by JL Madore
TORRENT OF TEARS
Scourge Survivor Series – Book Three
JL Madore
Copyright © 2017 by JLMadore
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-0-9916763-4-7
Cover by: Sarah Hansen of Okay Creations
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
this is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Dedication:
To those who love the Haven gang, Fate’s Journey continues. Without you, there would be no adventure.
Acknowledgements:
To my Writers’ Community of Durham Region family: You are without question, the greatest and most talented community of writers ever assembled. You energize me. I’m honored every day to be your President, your peer and part of the group. Rock on WCDR!
To my editors, Ruth and Gwynn of Writescape: Lexi’s story took a bit more work to tighten. She’s a free-wheeling character and went off the rails a few times. A huge thank you for pulling things back into order.
To my writing circles/guides, Critical Realm, BookEnds and the gang at 20Books: your critiques are invaluable, your support immeasurable, and your friendships irreplaceable. Much love.
CHAPTER ONE
I flailed. Reaching behind my head, I clutched for the handle of what could only be the blade of a battle axe lodged between my shoulder blades. Early-morning sunlight pierced the blue sky above. Pain burned though me. It blinded. White spots and tears obscured my vision. Let death come. I was done anyway. They were dead because of me.
I couldn’t make out their faces in the fading reality of my vision, but the loss of lives hollowed my heart and left me feeling drained and desolate.
***
A ragged breath rushed from my lungs as my consciousness returned. Gods, what did I do wrong? No—what would I do wrong? My butt slid off the snow-covered log and I slumped to the side. Winter wind whistled over my body, across the forest clearing, and rattled the weathered boards of our childhood clubhouse. Unable to move until the effects of the vision wore off, I laid on the ice-crusted ground and blinked up at our motto carved and painted above.
Shitstorm Survivors: Come in peace or leave in pieces.
Almost two decades and it remained. Scrawled in the chipped, slime-green paint Bruin had ‘borrowed’ from the maintenance room of Haven castle.
The numbing dread of the vision drained away as my mind filled with memories of the four of us here, playing, training and holding strategy sessions on how to avenge our dead. Painful as it was, life was simple then. We were a team. A united force of four orphans against the evil of our realm.
The Scourge.
When the shakes passed, I hauled my ass back onto the log and dropped my head between my legs. The melted patch of snow where I’d fallen, exposed the unyielding, packed dirt and leaf detritus beneath. When had life come between the four of us? I wanted it back . . . that sense of belonging to people who gave a shit. That’s what had always made the killing and fighting and training worthwhile. My family.
The crunch of heavy footsteps from the forest path had me breathing deep. The breeze, crisp and fresh in my nostrils, held the bite of winter that wouldn’t relent. No stanky rot of Scourge. I let my gloved hand relax from the hilt of the new Guardian double-edge sheathed to my thigh and waited. Only a half-dozen people on this mountain knew the location of our childhood sanctuary. Sadly, I wasn’t inclined to see any of them at the moment.
“Princess?”
Reign’s gravel voice made my chest tighten. I leaned forward and picked up a chunk of snow and cupped it between my palms. It was spongy and packed into a tight ball under my fingers.
“Mind if I join you?”
I scootched to the side to make room. “That bad, is it?”
“What?” He lowered himself, knees cracking as the log groaned under his weight.
“I’m such a train-wreck that my father tromped through the forest during school hours to find me?”
“You missed your morning training session with the third years and then your one o’clock battlements class. You’re pale, Lexi. You have a vision?”
I nodded, tossed my snowball into the skeletal scrub and rubbed my gloves together.
Reign reached into his wool trench and handed me a chocolate. Each member of my family carried a stock of treats to ease the after-effects of my gift. He was quiet a long time, sitting with his elbows on his knees, turning the massive platinum ring on his thumb. In the chill of the afternoon, warmth oozed off him. It leeched into my hip and shoulder where his frame touched mine. “Wanna talk about the vision?”
The grieving ache of my dream lingered too fresh.
Close like this, him six-foot-six and two feet taller than me, I waited for the security to come like it always had. When I was a kid, he’d scoop me up like a doll and make everything right again. If I didn’t have that, what did I have?
Just the black void of nothingness that was my life before Maximus Reign.
“Can’t you fix this?” I pressed my fingers into a fist, the pop-pop-pop of each knuckle breaking the silence. “I thought he’d get over it by now. It’s been months. I’ve said it a thousand times. I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
Reign shook his head, his brindled hair rustling off his shoulders, longer than he usually let it grow. There was more salt than pepper in it these days, but he wore it well. “All intentions aside, you did hurt her. Bruin has every right to be pissed. If Jade wasn’t there that afternoon—”
“But she was,” I choked, surprised at the wave of bitterness washing over me. “She always is. Everyone plays their part. Jade’s the savior, Bruin’s the fighter, Julian’s the genius and I’m the spoiled screw up, right?”
Reign’s square jaw clenched tight. “Just because you screwed up, doesn’t make you a screw up, Alexannia Grace.”
I laughed, a white cloud of breath escaping my lungs. “My full name proves it’s really bad.”
“You smashed Mika’s head into the marble floor. Brain bleeds are really bad.”
I sighed, sick of this convo. “Please. Talk to Bruin again. Make him accept my apology.” Reign made a noise which indicated that he might as well have been trying to teach Savage to sing. “Do you think he’ll get over it by my party? I want him there.”
“Them,” Reign grumbled. “You want them there. Mika is his mate, you have to get used to that. And no, I don’t think he has any intention of coming to your birthday celebration.”
An anorexic squirrel with a patchy grey coat dug for some forgotten cache of food on the edge of the clearing. It searched here and there, uncovering fallen leaves and bits of dead forest, then shimmied up a redwood, empty handed.
“Do you ever regret adopting me?”
Reign k
issed the top of my head and got to his feet. “Not for one second in sixteen years.” He stepped over to the clubhouse and knocked his scarred knuckles against the writing on the wall. Without looking back, he strode to the path and left me to myself.
I stared at our faded, slime green promise to each other and the world. Come in peace or leave in pieces. Yeah, well the irony of that statement just sucked.
“Am I boring you?” Tham nipped at the soft curve of my breast and raised an elegant blond brow. “Where are you this afternoon, neelan?”
I shrugged.
He propped himself up on the bed beside me and pulled me against his smooth chest. Highborne skin was the palest ivory and Tham’s smelled like the suede of his buckskins. Golden waves fell loose around his gently pointed Elven ears and down his shoulders to tickle my nose. “It will work out, Lexi. No one can stay angry at you for long.”
I snuggled closer, idly thumbing along the defined ridges of his stomach to his tight, pink nipple. “You’re still going to be my date for my birthday, right?”
His chin rubbed the side of my head as he nodded. “We shall dance the night away.” He gave me a squeeze then pulled back. “What exactly is a bacchanalia?”
A flutter of excitement had me smiling. “Originally, it was a wild and mystic festival dedicated to Bacchus, the Greek god of wine. Now though, it’s a big fancy ball with gowns and masks and drunken revelry. It’s going to be amazing.”
“If you planned the event, it could be nothing other.”
I kissed Tham’s chest and sat up, gathering my t-shirt from where it had fallen beside my bed. As always, Tham had lifted me out of my malaise and I could breathe again. He had that gift. No one could spend five minutes with him and not be drawn out of their wallowing.
“What did I pull you away from when I called you? You sounded busy.”
Tham lifted up the sheet and winked when he found the lost sex toy. It was a shame that Highbornes saved their virginity for their one true mate, but the two of us excelled at creatively making do. I bit my lip as he sauntered across my suite to the bathroom and flashed me a glorious view of his carved physique. The way the muscles pulled and stretched as he practically glided across the floor was an actual thing of beauty.
“Galan and I went through the Gate to the village,” he said. His charismatic blue gaze met mine in the reflection of the mirror. “We spent the afternoon with the Highborne Elders.”
“Is it already time to update them on the progress of your Ambar Lenn?” I rolled onto my stomach and propped my chin in my palms. “Let me guess. They fell over themselves praising Galan for how well he’s done for himself, proving himself a true male of worth, while condemning you and Aust to the rank of worthless failures.”
Tham flashed me a devilish smile. “It’s like you were there. No matter. I work very hard to be known as the grandest disappointment in Highborne history. Though, it hurts Aust to be exiled and have his mother alienated from her friends in the village.”
“Yeah, well, their loss is our gain. Aust’s affinity with animals is something to be praised, not judged. He’s thriving here with the Weres. I wish Lia was doing half as well.”
Tham finished rinsing the rubber phallus and bounced it against the edge of the sink a few times to knock off the water. “Galan gathered some belongings for her while we were there. He hopes to bring her back to herself before the young are born.”
Ahh. I flopped back against my pillow. Jade and Galan were sickeningly happy these days. Jade was expecting twins. How could life be anything but glorious when your husband is perfect and your long-lost biological father turns out to be the most powerful man in the two realms?
Oh to be the lost love child of the god of gods.
I clenched my teeth. Jade deserved all the happiness the two realms could offer. It would be petty and wrong to begrudge my sister that. Yeah . . . well, color me petty.
“Hey Hotness,” I said, sitting up. “Do you want to pilfer the kitchen and hole up with me tonight? I’m thinking we lock the door, lounge around naked, and have a Lord of the Rings marathon. I’ll even let you pause and re-enact Legolas’ archery moves if you want.”
Tham sauntered back and pulled suede pants up his creamy, toned thighs. With the front lacings left untied he sat on the edge of the bed, his chest and abs flexing in the most delicious way. The mattress sunk under his weight and I tilted toward him. “Apologies, neelan, mayhap another night.”
“Big date?”
He tugged at a couple wayward ebony spikes falling in front of my eyes. After a Tham session, my hair was usually unsalvageable. “Sort of. Julian said the package you helped me order from Victoria’s Secrets arrived from the Modern Realm. I mentioned to some of the females that I would bring it to the village tonight.”
“Ooooh, and you’re hoping you get a chance to try some of it out?”
Tham waggled his brows and bent to kiss my cheek. I leaned forward to meet him, but winced when my back knotted. Tham eased me back against the pillows, his eyes narrowing. “Has Jade examined your back? It has been paining you for more than a week now.”
“I’m fine.”
He exhaled, a serious frown marring his hotness. “Mayhap a gentle rubdown with massage oil might ease your discomfort. I shall stay a while longer.”
“Nah, you go. I can’t deprive the Highborne females of their silk and satin experience. Besides, you haven’t seen any good Highborne consort action in ages.”
He chuckled, shrugged on his tunic and then scooped his knife sheath off the bedside table. After raising a bare foot onto the side of the bed, he tied the leather cord of his sheath around his thigh. “Do not worry on my account. The Haven action has been more than enlightening.”
“So, have you decided your type?” I asked.
“My type?” The blue of his eyes lit up the way it always did when he was intrigued.
“Your favorite type of women. After a century of exile, with only fair skinned blonds to choose from, do you prefer them or brunettes, redheads, or raven-haired beauties?”
“Verily, a thorough study of the subject is underway but a preference is yet to be determined.” Tham waggled his brow, capturing his long, blond waves and tying them back to reveal the pointed ears of his race. “Are you certain you are well, Lexi? I am pleased to stay if you need me.”
Yes. “No. I’m fine. Really.” I sat straighter and ignored the ache gripping my shoulder blades and gouging down my spine. “You go. Julian will be closing the Gatehouse soon and you want to be on the other side of the mirror when he does.”
Tham strode into the bathroom, rifled through my medicine chest and came back with two tablets and a glass of water. The heavy-duty muscle relaxants were the ones I saved for the times Savage knocked the crap out of me in training sessions. As I reached up to accept them, he pulled back and waited until I gave him my full attention. “Speak to Jade. Tell her you suffer, Lexi, or I shall be forced to break confidence for your own good.”
I waved him away as I popped the tablets into my mouth. Tham was such a great guy. With a thumbs up from me, he nodded and the door clicked shut behind him. The battle I was waging with my composure crumbled.
Stronger than before, white-hot claws dug at the inside of my skin like an alien trying to break free. What the hell was wrong with me?
CHAPTER TWO
The night had been brutal but rested or not there was no way I could ditch my classes two days in a row. Reign was busy with the latest Scourge uprising yet somehow, he always knew what happened within the castle. If I bagged my duties again, he’d be on me like a shark on tuna. It went without saying . . . it sucked to be the tuna in that scenario.
“Yo, Lexi.”
I scanned the ebbing sea of students behind me to see Nash’s purple Mohawk cutting the air as he made his way up the hall. I backed against the stone of the castle and let the current of traffic flow by until he caught up. “Hey Nash, what’s doin’?”
His winning sm
ile crinkled the crescent, tribal tattoo encircling his eye. “I was at the Gatehouse this morning picking up some stuff for the Talon when a few of your deliveries came through. Going big for your b-day, eh?”
I nodded, and the two of us resumed the walk toward the weapons wing. “A leap-year baby only gets an actual birthday every four years. I like to celebrate.”
“Well, Julian wasn’t too thrilled about the boxes piling up in his space. He said if I saw you today, I should tell you to send some strong young students to pick them up.”
I snorted at Nash’s diplomacy. He was more than just an extraordinary graduate student and Talon squire. Since Mika got Samuel blown up and blinded six months ago, Nash had been promoted and was quickly becoming the best wizard the Talon had. “That’s what Julian meant, but it probably sounded more like, ‘My Gatehouse is not her personal warehouse. Tell my little sister to get her spoiled ass over here and get this party shit the fuck out of my way.”
Nash laughed. “That sounds remarkably familiar.”
“No problem, I’ll send someone.” We walked together, chatting about nothing in particular as we wound our way up the circular stairs to the third-floor landing. I drew a labored breath. The slow, steady ascension aggravated the muscles in my back.
“Lexi, you okay?”
Though I wasn’t one to gripe about the aches and pains of being a warrior, I confessed that the pain in my back was just about crippling me.
He hesitated for a moment, then leaned down and whispered close to my ear. “I’ve got Haze if you need it.”
A few of my fellow warriors smoked Golden Haze behind closed doors to take the edge off. Though it wasn’t illegal, Talon Enforcers were held to high standards. Reign would flip. He’d actually kicked a few warriors off rotation for dosing too often.
“No thanks. I appreciate it, but I’ve really got to get to class.” I gripped the banister and continued our ascent.
