Storm Princess 3: The Princess Must Reign

by Jaymin Eve

  Sudden terror fills her eyes. She opens her mouth to scream again.

  Before I can release the killing strike, a voice shouts, “You’d better not do that.”

  I spin to find Osian Valor riding a griffin that touches down on the other side of the cliff. The beast paws the stone, its beak and claws dripping with blood. Osian is splattered with gore that chills me to the core. He reaches behind him and drags someone off the griffin’s back… a female whose wings flop at her sides, her hair spilling around her face, her body limp. I shove Priscilla away from me, fear spiking every nerve in my body.

  I know those wings…

  Priscilla teeters, almost losing her balance, before she flicks her hair back and saunters toward Osian. “You took long enough.”

  She pulls back the female gargoyle’s head to examine her face.

  Indira’s eyes are closed. Blood drips from a head wound above her right eye. Cold fear takes over my body.

  “That’s her,” Priscilla says, dropping Indira’s head. “She means something to Marbella. Doesn’t she… Supreme Incorruptible?” She sing-songs my title before breaking into a satisfied smile, planting her hands on her hips.

  I am both hot and cold at the same time. “What did you do?”

  Indira was with Erit at the back of our forces. She left a while ago with Talia, Elise, Llion, and Liliana… The only way to capture Indira would be to fight and defeat all of them. Their faces flash before me as rage and fear build inside me. I want to grab Osian, use my power against him, but he’s holding Indira…

  He drags her toward me, stopping only a few paces away. “She isn’t dead.”

  “Yet,” Priscilla clarifies. “But she will be soon.” She bends to flip open a flap of armor hanging loosely at Indira’s side, showing me the wound in her side from which she’s slowly losing blood.

  They’ve stabbed her in the stomach.

  I whisper, “She’s pregnant.”

  Priscilla tips her head to the side, her eyes empty of any emotion. “Oh. Pity.”

  My anger spirals out of control, rushing out from my chest, out from my broken heart through my arms and up into my head, turning me blind with anger. Grayson isn’t here to absorb my rage this time. I inhale a breath, knowing that I have to let it out, that I can’t contain it, but I have only one coherent thought left: don’t hurt Indira.

  I tip my head back and hurl my power into the sky, screaming it out as hard as I can. My scream builds and builds. A storm grows above me, the darkest storm I’ve ever created, lightning crackling and scorching the sky, a wind tunnel forming, picking up dust and debris. Elwyn Elder rushes through it and Baelen storms after him, but Baelen’s focus is not Elwyn anymore. It’s me.

  Elwyn suddenly spins and casts a spell back at Baelen, a barrier that stops him in his tracks. Baelen crashes against the invisible surface. He recoils, slams into it again, and tries to burst through. He flies higher only to hit a surface above him, and then another behind and on either side. Somehow, Elwyn has boxed him in.

  Someone drops onto the platform beside me and grabs me. My power seeps out from the place where he touches me and my gaze lowers, following the lines of Grayson’s silhouette all the way to the hand he wraps around my bicep, the hand that absorbs my rage, soaking it up and leeching it out of me so the storm dissolves and then… there’s nothing left.

  He observes Priscilla and Osian, and finally Indira, assessing the slow drip from her body. “What’s going on?”

  Priscilla straightens. “We’re speeding things up. Your way was taking too long.”

  “Where’s Pedr?”

  “He was distracting Marbella,” Osian replies.

  Priscilla adds, “Until he wasn’t.”

  Grayson studies Indira for another second. He recognizes her. He danced with her at the arena when Baelen came to rescue me. “She’s dying. She doesn’t have long.”

  Priscilla crosses her arms. “Exactly, and I think Marbella knows there’s only one way to save her.”

  My world no longer has any foundation. An empty pit has opened up inside me. The deep springs. Only the springs can save Indira now.

  Grayson doesn’t miss a beat, speaking to me now. “I’m the only one who can get you to the springs fast enough. But it means you have to let us in. You’re going to have to decide how badly you want your friend to live.”

  My voice chokes in my throat. “You want me to take you to the springs willingly.”

  “I…” For a minute I think he’s going to say something else, but he ends up repeating: “If you want your friend to live.”

  In the distance, Baelen plants his hands on the surface that cages him, the muscles in his arms bulging. Red-hot lightning spears across it, slowly burning through. He’s roaring but I can’t hear him. It will only take him a minute to get out, but Indira doesn’t have long and Grayson is right—he’s the only one who can get her to the springs fast enough. Her face is already deathly pale; her body is so limp. Even Baelen can’t fly that fast.

  I sense Grayson cloak himself a second before Priscilla sidles up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist. Osian drags Indira across the rocks, making me wince every time her knees bump the ground. He places his hand on Grayson’s shoulder as Elwyn lands right next to us, taking hold of Grayson’s other arm. Elwyn’s dark eyes gleam at me. They are empty pools. He wants to kill me as soon as he gets the chance.

  Grayson is already holding onto me, ready to move.

  It’s my choice.

  Baelen is almost through the trap. He will come for me.

  He will find me.

  I grit my teeth. “Take us to the springs.”

  28

  The deep springs are quiet when we land. Peaceful. The rock face above me is perfectly still. But it’s not empty. It’s covered in motley brown and gray bodies that look exactly like rocks: the Grievous and Hideaway gargoyles are exactly where they promised they’d be.

  Indecision grips me. If the gargoyles attack from above, Osian will retaliate. He hasn’t let go of Indira, and it would only take the weakest death bolt to kill her. I turn and kneel in front of her. He holds her high enough that I would be eye to eye with her if she were conscious. I gently lift the hair away from her face, making sure it’s obvious who she is. She is the Grievous Clan’s leader. That alone should be enough to make the gargoyles positioned on the rock pause before they attack.

  I speak as loudly as I dare without raising suspicion. “I brought you here. Now I’m taking her inside to heal her.”

  I hope my message to the gargoyles is clear: don’t attack until she’s healed. I close my eyes for a second, trying to sense the Phoenix’s location: it promised it would be here too. I can speak to it without the Elven Commanders knowing.

  I swallow my relief when I hear the firebird’s voice. Princess! What has happened?

  They hurt Indira. I had no choice. Please make sure the gargoyles don’t strike until she’s healed.

  I am on the other side of this mountain, the Phoenix says. How can I help you?

  You need to find out what happened to the others: Erit, Llion, Roar, Jasper, Elyria… So many of my friends… I’m afraid…

  I gulp, trying to steady my thoughts. Please fly to the border as fast as you can. If they are hurt, I need you to bring them here. If they are still fighting, I need you to find a way to stop them. The elven army is without leaders now.

  What about the springs?

  Inside my mind, my voice is cold. I will defend them.

  Consider it done.

  Osian snorts beside me, dragging Indira along the platform toward the entrance to the deep springs. I said that I would take her, but he won’t let her go until he’s sure I won’t retaliate. She is his only protection from me.

  I don’t dare look up as we pass the gargoyles hidden at the entrance. The Hideaway clan is perfectly still, totally camouflaged. I also avoid looking at Grayson. I’m worried that the gargoyle inside of him will sense their presence and he’
ll alert the other Commanders. I don’t want to give him any indication that we aren’t alone.

  He strides beside me, not afraid to take my arm, but his grip is loose, almost gentle, guiding me inside. Very soon, we enter the sparkling cavity, our boots drumming in time to the drip, drip, drip from the ceiling.

  Elwyn Elder is triumphant, spreading his wiry arms as he walks right up to the water’s edge. He is the smallest of the Commanders, but tough like weathered rope, his eyes a very pale azure blue, tapered at the edges like the other members of his House. “At last!”

  Priscilla is giddy as she strides to the end of the path and tilts her head back to study the ceiling. This is the only place where the Elyria spiders spin webs of all colors: rose-gold, silver-green, sapphire, sunset orange, and lilac. Even Grayson seems awed by the beauty of the springs.

  “Careful,” Elwyn warns Priscilla as her toes almost enter the water. “This water will not tolerate our sorcery.”

  Only Osian is unmoved by the cavern’s beauty. He is a large elf, built for war, but not quite like a Rath. Elves in the House of Valor always had an inferiority complex about the fact that the House of Rath defended Erawind. Unlike Pedr, Osian hasn’t let himself go. He shoves past Grayson, grabs my arm, and gestures at the water.

  “If you want to heal her, get in. I will pass her to you.”

  I’m not sure if I can trust him. He could easily kill her as soon as I enter the water. His gaze flickers to Indira as if he hears my thoughts. The whole time he’s held her, he’s barely acknowledged her. She is a thing to him.

  A dark smile breaks across his face. “You think I will kill her.” He leans down to me, shoves his big face in mine, and pokes my chest with one thick finger. “It’s in my interests to keep her alive. As long as she lives, we control you. Now get in.”

  I barely avoid the spittle that flies at me as he snarls. Disgusting old elf. I slide out of his grip and step down into the pond, reaching the bottom step before I hold out my arms for Indira.

  Osian laughs at me, juggles Indira so he’s gripping her shoulder, and slings her out into the middle of the pond. A stomach-turning pop tells me he just dislocated her shoulder. I clench my fists, directing my anger into them as Indira hits the water on her back, her broken wings spreading out across the surface before the water sucks her down, toes first, then legs, torso, neck, mouth…

  I splash out to the middle as fast as I can, my armor dragging. Can someone drown in the springs? I can’t take that chance. I have to keep her face above the surface. Osian knew exactly what he was doing throwing her this far out to keep me busy.

  Right when her nose would slide under the water, I hook my arms under her from behind, grab her shoulders, and lock her arms between mine so she’s resting on my chest where I can keep her head above water. It’s so deep here that I have to tread water and the waves I create lap dangerously at Indira’s face. I kick my legs and use my free arm to glide us back to the steps, keeping her head tilted and clear of liquid. Then I lower myself onto the middle step, grip both my arms across her chest, staying beneath her, my cheek pressed against hers.

  My back is to the Commanders. Before I reached the edge, they were clustered at the side of the springs, studying the wall. I’m vaguely aware of Grayson’s presence nearby—he hasn’t joined them. I guess he’s my guard as usual.

  Now that I’m facing the other way, none of them can see my face or the tears burning in my eyes. My tears burn so hot, like acid rain leaking from my eyes. I squeeze my eyelids closed and beg quietly for Indira’s life. She started out as my enemy, a fierce one, but she became my friend. A true friend who fought beside me.

  “Please live. Please, Indira.” My whisper cracks into little pieces. I slide my hand to her stomach, gently floating there. “Please be alive, babies. Please… please…”

  “Babies!”

  I jump. Freeze. The upset water sloshes around me.

  Grayson’s face appears beside mine, his hands planted at the edge of the water, not touching it, leaning out over the edge, his mouth a compressed line, his eyes narrowed. “Why did you say ‘babies?’”

  He wasn’t there when I told the others that Indira was pregnant. “Osian stabbed her in the stomach.”

  “But gargoyle females only experience pregnancy once. She won’t have any more children.”

  I’m briefly surprised. So he was listening.

  His face disappears from beside mine. I crane to see as Grayson strides over to Osian, grabs him, and slams a fist into his face, knocking him hard against the cavern wall.

  Crack. Blood streams from Osian’s nose as he drops to his knees, eyes wide, his hand darting to his face to check the damage.

  Priscilla shrieks, “What the hell, Grayson?”

  Grayson picks Osian up by his shirt-front as if the heavy elf weighs nothing. “There are some lines you don’t cross. When we reach the surface, you’d better watch your back. If you pull anything like that again, I will kill you.”

  He drops Osian with a disgusted growl. The older elf glares murder back at him, but Grayson doesn’t seem concerned. His trump card is always his ability to kill at will.

  Osian jumps to his feet, bearing down on Grayson. “You little—”

  Elwyn slams an arm in front of Osian, stopping him in his tracks, giving him a strong warning glance; a strong shake of his head. “Let it go.”

  In my arms, Indira gasps. Flails. Gasps again. “Erit!”

  I lock my arms around her before she can jump out of the water. Then I press my cheek to hers, whispering, “Shh, Indira. It’s okay. You’re with me.”

  “Marbella?” She cranes to see who is holding her but in doing so, she can now see the Commanders too. Uncontrollable wildness enters her face. “I will kill them. I will tear them apart…”

  I keep my voice low. “And I will join you, but first… can you…” I take a deep breath, barely able to ask the question. “Can you sense your babies?”

  She freezes. Shudders. “I… don’t know…”

  “Forget everything else. Focus, Indira. Before we fight back, I need to know. You need to know.”

  She exhales. The tension in her body is so high, I’m worried she might not be able to relax enough to sense them. She’s scared too, trembling in my arms, afraid of what she’ll find out.

  She gasps, inhales. “They’re alive.”

  “Oh…” I drop my face to her shoulder and let the tears flow freely as she quietly sobs in my arms. Grayson returns to guard us again. His expression darkens as he sees our tears, fists clenching.

  I don’t know why, but I whisper up to him, “They’re alive.”

  His darkness clears. His smile is always real. He gives me a single nod and that is all before the mask drops back over his features.

  My own smile fades. Remember who he is. Remember what you have to do.

  Indira’s hair floats freely around us as she shifts in my arms. I murmur into her ear, “You have to keep yourself and the babies out of harm’s way now. They will use you to control me. I know you want to fight them, but I need you out of danger. Can you do that?”

  She exhales, chomps down on her lip, and squeezes closed her angry eyes. She doesn’t like it. I wouldn’t either. But she needs to protect her children now. “As you wish, Supreme Incorruptible.”

  “Stay inside the water where nothing can hurt you. Even if they strike you, you will heal. They won’t dare set foot inside the pond. Sorcery and deep magic can’t combine.”

  She answers me by swimming further out, far enough that they can’t grab her. I climb the slippery steps carefully, water sloshing away from my armor, dripping down my arms and legs. Last time, Baelen carried me out safely and made me warm. This time, I harness my Prime heartstone, intending to use its power to warm my skin and dry my clothing.

  I step right into Grayson. One of his arms closes around my waist, the other runs freely from the top of my head down my shoulders and back, leaving my hair and torso dry.

&nb
sp; He doesn’t look happy. He says, “I’m sorry.”

  There’s a lot for him to be sorry about. “For which part?”

  He presses his lips together; his jaw clenches. “Come with me willingly and it won’t hurt as much.”

  Like that’s going to make me go with him. “I don’t think so.”

  On the other side of the cavern, the Elven Commanders point at the wall, running their fingers over it, finding particular grooves, pointing at others.

  Grayson says, “You don’t have a choice. You saw what they did to Indira. The gargoyles guarding these springs won’t survive a fight and you know it.”

  So he did see the gargoyles outside the springs.

  When I dig my heels in, he shakes his head at me. “Why are you so hell bent on stopping us from ascending? I thought you’d want us to go.”

  “And let you destroy the springs?”

  He shrugs. “The gargoyles will be like everyone else—reliant on healers.”

  “Grayson… destroying the springs will collapse our world. These springs are the pivot point on which our world was built. The Earth city above us will also be destroyed when this enormous pocket of air beneath it caves in. If it was a matter of just letting you go, trust me, I want you gone.”

  He flinches. “You want me gone.”

  Of all the things I just said, he’s going to focus on that. I glare at the Commanders who continue to run their hands over the wall as though they are painting on it. “I want them gone. You… oh… I can’t figure you out. But I won’t let you kill my people.”

  Grayson’s eyes become narrow slits. I suspected that the Elven Commanders hadn’t told him about our world collapsing but if this news means anything to him, he doesn’t show it. A rope made of light springs up around me, twining around my waist and chest. Unlike Priscilla’s, this one is surprisingly strong. I guess I keep telling him things he doesn’t want to hear.

  He orders, “Come with me. Or they will kill your friend first and then the gargoyles outside.”