Tower of Tempest: A Steamy Fantasy Romance (Stolen Crowns Book 3)

Chapter 13

The fire popped and crackled between us, and I stretched out my hands to warm myself.

I chewed the juicy meat from a few rabbits Leoni had caught, savoring it.

Prince Lochlan sat across the fire from me. It cast a glow on his skin, his hair, highlighting the cut of his jaw. His mouth had been so close to mine when my magic had trapped us together. Close enough that I could’ve tipped my neck and brushed my lips right against his. My body filled with a heat that had nothing to do with the fire.

Then he’d made a joke. Turned on that charm. Flirted with me.

And that, of all things, had been what helped me let go. Everything with Gran was always doom and gloom, the end of the world. Scary. Dark.

If Gran was the dark, then Prince Lochlan was the light. Pure sunshine.

After he’d made that outlandish comment, I did as told and imagined dropping the string, and that was it. The wind had died down, and I’d leapt away from the prince.

There was something so enigmatic about him. You couldn’t help but want to be around him just to bask in his light, to hope that some of it might guide you out of your own darkness.

“Who’s staring now?”

Prince Lochlan’s voice snapped me from my thoughts, and I realized that’s exactly what I’d been doing. Spirits below.

I cleared my throat. “You have something on your chin.”

He frowned, swiping at his perfect chin that had nothing on it at all.

Driscoll and Leoni shot me looks that I ignored.

Driscoll tilted his head. “You’re very normal, you know.”

“Driscoll, that is so rude.” Leoni threw a rabbit bone at him, and it hit him square in the chest.

I burst out laughing. “It’s okay. Really.”

Leoni smiled. “You are very well spoken and well adjusted for someone who...”

“Who’s lived in a tower my whole life?” I finished for her.

“Um, well, yes.” She flicked another bone behind her.

Wind howled around us, but we’d made camp in between four tall rocks that jutted from the ground and towered overhead, giving us the perfect shelter.

I sensed a question they weren’t asking. How? How was I not completely insane or socially inept after the life I’d lived? Sometimes I felt like I was, but I also felt more at ease around these three than I normally did around strangers.

I finished chewing my bite. “Gran used to let me out of the tower quite often when I was little. Winged is the least populated of the territories, and the forest near our home wasn’t exactly a welcoming place to visitors. There were some who traveled there to gather herbs and spices. I’d play with their children while they worked. We’d talk and run and make up silly games.”

My voice grew wistful as I remembered those days spent roaming the forest, barefoot and surrounded by laughter.

“As I grew older, it wasn’t enough anymore, the little jaunts outside the tower. They didn’t lift my spirits. I couldn’t just run up to another elemental my age and make friends like I had when I was younger. I think Gran knew I was sad, lonely.

“So one day, she brought me a gift: a mirror with the ability to show me the world. I’d spend hours watching it. I learned about all the courts, I watched people dance, people visit markets. I watched mothers and their children. I watched wedding ceremonies, coronations, mercenaries, animals. Everything. It taught me so much about how people lived, interacted, the way the world worked, even if I couldn’t experience it myself.”

Leoni’s eyes filled with tears. “Your only way to experience the world was through a mirror?”

Driscoll wrinkled his nose but didn’t speak.

“Meanwhile, Gran was getting sicker. Her cough started when she first brought the mirror to me, and it got worse day by day until she could barely get out of bed. Then one day, I woke up and the mirror was gone. Gran said she had to sell it, that we needed the gold. I was disappointed but didn’t blame her.”

She’d gotten better after that but never fully recovered from that cough. Then it had taken a turn for the worse a few weeks before she’d been kidnapped.

“I know where that mirror went.” Driscoll straightened. “That mirror ended up in Elwen. In the wrong hands. It led to an evil woman using it to destroy the entire land. To imprison me and my two best friends.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said, remembering Gran telling me about the horrible destruction that had befallen the earth court—though she’d never mentioned the mirror being part of it.

Driscoll shrugged. “Eh, it’s okay. Luckily one of my best friends happens to be a kick-ass princess who saved us all and is now queen, ruling over the earth court.” He frowned. “How did the mirror end up in Elwen in the first place?”

“Gran told me she sold it to a pirate.”

Leoni rolled her eyes. “Of course Bastian was involved.”

I didn’t know who this Bastian was, but Leoni’s tone seemed more exasperated than angry.

“What price did you pay?” Driscoll asked.

I stared at him for a minute, not understanding the question. “Price?”

Prince Lochlan sighed. “How much do you know about these magical items? How they’re made?”

My gaze shifted around the circle of faces. “Gran told me that the magical items were created from shadow magic. That when shadow elementals used enough of their magic, it created a new, powerful object.”

“That’s not exactly true.” Leoni tucked a red strand of hair that had fallen from her bun behind her ear.

Of course it wasn’t. Half truths. She’d always spoken in half truths.

“Every time a shadow elemental rips a person’s shadow away, the dark magic from that act creates a new object. A powerful one, but one filled with darkness. If you use that object, a price has to be paid.”

I thought about the cough Gran had developed right when I’d started using the mirror.

My blood ran cold.

“Magic always has a price.” Gran’s final words to me.

I fiddled with her necklace that hung from my neck.And the bean. I hadn’t just used the mirror. I’d used that magic bean too. Had that also come from someone’s shadow being ripped away? Blood and skies.

“I didn’t know,” I whispered, trying to take all the information in.

“It’s okay,” Leoni said.

I stood, pacing. “It’s not. She never told me. How could she not tell me something like that?”

She’d taught me so much about magic, why not tell me that? It also made me wonder what else about her magic she’d kept from me.

“Because she knew you wouldn’t use that mirror if you knew the cost,” Prince Lochlan said quietly. “She wanted you to use the mirror because she felt guilty, and she wanted to make you happy.”

I sank back to the ground, his words just another reminder of why I’d stayed in that tower with her. Because through it all, Gran sacrificed so much for me. She brought me that mirror and let me use it, knowing it was killing her. That she was paying the price. She must’ve finally had no choice but to get rid of it—or risk dying from that awful cough.

“Do you think...” I paused. “I used a magic bean Gran kept hidden. I used it to leave the tower, and that same night is when your shadow came for her. Do you think that’s why your shadow was able to find her finally? That was the price I paid for using that bean? Losing Gran?”

The guilt at that thought rose so fast and heavy, I felt like I was drowning in it.

The prince opened his mouth, then closed it. “I’m not sure. Sometimes the price is immediate. Sometimes it takes months to reveal itself. But it could be connected.”

So it had been my fault Gran had been taken. I sucked in a sharp breath. “What about when I use my own magic, then? What’s the price?”

Prince Lochlan held his hands in front of the fire, warming them. “Your magic depletes itself when you use it, your body becomes fatigued, and your mind can sometimes grow foggy. It depends how much you use, what you’re using it for, and how much stamina you’ve built up. Some practice their magic use regularly, training themselves to use it without getting fatigued so easily. But the price for using your magic is not a dark one.”

I let out a sigh of relief. I’d never use my magic if I knew it could cost someone their life.

We fell into silence, all of us lost in our own thoughts, my mind turning over everything I’d learned tonight. Everything Gran had kept from me. I’d always known Gran had her secrets. I accepted that she kept them to keep us safe, and that might have been true in some respects, but to keep something like this from me—I’d never have used that magic bean had I known the cost. If Gran had just told me, she might still be in that tower, recovering from her cough, and I wouldn’t be in this mess.

I awoke to moans.The sky was fully dark overhead, stars dotted across the inky black. I slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, gaze sweeping around our campsite. The dying fire provided just enough dim light to see the sleeping figures of the prince and Leoni.

“He does this a lot.”

I glanced over and realized Driscoll was sitting up as well, his blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

Prince Lochlan groaned and tossed from side to side.

“The moaning,” Driscoll said. “Really unfortunate because I’m a light sleeper and he wakes me up constantly.” He pointed to his face. “It’s why I have the eye bags. Those aren’t normally there.”

I looked back at the prince, whose face twisted into a grimace. “Is he having a nightmare?”

Driscoll spread out his arms. “We don’t know. He won’t talk about it. Or can’t. I’m not sure. He says he doesn’t remember his dreams.” He donned a thoughtful expression. “I kind of think he just doesn’t want to remember them.”

I shivered as a gust of chilly wind infiltrated our campsite. “Why wouldn’t he want to remember his dreams?”

Driscoll paused. “It’s really not my story to tell.” He scratched the back of his head. “I think he dreams about his shadow. Who took it as well.”

My breath hitched. So I’d been right. This was a sensitive topic. If the prince wouldn’t even open up to Driscoll and Leoni about it, how could I expect him to open up to me? Maybe he didn’t need to, I reminded myself. He’d promised to help find Gran, was leading me to her as we spoke. So I wouldn’t poke at this wound of his. Not unless I absolutely needed to.

“Yes, Master,” Prince Lochlan mumbled. “Thank you, Master. So kind. So generous.”

Master... the one who took his shadow. Likely the one who took Gran.

Driscoll was already lying back down. “I know it’s hard, but try and get some sleep anyway. Your eye bags will thank you.”

He rolled over while I continued to stare at the prince. It wasn’t the secrets I’d learned tonight that bothered me the most; it was the ones the prince kept, the ones I didn’t know, that would keep me up long into the night.