Heir of Thunder (Stormbourne Chronicles Book 1)

by Karissa Laurel

  I thought of how I handled the lightning on the Tippany’s airship, but kept it to myself, thinking I was better off with Jackie believing in my impotency. “So, out with the old, and in with the new? Is that all this is about?”

  “That’s what the men who chased you out of your home thought it was about,” Jackie said. “But they are simple minded and think small thoughts.”

  “But you don’t?”

  “The blood that runs through your veins is the blood of a deity. It is rare and precious. What you have now is not much, but it can become something greater than you ever dreamed… than your father ever dreamed. Together, Evelyn, we can make something grand, and it won’t be limited to Pecia, or Galland, or Inselgrau.”

  I rubbed my face and sighed. “You’re not making any sense.”

  “Ruelle told me you’ve never heard of Le Poing Fermé, correct?”

  “No, I have no idea what you’re saying.”

  “Le Poing Fermé, The Clenched Fist, it’s an ancient society birthed in Pecia centuries ago. It’s been around in some fashion for as long as the gods have existed. Maybe I don’t have the blood of a deity in my veins, but there are others who have been gifted with special knowledge and abilities.” Passion blazed in his eyes as he talked, and it made him both beautiful and frightening. “Le Poing Fermé sees to it that those abilities are fully realized.”

  “Are you talking about Magic?” I asked. “The last of the Magicians died hundreds of years ago. Everyone knows that. Their knowledge was even more arcane than my family’s powers.”

  Jackie chuckled, paused, and then chuckled again. “The thing about Magic is it doesn’t require anyone but the Magician to believe in it. So go ahead and doubt. I know who I am.”

  “Let me understand what you’re saying.” With my hands clenched behind my back, I paced before the fountain. My second-hand slippers pinched my toes, so I kicked them off and strode back and forth on bare feet. The paving stones were cool and their solidness reassured me. “You think that we can combine our... our powers, and do what? Take over the world?”

  Jackie reached out and snatched my hand, bringing me to a halt. “We are but dust and ashes, you and I. You are the last in your line, and with you dies a birthright that can never be reclaimed.” He grasped me by my upper arms, urgency fueling his actions. “Unless you pass it on to an heir.”

  “I don’t care about any of this. I only want to go home.” I stamped my foot. “I want things to be the way they were.”

  “Things will never be the way they were!” Jackie roared. “If you go back to Inselgrau now, it will only mean your death. Listen to me.” Caught up in his fervor, Jackie’s grip on my arms had tightened and he ignored my resistance. “What I am, it’s limited, and what you are, it’s almost dead, but if we had a child....” He said the last word with a longing that twisted in my gut like roiling snakes. “A child born of the blood of a deity and a Magician and raised under the tutelage of Le Poing Fermé.... The world has never known it. He would be limitless.”

  I blanched and my world spun, nearly taking my feet out from under me. “The world has never known it for a good reason, I’m sure. If what you’re saying is at all possible, then such a child would be an abomination. Why would you ever want to create such a thing?”

  “The child would be ours,” Jackie said. “To raise as we see fit. You are good and lovely. Your child would be also. He would transcend the conventions of this world. He could reshape it, rebuild it, and we would be a part of that. We would be the mother and father of a new creator.”

  “You’re insane,” I said and pulled away. He didn’t challenge me, so I continued. “There was a book in the library at Fallstaff written by a man with different ideas about the way people should live together as a society. One thing I learned from reading it is that unlimited authority will, with great certainty, ruin a person completely.”

  “But our child will be no regular person, no mere mortal.” Jackie said this as though it were a foregone conclusion.

  “You’re right. It may be an immortal horror.”

  Something dark and wicked blazed in Jackie’s eyes. I shied from him, and he realized what he had shown and tried to mask it, but too late. I twirled on my heel to run for the safety of the house, limited as it was, but he was faster.

  He seized my shoulder and spun me around to face him. “You don’t realize what you’re saying. You need time to think about it. You’ll see.”

  “No, Jackie. Let me go.” I tried pulling away from him again with no success.

  He pushed me against the house’s stone wall, beside the door through which I had hoped to escape. He pressed me there, holding me with the weight of his body. “No, Evie. One way or another, you will be mine.”

  He brought his lips down on mine, crushing and possessive. He didn’t have Gideon’s girth or height, but he was strong, and I couldn’t force him away. I sobbed against his lips, but he ignored me.

  My first kiss and it was a nightmare.

  Finally, Jackie released me and stepped away. I sagged against the wall at my back and resisted the urge to wipe my mouth, not wanting to anger him further. His kiss lingered on my lips like a foul and indelible stain. He motioned toward the doorway leading into the house. “Go to bed, Evie. We’ll discuss this more when I visit tomorrow.”

  I fled without looking back, not allowing him an opportunity to change his mind. Only a few weeks before, I had thought being in Jackie’s arms was such a pleasant thing, and his quick embrace had left me wanting more.

  Why did the good things I believed in always have to die?

  Chapter 26

  I woke in a strange bed to the low light of early morning, not certain how I had arrived there. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and recognized the blue room in Ruelle Thibodaux’s house. Jackie had left in a furious huff the night before, and Thibodaux had confined me to the room for the rest of the night.

  Somehow, someone sensed my wakefulness and knocked at the door.

  “Go away,” I said, averse to the idea of company.

  “Madame, I have brought you tea and a bit of breakfast.” It was Martin, speaking in a soft voice on the other side of the door. “Monsieur requests your presence in his study when you have finished dressing.”

  “I don’t bow to his requests,” I said after opening the door to the inoffensive butler. “Tell him I said to let me go.”

  Martin strode into the room. “You barely ate a thing last night. You must be starving. I’ll just leave this here for you, in case you change your mind.” He set the tray on a table in the sitting area, spun on his heel, and marched out.

  Once again, curiosity won over stubbornness. I wanted answers, and I wanted freedom, even if it meant I had to deign to meet Thibodaux’s demands. The appetite I had lost the night before returned in full, and Martin’s breakfast tray called to me. I sat down and considered the hot tea, soft-boiled egg, bread and jam.

  The bread was something unfamiliar—a thick roll shaped into a crescent made of dozens of flaky layers. I broke it open and smeared it with clotted cream and jam. I finished the meal by licking my finger and dabbing it on the stray crumbs sprinkled across my plate—a delicate porcelain dish painted with elegant pink roses.

  It made a terrific crash when I slung it into the wall. I celebrated the plate’s demise by destroying a dainty teacup. Thibodaux’s shrill voice called up from the bottom of the stairway as I drew my arm back to fling the teapot into the mix.

  “Stormbourne! Break another dish and I’ll take it out of your hide.”

  “Why are you keeping me here?” I yelled back. “Jackie said it himself. There’s nothing left of my kingdom. You can’t even ransom me.”

  He laughed, and it sounded like a delighted child. “We don’t want money, little girl. We have all of that we need.”

  “We, who? This Le Poing Fermé you are all so mad about? It’s because of some secret society that you’re holding me here? My abilities are of no use to you. The
y aren’t born of earthly Magic.”

  “Once Faercourt has finished with you, there will be nothing useful left. You’re right about that.”

  A righteous anger brewed in my chest. I let it expand until it passed the barriers of bone and skin and filled the stairwell. The gas light wall sconces flickered and went out. “I told Jackie I’ll have no part in his scheme.”

  Thibodaux laughed again and made a sound that sounded as though he had snapped his fingers. The wall sconces relit themselves. “You’ll have no choice.”

  “What’s in it for you? Why are you helping him?”

  “Miss Stormbourne, please. Let’s not shout back and forth at each other like this. Join me in my study, and we’ll discuss this as adults. I believe, though I have little proof, that you can be reasoned with.”

  I still wore the dressing gown the maid had laid out for me some time before I woke. I didn’t want to wear any more of the hand-me-down clothes that smelled dank from the passage of time, but my Fantazike skirts and riding boots had gone by the wayside, no doubt discarded at Thibodaux’s command.

  “I’ll be down in a moment,” I answered and slammed the door, simply for the satisfaction of making my captor cringe.

  I found a plain day dress with less lace and flounce than the others, and the maid arrived in time to help me into it. She fussed over my hair, but I shewed her away and settled for weaving it into its usual braid. Downstairs, Thibodaux waited for me in his study, a room much like the parlor, but with an impressive collection of books. Leather-bound tomes lined his shelves. I wanted to read their titles, but I doubted he had the patience for that.

  He sat in a leather chair embellished with brass tacks. He motioned for me to take a seat on a smaller, velvet chair nearby. Between us, a low table held a tray with more of the delectable rolls, but the scent from the pot next to the rolls did not make me think of tea.

  “Is that coffee?” I asked, sniffing.

  “It is Kopi Luwak,” Thibodaux answered. “Have some.”

  “I’ve never hear of it.” But it smelled like coffee, so I held out my cup and Thibodaux poured.

  “It is coffee, in a sense, made from beans that have been digested by and passed through the belly of a cat-like creature called a civet.”

  I let the mouthful I had just taken dribble back into the cup. “Digested and... passed through?”

  “Something in the little creature’s belly takes away all the bitterness of a standard coffee bean. Delightful isn’t it?”

  He was right that the coffee had a sweeter flavor than usual, but I had no desire to test it again. Instead, I filled my hands with another of the flaky rolls.

  “Miss Stormbourne, you are the last of an extinct race. The ancient gods all died away years ago. How your family has managed to stay in power so far past its prime is a spectacular feat.”

  “Inselgrau is a small island with a devout population,” I said. “They have loved us for a long time.”

  “Indeed. I think their enduring loyalty has much to do with it, but this is a new age, my dear.”

  “So, why not let me fade away in peace?” I bit into the roll and savored its buttery taste.

  Thibodaux swallowed his coffee in haste, almost choking on it. “Oh-ho, but my dear, this is where we define our purpose. We only want to preserve what is about to be lost.”

  “And use it for your own gains.”

  He smiled, his eyes creasing into barely visible slits. “That doesn’t have to be as horrible as you make it sound.”

  “How do you even know it will work? If my powers are as diluted as everyone believes, then any child borne of me should gain even less.”

  He set his coffee cup on the table and scooted his massive frame to the edge of his seat. “You know those outrageous airships flown by your Fantazikes, and how that enormous sack of air keeps everything afloat?”

  “Of course,” I said, wondering about his non-sequitur.

  “You’ve traveled with them a while. Have you ever seen those sacks void of air?”

  “I have.” But only once. Refilling the balloon required a tremendous amount of energy, and the lifting gasses were rare and expensive. The Fantazikes only deflated the air sack for absolutely necessary repairs.

  “Your power is something like one of those deflated balloons. The material is massive, its potential is great, but without the energy to fill it, it has little purpose. The faith of your people has kept your air sack full, but as their faith dwindles, so does your ability to stay afloat. What Le Poing Fermé can offer is to refill your balloon again so that you float as high as your forefathers once did. With Le Poing Fermé, you no longer have to rely on the faith of fickle believers.

  “You should not shun what Faercourt can offer you, child. His Magic is not merely academics. It’s like singing or playing a musical instrument. Anyone can attempt it, but only those born with innate ability can do something amazing with it.”

  “And Jackie has innate ability?” I asked.

  Thibodaux closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and smiled. His delight seemed sublime. “Jonathan Faercourt is a virtuoso. He was borne to Magic and it to him. His abilities can make you great, but mix his talents and your godhood into a child....”

  Thibodaux opened his eyes and sipped again from his cup. He swirled the coffee around his mouth before swallowing. “Evelyn, it would be as if those Fantazikes had created flight itself instead of a bumbling, clumsy imitation. Your child could fill his own balloons. He would never be dependent on the faith of others again.”

  I sank back into my chair, despair filling me like a million lead pellets. “How you even know that your scheme would work is beyond me, but if this could be done, how could you expect to control it? The Stormbournes’ powers were limited by the people we ruled. The creature of which you speak would have no such check on its power.”

  “The child would have you for its mother. Do not underestimate the maternal influence.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” I said coldly. “I don’t remember my mother.”

  He nodded and folded his hands over his belly. “I understand your reservations. They are well conceived.”

  “What do you hope to achieve with this?” For Jackie, I believed it had as much to do with his ego as anything, but for the other members of this cabal, I needed further explanation.

  He swirled his hand in a vague gesture. “The possibilities are endless, my dear.”

  “Absolute power,” I said.

  “A better world.”

  “Forgive me for not believing your motives so virtuous.”

  Thibodaux giggled and the fine hairs rose on the back of my neck. I would never get used to the sound of a large, grown man laughing like a young girl. “Our reasons are our reasons. Your consent is not necessary. Just as Le Poing Fermé can energize and re-inflate your powers, it can also act as vacuum to draw it all away.”

  Then I must escape. My eyes flitted to the hallway, but Thibodaux followed my gaze and understood my thoughts.

  “Try it,” he said. “Do you think I could catch you? You could be out the door and halfway down the street before I could push myself to my feet.”

  There was a catch, I sensed it, but I would never know what it was if I didn’t try. I was on my feet, running, before I could change my mind. In one breath I had dashed through the study doorway and into the hall. In the next, I was on the floor, inches from the front door, a blinding pain searing through my head.

  I couldn’t move.

  I couldn’t see.

  I couldn’t think.

  The world went dark.

  ***

  A midday sun streamed through the window in the blue bedroom when I finally awoke. I didn’t know what Thibodaux had done to me, but I would do most anything to never experience that kind of pain again. Anything except give him the unnatural creation he and Jackie so desired. But, with Thibodaux’s capacity to turn me into a quivering, lifeless mass without moving a finger, how could I resist?


  Chapter 27

  “Can you do that to me as well, hurt me like Thibodaux?” I asked.

  Jackie had joined me in the garden after an intimate dinner at Thibodaux’s house, no crowds, only the two of us. We sat side-by-side on the same little bench we had shared the night before.

  “I hope that it wouldn’t come to that,” he said. “I hope that you would come to me willingly.”

  “But I barely know you, and I know I’ll never trust you.”

  His pale face flushed. He was so lovely, and yet so terrifying. “You liked me once,” he said.

  “It was all a lie. Both of us, lying to each other.”

  “Not by much. Connolly really is my home. Cicely really is my sister, and she really lives here in Pecia with our aunt.”

  “Did you really take Nonnie and Gespenst to your stables?”

  He smiled and it lit his strange eyes. “Yes, I did.”

  “I want to believe your intentions are virtuous, Jackie, but I can’t believe anything good can come of this.”

  “You say that now, but give it time.”

  “You’re holding me here against my will. Are you going to keep me here forever?”

  He exhaled and let his shoulders slump. “No. Only until your eighteenth birthday.”

  “What happens then?”

  “That’s when you’ll receive your full birthright. When you come fully into your power. You can only bestow your birthright to an heir after you have received it for yourself.”

  “I know all this, but how do you know it?”

  “Magicians have been in the courts of the gods since the beginning. Their knowledge has been passed down for centuries.”

  “Will I be too powerful for you to hold me then, is that what you mean?”

  “Hardly,” Jackie laughed. “But then you’ll be my responsibility alone. I’ll take you away from here. Maybe back to Connolly.”

  “Your responsibility? How is that?”

  “Because, on your birthday, you’ll become my wife.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath. “I won’t marry you.”