. They moved into her sitting room to eat, and Aurora noted that there were still lingering signs of Cassius’s presence around the room. She had not noticed anything of his in the bedroom, and she hoped that meant he had slept elsewhere, using only her sitting room in her absence.
As they ate, Aurora continued with her story while gorging on the small feast that had been brought for them. Strangely, she felt as if she had been plucked out of time. All the pain and stress and worry of the last few weeks melted away in the presence of her friend, and for just a little while she felt normal again. She told Nova about her magic, and what she could do with it—the good and the bad, filling in the specifics that they had not had time for during the rescue attempt. She did not hesitate to peel back her shirt and show Nova the shifting likenesses of the two different storms she now carried inside her.
Aurora almost told Nova about the darkness of the second soul she had taken, but could not bring herself to break the happy mood of their reunion. Someday she would tell her friend how much she feared the soul that was now part of her own, that she worried it would taint her, manipulate her, prune her into something she did not want to be.
But that could wait for another day.
“And you?” Aurora asked. “You do not have to talk about what happened to you if you do not wish. Especially to me. But if you want to … I am here to listen.”
Nova’s large eyes lowered, and she smiled. “It was not all bad.”
A deep, rosy hue began to spread up her friend’s neck, but before Aurora could pounce with questions, there was another knock at the door. Assuming it was another maid, Aurora called out, “Come in.”
The door swung inward, and as soon as she heard the thud of a heavy boot on stone, she knew this was no maid. She was still wearing a simple dressing gown, something she did not even remember putting on for herself the night before, and she was sitting at a small table with Nova, her plate scraped clean of food. She clenched her fists around the edge of the table, and sat ramrod straight as Cassius Locke appeared in the room.
He was different from how she remembered him.
He was still handsome—though his short cropped hair had been left to grow slightly wild, and he looked tired. There was still a brooding menace to his presence that reminded her this man was capable of terrible things. But the way he stayed at the door, almost unsure … that was entirely new.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, remaining near the open door.
“Better,” she answered honestly. The sleep and food had done wonders, though she would not be against crawling back into bed for another day or two if she were not potentially in grave danger. Too tired to tiptoe around the subject
, she asked him outright, “What do you want with me?”
His brows lifted in surprise. “To save you? It’s all I have been trying to do from the moment you were taken. I searched for you everywhere, for months. Anywhere I thought you could be, I sent soldiers there.”
She knew that. She had met a few in the small village of Toleme before they had been wiped out by a twister she had accidentally called.
“And my mother? I do not think you were trying to save her by drugging her into unconsciousness.”
He took a step farther into the room, his long legs eating up too much space in that one stride. “I had nothing to do with that. It was my father, he—”
“Oh please. And Nova? Was it your father who had her imprisoned for my kidnapping too?”
Cassius gritted his teeth, the muscles in his neck jumping with strain. His eyes flicked behind her to where she knew Nova still stood. “No. That was me. I was trying to find out what happened to you, and—”
“I ran away because I did not want to marry you! There was no kidnapping. I left of my own volition because I saw just a glimpse of the coldness and cruelty you and your family are capable of, and I decided I deserved more. But I am the fool who did not realize until too late that I was leaving my mother at the mercy of wolves.”
“Aurora, I never meant for any of this to happen. I wanted to rule beside you, not let my father run another city into the ground. Once we were wed, I could prevent him from attempting a coup. I can still do that. My father could not stand against you and me together.”
Aurora gathered the dressing gown tightly around herself and shook her head. “I did not want to marry you then, and I will not marry you now. Not ever.”
“Then I guess there is no point in keeping you, is there?” The voice came from the still-open doorway, but when she looked no one was there. A moment later Cassius’s father leaned around the corner, his gaze hard, and his lips fixed in the same sneering smile she had seen on Casimir.
“Welcome home, Aurora,” he said, stepping into the room, and closing the door with a quiet snick. “You caused quite a stir with your disappearance, though I can’t say that I minded. It worked out rather well, in fact.”
“You are deplorable.”
The Locke patriarch shrugged. “Someone has to be.” Then he turned to his son and asked, “Do you want to kill her? Or shall I?”
Aurora’s mouth went dry, and she knew if either of them looked closely enough they would be able to see the light of the storms flashing furiously in her chest. Let him come. She was not helpless. If he touched her, she would pump enough skyfire into him to stop his heart or char him from the inside out, whichever came first.
When Cassius did not respond, the older man turned to her, crossing the room with a calculating look in his eyes. She let her arms hang loose at her sides, but she could feel the buzz of energy already collecting at her fingertips.
He lunged at her, and she raised her hands up, bracing for impact, but it never came. Instead, Cassius tackled him from behind, and the two men crashed into a table, sending a vase and other knickknacks crashing to the floor. Aurora gasped, and Nova grabbed her hand, pulling her back toward the wall, and out of the way of the brawling father and son.
They rolled over and over each other, grappling for dominance, and eventually Cassius ended up on top. He reared back and landed a hard punch across his father’s jaw. The king grabbed one of the broken pieces from the vase, slashing it across Cassius’s cheek with an enraged snarl. Streams of red splattered the rug, and Cassius scrambled back, out of reach. The two stood, breathing heavy, circling each other.
“You would fight me over her?” the king growled.
“I have been waiting to fight you all my life,” Cassius said. “It is what you built me to do—to conquer whatever stood in my way.”
“I am not standing in your way. I am trying to give you a kingdom without another powerful heir to challenge your claim.”
“You do nothing but destroy. You will ruin this kingdom, like you ruined ours. I do not need or want your help.”
The king lunged again, and Cassius grabbed the arm holding the shard that cut him before, spinning and bending the arm back painfully until his father’s grip loosened, dropping the makeshift weapon. The king reached back with his free hand and grabbed Cassius’s hair, and then the two of them smashed into the wall—twisting and punching and trying to gain the upper hand.
The king broke free and grabbed the water basin nearby, dumping the contents, and then swinging the piece of pottery at his son’s head. Cassius ducked and rammed his shoulder into his father’s midsection, sending them sprawling on the floor once more.
“You ungrateful—”
A hard punch cut off the rest of his words, then they were rolling again, knocking into furniture and ripping at each other’s clothing. The king ended up on top, his fist connecting hard with Cassius’s face, once, then twice, then several more times, each with an almost joyous bark of glee, and just when Aurora was about to run over and throw herself into the fight as well, the older man stiffened, and jerked, his arm hanging in the air for a moment where it had been poised to strike again. Then his whole body was shoved sideways, sprawling flat on the bloodied rug with a dagger buried to the hilt in his chest.
Cassius, bloody and breathing heavy, sat up to look at her—his face swelling from his father’s punches. Between heaving breaths he said, “He made me paranoid as a child. Now I keep weapons stashed everywhere. Including here.” He thumped a hand underneath the settee next to where they had been fighting. Cassius reached up and wiped away some of the blood that had been running down his face, then he looked at her with purple, swollen features.
“Now will you believe me when I tell you I mean you no harm?”
Aurora stared, stunned and relieved, and a part of her—that new, dark, hateful part—relished the violence she had just seen, that had been done for her.
She jerked, horrified by that feeling, and quickly declared, “I am still not marrying you.”
“Fine,” Cassius grunted, climbing to his feet with a wince on his bruised face. “But maybe a different kind of partnership? You might have more gifts than I realized,” he said, gesturing toward her heart with a knowing look. “But I am willing to bet you cannot take on the Stormlord on your own. Face it, you need me, Aurora.”
What she needed was Kiran. And her mother. And Duke. And Jinx. And every other member of her newfound family. But she looked at him, at the earnest expression on his face, and the blood he wore like a badge of honor. He had killed his father to protect her. That had to earn him at least some measure of trust.
Finally, she answered, “I’m not looking for a partner, but I’ll take a soldier, if you’re willing.”
She held out her hand, and Cassius took a step forward. He towered over her, and even covered in blood and bruises, the man looked dangerous. He ignored the hand she offered and knelt before her instead.
“As you wish, my Queen.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Wow. Where to start? If you follow me online, you know the last two years have been rough for me. I was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2017 after several years of a variety of unexplained health issues. The diagnosis was a complete shock. I had likely been having seizures for several years (if not longer), but because they were not the typical convulsive seizures you see on TV, I never would have guessed. Even once I had a diagnosis, it took a long time (and an intense hospitalization) to find medications that would curtail my seizures. In a strange way, I felt like past me had written Roar knowing what was coming. Because I felt very much like I was caught up in a never-ending storm, and it was completely outside my control. For a while, I was not sure I would ever be able to have a life resembling the one I had before.
But after a lot of time and patience and help from my loved ones, I’ve managed to reclaim my life, albeit with some limitations. I owe more than everything to my parents, who sat with me in the hospital, and whil
e the meds made me miserably sick. They filled in all the gaps of my life when I could no longer drive or do simple things like go to the grocery store or take myself to the doctor or even walk my dog. They gave and gave and gave, and I honestly would not have made it without them. The same is true of my sisters and my cousin Jared and my best friends—Jay Crownover, Lindsay Ehrhardt, and Bethany Salminen. You guys held me together when everything was falling apart. More love to friends Joey, Victoria, Shelly, Meredith, Heather, JLA, Ana, Megan, Val, Amber, Kami, and so many more. I have to thank my neurologist, Lakshmi Mukundan, who diagnosed me, and who is the kindest, most nurturing, and truly caring doctor I have ever met. I am so glad you came into my life. Tara Ryan, you were an oasis in the chaos, and I am so grateful.
And God bless Tor Teen. I missed deadline after deadline because my brain just did not work the same way anymore, and they were so patient and caring and understanding. I was under a tremendous amount of stress, and they were always looking for ways to build me up and support me, rather than add to that stress. That is remarkably rare in this business. So thank you to everyone at Tor who worked on my book in any way—my new editor Melissa Frain, and my original editor Whitney Ross, along with my publicist Saraciea, my copyeditor MaryAnn, my cover designer John Blumen, and of course, the queen of it all, Kathleen Doherty. Thank you doesn’t seem big enough, but it’s all I have.
Similarly, the team at New Leaf Literary have always been fierce champions at my side. Thank you to Suzie Townsend, Sara Stricker, Cassandra Baim, Mia Roman, Veronica Grijalva, Dani Segelbaum, and everyone else. Also to KP Simmon—you might be my publicist, but you were my friend first, and I’m so glad for it.
For the Stormlings, my Roar street team—thank you all so much for loving these characters and this world with me. It was such a huge deal to me to fulfill this dream, and you guys worked so hard to make it the best release it could possibly be. And you’re just crazy cool people. And to all of you reading this. I know it was a long wait for this book. Thank you for your patience and your support and all the kind words and encouragement. You got me through so many hard days.
