"No, Father, wait!" Camilla shouted, rushing to latch onto his arm. "It wasn’t an attack! It was an accident!"
A moment later, at least thirty guards filed into the room, surrounding us at spearpoint. We jumped from our pillows and put our backs together, protecting ourselves on instinct. My heart hammered fearfully in my chest, and I knew I was only a few moments away from catching on fire involuntarily; I could already feel the magic swimming in my bloodstream.
"Stop this now!" Camilla shouted, drawing everyone’s eye.
She marched to an open-arched window and jabbed a finger toward the oasis resting peacefully across the sands. It was now a strange bluish-purple color rather than jungle green.
"Your deal with the Blackwood royals was to save the chimeras from extinction in exchange for the Treaty O’ Ley going back into effect—not in exchange for a marriage to me. The chimeras are saved; the trees they brought back have already attracted new chimeras to the oasis, and there are at least five nests with eggs, plus more under construction. They kept up their end of the deal, now you keep up yours."
The king stared at her, that hardened, angry look still carved into his face, but he held up an arm to keep his soldiers at bay. "The deal was that they save the chimeras, and we let them have an egg."
"Okay, whatever," Camilla argued. "It still had nothing to do with marriage."
"But it also had nothing to do with the Treaty O’ Ley. So, why bring it up?"
"Father," she groaned. "We don’t need the Lunaley anymore; can’t you see that? That’s my point. The chimeras are thriving. If you continue to fight over the Ley, then you’re senselessly condemning your people to an unending war. To death. To being lost forever in that cursed forest with no hope of ever returning."
The king paced around the room with his fingers on his lips, contemplating her words.
I held my breath. I had no idea what would happen, but I was afraid if I so much as breathed wrong, everything would go straight to hades.
"My daughter is right," the king eventually conceded. "I was... getting ahead of myself."
He moved back to his throne and picked up a still-smoking roll of weed and inhaled deeply. As the smoke puffed from his lips in a cloud, he waved a flippant hand at the guards, and they reluctantly dissipated.
Sighing heavily, he pursed his lips. "I will reinvoke the Treaty O’ Ley, as an act of good faith and appreciation. But I have not yet given up on you as a suitor for my daughter. Either of you. What was forged in blood, can be unforged in blood."
He stared knowingly at us all for a couple endless seconds before snapping his fingers. Then a servant entered, carrying a scroll, a quill, and some ink. How the hell they were able to have the document ready and waiting so quickly was absolutely beyond me.
King Solomon quickly scrawled his name at the bottom of the scroll then deposited the quill in the ink jar. After the signature dried, the servant rolled up the document and handed it to Ben.
"Many thanks, Your Majesty," Ben said with a warm smile.
Solomon nodded, then shot Camilla a slightly disapproving glare. "You will make a fine queen one day. It would be my greatest wish that you have a Storm by your side."
She smirked and nodded her agreement, despite everything she’d just said. "We will find a king worthy of the Eristani throne."
King Solomon smiled at her. "We already have. It is simply a matter of time."
I absolutely hated the way he was talking about Ben and Rob, right in front of my face, as if I wouldn’t be keeping them forever. As if, one day soon, I’d be forced to relinquish one of them into the hands of the desert flower.
I sneered. Yeah right, buddy, over my dead body.
He turned back to us, homing in on Rob. "Have you forgotten the other half of our deal?"
Rob shook his head. "No, I have not, Your Majesty. Are you ready?"
The desert king nodded almost nervously.
To be honest, I was a little nervous myself. I’d seen Rob converse with ghosts before—well, I hadn’t actually seen the ghosts, but I had seen them pass a knife into his hand, which was convincing enough for me—but I never thought I’d come face-to-transparent-face with a spirit.
"Let’s sit."
We all did as Rob suggested, lowering ourselves once more onto the satiny pillows and sitting cross-legged on the floor in a circle. I plopped Speedy into my lap and threaded my fingers around his fuzzy stomach.
"Have you ever seen him do this?" I whispered to my old pet.
Speedy bleated and, for once, didn’t try to flop from my arms and crack open his skull.
"Yeah, me either," I replied.
Then Rob got straight to business.
"Here’s what I’m going to do," he said matter-of-factly. "I’m going to pull the astral plane as close to our plane as possible. I have a few contacts on the other side who can help me locate Queen Nefiti, and once she’s found, I’ll pull the three of you even closer together and establish a faint connection. That will allow you to hear and see each other."
Rob glanced at the rest of us who were all staring in excitement.
"You guys will probably be able to see her too, but you won’t be able to speak to her, and honestly, you talking would just fuck with my concentration. So please don’t."
We all nodded our understanding and agreement, already practicing the no talking thing.
Rob took a deep breath and cracked his neck. "All right. Let’s do this."
He closed his eyes, and as we all sat there in pure and utter silence, cool shadows and dim white lights began moving across the floor. The longer we sat, the darker it got, like the sun had somehow set already, but it was bright too, like stars twinkling vividly in a midnight sky.
It was the most beautiful, most magical thing I’d ever seen in my life.
Semitransparent figures quickly flitted in and out of perspective. One of which came much closer than the rest, pausing to wait for... something. Then the stars blurred, and lights flashed all around us. When it stopped, we were back to watching more translucent figures.
It was like Rob was controlling the whole scene. Like he was a spirit on the astral plane, and we were simply seeing that world through his eyes somehow. It was incredible.
Not long after, a solitary figure came into view in the distance. The scene jumped, skipping closer in the blink of an eye, and a woman stood right in front of us. She was beautiful with dark skin, green eyes, and tight copper curls.
King Solomon stumbled to his feet and reached out toward the vision with wide eyes. "Nefiti? Is that you?"
Camilla stood too, crying almost instantly. "Mama?"
The woman smiled and nodded to them both. She said something, but I couldn’t hear so much as a whisper.
Not wanting to intrude on their moment—not that I actually could, since I couldn’t hear half of it, but still—I decided to turn my focus onto Rob. He was sitting cross-legged on his pillow, eyes closed with a tight-set jaw, and he was shivering like he was in the middle of a blizzard rather than a desert. Every muscle he possessed was strung tight, and every once in a while, I could hear him groan in pain.
The longer he held the planes together, the more pain he seemed to endure. His tight-set jaw eventually turned into a bared-teeth grimace, and his groans of discomfort ultimately morphed into cries of agony.
I didn’t know what to do. Part of me wanted to rush over there and wrap him in my arms to comfort him, but the other part of me wanted to obey him—to let him concentrate and stay the hell out of his way.
Solomon and Camilla were both crying by the time Rob lost his hold on the astral plane. Our world snapped swiftly and brightly back into focus, and as the rest of us blinked and adjusted to the light, Rob shook violently from the internal cold that only he could feel.
I passed Speedy to Dan and scrambled over to Rob as quickly as I could. Carefully, I sat in his lap, curled my legs around his waist, and wrapped my arms around his neck. He was freezing cold, but I would
give him every spare ounce of heat my body possessed because he was fucking incredible.
I wanted to tell him how amazing he was. How selfless he was to offer them the closure they so desperately needed at the expense of his own health and comfort. How his gift made him beautiful rather than freakish, which he'd always been called growing up.
But, as a tear of happiness and pride escaped my eye, the only words I could utter were, "I fucking love you, Rob."
His eyes remained closed, and his body kept on shaking, but he smiled and pulled me even closer. "I love you too, Jewels."
Cal, Ben, and Dan stood and shook hands with the king and princess, exchanging words of appreciation and goodwill. Then they helped Rob up with me tucked stubbornly into his side.
"A million thanks, Spirit Prince," the king gushed, but Rob merely offered him a painful half smile and nodded.
"Sorry, Your Majesty," Ben explained. "He’s in too much pain to really speak."
The king nodded his concern and understanding. "Yes, of course."
"If you don’t mind, Majesty," Cal began, "we really need to take our leave now. Our father expected us home weeks ago. I’m sure he’s simply sick with worry."
"No doubt he is, Storm Prince," the king said assuredly. "Please take your leave as well as my blessing for safe travels home to Blackwood. I might even consider reopening a few trade routes to the west."
Cal grinned and bowed his head. "That would be wonderful, Your Majesty. Thank you."
We turned to leave, but Camilla’s stopped us.
"Storms!" she called out, and since she could have been talking to any of us, we all turned around. "Take care on your journey. And, Alexis, remember our training."
She winked, and my mind went completely blank.
"What training?" I asked.
I knew she’d gotten me an ax and that we’d talked about training on our way to the Ley, but... anything and everything that had happened in between was either extremely fuzzy or had disappeared completely from my mind. Probably another side effect of the Ley’s magical aura—an aura that was now gone.
Instead of answering my question, she reiterated the most important details.
"Swing like you’re mining your opponent’s body for jewels." She lifted her fists, grabbing nothing but air, and demonstrated how to hold the pretend weapon. "Block by putting your hands on each end of the ax’s shaft, and use the handle as a shield."
I grabbed my axe from my belt and copied her movements, taking its handle in both of my palms and lifting it up, the left side dipping a bit lower due to the weight of its golden head. She nodded, smiling at my immediate understanding.
With nothing more to say or do, the guards escorted us out of the palace.
We wandered to the edge of the desert in silence before pausing and waiting on Rob to address the demons. He seemed to be in much less pain, but his teeth still chattered from the cold.
"First of all," he said, raising a single finger, "you can’t take those bodies back with you. Leave them here."
One of the stolen bodies rolled their vacant eyes, but as the shadowy demons each stepped from the skin of their vessels and hid behind Rob, the corpses quickly morphed back into disoriented people. They blinked, glancing around as if they had no recollection of where they were or how they’d gotten there.
Cal moved to Rob’s left, helping to hide the demons even further with his mountainous frame.
"Thank you for showing us around Erishwar," Ben said, nodding to the group. "But I’m afraid the heat may have gotten to us a bit. Why don’t you head home and rest up? I’m sure we’ll all feel better in the morning."
The five of them shared curious glances, then eventually wandered off in, I presumed, the direction of their homes.
I exhaled a sigh of relief I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding, and the demons stepped out from behind their Storm-Prince shield.
"Well, this sucks," Larry blurted out.
"Yeah," Sue agreed, crossing his shadowy arms. "I was planning on eating that later."
Rob glanced skyward, his gray eyes rolling. "How many times do I have to tell you?"
"No eating the humans," the demons muttered as one.
It almost made me chuckle. You know, if the very idea of what they were doing wasn’t so gods-awful repugnant.
Rob held up another finger. "Second of all, not a single word about the Shifter Prince being alive, understood? No one, and I mean no one—especially not the Storm King—can find out that he is alive. If I hear so much as a whisper about Ash’s existence, I will personally track down each and every one of you and crush you into dust."
I squeezed Speedy a little tighter as Rob’s threat ended.
The demons all nodded quickly, eager to express their 100 percent compliance.
"Yes, Prince Robert," Hugh said reverently. "We would never dream of disobeying you."
"Good." Rob gazed out across the overcast desert, stopping and pointing once he was facing a southwesterly direction. "Home is—"
"That way," Bob interrupted, pointing the exact same way as Rob. "Home is that way, right?"
Rob sighed, raised a brow, and replied in a flat voice, "What gave it away?"
Bob shrugged, looking rather smug at his own cleverness. "Just a gut feeling."
A chuckle passed Rob’s lips before he waved them off. "All right, get out of here."
Before they did, they took turns saying goodbye to each of us, making sure to hug me with their flakey, fiery arms. They really were like children in some fucked-up, almost endearing sort of way.
"When will you be coming to Sohsol, Princess Alexis?" Larry asked hopefully.
I glanced at Rob and smiled. "I have no idea. Hopefully someday soon."
"Good," Sue said with a nod. "Look us up. I make a mean brain stew."
My stomach rolled, and I almost gagged.
Rob glanced at me, looking contrite. "I’m sure he’s referring to a boar brain."
I nodded. I was sure too—sure he was not referring to a pig of any sort.
As they disappeared on the horizon, Speedy tumbled from my arms, landing in the sand on his head with an inaudible thud.
"For fuck’s sake, Speedy, are you trying to...?" I trailed off and closed my eyes.
Of course, he was trying to kill himself. He was Ash, not Speedy, and he clearly wanted back in his human form. I couldn’t blame him; if I’d been stuck as a sloth for six years, I’d probably hate being back in that particular animal’s body too.
I scooped him up and passed him to Cal. "Here you go, neck breaker."
"Neck breaker?" he sputtered out, fumbling to keep from dropping the sloth.
"Yes," I decided. "You’re neck breaker and Dan’s throat slitter."
"Dear gods," Cal grumbled in astonishment. But, taking the oh-so-subtle hint, he reached down with his giant hands and snapped Speedy’s sweet little neck.
The sound was enough to gut me. Thank the gods that the golden magic quickly turned him back into Asher.
When he was a solid man once more, Ash chuckled and pulled me into his arms. "Aww, Sweets, you’re so cute when I die."
I rolled my eyes and jabbed him in the side with my elbow. He didn’t even flinch, just laughed as if I’d tickled him or something. I rubbed my arm and glared at his handsome face.
"Next time you shift, turn into something other than a sloth, will you?" I demanded. "Then I’ll kill you myself."
"I’m going to hold you to it, you know that, right?"
I stuck my tongue out at him, and the other guys chuckled.
"Have fun killing a cute little bunny," Ash teased me. "Or a fluffy little kitten."
My eyes went wide. "You wouldn’t..."
But his eyes were already alit with the possibilities.
Great. Neck breaker, throat slitter, and kitty killer. Fuck, we were a weird group.
Chapter 23
The journey back to Blackwood was almost as terrible as the journey in.
Inst
ead of blazing hot days and extra cold nights, we were drenched to the bone during the day and absolutely frozen at night. If it weren’t for the heat we managed to savor by piling up together, we probably would have been icicles.
When we reached Eastern Blackwood, Ben’s kingdom, we took a much-needed break.
The six of us sat in a big lounge area on the second story of the Obsidian Palace, relaxing on Ben’s plush, white leather furniture and wallowing in self-pity. Sure, we’d saved the chimeras, but the fae were doomed without the magic of the Ley, and we were already too late in giving the Storm King his precious egg.
I tried my best to push Lilah’s beautiful little face out of my thoughts, but I knew it was going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I wiped a tear away before the guys could see it.
"We’re already fucked," Ben said matter-of-factly. "We may as well pause for a moment and gather our strength and our wits. I need to check on my people and our food supply anyway."
"Can I come with you?" I asked, jumping at the opportunity to take my mind off my guilt and misery. Plus, I wanted to see Essund and see Ben in his element. I wanted to know what he was like as "Prince Benson, Lord of Obsidian Palace."
He smiled and reached his hand out to me. "Sure, Sailor." Then he turned to the guys. "We’ll be back in a couple hours. When that time comes, we need to figure some shit out."
They all agreed and decided to take hot showers and a quick nap while we were gone. I couldn’t say I didn’t want the same things, but I was equally as happy to be hand in hand with Ben.
Being in eastern Blackwood was a lot like being back in Eristan, except there was a homier and more familiar vibe in the air that set me comfortably at ease. The people strolled through the sandy streets wearing dresses and suits made of the same shimmering material I’d seen all throughout Eristan and only once before back in the northern quadrant. Ben had said they were fashioned from the string of desert silkworms, and if that were the case, there must have been an entire silkworm farm somewhere nearby. Either that or the silkworms were ginormous.
Stormy Nights (Storms of Blackwood Book 2) Page 19
