Which was basically what Ben had already suggested.
So, the harpies needed the land to save their beloved animal idols, and the fae needed the land in order to keep their magic and their lives. Personally, I felt the life of a person should always outweigh the life of an animal, but as an animal lover, I totally understood the conundrum. Either way, who was I to decide if one life was more important than the other? I resolved to simply treat them as separate but equal issues.
As the chimeras moved closer together, the male stood, and they touched foreheads. Afterward, they did a little prancing dance, circling each around other and fluffing their feathers. It was quite fascinating.
I leaned into Ash’s side. "The next animal you shift into should totally be a chimera."
He chuckled and nudged his shoulder into mine. "Now that I know what they look like, I totally can."
"Is that how it works?" I asked, looking up at him in surprise.
He nodded.
"So, how’d you manage to pick a sloth?" I asked, confused. "According to Ben, they’re not indigenous to the Blackwood area."
"They’re not," Ben cut in, shooting us a stern glance over his shoulder. "The Storm King made us come here a few times on royal business, and obviously we had the protection of the royal guards, which is why Adam, here, had seen a sloth."
Ash bit his bottom lip. "Yeah, what he said. To be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed with the slow-ass thing. I thought it was lazy and weak—one of the main reasons I chose it."
I nodded, filling in the gaps. He’d wanted to die quickly and return to human form as soon as possible; then I’d found him and basically held him hostage for six years.... Damn, I kinda sucked.
The others had been having a conversation of their own at the same time, so we missed the first half of their discussion. But when I tuned into the last half, I heard Cal ask, "So how far away is the Lunaley?"
"A week’s journey north," Camilla said offhandedly. "I can take you, if you’d like, but you have to keep up. I move fast."
My nose scrunched, and my lip curled. I wasn’t sure if it was a direct jab at me and my abysmal fitness level, but I totally felt attacked. My upper body was cut, thanks to years of working the jewel mines in Blackleaf, but distance—walking, running, sprinting—had never been my forte.
"Are you sure your father would allow that?" Ben asked, eyeing her almost suspiciously. "Last time I was here, you weren’t allowed outside of the Erishwar city limits."
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I’m still not. But I’m old enough to not give a fuck anymore."
"Are you sure it wouldn’t be safer for us to get a different escort?" Cal asked, glancing at me with a sympathetic smile. "Someone older, stronger, and more of an explorer type?"
At least they were trying to prove to me that they didn’t want to be around her. Whether it worked or not, didn’t really matter. I was just happy to have their support.
"No," she said flatly, glaring at Cal and then the rest of us. "Either you have me as an escort or you blindly feel around the desert for your own way."
Dan sighed, running a hand through his sandy brown hair. "I don’t know... Ben, do you think you know your way around well enough?"
He pressed his lips together and shook his head as he thought. "The western half of the desert? Yes. The northern? No."
Camilla sniffed, and a half smile appeared on her face. "Have things really changed so much, Benson?"
She approached him with a swagger in her step that made my blood boil in an instant.
"Do you remember when we talked about uniting our kingdoms one day?"
I tried my damnedest to keep my face neutral, but I must’ve looked ten shades of pissed. It was news to me, shocking, gut-wrenching news that had my jealosaurus raging.
"Of course I do," Ben said, confirming her words with sickening ease. "I also remember you talking about uniting your kingdom with Hydratica—either of the twin princes would do, if I recall correctly. And Timberlune. You thought you could convince Titus that you were better than Bravia, do you remember that?"
At least Ben wasn’t the only object of her desire. That made me feel a bit better. But then she wrapped her arms around his neck, and I was immediately back in ax-mode.
She threw her head back and laughed melodiously. "Ah, the good old days. Back when unions were nothing more than political ploys."
"Aren’t they still?" Ben pulled back, leaning as far away from her face as he could.
"No. They’re so much more than that now," she said, staring at his lips. "Kiss me once, and I’ll stop trying to chase you."
Her eyes darted over to me, and she smiled. She obviously wanted to piss me off.
"I can’t," Ben said, pushing her hips to gain some distance between them.
"Come on, Benson. One kiss. I just want to see what happens."
"Nothing is going to happen, Camilla," he said firmly.
She grinned and bit her bottom lip. "We’ll see about that."
She made her move quickly, pushing up onto her tippy toes to mash her lips against his—only it never happened. She got close, but just before their mouths connected, a bolt of lightning tore down from the sky and zapped them apart. As soon as the electricity filled the air, I felt it in my heart, a stabbing pain that brought me to my knees.
All five Storm Princes clutched at their chests too, and Camilla stared in wonder from the ground where she’d fallen on her ass.
"Amazing," she muttered in awe. "So, that’s what a blood bond looks like?"
Rob’s eyes were wide. "Not usually...."
I turned to him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean—" He gestured to the sky and to each of us—intentionally avoiding Ash—and tried to encapsulate everything that had just occurred. "—this isn’t normal. The bond keeps things from happening, yes, but not with fucking lightning."
"Maybe it’s because of our powers?" Ben suggested, rubbing his chin as he thought. "Our bond is stronger because the magic used to create it was stronger."
"It’s possible," Rob agreed.
Camilla still looked starry-eyed as she turned to me. "I’m sorry, Alexis. I just had to see for myself if the rumors were true. I honestly have no intentions of overstepping my bounds. I hope you’ll forgive me."
It was an odd sensation, feeling the flames of your anger extinguish so quickly. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to be mad at her anymore. Probably because I could feel her emotions, and I knew she was genuinely apologetic.
"It’s fine. Just—" I sighed and stood up straight. "—don’t try to kiss my Storms."
She smirked and raised a brow. "Your Storms, huh?"
I smiled and looked around the oasis from face to handsome face, even stealing a quick glance at Ash. "Yeah. My Storms."
She cocked her head and stood up too. "Fair enough."
"How’d you find out about the blood bond?" Rob asked her, sounding both suspicious and apprehensive.
Shit. He was right. If she’d heard about it, then it was possible anyone could have, even the Storm King.
She shrugged one of her shoulders. "Heard it from a demon during an exorcism the other day."
Ben smirked and raised a brow. "You exorcise demons? I find that highly unlikely."
"Not personally, no, but the priest passed the information along." She crossed her arms. "He didn’t specifically use your names, but as soon as I saw the five of you, I had my suspicions."
"And you’re the only one with suspicions?" Dan asked, prodding a bit further.
She scoffed and put a hand on her hip. "If you’re asking if my father suspects, the answer is no. He only sees what he wants to see. Anything else may as well be invisible."
"Good," Rob declared, glancing at us with relief in his gray eyes.
If he was relieved, then I was relieved, because that most likely meant the Storm King wasn’t yet aware of our bond. The longer he stayed unaware, the longer we could keep him from using it against
us.
"If you’re still game," Camilla said, "we can head to the Lunaley in the morning. I’ll need to grab a few supplies tonight: canteens, some salted meats, camels..."
Ben turned to me and shrugged. "It’s your call, Sailor. She doesn’t have to lead us if you don’t want her to. But I don’t know my way around this part of the desert. It could end up taking much, much longer without her."
He stared knowingly at me.
As in, if we didn’t allow her to lead us, we would run out of time to return home with a chimera egg, and the Storm King would start killing the people I cared about—possibly not my mother, because she was such an important bartering tool for him, but little Lilah and her mother, Aunt Janna, and my other extended family members... and Gemma.
Gods, I missed Gemma. I wished I never would have sent her that first letter. I wished I’d never brought her to the palace at all. Now, the least I could do was return home as fast as possible and pray to the gods she didn’t suffer too much in my absence.
I turned to Camilla and nodded.
"Perfect." She grinned. "Meet me here, at the oasis, tomorrow. We’ll leave at dawn."
Chapter 8
GEMMA
I awoke tied to a chair in the tallest tower, groaning as the Storm King’s face came into focus.
Not again.
Blood from whomever had been in here before me still puddled on the floor at his feet.
"Rise and shine," he sang in a raspy tenor. His voice was hoarse, and he seemed quite happy. The beating he’d just finished with must have gone well. "Time for us to have a little heart-to-heart."
"You don’t have a heart, so that’s going to be really difficult."
His hand immediately connected with my face, stinging like a swarm of hornets. Black dots littered my vision, sucking me close to unconsciousness. Had he already knocked me out once before? It was hard to say, considering I didn’t remember getting tied to the chair in the first place.
"I’d cut out your tongue if I didn’t enjoy beating you so much for your insolence."
I nodded my understanding, feeling the pain slowly fade from my face like a fog.
He withdrew his favorite jeweled knife from his belt and stroked the sharp edge of the blade, pleased when a thin cut appeared on his thumb. "My sources tell me you snuck out the other night."
I took a deep breath and nodded. No point in denying it. His sources were never wrong.
"Where were you going?"
"To get laid, if you really must know."
His smirk never faltered. "Are you allowed to leave the servants’ quarters after dark?"
"No, I am not."
Before I could blink, his blade slammed into my forearm, cutting through muscles, nerves, and bone and pinning me to the arm of the chair. My eyes went wide, and I screamed, trying to remain as still as I could, since I knew if I moved it would hurt ten times worse and possibly even cut deeper.
"Then why were you out after dark?" he shouted at the top of his lungs, a vein in his forehead bulging as his skin turned a furious shade of red. "Were you meeting with Ashlynn?"
I sucked in a deep breath and gritted my teeth, trying to keep from whimpering. "No, I was meeting a guy. My door doesn’t swing both ways."
"What about Alexis?"
Gods, this guy didn’t take a hint.
"What about her? I already told you I was meeting a guy."
"What guy?"
He twisted the blade a bit, and I cringed in agony as another wave of pain tore up my arm.
I gave him my best flippant eye roll, which probably looked way overly dramatic considering I was trying not to pass out and the little buggers were already halfway into the back of my head. "I don’t know. I didn’t catch his name."
He then decided to change tactics.
"Did you see Ashlynn when you were out whoring around?"
I wracked my brain for the correct response. I knew she wouldn’t have told him about our conversation, but would she have mentioned seeing me? If she had and I said no, we’d both be screwed.
I shook my head. "No. I never saw her."
He let go of his dagger’s hilt, trusting it’d keep me pinned where he wanted. Honestly, it was fucking overkill—I was already tied to the damn chair.
That’s when he pulled out another blade—plain, with a brushed metal handle and no jewels.
"What do you know about a man named Chrissen?" he asked me far too calmly.
I eyed the blade with growing terror. "Chrissen who?"
His icy blue eyes narrowed. "You know who."
"Honestly, I don’t. If you think that’s who I was meeting up with, then I already told you, I don’t know the guy’s name."
The Storm King held up the knife, its shiny blade reflecting off the setting sun like it had its own hellish fire contained within.
"I’m going to enjoy prying the answers I want from you," he said, his voice thick and slimy as pond scum.
For the first time in a while, I thought about praying to the gods for strength or help.
But I knew they wouldn’t come.
Hours later, I found myself curled up near the fireplace in my bedroom.
I was freezing cold from losing so much blood, and my body hurt so bad I could barely even move without vomiting. My chin quivered—actually, my whole body quivered—as I rang out a soft rag in a bowl of hot water. I’d added the special herbs and tinctures the harem ladies had given me weeks ago, and the whole mixture now smelled like a soup far too spicy to eat. Taking the washcloth lightly in my hand, I dabbed at the slashes and cuts on my arms.
Each millisecond of contact was full of scorching pain, and I couldn’t help but gag even though nothing came up. Tears streamed down my cheeks, so close together I couldn’t tell the individual droplets apart. They skated down my neck, passing more raw cuts before soaking into my dress in a brownish stain. Thank the gods servant outfits were green. It was a dark enough color to hide most of the red, or at least make it appear more brown than crimson.
I removed the cloth once a tingling mint sensation coated that particular part of my skin; then I dunked it in the bowl of herbal water and touched it to a new area of damaged skin. I knew from experience, this shit would take all night, but it was certainly better than allowing the wounds to fester. With this many cuts, if they got infected, I’d probably die in days.
A crunching sound met my ear to the left, and I spun to my opened window, the startled movement shooting waves of angry pain all through me. The moon was high in the midnight sky, and stars twinkled peacefully in the black. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, and if it hadn’t been for the unbearable pain I was in, it would have been a beautiful night.
I forced myself to smile as more tears poured from my eyes. I couldn’t change what was happening to me, nor could I change the hurt I now felt, but I could decide how I reacted to it all. I could decide whether it stole my happiness, robbing me of innocent moments like peaceful nights under the stars.
I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t allow him to take that from me. And that, above all else, was why I smiled.
The crunching noise sounded again, a bit louder this time. It was almost as if someone was climbing the palace walls, their boots meeting with the dusty stone bricks and twisting as they adjusted their footing.
I’d heard that sound before, but I wasn’t ready for it now.
I closed my eyes and prayed to the absentee gods that it wasn’t Tristan climbing into my room. He couldn’t see me like this. He’d freak the fuck out.
Before I had my wounds properly cleaned, I wrapped my arms in a layer of gauze, hoping it took him at least another minute to make it to my window. When I was finished, my skin was absolutely burning, but I ground my teeth and retrieved my robe, pulling it over my nightgown with painstaking carefulness.
Sure enough, a minute later, Tristan’s big, burly frame took up all the available space in my window before hopping into the room with a thud.
I forced another smil
e and gently crossed my arms over my chest, trying to appear casual and maybe a bit playful. "Excuse me, Mr. Martell, but why are you stealing into a lady’s room in the dead of night? You might give her the wrong impression."
He chuckled and moved closer, pulling me into a tender embrace. My whole body fucking shook under the weight of the pain his hug caused me, but I held back my whimper and squeezed my eyes shut, willing the tears to stay away.
The Storm King would not steal my happiness. He would not ruin this wonderful man’s embrace and make it torture. I wouldn’t allow it.
"I missed you," he said with a warm smile, his dark eyes twinkling in the firelight.
I reached forward, wrapping my hands around the suspenders that looped over his shoulders, covering a tight white shirt that did nothing to hide his rippling muscles underneath. "I missed you too."
"I’m sorry about the other night," he said, and I had a feeling this was the entire reason he’d come. To apologize. He was too fucking perfect. "I shouldn’t have tried to pressure you into... that. I know it’s dangerous and stupid and that there’s only about a 1 percent chance that it’ll work, so... I get it. I get why you’d rather not try. And I just want you to know that I’ll be here for you, no matter what, no matter where we are. No matter how many times he breaks you into pieces, I’ll be there to pick them up and put them back together."
Gods fucking damn it. My chin quivered and a traitorous sob escaped my lips. My eyes welled with burning tears, and they spilled like lava down my face. Before I knew it, I was bawling, tucked into his warm, broad chest, fighting to endure the pain clawing me on the inside and out.
"I’m sorry, baby," he apologized once more. "I didn’t mean to upset you. That was exactly the opposite of what I meant to do. I’m just... fuck, Gem. I’m so sorry."
I pushed away from him, just far enough to study his eyes through the blurry puddles of tears. "Please stop apologizing. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and I’m not at all mad at you. I’m just... so tired."
I sucked in a ragged breath and more sobbing ensued.
"I told myself he wouldn’t break me, and so far, he hasn’t. But I’m tired, Tris. He’s wearing me down."
Stormy Nights (Storms of Blackwood Book 2) Page 8
