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

Chapter 26

It had been a week since I’d seen her face. A week since I’d teased smiles from her, made her roll her eyes or let out an exasperated sigh from my outlandish comments. One week, and I still saw her face in my dreams. Yet this time, it wasn’t of her in the tower. It was her smiling at me, her grabbing my hand, her sitting on a fountain and splashing the water.

I shoved a hand through my hair as Leoni bartered with a sailor nearby, trying to get him to take us to the shadow court.

“You don’t even have to get off the ship,” she said, voice growing agitated.

“I don’t go near there,” the sailor replied in a thick accent. “Invites too much trouble.”

We stood on a cliff that jutted out from the top of the isle, a road winding down and around the mountain, all the way to the bottom. This was the only pathway out of Valoris for non-winged elementals. Horses stood in a line, ready to bring visitors down the path, where ships waited. I was, at least, thankful for that. I’d been worried we’d have to trek down the damn cliff. If we ever got out of this place, which wasn’t looking likely.

Leoni had spent the last week talking to every sailor that lived in Winded, and no one wanted to take us to Sorrengard, no matter how much gold we offered.

“It’s not dangerous,” Leoni argued, throwing out an arm.

Driscoll leaned over. “At least she’s not insulting him this time. Certainly didn’t help matters with the last one.”

No, it hadn’t. Not when she’d called him a fatheaded walrus. He did look like a walrus, but that insult had effectively ended their conversation.

“You think I haven’t heard the rumors?” the sailor said, tugging at his thin black mustache. “I know the pirate lord sails those seas, attacks any ships that come too near.”

“We know the pirate lord,” Leoni gritted out. “He’s a friend.”

The man’s eyes practically bulged at that.

“And she lost him,” Driscoll muttered.

The sailor backed away toward his waiting horse. “You’re friends with the pirate lord?”

“He’s really not that bad,” Leoni shouted as the captain shuddered and mounted his horse, tapping its sides and encouraging it to get onto the road—and away from Leoni.

Others passed us, a winged attendant assigning horses to them as they went on their merry way.

I clapped a hand on Leoni’s shoulder. “Maybe I should do the talking from now on.”

She rolled her eyes. “You can’t flirt your way onto a ship, Prince.”

I summoned a smile. “Oh, you’d be surprised.”

“Anything would be better than watching you scare away another sailor,” Driscoll pointed out.

Leoni crossed her arms, scowling. “I didn’t scare him away. They’re all being idiots. We’re not even asking them to step foot on Sorrengard, just to get us close enough so we can jump off and swim there.”

“And face the crocodiles?” I asked. “Or the tall cliffs? Or would you rather swim ashore where the shadow king can see us coming?”

She huffed. “Do you have a better idea, Prince Lochlan?”

I flashed her another smile as my gaze landed on a redheaded woman, older. She wore all black, including the captain’s hat on her head with a single feather sticking from it. She petted a black horse that whinnied. “Yes, yes, I do.” I pushed past Leoni. “If you’ll excuse me.”

I strolled up to the woman, who turned to face me. “Hi,” I said, using my most alluring voice.

“Does that really work?” Driscoll said from behind me. “All he said was ‘hi.’”

“Just wait,” Leoni muttered.

The woman gazed at me curiously, little lines crinkling the corners of her eyes and mouth. “I’m not taking on any passengers,” she said. “And certainly not to go to the shadow court. I overhead your girl, there, talking to Captain Grimwall.”

“Oh, now there must be a way to convince you.” I stepped closer. “I happen to have a lot of gold on me. What’s your price?”

She eyed me with interest. “You look familiar.”

I winked. “I get that a lot.”

I didn’t want to reveal my identity. Didn’t need word spreading that the playboy prince was seeking passage to the shadow court, for it to possibly get back to the shadow king. I didn’t know where he had shadows lurking, what information they might report back to him. I’d been told the shadows couldn’t communicate with shadow elementals, but I didn’t believe it.

The woman’s gaze raked over my body, and a thrill shot through me. I hadn’t done this in a long time. Not since... since before Poppy.

Just like that, my mood soured, all the excitement fizzling from my veins.

“What else can you offer me?” the captain said, eyeing me with interest.

All I had to do was lean over and whisper a few promises in her ear. Step closer to her, not close enough that we were touching, but close enough that she could feel the heat of my body, could imagine what it might be like once I actually did touch her. It would be so easy. And yet...

“Nothing.” I stepped away. “I have nothing else to offer. Just our gold.”

Her flirtatious smile turned to a frown. “Well, then I’m afraid there’s not much I can do for you.” With that, she spun on her heel and focused her attention back on the horse.

“What in the bloody earth was that?” Driscoll said as I walked back toward them. “You had her. She was completely invested and then you just...”

“We’re never getting off this damn isle.” Leoni kicked a small rock; it skittered toward the edge of the cliff. “At this rate, we’re going to have to steal a ship.”

“Why do you think we haven’t seen her?” I looked over their shoulders back to the city of Winded in the distance, a lone stone road leading toward it. “Where could she be? We’ve been here a week since she disappeared. Surely we’d have spotted her by now.”

Leoni groaned. “Not this again.” She eyed me suspiciously. “Did you sabotage that interaction?”

Driscoll pointed at me. “I think he did.” He paused. “Wait, why am I angry? That just means another night in a nice warm bed and not spent in the bunkhouse of a ship.” He shuddered.

I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t sabotage anything. The captain wasn’t interested.”

Driscoll’s eyes dipped below my waistline. “She was interested in something.”

Leoni swatted him. “Well, we’re just going to have to get horses and go down to the docks. We’ll lie. Or we’ll book passage as far as the ships are willing to take us, then we’ll figure the rest out. We can’t stay here any longer.”

I glanced down my shirt. The blue lines had stretched just a little deeper. “Do you think she’s hurt?”

Leoni threw up her hands and stalked toward the edge of the cliff, muttering something about me being hopeless.

Driscoll studied his nails. “Listen, I’m totally team Loppy.”

I gave him a questioning stare.

“My nickname for you and Poppy. It, admittedly, needs some work. But she ran away. We have to let her be. You can’t force her to come with us if that’s not what she wants.”

My teeth ground together so hard it hurt. He was right. Leoni was right. Damnit.

“I might’ve sabotaged it.” I nodded in the direction of the captain, who was now mounting the horse to get down the mountain. “With the captain.”

Driscoll leaned close and whispered, “We know.”

I swore. “I’ll go after her. She’ll change her mind.” I made to move when chatter erupted nearby.

A group of sky elementals landed, folding their wings to their bodies, all of them talking loudly, excitedly. “They have a big announcement apparently,” a male elemental said. “Today. In the square.”

Leoni came to stand by us, peering at them curiously.

“The king and queen?” One of the females scoffed as they began walking the road toward Winded. “You think they’ll finally announce their heir? My bet is on the king’s niece. She’s quiet and painfully shy, but they don’t have many options.”

“Maybe they’ll surprise us,” another of the elementals said. “Announce a tournament where everyone has a chance to fight their way to the crown. Or maybe they’ll announce some unknown peasant in a nod to the queen’s heritage.”

They all laughed at that. I glanced at Leoni and Driscoll, who both stared after the group with interest.

“Do you all want to see what’s going on?” I asked.

“Spirits, yes.” Driscoll rubbed his hands together. “Maybe this will be some good gossip I can take back to Elwen with me.”

Even Leoni looked intrigued, her mouth pursed. She sighed. “Fine. Let’s go see what this announcement is.” She jabbed a finger at me. “And then we are leaving this place. For good.”

She stalked ahead.

“No arguments from me,” I muttered.

“Wise choice,” Driscoll said. “She’s very short but very aggressive. She won’t murder you, but she’s likely to cut off an important appendage if you make her angry enough.”

I didn’t doubt it. I was starting to see why Leoni made such a good captain of the guard. She was single minded in her focus, regimented. She kept us on track, and I realized she had this whole journey. Making sure we were progressing, staying the course. She was doing what a captain did: leading.

We followed the group back into the city, streets bustling with activity, skies full of wings as elementals soared overhead. The road led to the center of the city, to that pavilion where Poppy sat on the fountain that first day we arrived.

I needed to get this woman out of my head. If only I knew how.

The group turned onto a road that wound in between more domed buildings, and the street grew more packed as others joined. Elementals were everywhere now. On the streets, landing on platforms that jutted from buildings, on tree branches. We made our way through the pavilion and onto another road, following the crowd.

After twenty minutes of following the buzzing crowd, we arrived at a huge grassy area filled with stones, their tops smooth for sitting. A group of elementals had already amassed, the excitement palpable, everyone guessing what this announcement could be.

I didn’t care too much about the sky court, but even I was starting to get curious. Then an idea struck me. Maybe Poppy would be in the crowd. Maybe she’d heard all the commotion and would want to see what was happening as well.

I arched my neck, but all the wings filling the space made it hard to see faces. Damn. She could very well be here, and I—I was doing it. Again. Looking for her. Scheming for a way to find her.

Driscoll was right. She’d run away. She didn’t want to see me. Even if I did find her, what then? Coerce her into coming with me? No, I’d never do that. I’d already made the mistake of trapping her in that room with me. I should’ve never challenged her like that, should’ve done as she wished like I always did with everyone. It’s what made me amiable, what drew people to me. Yet something about Poppy made me feel fierce and protective in a way I never had before.

Leoni studied me, and I straightened, pinning my attention on the raised stone stage far in the distance.

More elementals landed from above and emerged from the road behind us, pushing their way into the crowd.

A whoosh of wind sounded from overhead, and everyone quieted into a hush as silver and black wings came closer and closer from the castle hanging in the sky. The king and queen swept down, their silver crowns glinting under the sun, until they both landed with thuds on the stone stage. They were older, no heir to speak of, and many had wondered who would succeed them. It was a conversation my own parents had multiple times, something that they’d always brushed aside with a “They’ll figure it out,” which infuriated my sister, who’d hated how many issues we tended to brush aside in Arathia. Another fight I’d had to mend between her and my parents when she told them they should speak up, say something about the obvious problem.

Leoni rose on her tiptoes, trying to get a good view. Driscoll patted her head. “Don’t worry, shorty. I’ll give you a play-by-play.” He stroked his chin, gaze bouncing between her and the royals. “The king. You have a king kink, right?” He splayed out his hands. “Picture this: He’s lonely, his wife has died. But his beautiful captain of the guard is there to comfort him... and maybe also to suck his?—”

“That’s so misogynistic,” Leoni replied. “I’m not his possession. I have my own dreams and hopes and aspirations than to just be his.”

Driscoll shrugged. “I’ll be his possession any day.” He nodded toward King Yarron. “I’m really digging the white hair and beard.”

The king and queen stood tall, the king in silver trousers and a buttoned tunic that matched his wings, the queen in a thick purple dress with long sleeves.

“Citizens of the sky court, thank you for coming on such short notice.” The queen’s voice rang out over the courtyard. “As many of you know, twenty-two years ago, our infant daughter went missing. Someone snuck into her room in the middle of the night and stole her from us. Over the years, many girls and women have been brought forward, some intending to trick us, others hoping they might, indeed, be our missing daughter. As time passed, we lost hope that she was still alive.”

“They have a daughter?” Driscoll whispered.

I supposed so. Now that I thought about it, I remembered something about that, about their daughter dying when she was a baby. It happened so long ago it wasn’t something mentioned often, especially in my court. Here it might have been more well known among the elementals.

The king grabbed the queen’s hand and gave her a slight nod and smile.

“Today I stand before you a woman reborn. I admit in the last few years as it became clearer that our daughter was not coming home, I lost my way. Retreated into myself. Lost my faith in Spirit Sky. But that faith has been renewed... because my daughter is finally home.”

Twenty-two years. That’s what she’d said. Twenty-two years. Driscoll, Leoni, and I all shot each other uneasy looks. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible.

No one spoke, everyone as still as the stones scattered across this grassy courtyard.

“I know her return will bring many questions,” the queen said, “and we hope to have more answers soon. But for now, rejoice that your princess is home. Our heir has returned, and with that, so has the future of the sky court. To celebrate, we will throw a ball. A masquerade to honor Spirit Sky.”

Historical texts talked often about the masquerade balls Spirit Sky was infamous for throwing at his castle, balls that often ended in debauchery and violence.

“Everyone in the sky court is invited to meet your new princess and to celebrate our very bright future.”

The courtyard erupted in chatter, an infectious energy thrumming through the people.

A ball. I turned to Leoni, and she threw her head back, tipping her chin toward the sky. “What now?” she asked.

As I had this entire journey, I let my instinct lead me. “I have to go to that ball.”

“Of course you do,” she said, voice dry as the desert.

That stopped me. Elementals began shuffling from the courtyard, streaming past us, voices ringing out in excitement as they talked about the princess, theorized who she could be. Something I very much wanted to know myself.

My eyes narrowed. “You’re not going to try and stop me? Is this some kind of trick? Are you about to knock me over the head and drag me to the shadow court?”

Leoni ran a hand over her red-gold hair, in its usual bun. “I thought about it. But you’re heavy, and to be honest, I’m tired of fighting you on it. I fought your sister on the same thing, and look where it got me. Without a job. Now on some harebrained journey with her equally stubborn younger brother. I’m doing my duty by protecting you, and I will keep protecting you, but fighting you does me no good. So go to this ball. See if Poppy is this mysterious new princess, and then, get your ass back down here because I will have a ship secured and ready to take us to Sorrengard.”

Relief flooded me at her words because I really didn’t want to have to fight her on this. I turned my gaze upward toward the castle.

I was going to attend this ball and find out if the long-dead princess of the sky court was Poppy.

Fuck me.